Resuming my equity investment, after 1 year

A little less than 1 year ago, I made my last equity trades, right before the market dropped significantly, and they were sell trades, to cash out part of my portfolio. Don’t get me wrong, I was not immune to the market crash, and my stock portfolio was down by a significant amount as well. Come on, I bought Netflix and Paypal when they were near peak, how can I not make any loss? Those that I sold then were the few counters that were still in the money, although just by a little. To be specific, I sold Disney, Amazon and Apple, and used the money for expenses on my new apartment. Since then, I have not bought any new stock, and my portfolio laid dormant throughout the whole market crash amidst the crazy interest rate hike.

So, you might ask me, why I start investing again now. The answer is pretty simple, I believe that the market has gone through the worst, and although there may be some more tumbles and drops ahead, in the medium to long term, it will recover, and the current price is good to buy. I may have missed the bottom, but my financial situation then did not allow me to “buy the dip”. And since I am not an active trader, it does not matter much to me the price difference between then and now. After all, I am still holding on my lost bag of stocks, since I don’t have any push to sell them at loss, and I believe they will come back in the future. That’s why I am buying again, bit by bit, true to the spirit of dollar-cost-averaging. And what did I buy, and why I chose them? Well, here are my latest stock addition to my little tiny portfolio that I wish to nurture and grow over the years.

1. Disney (DIS): I bought Disney again, almost the same amount that I had sold before. I am a Disney fan, and have been for a long time. I subscribe to their Disney+ service, and I watch almost all their movies, so by owning Disney share, I can benefit from part of the money I spend on their goods and services, right? :)
2. Apple (APPL): Same like Disney, I bought back almost the same amount I had sold before. And same like Disney, I have been an Apple fanboy since forever. I have spent thousands on their products so far, and it only makes sense that I earn back from that through owning part of the company whose bottom line is also contributed by me.
3. Microsoft (MSFT): If I have to pick a company that can compete with Apple for the title of the most valuable listed company in the world, I would pick Microsoft, not Amazon, not Meta, and not even the almighty Alphabet. Why? Because, even though Microsoft is not as sexy as the other tech companies, it has survived a long time in that super competitive industry, and still managed to stay around the top, while many of its peers have long faded away. It has a strong and loyal customer base of millions of companies and billions of Windows users. And although it lost its way for some time, chasing wrong products and losing market share, under the steady leadership of the current CEO, it seems to have turned around, finding its feet and focusing on the products and services that are most profitable. Windows is still its giant cash cow, and Azure is also bringing more and more money, and with the strategic shift to AI and investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT software recently, Microsoft shows that it is not only the hero in the past, but a force to reckon with in the future as well.
4. American Express (AMEX): I was not very much into payment stocks before, especially after my investment in Paypal turned sour (and is still pretty much under the water now). However, my mindset changed after watching a video on Youtube about Amex and its unique network and business design. It piqued my interest, and as I studied more about the company, I found that it has a small but stable share of the market, and with its unique network, where it issues cards directly to users and not through banks like Martercard and Visa, it can gather much more information about the customer’s spending habit, and in this time and age, information is gold.I also found that is is one of the largest chunk of Warren Buffet’s multi billion dollar portfolio. If someone like Warren Buffet can hold shares of American Express, why should I not give it a go?

And there you have, my latest equity buys. And although this is not any financial or investment advice, I am quite happy with them, and I think I will start investing again, now that the market has been alive again. But as always, no margin or risky derivatives for me. Just my own money, and good old boring limit / market orders.. That, I won’t deviate from. Never before, and most likely never after.