How This All Started..... AKA, Wall Street Kinda Sucks

 

Hey, whether someone ever read or follows this is irrelevant. This is more of a diary to see day to day if this works, and to learn the mistakes I make along the way..... So, why am I here? Simple. As someone in his early 50's, who got off to a 30 year late start on saving towards retirement, I have some ground to make up. Catching up all the way is impossible, but any ground made up is ground made up.....

This all started last year. Sure, I have a 401k that my last (now former) employer had the magnanimity to NOT match (the auto business sucks), but it's pretty small, and it is fully exposed to the whims of the investing public. I did finally manage to save up about triple that amount, where it sat in my bank account, earning NO INTEREST.  After figuring out that I lost about 5-$7000 by doing that, I finally did something. I sat down with a friend who always seemed to do well in the market. I soon signed up with a Vanguard Mutual Fund with $5k, and it went pretty well - for a while. About six months into it, it had ping-ponged it's way up about 12%. I was very satisfied, and I don't want to give the impression that I have any problems with Vanguard. Then, IT happened....

The Fed got together. They didn't decide anything officially. They just got together, and kicked thoughts around. That's all the stock market needs. Why? Because it's all based on speculation. Does it matter that 750,000 jobs were created? Does it matter that Covid was finally making it's exit? Nope. The free ride of super-low interest rates were finally (and justifiably) going to end. Having an Economics degree, the thought of pricing stocks not based on how things are, but how you think they are going to be, sickens me..... In just a couple weeks, my 12% gain has dropped to barely 2%. I cashed out, and walked away with my $100. Against the chorus of a billion stock brokers screaming 'You just gotta ride it out', I decided that I could do better on my own. 

Not having much skills that I could do on the side, like my brother, who can fix  or rebuild anything. The thought came to me. If I treated my NYRA Bets account like a 401k, I could probably do pretty well. Better than my last experience in investing. This was my game plan: Keep it Simple, Keep it Small, and Keep it Safe.   Here is my easiest way to explain it..... You bet on a horse. Let's say Knicks Go or Life Is Good. It's almost a sure bet. Yeah, maybe they won't win everytime, but they sure as hell can finish in the money everytime - almost.  Even when a 1-9 shot finishes in third, it pays 2.10 on a $2 bet. While 10 cents doesn't seem like anything, it's a 5% return in a single day. Think of it this way: If your stock broker called you this morning, and guaranteed you a 5% return by the close of business, you'd toss some money on it. 5% over a year is 180+%. Much better than the Stock Market, and you're in control. Truth is, it pays even better most of time on almost sure bets. The key to it is mainly BE RIGHT! The Show Bet is the most underused bet in Horse Racing by far, and it's because most people view the track as a place to make a killing. 

If you can stay disciplined and smart, you can do very well. I'm 2 weeks in, and everything I thought I could do is working out correctly. No freak bets that were seemingly impossible. Just Show Bets on horses that make sense - and you don't have to be perfect. I'm 32 out of 45 and I'm up 102% in just over 2 weeks. There's no reason that it can't be kept up, but we'll see.....

mr