What I bought, sold and learned in Q4
Today is payday!
There’s just one problem. I’m short.
Not “oops, I overspent on takeout” short. Strategically short. The kind of short that sneaks up on you after a rough quarter, rewires your brain and tries to quietly wreck your confidence.
It’s the second time I’ve hit this snag since implementing this lofty new strategy.
Q4 did damage. Not catastrophic, but cumulative. Small losses stacking on top of stalled gains. Trades that didn’t blow up but never quite worked.
Nothing felt broken enough to fix. But being short on payday is a signal all the same. This strategy still isn’t something I can fully depend on yet.
It’s friction, not failure.
I’m still in the game, with capital, clarity and a long-term plan that’s getting tested and refined in real time every day.
And that long-term plan hinges on one thing more than anything else.
Not stock picking. Not timing. Not clever trades.
Consistent dollar-cost averaging is the engine. Everything else is secondary.
That’s why being short on payday matters.
Even with a plan in place, cash isn’t unlimited. Every dollar I move now has to earn its keep. It forces me to be deliberate about where my money goes.
The few equities I still hold in my Roth have become emergency lifelines, not toys for speculation.
When my trading losses pile up and small gains barely register, the plan can stall. Staying consistent is the only thing that keeps it moving.
That consistency shows up one way: the set amount that I invest each month. It’s not flashy, but it’s the backbone of my entire investment strategy.
I dutifully dumped my chosen allotment into Vanguard’s total stock market index fund, VTSAX, from August through December. Now cash is tight.
And payday is when the math gets real.
Losses have piled up, gains are modest, and I have to decide today what stays in the portfolio and what I need to pull out just to keep the plan running.
The goal isn’t just today but making it through all 12 months this year with the same routine investment allotment.
This first Thursday of the year is just the first test.
Next, a look at what I actually bought and sold in Q4 — and why.