Why I Can’t Buy Single Stocks
Yesterday Meta shares tumbled 24.5% after a poor earnings report and concerns over the company’s spending on the Metaverse.
This reminds me of when I invested heavily in a penny mining stock almost 20 years ago. I had just started working my first job after graduating and I had some money to start investing. I was GLUED to my computer watching every trade because each $0.01 increase in the stock price meant a $5,000 gain for me! Needless to say, the volatility on the stock was very high and I ended up getting shingles because of the stress involved watching my portfolio see swings of $10k, $20k, even $50k in A DAY! (this was more than I was making in a YEAR).
Looking back, this was ridiculously stupid of me to risk my hard-earned money on a gamble like this – and it truly was betting. To this day I still can’t buy individual stocks because even the best, biggest companies in the world can see ridiculously large swings in value in a single day. It is gut wrenching to watch a stock you bought plunge 67% in just a year.
Now I invest in real estate or index funds, and while the market might be soft right now, I know I will never see the value of one of my properties drop 24% in a single day. Not to mention my real estate portfolio now pays me dividends through cash flow and mortgage principal repayment EVERY month – something that most stocks don’t do.
Now I sleep easily playing the real estate “long game”.
