Come Along for the Ride: A First Time Investor

At the beginning of June, I bought my first stocks. Since then, I’ve been learning as much as I can about investing in the stock market, and what stocks have the most promise right now. I used the app and broker Public to purchase the stocks commission-free. So, if you’ve ever considering investing in the stock market, but wasn’t sure how to, come along for the ride.

As you can probably tell from my holdings, I dig the EV (electric vehicle) sector, but I’m working on building a portfolio that is diversified. Each week, I’ll be sharing my gains and losses, and maybe some news on stocks that caused me to buy or sell. This is NOT investment advice at all! I’m a first-time investor. We’re going to be learning together. Anyway, here is my current portfolio (this will be changing very soon).

Right now, I own stock in the following companies:

  • Affirm
  • Sunrun
  • Apple
  • Fisker
  • Ayro
  • GM
  • Barkbox
  • Arcimoto
  • Airbnb

Last week, I added Ayro, Airbnb, and GM, but on Monday I’ll be selling GM and investing those funds into Paypal, Microsoft, Sofi and Chewy. I’m also going to invest into Canoo, an electric car maker that will soon be building a massive factory in Oklahoma. Their concept vehicles are enticing, but I want to watch them for a bit, and see how they progress over the next few months before I sink too much cash. Zillow is another company I’ll be purchasing stock from.

The housing market is doing good right now, but even if it tanks in the near future, Zillow looks like it will still relevant and profitable. It has useful tools for both buyers and sellers. They’re still fine-tuning their z-estimates for home values, but it’s reasonably accurate. The company is positioned to continue to do well and grow for years to come. It also helps diversify my investments by tapping into the housing market sector.

Short-Term Stock I Own (Some might turn into long-term stock):

  • Arcimoto
  • Ayro
  • Fisker
  • Canoo

The above-mentioned are all electric vehicle makers that I see a lot of promise in. The stock for these companies are affordable now, and if any of them take off, I could make a nice profit in a fairly short time period. I’m too late to the game for Tesla, though if it dips considerably I’ll invest in it as well. Apple is also developing an electric vehicle, so I’ll continue to purchase more stock from them.

My short-term stocks are more of a gamble, but I’m keeping a close eye on them. We’ll see how they do over the next few months, and then I’ll reevalute.

Long-Term Stock I Plan to Keep for Years:

  • Affirm
  • Barkbox
  • Sunrun
  • Apple
  • Airbnb
  • Paypal
  • Microsoft
  • Chewy
  • Zillow

I might come across a company here and there that’s too good to pass up, but these are the stocks that I want to hold onto and see how they perform. I have no plans to sell my long-term stock, thus I’m not worried about daily fluctuations because these are well-run companies that have staying power. Over the next 10 years, it’s very reasonable to expect growth.

My plan is to hold onto all of these stocks (both short and long-term) for at least the next 6 months to gauge how they’ll perform. I’ll be investing about $100 every month to begin with, so we’re not talking big bucks here, but enough to make a difference 10-15 years from now. Right now my total holdings have a value of $1,364.70, so I’m not Warren Buffet just yet. ;)

Weekly Results

Every week I’ll share the results of my investments, so maybe we can both learn from them.

Weekly Stock Performance (June 14-18)

  • Affirm – gained 0.3% (+$0.20)
  • Sunrun – gained 17.2% (+7.75)
  • Apple – gained 2.4% (+3.11)
  • Fisker – lost 5.3% (-$0.98)
  • Ayro = lost 2.9% (-$0.16)
  • GM – lost 2.2% (-$1.30)
  • Barkbox – lost 10% ($1.20) – Biggest loss
  • Arcimoto – gained 28.3% (+$3.25) – Biggest gain
  • Airbnb – gained 2.7% (+$4.08)

For the week, I lost 0.81%, or $11.10, so it was a down week for me. Since I began investing on June 2nd, 2021 I’ve gained 3%, or $39.70. Note during this time period I’ve bought and sold stock, while trying to decide on what my portfolio is going to consist of. There might be some continued tweaking here and there, but I’m going to hold onto all of these stocks for the next six months to see how they do.

Eventually, I’ll be investing into some index funds to diversify more, but I’m willing to risk more right now for the possibility of some short-term gains. If that works out, I’ll have more to invest in less risky stock later.