Stock Sectors

Where should you invest?

In rough order of potential value / profits:

Space

Virtually impossible to separate from the defense sector. The Artemis missions to the moon and the upcoming SpaceX IPO have brought this sector into the public eye. Companies are booming. The long term potential is huge.

Silver Mining

Often very low priced stocks, silver is likely to stay “down” / stable for a few months, but long term the potential is huge (2025 was an example of just how dramatic the gains can be). Demand for silver is increasing, production is difficult and slow to increase, pretty much a guarantee for increased profits. Avoid Mexico (damn drug cartels are expanding into silver crimes).

Robotics

Basically goes hand in hand with AI and Space. I’m expecting this to boom in the next couple years (it’s booming already). We are on the verge of robots going from being toys not really able to do much (or being industrial) to suddenly being versatile and very capable and affordable (at least for the upper middle class and above). Robotic technologies will be critical for space exploration / exploitation.

Nuclear

Energy is always in demand and the new “small modular reactor” companies have great potential for massive growth (huge profits). Fusion is still the holy grail but not yet working at a commercial scale (thus fusion is a very high risk / very high return investment).

Quantum

Quantum is one of those badly abused terms (much like “AI”). This is very much like fusion power, very high risk / very high return (if anyone can actually make something practical and usable). Some of the “quantum” companies are really just new encryption methods or random number generators (both are surprisingly valuable).

Tech / “AI”

The powerhouse engine of the US economy. Huge gains are being made, but that’s the challenge, do you buy into something when it is at it’s all time high?

Banking

Evil but profitable. JPM – JP Morgan may be the best, perhaps only one worth investing in.

Oil

Boomed big with the Iran war, dropping now.

Solar

The boom is probably over. Still extremely useful for the right application (space & remote areas). Rising silver prices may seriously hurt the solar business in two ways: pushing prices up (not cost effective) or quality issues as copper is substituted for silver leading to inferior products. Twice now I’ve made fantastic returns on properly timed investment into solar, but I’m dubious about future opportunities.

Real Estate

I’m avoiding real estate as there is too high of a risk of another bubble burst.

Business

These are what I consider general, non-glamorous businesses. Generally these are “slow and steady”, no huge profit potential. Casey’s seems to be a good one.

To “diversify” a bit I bought a little bit of “CUT” – an ETF investing in timber (wood) – absolutely terrible investment.

Dividend Stocks

Instead of investing for price increase, these are more steady revenue generators. There are plenty that deliver pathetic returns. But some that are delivering 15% to 25% may be an excellent way to earn solid reliable good returns. These can be tricky to find. Many of them are in real estate and I’m skeptical of investing in real estate currently. A bubble might burst and these would become garbage.

A friend suggested “STEW”. I bought just a little to observe it. Very modest gain in stock price and dividends running only about 5% per year (on par with inflation). Basically a waste of money.

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)

Basically someone else bundles together investments into a number of stocks. This usually means a “safer” investment but also virtually guarantees a lower return. I prefer to buy individual stocks. I’ve only bought a few ETFs.

General Notes:

AI (Simulated Intelligence) is extremely unreliable for stock / investing information. Very hit and miss. Sometimes very handy (explaining basic concepts), but often 100% confused (individual stock / company information).

Basic strategies: Buy with long term plans, not “get rich quick” hopes. Buy individual companies, at least for myself I’m far better at picking good companies than an ETF or managed fund. Buy for “big potential”. For me success has come from buying multiple high risk, high return stocks. Basic concept: two high risk stocks where one doesn’t gain anything but the other returns 40%+ averages out to 20% returns (it’s really awesome when they both return 40%+), that’s much better than a single “safe” investment that only returns 10%.

Disclaimer: Of course I’m not a financial advisor and this is not advice. Follow your own instincts. (ignore the fact that my rate of return blows away Warren Buffett)

I’m not in need of making money, I’m about to retire. Subscribe or donate, it’s definitely appreciated and helps justify the time spent writing these articles, but unlike other financial guys, I’m not pushing you to give me $1,000 a year. Plenty of people will give you advice, much of it free, much of it very expensive. Unless you know a politician, any money spent on such advice is probably just making someone else rich.