Dreams to Reality

A case of dejavú. Back on the paradise island of Koh Tao, and again the portfolio returns 100k SEK for the week. The three prominent stocks leading the move upwards is a combination of three waves of conviction that I had arrived at in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

In 2020 there was a coerced retraction of carbon fuels as an energy source with an intense focus on renewables/green energy as the only viable alternative. Instead of following the crowd, I opted sideways and doubled down on certain companies within the oil industry (Exxon Mobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies), I’ve traveled to many places in the world with the vast majority of it being underdeveloped. If these regions were to stand any chance of advancing their economies and standards of living, highly subsidized government incentives would spectacularly fail in providing the fuel source needed.

In 2022 the militaristic territorial dispute in Ukraine exposed the world’s dependence on carbon fuels. This bottleneck to provision sent oil companies profits soaring. What ensued was a scramble towards the oil industry. What was ignored was the tech industry (the very industry on the vanguard of the resurgence after 2020 pandemic). Acting in the opposite direction I started accumulating positions into tech stocks. Today, Nvidia is aggressively moving upwards with no sign of abating.

In 2023 the markets scrambled over tech stocks as we witnessed year 2000 like mania. “The magnificent 7” came into common vocabulary. Again looking where others weren’t, I started building positions on particular companies one of them being HomeDepot. It’s difficult to succinctly reason the nuances in these convictions. Elaboration is curtailed by parameters, and further this medium isn’t ideal for such purposes. One thing should stand clear however, you’ve got to be prepared to do what everyone else isn’t doing.

After 6 months taking a slower pace in Sweden, we’re finally back on the move again! This week we’re on the Thailand paradise island of Koh Tao!!

This week delivered another 100k+ week, with the long term holding of Exxon Mobil contributing a big portion of the move. Exxon has trended sideways for the better part of this year (after an uninterrupted surge since 2020), this has afforded me many opportunities to build even more into the position.

I’m an advocate of holding onto your correct decisions and never abandoning them to trim the position , take money off the table or to re-weight or ‘optimize’ the portfolio. The stock markets presents tens of thousands of different options to an investor. This makes the selection process extremely difficult, so when you make a correct decision, it’s my understanding that you squeeze as much potential as you can from those choices.

Another 100k+ week racked up, this time whilst on holidays in the Greek isle of Rhodes! The markets have nearly regained all of 2022 with the S&P 500 pushing towards all time high’s. The tech sector has been instrumental in the upward surge with the Nasdaq rallying 45% ytd! Some components of the Nasdaq (Nvidia 226% ytd, Meta 160%, Tesl 146% etc) are responsible for this momentum. This portfolio was fortunate enough to preempt this move by building positions in the tech sector in 2022.

Half way through the year. June was a massive month for the stock markets with everything across the board rising. Some tech stocks reached all time highs pulling the rest of the market sentiment north. This could perhaps signal the confirmation of a bull run, tech stocks generally recover aggressively in a market downturn.

It was a strong finish to the month with the portfolio notching another SEK 100k+ week. Keep in mind these 100k+ weeks are not linear, the markets are never so. It’s been a haphazard journey and will only continue to be so. Stay invested, keep investing and be in it for the long haul.

This investing journey started way back in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. There was an unbelievable divide, on the one hand was struggle and financial uncertainty, and on the other, an explosion of wealth on a scale we’d never seen before. From that financial crisis, and the subsequent actions taken by central banks the beginnings of trillion dollar entities emerged. I didn’t understand this dynamic but I knew it was the path that I had to pursue.

I believed that what one person has achieved, another can replicate. Imitation is a learning strategy that is hardwired and essential to our evolution. And so with his concept I looked around at who was achieving the results that I wanted for myself.

The first figure that I came across was George Soros. He sensationally bet that the GB Pound £ could not hold the peg to the ERM (precursor to the modern day Euro €) and from this perspective of the world, he cashed out in excess of a billion dollars.

At the time, those all around me emphasized the importance of education and university. This was the correct path to follow. However, extrapolating forwards I could not find a single example of a university graduate making anywhere near the amount Soros made in a single day, in fact most on the Forbes billionaires list are university dropouts!

Instead of pursuing the advice (well meaning of course) by others I instead chose to ‘imitate’ Soros, Buffett, Lynch and ect. My thinking went as follows, if I could just imitate 0.1% of what George Soros did, that would yield far greater results than the run-of-the-mill path advised.

Today the investments in this portfolio returned 6 figures (in SEK of course) in a single day. To some, this amount is negligible, to me it’s the fruition of a vision that I conceived a long time ago and worked hard for. It’s evidence that if you want it enough and prepared to do the necessary things, then what one person can accomplish, another can also achieve. There is a plethora of all possible outcomes, you get to chose which outcome you want to have.

The next level in this investment journey is a 7 figure return for the day. Hopefully this inspires someone to act.

Strung together two weeks of consecutive 100k+ weeks. This is is due in part to selections made in the technology sector last year finally starting to make some moves. Mainly, the surging USD is the main catalyst for the upward momentum in the portfolio. This will more than likely change early of next week when the politicians in the US complete their political posturing and agree to raise the debt ceiling further.

A further explanation as to why the Nasdaq has been flying of late is perhaps the markets have already priced in the effects of both parties in the US coming to terms.

In the short term let the markets ebb and flow, we’re in it for the long run!

It has been a choppy couple of months, having burst out of the starting gates with 21% return for the first 3 months of the year, this portfolio has given up a lot of that ground. This is due to some heavy positions like Exxon Mobil having slowed down from its rampant surge over the last 3 years.

Throughout the course of 2022, a change of direction was implemented and it’s only now that the result has begun to be noticeable. This portfolio is bullish on both the US markets and the currency. Of late there has been endless talks about de-dollarization and the fragility of the US status as the world’s reserve currency. Although the thesis remains bullish on the Dollar and the bright prospects of the US markets, this portfolio has begun a slight shift into domestic markets. But the bulk of this portfolio’s weighting is in the US. Following the advice of a sage from Nebraska, it has been a terrible mistake for 200 years to bet against America. Now is not a good time to start.

Nice way to end the month of March. The banking situation that’s played out in the US has wobbled the markets. The Central bank’s continued inclination to expand the balance sheet once again props up asset prices.

This insistence of central bank policy to forego austerity will cause even greater problems down the road. Excess liquidity in the market always condenses to assets, thereby exacerbating the existing asset bubble.

Inflation in the Euro area increased from 2.6% in 2021 to 8.4% in 2022 and is hovering around that number going into the opening stanza of 2023. The divide will continue to widen between those holding assets and those who elect to sit on the sidelines.

3 years on from the bottom of the market crash due to the corona pandemic. Every cloud has a silver lining. No matter how dire the situation. There always exist uncertainty in every worthwhile pursuit, this is especially true in investing. It is during the most uncertain times there are moments of asymmetrical reward to risk.

Historically, the stock markets inch forward appx 10% per year (in the aggregate). Crunching the numbers, this means you double your money every 7.2 years. The juxtaposition of the darkest times unveiling immense opportunities can drastically cut down that amount of time.

The beautiful thing about the markets is that there is never space for respite. Here is where the magic happens, if you can summon the resolve.

3 years into my investing journey and 185% later!📈

When you look at it like this, its just a graph and a number on a screen, but in reality it’s so much more than that…

That number has opened up to endless opportunities.
It’s the reason I can travel the world whilst still being able to progress.
It’s the reason I believe I can reach further in life than I ever thought was possible.
It’s the reason I can make a difference in this world.

Everyone’s journey won’t look the same but with patience and dedication nothing is impossible.

Forever grateful, forever learning.

/ Linnea

What a dream start to 2023. The opening stanza has been rewarding for those who braved the turmoil of 2022, in terms of staying invested, and doubling down on their convictions.

Like most endeavors of worthwhile value, it requires stoic resolve in the face of overwhelming uncertainty. It’s at these junctures of high duress, that fragments the extraordinary result from the average. At the height of uncertainty is where asymmetrical risk/reward results are possible.

It’s still early days, but after a tough 2022 we celebrate our wins where we can. Stay invested, keep investing.

-Kirk

Arguably the most difficult decision in investing, isn’t which stock to buy, in which industry, and at what price?Rather, it’s when to abandon a losing position, or when to take realized gains.

To this there is no default answer, no blanket approach to apply across all examples. The parameter to which you sell out of a position should be determined well in advance before executing a buy order. This eliminates emotional decisions made during times of exuberance or distress.

Personally, I buy into positions with intention to hold forever. Although this sentiment is well trodden and excessively regurgitated, it’s rarely acted upon.

At its core, across a selection of decisions that one makes within any category of choices a general distribution occurs. Appx 30% of the choices turn really bad, at the other end of the spectrum 30% turn out to be spectacular. The remaining decisions are neither atrocious nor exceptional. When the mean is tallied it usually equates to appx a 10% improvement across the whole. This round-about distribution occurs across many selections that we make. I.e movies watched , songs listened to, conversations had.

Just as I would politely decline those conversations that were not invigorating, turn off that lackluster movie or change the song that wasn’t it, the same applies for electing which stock decision to abandon. After a considerable period of time, the positions to let go present themselves.

We can improve this ratio of distribution incrementally with endeavors such as educating ourselves etc, but the portion where we are incorrect will always occur, no matter how smart we attempt to become or willful we apply ourselves.

I never abandon a profitable position for the reason that when I’m correct, the decision is EXTREMELY correct! As Peter Lynch attested to, selling your winners and holding your losers is like cutting the flowers and watering the weeds!

First week down. First 100k week for the year. There was a time not long ago where a 5k week was extraordinary. Once it became a regular occurrence, the sight was lifted to 10k per week. This in turn is now 100k. Into the further there will be more 0’s added to this number.

The point I’m making is once your investing snowball is in motion, it becomes an unstoppable force. Compounding, as Albert Einstein alluded to; is the 8th wonder of the world. Whether you intend to increase your asset base or not, once compounding takes over, it becomes an inevitability.

The most important aspect of investing is to just start. The second most important component is to stay invested. If you can find the nerve to double down when fear is at its extreme, this puts the compounding effect on steroids.

We falsely imagine that one’s performance cannot be achieved by another, we rationalize that we’re not smart enough, experienced, luck is involved etc. This is just utterly false. We are a mimicking species, it’s evolutionarily hardwired. In all areas of life this is true but in investing.

Break the cycle. Want more. Achieve more. Turn that dream into a reality!!

#2023

Year in review. Not one for the highlight reels to say the least. There was really nowhere to hide as all asset categories took a one way ticket. A bullet train. South. On Express.

What to salvage. Plenty. How about internal resolve. Those who braved the avalanche this year will come to be rewarded in future years. Those who doubled down will deviate the trajectory of their lives in unimaginable ways. The only platform of safety and surety in investing is into the future, with hindsight. From that vantage point, the most obvious times to ‘ship it in’ is during the times of most duress. Conversely the most discernible time of regret is those exact same moments, remaining motionless, whilst others find the resolve to decisively act.

Persistent adverse effects due to overt pandemic measures (fiscally, monetarily, geopolitically), was amplified by unfortunate aggressions on the Eastern European frontier. What cascaded amongst a wide range of austerity was high altitude inflation, and aggressive interest rates hikes clamoring in arrears.

As always, it’s best to try and stay ahead of the curve. This portfolio has outperformed due to preparatory investments as the 12 year bull run heightened. And so in this environment the shift in strategy has begun.

The second pic displays my secondary portfolio. Over the course of this year a more ‘growth’ orientation was implemented. In this portfolio, the focus is to take the momentary, immediate ‘hit’ in order to ‘set up’ for the eventual upturn!

The equity markets has been a robust, historical demonstration of an unstoppable, mechanical march north. The world markets have endured horrific intercontinental wars, crippling depressions, political upheavals, presidential assassinations etc etc. and here we are, with the highest standards of living history has ever witnessed.

This progress isn’t going to stop. Look forward optimistically, with historical evidence confirming this.

For 2023, I think it’ll be more of the same. Some will see this as unfortunate. Others will see this as an opportunity. The half glass full side is where you’ll find me. Hopefully we’ll see you there.

-Kirk. 2022 out.

The final day of 2022 and the results are in.

It has definitely been a very challenging year on the markets in so many ways. With the residue of the measures taken during the pandemic, an ongoing recession and the horrific conflict in Ukraine that shook everyone, both on a personal level as well as the markets, that resulted in an oil shortage, an energy crisis and further fiscal stimulus.

My performance this year ended up 13,62% in the green. Considering the circumstances this is a number that I’m very proud to have accomplished, but at the same time I feel like I could’ve done better, isn’t that always the case?

As you can see on the second picture, the first 6 months of my 2022 stayed pretty stagnant as a result of me shifting my portfolio over from being heavily growth focused to a more stable income focused strategy, as well as from the Swedish markets to the US. It then took a couple of months for this to be put in place until it really took off. My only regret was probably that I didn’t trust my gut and went through with it a lot sooner. Hindsight is always a beautiful thing 😉

So if it’s something I’ve learnt this year it is to always trust your instincts and to pull the trigger.

I’m so excited to see what 2023 has in store and to reach even higher next year!

I wish you all a happy new year! 🥂

Thank you for joining us on this journey! 🫶🏼

/ Linnea

November summary 💰

Kirk’s to the left👈🏼
Linnea’s to the right 👉🏼

November has been a good month on the market and it looks like things are finally (fingers crossed 🤞🏼) turning back around! Favorable key metrics (CPI inflation) alongside with federal reserves and central banks encouraging outlook resulted in this momentary upturn 📈

The market’s velocity moves the highest at the start of the new market cycle, could this be it? 💵

What did your month look like?

All the way from Colombia we now got a new episode out for you! 🥳

This week it’s packed with everything from how to identify your growth stocks to how to find the perfect broker! 💰

Make sure to check it out and let us know what you think! 🙌🏼

Cheers to Friday and a new episode being out! 🥂

Check it out on: https://dreamstoreality.buzzsprout.com/ ✨

The time has finally come to publish the very first episode of the new "Dreams to Reality" podcast! 🤩

In October last year we decided to take the final step into making our dream come true - to travel the world full time.

We quit our jobs, got rid of our apartment and waved goodbye to family and friends. After being on the road, traveling the world for the last 11 months, we decided to start this podcast where we share everything about our adventures and experiences. We will also break down the concept of investing, the tool that has made it all possible, and our journey towards financial freedom.

Tune in to follow this journey with us and to start working towards turning your dreams into reality!

https://dreamstoreality.buzzsprout.com/share

/ Linnea and Kirk