I’ve actually prospered during the pandemic

I have a fair amount of money in Vanguards total stocks fund and after sweating bullets over the initial drop I’ve watched it not only come back but actually increase in value.
I give the Trump economy credit for this. Investors know we have good economic policies and strong fundamentals and are betting as the virus ends the economy will come roaring back. Good work president Trump.

 

Nice bro

 

Most all of the bad COVID-19 news is already in. It's only going to be improvement on top of improvement from here.

Assuming, of course, that China isn't getting ready to ship out a new plague.

 

Can you expand on what those economic policies and strong fundamentals are?

 

Vanguard total stocks is a good ETF and has done well during the crisis because its top holdings are in tech and online companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. I hold quite a few Vanguard ETFs myself. Overall I have done well too since I have a huge portion of my portfolio in tech. Stock price of Disney dropped off a fair bit at the start but it seems to be bouncing back. I shifted a lot poor performing investment into T-Bills near the start of the crisis and thinking of make a large investment in CCL as the crisis ends. Their stock price is still fluctuating in the $15 mark and the company is bleeding money but there could be short term gains after the crisis.

Before giving Trump too much credit you should look at the top holdings of VTI. Many are the type of tech companies that Trump has been attacking and some conservatives want to break up.

 

For starters on policies tax cuts, deregulation, energy independence, and trade renegotiation.”
For starters on strong fundamentals
“”During 2019, several macroeconomic indicators—including consumer spending, productivity, and labor shares of income—grew at elevated rates. As a result, U.S. output has grown at the fastest rate among the G7 countries’ economies in the past year with the unemployment rate falling to a 50-year low.

 

The fund is more diversified than you claim.

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/overview/VTSMX/portfolio-holdings

 

I haven't checked in a few weeks but my 401K had just about recovered all its losses then. I spread across international funds. I made a few grand short-term trading off some low price stocks that were hit hard. My income stream has not been interrupted by the virus as I have worked regular hours all along. I have spent less money so I have been able to bolster up the savings account. All in all, it has been a good year for me economically too so far. Add in things like the $1200 and companies reducing charges in the spirit of "helping" like my insurance giving refunds and I am largely unimpacted. Even if I were to get it tomorrow, I have profited more than enough to cover my max out of pocket for 1 year. Won't be long until I have enough to cover 2 years.

 

That is what I expected the fund to look like. It changes from time to time but it generally has about 30-35% of it holdings in top tech companies. About 15% in financial companies and 15% in pharmaceuticals.

It is a nice diverse portfolio although I favor more tech and financial services.

If you want to invest in Trump favored companies you should direct your investments toward, steel, coal, oil and agriculture. I am sure VTI has some but not very much.

 

Despite the doom and gloom narrative of the left it’s amazing we only have 10% unemployment with the vast majority of those being low income service workers. The reality is all things considered the economy is humming along nicely

 

I chose vanguard total stock because it is so diverse and represents all parts of of the economy even the much hated tobacco industry.

 

It's really a bizarro world where 10% unemployment is considered "humming along nicely". You do realize that the government had to pump over $3 trillion dollars of fake cash (borrowed money that we have to pay interest on) to keep the economy from
tanking, right? And we're probably looking at another $1.5 trillion before the end of the year.

There is no economist in the world who will call that, "humming along nicely... ". You should say that, "We are successfully butt ****ing our grandchildren by stacking debt onto their futures so that we can make today's politicians look good." Cause that's what we are doing.

 

For those that have money to invest, not so much for low income service workers. I do grant you that it has shown some progress though.

 

Those were dead end jobs anyway. I doubt a lot of them will be coming back anytime soon. Those people just need to take the opportunity to further their education or find new employment IMHO. That is what I would be doing if I were in their situation at least. Once businesses start to figure out how to continue to be profitable with smaller staffs and a new business model, they are going to stay in that position even the virus is cured tomorrow. Likewise, consumers are very much creatures of habit. Those people who have been spending less, cooking at home, skipping restaurants and movie theaters are going to continue to do that. I hopefully will continue to be able to live more frugally and save more money now that I am forced into the habit of it at least. I was responsible IMO but not a penny pincher. Now I am a penny pincher just because I know I can do it and live more or less the same quality life as before.

 

Indeed this is the time to buy. During the housing crash of the Obama presidency I purchased my first home. It is now worth double what I paid for it. Now I wish I had bought 3 at the time.

 

10% unemployment in the context of all the pandemic induced shutdowns is minimal and the fact that the vast majority of the unemployed are low income service workers greatly reduces the economic impact of that number.

 

It is a good fund, no doubt, depending on where you are in your life. Warren Buffet has recommend a few Vanguard funds. If you want to support the tobacco industry you may want to invest in those companies directly. I know nothing about the tobacco industry from an investment perspective but unless it is own by a large corporation a fund could easily devise something like that without any fanfare.

 

That’s another good indicator right now. The housing market is on fire

 

I just refi'd my current primary residence (3.15%!!!) that bought less than two years ago and it appraised for 90k more than I paid for it. Real estate in my area is absolutely on fire. Ive been quite happy with my real estate investments over the last 5 years or so.

 

I only brought up tobacco as an illustration as to how diverse the fund is. It represents all facets of America enterprise

 

All paid for with borrowed dollars. It's like walking into a store and spending $25,000 dollars on your credit card and having $1,000 in your bank to pay for it. You're confusing good credit with a good economy.

 

VERY FEW companies are fueling the current market value and it's climb. The VAST MAJORITY of our stock market listings are up to their eyeballs in debt and losing money and their stock market value is down, as it should be. The present market is just like everything in Dirty Donalds life, total bullshit.

 

The fund I mentioned is widely diversified so those hundreds of companies must on average be doing very well

 

Well that is the nature of an index fund.

 

Do you know what the DOW Jones Average is? It is up because investors believe the companies are worth more more.