Monday, October 20, 2025

Current Investment Preferences

One big reason why I've chosen Blogger over more modern solutions (e.g. Substack, Medium) is that it relieves me of the mental burden of writing to an audience. I think it nudges the writing towards the LinkedIn style of writing: often overly brief, sometimes to the point of hollowness. 

This mental unburdening also allows me to post more journal-like posts, my current investment preferences. It feels like a nice succinct collection of everything I've learned and done investing-wise in the past two years. Hopefully it'll be nice to reflect on in years to come.


My current portfolio:
  • Passive ETFs (65%) – Prior to business school, I followed the wisdom of Jack Bogle and Charley Ellis. The appeal: low cost and low time commitment, perfect for someone who didn’t have time to research individual stocks.
  • Cash (money-market) (20%) – In the past couple years, I’ve built up a small cash cushion. The reason: (i) the market has performed well, so de-risk, (ii) I want to have liquidity to invest (e.g. in a house, in stocks) “when others are fearful.” 
  • Real estate (10%) – My wife and I maintain a cash-flow-positive rental with a low mortgage in a good location.
  • Deep conviction investments (5%) – This includes companies I think are valued/positioned well (e.g. GOOGL), a “fun” investment in a local climbing gym, and trading experiments (VIX put in April 2025, short-term quantum holds in 2024). 
My goals now:
  • Diversification – I’m nervous about my large US ETF exposure and am actively diversifying internationally. I’ve also considered (but not yet implemented) protective puts against the market for downside protection.
  • Increased risk – As I shift from grad student to salaried employee, I hope to shift my ETFs/cash buckets into “deep conviction” investments. 
  • Conviction – I aspire to invest with grounded, fundamentals-based conviction. I’m working on building software tools and frameworks to analyze stocks, industries, and start-ups in a way I can trust.
  • Practice – I’ve said no to angel investments in start-ups and a VC fund, and I hope to continue evaluating investments across asset classes.

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