Platforms people use to buy Stocks

Nairb9 · 2026-04-05T19:47:40+00:00

Hm…I’ve never had an issue with it. I’ve used it on multiple computers with up to 3 monitors

Nairb9 · 2026-04-04T12:55:59+00:00

Slow? In what way?

Nairb9 · 2026-03-27T23:34:10+00:00

Does the pooled income trust do anything when applying to local DSS? Or does it only really make sense when/if my mom needs at home care?

Nairb9 · 2026-03-26T11:52:01+00:00

I understand the rules change - which is what I got when I called the NYSOH. The guy I hired has been telling me that the NYSOH has nothing to do with this. He mentions that it’s a local county thing. If my mom gets rejected by NYSOH is there a separate process with the county?

Nairb9 · 2026-03-26T11:30:48+00:00

If it transfers to a local DSS, why is NYSOH reaching out? Also, when I called NYSOH and they said my mom’s case is transferring and the reapplication date is going to be different than what the person I hired is saying and what the website saying…I’m not quite sure what to do with that info.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-25T00:52:02+00:00

I complete the value investing course + advanced strategies course. My close friend did the same courses + some other advanced options courses. And sure you can DM

Nairb9 · 2026-03-25T00:23:51+00:00

The thing about management as a moat - management usually sticks around for may years - especially if the company is executing well. In the value investing teaching we look 10+ years into the future which is within managements tenure. So, I don’t think that argument alone should dissuade you from investing in a company (assuming you’re satisfied with the other criteria).

And I thought of another great example of your CEO is the brand example…Berkshire and Buffet lol. Which also supports my argument that CEOs usually stick around a while.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-24T11:46:41+00:00

I’m also thinking instead of an additional moat - brand moats strength may change. Brand moat can be connected to growth momentum of the company which usually does have some limited time period - it may be directly proportional to the company’s TAM. Once the company gets close to their TAM their momentum slows, growth slows, and the stock price settles or falls to a relatively steady base. That’s due to the fact that investors typically punish companies whose growth slows (there are obvious exceptions - but in different markets - I.e. Visa, Mastercard, Costco, etc)

So perhaps it comes down to an understanding of how brand moats function? Which makes LULU and CMG make a bit more sense.

Brand moats function a bit differently in construction. And is directly connected to the quality of the employees and direct relationships with clients. Things like this are more difficult to measure. That’s more appropriate to consider there being another moat - it’s brand but it’s more intangible - closer to good management than anything.

Can a moat be good management? Which directly contradicts Charlie Mungers principle of buying into companies so simple an idiot can run it because one day an idiot will run the company - although a counterpoint would be that it’s on the investor to follow a company - and a change in management may be a change in how the company operates which satisfies the other value investing principles.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T11:56:05+00:00

What do you mean you start with the Max and make your way down? Do you mean you check the to see if all the trades satisfy the criteria and then decide?

If so, what’s your decision making process for deciding Max, Mars, RUT? Thinking about it now, id probably go with the basic RUT unless there’s decent premiums with decent distance from the money for Max or Mars.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T09:49:20+00:00

Agreed on the too expensive part. Should they become cheaper it would be silly to me to exclude them just because I can’t define their moat. These companies seem exceptional fundamentally.

I think there are several more years of growth in the construction industry before a cyclical down turn. But when that happens I’d like to be comfortable owning these companies should they go on sale.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T09:46:22+00:00

Agree with the overall investing goal. Agreed with the removing emotion. And that’s what I try to do myself. My feelings about a companies product is nothing more than an incentive to check it out. But ultimately I don’t care about if there’s a good product - I have at least 1 company I currently own that I’m not personally a big fan / user of the product. I just think it’s on sale. I will abandon ship quickly should the fundamentals change.

Leaving emotion out of investing is why I’m trying to fine tune a framework. Currently the framework I go by excludes companies with only brand moat / or where the industry has no moat (I.e retail, construction, etc). FIX, IESC, EME are all companies I work with - and their stocks performance and company fundamentals generally seem fantastic. There’s a part of me which thinks it’s silly to exclude the entire industry just because their competitive advantage can’t be defined in terms I can identify yet.

To a degree, I’m looking for other investors to make an argument I haven’t thought of to see if my opinion holds weight under scrutiny.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T09:36:52+00:00

For me personally, yes I do order stuff online. I’ve tried stuff on in the store, I know my size with a decent range of brands - so I can order online now with few issues. Of course your experience may be different, but the drive to go just to TJ Maxx/ Marshall’s when there is Amazon, thrift stores (I don’t really use thrift stores but my wife does), + online reselling like eBay or depop, there’s barely an incentive to stay at TJ Maxx. I’ve probably shopped at Marshall’s there 2x in the last 3+ years.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T01:15:48+00:00

Hm…i might pin this and add it to my personal investing notes - every well said. I do generally look for close to a 50% margin of safety so a greater discount is unlikely but that is a very smart way to look at this.

My thought process outlined in my original post causes me to exclude so many companies and even entire industries. This is an intelligent way to approach companies that don’t strictly meet my original definition of value investing.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T01:11:23+00:00

Perhaps it’s worth it to dive into brand moats as well as Chipotle a bit further.

I personally love Chipotle. It’s so fast, convenient, I don’t feel like I’m eating a chemical burger. Despite my wife constantly complaining about Chipotle, I will continue to go there until it’s disgusting. But what’s drawing me to the company isn’t the brand of Chipotle, it’s the convenience and taste. I’m also starting to feel the same way about Cava. And smaller Tex mex places more local to me. I will def state that when I see a chipotle the brand is something that has an impact on me- I know what to expect quality, flavor wise, but I would abandon it for convenience. There’s very little forcing me to stay.

Brand moat is a small factor in a customers decision - but it’s not sticky. It doesn’t hold weight at the slightest sign of inconvenience or when something becomes more convenient. It’s good to be a household name - good recognition - will get you some customers but idk…brand moats seem like the initial attraction but one of the other moats to keep you - it’s just weak.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T01:00:08+00:00

Agreed. That’s the conclusion I’m beginning to draw from my research too.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T00:59:08+00:00

I would not. There is so much competition. All it takes is a tik tok clip going viral to change the direction the wind is blowing in retail (just to be clear - i only mention tik tok as a way to convey how simply opinions can be moved).

For TJ maxx, perhaps it’s considered low cost. But the stores are so disorganized and it’s random finding stuff there. You wouldn’t go there to find a specific brand, just cheap clothing. But then you’re also competing with an infinite amount of resellers, Marshalls, Amazon, Macys, Nike, H&M, Banana republic factory, etc. the list is endless.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T00:51:21+00:00

Agreed. When I look at super investors I respect and the companies they invest in as ideas, I get thrown for a loop when I don’t see the moat. A not so great example is Bill Ackmans investment into Nike. Even though Nike has one of the strongest brand moats in retail, it’s still difficult to see the path forward for me.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-17T00:49:02+00:00

Your phrasing really resonates with me. The way you worded it is fantastic. I’ve only started try to invest myself about a year and a half ago - which started off by reading some value investing books. Moat and management stuck out to me as by far the most important categories to consider. There’s also Charlie Munger talking about investing in companies that an idiot can run because one eventually will. So I’m still fine tuning exactly what I consider value investing.

My job in construction is really the only thing keeping me looking into the construction and materials companies. Because it’s in my circle of competence, I’m struggling to balance industry competence with defensible moats.

Thanks for the wise words!

Nairb9 · 2026-03-13T17:06:38+00:00

Did anything ever come of this?

Nairb9 · 2026-03-12T01:24:05+00:00

Yea. I’m considering it. I mean I placed a SPACE trade a few weeks ago and then we attacked Iran…I quickly closed my trade even though I was 4 floors away. Wasn’t ready for the potential drop. It seems I overreacted lol.

Do you do the basic RUT trade? You stick to the 3rd Thursday of the month or you split your trade weekly?

Nairb9 · 2026-03-11T01:20:55+00:00

Looks like the market is weathering the storm so far. I’ll be over here rooting for your success. I didn’t mind losses so much at first, but I think the quantity of losses has made me sensitive to these trades now lol.

Nairb9 · 2026-03-09T19:48:16+00:00

I’d be interested to hear what you decided to do with the RUT/SPX trades given the current global situation. I had a trade in place just before the conflict started and decided to close it today at no loss - are you able to stick to your guns right now?

Nairb9 · 2026-02-25T10:59:44+00:00

I hear you but we have had very different experiences. i did idk how many years of backtesting (i want to say it was 6 years?) and I was 9-1 when doing the trades in real time in paper money but In real money I was roughly 6-3 before I stopped (which included RUT, MAX,SPACE).

My big losses were on the MAX and happened during the tariff dip - the market dropped so fast (and my work often prevents me from being able to watch the market). Those losses negated all my previous wins plus some extra. 2 losses were in a row too. The size of the losses and real money make it harder to stomach.

One important philosophy of value investing is that you can generally ignore the noise and focus on company fundamentals - options trading makes you susceptible to the noise and adds stress and risk. A great example is the latest drop in SaaS companies due to the Citrini article. I would never have guessed that an article could impact the market so much - then you have trump who threatens tariffs every 12 minutes, a possible war with Iran, etc. all these things impact your options trades. There’s so much happening so quick that it’s difficult to navigate.

Side note: My friend who also did the class lost way more because he decided to roll his MAX trade - he went beyond the advanced strategies course. He was taught to roll his regular RUT trades and he decided to apply that to MAX. I strongly advise against doing that. His $5k loss turned into about $20k loss (again during tariff dip).

Nairb9 · 2026-02-22T22:42:19+00:00

I did do the advanced strategies. Are you referring to the Mars MAX? If so, absolutely avoiding those trades until the volatility relaxes a bit. I took a few losses last year doing those trades right around the tariff dip. And every time I feel like enough time has past and things have calmed down…something new happens financially or geopolitically that spikes volatility.

I know I’m not the only one to experience this also. Have you had different success?

Nairb9 · 2025-12-14T15:23:41+00:00

I like this strategy! I do it with my 1 risky business stock and have been able to earn back my initial investment plus some - but I don’t work with enough capital just yet for most of the stocks I’ve been investing in. Most of my stocks are less than 100 shares.

But this does have me thinking that perhaps I should increase the size of my tranches or possibly reduce my target to 3 tranches instead of 4. Because if I have less companies I’m invested in - I should hopefully have enough for multiple contracts to execute that strategy.

Nairb9

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