The Investment Thread (stocks, bonds, real estate, retirement, just not gold)

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I might be buying some rope at this rate.

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My husband sold all his retirement funds about 1.5 - 2 months ago. Not sure if it’s in bonds or cash. I only know about 80K cash in bank, probably more after we sell current house. Don’t know where the market will go. Will have to find something to do. Just can’t keep so much money as cash.
 
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My husband sold all his retirement funds about 1.5 - 2 months ago. Not sure if it’s in bonds or cash. I only know about 80K cash in bank, probably more after we sell current house. Don’t know where the market will go. Will have to find something to do. Just can’t keep so much money as cash.
Are either of you near retirement age? Never heard of fully liquidating your retirement nor it being advocated
 
Not near retirement, just too busy to look at the investment rightnow in a process of moving coast to coast. I stil have my retirement funds in the market.
 
What have you found to be the most affordable company for home and auto insurance? Ive been going through Progressive for 10 years now, but the premiums seem to slowly creep up. Is it true that you can save money by jumping around between insurance companies every few years? Seems like a hassle. Will insurance companies lower rates if you threaten to leave?
 
What have you found to be the most affordable company for home and auto insurance? Ive been going through Progressive for 10 years now, but the premiums seem to slowly creep up. Is it true that you can save money by jumping around between insurance companies every few years? Seems like a hassle. Will insurance companies lower rates if you threaten to leave?

For me it's Erie Insurance. I ask for new quotes every year...and every year they are the cheapest. I think they are just a regional company, though. You may not have access to their insurance if you live on the West Coast.
 
For me it's Erie Insurance. I ask for new quotes every year...and every year they are the cheapest. I think they are just a regional company, though. You may not have access to their insurance if you live on the West Coast.

Did you try going through the CVS auto and home insurance and see what the rates would be?
 
Yes you should shop around for car insurance every year or two. They increase rates every year just because they can, even though your car is worth less. Totally worth it to save a few hundred bucks per year for an hour or two of work.
 
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I'm about to get steady cash flow in and been pondering this. Any recommended resources to get started on investing and get the ball rolling? I'm curious how I should allocate funds being a new grad between investments, student loans, and future house down payment. As for loans vs house down payment.. I'd like to tackle loans as fast as possible, but I recently got married too so I think they're pretty much equal on the priority ladder at this point - hard to choose. Obviously if ROI is better in investments than interest on loans you should put $ there, but I'm looking for more info on reading the market, fluctuations, potential untapped investments, & anything else that may be relevant. And being in debt like we are/was, it'd be nice to hear directly from experiences similar to mine.
 
I'm about to get steady cash flow in and been pondering this. Any recommended resources to get started on investing and get the ball rolling? I'm curious how I should allocate funds being a new grad between investments, student loans, and future house down payment. As for loans vs house down payment.. I'd like to tackle loans as fast as possible, but I recently got married too so I think they're pretty much equal on the priority ladder at this point - hard to choose. Obviously if ROI is better in investments than interest on loans you should put $ there, but I'm looking for more info on reading the market, fluctuations, potential untapped investments, & anything else that may be relevant. And being in debt like we are/was, it'd be nice to hear directly from experiences similar to mine.

This is what we did:
-rented a cheap apt and lived modestly. Did 401k up to match, maxed out HSA
-refinanced student loans and paid off aggressively (took 2-3 years)
-maxed out 401k, backdoor Roth and saved for house down payment
-opened taxable account

Not the most efficient but it worked for us. Once those loans are gone it really frees up your cash flow, it's a huge weight off your shoulders.

As for investments, those are for long term and can always be voltatile. Would you be comfortable losing 50% (paper loss) of what you invest before your student loans are paid off?
 
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I'm about to get steady cash flow in and been pondering this. Any recommended resources to get started on investing and get the ball rolling? I'm curious how I should allocate funds being a new grad between investments, student loans, and future house down payment. As for loans vs house down payment.. I'd like to tackle loans as fast as possible, but I recently got married too so I think they're pretty much equal on the priority ladder at this point - hard to choose. Obviously if ROI is better in investments than interest on loans you should put $ there, but I'm looking for more info on reading the market, fluctuations, potential untapped investments, & anything else that may be relevant. And being in debt like we are/was, it'd be nice to hear directly from experiences similar to mine.
I followed Dave Ramsey's advice to go hard at paying off debt first. The main reason why is to free up cash flow. Otherwise you'll find it hard to do everything at once: invest, student loans, down payment/mortgage, car loans, etc. It is definitely hard work, but once everything is paid off including the mortgage, it feels amazing to have $5k+/mo in free cash flow and no payments to make. I just invest most of it and it compounds like crazy. That was my road to becoming a millionaire 9 years after graduating on a single RPh salary.

If you want to go this route and knock out your loans in a few years, you could just do your 401k up to the match and put it in index funds. Once your loans are gone, you'll have plenty of free cash flow to invest.
 
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Fellow SDN'ers - How do y'all compare auto insurance quotes? Every site that I have seen that advertises to compare quotes seems super fishy/scammy to me and the alternative seems to be the endless drudgery of filling out long forms for individual quotes from each company (not to mention that I could still be missing out on the best rate).

Anyone have a website, service, or method they recommend?
 
Fellow SDN'ers - How do y'all compare auto insurance quotes? Every site that I have seen that advertises to compare quotes seems super fishy/scammy to me and the alternative seems to be the endless drudgery of filling out long forms for individual quotes from each company (not to mention that I could still be missing out on the best rate).

Anyone have a website, service, or method they recommend?
I normally call a local insurance broker that deals a lot with many insurance, not just one insurance. Make sure you know the lingo so you compare the same coverage, not comparing apples and oranges.

Go to www.answerfinancial.com (I use this) or local broker, whichever gives me the cheapest rate every a couple yrs.

Tell them what you want... I have 250/500/100 liability only and nothing else for about $40/mo (I really should up it to 500/500/100 due to higher NW). The reasoning for me to only carry liability ins is if someone hits me, they will pay me with their liability insurance. If it's my fault I can just write a check and buy a used car anytime without straining my self (self insured), and liability insurance covers the person I hit. Most people have full coverage and I find that is wasteful once your car goes below a certain amount in value (what you are comfortable self insuring, for me that's sub $10-15k). This also makes me drive more carefully because I know if it's my fault, I'll have to pay to replace my car :)
 
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What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed

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Some people need a handholding more so than the others. They need a human to talk to. This is something that everyone can learn without paying anyone. Financial education is so simple. A couple statement such as live below your means, max retirement accounts, minimize tax, never market timing, and pick a low fee index funds. That's literally 99% of the lessons...

It might be helpful for others but their services feels like a rip off to me.
 
Some people need a handholding more so than the others. They need a human to talk to. This is something that everyone can learn without paying anyone. Financial education is so simple. A couple statement such as live below your means, max retirement accounts, minimize tax, never market timing, and pick a low fee index funds. That's literally 99% of the lessons...

It might be helpful for others but their services feels like a rip off to me.

The way I see it, finance is straightforward in a similar way that dieting/weightlifting is straightforward... eat less, lift more, and you will succeed; in this case, it boils down to “save more.”

The big problem is like dieting and weightlifting, it is incredibly hard for the average Joe to consistently stay on track, just as how most people fail their diets or training goals. The financial advisor is kind of the nagging coach/personal trainer that nags you through it.
 
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What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed

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It's a good podcast for beginners. But it's pretty clearly just a conduit for them to sell their financial planning services. There is nothing different at all that they've discussed that someone from any other profession could follow as well. You're just as well off listening to Dave Ramsey or Stacking Benjamins. If they really wanted to tailor it to pharmacists, they'd spend a show going over the CVS or Walgreens retirement plan and giving examples of which funds have low fees, which funds might make up a diversified portfolio, etc. I wouldn't pay them for what they are offering, but people that are too lazy or too unwilling to learn how to invest in a measured, statistically advantageous way (it literally takes a couple of hours to get the basics down) would benefit from their hand holding. I've gathered that they are a fiduciary, which is a good starting point. So at least it isn't a scam. But that's honestly a brilliant strategy for the financial planner. If they got a bunch of people as clients that only work for a handful of corporations, making about the same income, you can set up an easy template investing strategy for each company's plan options and extrapolate it for several clients at the same time.
 
What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed

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It's a good podcast for beginners. But it's pretty clearly just a conduit for them to sell their financial planning services. There is nothing different at all that they've discussed that someone from any other profession could follow as well. You're just as well off listening to Dave Ramsey or Stacking Benjamins. If they really wanted to tailor it to pharmacists, they'd spend a show going over the CVS or Walgreens retirement plan and giving examples of which funds have low fees, which funds might make up a diversified portfolio, etc. I wouldn't pay them for what they are offering, but people that are too lazy or too unwilling to learn how to invest in a measured, statistically advantageous way (it literally takes a couple of hours to get the basics down) would benefit from their hand holding. I've gathered that they are a fiduciary, which is a good starting point. So at least it isn't a scam. But that's honestly a brilliant strategy for the financial planner. If they got a bunch of people as clients that only work for a handful of corporations, making about the same income, you can set up an easy template investing strategy for each company's plan options and extrapolate it for several clients at the same time.

Unless working for CVS/Wags, how would one be able to access their retirement plan info and give specific advice? None of them work for those companies (I believe).

I think it is a great podcast for new grads especially. I've learned a lot from it and thoroughly enjoyed reading their book, and have applied a lot of what I have learned from them into my financial strategy.

Graduates of the last few years are navigating difficult waters: paying off 200k student loans, wanting to make investments, savings in tax-beneficial accounts, budgeting, wanting to get married/start a family/buy a house, all at the same time when you graduate... there are a lot of competing priorities.

Whether to use YFP or not: Read their book, listen to all the podcasts, plug everything into MINT budgeting app (free) and monitor for 3-6 months to make a solid budget/savings. Then, make the call on whether to further use their for pay services.
 
What does everyone think about "your financial pharmacist"? A coworker or two has started meeting with them - just wondering if anyone has experience. Not planning on signing up but wonder if it's needed

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You don’t need them. My guide is much better and I am not making money from you:

You don't need to do research on this or try to understand it because I have already done it for you:

(1) 401 k: contribute at least to the match which is usually 5%. If you put in a dollar, your company will give you a dollar = $2. Don't ever touch this money.

- Why? Tax saving and retirement money

- How should I distribute my 401 k?
For a new grad: 35% large size companies, 25% small size companies, 20% mid size companies, 20% international companies.

Look for Vanguard funds (low fee) and look for the word "index" in the fund name.

(2) Tackle your student loans within the first 5 years. Cut down on unnecessary cost. Don't be foolish and buy a new car. Live with friends or family when possible.

(3) Try to work OT if possible especially when you are being paid 1.5x. Working on holidays also helps. Get a per diem job at a non retail pharmacy if you are working in retail. Nobody wants to do retail for 30 years. You need a Plan B.

(4) Take a small vacation every 6 months. Go with a large group of friends or family. Don't overspend.

(5) Spend your money wisely. If it helps you grow or advance your career, then it may be worth it. Staying at a 4 star hotel? Not worth it.

(6) If you have some money left over:

- First, max out your health saving account (HSA), not the same as flexible spending account. This is your health care money. It gets rolled over if you don't use it. Tax saving.
- Second, max out your 401 k (up to 18 k this year). Again, tax saving and retirement money.
- Third, put money in ROTH IRA (do a back door conversion)

(7) Start saving for a house. If you put 20% down, you don't have to pay for PMI (extra cost added to money borrowed from the bank).

(8) Don't spend ridiculous money on your friends or family. You are just a pharmacist, not Rockefeller Jr.

(9) Date someone who is financially stable and has a good career. It helps tremendously. A bad divorce is a destroyer of wealth. Don't forget that.


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You don’t need them. My guide is much better and I am not making money from you:






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Don't forget 1% in Bitcoin
 
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Pretty sure I've asked for this before (sorry), but can someone help me find the post that was a thorough description on how to fill out w-4 appropriately? I think I need to change mine since I'm working more PRN than I thought I would. Originally put 2 down, and have a child coming soon.

I think it was @pezdispenser who wrote it?
 
You don’t need them. My guide is much better and I am not making money from you:

Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.

I have a few funds that have net expense ratios that are quite high (1.16%, 1.15%, 1.05%) and after reading about how much that costs you over the long-term, it makes me uneasy. I really like the stocks they hold though (high percentage of FANG, Lockheed, Boeing, Tencent, Alibaba, etc).... is it dumb for me to hold these?
 
Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.

Put at least 5% (put as much as you can afford = money that you don't have to touch until you are old). If you are doing a lot of OT, why pay a lot on tax on it? Put it into your 401 k, HSA.
 
Put at least 5% (put as much as you can afford = money that you don't have to touch until you are old). If you are doing a lot of OT, why pay a lot on tax on it? Put it into your 401 k, HSA.

You're misunderstanding my question. I contribute 8% to 401k, and max out my HSA already. Of that 8% that goes to 401k, what percent should I invest into those 2 Vanguard funds? My portfolio is already distributed very close to what you recommended in your outline above.
 
You're misunderstanding my question. I contribute 8% to 401k, and max out my HSA already. Of that 8% that goes to 401k, what percent should I invest into those 2 Vanguard funds? My portfolio is already distributed very close to what you recommended in your outline above.

70-90% of your funds. You can risk 10-30% since you are still young. You have to play the long game.
 
70-90% of your funds. You can risk 10-30% since you are still young. You have to play the long game.

70-90% into those 2 vanguard funds? Did you look at their holdings? Seems a little dominating portfolio wise...
 
Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.

I have a few funds that have net expense ratios that are quite high (1.16%, 1.15%, 1.05%) and after reading about how much that costs you over the long-term, it makes me uneasy. I really like the stocks they hold though (high percentage of FANG, Lockheed, Boeing, Tencent, Alibaba, etc).... is it dumb for me to hold these?
Do the math on how much a constant drag of 1% will cost you over the next 30 years. If you are maxing out your 401k every year for the next 30 years, and you reduce your return from 7% to 6% due to the fees, you are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stick with the vanguard. I would do 90% stock, 10% bonds if you are <35 y.o.
 
Why would you max out HSA before maxing out your 401k at 18k?

I assume you are young and healthy....I am not a financial expert so I would like to see what the other guys say because you're losing out of on compound interest for the future it seems.
 
Why would you max out HSA before maxing out your 401k at 18k?

I assume you are young and healthy....I am not a financial expert so I would like to see what the other guys say because you're losing out of on compound interest for the future it seems.

You can invest HSA money. I max HSA myself. I invest it in a simple 1:1:1 3-fund with low expense ratios...S&P 500, mid-cap, small-cap.

The tax benefits are amazing. You aren't taxed on the income end...and you aren't taxed on the spending end. If you require costly medical expenses in your old age, it is a significant, tax free insurance plan to ensure the care you will need. And if you do not require medical care at high expense, you are allowed to withdraw and spend the money as if it were a 401k upon turning age 65. You get taxed as it were income if it's not for medical expenses. So at worse...it's a 401k. This flexibility and potential dual-tax benefit are why HSA is a great thing to max out.
 
Appreciate you re-posting this. I only have two Vanguard funds available via my 403b and I have invested in both of them (VPMAX and VWNEX), but I'm not positive on how much of a % I should put into them. Thoughts? My match is 5%; I contribute 8%.

I have a few funds that have net expense ratios that are quite high (1.16%, 1.15%, 1.05%) and after reading about how much that costs you over the long-term, it makes me uneasy. I really like the stocks they hold though (high percentage of FANG, Lockheed, Boeing, Tencent, Alibaba, etc).... is it dumb for me to hold these?

If the investment options in your employer's plan are all that expensive you might be able to look at other options. If your employer allows you to roll your 401k into another IRA plan, than might be an option. You have to wait a period of time, so you'd have to look into the specifics of it. There may be tax issues, too. But it might be feasible that you could take your 401k money, move it into a Vanguard or Schwab IRA, and get some better expense ratios for your money.

But this would be one of those "consult your financial professional" situations unless you feel secure enough in your understanding of your plan to go through the fine print.

Just an idea.

Are there any other options with low expense ratios (less than like 0.3% or so) in your plan other than the two Vanguard plans? That would be the easier solution.
 
Why would you max out HSA before maxing out your 401k at 18k?

I assume you are young and healthy....I am not a financial expert so I would like to see what the other guys say because you're losing out of on compound interest for the future it seems.

Expectation of very heavy medical bills, tax benefits, and the choice to invest it as well.


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Pretty sure I've asked for this before (sorry), but can someone help me find the post that was a thorough description on how to fill out w-4 appropriately? I think I need to change mine since I'm working more PRN than I thought I would. Originally put 2 down, and have a child coming soon.

I think it was @pezdispenser who wrote it?
You basically have to set the number of W-4 allowances to match the deductions and credits on your tax return. Each allowance reduces your taxable income by $4,150. The tax withholding tables also start off by deducting your first $3,700 single/$11,550 married of income, even if you claim 0 allowances. So since everyone starts off by claiming at least the $12k single/$24k married standard deduction on their tax returns, the baseline number of allowances is:

Single: 2 allowances x 4,150 + 3,700 = 12,000 standard deduction
Married: 3 allowances x 4,150 + 11,550 = 24,000 standard deduction

Now if you itemize deductions (mortgage interest, donations, state and local income and property taxes up to $10k, etc), you can add 1 allowance for every $4,150 that they exceed the standard deduction. e.g you're married and have $29k in itemized deductions which is $5k more than the $24k standard deduction, so you can add 1 more allowance for a total of 4 allowances.

However, if you have income that didn't have tax withheld like interest, stock gains, rental income, then you should reduce your allowances by 1 for every $4,150 of this sort of income, to make sure that you have enough tax withheld.

This is basically what the "Deductions, Adjustments, and Additional Income Worksheet" on the back of Form W-4 is doing.

If you want the $2,000 child tax credit to reduce the taxes on your paycheck, you can add 2 allowances for each child. This is because as a tax credit, it reduces your taxes by the full $2,000, which is roughly $8k in income at the 24% tax bracket, so you need 2 x $4,150 allowances to account for that.

If you're married and both work, you should check the box on Form W-4 that says "Married, but withhold at higher Single rate." Only choose "Married" if only one spouse works. Otherwise you will each be taxed under the married tax brackets which are double the size of the single tax brackets, resulting in much lower taxes withheld than what you need, so you will owe a lot plus a penalty on your tax return.

If you have prn jobs, and say you earn $400 every biweekly paycheck. $400 x 26 = $10,400 annually, so they will withhold taxes for that tax bracket which is only 10%. But in total, if you have a $120k primary job and add this $10,400 on top of that, you are well into the 24% tax bracket, and your average or effective tax rate might be around 16-17%. So you should put 0 allowances + $50 at the per diem job to increase the taxes withheld closer to the 16-17% so that you won't owe any more taxes on your tax return.

You can try the "Two-Earners/Multiple Jobs Worksheet" at the end of Form W-4, but even I find it a bit too complicated to follow.
 
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It's going to be a long time before Facebook goes away. They need to start taking these issues seriously and responding to them. They always seem to be behind. I don't think people are going to stop using facebook or stop advertising there because of these issues. I'm trying to determine when to buy the stock. It trades at 19x earnings which is incredibly cheap for them. A few more days to get the bad news out of the way and it may be time to jump in.
 
This US-China trade war will end badly for the US. Over the last 10 years, China has positioned itself for this fight. They are willing to take some pain if they know it is going to hurt us as well.

We love to buy craps that we don’t need. We love to go on vacations and to take on more debt. We are a consumer society. We need cheap things from China so we can keep on spending.

Trump might just get some pity concessions and declare victory. It is a battle that he can’t win. He is going to learn that the hard way.


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China strategy: fighting without fighting

Instead of matching Trump’s $60B tariff, China is making indirect threats like stop buying US treasuries, soybeans, airplanes, Apple products, etc.

Why? By directly going at Trump, it would give him more reason to keep on fighting and give him the political advantage to fight back. He is not only fighting China but he is also defending the US from China. China doesn’t want that.

By just making indirect threats, corporations, their employees, and their representatives would fight the fight for China. They will lobby Trump to end it. As the stock market keeps on going down, more and more people would want Trump to find a solution to this mess. But Trump can’t just leave...he needs something. That is when China will throw him a bone (always give your opponent a way out).

This battle is for the US to lose. It needs a clear victory or its image around the world would take a hit. The long term damage would be felt for years to come.


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China strategy: fighting without fighting

Instead of matching Trump’s $60B tariff, China is making indirect threats like stop buying US treasuries, soybeans, airplanes, Apple products, etc.

Why? By directly going at Trump, it would give him more reason to keep on fighting and give him the political advantage to fight back. He is not only fighting China but he is also defending the US from China. China doesn’t want that.

By just making indirect threats, corporations, their employees, and their representatives would fight the fight for China. They will lobby Trump to end it. As the stock market keeps on going down, more and more people would want Trump to find a solution to this mess. But Trump can’t just leave...he needs something. That is when China will throw him a bone (always give your opponent a way out).

This battle is for the US to lose. It needs a clear victory or its image around the world would take a hit. The long term damage would be felt for years to come.


The manner in which Trump has gone about this is half-baked. It was done in his usual manner with no thought to strategy. First he rolls out an aluminum and steel tax on everyone. Then the next week it rolls it back on our allies. Then he threatens other undefined tariffs. The Chinese were so ready for this with a long list. Made us look like rookies. For someone who grades himself on the stock market he did a pretty bad job last week. Even the steel and aluminum stocks crashed.





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Anyone buying AMZN on this dip?
 
Anyone else buying? Considering picking up some S&P ETFs... not sure if this is the bottom though.


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Bought my bi-weekly share of VOO.

Dear God, child! Tech stocks are poison now. The short vol trade is over.
VOO Top 10 Holdings (20.09% of Total Assets)
Get Quotes for Top Holdings
Name Symbol % Assets
Apple Inc AAPL 3.55%
Microsoft Corp MSFT 3.03%
Amazon.com Inc AMZN 2.40%
Facebook Inc A FB 1.84%
JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM 1.66%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc B BRK.B 1.63%
Exxon Mobil Corp XOM 1.53%
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 1.53%
Alphabet Inc A GOOGL 1.46%
Alphabet Inc C GOOG 1.46%
 
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