# Introduction Investing effort in any capacity — whether it be time or money — *is a significant part of life, especially adulthood: What stocks should I buy? Where should I put my money? Is this career growing in the future?* All of these are questions I face on a daily basis. Let's call that noise. It is those thoughts and points of ideation that can keep me in a cycle I like to call the investing ideation loop. What do I mean by this?  Let's start with the simple question: *what stock(s) should I buy? Any sensible investor would follow this by performing the tertiary analysis. What companies do I know? What products do I use? Are they successful? Will they continue to prove viable? Continuing down the loop are further questions: What happens if I lose money in this investment? Can and will it beat inflation? Can I have patience in this choice and conviction of selection?* All of these questions come afterward, and it feels like a frustrating, neverending pattern. By the end, you have scoured through Yahoo Finance with tens — maybe hundreds — of stock tickers in the same position. Now, you might be mentally exhausted and unable to trim down a selection to put into practice. When it comes time to trade, you may open your brokerage account and see that your previous selections have lost value. This is a struggle I face daily and I am sure others do as well. Here is my playbook to cut out the noise and build a free mind to capture the investments that matter to your significant other, career, family and health.  For some, it is a dream to hold cash. For me, it is one of my biggest fears — cash simply wastes away, losing value to inflation. So, what now? Well, I cannot promise this will build wealth [^1]. I can, however, explain my strategies and ideas: I have created a strategy (including how I combatted the anxious patterns and constant thoughts) to follow to build your own wealth. My personal goal is to regain the time I spent with no real knowledge, selecting stocks based on YouTube videos and historical charts, hoping for lucky returns. # Inspiration The inspiration for this document came from two places: a documentary, [Tune Out The Noise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T98825bzcKw) by Dimensional Fund Advisors and [Ben Felix](https://www.youtube.com/@BenFelixCSI), a content creator on Youtube. [^2] # Investing Journey My investing journey began in 2017 when I created a mutual investing account with my uncle. We used a well-known provider of mutual funds and created the account to invest solely in a mutual fund that tracks the US markets. Naturally, during this time, I was a money-obsessed teenager. I started to talk to my uncle about investing in individual stocks and opening my own brokerage account. In order to do this, I needed approval from a parent or guardian, so I started to explain my conviction in my prospective investment. The company was [Canopy Growth Corporation](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CGC/) (CGC). Back then, medical and recreational usage of marijuana was starting to take off as a trend, and all associated stocks had gained momentum. When I began looking into it, CGC was trading at $20 a share. I wanted in. My uncle proposed a paper trade. He explained that it was too risky to invest in just one sector. I was at risk on all the money I saved in one stock. He decided that if the stock doubled to $40, he would give me 100% of my investment. If only trading stocks were this easy: making blind calls and not having to put up any money. Down the line, I was right: the stock rocketed up toward record highs. However, I did not collect any money from my uncle because I did not want to take advantage of the unexpected situation. Most importantly, something did not feel right. I understood that a price of $40-60 would be reasonable, but the stock rallied to over $400 per share. It was a euphoric feeling, but I still thought of it as another investment opportunity I had missed out on. Based on the chart today, if I had held, I would have lost over 98% of my original investment. Looking back, the most important question was this: Given that I was trading on emotions, would I have actually been able to sell at those euphoric highs? The risk of an individual stock is called idiosyncratic risk, as Ben Felix explains in depth, the risk of [Individual Stocks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxCqxhRsHiY).  Consumed by finance books and videos, trying to figure out where to put my money, and high basis point fees from mutual funds, I started to look elsewhere. I have a very high risk appetite: similarly to gambling, I can deal with large swings and downturns without panicking. Fittingly, gambling is exactly what my investing journey has felt like up to this point. I did not seriously start investing until I was 18. That is when I could finally open all of my own brokerage accounts and IRAs. At the time, I started speaking to fiduciary Brian Williams, owner of [Northshire Consulting](https://www.northshireconsulting.com/). He has proven to be an excellent mentor and advisor for all of my crazy ideas. He provided me with the age-old knowledge of investing in the market and letting it ride. I was not having it. I still had convictions and, most importantly, had subscribed to the theory that I could beat the market. Maybe in some years, I could, but ultimately, it would be out of luck. I was not judging my investments on anything but momentum and historical performance. “On average, active fund managers have consistently underperformed the market,” as explained by Ben Felix in [Why It’s So Hard to Beat the Market](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhldVcWhhc0).  In 2019, I had heavy conviction in Bitcoin, and began investing in it — it was the new trend, and I wanted in before it became too popular. I bought books [^4] on Bitcoin and why it would be the best asset and the only asset to hold for the foreseeable future. Luckily, I can say that my investment worked out, and I have since heavily downsized my bitcoin position from a risk management perspective. From Fidelity’s [The Case for Bitcoin](https://institutional.fidelity.com/app/literature/view?itemCode=9911424&renditionType=), I have drawn that taking additional exposure (over 7.5%) will not equate to additional returns. In 2019, however, I had started to fully believe that Bitcoin was the future: over 90% of my investments were in crypto assets, Bitcoin, and ETH. It was the new gold and silver. Microstrategy (MSTR) — now known as Strategy — is the company I was all-in on. It is a Bitcoin shell company, which uses debt instruments to purchase BTC. I was also buying Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) at the time, which was an OTC-traded stock that sold at exuberant premiums at times and discounts at other times. I started to watch my GBTC investment fade because the discount was massive — often over 37%, meaning bitcoin could be bought at a discount on the hope that it would list as an ETF, and then the discount would disappear. Thanks to Investopedia’s [Discount to Net Asset Value Investing](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/discount_to_nav.asp), I started to realize that this is a type of investing. I also realized that OTC markets work fundamentally differently. I learned about NAV (Net Asset Value) and how different investment products aim to reduce a premium or discount to the underlying assets.  ## BTC Investing Arc What happened while I was investing in Bitcoin? In some cases, losing money. I would buy new, risky cryptocurrencies, but I always stuck to the core position that Bitcoin would perform the best;  thankfully, I did not gamble all of my money away. From 2019 to 2022, I continued investing in Bitcoin and believing in the asset. It was not until 2023 that I started to lose conviction in its place as a quintessential asset. I realized that the true price movement of bitcoin was caused by momentum and the idea that the currency would gain value due to inflation. The final nail in the coffin of losing my conviction is the potential weakness that Bitcoin shell companies pose to the price movement. As an example, if Microstrategy were starting to trade at high premiums like GBTC, could there be a time where that exuberance flipped, and the company started to trade at a discount to NAV? What would that do to the price of Bitcoin? Well, the company already had a large debt obligation to a volatile asset, so in my opinion, the market started to become very frothy; I did not want to be included in it. It took two years to finally make a move. An overview of Bitcoin treasury companies is explained perfectly by Richard, creator of The Plain Bagel highlights in his video [The Bitcoin Treasury Reckoning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYcMkhxfoNU).  In the end, I did well with my Bitcoin investments, selling at a time of exuberance. As I grew older, I recognized that I had taken a lot of risks. I prefer to have risks that I can understand completely, and accepting idiosyncratic risks is very difficult. In hindsight, I put so much conviction in my Bitcoin investment that I faced an identity crisis once I sold it all, a feeling explained by the [Sunk Cost Fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost). I still wanted to chase returns in individual stocks, mostly US large-cap growth. I began to create ideas of stock selections that would beat the market. I called these my Investment Theses. My final notes on Bitcoin? I still believe in the asset, but accept the fact that it has growth, acceptance and much price momentum before it becomes widely accepted. ## Investment Thesis 1.0 The first investment thesis was developed sometime in June 2025. It was the first time in my entire investing journey that I really questioned the risk I was taking by investing in just one asset. It was truly gambling, and I no longer wanted to face that feeling of purchasing impulsively, based on a historical chart. I believe an investor knows their risk, has a strategy, and is prepared for market fluctuations — including Black Swan events. This is described in part by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book [The Black Swan](https://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Improbable-Robustness-Fragility/dp/081297381X). I started by creating basket portfolios in Fidelity[^3]. The share was split equally between BRK/B, AMZN, IAU, AMD, MFST, META, NFLX, LH, DOCN, TSM, ORCL, COST, NET, GOOGL, BN, CRWD, and CBOE. It was a heavy allocation to large-cap growth stocks, and while I can say I performed well during the 2023-25 AI boom, there was also the same momentum and fear that markets were frothy, leading to exuberant valuations. This is explained by Ben Felix and Team on the [Rational Reminder Podcast](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZvO_TFAgMS0) regarding the state of the "AI Bubble."   ## Investment Thesis 2.0 As I started to take on individual risk again, I realized that I was also taking sector risk, including industry and large-cap risk. I became uncomfortable with all this instability. I thought that building positions in those companies, then trading options, would work as a strategy to hedge that risk. However, I did not have the time to effectively implement that idea. A part of the investment thesis included an internal struggle of whether it was worth my time to just have a surface-level understanding of my investments when I knew that developing a legitimate philosophy would add more value to my life, specifically involving education, career growth, personal development, and interpersonal relationships. I wanted to be able to look at balance sheets, analyze cash flow statements, and truly understand why a company was worth (or not worth) investing in. I did not want to be spending all of my time looking at charts, stuck in the investing ideation loop again. Each time, the core philosophy was to stop gambling and to just invest in the things that really mattered. I have tried to boil these theses down to the most important points. I started to look into more successful investment frameworks after reading [I Will Teach You to Be Rich](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523505745/?bestFormat=true&k=i%20will%20teach%20you%20to%20be%20rich&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ww_k0_1_7_de&crid=29SRMNDP0TL5O&sprefix=I%20will%20) by Ramit Sethi. He recommended a popular approach called the Swensen Model. This model had a primary focus of diversifying an investor to perform well during turbulent periods. [Swensen Portfolio](https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/swensen-portfolio/). I created a modified approach as shown in the table below. | Allocation | Ticker | Swensen Category | | :--------: | :----: | :--------------------------: | | 10% | SPY | Domestic | | 10% | DIA | Domestic | | 10% | QQQM | Domestic | | 15% | VXUS | International, Large-Cap | | 5% | VWO | Emerging | | 10% | SPAXX | Money Market (Core Position) | | 15% | VXF | Small and Midcap Domestics | | 15% | VSS | International Small-Caps | | 5% | IAU | Gold | | 2.5% | EWL | Exposure Switzerland | | 2.5% | EWG | Exposure Germany | As I pointed out, there are times when markets can become overconcentrated with specific stocks. This is highlighted today in the United States markets, with the “Magnificent Seven” making up a large majority of the market capitalization. This is explained in depth with historical examples in [​​The "AI Bubble" and Stock Market Concentration | Rational Reminder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvO_TFAgMS0). There is also new evidence that is being academically discussed in the paper, [Beyond the Status Quo: A Critical Assessment of Lifecycle Investment Advice](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4590406), which states that, for an investor who is able to handle the risk with a long-term perspective, a 100% equity portfolio would produce better returns. This is still being discussed and requires further research, but it is a concept I am comfortable taking into practice, knowing my personal appetite for risk. Considering that the Swenson Model has significant allocation to bonds, which have not performed well at all over the past decades, I was not comfortable taking that position. The table below reflects my choice to remove any cash or bond positions.  | Allocation | Ticker | Swensen Category | | :--------: | :----: | :------------------------: | | 10% | SPY | Domestic | | 7.5% | DIA | Domestic | | 10% | QQQM | Domestic | | 15% | VXUS | International, Large-Cap | | 2.5% | VWO | Emerging | | 10% | BRK.B | Value Domestic | | 10% | VXF | Small and Midcap Domestics | | 15% | VSS | International Small-Caps | | 2.5% | IAU | Gold | | 2.5% | EWL | Exposure Switzerland | | 2.5% | EWG | Exposure Germany | | 12.5% | BTC | Exposure to Bitcoin (IBIT) | ## Investment Thesis 3.0 The table above represents the implementation of my third thesis portfolio; a lot of changes were made in six months as I was trying to gain a better understanding of what my new investment conviction would actually be. It was an approach to be 100 percent allocated to equities through ETFs. This is outlined below in the table. My issue with this approach was that while I was accepting market risk, I wanted to take additional risk and felt my position in domestic stocks was too large. While the US market has performed well, it could change in the future. I started to believe in the [Efficient Market Hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis). I wanted to have an investment philosophy for the future. I had been listening to the Rational Reminder Podcast and Ben Felix, and I started to understand that I can take additional risk through a model called factor investing, specifically five-factor investing. I read [Five Factor Investing with ETFs](https://pwlcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Five-Factor-Investing-with-ETFs.pdf), which convinced me that, on average, small-cap stocks outperform large-cap stocks and Value stocks outperform growth stocks. # Investment Philosophy Rather than a thesis yet to be proven, as previously developed, a philosophy is a way of life. A strategic and rational approach to investing is ideal in order for this framework to function. I have determined that accepting the efficient market hypothesis and five-factor investing to gain an edge can deliver outperformed returns with a long-term horizon. Factor Investing has been used for decades with Five Factors, which is explained in [Understanding Factor Investing: A Strategy For Market Savvy Investors](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/factor-investing.asp#citation-3). I chose to take a factor tilt — a tilt meaning I allocated more percentage to a Factor category. Factor investing is not one-size-fits-all and does produce underperformance. As written in Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) [Size Brochure](https://www.msci.com/documents/1296102/8473352/Size-brochure.pdf) presentation, “Although factor strategies have exhibited long-term outperformance, in the short-term, factor performance has been cyclical and has generated periods of underperformance.”  In my previous theses, I took idiosyncratic risk and eventually purchased market capitalization weighted index funds to capture market risk. Ideally, this is as diversified as an investor needs to be. The framework developed includes six ETFs, which focuses on the factor tilts, greater international market exposure, and allocation to Bitcoin. I am still convinced that Bitcoin is a way to gain exposure to an alternative asset class that could produce optimistic returns. The last challenge of any investor is when to invest. Rather than timing the market, this philosophy provides a strategic approach to patiently benefit from the market, which has been academically proven to work time and time again Watching the video [Does Market Timing ever Work?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_aOERmUWdA) by Ben Felix enlightened me on this topic. | ETF | Allocation | Description | | :--: | :--------: | ------------------------------------------ | | VTI | 25% | Total Market Weighted Capitalization Index | | DFIV | 25% | International Value | | DFAS | 18.8% | Domestic Small Cap | | VSS | 18.8% | International Small Cap excluding US | | IBIT | 10% | Bitcoin | | IAU | 2.4% | Gold | # Closing Remarks Thank you to everyone who has read this. I hope you can extract value out of what was written. A special thanks to my significant other Jenna, who proof-read and corrected all my punctuation and grammar. All of these thoughts are raw emotion with no enhancement by AI. My goal is to show the struggles of investing that are faced by those who want to be active but struggle to make a selection due to today’s overload of available information. [^1]: All selection of ETFs and/or investments highlighted in this document are not to serve as guaranteed ways to invest your money. The stock market and markets in general are volatile and could go in either direction. None of these thoughts are to be copied without your own research and analysis. This paper is merely meant to describe a struggle I have faced and how I have cut out the noise.  [^2]: Disclaimer:  Ideas and thoughts discussed are not entirely mine to claim, they are from academic sources and analysis from others. I have attempted to provide as many resources as possible to provide the original creator credit.  [^3]: Not an endorsement but a great way to strategically rebalance portfolios and stick to a plan.  [^4]: Notable Mentions: [The Bitcoin Standard](https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Standard-Decentralized-Alternative-Central/dp/1119473861/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TUXJQN44UYK5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cTZRX-tntNHNwUoI036bSBz-WuITS_SCRd6Q5Gk5L57G_UP1vn-LX2A8w45mQ9zWjSuelbVcfW7vL08R2IFPJaw_f7KalraRIB-tqwVUp7tYrLQcQeGDgnDUE-XcEV3Q1kWCwaElUu8rlOO4J2iTY9140jaIf0mZLFXJ4KM-G0hmy3SfZOGNtEYyQSmf-i7QMIgYXzclC8AABbRd2kxhWgH-QqdLGXLX2nZzYrZgmL0.V4RfMlf_7HZikwhuxXXuob2TB4mvewAvfHEvq1vBde8&dib_tag=se&keywords=The+Bitcoin+Standard&qid=1768004720&sprefix=the+bitcoin+standar%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-1), [Mastering Bitcoin](https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1098150090/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OKLTAJ6J51Z2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.p5i-bijdUofI5TmoNTlXYI1TNW6CoaaIIxfpa9MJhgdmV-na0LMusdDu8VW28PzGswQXqU_6-hvUFvnhHm7Ofc9T0tts--VDzuQXpoCwXzhnCSrfWPtoo_Ksmdf-s6A26txlcExS7X0HJ_-XtrP-JhlWcEC5UD5vuCz8Wfb-P5GrCxn1mcrf62RD_AHGgQ76EMXl62JtMI-SJSNhN6KMHreuFzK3lLE52reMecJrrb8.W-u7wKVwUgDJ1JLR-jADSyWvuYJDEjQ_e6Uo-QOymGY&dib_tag=se&keywords=mastering+bitcoin&qid=1768004751&sprefix=Mastering+Bitcoin%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1), [Broken Money](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG8985FR/?bestFormat=true&k=broken%20money%20book&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ww_k2_1_12_de&crid=2NPOZE4GG5PMT&sprefix=Broken%20Money).