RV/Derek - Tesla! - Salute to you sir!

[Smitty77_7]

Hey RV - I drop in and read, but do not post as often as I used too... 

Specially on Tesla. I can recall the early days, as you shared your 'zest' for Tesla. And I recall that the fund you put into Tesla, were 'above and separated' from your primary retirement investments (USAA, if memory serves me(?)). 

So, why the post?

Well Sir - You were long, and double, tripped (And probably more!) into Tesla. 

Me? I was in, and out, of Tesla many times over the years. My strategy, was to always have a declined 'Exit Strategy' on any stock (Tesla was one!) established before purchase... I too have our primary retirement funds off to the side, retaining a bucket of funds that allowed me to stay semi involved in hands on investing. Tesla? Well, I took a look back. I've been in/out of Tesla with Short Term holds 6 times over the years. And the after tax gains have funded many modifications to our coach, as well as supported my 'Got Tube's' HiFi habit. 

So for me Tesla has done what I wanted it to do... But no question, that if I had hung on, and added when prudent, to my (Well, our!) original investment(s) in Tesla - we would have been substantially better rewarded today... 

And of course, looking back makes things easy to see from an investment perspective!!! We've done fine with In/Put of Apple, Qualcomm, Boeing, CAT, AWK, DNP, etc., etc. over the last 4-5 years... So no real regrets. As I said to you before, and in this post, these are not our retirement supporting funds - their our 'Go Have Fun', or not, funds!!!! 

MOSTLY! Wanted to acknowledge how you stood behind Musk, Tesla, over this time... And how well the 'longer term' holds have worked for you. 

NOT so much for you, but for others that read this forum on investing in the future. For sure, no 'sure' things in life... And diversification, paying yourself first, and preserving primary savings/funds/investments for retirement are prudent. But, at the sometime. Using what interests a person most, and following their 'heart/gut' with a portion of their investments - can pay nice dividends... In your case with Tesla, it was relatively longer holds. In my case, it was In/Out multiple times... On this stock, the 'Longer View' would have paid off with higher overall returns financially. For us? Well, we get some ROI form our In/Out of Tesla over the years, with the 'Dividends' of taking those after taxes funds and putting to 'work' for us with yearly modifications of our coaches... 

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Hope all is well for you, and all. And yes, I keep waiting for Spacex to become available to invest in for 'Mere mortals!':)! Stay safe, and keep having funds. And always enjoy your various posts,

Smitty

 

[RV_]

Smitty!

I missed your sage advice. If I remember correctly you explained shorts to me the first time, and advised me to at least take my original investment off the table. So I avoided shorting and did take my principal off the table. I did sell all my Tesla shares for $348 in 2018 when it was dropping down from an all-time high of around $365 or $385. That only because the parents we were caring for passed on and we weren't staying in that humidity one minute more than necessary.

I don't do coulda, woulda, shoulda, when I sold for a 15 bagger.

I will lose on ACB but a drop in the bucket compared to my gains on T.

I am holding ACB like an ace in the hole as a loss for the year I need it to offset some taxes when I finally sell and have gains. If it goes up 100% it will still be a loss. If it goes up 12 X I would just break even. So I predict it will be a loss and I am saving it for when I need the loss. If it broke even I'd be, as the Brits say Gobsmacked!

Thanks for all your support and help here and in PMs Smitty!

After the pandemic maybe we will end up close enough for a visit.

Smitty it won't be Space X. Musk has had his fill of shorts and BS with Tesla since he took Tesla public. He vowed to not IPO Space X. But did say he would IPO StarLink as a spinoff to fund his Mars expedition/s. So I am looking at Starlink for my next Musk investment cautiously. By that I mean I will see the IPO coming and decide then.

He did not IPO Tesla until he had already sold out the first Roadster's two years of production in 2008/2009, located a factory, and then IPO'd Tesla. In other words he has the product ready for prime time before he IPOs, not pipe dreams. I expect the same for his StarLink IPO.

He did put his money back into the company and will be releasing the Cybertruck once he gets the Texas Tesla Cybertruck factory in production this year. Late as usual. 

Then the HDT truck, and the new Roadster.

Between the now and the Cybertruck or now and before the HDT I expect some battery changes for the better and the lifetime battery and fast charging systems. As well as the now promised Tesla economy car for less than $25k.

As well as more battery backup systems to handle brown outs and power outages instantly as they built in S. Australia. 

Energy wise, when ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) age cars are gone, we save all that electricity used now to build pipe for pipelines and drilling, then the transport and clean up of water, pipeline, and refinery spills and fires. Then the very large amount of power used in refineries, pumps and gas stations, and keeping up all that infrastructure.

Here is a prediction about energy. The work being done with near room temperature super conductors for a smaller fusion reactor may provide the spinoff technologies and materials for all the clean energy we need.

At the same time those new materials could very well make magnetic refrigeration graduate to ready for prime time. Like the change from battery calculators to solar that work with room light the breakthroughs that will count the most are reducing the use of compressors for home cooling, industrial and commercial building cooling, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpogxBxbPPo

Now don't misunderstand me. I am not saying the fusion will work or not, but near room temperature superconductors can revolutionize power use for refrigeration and heating. But magnetic refrigeration can take a very large percentage of electric use off the grid. We have electric watches so efficient their battery lasts 10 years and some solar models that never need batteries as long as they are worn and not left in a case or drawer.

I see loads of jobs and investment opportunities in making our power production, electronics, as efficient as the LED did with 60 Watt equivalent bulbs at dollar tree for a buck each. I had some of those in my old house and have changed out all the bulbs here with LED for the ceiling fan lights to the stove light here. Our night lights are even LEDs from Dollar Tree and not a one has burned out in several years. 60 -100 watt equivalent LED bulbs use only 7-12 watts of power. They are cooler and don't add to A/C summer heat loads. Our TVs and music sources are becoming very much more efficient. 

It isn't just power production that is soon to be the majority renewable, but appliances, especially heating and cooling that can and are becoming more efficient to the point they save energy. Magnetic refrigeration is getting to the price points needed and all the while our electric devices and charging devices become energy misers without losing their power and endurance.

I have no corded tools anymore. I don't pull out air hoses and compressors to air up tires or use my 1/2" impact wrench. All are Ryobi battery tools. I have two 6.0 amp 18 volt batteries, four 4.0 amp batteries several 3 and about six of the little guys. Even my angle grinder is an 18 volt grinder. I have the six battery charger and maintainer. As well as one 30 minute charger and one single charger. My lawn mower and snow blower are both Greenworks 60 volt battery systems and I have yet to run down the 6 amp on the lawn mower or the snow blower before I am done. two years ago the Ryobi 40 volt systems were lower rated in all my research.  However they have an 18 volt that uses the same batteries as I have already that I might be interested in trying. I have their 18 volt string trimmer and edger that is as powerful as my gas ones were.