Stock whisperer: part two
Please read part one first, or this won't make sense.
So the second pic below is very different to the 2024 pic. Not up over 1000%, only up 86%. That's not bad actually. But look at the volatility. In 2024, $Rocket Lab USA, Inc.(RKLB)$ just went up. In 2025 it definitely went up massively as well, but it also dropped, same for other stocks. It was not uncommon for me to wake up in the morning and see my portfolio up or down up to $5000 IN A DAY!
Buying calls were also less attractive because they were all then becoming very expensive. And are even more expensive in 2026. in 2024 I traded on margin an that was fine. In 2025 that same margin, with the considerable volatility resulted in about 5 small margin calls.
Lucky none resulted in any loss. I lost money on bad decisions on some calls I brought. And two stock picks that in hindsight were wrong. $Venture Global, Inc.(VG)$ killed me. A loss of over $3,500 early on. Brought it in the $16 dollar range, and it dropped as low as $7 during the year. But don't feel sorry for me. Still made $21k in 2025. and in late 2025 I just kept buying it, my dca came down to around $8 and I sold half my position in January this year a nice profit, taking my money off the table. And more importantly, reduced my margin.
In 2025 I also pulled out a significant amount of money. In 2024, I started with $10k. And pulled that out as everything went up. So just house money. In 2025 I pulled out $20k. $15k was used to purchase a classic vehicle that I use daily, but that I strongly believe will appreciate over time.
Long story short, I trimmed my massive positions in one stock in particular that had gone crazy but was now just making my entire portfolio to volatile.
I think as investors we all have our break point. Sure if I still held twice what I did hold in rocket lab, well my portfolio would be worth a lot more. But I don't care. For me, I began with $10k of my money in tiger. Today my portfolio in tiger is still worth $30k, and I have drawn out $30k approximately.
And to be fair, I needed a vehicle. My old one died. And it just happened that I brought my dream vehicle.
So let's review some clear takeaways. Then I'll move on to 2026.
1) what works at one point in time, may not work at another point in time. We must constantly reevaluate our strategies.
2) I firmly believe in finding a stock you want to hold long term and accumulating over time. I'm not a trader. But sometimes necessity requires sales. I hated selling rklb. But it was just too much volatility for me.
3) I first started investing in the stock market in 1987. So I truly understand what can and will happen. You can loose 70% of everything in days. To emotionally cope with this. Well it's easy. Over time, take your money off the table. I can happily sit back see my portfolio drop 70%, well maybe not happily. But you get it, it's a temporary loss of profit, not a loss of your savings. Even if you pulled money out for a trip to Europe, that's a life changing memory. You can reflect on that and conclude, that the current loss is insignificant. Because the stock market gave you something. And it owes you nothing.
Ok let's move on to my strategy for 2026. The dark horse. I think it will mirror 2025. Huge volatility in growth stocks, particularly chip and space stocks. Volatility presents opportunities. I will accumulate on lows. Perhaps sell on highs. I like power companies, actually all utilities, data centers, oil and gas, mining companies. Basically the entire value chain. Obviously the choice is massive, and you need to sort the good from the bad, and the ugly. I do not expect 1000% returns this year, but I do expect a double, 100%.
My growth stocks have gone up so much in the last two years that the best I can expect from them is a double with serious volatility. So I want plodders that will just double with little volatility.
Still looking for a dark horse, I am on record two years ago explaining my thesis for rocket lab. Poor them trying to tell me I was wrong. No invest in a funeral home, lol. Today that buys you a coffee. my investment thesis buys you the coffee company.
As always happy trading my tiger friends. I will keep giving you my analysis of the company's I'm building positions in and why. But do your own DD
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