In the Fall of 2021, I saw the financial problems coming and promptly got out of the stock market. It crashed just a couple of months later. I posted about it at the time, but I can’t find the post. That meant for 2022, we had no Capital gains because we weren’t in the stock market.
Anyhow, I bought back into the market last July, at my wife’s insistence. She bought 450 shares of Royal Caribbean (Symbol: RCL) at $32 a share. Total cost was $14,400.
Today, RCL announced their Q2 profits, and they went from a $500 million loss for Q2 2022 to a $450 million profit for Q2 2023. The stock price skyrocketed to $112, which put the stock price near its pre-pandemic price. The value of those 450 shares was $50,400 when we sold, which is a $36,000 profit. A return rate of 350% for the year.
My other stock buys haven’t done as well. I bought 100 shares of Smith and Wesson last December at $9.82, and it is only selling today at $13.09. I own a few shares here and there, but they are sitting flat. The market may go up from here, but I am not looking to be greedy. Still, I think this is a good time for profit taking on stocks.
Still, we have done well in the market during the past year, having made just shy of $40,000 in capital gains. That will mean we owe $6,000 in capital gains taxes, but that is still less than what we would have paid in taxes on a second job. My wife knows far more about investing than I do, and that’s why I let her make the calls on that.
4 Comments
dc · July 27, 2023 at 12:25 pm
I love to read about success. I’m pretty conservative about investing, we have been in a $600K mortgage for past 72 months. Just got it below $200K today. Hope everything stays in place society-wise for a couple years til we get it paid off.
Comrade's Hovel · July 28, 2023 at 1:41 am
“But, in general, the protective system of our day is conservative, while the free trade system is destructive. It breaks up old nationalities and pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie to the extreme point. In a word, the free trade system hastens the social revolution. It is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, that I vote in favor of free trade.”
Karl Marx, “On the Question of Free Trade” (1848)
B · July 28, 2023 at 8:55 am
Look into dividend stocks. TRIN, PBR. ARR, OXLC and the like. 10-14% returns, sometimes higher.
Pretty much no risk, at least short term. You gotta buy smartly, but they can provide consistent income.
Nemo · July 28, 2023 at 4:28 pm
I put a substantial amount into three stocks in Jan-Feb 2021. I sold all end of June. made back my investment cost plus ~4K. ~2.5% return over the time period. Pitiful.
I’m now looking at putting all those $ into a savings account that is currently paying +4%APR compounded monthly with no restrictions on withdrawals although I’ll have to make them through an ATM, fully FDIC insured so NO RISK unlike with the stock market, while the banks I’m currently with, thieves that they are, are STILL paying 0.1% on deposits, including MMF, while charging 6-9% on mortgage loans and who knows how much in excess of 10% for a car loan.
I can’t wait for the crying and gnashing of teeth when I go to the bank and tell them to make a wire transfer closing all accounts. They’re going to shit themselves, especially when I tell them why. Imagine having to go to the regional manger and having to explain why a customer just withdrew a substantial amount, closing all accounts because they’re not paying customers enough interest on simple deposits.
Yah, they’ll drop a dime on me to Uncle Sam, but I’ve got all the receipts. Screw’em.
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