Diversified Bullish

The Right Stock at the Wrong Time

You shouldn't time the market. This is one of the wisdoms investors repeat to themselves over and over again. Yet, by investing in single stocks, you accept a certain degree of required market timing, the entry and the exit.

Market timing matters. However, if your holding period is for many years, it will likely be irrelevant.

You can have the right stock, but you buy or sell at the worst time. It's happened to me many times. This is the reality of stock picking. You need to get the timing right, or you'll lose money.

A stock that has worked for you in the past can turn suddenly, luring you to continue buying at high prices. This is probably the mistake I'm most guilty of. When a stock suddenly rises, my instinct is not to sell. It's to buy more. This is greed manifested.

I say the toughest scenarios to deal with are either: - stock went up a lot really fast - stock went down really fast or over a longer time period, now I'm bagholding and need triple the gains just to break even

Both are problematic scenarios for investors. If a stock goes up, then roundtrips the gains, it's hard to be sitting with the bag. Emotionally, we tend to experience frustration and grow impacient with a stock when this happens. It's difficult to not kick yourself when you could have locked in profits. Avoid this "shoulda woulda coulda" error. Don't let poor timing cloud your investment judgement. Easier said than done.

If you find yourself easily upset in these situations, a heavier allocation to index funds makes the most sense. Don't beat yourself up playing "shoulda woulda coulda". It's easy to buy the right stock at the wrong time. Don't let it compound into further mistakes.

Stocks I Bought That Turned Into Multibaggers

This post details the stocks I bought that went multibagger. They went up at least 100% and sometimes more. In eacg position, I continued buying shares. This states the maximum multiple achieved from my lowest entry price lot. At current time, I'm currently holding 8 stocks that have gone multibagger (3x or better). I also included 4 stocks and 1 ETF that have doubled (2-baggers).

Here are the current multibaggers I'm holding in unrealized gains. They are listed in order of highest multiplier to lowest. I've included 6 points for each investment:

• company name
• year bought
• lowest price paid
• price today
• % return
• multiplier on investment

The Multibaggers

TSLA

• Company: Tesla
• Year: 2019
• Lowest Entry Price: $17.65
• Price Today: $435
• Return: 2,369%
• Multiplier: 24.6x

NVDA

• Company: Nvidia
• Year: 2020
• Lowest Entry Price: $12.11
• Price Today: $211
• Return: 1,643%
• Multiplier: 17.4x

DFTX

• Company: Definium Therapeutics
• Year: 2023 (FKA "MNMD")
• Lowest Entry Price: $2.46
• Price Today: $24.19
• Return: 885%
• Multiplier: 9.8x

CRWD

• Company: Crowdstrike
• Year: 2023
• Lowest Entry Price: $99.26
• Price Today: $730
• Return: 636%
• Multiplier: 7.3x

SPOT

• Company: Spotify
• Year: 2022
• Lowest Entry Price: $74.15
• Price Today: $510
• Return: 571%
• Multiplier: 6.7x

NET

• Company: Cloudflare
• Year: 2022
• Lowest Entry Price: $39.63
• Return: 510%
• Multiplier: 6x

GOOG

• Company: Google
• Year: 2022
• Lowest Entry Price: $91.71
• Price Today: $380
• Return: 310%
• Multiplier: 4x

COIN

• Company: Coinbase
• Year: 2023
• Lowest Entry Price: $57.04
• Price Today: $173
• Return: 205%
• Multiplier: 3x

The Doubles Club

MSFT

• Company: Microsoft
• Year: 2020
• Lowest Entry Price: $174.36
• Price Today: $450
• Return: 158%
• Multiplier: 2.5x

EWY

• Company: South Korea ETF (Primarily Samsung + SK Hynix)
• Year: 2025
• Lowest Entry Price: $89.36
• Price Today: $205
• Return: 130%
• Multiplier: 2.3x

SPCE

• Company: Virgin Galactic
• Year: 2025
• Lowest Entry Price: $2.87
• Price Today: $6.18
• Return: 115%
• Multiplier: 2x

RDDT

• Company: Reddit
• Year: 2025
• Lowest Entry Price: $87.69
• Price Today: $176
• Return: 100%
• Multiplier: 2x

Conclusion

Past performance is no indication of future results. I consider myself lucky to have hit a few multibaggers in my investing career. This data is presented for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Multibagger gains can disappear, or they can continue growing. I occasionally take profits to de-risk and have done so with nearly all these positions. I think when I consider what has worked in the past, it helps to find the same or similar patterns in the future. Of course, we can never know which stocks will "work" and which stocks will lose us money. Single stockpicking can create market beating returns, but it is not an easy feat to achieve. Google is a great example of how sentiment can sour and create feelings of doubt in an investor. Staying the course isn't easy. Great rewards come to those who don't give up when the going gets tough.

Bagholding Nintendo Stock

I've held Nintendo ADRs (NTDOY) for 5 years and 3 months at current time. Over time, I have realized about $400 of after tax gains. I feel the stock has been kneecapped due to the ongoing memory chip shortage. Nintendo needs chips to make its consoles.

In retrospect, I managed the position well. Even though I ended up buying the top above $24/ADR, equivalent to 0.25 shares on the Japanese exchange. Today those same ADRs hover around $11.

After scaling up the position into the Switch 2 launch last year, I realized Nintendo might be considered vulnerable to memory draught or cost hikes. As the memory price increase trend became apparent, I noted that Nintendo shares were underperforming. I sold off some shares on the way down from $22, sold again at $16. With the story around Nintendo continuing to sour, I finally cleared my lowest cost $10 and $12 lots at a small profit recently. I asked myself, "how bad can this get for Nintendo?" In terms of supply chain and pricing, Nintendo couldn't have forseen the memory demand AI trend. They sold more than 17 million Switch 2 consoles in 2025. It beat its initial projection of 15 million consoles. Yet, the stock hasn't reflected this momentum.

I am still long $3122 invested and down 41% on my remaining shares, in the hole $1,288. Therefore, I now need a 69% gain to break even. This is what happens when you buy into the hype of a big launch and then get blindsided by the memory supply chain. I haven't incurred any losses yet on the shares I sold. At the top, I held 300 ADRs. Today I'm holding 165. Nearly half of my peak position has been moved into other investments. Long term, I might tax loss harvest from the position if it doesn't turn around for Nintendo. Fundamentally, I think they are executing well at a high level but have found themselves on the wrong side of memory chip macro.

In the end, I underperformed the market with Nintendo. I'm planning to keep the rest of my shares and continue collecting dividend income. I needed to take more off the table in the months following the Switch 2 launch last year. Instead, I realized my error as the memory impacts began to show in the stock price. I took action to reduce my cost basis from approximately $4,800 to $3,122 by taking profits as things played out the past year.

At its peak, my Nintendo shares reached a market value of $6,500 in 2025. I didn't know it then, but the bottom was destined to fall out of the stock. In the midst of raging bull market. This is why stings a bit more. I could have just bought an index and been coasting. Yet another example of how stockpickers tend to underperform. I could have bought more SK Hynix or Samsung instead. Instead I bought Nintendo. Stockpicking isn't easy. With better active management, I might feel differently about the stock. The opportunity costs make it hard to stick with the plan. But why should I stay with it if I feel other stocks are better. That's why I sold 35% of my investment cost basis. Nintendo's share price is -35% year to date.

There is a lesson here, but I'm not done holding Nintendo. I guess the lesson is don't only look at the company level execution to assess fundamentals. Don't only look at the end product. Consider how the product is sourced. In this case, macro factors and tariffs KO'd the stock. The narrative became "Nintendo is a memory loser". The outlook shifted in an unexpected and novel way. Nintendo relies on a commodity, memory chips, to make its Switch consoles. AI ate the memory supply. Did the market overestimate the impact on Nintendo? Will they rebound? The Switch 2 launch fundamentals seem to be going with a new popular Pokemon game launching recently and generating sales. The Nintendo IP is deep and should not be underestimated. I'm keeping my bet that they will weather the storm.

In spite of the perplexing way the stock reacted as the Switch 2 launch unfolded, I've decided not to sell it all. I guess that makes me a Nintendo bull and bagholder. The rest of my remaining shares are underwater. When the market is moving the other way, you've got to assess why you didn't benefit like other companies.

My conviction has been shaken by the raw realities of procurement. Nintendo's place in the supply chain had never entered my mind when I bought my first ADRs in February 2021. With my conviction tested, reducing position size seemed sensible. Active approach seems to have been the right move for this one. I now feel 35% less pain letting this stock ride, because that's how much I reduced my investment before it got to this point. Is this the bottom? Or will I be in Nintendo stock purgatory until I die? I was told stocks go up, buy and hold, right? We'll see.

Live Your Life Like it is a Business

Cash Flow

The best businesses have a free cash flow that allows them to invest in the business, buy back shares, pay a dividend, pay down debt or build cash reserves. Likewise, you will be in a stronger position with a cash flowing job or business.

Investments

Nvidia is the top dog in the AI boom. However, it is still investing into other companies in related supply chain. They are growing their business by making partnerships with the hyperscalers. They are allocating their capital. Last week, in their Q1 2026 earnings report, they raised the dividend 25x from $0.01 to $0.25 per share. This is another example of the levers available to companies to allocate capital in addition to buybacks. We should also be tactical investors in order to grow our capital. Money invested in the stock market will tend to appreciate over time. Nvidia knows this and so should we.

Real Estate

A business needs an office, storefront or equipment to run. In the average person's case, we need a place to live and sometimes a car as well. We all need to live somewhere.

Operating Costs

Your lifestyle is unique to you. The things you like to do. The places you like to go. How you get there. It all adds up. Rent or mortgage payment or if you've already own your house. Food. Cutting your costs is usually a good idea. A business spends with expected return on investment. We should do the same. However some costs of living are incurred with depreciating value, like a car. I personally haven't owned a car for 4+ years. I saved significant sums by living in a city and using public transportation or bicycle. All these tradeoffs in life impact your operating costs each month, the costs incurred while you live your life.

Solvency

A rule in business and in life is that we must remain solvent. We can't afford to overspend and deplete our resources. Live well, but within your means. Businesses are responsible to its shareholders to reap the benefits of its capital. It must not go bankrupt. Neither can we. We must live in a balanced way to preserve solvency.

Pivot

You don't need to always do the same thing. You can shift your job, your relationships, your location or any other part of your life. Businesses must also know when to pivot from mail-in DVDs to streaming, for example at Netflix. Ford stock is bouncing recently on their announcment to pivot into the energy business with their batteries to service growing data center demand. It's an unexpected shift from the automaker.

Differentiate and Out-Execute

Skate where the puck is going to be. Easier said than done. In your life, you should try to differentiate yourself in skillset and the kind of person you are in general. Don't paint yourself as one of the herd. Once you decide what you're aiming for, strive to execute better than everyone else. Someone else could imitate you, but not achieve your quality. Brands like Apple, Ikea and Costco. They all approach their business with top execution of their high-level strategy. Customers love them.

Take Moonshots

Take some chances on opportunities with possiblity for outsized gain. The moonshots aka "other bets" division at Google is an example of how they allocated to longshot bets outside their core competency at the time. Waymo is one of those "other bets". Its valuation continues to swell as it grows with time. Make sure you're allocating at least a little capital to moonshots.

Be Careful With Debt

Going into debt is a tactical move when done in the right conditions. However, going into debt to buy a car, for example, is highly questionable unless it enables your source of income. Businesses sometimes use debt to run and invest in their business. However, the best type of business is one with healthy free cash flow that can fund operations rather than via debt. On a personal finance level, stay disciplined with your credit cards.

Diversify If Possible

Companies with multiple sources of revenue are more durable. Disney has its theme parks cash cow, but its also reaping at the box office. It's also profitable in streaming. That's 3 ways they are winning. Similarly, we should diversify our streams of income. Having a job is great, but what about a side hustle? That's how you get ahead and build resiliency.

Strategically Build Cash Position

Sometimes it makes sense to hold more cash for the extra optionality. Ideally, we want to be fully deployed. Sometimes we should be like Berkshire Hathaway, who has accumulated an excessively large cash position in recent years. In our case, holding cash ensures we are able to pay the bills or use it for repairs on our house. It has the same function for businesses. They can pay bills, pay their shareholders or invest in the business. This is why as investors, we want to err on the side of full deployment. However, we can't ignore the function of cash in facilitating our day to day life.

Getting Back Into Solar Stocks Via TAN ETF

I have written in the past about my failed Solar investments, First Solar (FSLR), Sunrun (RUN) and Enphase Energy (ENPH). When I followed these companies, I felt myself a bit out of my comfort zone for a stock pick. I sold all my shares of these 3 stocks in 2025. I justified it by saying I couldn't convict myself to buy more and saw it as an error to buy at high valuations. So I reallocated the funds elsewhere seeking better opportunities after approximately 3 years holding.

Though I believed in our long term solar future, I lacked conviction at the individual company level. It seemed that external forces could strip profits away easily. One swift legislative change could dramatically impact a company's operations at any given time.

I believed in the long term solar trend and still do. Today, I've moved to express that in my stock portfolio with TAN ETF. TAN is the Invesco Solar ETF. It contains First Solar as its largest holding, followed by other companies I've held in the past like Enphase Energy and Sunrun. I didn't have faith in any of these companies to reap the ever growing solar total addressable market. In this case, I am happy to hold the ETF and let someone else manage the allocations after my own mishaps trying to ride individual solar companies.

In my experience, it was tough to decipher the unique industry macro in the short to mid-term for any given solar operator. I bought the dip in 2022, but it kept dipping in Enphase Energy and Sunrun. I ended up down big with substantial capital loss. I sold both for tax loss harvesting. So far I haven't regretted it. This is my warning for anyone who dares to buy individual solar stocks, beware. I have opted to go with a solar ETF instead after my stockpicking struggles.

TAN has an expense ratio of 0.70%, which is relatively high. However, I am ok with paying this in order to satisfy my demand to ride the projected increase in solar usage in our future. I believe the future will be solar. Energy generation is highly important to our future and we'll need diversified sources to keep up with the growing demand. This is why I'm intending to own a basket of solar companies for the long run.

Buy The AI Bottlenecks

Recently, I've contemplated my exposure to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. I feel pretty aggressively allocated to the AI theme.

Nvidia is a core long term holding. EWY ETF is also a core holding, adding exposure to the memory part of the AI supply chain via SK Hynix, Samsung, SK Square and the rest of the Korean index. I started to "buy the bottlenecks" at the beginning of this year by making EWY a core position. So far it has rewarded me with great returns.

I've also continued to own the hyperscalers. Microsoft is a core position. I own Google in a smaller but rapiidly growing in size position. Oracle, Alibaba and Meta are also in this basket for me in smaller allocations. These are interesting companies due to their vertical integration up and down the AI stack. Their position to deliver AI to customers and provide infrastructure for its customers to enable AI, plus leverage AI in its own products makes them strategically advantaged. Investors don't like to hear about the rising capex numbers, but this is a bet the hyperscalers must make. Spend to scale at all costs and figure out the ROI later! Joking aside, I'm sure there will be ROI.

Playing the application layer, I have a small position in Soundhound AI. Companies like Spotify and Duolingo have also commented on their continuing AI efforts.

Additionally, industrial companies like Caterpillar have seen orders for products like their data center generators jump to satiate data center demand. What we've seen so far is that any company wants to eat a piece of the AI pie by supplying critical components. It makes sense to own those companies and ride the AI wave. I opened a position in VIS Industrials ETF to align with the data center buildout. The momentum in industrials taking a slice of the pie is palpable.

It seems I have a lot of AI exposure, but I wanted a 2nd opinion. So I asked Google Gemini if my portfolio is sufficiently allocated to AI. Gemini responded with some interesting ideas where I may be missing out.

The first idea from Gemini: owning a Semiconductors ETF like SOXX gives additional exposure to different parts of the AI supply chain. Gemini suggested that even though I had a strong Nvidia/semiconductors exposure, I can also own the networking and equipment parts of the supply chain by buying the SOXX ETF. I know that Nvidia is the largest position in the ETF. In this case, I'm ok with the overlapping. It makes sense to me to own more of the "bottlenecks" and key components involved in the delivery of AI. From data center construction to the model used, delivered back to us in chat form.

The second idea that came from Gemini was to "buy the grid". To deliver AI, you need to deliver the power it will consume. The power grid will become or already is, an AI bottleneck. To get exposure to the companies in position to own this bottleneck, I chose to buy XLU, the utilities sector. Utilities will be a winner if the "grid bottleneck" thesis plays out.

I've decided to continue "buying the AI bottlenecks". I believe this is a good medium to long term strategy, especially if the AI buildout keeps on its hectic growth trajectory. It will probably pay to own the chipmakers, the hyperscalers delivering the AI via cloud computing, the application layer to deliver AI to real people and then the power grid to provide the necessary energy. Why shouldn't we own the whole supply chain? Own the AI bottlenecks and prosper.

Why Not Both Single Stocks and Index Funds?

Often you'll hear the debate of single stocks versus ETFs or mutual funds framed as an all or nothing choice. Like most things in life, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. You can deploy an ETF only approach. You can construct your portfolio by picking winning stocks and some losers.

Deploying a core/satellite portfolio with the ETFs as the core holdings, while holding individual stocks as satellites seems a sensible middle ground to me. However, I have a few long stocks like Nvidia, Microsoft and Tesla that have become core holdings for me over the long term. Each of these is also a larger weight in the S&P 500, which is also a core holding.

Buy some ETFs. Diversify your exposure with international ETFs or stocks if you desire. Add in your highest conviction single stocks, or skip them altogether if you are a set and forget fund only investor. I think it is unwise to paint yourself as an ETF only investor or single stock only investor.

I propose the best balance of risk and reward comes from a mix of concentrated bets via geographic or sector ETFs in combination with "buying the market". To me, buying ETFs in stocks is like playing a game of baseball and refusing to swing for the fences, opting instead to settle for more sure singles or doubles. Sometimes you need to go for a lower odds, higher return play if you want to beat the market. But connecting a string of base hits is just as effective at scoring runs when done consistently. Nothing wrong with going for the sure thing. In fact, your "sure thing" investments should probably be the core instead of the "home run" bets.

Trying to beat the market isn't for everyone. Most of us will fail. But some will succeed and knock one out of the park. The question is, are you willing to strike out to have a chance at the greatest returns you could possibly make? That's for you to decide. Or maybe we should just accept our fate as poor stock pickers and cede to the trusty indexes. Choose your own path and reap the benefits. I suggest it's somewhere between the 2 extremes.

Living Now Versus Living for the Future

A dollar saved is a dollar earned. Then what is a dollar spent? Definitely not saved. The balance between saving and spending can make or break us.

This tension exists for all of us. The tension between "living now" and living in the future. However, a dollar can compound. I'm on my way to Europe for my honeymoon. I will spend thousands of dollars there. And I will feel great. Life is not always meant to be lived in the future. Why? The future is never guaranteed. We must embrace this tradeoff. Nothing is guaranteed.

Live now. But also live for the future. Find the balance that suits you. Live like there's no tomorrow. Yet, prepare like tomorrow will certainly arrive. Walk the line between these two perspectives. Life is not all or nothing. Live between the lines.

2026 Investing Observations

Approximately 45 days into 2026, the market saw a reversion of trades that worked in recent years. Here are some themes I've observed in the early weeks of 2026.

Sell America, Buy International

International stocks are performing better than US stocks so far. Total international funds like VXUS are up 9-10% year to date. The S&P 500 is slightly negative so far this year. International stocks have continued their trend of ouperformance established in 2025. Seeking to diversify internationally, I decided to buy EWY. It is an ETF that tracks the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index. It provides healthy exposure to Samsung, SK Hynix, Hyundai and other South Korean companies. This ETF of South Korean stocks is up 31% year to date! I wanted to diversify internationally and also liked to add significant memory chip exposure via Samsung and SK Hynix. This is also an "emerging markets" allocation because South Korea is considered an emerging market by most. I feel happy I chose to buy more international stocks in December and January. I also invested in VXUS, SCHC and SCHF ETFs, all of which are international. So far, it couldn't have been better timing.

On Jan. 1st, my international stock allocation was 17% of my portfolio. As of today, 28% of my stock portfolio is allocated to international. I've been buying on the way up and reaping the outperformance against US stocks. From last September to January, I sold approximately 33% of my Microsoft position and about 25% of my Nvidia shares. I did this last year to buy a house and more recently to lower my US equity/large caps exposure and secondarily lower my technology sector exposure. However, Nvidia and Microsoft are still my two largest current stock positions, in addition to the S&P 500 index and Tesla. The drawdown in Microsoft, currently -18%, has hurt. But it hasn't hurt as much since I took profits from the $455 to $507 range. In spite of the rough start too the year, I'm not worried about Microsoft. In my view, their business looks as flourishing as ever.

Additionally in my HSA, I divested part of my maxed out S&P 500 allocation. I then reinvested it into VTPSX mutual fund, which is the mutual fund equivalent of VXUS. Now my HSA is exposed to 57% S&P 500 index and 31% international FTSE Global All Cap Ex US Index which both VXUS and VTPSX funds track. My HSA forces me to hold a minimum cash balance, so 12% in cash.

In retrospect, my rebalancing was "selling America" and mega-caps before it became solidified as a trend. Lucky timing was caused by the principles of seeking more diversification abroad. I'm still ridiculously long mega-caps and US equities at 71% of my stock portfolio. As bullish on America as ever. Just more diversified now to the rest of the world and looking to expand my international stock exposure.

Emerging Markets Buzz

Your international stocks can either be "developed" markets or "emerging" markets. So far, I've enjoyed the boom in South Korean stocks. I also have exposure to developed markets like Japan and Canadian stocks via VXUS and SCHF funds. Additionally, emerging markets funds like IEMG are up 11% year to date. This is equivalent to investing in markets like China, Brazil or Korea. Emerging markets have started 2026 with lots of momentum. Anecdotally, I have seen more people talking online about them in bullish tone.

Choppy Action for Magnificent 7

Microsoft, Tesla and Amazon saw the steepest drawdowns through 1.5 months of 2026. Google and Nvidia have remained steady but seem to have plateaued in recent months. The Mag 7 make up the core of the S&P 500 and QQQ. It's not surprising that these indexes are lagging. Is it just some digestion until the next leg up, or could these hyperscalers be entering a period of extended chop?

Small Caps and Value Stocks Are Back

The Russell 2000 index has also outperformed year to date. Small Caps are working. I bought VBR and IJS ETFs, both of which are up 9% year to date. Both are "small-cap value" ETFs where you buy a subset of value stocks in the S&P 600. Similar to international stocks, small caps are catching a bid so far in 2026. My value stocks like Coca-Cola and FEMSA are steadily appreciating and both hit new 52 week highs. One fund that has also performed well for me is SCHC, Schwab's "small-cap international" fund. In a significant upset, small caps and value stocks have outperformed the S&P this year. Will this outperformance continue?

REITs Are Rockin'

REITs are outperforming the index. Real estate has seen great returns since January 1st. I'm holding O, Realty Income REIT. It's up even more than my international stocks (ex Korea) surprisingly, 16% year to date. Totally unexpected to see this asset perform so well. It seems a theme is rotation to stability so far in 2026. Investors are buying stable businesses with dependable cash flows.

Energy, Materials, Industrials and Consumer Staples

Energy and materials have been the strongest sectors to start the year. Industrials like CAT and DE are surging year to date. Costco and Wal-Mart have appreciated steadily. It seems the stock market has swung to favor businesses with inelastic demand like staples and energy. Industrials are a 2nd or 3rd order winner of the AI boom. Recently these sectors are popular places to stash some cash.

Technology and Software Slumping

Technology and software stocks have been the poorest performing sectors in 2026. Software specifically has been collectively in drawdown. Some stocks like Duolingo are down 60-70%. "SaaS" stocks, or software as a service stocks have been hammered. My holdings in Cloudflare and Crowdstrike have been relatively stable.

Crypto Carnage

Cryptocurrencies across the board are down huge. All my crypto holdings got smacked. Altcoins like Dogecoin are down 31% year to date. Ethereum is -40% year to date. Bitcoin is -21% year to date. Crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Robinhood are feeling the pain as well. I was overweight cryptocurrencies, but thanks to the recent 20-40% pullback in all my holdings, I am no longer overallocated. 5% of my net worth is in crypto, slightly more than the typical 3% recommended allocation. My allocation was significantly higher before the most recent crypto winter. Still want a crypto exposure going forward even though it hasn't been fun holding the past 3 months.

Reflection

Through the first 45 days of this year, the market seemed flat for the US indexes. However, under the surface there has been lots of movement in both directions. If you're holding software or data center stocks, you are feeling pain. I felt it via my Oracle shares, which are taking a beating recently. Not to mention Duolingo, which is now my worst mistake as an investor. However, it's not a loss if I don't sell. Down 60%, I'm willing to wait a while to see if they can turn it around. I was mega bullish on both these companies the past year and whiffed big time. I committed more capital than I should have to these two losers, but I am fine with waiting for them to bounce back. Thankfully I didn't go too far overboard with the position sizes, but my timing to buy was suboptimal. If things don't improve within the next 5 years, they might be ripe for tax loss harvesting. I don't believe the fundamentals are broken in either business.

Nonetheless, I won't let it stop me from swinging at the next pitch. If anything, these mistakes have sharpened my focus. They remind me that I will mess up sometimes. It's better to be very selective of where I take risks, especially with single stocks. Best to stick with my plan and only go for my highest conviction companies. Lately that's been international stocks, value stocks and small caps. Regardless, I feel like I am better diversified than ever, and it has helped to know I'm allocated to international, value and small-cap stocks while my blue chip large-cap stocks have been stagnant.

disclosure: all investments have risk, invest at your own risk. I'm not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice.

My Evolution as an Investor

As we wind down the final days of 2025, I've begun assessing my portfolio in a deeper nature. I've been taking stock of my portfolio's characteristics across dimensions like sector diversification, growth vs. value, large caps vs. small caps and US vs. international equity exposure. I made a classification of each my holdings across these dimensions with the help of Bing Copilot (ChatGPT under the hood). What I've found has surprised me in some ways and confirmed what I already suspected. I will now comment on my findings below, then conclude with the actions I plan to take now that I've considered my portfolio against typical benchmarks.

Sector Exposure

My stock portfolio is heavily overweight in the information technology sector at 33% estimated exposure. This makes sense because I have typically favored tech stocks in the past when I chose to pick stocks. However, compared to the S&P 500, which is concentrated at approximately 35% in the information technology sector, my allocation does not seem that extreme.

I'm also heavily underweight in sectors like health care, financials, industrials and real estate. Basically, I've discovered I need to divert new investment funds into these sectors and stop buying so many tech stocks. This will bring stability and diversified returns to my portfolio in the long run. This will influence what I buy in 2026. Thankfully, I wasn't so naive to buy exclusively single stocks and have begun allocating more into broadly diversified ETFs and mutual funds, which helps to move smooth out my overallocation to tech stocks.

Growth Vs. Value

A big surprise is that I found I am more overweight in growth stocks vs. value stocks than I anticipated. 69% of my stock holdings are in growth stocks. Only 6% of my stocks are classified as value stocks. Another 25% of my holdings are allocated to "blended" funds or stocks that are a hybrid between growth and value. The blended portion of my portfolio is estimated to be slightly tilted towards growth (~55%), but with meaningful value stock exposure (~45%).

I assumed I had a higher allocation to value stocks than I actually did. This finding has led me down a path towards researching value tilted funds to boost my value stock exposure. I consulted Bing Copilot, who recommended growth exposure of 45% and 25% value stocks. I am aiming to reduce growth stocks by 15-20% and boost value stocks 15-20% towards these baselines in 2026.

Large Caps Vs. Small Caps

My portfolio currently has a slight tilt to overweight large cap stocks at 90%. My small-cap stock exposure is currently underweight at 10% of my stocks. This is not far from the target allocation suggested by Bing Copilot, 85% large caps and 15% small caps. Therefore, I plan to trim my large cap stocks or funds and buy a small-cap fund to raise my exposure by 5%.

US vs. International

I am overweight US stocks at 83% of my stock holdings. Conversely, my international exposure is underweight at 17%. There are different schools of thought on how much international equities you should hold. Based on your goals and how aggressive you want to be, anywhere from 20% to 40% is the typical recommended international stock allocation. I've chosen 30% as my goal allocation. Therefore, I'll look to increase my international exposure by 13% and reduce US stock exposure by 13% in 2026.

Reallocation Plan

Bing Copilot recommended two ETFs that seem like a logical fit for me, VBR (Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund ETF) and IJS (iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF). Given that I am underweight small caps and value stocks, a small-cap value tilted fund seems to be a logical choice for new funds. I think I am "killing two birds with one stone" by allocating to small-cap value.

Additionally, I am researching international funds with low fees. Bing Copilot suggested ETFs and funds like SCHF, SCHC, FTIHX, VXUS and IXUS. SCHF and and SCHC are an example of how you can split out large-cap and small-cap international stocks into separate funds. Both are developed markets. The other 3 funds all contain both "developed" and "emerging market" stocks. Developed markets mean countries like Germany, Japan or Canada, whereas emerging markets are countries like China and Brazil. I want to have exposure to both these subsectors of international stocks. I was intrigued by VXUS, which is a Vanguard ETF that has a low cost 0.07% expense ratio. Seeing that I was substantially underweight international funds, I already have begun buying international funds to reach my current exposure of 17%. I recently bought two international Schwab funds, SCHF (0.03%) and SCHC (0.08%). I'm not sure if I will continue buying these funds or switch to an "all in one" fund like VXUS. I kind of like the idea of being able to tilt my developed vs. emerging market exposure by buying a specific fund for both types of international stock category.

In addition to investing new funds, I plan to trim some of my information technology single stocks, cut some of my growth funds and reallocate. It has been enlightening to see where I have gaps in my portfolio. Now I get to do the fun part, plugging in those gaps with value, small-cap and international oriented funds. I may also add to my existing small-cap and value stock holdings. I'm not done buying single stocks. However, I've realized I can bring more diversified balance to my portfolio by strategically allocating to themed equity holdings that fill in my missing allocations with lower risk. This assessment has me feeling bullish on myself heading into 2026. The data from my assessment has given me informed targets to move towards. My evolution as an investor has transformed into a deeper understanding of what it means to have a diversified portfolio. Happy new year. May we all prosper in 2026 and beyond.