 Yeah, welcome everybody to the independent investor channel live. My name is Ryan. It's Friday evening nine o'clock on the freaking dot looking to deliver consistent message here every week try to Infuse a little bit of motivation on a topic that in fact I do insist must be a lifelong commitment. I think we go through ebbs and flows in our investing evolution The investor that you were last year is certainly not going to be the investor that you are next year The investor that you were five years ago or ten years ago if some of you have been investing for that long Is is not going to be the same investor that you can expect as we evolve with this game and I I think for the most part the psychology behind fighting the the the human The the human insistence or the lack of acknowledgement or The I think human beings they fear change. That's what I think Which makes investing such an inhuman activity That I think a lot of people don't get involved for all the wrong reasons Perhaps maybe I'm wired wrong. Maybe I'm wired differently I I can tell you that the Shear pedigree that it takes to make it in investing is going to be a typical It is not going to be something that is commonplace. It is going to be something that You you follow the six Most popular ideas out there and it's going to lead you to the promised land. Okay I'm one of those guys on YouTube that will challenge the status quo I will challenge what people think they know I will even put my own knowledge and my own Understanding about financial markets on the chopping block more often than not to prove to you If you don't already understand that nobody has all the answers Okay So when you do embark on this journey and we find that the investing is now different than it was 20 years ago How is it that we can expect to be in it for the long haul? How is it Ryan that we can be expected to win out over the long run? What is the difference between looking at investing and choosing not to invest and Looking to enjoy your money over the course of your life and not happen to worry about this whole debacle My my friends, I don't know anything other than investing. So if you've found a way to seek out and render a Significant amount of success. I have all ears. I Would like to understand that there are other Wealth building opportunities out there certainly starting a business, which is you know, one of those things that I Don't consider My project a business. I'll be it. It does fine. It's a very low expense low overhead Profitable business in so far as I don't do it full-time But I do make a little bit of scratch to keep me interested and It was a significant amount of time ago that I did prove to myself that you could actually make a little dab Here on YouTube. I'll be it. I will be the first to admit that my hard work and dedication to my career has Everything to do with my success and a whole hell of a lot to do with me coming on and bantering to a YouTube vacuum every week For the loyal subscribers to the independent investor channel You you are the sheer reason why I do the project. There's no doubt if you Are conveying your trust in the channel And you truly understand where my loyalty lies with regard to where each and every one of my dollars are devoted I Think sometimes people get a little misguided on What message I'm looking to convey to The audience is out there that maybe potentially want to hear something over here But should really be listening to the stuff over here The stuff over here is the stuff that is applicable to the masses out there investing in the S&P 500 for example I'm not one of those guys to come on and patronize a YouTube audience and suggest that that's difficult. I Think in 2024 we need to get over this idea that people cannot invest on their own a lot of people get it A lot of people are clueless to that end I Really think that we could probably do ourselves a huge favor by empowering ourselves as individuals and Therefore make ourselves that much more powerful together. I just watched the Netflix special dumb money dumb money And that's great. I you look if you can invest in a stock and make 50 million bucks or whatever it is Those those stories are quite it quite quite interesting. They're fascinating. I think they're probably statistically more commonplace than winning the lottery, right? but Series worthy. Yes entertainment worthy. Yes Is there an easier way is it possible to To invest in a stock in that particular capacity that has the fundamentals that could actually back up The the the stock price and have those longer term Greater than average gains into the future. I think I'm on the investment of a lifetime Albeit the start of 2024 has been the fairly rocky for a duro clean technologies. It's also been very very silent on the line Instead of instead of the CEO actually exercising his right to buy more stock I don't think he's quite happy with the 20 million shares that he's already got. He owns close to half the flow Half of the 40% that the upper management do own. Let me clarify, but Certainly a bullish sign to see the CEO Out there buying stock in a company that I have conviction on and it is a high conviction play for me But it's not the S&P 500 it is Almost half of my largest account between me and my spouse in the S&P We own the S&P 503 different capacities Which is worth reporting out on because again if you're focused on this stuff over here the a duro clean technologies or the highly unholdings and We go through a prolonged downturn. I'm all of a sudden the bad guy when in fact you shouldn't be Focusing all of your efforts over here You should probably be looking at establishing that good baseline in the portfolio, right? I'm gonna go with a dividend ETF like SCHD. You want to go with the S&P 500? Great The problem with retail investors is this and and a lot of you know 18 19 20 21 year olds will come to be and they'll be like Ryan you sock. I want more I want to outpace the S&P 500 right on I wish you all the best in that Okay The sheer misery in this is and I wish I could just chop chop it up to people who think they know more than Really anybody else out there who's been doing this a long long time is that By nature of trying to outpace the market most new investors will end up drastically underperforming the market all the while missing that key ingredient to investing that I insist all Prudent investors need to understand and that is the power year over year Decade over decade in matching the market performance. I don't care if it's negative Negative markets you can end up infusing more capital and buying in at a lower price But the power of matching the markets and matching the S&P 500 every single year is Very very powerful. Okay? Things that you can actually put the odds on your side of the house the S&P is a very very powerful asset I invest in the ETF. It's very low cost It's one of those ways that I can guarantee the best low-cost exposure to the S&P and also guarantee that that Exposure is going to give me the best access To what makes up the S&P 500 year over year? And I've stated this many many times on the channel for those that are new to the channel or new to investing This might just be going right over your head and and I I understand if some of the Topics that I talk about are somewhat complex. I don't spend a lot of my time Explaining what the S&P 500 I expect that you do your own due diligence and look at Why the fundamentals and why the the psychology of why this makes sense For for for me But to suggest that people need to look at it as a viable asset Is super important and and stop wasting your time Looking on the at those assets out there that are really just going to mislead you because my friends The most common question the most common question that's answered on YouTube is you know, what are the three stocks to buy for the month? What it what is my hot stock pick for 2024? I have chalked most of that up and I'm glad that I have come to this revelation that Most of those efforts are feudal in nature They just don't have any place at all, especially for the masses to understand what they need to do With their time and where they need to put their efforts and why it makes sense to set that baseline in the portfolio in the S&P 500 and Then and then do some things that put the control on your side I think a lot of people when they embark on the journey of investing They don't understand what is in their control and what is out of their control, okay? Let me start with the things that are in your control because I think a lot of people do in fact Believe that it's dropping a ball on a roulette wheel and that somehow wherever the ball lands either black or white Or the new I don't know I don't play roulette, but if I'm explaining it correctly, right? Investing is one of the same. Okay I take a strategic shot. Maybe there's a catastrophic 100% loss. Maybe there's a catastrophic 100% gain and that's what what my Perception of investing would call for That's what my friends and my family have explained to me that investing is and that just couldn't be further from the truth okay There are a number of different things by nature of and we're going to talk about S&P 500 500 investing for just a moment for example sake I know there's a lot of people out there or there was one patron to the channel who shared with the group last week that you know He was outpaced on the market by a few bips and I think that's lovely. I think that's great me personally I have always known this to be a fact but have at times Thought it convenient to deviate from or to add specific layers in the portfolio doesn't mean I'm wrong and You know at times it outperforms at times it underperforms, but but overall I really think the best thing that people can do is just to invest it and forget it just invest in the S&P so back to those things that a new investor can be like, okay, right you got my my attention I've bought one share of the S&P 500 or 10 shares put she ended about you know, 40 4500 dollars and And for you guys that listen to me talk about money Money is not one of those things that I put a lot a whole lot of value in as opposed to Looking at 10 shares of the S&P 500 brand you 4500 bucks. My focus is on the 10 shares Okay, I just bought a ton of dividend stocks today. I bought I Bought some more next Tara. I bought some more I bought some more coke a few more shares. I brought some more Bristol Myers I bought some more Exxon mobile I bought a ton of stock and and if I can impart to you this very very Few times. Do I look at the three or four or five hundred dollar buy orders multiple times over? I probably spent 3000 bucks 2500 bucks and I Look at the share accumulation as being where the focus needs to be So when I'm talking to new investors, they really need to understand that if they do get involved with this gig It's very very important to understand that you will have a lot of different Cards on your side of the table to play. Okay, in other words, you will have more control than you think you will, okay? What you can control is the nature of the investment that you have Opted to buy and in this particular case, I'm just assuming that you're buying the S&P 500 whether it be IVV SPY BOO, whatever it is, you've got a nice position in the S&P VTI, no problem. Stay with me. Okay, that's the first thing The empowering thing that people miss is the very account that those assets are housed in That also is within your control. Okay, I Own VTI in my SEPI array. I own VTI in my joint brokerage account. I own VOO in the Roth I own a different S&P index one within the TSP Roth So when we do the portfolio review tonight, which it's at its highest level ever to start 2024 I actually think it's been a little bit rocky Things are going quite well and usually in investing when things are going well It sometimes sneaks up on you as a matter of fact Again, I am part to you some of these intangibles about the stock market and the more we talk about these things The more common place that it will be, okay? So the second piece to this puzzle is to understand that the very account That you choose to open whether it be with fidelity or Roth I array with Charles Schwab, okay Whoever you decide to go with you really need to give yourself credit in understanding Why you opt for that specific account not overplay the importance of an account What I mean by that is an account just like a discount broker Just like a major broker is going to give you Access to the stock market to buy and sell stock ETFs index funds mutual funds, etc It's going to give you access to the stock market in the capacity that you choose. So don't overblow it I'll I often teach upon this and understanding that The broker is not going to make you rich, okay? The broker is going to make you happy because hopefully you're interacting with the broker on a daily basis monitoring the accounts Interacting smartly not being stupid. Okay, we don't need to be playing whack-a-mole with the portfolio All right, just let it go. It's not hurting anything, but Ryan, what if I lose all my money? Okay, listen go back to square one Justify to do or not to do okay when you answer that question come back and we'll reengage I've been been investing my whole life since I was 15 years old. I'm 46 years old. Okay $545,000 of total portfolio value as we speak, okay That's hard assets cash and equity Invested in a portfolio the value of the portfolio is 545,000. How did I get there? Well, I was given that money wrong Okay, I work a Wonderful white-collar salary wrong, I Make over a hundred thousand dollars a year wrong and never I've never done that. Okay, I Always figured by the math of it I would need about $50,000 a year now these figures are a little bit conservative because when I was growing up I thought $50,000 was rich I was studying to be a physical therapist physical therapist at the time pulled in 57,000 now It's probably 5x that amount. I would presume okay But it allowed me some numbers to crunch and some extrapolation of what I could potentially earn in my life Compounded out 20 30 maybe even 40 years if I stretched it on an investing time horizon And I could end up with a seven-figure Retirement or financial security now as I've evolved with my age to be quite honest with you guys The money has become less important to me And the financial security has certainly taken its dominant place in my overall goal to as to why I build wealth, okay? Can it be done? Am I looking to prove something to myself? I'm a very motivated person Okay, so I work at this thing. I Pay attention to some of the other intangibles we'll get to those okay But the very account that you choose is is one of those things that you absolutely have control over so the product that you purchase S&P 500 and the very account that you choose I've conveyed to the group that I have just Recently within the last three months switched to fidelity. I'm very very happy with their product I bid you all the best luck in choosing your brokerage our swab TD Ameritrade Fidelity whoever you choose It is is is one of those things that I would hope that you're happy with and you're satisfied with the aesthetics of the platform to be able to engage in the business that allows you the maximum Customer service on your end. All right, so very very key the product and the account very very simple simple philosophy And you're like, okay. This is awesome. I have more control now the way that you explain it Hold on a second. I'm not done yet I've explained this many many times Over the course of the channel and now it has become so commonplace. I feel like it's that's actually a success within the financial landscape to understand that fees have really kind of come out of the stratosphere and Where major brokerage houses were getting away with absolute fee murder prior to Really the emergence of Robin Hood and I don't like to give Robin Hood any credit whatsoever because I think it's a criminal empire For anything, but if they there was anything that came out of that it was a pretty large press on the major brokers to To to to graduate from a place of understanding for people that Understood that they didn't need to pay Upwards of $50 for a trade $25 for a trade is $7.95. You guys remember that and so the pressure that was put on the major brokers to to come into This world and actually accommodate because there were products out there that were actually accommodating that that request was a big big win for people so where I would teach upon that and Really emphasize that people really needed to understand the fee structure Within their accounts now it is fairly commonplace to understand That if you are able to designate that account as a self-directed account That you'll be glad that you did will not be subject to any of the management Fees that are typically associated or have historically been associated with your brokerage accounts And your retirement accounts. Okay, so To reduce the fees huge right by nature of the Roth IRA that you own the tax protection over that account will be Implied that's another piece of it to where you can look at and I just had a conversation today with a colleague who is like Traditional or Roth? Well, that's the end all question neither one of them are wrong because in both cases you're investing But your own personal situation should govern how you justify pursuing Roth benefits as opposed to taking the tax Benefit upfront in a traditional and and T each and and every person needs to understand if they're high-income earners now They want to ride those contributions off. It may pay back those contributions can actually be reinvested again So you could out actually outpace over the long term and then enter into an effective tax rate later on in your life Right presuming perhaps maybe that your high-income Years comes a little bit earlier on in your life So it's better to reduce that taxable burden upfront for some people that makes sense I was Roth Roth Roth and I still am I still love the idea of putting every dollar that I own that 545 that I have that we're going to go through when we review the portfolio The majority of those dollars are actually housed in Roth Accounts Roth IRA individual one individual Roth IRA account number two as well as the Roth TSP so Some pretty exciting times when we're talking about the ability to to control our own destiny and Empower our investments and I know there's new investors out there who come to the channel and they're like, okay Hold on to sec Ryan everything you're explaining. I feel like I can do okay. If you don't feel that way I'm not quite doing my job I'm here to tell you that these things are not difficult if you can own a savings account or a checking account You can absolutely own an individual Roth IRA account. You can absolutely own a brokerage account Okay, now if I can convey that to you over a social media forum Or if I could just send the motivation to you in a box and put it in the mail and you open it up And you're like wow that this is incredible. I I feel empowered. I'm motivated. Boy if it were just that easy Unfortunately the bridge to you Buffering people's fear of investing Is all too often buffered in the best case by you just taking a little bit of leaf leaf of faith If if anything I can give you it is that little bit of confidence That little bit of nudge the little bit of encouragement not push. Okay I don't want to encourage you to do something that you're not willing to do I don't want to motivate you to do something that You're not comfortable with doing because if you're not comfortable doing it and you get excited about Investing because I'm excited about investing that excitement will die if that excitement is not generated from a Genuine place. It's just not gonna happen that long-standing time in the market that I talk about that is so so key and Absolutely is on your side for one of those many elements that you can control Look if you can't see that through Then then your overall performance is gonna suffer over the years. So you might as well internalize this look It's okay to be excited. It's okay to get fired up It's okay to be excited about the prospects of entering into retirement at some some day with some financial backing some financial security finances IE the ability to make Decisions later on in life the ability to make problems go away That would otherwise be detrimental To your quality of life and living I'm talking about health issues. Okay, be let's be real All right, if you think somehow that you're just gonna enter into retirement and Be able to operate at the same rigor that you operate now. I think that's Fairly irresponsible and I think people do have the responsibility to themselves To to really aspire to taking as much control And I'm I'm outlining the very elements of control that you can you can take for yourself. Okay The next element is the infusion element infusion infusion Ryan you lost me I don't get what you're talking about. Okay Infusion is to take this little egg IE portfolio and Fund it over them the many many years of your investing. So if you're 18 19 20 21 years old The idea is to take everything that I'm I've talked about the product the account It has ignition over the account etc etc and be able to pick an amount that you're comfortable with Dollar cost averaging is what it is called. So for new investors out there who are looking to get started The idea is that you don't just start that account, right? And six months later come back to it and look at it and it's up $6. Okay You're gonna come back to the independent investor channel and be like what gives Ryan it's been six months I'm only up $8 or what gives Ryan. I'm only up $52 Or here's even a better one. It's been six months Ryan. I'm down a hundred and twelve dollars That's a good one right there, right? How do we deal? I didn't sign up for this. This is crazy You said I would have control over this. All right. Now the whims of mr. Market over here That is in the out-of-control category, which is why we go with the SMP 500 in the first place I'm saving you a lot of heartache. I am saving you a lot of restless nights I'm saving you a lot of lost capital by Understanding that the very control of entering into the assets that I insist you should look at Okay, are done. So with a defensive posture in mind The stock market is a war zone. The stock market is not easy to beat the stock market all too often and All too often every year over year Is is is failed to be to be to be matched? or outpaced and Those are by professionals. Okay Now the very benchmark that those professionals will Compare their performance again is the very asset that I just suggest that retail investors who let's be real Don't necessarily have the time Or the bandwidth or dare I say the expertise because I don't really think expertise is necessary in this game If you can explain to me the necessary expertise that it takes to take an SMP 500 and somehow Manifest it to something more material over time than the next person or the next person or the next person For example, if I take a hundred people and I put them all in the SMP 500 Okay, and they invest the exact same amount in the exact same account at the exact same rate And they get the exact same performance. Why because it's the same asset in 10 years Those accounts are gonna be worth exactly the same They're gonna be worth Exactly the same Okay, it's where investors start to tinker with it and they start to get smart and they're like Ryan I've got in I've been looking at NVIDIA. It goes up every single day if I invest in NVIDIA I can make not 12% but 16% a year. Okay by adding NVIDIA in there What you fail to understand is that year one NVIDIA is gonna outperform and it's gonna help you You're gonna come back to the independent. You're gonna be like see Ryan I told you I could outpace the market you suck and I'm awesome I'm gonna tip my hat to you and say good job because I celebrate success. I don't I'm not a keeping up with the Jones freak Okay, you make 11 million 50 million like bad money. I'll applaud your efforts. It doesn't it doesn't affect me at all Okay, I'm independent. I truly do Preach preach what I I preach what I probably whatever the saying is but when we are talking about Investing in an asset and we're talking about things that are on your control Okay, the very infusion to that asset is very very important to understand. So now it's like, alright, man This is cool. We've got a bunch of attributes. We've got the asset We've got the account Okay, we've got the tax protection and the fee structure Minimized all right and we've got the ability to infuse our investment In a way that we deem fit you want to invest in it every week? Go ahead. You want to invest it every two weeks or every month? You can do that too and over time the expectation is that you reevaluate that and say Okay, when I was 18 years old or when I was 20, I was not a high income earner $25 was a stretch to do every couple of weeks But now I'm doing all right and I can actually increase that from 25 To 50 or 100 200 in some cases 400 Maybe you do something funny. Here's a concept for you and complicate your life by Taking on a spouse right then those numbers double again if you're going to contribute for the spouse or the spouse contributes to their own, right? Collectively as a married couple you are collectively Contributing to the overall whole okay So if you're doing it times two those contributions should increase over time just yet again Another aspect of what you can control in your own financial program. All right If you guys think of any uh that you you know can be like yeah, you missed this you have control over this You're right ryan, but you missed this there's probably all kinds of stuff that Um, I could throw in there as well to help you understand A lot of people would say well, I can't control my emotion You're gonna have to figure that out Um, it goes along with the risk tolerance that you assess for yourself The easiest way to understand risk tolerance is to award a zero Which is a non-investor and a 10 Which is a cryptocurrency not bitcoin investor if that's a thing Um, and everything in between a moderate investor being a five Uh beginning investors should probably be somewhere in that mid-range Test how it is that you um react in a negative 20 percent downturn market And that'll help you understand your tolerance to financial markets if it doesn't bother you Great, then I would award you a higher risk tolerance. Maybe a six. Maybe a seven whatever it is And that way it really does season you for that inevitable Down the line where you're able to build up that large amount of capital and really Subject your money to the swings of the market. Your money would be fine. It's you. I worry about human beings are freaking crazy All right, we're we're we're freaking psychological back basket cases. We're freaking that shit crazy, right? We react to everything We want instant gratification for everything All right, um, we we we despise change Well by nature of entering into an investment um discipline You will try your emotions in ways that you never would have thought possible um Look you want to exercise the rudimentary um Activity of going out and just running or riding a bike is fairly straightforward Investing is not that way. That's why I deliver a very very streamlined message in putting investing in a box because That very special box or egg or foundation that I speak about in investing It is really the greatest way that you can attack the stock market because One thing is for certain when the stock market is doing what it's doing now It's not gangbusters, but it's been good A slow drift up a little bit choppy first of the year etc 2024. I think that's a fair assessment Um lots of interesting things going to be happening in 2024 But that very egg that I talk about in markets like this most people can accept that What I want to build your tolerance to is entering into financial markets that are not so conducive Are you going to be able to take that egg or take that baseline? And truly understand That it's going to seem like every single day you wake up and that it's down It's down again and it's down and ryan. It's been three days and I I can take it I can take it, but what about after three or four months? Of crappy market conditions We just went through a stretch my friends that I concede is probably two and a half years and and just coming out of it Three months ago at the end of 2023 Was the light at the end of the tunnel that I didn't think we were going to emerge from for a while I mean well, I'm is in the dark for a while And and it comes it comes quick It comes quick and it comes without a lot of people being in the market There's record high cash on the sideline right now people are not participating in financial markets right now And and it's a shame for the people that do and really understand that look the overall contributions Over the course of my life have been relatively light Where is the gains that I'm making on a five hundred and forty five thousand dollar portfolio now are significant They're good I would wish that upon anybody scratch that I do the independent investor channel because I Don't wish that upon people I actually believe that these fundamentals can be put in a plan A strategy and the stars can align in many many capacities for people out there that do not have But but two shakes of experience in the stock markets rub together If you want to do it you can do it If you want to do it as an element of your life and supplement that element with other Very very important elements of your life pursuance of a career pursuance of a business pursuance of um spending discipline pursuance of spiritual Enlightenment for crying out loud If you can get there You you got something going on The pursuance of building a family companionship Friends acquaintances, etc. Right you get my drift dietary and physical fitness these are all elements of Quite frankly what escapes a lot of people We are unfortunately overweight as a country we really are I wish that people could spend a lot more adherence to diet personal fitness exercise Then they do on their phone if you could just spend half of the time that you spend on your phone in the gym I went twice today Trying to get the little guy into some habits. He's 12 years old Right, so he went with me in the afternoon. He's not quite as savage as me to get up at 515 But hey, maybe someday those good habits will take hold And and he'll remember where he got it from. I think that's pretty awesome Just as good as anything to get excited about but um anyway, it's good. We got a few folks in here tonight I didn't expect expect for a random Friday in January the loyalists are in here for sure and I really do appreciate you guys Making your time making the time to come on in here and and see what's going on. So we'll we'll start at the top here Um, so the taxable I you'll notice There's been a real trim down in the portfolio here. Um amazon's a hundred share position And I took it into a multi-year downtrend. My cost on amazon is still 168 Um, I wrote it all the way down close to 100 I bought more I bought more on the way up and here we sit It's looking like amazon is catching its legs and google Just about the same here with about a 60 share position at and t um that 375 share position at and t bti About 15 000 in there and um aduro with a smaller position in the joint brokerage account Which shakes out at about the 2,500 2,500 shares, okay Just a little over 63 000 in that account. That's the joint brokerage account next roth one Um this handily black back over 106 Um some consolidation here got this down to really my favorite You know 10 or so stocks so Um one update here to share with you guys. I don't don't black rock anymore. It's just been an absolute dog So I did sell black rock and I ended up uh infusing this with sc hd So there's 151 shares. I think of sc hd in this now along with jp morgan disney and microsoft Pepsi VOO that's a there's 99 shares of voo in here So I you know for what it's worth that vbk is the small cap growth I think small caps are going to do really well this year and we'll be positioned to capitalize on that Uh thesis if i'm wrong So be it. I mean, it's not the end of the world, right? I own the small cap etf. We'll live to fight another day vnq the real estate etf fiser proctor and gamble Realty income and Verizon which i'm actually very bullish on this year roth 2 Just over 88 000. This is a larger position. This is mine here with the two speculative names I took a little heat today on the channel for um What dropping highly on I still own it? So I don't I don't know what people are talking about But um, I can listen. Here's the thing. I can't satisfy everybody online Okay Um, I build this portfolio. There's no perfect way to do so, but I do it for my own benefit Um, I share it with an open social media audience. This is real. Okay. Uh, this is not monopoly and um quite frankly, there's significant value In providing you insight on how I build wealth and this is how I do it IVV s and b. I talked about it Right, so that IVV is is the established position about a $15,000 position in here Vig which is close to 40 grand in this account. Uh, and then the utilities etf Very very simple one two three. That's f s e l x. That's the semiconductor mutual fund From fidelity. It's the only mutual fund I own. It's the first one I've owned and My heavens 30 years So I I started out investing in mutual funds and I haven't touched them since I'm groundless wealth, but there's only a $2,500 bill in there But that's rock two Um, here is uh old iron side. This is just growing. So I don't share this anymore folks and and and that's okay It is one of those things where I looked at the total overall project and I I needed to trim some fat M1 finance was the fat that I trimmed right wrong or indifferent. That's what I did I'm super happy to have this the only thing that I've bought into the end of last year is um Is the technology etf which is vgt. It's the first one there in the line Pretty expensive it I think it runs about $450 I own 10 shares of it. So 460 closing in on $500 a share So you're in a big big chunk of those big technology stocks. So even though I don't own a single position an apple Um or nvidia right now Uh, I do own amazon and google. I don't own meta. Okay, so I do own those through vgt, but The etf portfolio is doing really really well. It's just doing really really well So just shy of 30 grand just over 29 000 in there. So it's doing really well really well These are housed now with with fidelity. Okay Here's the dividend growth portfolio. This is a combination of three total accounts that uh, uh Consolidated down into one Okay This is pretty awesome. I had an inkling to share with you guys the top 10 and top 20 again I'll do that as we go, but we're staring down a $50,000 bill here Just yesterday them this dividend portfolio was up 500 specific dollars There's not a whole lot in each of these 147 holdings in here And like I conveyed last week about 20 percent Okay of the top 10 In this etf are comprised in my top 10 holdings next era Uh bristol meyer squib ibem intel Okay shell oil Okay, and the like okay, so 20 percent in the top 10 holdings within this It's kind of like my own little etf. I like it It is one of those things that I do not spend a whole lot of time When I do I enjoy it because I'm usually adding more to it. I bought more shares today in this I probably added a cumulative 25 or 30 or so shares Into this into companies that I wanted to add more to McDonald's Coca-Cola What else did I buy McCormick? I bought a little bit I bought next era. I doubled that position actually Uh, I bought more exxon mobile um Yeah, so some some cool stuff just just to embolden those positions johnson and johnson added a couple more shares See you guys kind of get the method to my mad madness here. This is kind of cool to look at this portfolio It's like a bunch of landmines just You know if I make I I got a dividend today of nine cents So be it so be it out of 147 holdings times four All right, that's that's incredible. That's close to 600 dividends per year If each of the equities pay four times a year pretty awesome stuff, right? So 600 pay paychecks Uh passively made through dividends by owning that portfolio and the capacity that I do A tsp is uh aiming in at the hundred thousand mark very very cool stuff It is actually up close to 28 percent here to date So exciting stuff there. I share the allocation. This helps a lot of people 75 in the c fund 15 in the s fund 10 in the i fund I openly convey this to colleagues at work and share this information I'm funny like that I don't see a lot of other people doing this. So that's why I do it The moment people start Stealing my stuff and and doing it then I'll just stop doing it I like to believe that I'm the owner of or at least in the vast minority Sharing information that's really really good. And this is really really good Uh set by array just one holding vti in there at 1120 That's the corporate account that just over 29 000 and then and then the total $5 and 45 cents. So we're doing really really well someday. I'll be able to Hopefully if I can double this by a number one medium with a coke. All right So the stuff works I know there's some social media people. They're unhappy with me I know there's a lot of people out there who would probably thank me for changing their f in life That's cool. That's just comes with the territory with It comes with the territory with Being a social media personality when it comes right down to it I make mistakes in real life just like I do on social media and mistakes with my investing If if you expect something other than Or or are expecting perfection I'm here to tell you man. I'm not for you. Okay Um because your investing road and your investing evolution Is going to require you to understand how to get a little bit thicker skin Okay If your habits are to blame everybody else for your shortcomings and blame everybody else for the decisions that you've made Um, I'm not the channel for you. Okay. Um, I'm certainly the focus and some scrutiny. That's for sure and you know Offered some some stock picks through the channel that just have not materialized and and and that's okay, too If I had it to do again, I wouldn't have done that, right But um, very cool stuff again. Andrew in the house. Andrew's colleague of mine. Very cool. I get a shot out Unfortunately, it's a shot out on the independent investor channel and about the eighth inning You know, we're singing take me out to the ball game now, Andrew But um, it's great to see you man. Very cool stuff. Thanks for spending a couple of moments on a on a You know Friday live stream with this man. Very cool stuff Just another patron of the message who's looking to empower his financial future. He's he's a young buck He's a young buck said to have this Information in the way that I convey it early Is priceless So if you feel like it's in your best interest to scrutinize Where it is that I put the majority of my focus now The net then then that's your choice Okay, but I can tell you if people actually put half of what I'm talking about to work You'll be better off for it and the whole idea here guys is let me let me just definitely break it down to you That there are way too many um Mother truckers out there that just want to be millionaires The damnable misery of it is The vast majority of people will not achieve that end Okay I don't talk along those lines I talk along the lines if you deploy some strategies that I talk about Maybe you'll be better off in your discipline and application tomorrow. Are you going to be a millionaire tomorrow? No That's okay. I don't focus on A futile effort that doesn't render success for the masses that can And when you start to chalk up days and weeks and months and years Deploying the disciplines and the strategies and employing the tolerance and Allowing yourself to evolve as a human freaking being Acknowledge the mistakes Celebrate the successes sure shit right Then we can end up in a better place and you can look back over your investing career When you've chalked up some years Okay, and you can say Dang man. Okay. I'm not a millionaire. Oh hell Ryan Ryan's a loser. He's 46 years old. He's only got 545 five five dollars the five hundred and forty five dollars after You know 30 years of investing that that sucks, right? When I'm in my 40s, I want to be a multi-millionaire Right there in lies the pipe dream facade okay Maybe we need to suggest that becoming a millionaire isn't something that the masses even needs to do I can convey that the most fulfilling things that we'll probably do in life We'll probably have a hell of a lot less If anything to do about money and I'd really like you to take that to heart I really would I've been working on an achievement at Work that I'm just closing in on I'm 99 percent close to that achievement And I don't get paid anything for that achievement. It is the personal commitment to a mission That I have put myself on and it will be Probably one of the most fulfilling things. I got a raise in 2024 So be it. That's fine. I didn't celebrate that I didn't feel any different to be honest with you men Right, but that achievement that I'm identifying now. That's where the goods are made Here we go again another week closer to retirement You know, I hate the word retirement, but I I know what you mean. I appreciate all your loyal Support of the channel over the years, man You've been with me a long long time and I really appreciate you Hope you're and used at a great week grind that was a tough one You know the live stream for me is a release as I would hope that it is for you Um and um, maybe get a little motivation You know a little bit of infusion Really if we do this every week it does not speak to The the the futile aspect of what trying to infuse independent investor live stream energy into your portfolio It's probably not going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference, but You as an applicator are very powerful. I think power people are powerful Where they are not powerful is when they succumb to the whims of their own hasty decisions Are you deliver it with your application? Do you think through decisions? Do you have the ability to look at your portfolio and say I'm getting my ass kicked a little bit? But you know what right on man. I'm fucking I'm going to invest more D can you do that ryan? I lost $12 this week No shit I've had days where I've lost 10 grand It's all about the plan Because for the number of days that I've had where I would look at it and in the acute say man, this is just inhuman I already told you at the top of the live stream investing is inhuman Okay, I'm not going to come on to youtube and blow smoke up your ass It doesn't do you any good You have to understand that investing is hard If it were easy, everybody would do it Everybody would succeed Everybody would have a youtube channel out there. I'm a millionaire. Come and follow me Okay, the very nature of the I have a millionaire title Was probably in some capacity if not a very large capacity Materialized by the very attributes that I teach upon on the independent investor channel And if any of you guys doubt my ability to reach million dollar status on a nominal blue collar salary You are failing to understand the potential and power of the message For people out there. I started from scratch. You can do it too. You really can I started with 25 dollars I share that openly on the channel. There has been nothing Nothing That I have done That has been significantly Uh atypical I have not gotten lucky as a matter of fact in a lot of capacities. I have gotten unlucky Okay, what makes me difference is my perseverance my temperance And my god-honest tolerance to market volatility because my market tolerance is absolutely a nine Absolutely hundred percent across the board But mine has also been evolved over the last three decades Of market volatility. I've seen I've seen a lot. I really have I got chris on the house. Good evening chris. Thanks for stopping by man The loyal patron to the community He's kind of a cornerstone in the channel. No pun intended Very cool stuff and shrees in the house shree. Good evening. Good evening to you man Says good evening to everybody. That's fantastic man and victors in the house man These are usually the heavy hitters that make their way into the channel and provide their support right away Very cool stuff Very happy with you guys and then matt right right behind is also weekly patron to the message for sure These these folks Would never scrutinize by some of the folks that I get comments and I'm like, I don't I don't recognize who this person is I invited him on the live stream I invite a lot of people who choose to scrutinize and use the bitch ass smoke screen of social media To scrutinize onto the live stream I'll give you 60 minutes. You can debate me I would give you a disclaimer. I have a sharp tongue But you're willing to come on if look if you're willing to throw venom through social media That it's suffice it to say that you're probably brave enough to come on and tell me to my face yes yes but I have narya as seen the individual this evening just like I'm about oh for 712 on my invitations to the Independent investor live stream For the trolls on social media who live a nominal life of pointing fingers at everybody else And failing to understand the power of the bathroom mirror Raymond's in the house Find the cut alive. Hey, you caught a good one tonight. Raymond. Very good Good stuff, man How do you know everybody very cool stuff? I'm glad to see a brother. It's very cool Got horn dogs in the house from the uk man. Very cool stuff I appreciate you, especially my international audience I know man. There's really good people in this country. It is sometimes americans get a bad rap For all the right reasons Seriously, we're careless with money We're careless with our own lives and health We're careless with the opportunity that we've been given 100% And I would presume that there's people in your fine country as well that are the same I I don't think this Message That you know is is acutely specific to any one specific country I just think that it really kind of comes within And people who really want to deploy this can deploy it no matter where they are on the globe Very cool stuff, man I'm cruising down here. I almost got through the comments not a huge gallery tonight, but pretty awesome You guys stayed with it the whole time really appreciate that we got less than 45 seconds I just bought a new stationary exercise bike. I hope that may be a peloton be kind of cool But they're fun And I'm on my bike and listen to me now That's awesome, man. Well, uh might I suggest some I don't know acdc ramstein metallica You know something awesome. I I'm not awesome. All right But making money is I I wish I could play guitar. I can't This is my passion and this is what I do And if there's one person that makes their way to the channel that can hear my message Be empowered by the message And they can change their life because of it. I'm all about it Hey guys, great company. Very good dad. Great to see you. I'm gonna chop off It's been a very intriguing week this week Very very satisfied. It's been just just awesome We're absolutely crushing it in the wide world of of ryan right now and we're going to continue to crush Until we get up to a point that's going to start getting some people's attention Then we're going to Enjoy the close-knit group of the community as an undiscovered channel on youtube And i'm happy doing it. I'm happy doing the message indefinitely Um, I'm not doing this to to grow the channel. I'm not doing this to be everybody's friend I'm not doing that. I'm doing it to convey a message for 60 short minutes a week And talk about stock the way that I think stock should be talked about talk about investing the way that investing should talk about Right talking about personal empowerment the way the people don't think that they Have the power to take i'm here to tell you that that power is there Take it It's yours. All right, my friends. Thank you so much for tuning into the fastest 60 minutes on youtube Be back with you next week on the independent investor channel live stream. Have a great weekend. We'll catch you next week