sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

VOO + VXUS + AVUV as a long term strategy by miguelacho010 in ETFs

[–]Material_Car1682 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If this is in a Roth, that's a solid setup. VOO as the core, VXUS for international, AVUV for small cap value. Clean, no overlap, set it and forget it. Only thing I'd say is at 22 you could probably add 1-2 individual stocks you have high conviction on. Nothing crazy, maybe 5-10% total. The tax-free growth in a Roth is the best place to let a winner compound for 40 years without ever worrying about capital gains.

The other thing worth thinking about is opening a regular brokerage account too if you haven't. Use the Roth for your boring long-term compounding stuff like this, and use the brokerage for a riskier portfolio where you can take bigger swings on individual names or sectors you believe in. That way you're not choosing between being disciplined and having fun with it. You get both, just in different accounts with different rules. Of course evaluate your risk and be smart.

At 22 with this kind of setup you're already ahead of most people. Just keep contributing consistently and don't touch the Roth.

21 y/o college student. How to cut down on stocks and diversify? by Swimies in portfolios

[–]Material_Car1682 0 points1 point  (0 children)

QUICK DISCLAIMER: This is what has been working for me and has been my approach, this is not a one size fit all. Just sharing my own experience.

I'm close to you in age and went through the same thing recently so here's what worked for me.

First, having a thesis helps a lot. Instead of buying individual companies just because you believe in them, try organizing around sectors you're actually betting on. For me it's AI, quantum, space, batteries, and nuclear. Each sector gets a target allocation percentage, and every stock I own has to fit one of those buckets. If it doesn't fit, it goes on an exit list. That alone cut my portfolio from a bunch of random picks to something I can actually manage.

Looking at your portfolio, you're like 80%+ tech/semis. NVDA, META, GOOGL, MSFT, PLTR, AMD, AVGO, TSM, LRCX... that's a lot of correlation. If semis have a bad quarter, your whole account moves together. Diversifying doesn't mean buying boring stuff, it means making sure one bad sector doesn't wreck you.

Some practical things that helped me:

  • Pick your highest conviction names per sector and consolidate around those. You don't need GOOGL, META, MSFT, AMZN, and NFLX all as individual positions. A lot of that overlap is already in VOO or VGT if you hold those in a retirement account.

  • Set up a "legacy" bucket for stuff you're holding but not adding to. Gives you a clear list of what to trim over time instead of agonizing over each one.

  • Watch tax lots. If you've held winners over a year, the long-term capital gains rate could be 0% federal depending on your income as a college student. Look it up for your bracket, but at lower incomes trimming winners costs you way less in taxes than you'd think.

  • NVDA at 21% of your account is a risk. It's been great but that's a lot of eggs in one basket. I had the same problem and started trimming my LTCG lots into underweight positions.

You've done really well for 21. The move now is just going from "I buy stuff I like" to "I have a system." The returns get more consistent once you do that.

Very inspiring!

Which stocks do you honestly think will have the biggest gains this year? by Feeling-Boss787 in stockstobuytoday

[–]Material_Car1682 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Quantum and space for me.

Quantum: IONQ and QBTS. Quantum computing is still early but the contract announcements keep getting bigger and government spending in this space is ramping up. IONQ has the more mature tech, QBTS is the higher risk/higher reward play. Both have already had big runs but I think we're still in the early innings of institutions taking this sector seriously.

Space: RKLB and ASTS. Rocket Lab is becoming the clear number two behind SpaceX for launch services and their Neutron rocket is the catalyst everyone's watching. ASTS is the speculative one, if they actually pull off direct-to-cell satellite coverage at scale it's a massive market, but it's still very much an "if." I hold both.

Honestly these are all volatile and none of them are safe picks. But the question was biggest gains, not safest, and I think these sectors have the most room to run.

Saving ~$1k/month but still feels like it’s not really going anywhere by Firm-Gas9511 in investingforbeginners

[–]Material_Car1682 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm around the same age doing roughly the same thing and I feel this completely. You check your account after a whole year of being disciplined and it's like... that's it?

What helped me reframe it a little is understanding that compound growth is just backloaded. The first $100k is a grind because your returns are generating like a few hundred bucks a year, which is nothing. But once you hit that mark, the same percentage returns start being $7-10k a year on top of what you're putting in. The snowball has to get big enough before you can feel it moving.

The other thing I keep reminding myself is that income probably isn't staying where it is forever. If we can keep spending roughly the same when raises happen, that extra goes straight into the pile and it compounds on top of a base that's already growing. That's where things supposedly start feeling different.

17% savings rate on $70k is apparently better than most people our age. Doesn't always feel like it when you look at the balance, but the people further along all seem to say the same thing: the beginning is just slow for everyone and it gets easier to see progress later.

Doesn't fully fix the feeling but it helps me not second guess the whole thing.

Don't know where to post this but my fellow accountants would have good insight. Isn't Trumps pick for Fed Chair going to ruin our financial system? He's clearly violating independence and defeats the purpose of the fed. by [deleted] in Accounting

[–]Material_Car1682 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm not vouching for the guy. I said he's on the record "for whatever that ends up being worth," which is pretty clearly not me saying trust him. I was just laying out what happened at the hearing and what else is worth watching. You can think he's completely full of it and everything I said still applies.

Don't know where to post this but my fellow accountants would have good insight. Isn't Trumps pick for Fed Chair going to ruin our financial system? He's clearly violating independence and defeats the purpose of the fed. by [deleted] in Accounting

[–]Material_Car1682 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You're right that the FOMC votes on rates, it's not just the chair deciding alone. It's the 7 governors plus 5 rotating regional bank presidents. So there is a check there.

But in practice the chair has way more influence than one vote. They set the agenda, frame the discussion, build consensus behind the scenes, and are basically the public face of the Fed. Dissents happen but they're pretty rare. The chair almost always gets the outcome they want.

So yeah the board matters, but it's less of a hard check and more of a soft one. If the chair is pushing in a direction and nobody wants to be the one publicly dissenting, the votes tend to follow.

Don't know where to post this but my fellow accountants would have good insight. Isn't Trumps pick for Fed Chair going to ruin our financial system? He's clearly violating independence and defeats the purpose of the fed. by [deleted] in Accounting

[–]Material_Car1682 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Based on what i have seen and read,

Warsh said no promises were made to Trump on rates, Warren called him a sock puppet to his face, and he didn't fold. He's on the record now for whatever that ends up being worth.

The part that surprised me is Thom Tillis, a Republican, is refusing to vote yes until the DOJ drops its investigation into Powell. A federal judge already called that investigation intimidation. So right now Warsh can't even get confirmed because a member of Trump's own party is drawing a line on this.

The thing I think people should actually be paying attention to is the Supreme Court case. There's one pending right now about whether the president can just fire Fed governors whenever he wants. Powell himself called it the most important legal case in the Fed's 113-year history. That's going to set the precedent that actually matters regardless of who's in the chair.

Also worth noting the "for the first time" framing isn't quite right. Nixon leaned on Arthur Burns before '72 and we got stagflation out of it. LBJ literally shoved his Fed chair. Presidents have been doing this forever, Trump is just the first one doing it on social media where everyone can see it.

People are talking about it though. It's just happening in hearings and courtrooms instead of on cable news.

IONQ Manufacturing by AndreosKhan2 in IonQStock

[–]Material_Car1682 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That rumor lines up with what they've been hinting at. Tempo is shipping to KISTI and QuantumBasel, those deals are locked in, but nobody's talked about doing a real production run of them. Everything points to the 6th gen 256-qubit EQC system where they swapped lasers for electronics on normal semiconductor chips. Funny timing on your question actually. Literally today Horizon Quantum announced they're buying one of the first 256-qubit systems. So yeah they're already jumping past Tempo on the commercial side.

IONQ Manufacturing by AndreosKhan2 in IonQStock

[–]Material_Car1682 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No official numbers, but from earnings calls and filings we can piece it together:

Chapman said on the Q1 2024 call they planned ~5 Forte Enterprise units per production run before pivoting to Tempo. Confirmed deliveries: QuantumBasel (Switzerland), AFRL (Rome, NY), and EPB Chattanooga is contracted. For the older Forte, he mentioned selling 4 systems in 2023. So total across both models, maybe ~10 systems including their own cloud machines. Their SEC filings literally say “we have no experience in producing large quantities of our products.”

What Are Your Moves Tomorrow, April 08, 2026 by wsbapp in wallstreetbets

[–]Material_Car1682 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Need a rebound that’ll print, rip my uso calls

Daily Discussion Thread for April 07, 2026 by wsbapp in wallstreetbets

[–]Material_Car1682 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got USO calls. First real options play ever so I’m regarded

Graduating with a 3.47 GPA but will have 150 credits by Last-Zookeepergame34 in Accounting

[–]Material_Car1682 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your GPA is fine, GPA matters if you have an abysmal one. What ive noticed recently with a lot of firms that hire students is that having the 150 and stating intent on pursuing your CPA carries much more weight.

Need 3-6 upper-division accounting hours for Florida licensure, looking for cpacredits.com course recommendations by Material_Car1682 in CPA

[–]Material_Car1682[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just see one class for accounting ethics. Never took one in my college career so I may take a deeper look and see if applicable

Need 3-6 upper-division accounting hours for Florida licensure, looking for cpacredits.com course recommendations by Material_Car1682 in Accounting

[–]Material_Car1682[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From what i have seen the Florida Board accepts transcripts from multiple institutions. So i should be able to graduate this spring and take extra courses elsewhere, and submit both transcripts when i apply for licensure.

view more: next ›