How I’m Gambling My $1200 COVID Stimulus Check
I’ll probably regret doing this, but here’s how I’m gambling my $1200 COVID stimulus check [1]. I’m not an Excel wizard, so if my formulas are wrong….I’m sorry.
Note: scroll to the bottom to see the latest portfolio balance and ROI calculations.
I’ll update this with my logic or lack of logic later.
Update: 5/26/2020
I’ve checked my 2020 Stimulus Check Portfolio and as of 5/26/2020 this portfolio is up 34% ($415) in a little over a month.
Update: 6/8/2020
After my last update, I dumped $USO and picked up 112 shares of $DS for $1.78.
Update: 11/24/2020
I haven’t checked this in a while, but here’s how my portfolio is sitting on 11/24/2020. Drive Shack did me dirty. I took my fattest L of my life on Drive Shack this year. Lesson learned.
Update: 12/3/2020
As the year winds down, I’m auditing my portfolios to track progress. I’ll probably check in on this again before the end of the year.
Update: 12/8/2020
I’m thinking about cashing out, so I’m posting my updates before I decide to cash out. $1200 →$3,080 so far. If I was going to close out a few positions and take profits, I’d toss in $GHIV into the mix while it’s still below $11.
Update: 12/17/2020
I know in my last post I said I think I’m going to cash out, but with positive vaccine news/results, I’m going to let it ride for a few months. Will I let it ride to the 1-year mark? Maybe. Who knows. I might forget I even wrote this article. Anyways. The portfolio balance is $3,396 at the time of writing this. Once again, this was always a gamble. Just look at the stocks I picked. Do your own research.
Update: 1/6/2021
I was hoping I would have crossed the $4000 mark in 2020, but oh well. This is where we are. The only reason I did this was to show that it doesn’t take intelligence, time, research, or even an understanding of how to invest to beat the market. Not bad for my first year of investing.
Update: 1/8/2021
Week One of 2021 is in the bag and we came close to hitting $4,000. Not quite though. If bitcoin keeps climbing we might be able to hit $4800 before the one-year mark. Or it could all come crashing down. Stay tuned.
Update: 1/14/2021
As we approach the end of 2021 week two, my stimulus check portfolio just crossed $4000 for the first time. Fun fact I’ve noticed:
- If you would have bought Bitcoin with ~20% of your $1200 stimulus check, you would have a second stimulus check right now.
I used this ROI calculator because I’m an idiot when it comes to excel and didn’t feel like figuring out the formulas. So, according to Calculator.net’s Return on Investment Calculator, my current ROI is 235.67% and my annualized ROI is 402.59%.
Update: 2/3/2021
My portfolio has been in a bit of a slump since my last update. Not bad though, but still not as impressive as the $GME gains my other portfolios benefited from in the last two weeks. I’m still holding strong though.
Update: 2/5/2021
As week one of February comes to a close, I would like to update you all and say we’ve finally hit a new high. While I’m typing this, the $1200 stimulus check portfolio is setting at a balance of $4119. Only a couple more months left in this challenge.
Update: 2/8/2021
Finally crossed $3000 profit on my $1200 stimulus check after crossing the $4200 portfolio balance amount thanks to a recent spike in the price of Bitcoin after Uncle Elon dropped the Tesla news on us. There are only a few more months in this challenge. How high can we go? Who knows.
Update: 2/16/2021
Well, well, well…. Stocks only go up, right? Just crossed the balance threshold of $4500. Will we hit $5000? Let’s find out. We only have a couple of months left in this challenge.
Update: 2/18/2021
To celebrate the $1 Trillion Bitcoin Marketcap, I decided to post a quick update. The portfolio is looking good. Not good enough to cross the $5,000 milestone, but it’s still looking pretty good.
It’s been about a month since the last time I did a ROI calculation, but according to the ROI calculator, my stimulus check portfolio just crossed 300% ROI with an annualized ROI of 426%.
I also attached a screenshot of my IG story from March 12, 2020 letting all my followers know about the bargain of 2020 (at the time), but $5k to $54k+ in 11 months. Insane.
Update: 3/9/2021
It’s been a brutal few weeks in the market since my last update. I checked today and we almost crossed the $5k milestone, but as my grandpa always said: “almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” So, we have to keep our fingers crossed and continue to hold onto the portfolio for one more month before we reach the 1-year mark.
Update: 3/11/2021
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we did it! We crossed the $5,000 milestone mark! And we did it the last month of this challenge. Yes, $1200 stimulus check is now worth $5,169! We still have one month left. I guess the new milestone is $6,200, so we can have a $5,000 return in 12 months. I’m not sure if this is possible, but we shall see!
Update: 3/12/2021
Yes, I know I posted an update yesterday, but I needed to post another one since we got over the $5,200 hump. With ~ 1 month left in this challenge. Our $1200 stimulus check portfolio has returned a total gain of over $4,000 or ~337% return and the annualized ROI is ~413%.
Stimulus Portfolio: 4/13/2021
Saturday marks the one-year milestone for this portfolio. It’s been a fun run. I’m interested to see how this ends.
I’m still working on the final write-up for this experiment, but I wanted to share this screenshot I saw in a recent Market Watch article. My gamble on gambling stocks paid off. $PENN and $ERI (now $CZR) were #1 and #3 price gainers in the S&P 500 in the last year.
Update: 10/20/2021
I know this project is over and no longer relevant, but I didn’t want to write a new post and I know I’m the only one reading this so I’m doing it anyway. Since Bitcoin just reached a new all-time high, I’m updating this to show how just a small allocation of your portfolio in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can drive a massive percentage of your returns.
In April 2020, I invested $250 of my $1200 stimulus check into Bitcoin (20% allocation) and I HODL’ed throughout the rollercoaster. As I type this, it’s grown over 800% from $250 to $2346. What started as 20% of my stimulus check portfolio is now ~40%.
Lessons Learned
Never forget what the oracle said, “idiots invest, champions gamble.” Be a champion, not an idiot.
Notes
- I’m reckless and stupid. I’m not a financial advisor. I probably won’t beat the market. Everything in this post should be viewed as a gamble and not an actual investment.
Visit my blog post titled How I’m Gambling My $1200 COVID Stimulus Check for more posts like this and to track my progress.
