18 Best Online Jobs for Students to Earn Money at Home in 2021

First of all, I am incredibly privileged. When my grandpa passed away in March, I inherited $30,000. I had $10,000 saved up as well from working the prior summer and that $10,000 was already invested in the stock market. In high school I found out about stocks in my economics class and the day I turned 18 I invested every penny I had.
Once again, I am privileged to be able to invest this money at all.. I have a college fund to pay my tuition, I don’t have to worry about when my next meal is coming, and I have the freedom to spend my money as I choose.
Anyways, in March & April when the market crashed I decided it was time to really dive into the stock market. I spent about 5 hours every day researching companies and I’m here to share what I’ve learned.
In my opinion, the companies you invest in should be an extension of your worldview. Where do you think the world will be in 10 years+ and what industries will prosper from the change. As I was raised in a liberal family and hold these values, I’m quite concerned with Climate Change. I’ve taken college classes in this realm since and learned more about the risks we face. I believe that any company whose mission revolves around mitigating the climate crisis will prosper in the coming decades.
That being said, I’ll list the companies I hold and a very brief synopsis of what they do and why I hold their stock. Please do your own research; this is only meant to introduce young investors to a certain mindset that I hold and the companies that I choose to support.
1) Tesla (TSLA)
portfolio weight: 22.86%
gain/loss 1026% gain
You guys all know what Tesla is about. They are the premier EV company with goals of cutting battery costs by 56% and producing 20,000,000+ cars in the decade. They also have a growing energy business with solar roofs, panels, battery storage and an autobidder software. Tesla is priced insanely high by traditional metrics. If these metrics are your investing style then it’s not for you. If you’re like me, and you look for companies to hold for decades then I believe Tesla is one of the best investments out there. What other company will benefit from the transition to renewables in response to climate change and changing political conditions?
2) MP Materials (MP)
portfolio weight: 12.68%
gain/loss: 197% gain
MP is the only active rare earth mineral miner in the U.S. They produce neodymium concentrates which are important components in NDPR magnets; used in EV motors, wind turbines, electronics & much more.
I bought MP during their early pre-merger days and have already seen considerable profits in a few months. I’ve been shaving this position to keep it around 10% because it is a commodity play which can be quite risky. That being said, rare earths are expected to appreciate substantially in price as EV demand increases. Furthermore, MP is moving downstream to refine their rare earths themselves, as they currently ship them to China to be refined, and in the future they plan on manufacturing their own NDPR batteries. This will increase their margins greatly.
3) Planet 13 (PLNHF)
portfolio weight 5.35%
gain/loss: 147.71% gain
This one is a MJ stock and I’m focusing mostly on my Climate Change investments on this post so I’ll keep it brief. They own a superstore in Vegas and have their own brands. I believe the MJ industry is going to explode soon and PLNHF will benefit.
4) Jinko Solar (JKS)
portfolio weight: 4.91%
gain/loss: 268.88% gain
Jinko Solar is a leading solar panel manufacturer in China. They’ve seen market consolidation in China and are poised to benefit from increasing demand and incentives around solar energy. Specifically, South East Asia is expected to see dramatic growth in renewables as China/India are responsible for a large portion of global emissions and are also seeing considerable growth in GDP and population. It’s a play on the South East Asian economy and renewable industry.
5) SolarEdge (SEDG):
portfolio weight: 4.89%
gain/loss: 108.5% gain
SolarEdge is the global leader in panel inverters, which turn the sun’s D.C. current into usable electricity for households (A.C. current). The inverter space is a much more consolidated industry with higher margins than panels. They trade at a more expensive multiple and are expected to see dramatic top and bottom line growth in the coming years. Solar panels need inverters to perform; simple as that. With fewer companies focused on this space, I expect the top players to have a large market share and grow along with the solar energy market. SEDG is also expanding into the energy storage and EV charging markets with recent acquisitions.
6) Enphase Energy (ENPH)
portfolio weight: 4.43%
gain/loss: 203.08% gain
Enphase is also in the inverter market, with their differentiated microinverters. Micro Inverters are generally used in smaller systems and optimal for residential solar. Everything said above about the inverter market is true for Enphase as well. Enphase’s business goes beyond inverters though. They are targeting a full residential energy ecosystem, with storage and their “Enlighten” software App, which will manage home energy usage and sell excess energy back to the grid. Enphase is very much a play on a future decentralized microgrid, with homes trading energy to each other as prices fluctuate.
7) Canadian Solar (CSIQ)
portfolio weight: 4.42%
gain/loss: 118.32% gain
Canadian Solar is another panel manufacturing company. They are also seeing growth in market share as smaller players struggle during the pandemic. CSIQ is a low cost producer with residential, commercial and grid level projects. They are planning on expanding their recurring revenue stream through full and partial ownership of solar projects. You can read more about this on the IR page. CSIQ is a pure solar play with an international footprint and vast management expertise. They will certainly benefit from any movement towards renewables, especially if legislation is passed to set a price on carbon.
8) Lemonade (LMND)
portfolio weight: 3.93%
gain/loss: 112.52 gain
Lemonade is not a climate change related investment. It’s highly speculative but I think their management team and business model is really cool so I put some money in (and quickly more than doubled it). I’ll be brief here, but basically they are a home/rentepet insurance company that takes a flat 25% cut of premiums as revenue and uses the remaining money to pay out claims. They aim to align incentives by donating anything left over beyond the 25% to a charity of customers choosing. Also, their use of AI makes the registration and claims process seamless and “delights” customers.
9) TPI Composites (TPIC)
portfolio weight: 3.73%
gain/loss: 153.99% gain
TPIC manufacturers wind blade composites. They supply the top five wind turbine companies outside of China. I wrote about them on prior posts so I’ll just copy & paste here:

63% of total wind blade manufacturing is outsourced to companies like TPI and they are the market leader in this space with about 20% market share globally. The business currently has low margins, but they target a 12% EBITDA margin for the future, and they trade at a measly 0.74 P/S ratio currently. They are also expanding into EV composite manufacturing and have a contract with Workhorse to manufacture vehicle parts for them.

10) Skyworks Solutions (SWKS)
portfolio weight: 2.83%
gain/loss: 60.57% gain
Skyworks is a semiconductor focused on connectivity chips for all kinds of devices. They aren’t climate change related which is the point of this post so I’ll leave it at that.
11) Tattooed Chef (TTCF)
portfolio weight: 2.65%
gain/loss: 55.90% gain
Tattooed Chef is a play on the rising plant-based food trend. They make a variety of frozen food items, widely available in Walmart, Costco and Target. They are expanding into Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and many more stores, where I expect them to be very successful. The plant based market is exploding for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there is more research on the health benefits of a plant based diet, with athletes such as Chris Paul & Todd Gurley endorsing these brands. Also, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the threat of climate change and how avoiding red meat can have a positive impact on the planet. I expect TTCF to benefit off of these trends and continue innovating in the plant-based space. I bought in 3 weeks ago and the price has exploded since then.
12) Workhorse (WKHS)
portfolio weight: 2.60%
gain/loss: 35.90% gain
Workhorse is an electric delivery van company. They manufacture last mile electric vehicles and are developing drones to further decrease last mile delivery costs. They are a play on the e-commerce industry and electrification of vehicles. I’m invested in them because last mile delivery is responsible for a large chunk of transportation carbon emissions and in desperate need of electrification. I also believe that Workhorse will get a large chunk of the upcoming USPS contract which will provide a stable revenue stream.
13) Aphria (APHA)
portfolio weight: 2.45%
gain/loss: 53% gain
Aphria is another MJ play for me. Once again they aren’t a climate change investment so I’ll keep it brief. They just finalized a merger with Tilray, making them the biggest cannabis producer in the world. They are based in Canada and I believe they will be the market leader in Europe, due to their infrastructure advantage through owning CC Pharma.
14) Vestas Wind Systems (VWDRY)
portfolio weight: 2.40%
gain/loss: 197.44% gain
Vestas is the global leader in wind turbine manufacturing and installation. They are one of the few pure wind plays in the stock market, making them an attractive choice for anybody looking to get exposure to wind. A big driver if future growth will be their service and maintainace business, which their management team has been focused on in recent quarters. This is a higher margin business with consistent recurring revenues.
15) Facebook (FB)
portfolio weight: 2.38%
gain/loss: 20.61% gain
I’m selling out of FB very soon but I still hold them for now. FB is an incredible business and I’m sure they’ll see growth in the future, but it just isn’t for me (anymore). I consider ethics a lot in my investments, which many of you may consider stupid but idc.
16) Hannon Armstrong (HASI)
portfolio weight: 2.18%
gain/loss: 57.40% gain
HASI is a REIT, which solely makes climate change related investments. They invest in the land under solar projects, energy efficient buildings and much more. HASI is a great dividend play and I expect their stock price to appreciate as climate change worries are exacerbated in the future.
17) Beyond Meat (BYND)
portfolio weight: 2.10%
gain/loss: 21.24% gain
I made a post with some DD earlier this year on Beyond so I’ll just link that below:
https://www.reddit.com/stocks/comments/if9tmj/beyond_meat_bynd_fundamental_analysis_with_my/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
18) Brookefield Renewable Partners (BEPC)
portfolio weight: 2.06%
gain/loss: 87.23% gain
BEPC owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy assets. Earlier this year they completed a merger with Terraform Power, expanding their solar & wind footprint. They are also the primer owner of hydroelectric power plants, which produce a consistent source of electricity. BEPC has a strong management team and owns valuable assets that will greatly appreciate in value as government incentives expand around renewable energy consumption. They also pay a nice dividend.
19) Disney (DIS)
portfolio weight: 2.03%
gain/loss: 50.06% gain
I’m invested in Disney mostly for some portfolio diversity. I’m a big fan of their streaming platform and business strategy revolving around that. This one isn’t climate change related so I’ll leave it at that.
20) First Solar (FSLR)
portfolio weight: 1.84%
gain/loss: 70.47% gain
First Solar is an American based panel manufacturer and projects operator. They used differentiated technology with Cadmoum Telluride panels, which are supposed to increase output and lifetime at a higher cost. FSLR is just another play on the growing solar industry, and being U.S. based seems to reward them a higher earnings multiple in the market than their peers. They also have a beautiful balance sheet.
21) Trulieve Cannabis (TCNFF)
portfolio weight: 1.44%
gain/loss: 5.33% gain
Trulieve is another Cannabis play. This one based in the U.S. with a large medical market in Florida. Nuff said. (Do your own research)
22) Star Peak Energy Transition (STPK)
portfolio weight 1.43%
gain/loss: 55.45% gain
Star peak is a brand new holding for me and already shot up like crazy. It’s one of these merger companies (the word is censored on this subreddit). merging with Stem energy storage. Stem is involved in the battery storage industry, with mostly grid level storage systems. They currently have an even larger market share than Tesla and my reason for holding this stock is mostly as a hedge against Tesla’s energy business.
23) Shopify (SHOP)
portfolio weight: 1.10%
gain/loss: 18.19% gain
Shopify is an eCommerce platform, which allows customers to seamlessly design their own website and process payments. I’ve used Shopify in the past and am a big fan of the business, which is a big part of why I’m invested. They have a steep valuation but I plan on holding for 10+ years.
Total gain: 181.52%
(Note: I’ve taken some profits on a few of my stocks so the unrealized gain from my current holdings is less than my “total” gain by a few % points.)
Yes, I’m young and idealistic and have a lot to learn but I do know a few things. Here’s some of the lessons I’ve learned along my 1 and a half year journey in the market.

1. By investing in a company, you are supporting them financially. Buying pressure on companies’ stocks increases the price and allows them to raise capital more efficiently. It might be hard to hear, but when you buy Exxon stock, you are helping them destroy our planet. The same is true vice versa.
   
2. Don’t listen to anybody on reddit. Seriously. Nobody here knows any better than you. Do your own research, form your own judgements. If you’re gonna pick individual stocks then following advice on reddit is not the way to go. Reading through investor relations pages is the best way to go. Watch videos and read articles about both sides of the story with different companies. Don’t take these videos as facts though, just absorb what other people think and judge the validity of the information for yourself. It’s important to become an independent thinker. This is a slow process but eventually you’ll get the hang of things.
   
3. Invest with a 10+ year timeline. This is especially true if you’re young like myself. Don’t concern yourself with daily or even monthly swings in a stock. Ask yourself if the company will be worth substantially more in a decade. If not, then say, if so then buy and hold. Don’t try to time the market or swing trade. You’re just bringing on unnecessary risk. Buy and hold and buy some more.
   
4. Assess your own risk tolerance. As I’m sure several people will point out, my portfolio is incredibly speculative and risky from a traditional viewpoint. I have a really fucking high risk tolerance, so I invest with a “riskier” mindset. If I were to lose all my money tomorrow, I’d be fine. I’m going to have a college degree in a couple years and I’m not worried about being able to find a job. My reason for investing is about having the financial freedom to do whatever I want in life, and not worry about money in the future. If you’re investing for retirement or to pay off student loans, then I recommend taking a more conservative approach and maybe buying some index funds. However, if you’re young and have a stomach for risk like myself, then go crazy.
   

In conclusion, I’ve had an incredible year or so in the market. I don’t expect to have even close to these same returns in the future, but I’ve learned a thing or two and I’m here to share this information. You may disagree with everything I said and all the stocks I own and that’s okay! Don’t copy my portfolio and take everything I say with a grain of salt, however I hope you find some wisdom from this post!
Edit: Since a bunch of people pointed out angrily in the comments that holding FB, DIS, SHOP and MJ stocks don't really align with "your investments should be an extension of your worldview," I agree with you guys. There are some notable exceptions, and not everything that us as humans do in our everyday lives align with our values. This is true of my portfolio too, however about 80% of the investments are climate change related, 10% weed (which I like) and the other 10% tech. If 90% of your actions in life further your world view then you're doing pretty damn good IMO
Edit2: Also people seem to be pissed bc I inherited a lot of the money (3/4 of it) that I invested. I acknowledged already that I'm very lucky to be in this position and I don't really know what else to say about that, other than I aim to do something good with the money that I make

I am 32/Canadian and had a very high paying career that had a short shelf life. During my high producing years I wanted to move out of Canada to another country where I could save as much as I could for my future because I knew my income would not last forever.
"Abroad" was a weird term form me. Despite being Canadian and having lived most of my adult years in Canada I felt like everywhere was abroad for me.
I was born in one of the poorest countries of Europe and lived there until I was 17 years old. The country has come a long way today but when I go back I never fit in. I definitely feel more connected with Canada than the country I was born in.
I think a big reason why I focused so hard on work was to never get back to the level of poverty I grew up as a child. Think of North Korea and Venezuela in one combo. In 1997 there was a complete lock down due to civil war and my family was lucky enough to survive because we had a vegetable garden and chickens. If you left your home you could be shot/robbed or worse be killed from stepping on a mine. The city was covered in them.
The other reason was that women got treated like second class citizens where I was born and my childhood was a living hell where I wasn't even allowed to walk on the street alone (even after they took out the mines), talk to members of the opposite sex or have any friends. Dating was not a concept and if they know you are "dating" you have to immediately get engaged and then married and have children or else you are a "whore".
I always had a bubbly personality when I was young, I liked to act, dance, and really liked learning. I was also interested in entrepreneurship and got a full scholarship at York University to study business but to my parents a woman is not suited for business and they pushed me to study molecular biology instead. I hated my University years. I battled depression and never really saw a future for myself with biology.
I ran away from home at 19 and asked my local university what help was there for someone like me that wanted to start a business. To my surprise they were very helpful and told me about grants and loans I could apply to get started. My first business was face painting and entertainment for children's birthday parties and events. I remember I got a $5000 loan and it seemed like so much money at the time. It helped me buy my first car and get started. I grew my business from just me to having 10 employees, having permanent booths in theme parks and festivals in Canada. It was hard work but I loved it. During the time I was still in university and most of my work was summeweekends so it worked out ok.
I remember I was growing more and more fed up with my studies and walked out of my last exam with a smile feeling absolute freedom. I never finished my degree and I was so ok with it even if I was one exam away from graduation. I didn't care about the crazy amounts of student loans I had accumulated. All I wanted was to grow my business and make money. It gave me that thrill that sitting in a lab using a microscope never did.
One day I became curious about online streaming and after having a few drinks with a friend I made an application on a popular site (at the time). The site was more like webcamming but you were allowed to do whatever you wanted on cam as long as there was no guys.
I didn't think much of it because I was doing well with my other business. At the time I had a rocky relationship with an ex bf and decided maybe going online and flirting with men would make me feel better about my break up. Then saw this email about the site I had previously applied had accepted my application.
I did my first stream completely clothed, having fun and chatting with people. I made $4.00 usd which was shit but I had so much fun doing it so I started researching the industry more. After a few more streams I decided this had a potential to be something big and I decided to make a business plan and focus on it entirely. I was constantly doing 10-12h on cam and loved to come up with new creative ideas to entertain people.
I went from making $4.00 my first day to making just shy off a million dollars a year. The money was not the focus but being the best at what I did was.
During my high earning years I knew I had to save and plan for my future. Most of the other performers would have one good month making $150,000 then disappear and not be relevant again. I don't know how I managed to last in the industry for over 8 years, but I am greatful that my hard work was combined with luck and being at the right place/right time.
I moved to Mexico when I was 26 years old.
My life in Mexico was great the first two years. I was dating someone that was super supportive with my work schedule. It was the honeymoon phase. We would always eat out and enjoy nice places and expensive travel. I was always frugal with everything else but vacations and experiences. Looking back my mistake was that I paid for everything and my bf at the time felt used to this cushy life that ended up expecting it. He was bad with managing money too and had a lot of debt which stupiditly I ended up paying off.
During this time I had bought various income properties in central Mexico (in a retirement village) and the agreement was that since I was making more money with my online business which required long hours on cam, my ex was supposed to take care of property management. At first he was engaged then ended up not so pationate about it. I felt used and underappreciated.
When I realized all this I was pregnant with our child. He told me he was unhappy living in a retirement village and wanted to move to a bigger city in Mexico. I told him we could try it out because it would offer more opportunities for our child as well. That's where things went downhill. He constantly ignored me and refused to help with chores in the house. I had a high risk pregnacy so I couldn't do much myself either.
After a few months he ended up cheating and experienced a mental break down, trying to commit suicide. I was crushed. I didn't know what happened and despite my efforts to send him to get the best medical help in the country he never was the same. I really wanted to help him get back on his feet again because I thought we were a team for life. I was wrong.
He ended up leaving the country one day when my son was only a few months old and has not been back in over 3 years. I have never heard back from him and I don't know if he's dead or alive.
I was crushed and myself experienced a complete burn out from work/personal loss at the time. Physically I became ill too and dropped down up 42 kg. I knew I had to do something about it because I had a son to take care of.
Looking back at it now it was an amazing opportunity for me to realize there was more to life than work. It helped me realize that I should have not provided everything just because I loved someone but let them provide and create on their own. If they refused I had to know they were using me as a wallet and to not get involved.
RETIREMENT
It's been one full year since I have been completely off work. It happened in 2020 out of all years. Before I tried to work on and off but my love for my job wasn't the same.
I can say I feel much less stressed than I did years ago. My health is better and my sleep schedule is so much better than it was before.
For the first time I now feel more Integrated in Mexico and I don't think I am missing out much not living in Canada.
Where I live it's safe, it has a high quality of life and there's a lot of international business around. Not that I want to open a new business here but I think it's important to be surrounded by other people that have seen more of the world and are also successful.
On top of that I have always felt like a hybrid of many cultures and being surrounded by people that have moved around the world means that we get to be hybrids together and they understand me better than say someone that lived in Canada/USA all their lives and never left the country.
Mexico has many bad things as well but no county is perfect. Choosing the right location to live in Mexico is very important to not be affected a lot by the bad things.
The pace of life is also much more calmer than in Canada and the US. This can be bad if you want to start a business here but it's a good place to be during retirement.
Also people are a lot less "offended" from things and I find it's easier to make friends than it was in Canada. My general perception of Canada was that people in Canada are very helpful to strangers but much colder if you want to have a meaningful friendship. Of course there are exceptions but that was my experience.
One thing I did not like about the western culture is the victim mentality that the youth of today are embracing. If they can't get something they usually blame the government for not doing enough for them.
Some women blame men for "the patriarchy" and some Canadians blame foreigners because 'they took away their cheap homes and they can't afford real estate'
Having lived in a real "shit hole" country where women get treated like crap I want to remind you that Canada and the US are the land of opportunities compared to most of the world.
Success is not guaranteed for anyone but all the information is free in English for you to look up and use it to your advantage. You don't even have to learn a second language to access it.
Being a woman or a minority gives you the same legal rights as everyone else if not more sometimes. I don't think most western feminists know what it's like to live in a muslim country.
My point is: Westerners are not grateful enough for what they have.
Complaining is human nature so of course it happens in Mexico but the majority know that their government won't do shit for them and they focus on what they can do as an individual. This can be bad too wich is reflected in the general sentiment Mexicans have for public property but that's another problem I won't get into.
Overall i am happy where I have come in my journey. I know I haven't got it all figured out despite having a 4.5 million net worth I don't feel complete being 100% retired.
I am currently building real estate in Mexico, investing in stocks and excercising to keep me busy.
After things open up I will travel more but the urge to have everything figured out which I experienced immediately once I stopped working is less.
Also: It's lonely at the top:
I like to think of myself as an easy and approachable person, however I think having a different upbringing and dedicating and reaching high levels of financial success at a very young age, makes relating to most people not as easy. I think humans form stronger bonds when they share and solve similar problems together. That's why I lurk in this forum from time to time. It makes me realize at the end of the day I'm not alone.
A lot of the questions that get asked here on a daily basis are questions that I ask myself all the time.
The funny part is that no one has the answers, I don't either and the more I live the more I realize that the answers don't matter.
The only realisation I have so far is:
The key to being rich is living in the moment, enjoying the company of your loved ones and being greatful for what you have.
Don't let your brain trick you into overthinking and stay away from the compulsion to use fatFIRE calculators all the time.
Just get out for a walk instead and leave your phone at home. We could be hit by a car tomorrow and none of that shit matters as much as you think.
Edit: since many have asked the country was Albania. I responded here how I ended up in Canada:
https://www.reddit.com/fatFIRE/comments/lh30x8/my_expat_fatfire_journey_abroad_long/gmwn401?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

Comment your opinion or criticize someone else's opinion in a constructive way.
I will edit this table with better ideas I get from the comments.
This is my opinion, these are very simple general assessments, ideas for solutions to get us to talk & discuss these issue. Some of these things we cannot change easily or overnight, but we can make the decision that we will improve & have an improvement mindset right now.
I hope this makes you look at your issues in your own local town, city, country, region & apply this info or take it & evolve it into something better, time is running out, we have to change & improve ourselves, our countries in Africa & the Middle East now, or we will face a very bad future.
What awaits us down this current path is not good, but luckily we can change, improve & build a better future.
Everything you do matters, we are all cells inside an organism or nodes inside a network, we are all connected, literally these days through electricity & internet, just keep moving forward, evaluate, improve, but keep moving forward, don't stop.
Everything starts with a thought, an idea, imagination, they turn into words, actions & become reality.
​

Issue	Harm	Solutions
1 ) Lack Of Freedom	Harm from Restricting Freedom of speech & expression affects EVERYTHING, from being able to discuss new ideas, innovations & solutions without fear, complaining about corrupt officials, taking powerful companies to court, fighting against companies connected to corrupt politicians, speaking out against corruption, dictators, corrupt police, making posts, pics & videos about "sensitive" issues, etc...	We need legal protection for non-hateful, non-violent free speech & peaceful protesting. For now we can make posts, memes, comments, jokes, etc... about these issues to bring more awareness. We can choose to be free today, we must push the limits in some cases. Don't call for or threaten violence or hate, or harass people, be peaceful, but you can have different opinions & ways of doing things, that's ok. We'd still be living in trees or caves if we didn't have people who tried new things. Think free, be reasonable & enjoy yourself. Stay safe.
2 ) Not accepting people as they are, focusing on petty differences, but ignore big issues that can really harm us	Harms us when some of us put too much energy in trying to control our differences, what we think, what we do, how we dress, how we look like, talk, etc... & make big issues out of small thing & shift focus away from the things that really matter.	Just improve yourself, improve what's around you & if others want your advice or help, you can help them improve too, other than that, mind your own business. We have limited time & energy everyday, don't contribute with negativity & pettiness, yes, we're not perfect, but don't make it who you are.
3 ) Corruption	Harms citizen's faith in the system, in their officials & in each other because corruption becomes the normal way of doing things. It deprives honest people of succeeding, keeps corrupt parasites profiting instead of earning their profit honestly like we all should. Foreign citizens & companies don't want to invest in a corrupt system they don't trust.	Talk, post, discuss, make memes, videos about corrupt officials, corrupt systems & some proposed solutions. File complaints & lawsuits in the legal system. Start groups online & offline to discuss & take legal action to root our corruption & build better honest systems. If you see corruption, do not let it slide, root it out & stop it, do whatever you can & stay safe.
4 ) Crime	Harms us by either taking our lives, harming our physical & mental well being, deprives us of our personal property. Makes us feel unsafe & distrustful of others when crime is rampant & not addressed by the authorities. Causes harm in every system in our countries, no one wants to live, visit, do their best or just relax & live a normal life when they don't feel safe.	Our police should focus mainly on : Violence ( police brutality, murder, robbery, rape, assault, abuse, threats & anything similar ) & Non-violent ( scams, fraud, theft, property crime, white collar crime, cyber crime & anything similar ) Drugs should be decriminalized & treated as a health issue, not a criminal one. Bring attention to any issues in your area, do what you can, invest in your own & your family's self defense & home security. You are the main protector of yourself, stay safe.
5 ) Low quality Infrastructure & Public Services	Harms us by making things harder for us & wasting too much of our time & energy on getting things done that should be done in more efficient & faster ways. Public transportation, education, speed of govt. listening to & fixing things, from hazards, dangers, lack of clean water, slow or unreliable internet or electricity, inefficient processes, etc...	We & our govt. must find ways & new ideas to fund & improve our infrastructure & public services. Everyone should be able to get where they want ASAP, have fast internet, stable electricity, clean water, good court systems, etc... So we can get to our work & leisure without all these issues we don't have to have anymore.
6 ) Low Quality Education	Harms students by not preparing them for adult life, university, technical school, job application, starting their own business or investing. By not understanding the political systems, healthcare, monetary system, science, how all these these systems affect each other, critical thinking, etc... Everything in life is about information, our own cells even, without the right information & guides we will be lost & not progress as fast as we should.	For now we can supplement our education systems with things like Khan Academy & other online learning resources, we should use or start existing online system & offline systems & groups too. The knowledge is out there, we have to find solutions to make it more accessible & low cost to anyone who wants education. Last, but not least the way our students are treated has to improve, respect students & they will respect you back, if they don't, reasonable constructive non-physical & non-abusive punishment will do, then reward good behavior.
7 ) Inefficient Job Market	Harms applicants & employers by not making jobs easy to post, find & fill roles with quality applicants fast. Pushes people looking for jobs into hardships & problems from lack of a stable source of income, hurts people with business by not finding the right people who will help with their business, keep it running & make it better.	Create as many job sites & apps to connect business owners & govt. with job applicants ASAP. We must treat our employees with respect & pay them a fair living wage. Also root out nepotism, discrimination, racism, sexism, etc.... Hire people based on their ability & fit for the job, not who you think should be in charge & corrupt business owners & corrupt govt officials who favor certain people or companies & accept bribes for contracts must be rooted out.
8 ) Difficulty Starting Business or Registering Patents	Harms entire economy by making process difficult & unclear for inexperienced business owners or patent owners. Not approving or delaying things due to corruption & fear of competition, deprives country of new businesses that could be the next international company or new ideas, patents & technology that can improve the country significantly.	Bring awareness to this issue, to create an easier, more reliable & honest system for business in all our countries. Create media, from posts, to memes, videos, bring famous people on board, complain to the govt, propose new ideas, etc... The only way is to get the govt. aware of this issue & let them see that it's more beneficial for them & all of us to fix it, than it is to leave it the same
9 ) Complicated & untrustworthy investments	Harms us by not having reliable,simple to understand investments that earn us interest on our money. From both the private & govt. sector. Not only for citizens, but for foreigners too, investments fund businesses & govt. instead of taking loans.	Learn about local investments & write guides about them if you become an expert. Propose ideas & systems or start your own investment vehicle in a reliable & simple way with different risk levels (low/med/high) depending on what the investor wants. Report all investment scams & frauds to the police. Post about them & warn others.
10 ) Brain Drain	Harms us when some of our best minds, go to other countries without all these harmful issues we have. Instead of these great minds & scholars staying in our countries, fixing these issues, improving our economy & creating new technology & solutions, they help other countries which give their people better conditions to prosper in.	On a personal level, try to offer scholars & intellectuals incentives & opportunities to stay, bring awareness to this issue by creating media, so the govt. starts studying this issue, identifying the main causes & solving them ASAP, the whole economy is connected & these people who leave, see that, lose hope & leave...we have to make it a better place.
11 ) Using Foreign Currency & investing in foreign treasury securities & other govt or private investments.	Harms our currency by depending on US Dollar, Euro, UK Pound, FR Franc, etc... it reduces liquidity of our currencies. Investing in their foreign govt treasury securities finances their govt, instead of ours & their govt will always issue new currency, if they default on these securities, since their currency is widely accepted.	Avoid using foreign currency & investing in foreign treasury securities when possible. Use African & Middle Eastern currency or cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, etc..). Invest in African/Middle Eastern Treasury securities or other govt or private investments, not foreign.
12 ) War, Invasion & Occupation	Harms us by destroying our country, the enemy seizing land, natural resources, commits unpunished violence against innocent citizens, creating chaos, destroying our lives, safety & future.	Our govt develops defensive fusion & some Fission Nukes in ICBMs & SLBMs, Drone Swarms, cruise missiles, missile defense systems, satellites, Long range radars & sonars, etc... to let aggressors know, the price of attacking & attempting to destroy our country, is the swift destruction of their country. We want peace, freedom & prosperity for everyone in all countries. We want to engage in trade & leisure, business & pleasure, with everyone in all countries. Don't threaten or attack us.
13 ) Sanctions	Harms us by isolating us, restricting our trading, advancement & weakening our economy further. (That's their purpose)	Our govt. should stop doing anything that will get us sanctioned (corruption, terrorism, etc... ), but should not stop doing anything defensive, it is our right to develop & buy whatever defensive technology we need to defend ourselves.

​

My family started in a trailer in a poor part of my city. First my parents had my sister, and then me a year later. My parents never married, but they tried to make it work for me and my sister's sake. They made it into an apartment, and then eventually worked their way into beginning to pay on the house my mom still lives in today. Up until I was about 10 years old, my father and mom stayed together in this house, and it was the definition of hell. Screaming/fights almost every day. Sometimes my dad would start it, sometimes my mom would, sometimes me or my sister. My dad has thrown me across the room, slapped and punched my mom multiple times, (my mom is 5'2', my dad is 6'3'). He has issues, some from his own father dying while he was young, some from using/selling coke and weed and drinking. My mom told me when I was young (maybe 7-8 years old) she was raped by two men in her home state of Oklahoma, and I don't think I really processed it well as a kid. Her dad also died while she was young, he fell to his death on a construction site.
Me and my sister both have mental health issues nowadays, but she did make it through four years of college, which is more than either of my parents or me did. I personally have really bad anger issues and anxiety, PTSD from close range shoot outs and robberies. I struggle daily with depression and suicidal thoughts almost every day. I sold weed at a pretty decent level for a long time, 6-7 years. I started around 16 when I realized my parents didn't really have the money they were giving me for my weed/drug habit. 20 or so dollars every day was adding up and they would tell me. My mom was a manager at a Texas roadhouse around when I was 8-9-ish years old, and she ended up getting in between two drunk guys that were in a bar fight and she got punched in her neck. She ended up getting a $50,000ish settlement, but had to have multiple surgeries and will pretty much always be in pain and will always have metal in her neck to the point where she can feel it when its raining outside. My mom has never been great with finances, so that money after bills went by very fast. She did use probably 20-30 grand of it on a new truck. An brand new F-150. Remember she's 5'2" lol. That was definitely a mistake, and I think she knows it, but I've never been good with money either. My father has always been broke, to the point where he would ask my mother for money for his own weed and bills. I'm not sure where my dad lives now, last I heard it was in the mountains in North Carolina. He left the house when I was around 10 like I mentioned earlier. He went to his moms house for a while and then moved out. His mom took care of us a lot of nights that they couldn't because of work or other things. She's the sweetest most Christian grandmother you could imagine. She had four kids, and then as I mentioned her husband (my dads dad) died of a heart attack while they were all still young. I can't imagine the pain, I'm sure it messed my dad up pretty bad. I think these things are important to understand though, because they help me see why they were always so mad and upset always.
So in comes when it started getting hard. I had almost no friends in elementary school, I remember getting a "red card" in maybe second grade for punching a kid in the back, yes the back, lol. Because he was literally just talking to a girl I had a crush on. I never really talked to girls then, I would just decide I had a crush on them. In second grade. Lol. He didn't even hit me back, he was kind of just like "What the fuck?" And then I just walked away until a teacher came up to me that's all I remember. I've always been a kind of small and skinny dude, and I especially was back then. In middle school I started making some friends but I was always annoying them because I was always asking to hang out and to come over to their houses. I remember my bus route used to go through the nicest neighborhoods on my side of the city, I'm talking retired NFL player nice. they make my moms house look like a shack, and I don't know if I realized it back then, but it was making me jealous. The friends I ended up making in middle school were not very healthy friends, we were always the loud and obnoxious ones. I got into a lot of trouble starting around this time, 7th grade. I spent almost half of my 7th grade year in In School Suspension, just staring at wall while "doing" class work. It was also this year toward the end of the year that I got into my first real fight. I was always outspoken, and so was this other guy, but he lived in a super nice house and was from a rich ass family. We had a social studies class together, and one day, I'm not even sure how it started, he started making jokes about my mother working at chick fil a. She got that job after her neck was healed up just enough to get a job. She had to get a job, as she was my house's income. She loved and still loves that job, she's a manager now. But back then and how he made fun of her in front of my whole class while my teacher just didn't do anything about it, I was just so mad. So I told him I was going to beat his ass and after class (and more trolling me) we met next to the side of the school and a huge crowd gathered to watch. A lot of people, not the whole school, but most of my grade, because we all exited the same door if you rode on the bus. I threw the first punch, missed, he grabbed my neck and slammed my head into the brick wall, I tried to throw another punch, missed, and I just yelled "stop making fun of my mom" grabbed my backpack and got on the bus, Just cried the whole way home, my sister on the bus was just wondering what happened. I've never been good at explaining my thoughts or feelings to people, so most people think I'm even more dumb than I actually am. I didn't tell my family about that fight for years, even though my sister did. I just will never forget it. I even tried to tell people that I didn't lose that fight even though everyone heard about it. I just couldn't come to terms with it. 8th grade I don't have many memories of. I was a goofball, and my grades were really slipping now, even worse than the year before. Most people just saw me as that weird kid who got his ass beat. I think around this time I started to get very, very cynical with my worldview and my attitude. I was always on the internet when I could be, playing shitty games on our homes only computer; a dell desktop, and reading stupid conspiracy theories. Later I would start gaming pretty hard, and I loved watching streams all the way back to the justin.tv days. My dad had a PlayStation 1, and I loved watching him play Call of Duty. It might be my only good memory with my dad, honestly, and he never got to play a lot. The internet and my cynical world view pushed me away from religion, even though my family was heavily Christian. Even before this though, I hated going to church. From a young kid onward every single Sunday was a screaming match between me and my mom about not wanting to go to church. Sometimes she would end up getting me to go, but that was less and less, and before even middle school I just stopped going completely.
So in between middle and high-school I started smoking weed, it made me some new friends and got me into hanging out at a park near my moms house. This park would end up being where I spent most of my next 6-7 or so years. Most people knew it was a druggie park, would call us all "park rats" and make fun of us for wasting our time and money doing drugs. But I gained more memories here than I could ever write down, I probably could make a book out of those memories. There were all ages of people there, some young as me, some mid 30s-40s, a lot of weed smoking teens, a lot of acid tripping hippies, some Xanax/oxy fiends, and even some meth and heroine people. Most days it was just normal people getting fucked up to enjoy their time, but there was always plenty of drama. This park was known not just on my side of town but through the whole city. its kind of tucked away in woods, sits on a lake, and has a small disc-golf course, so you'd even have a bunch of random (probably) sober people show up to play some days, but they usually stayed on their course and away from us, minus a few of them. I started selling weed when my mom started telling me no to my almost daily asks of 20 dollars. I look back and realize she just didn't have the money to support my habits, and I understand now. But once I started selling weed, I realized I could start eating when I was hungry, I realized I could get and smoke weed almost whenever I wanted to. Being at the park always made it easier to sell it too, because people knew to come there to find some weed. I met a LOT of people selling, and I mean a LOT. I started moving up to QP's (quarter pounds) on the front (pay back later) and always found myself 100-200 short on my re-ups, usually just from smoking too much and cutting too many people deals, Like I said never been good with money.
Then the serious shit started happening. I was maybe 17-18 when I was at my weed guy's small apartment downtown one day. I always liked going over there, not only because I knew we'd be smoking a lot, but because me and my plug were close, I looked up to him, and we had a decently similar shitty upbringing. One day, I get a call to come chill downtown at his apartment, even had two of our friends come pick me up from the park and bring me there. Took fat dabs on the way (THC oil/wax) and when I got there he surprised us with sheets of Gel-Tabbed Acid. Strong shit. I took my usual 2 doses, I was known for tripping a lot back then, haven't tripped since this day. It was going to be a "No Traffic" day, meaning no sales in his apartment so we could just smoke and enjoy our time. His girlfriend at the time had arranged a deal between him and 3 people he did not know. A young (17 at the time) girl, a mid twenties white dude, and a mid twenties black dude. What we didn't know until after this, was they had set this up, and once inside (mind you we were tripping pretty hard at this point), the white dude and the black dude pulled a gun on my plug and my plug instantly pulled his and fired back and 20-30 shell casings later everyone ran to get out. This was a very small apartment. I mean very very small, 7 or so people all feet away from each other. I was literally sitting on the floor because there weren't enough chairs for everyone, even before the 3 robbers came in. I ducked behind the chair I was sitting next to. One of the people that drove me there got shot twice, once in the thigh and one through the side of his asscheek, no joke. The white guy who was robbing us took at least one to the chest, and was also crushed underneath us all as we all ran out and flooded the small staircase down, I could not describe to you how twisted and contorted his body was, and I had no doubt he was dead. I ran to find my plug, I'm not sure why, but I saw somehow he had made it all the way to the other side of the street already, and was on the ground. I ran up to him, not wanting to touch him, and told him an ambulance is coming and not to worry, he was laying there bleeding out of his mouth and chest with what I later found out were SEVEN BULLETS IN HIS CHEST. I watched him die, or so I thought. I yelled for someone to call an ambulance and when I saw some random student walking past was doing that I ran away and back to the two friends who had drove me there. They were freaking out, it was a dude and a girl, they were a couple at the time. The dude had just gotten shot two times. His girlfriend needed me to go back in and grab her purse and phone that were left in the chaos, I said no at first, but she begged me so I ran back to the staircase and over the white guy on the stairs who had robbed us, I definitely thought he was dead the way his body looked. I went back up the stairs and into the apartment and grabbed the phone and purse and all I could see was blood and holes everywhere, it was disgusting, and it makes me tear up while I type this. I got back into the car and they drove to the nearby hospital (The guy that got hit twice actually drove, believe it or not) and I got out of the car right before they pulled into the hospital.
I'm 23, and besides these last two years, I have been on probation/in legal trouble my whole life. When I was a juvenile, I was on Show-Cap probation, where a cop would most nights come check and make sure I was at home. A cop would wake my whole household up at anywhere from 10PM - 2AM just to make me show him a card I had and then would leave, almost every night. During the shooting I was talking about, I was on Show-Cap probation. That's why I got out of the car at the hospital. I wasn't supposed to be around certain people or things like guns, legally. I got out of my friends car and walked (still tripping balls) to a McDonalds a few blocks away, sat down, and called a friend, crying the whole time, and I just remember seeing black around the edges of my vision, like I was either dying or falling into a like dark area of some kind, definitely losing it to the drugs at this point. I got picked up and drove back to my moms house, I told the car full of people I was with what had happened and they couldn't offer much aside from positive words but I will never forget at least they came and got my ass quick. That was some real friend shit. I cried and cried the whole way back to my moms, got dropped off, and like clockwork a few minutes later my mom got home. I told her something had happened (but not the whole story yet) and I felt like I was going to be in a lot of trouble. About 30 minutes later, maybe in total 1-2 hours after the shooting, a black SUV pulled up to my moms house.
I had to go downtown, I will say my mom even made me one of the Sur-gel drinks I had been using to pass drug tests to drink during the car ride there. They weren't even trying to drug test me, I didn't ask her to, she was just that cool I guess. I rode an elevator up a huge building and they sat me down with two cops who were pretty convinced this was my doing in some way. They kept asking me why I had been talking to my plug that day and when I said I hadn't, they pulled up my phone logs and texts. So they not only knew about my outstanding legal issues, they also knew I was lying. I really was just lying because I thought just being there was going to violate my probation. They had me on camera every single step from leaving the car at the hospital to walking into the McDonalds. They really wanted to blame me, they even told me my friend (my plug) was dead and it made me cry and cry and cry and cry. In the end, they couldn't hold me there. They forced me to point at a picture line up of people but I told them over and over I didn't know what they looked like and that you shouldn't use what I say because I just didn't know. Whole time during all of this 3-4 hour interrogation, they yelled and screamed at me and at one point left me in the room for maybe 2 hours while I just cried and cried. They were probably just watching what I would do when alone. I was still tripping acid, hard, and just felt like death was all around me. All I could do was cry.
Like I said, they released me to my mother. They obviously had no evidence against me, but one thing that they asked me during the investigation was why was my plugs girlfriend outside talking to the 3 robbers (juvenile girl, white guy, black guy, the juvenile girl ended up getting some lesser felonies but she didn't have a gun or shoot anyone, she just tried to block the exit at first). That was enough for me to put together that she was behind this, set him up to have him robbed. She probably just expected my plug to just give up his shit without a fight, but no, no he would never just do that. Obviously this whole situation fucked me up pretty bad mentally. For weeks I thought my plug was dead. Until one day he literally just called me out of the blue. Told me to come see him at his moms house. I'm telling you, this was my brother. Got in my car and went to go see him. When I got there I tried to hug him but he said he couldn't hug anyone, he lifted up his shirt and it was like a Frankenstein stitching all across his whole chest. If I recall it was 8 bullets that hit him in total. He had to use crutches and a wheelchair to move around the little bit he could. He only has one lung now, and will never move the same. It was a miracle, but no one died during that shooting, not even the white guy robber, who was shot in the chest and trampled over on the staircase. The white guy (I keep saying white guy and black guy just because I'm not trying to give out names, I hate all people equally) ended up pleading guilty and sentenced to 30 something years in jail. The black-guy robber took it to trial and WON. No fingerprints on his taped up shitty little .22 caliber pistol. Jury found him not guilty, and he is a free man to this day. Plug's girlfriend that set it up was never even charged as an accessory, but she did violate her adult probation by being there. As if that's all she deserved. This is a true story, google Fort Sanders shooting, It'll come up. The only reason my name wasn't in the articles was because I was 17 years old at the time. Not even an adult yet.
They subpoena'd me after the shooting to make sure I'd show up to court or to trial. It wasn't until 4-5 years later the black-guy robber had his trial. By this time I had moved up a lot in the selling game, my plug (same plug) had moved out to the west coast to step up his game as well. Had my own house I was renting in my hometown, Knoxville, TN. Nice car, shitty (but real) diamond ring, bunch of shoes and clothes, 2 shitty cars. Tons of memories, good times and bad, important memories in between then and the trial. I've had a lot of friends die that I went to school/smoked with, especially when Fentanyl started coming around. From what I've heard that's a problem a lot of people share, fuck Fentanyl. I have done most drugs, but luckily I was just smart enough to stay away from shit like heroine and meth. (not to say Knoxville powder wasn't dirty, because it was) I just really liked weed, it has always calmed down my bad emotions from my childhood and from the events I've been through, I don't get to smoke a lot anymore, mostly because I am poor again now. Its still Illegal as fuck in my state too, but that's another story.
I declined to testify at the trial of the black guy robber, and they never asked me to testify at the white guys trial because he didn't have one, he plead guilty. I decided not to testify because of multiple reasons, one- I hate cops, and law enforcement. I understand some are actually decent people. But go through a day in jail without food, because they CO thinks you're lying about not getting a tray, and ask me how you feel about cops after. Go through getting kicked out of your high school during your SENIOR YEAR because someone told some teacher you had weed in your car. I got pulled out of class by cops and arrested, and my car wasn't even on school grounds. Cops used to roll through the park I grew up in and would get out and do pat downs on whoever couldn't run away in time. These things and many more have made me hate cops, and yes, I still to this day hate cops. Is me not testifying the reason one of the robbers walked free? Maybe. But I certainly had no new information to tell the jury they didn't already know. Especially if the no fingerprints on the weapon they recovered was the reason they acquitted him. Who knows, maybe me going in there and crying like a bitch or something would've made it the jury see the truth. Either way it does weigh heavy on my heart but even my plug didn't blame me for not testifying.
During and before and after the trial, me and my plug were still at work. This is when I had moved into my house I rented, after living in a shitty apartment. I fully furnished it and everything. Washer, dryer, Ps4, Xbox 1, queen sized bed, the works. Even the little shower floor mat, I loved that home.
Fast forward to early covid 2020, my plug was starting to get annoyed with me. I was always asking him about the next pack coming in, always wanting as much of it as he could get to me, and I was always on him about the quality of it, even though it was always above average and most of the time it was top shelf. He ran into some legal trouble driving through Texas, that and along with a few other things happening in his personal life, work for me started slowing down. I never was good at saving money, I knew I should, I'd always beat myself up for not having money when I needed it, but I just never could change my spending habits. I'm still not sold on the whole "trying to be something you're not" argument because I've never had to fake anything. Most of the people I was around have heard from others what I've been through. At one point people were driving 2-3 hours just to pick up from me. I've been robbed plenty of times and I've robbed others. One things for sure, if karma is real, then I've definitely paid my dues. I haven't been selling now or have been in any legal trouble for the longest stretch of time since I started it all almost 8 years ago. And yes, I am proud of that.
Almost all of the friends I've ever had have either robbed me or wronged me in some way, or I've cut contact for my own issues or reasons. As of today, I have one friend that lives in Ireland, and he's a great friend, but he's got his own life to live. I got evicted for giving a bad check to my landlord, 3 weeks before they did the eviction halting for covid, which is still active today. Unlucky for sure, but my fault nonetheless. Finding somewhere to live has always been a challenge for me because of my lack of provable income. Today I have decent credit, a credit card, and a few thousand dollars I have invested in my Robinhood account that I seem to keep losing and gaining back. I stream on Twitch, but my last stream I just sat and cried for like 2 and a half hours, its still the latest stream on my channel. No one wants to follow me or give me a chance, which I understand, I probably could make it work if I grinded harder and harder at it, its just depressing as fuck to sit there and talk to yourself for hours at the beginning.
Todays' (1/28/2021) events in the stock market made me write this. Me and my mom keep fighting and its BEEN PAST the time I move back out again. No one will lease to me. She wont even stay here until I leave, as of this last week. I'm waiting on my new debit card to get here in the mail, and whether I have somewhere to go or not, I told her I'd leave when it got here, I have been homeless a few times, lived in my car, extended stay hotels, other peoples' couches. Its hard, but I know that I can make it fine. Today I woke up and had $20,000 in my investments, up from $1,100 I started with at the beginning of January 2021. I finally felt a little bit positive about my future at least a little bit, after a very depressing Christmas and January. Then Robinhood and other brokers today cut off buying GME, AMC, and others. I was heavy into GME, having gotten in @ $69 (lol) dollars a share. It was $450+ per share this morning, after a week of mainstream media attention from every social media website, major TV news stations, and billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, that Chamath guy (who seems awesome) and many more. Robinhood and a couple other brokers actually turned off the ability to buy the stock. Literally. All the stocks that were heavy volume "meme stocks" they cut off. I was in GME and AMC, but even Blackberry, Nokia, and others were cut off too. Needless to say, after the whole week of manufactured panic from all of these different sources, this straw broke the camels back. GME at this moment is trading @ 225, and I sold mine when I opened my app and saw it at 155, which was the lowest dip of the day. I came out in the green, I came out making a $1,500 or so dollars. But my portfolio by the time I cut AMC losses went from $20,000 this morning, down to $5,000 as I type this. I have never wanted to kill myself more than I do right now, mostly because this week it felt like I really earned this. I stayed diamond hands (held through the media pressure) through this whole week, only to give up at the end. It will hurt even more if GME recovers from this dip, but It's not because other people are making money without me, its because I could've used that money to move out, get some food to eat, get a new car that doesn't leak through the roof in case I'm living in it here in a couple days. And more importantly, I earned that money. I noticed the momentum before it even touched 40 a share. I've watch DFV's (roaring kitty on YouTube) 5-6 hour livestreams where he was going over the financials and spreadsheets of GameStop back in fucking 2019. I believed in this play and threw the money I had at it, and it should have worked out at least better than it did, I was planning to exit or at least hedge my earnings tomorrow, when shorts have to cover. But when I stepped away to eat lunch and take a shower because of how stressful this morning this morning was, I came back, opened my phone, and I was $15,000 down. So yes, my diamond hands failed. I sold. And while I still had a gain, its not at all what it should rightfully be. I can't even bitch and moan in the Wallstreetbets subreddit because apparently me being a lurker for a year isn't enough because of all of the newbies in there from all of the media attention.
So to finally wrap this up, I feel like I tried my best in this life. I haven't always been a good person, but not once have I thought to myself that I was evil. I'm too nice sometimes, and its gotten me fucked over, and I'd still go back and front friends weed or give them money/weed for free because I'm just not having fun unless people around me are too. Everyone's struggling in their own ways. I do not want to live on this earth any longer. I wrote this to at least explain to everyone what happened to me. And while I left out some very important parts in my life, this should give you a summary of what was going through my mind today. I really have been a good human being these last 2 years. Maybe I'm greedy for not selling earlier today. I was just so caught up in finally "sticking it to the man" and making the best play I've ever made I didn't want to feel like they would win by making us sell. I didn't even come out in the red, but goddamn it feels like I lost everything. I don't want you to feel sorry for me, just learn from my mistakes and take care of yourselves. You have to be stronger emotionally than I was. Move out of the U.S. if you can, its just greed and money that rule here. Maybe nowadays that's just everywhere.
Thank you to anyone that for some reason read all of this. To my dead friends Tad, Pmoney, Cierra, Raegan, Tina, I miss you guys and you better have a blunt for me when I see you all soon, I could really fucking use one about now. Much Love, - Bleezy

If you have been asking yourself what business to start, then this list is for you.
Let’s take a look at the list of ideas that’ll make you money in 2021:

1. Dropshipping

Are you looking to sell products online but don’t have the money to buy and store inventory? Consider dropshipping! Dropshipping is an ecommerce business model in which you don’t have to manage any physical products.
Get Started with Oberlo
All you have to do is set up an online store, and partner with suppliers who’re ready to store, package, and ship orders to your customers. What’s more, you don’t need to spend hours on product research because you can use dropshipping apps like Oberlo to find awesome products to sell.
Check out this dropshipping course to learn more. If you’re searching for easy online business ideas to pursue, dropshipping might be a good option for you.
One of the reasons that people are often drawn to dropshipping is that you don’t have to hold inventory. However, if holding inventory isn’t an issue – maybe there’s enough room in that spare closet – then you can also source products wholesale. Online marketplaces like Handshake enable small business owners to find unique, high-quality products and build long-lasting relationships with suppliers. It’s worth checking out as a supplement to dropshipping if you already know what you want to sell.

1. Translation

Multilingual people are always in demand, so if you can speak two or more languages, consider starting a small business where you can monetize those skills. You can start looking for clients on websites like Upwork and Flexjobs and slowly build your portfolio. As you work successfully with more and more companies, you can hire more translators who specialize in other languages to expand your service offerings. It’s also a good idea to market your business on social media websites as it can help you reach a wider audience.

1. Home-based Catering

If you have a knack for cooking and see it as a creative outlet, you can make a decent income by opening a home-based catering business. The initial investment depends much on how big you want the setup to be. For example, if you start with smaller events that you can manage on your own, you should be able to start your business for less. Most home-based caterers start by creating a website, experimenting with local food markets, or joining platforms that allow cooking experts to squeeze some profits out of their culinary skills.

1. Virtual Assistant

One of the most successful business ideas is to offer virtual assistant services. Everyone from large enterprises to solopreneurs require help with the day-to-day management of their business. You can use your excellent organizational skills to take some weight off their shoulders. Of course, you’ll get paid for the time and effort you put into answering emails, scheduling meetings, and performing other administrative duties. You can land your first few clients by responding to listings on platforms like FreeUp, PeoplePerHour, or Virtual Assistant Jobs. This is a proven business model as people are always looking for efficient virtual assistants.

1. Website Flipping

Website flipping is among the new business ideas that have got everyone from work-at-home to recent graduates excited. It involves buying an already running website, improving its design and content, and then selling it for a profit. There are quite a few places where you can buy and sell websites to earn a profit. Shopify’s marketplace Exchange, for example, allows you to buy ecommerce websites that you can further improve via content marketing, SEO, and other tactics. Once your site begins to generate more revenue than when you acquired it, you can list it for sale on the marketplace.

1. Personal Shopper

Do you often get praised for your eye for fashion trends? Are you someone who friends and family come to for clothing advice? Personal shopping can be a business that builds on those skills. Personal shoppers find clothing items for clients who are struggling to find their personal style. Duties involve evaluating your client’s wardrobe, visiting websites and picking items that will suit them. There are all sorts of products on all kinds of online clothing boutiques, so you don’t necessarily have to shop offline to get this business started. Plus, you don’t need to hold any special certification or degree to become a personal shopper. If your interests lie in business ideas with low investment, personal shopping might be the ideal route to consider.

1. Online Tutoring

If you’re an expert in art, maths, or another subject, you can start the business of online tutoring. An essential prerequisite is having a bachelor’s degree in the subject you intend to teach, so make sure to cover this area before you get started. You can find online tutoring clients on sites like Skooli and Tutor.com. For the best results, always teach subjects that relate to your area of expertise because you’ll be able to share your skills and constructive knowledge to enhance the learning experience. You can deliver lectures and interact with your students over Skype, making online tutoring one of the easiest online businesses to start.

1. Greeting Cards

Greeting cards are always in style, so if you have a good eye for design or just love showcasing your artwork on physical items, this is one of the best creative business ideas for you. Before you can start looking for clients, you’ll need to have a handful of designs ready to go. Tools like Photoshop and Canva make it easy to create custom card designs. Additionally, you’ll need to stock up on supplies required to create greeting cards (ink, paper, etc.). Here’s a pro tip: if you want to keep costs low, buy your supplies from a wholesaler. Once you have the inventory sorted, start generating revenue by marketing your business on Facebook, Etsy, and other similar platforms.

1. Content Writing

Almost every company with an internet presence needs help with creating content for product pages, blogs, etc. As such, starting a content writing or copywriting company could be one of the most profitable business ideas for you. Popular websites for finding those first few customers include Remote.co, Problogger Jobs, and BloggingPro. You can also join content writing groups on Facebook to promote your business to a wider audience. There are lots of ways you can make a good impression on clients, such as by offering keyword optimization or custom graphics as part of your services.

I've frequented this sub a lot over the past three years and love it as a repository alternative to stuff like AdmitSee out there. Great to add another to the database (that I will also update more as decisions roll in)
Demographics

• Gender: M
• Race/Ethnicity: AA ORM
• Residence: SoCA
• Income Bracket: 200k+
• Type of School: Large, Public
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None

Intended Major(s): Anthropology, Economics, Business (for those with programs)
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.0/4.76
• Rank (or percentile): 2
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 15
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Stats, AP Physics C, Sociology (College), Political Science (College)

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1540 (740RW, 800M)
• ACT: N/A
• SAT II: Bio E (800), Mathématique Deux (800)
• AP/IB: APUSH (5), AP Calc AB (4), AP Bio (5), AP Euro (5), AP Chinese (self-studied) (4), AP Macro (self-studied) (4), AP Lang (5),
• Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.): N/A

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Founder of Online Media Publication: Founded youth media org, grew to 100+ global team (10 countries) incl. web journalism, podcasts, videos; partnered w/youth advocacies (purposely vague) (3yrs)
2. National Clubs Executive for a chain of entrepreneurship clubs attached to a nonprofit entrepreneurship incubator: Selected at nonprofit's 2019 Summer Incubator (10% accept), pitched 2 biz, won $7K seed; joined org, manage 22 int’l clubs/ competitions, help student entrepreneurs pitch and find mentors (2yrs)
3. Co-founding Managing Partner of small consulting LLC providing GenZ branding, marketing and user experience services to improve client businesses; secured six contracts during 2020; founded with seed funding from (#2) (2yrs)
4. Director of Student Programs at a small international startup platform; Work w/founders to coordinate student ambassador program and enhance community interactions; founded coalition program connecting student NPOs on site to foster int’l collaboration and drive recruiting/publicity resources into verified site organizations. Paid position (in company shares, not salary), worked my way up from an online internship (2yrs)
5. Published Author and Misc. Freelance Writing/History Research Co-wrote book on loan surveying volunteer experiences published Jan 2020 over 3 years; research/wrote articles for various youth economics magazines and sites; submitted to Concord Review (hear back soon in time for RD apps hopefully); (4 yrs)
6. Podcast Host Co-host [redacted] podcast: interview students and admissions officers to discuss [redacted]; 50K views total (2 yrs)
7. Volunteer / Organizer for Economic Opportunity Initiative for Rural Farmers and small shopkeepers; Led teams to interview farmers and craft financial statements to successfully obtain agricultural loans; 200+ service hours (1yr)
8. Corporate Culture / Economics Research Intern with local university prof, Contributed to economics research on entrepreneurship, corruption and business politics; also conducted statistical analysis of insider trading rates by gender; acknowledgements in prof's published research (no co-author)(3 yrs)
9. FoundePresident of SciFair Club Started club to engage peers in research/competition; recruited professional mentors; cancelled mostly due to COVID but I was the top SciFair performer from my school 2yrs
10. FoundePresident of FBLA club (Formerly LaunchX in 10th grade) Founded schl’s first-ever club to explore entrepreneurship and career dev; grew to 30 members; mentored peers; achieved FBLA state qualifier 2020 (but then COVID) 2yrs

This was CA verbatim with some redactions.
Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. 2nd Place in Entrepreneurship Incubator Competition (technically international?? just national), 5K seed money for my startup
2. President's Volunteer Service Award-Gold for 200+ hrs from volunteer work and being a mock juror for local law grad students
3. 2nd Pl–Social Science State Science Fair; 2nd Pl- City Psychological Association for same Research; Monetary Award from Sigma Xi Research Honors Society
4. 3rd Pl, City Asian-American association: Essay contest where I wrote & presented economic consequences of CA bill
5. One 1 (of 6) to represent school at Rotary Youth Leadership Award Conference (but then COVID)

Letters of Recommendation
I won't numerically rate my LoRs because... just how would I do that?
Entrepreneurship Mentor (CEO): Had a very strong relationship with him, he provided and advanced a lot of my extracurricular opportunities and he was from the entrepreneurship incubator (gave me a scholarship to attend). He wrote letters for a few other students a year above me at the incubator and they were admitted to Harvard, JHU, Purdue, NYU Stern. Those other students say I was his favorite.
AP Phys Teacher: Well enough, I've known him for 4 years and he's well aware of my entrepreneurial activities and podcasting (actually had him on the podcast once). Generally on amicable terms, been good and ambitious student.
APUSH Teacher: Only takes 10 LOR requests a year, I requested mine a year in advance. Very good terms, probably one of best students in our APUSH class. Had out of class conversations that espoused my personality. Aware of my writing and my authorship.
Peer (for Darty): Co-founder in firm, went through a lot together at entrepreneurship incubator and later reconnected as mentors in same incubator. Read it myself and its quite professional for a peer rec.
Interviews
UPenn: Not great, really didn't click. She was a doctor who was really questioning my want to go to big city Philly and asked me verbatim what I did for fun again (after my initial response of fall into Wikipedia rabbit holes and podcast) with a straight face. Never making that mistake again.
Duke: Pretty good, was able to make them laugh at end, had an engaging conversation about Duke entrepreneurship and leadership programs.
Princeton: Recent grad who was probably the best so far, she described me as a "gift to the world" (flattered) and she said she was impressed by my responses compared to other applicants. She said to update her on my decision in April.
Harvard: Would say it was good. Really stoic guy who was in President Clinton's cabinet, had an engaging conversation about journalism and the new media forces (Vox, ProPublica) and my ambition to do the same. Ended with a bit about him talking about imposter syndrome as his biggest dislike with his Harvard experience.
Stanford: Short (~40 min) where halfway through interview I became the interviewer. Talked a lot about her daughter who was a Stanford senior and the easily accessible small research grants. Apparently she welcomes the ~60-70 Stanford admitted students every year with a reception at her home.
Dartmouth: Really down to earth conversation with a guy, standard interview questions, he still sends me material and updates from Dartmouth here and there now based on things I said in our interview (like swim team changes, pitching opportunities). I also update him in April.
MIT: Fairly standard interview. Nothing really to note here, talked about my journalism and my view on media for the most part.
Essays
After being rejected by Penn, I think I went through maybe like 15 CA drafts in total but only the last two mattered. I applied to half my colleges with one CA draft (that I thought showed how I thought, albeit maybe not as personal as I wanted it). I ended up applying to all the colleges with deadlines 1/3/20 and after using my Harvard supp as my CA since a friend and a college counselor both read it, suggested no changes, and said it was my best work. All sups went through 2-4 drafts and were reviewed by either my friend or college counselor. I had half of them coming into Winter break then I crammed out the rest during break. I'm proud of my CA essays and most of my sups and have realized throughout all my revising and editing, that I lost a great deal of my own voice in the essays that I initially sent to Penn. Which is why I resolved to keep editing minimal and my original voice a priority in my later essays (and rewrote my CA).
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
Acceptances:

• None yet

Waiting On:

• UCI
• UCSD
• UCLA
• UCB GMP (no interview yet)
• NYU
• USC Merit
• Ivies
• Northwestern
• UChicago
• Duke
• MIT
• Vandy

Rejections:

• ED Penn Wharton

Additional Information:
There was quite a bit of new info in additional info on CA and stuff that I plan on updating my colleges with soon:
In March, I was selected for a 12-person cohort in a career development program following my entrepreneurial activities where I was selected to participate in funded projects ranging from Harvard case studies and startups. This was discontinued owing to the COVID pandemic but will be resuming the latter half of my senior year.
I was interviewed by major news networks (November 2020) about the launch of the entrepreneurial incubator clubs chapters in the midst of COVID-19, interview expected to be in outlets like USNews and the like in February (Hopefully in time for RD)
I was invited to join the student council of a social science research program for high school students around the world, hosted by the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) on the basis of my journalism and the entrepreneurship incubator clubs program. This just began this February and am currently meeting with the director.
So yeah, this is where I'm at and hopefully I'll get a yes from one of my reaches. This year is super unpredictable though, so if you're reading this in the future, you might want to note that (25-75% app increases at most selective schools). If you're curious about my ECs or whatever, pm me. I'll be active on this sub (as I also have moderating duties lol). I still have a bit of EC work to do regarding my February updates.

I am in my late twenties and make $60,000 working as an architect in the northwestern US. Not sharing exact details since the industry is a small world and I’d like to share candidly! I should also add that I mention my budgeting software a few times in this post - I’m not sponsored by them, I’m just a little obsessed with budgeting.
INTRO QUESTIONS
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Absolutely. My parents both had to be on their own at a very young age, so they were focused on making sure I had solid footing for financial independence. College was a big part of that plan. (You can absolutely build a great career without a college education - this was just my parents' perspective.) Obviously you can no longer pay tuition by scooping ice cream during the summer like they did, but they were very against the idea of loans (to put it lightly) so I wouldn’t have been able to afford 90% of the schools I was accepted to. As a teenager that really bummed me out since I wanted to move away! I ended up going to an in-state university where my tuition was funded via a combo of scholarships from the school, my parents' college savings and state government scholarships. My parents paid my rent for the years I had to live off campus (I remember thinking $400 a month rent was so expensive.....lol) and I funded my spending money with a few different part time jobs, working two or three at any given time. Some of those jobs were at the university and related to my degree so it was good practical experience too!
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My parents told me things but didn't necessarily explain in detail how everything worked. In hindsight I wish I'd started using something like YNAB much younger so I could understand the impact and potential of my money (whether I saved it or spent it). My parents talked a lot about avoiding consumer debt and warned me about interest as well as depreciation when it came to buying a car brand new or something like that. When I was a young adult they got me Bogle's book which was a good foundation for my knowledge about investing.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I wasn’t worried as much as I was confused. My parents’ advice and influence seemed so opposite of what I saw happening around me. For instance, they are generally against debt of any kind, whereas excessive spending and living on credit seemed to be the status quo for everyone else I knew. They invest money into their hobbies but don't buy flashy cars or new phones or anything like that, even now that they are empty nesters making good money.
There was also a gradual shift where I realized that when I grew up I wasn't going to be making as much money as my parents did, and that was an adjustment. In hindsight, perhaps I should have chosen a career where I would be better compensated, but you'd be hard pressed to convince my eighteen year old self of that. I find my job fulfilling and I think our work has a positive impact on our community, which is worth a lot to me, but good will doesn't pay the rent. If you know anyone planning to become an architect advise them to take any route that doesn’t end in crippling loans. Compensation in this industry is not proportional to the education and experience it takes to get here (more on this later).
Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. Money is definitely much more of a concern because I don't have a lot of excess, but I do feel I have a good handle on my financial situation and am making progress toward my goals. In the big picture affecting myself and others, I really worry about wage stagnation and income inequality.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became financially independent when I moved out of state after graduation. I definitely have a safety net in my parents, in the sense that I know I wouldn't end up on the street if things really went south - they've loaned me money when I've had to pay for expensive procedures and that sort of thing. I drive an old car that they transferred to me in exchange for doing all the work on their home renovation - perks of having an architect for a child! I marked the categories below where I had a leg up from my family with an asterisk and included those details. I like to be transparent because I feel like shit when I see people my age who own homes, go on vacation, and eat out at restaurants regularly while those things are not possible for me. It's all relative, so someone is probably looking at me the same way. I'm not living an extravagant lifestyle, but having a degree and a car debt-free is a big deal and I can confidently say I wouldn't be where I am today without my family's help.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes. A few years ago I inherited money following the loss of a family member. The majority of it went into my retirement accounts. I used $300 of it to buy a locket in their memory - I wondered if I would regret that purchase since I've never owned nice jewelry before, but I love it and wear it all the time!
______________________________________________________
ASSETS AND DEBT
*Retirement balance: ~$12,000 split between 401k and Roth IRA. I started contributing as soon as I could, and some of this was the money I inherited. My employer doesn't do a 401k match and that plan has a higher expense ratio, so I put most of my retirement savings in the Roth IRA. Right now I have $100 deducted pretax for the 401k just so I have a mix of tax deferred savings.
Checking account balance: $3,029. Money I will use to pay rent, bills, utilities, and pay off my credit card balance each month. I use YNAB to figure out if I have enough money to make a purchase, so I don't pay a lot of attention to the actual bank balance or let it fool me into thinking "Of course you can 'afford' to spend $200 at Sephora!" (Narrator: She could not.)
Savings account balance: $3,235 spread across several accounts. Here are the specifics, if anyone is interested:

• Irregular Expenses: $1,631. Money that is set aside for specific purposes but won't be needed for a while. This includes funds for car repairs, taxes, passport/drivers license renewal, annual memberships/subscriptions, and eventual phone, laptop and car replacements. I use the "target balance by date" feature in YNAB. Tracking each future expense is a little over the top, but it gives me a lot of insight into where my money is actually going. I used to have a vague budget but every month there was something "unexpected" that put me in the red, like needing new tires or an annual subscription renewal. Eventually I had to get real about the fact that most of those things COULD have been anticipated and prepared for, had I been paying attention. Once I have more of a financial buffer I'll likely consolidate into simpler categories - for instance, a car category that includes parking, gas, drivers license, registration, maintenance and repairs.
• Emergency Fund: $1,604. The emergency fund is really only for income replacement if I get laid off or have to take time off due to injury/disability, which is why it's totally separate. The construction industry has ups and downs and I’ve already been laid off once, which is why I'd like to have a full six months of living expenses to fall back on. First milestone is $3,000 and I'm halfway there!

FSA account balance: $1,200. This covers copays and prescriptions.
Credit card debt: $0. I'm proud of this! Before I started using YNAB I struggled with credit card float but I have a better handle on my expenses now. I am actually living within my means and auto-pay my card in full each month.
*Student loan debt: $0. See the question above about higher education.
Equity: $0, renting. Home ownership? In this economy?
______________________________________________________
INCOME
Income progression: I'm skipping over all my minimum wage service industry jobs for the sake of brevity. TL;DR They all sucked. During college I had a few part time jobs during the school year and worked full time during the summer. These jobs ranged from $8-12/hr.
My starting salary after graduation was $43,000. This job was a mess and I got "laid off" AKA taken off the projects I was specifically hired for, replaced by a man, and then told they didn't have enough work to keep me. The boss apparently wanted someone who could be his "right hand man" and I "wasn't the right fit." That was definitely true! This job did a number on my self esteem, since I didn’t have enough experience to know that the things I experienced were very inappropriate (even before the layoff) and that the “problems” with my performance were actually just blatant mismanagement and poor communication. Anyway, onward and upwards....
I was hired by my second job at $48,000 with paid overtime (yay!) but the next year I got promoted to $51,000 WITHOUT overtime, so I actually made less money than the year before. I call that my Demotion Promotion. The next year I went up to $55,000, which basically broke even with the paid overtime year. Then a multiyear shit storm of cancelled projects, pandemic, and economic instability happened. Thankfully I stayed employed and at the end of 2020 I was bumped up to $60,000. This is the first time my take-home pay has changed significantly in at least three years. I wish the raise were more, but obviously I'm lucky to even have kept my job during the pandemic, much less gotten a raise. I also asked to be promoted to a role that I am already doing the work for, and I didn't get that promotion, which made me have second thoughts about my prospects at my current firm. I am also in the process of getting my architectural license, and although it doesn't necessarily mean a pay increase, it will theoretically help give me leverage for promotions and an increase in responsibility. Architects are underpaid in general, especially considering the amount of education and experience required to legally call yourself an architect. Historically it's been a "gentleman's profession" for white men who were already wealthy and wanted to be seen as great artists. The whole foundation of the industry is toxic, although it seems to be changing slowly.. Right now I'm focusing on developing skills and getting experience while also advocating for better and more equitable compensation as much as I can. I am definitely concerned about my long term earning potential, but that might just be a result of my limited experience and stifled opportunities for growth.
Monthly take home: ~$3,700
Gross pay is $5,000. Deductions:

• Taxes: ~$1,050
• Insurance: $20 (I get medical, dental and vision insurance through work and this is the only thing that gets deducted - yay!)
• 401k: $100 pretax
• FSA: $100

This is my only income. I have thought about pursuing a second income source, but for now I am spending my time studying for licensure exams and focusing on learning and maximizing my earning potential in my industry.
______________________________________________________
EXPENSES
Regular monthly expenses:

• Rent: $1,400
  • I rent a one bedroom apartment with my dog. He is an asshole who doesn't pay his share of rent.
• Groceries: $350-$450
  • I barely eat at restaurants, even before COVID, so this covers essentially all my food plus things like toilet paper and cleaning products. These days I use Instacart a lot and tip pretty generously, so I include the tips in my grocery budget. Part of my produce needs are currently covered by a farm share subscription I got as a birthday gift (such a good gift idea!)
• Parking: $125
  • This is for a secured garage. There is a lot of theft/damage to cars in my neighborhood, and it keeps my car out of the elements. I'm trying to make this car last forever!
• Carental insurance: $100
• Utilities: $100
  • Includes electricity, water, gas, sewer, trash.
• Internet: $45
• Cell phone: $30
• Pet insurance: $50
• Monthly subscriptions: $45
  • Includes streaming, spotify, cloud storage, VPN.
• Laundry: $30
• Prescriptions: $50
  • Paid from my FSA.
• Dog: ~$200
  • Average monthly cost for vet care, food, supplies, medications

Savings:

• Emergency fund: $300
• Roth IRA: $200

I have various other categories in my budget that I put money toward each month like donations, gifts, clothing, dining at restaurants. I'm not listing them here since I don't necessarily spend in those areas each month.
______________________________________________________
WEEKLY DIARY

FRIDAY Daily Total: $340.36 (starting off with a bang, apparently!) 

7 am: I recently arrived home from traveling, so today is day 1 of the return quarantine. (Before you judge, I was helping a relative who had a big procedure.) I made an effort to use up everything in the fridge before I left, so it's nearly empty. I wake up ravenous and order a breakfast burrito, potatoes and coffee to be delivered: $18.22. I wore my mask door to door, and after a whole day of plane travel without food or water I'm essentially a raisin in human form. I chug water as fast as it'll come out of the tap, inhale my food and log on remotely for work. I have several meetings today. I'm thankful I only need to look presentable from the shoulders up.
11 am: I scheduled a grocery order with Instacart, which came to $202.90. While I'm waiting for the order to arrive and sorting through my inbox, I catch up on my podcasts and hear news of Instacart's recent union busting layoffs. Yikes. Not renewing this year! I hop back on the app and give the delivery person an even more generous tip than usual, and make sure the auto-renewal for Instacart Express is disabled.
1 pm: During lunch I do some online shopping. To thank my friend who house-sat (apartment-sat?) for me, I order a ceramic vase and I'm filling it with little presents and treats: $50. Another friend's birthday is coming up, so I order a few things from another local shop. Her gift comes to $40.46. Finally, I order some pillow inserts for my apartment: $28.78.
2 pm: After attending my meetings and responding to all time sensitive messages, I review consultant drawings and make some notes for what I need to tackle over the course of next week. I snack pretty much continuously. One of my favorite things about working from home is that I can eat freely without dealing with stupid commentary or diet talk. No, Sharon, I don't want to hear about how you're "so bad" for eating an entire cookie or how you're attempting keto for the millionth time. When we were in the office, some of my coworkers would make comments on how the lunch I packed was so healthy, as if it were some moral achievement. Bitch, I'm getting coffee and eating a piece of cake when I'm done with this salad! I have endocrine issues and have struggled with weight fluctuations my entire life. At this point I've done a lot of work to address my relationship with food and dieting, and I know that sort of talk is really not helpful for me. I'm sure my coworkers don't have bad intentions but I'm just over it.
6 pm: After work I sort through the mail and packages that arrived while I was away. I'm so tired. I stretch, do a face mask and eat half a THC gummy before bed. I sleep like the dead.

SATURDAY Daily total: $33.24 

10 am: Nothing on my calendar this weekend! I devote the day to cleaning and doing projects around the apartment. I struggle with renting because I want to fix things up and make changes, especially since I do this sort of thing for a living! Even though I'm a really good tenant and have been here for years, my crappy landlord won't allow improvements even if I paid for the materials and/or labor myself. One of my windows has a crack in the glass that the property manager said isn't a problem because "it's not a hole." These windows are like ninety years old, so I'm pretty sure it's gonna become a hole any day now - I'm just hoping it's not winter when that happens. For my next apartment I'd really like to find an individual who owns and manages the property themselves so I have more flexibility and someone will actually appreciate my efforts to keep the place in good shape! Those landlords are few and far between these days.
12 pm: Even though it's cold AF, I open the windows to get some fresh air inside. Spring cleaning can be in January right? To complement my organizing efforts, I order some bins and refill tape for my label maker: $33.24.
3 pm: I lay on the floor, hoping to bask in the silence and lack of responsibilities. However, my neighbors are loud af. I wonder how much you have to spend on rent to get an apartment with any semblance of sound isolation?
7 pm: I mostly forget to eat today and end up feeling like crap as a result. This is not good for anyone but especially people with hormone issues. I end up eating a bunch of beef jerky and Starbursts for dinner instead of an actual meal (do as I say, not as I do, I guess.....)

SUNDAY Daily total: $0 

9:30 am: Slept in late again. I had crazy night terrors the entire night - they get a lot worse for me during periods of stress and anxiety, and I’m sure my beef & candy dinner didn’t help. Weed helps, hence the gummies. I wear an Apple Watch and when I look at my sleep patterns it's really obvious which nights I used THC. Thank you, drugs!
I eat a big bowl of fruit and yogurt for breakfast - I splurged on berries when I got groceries! I left coffee grounds steeping overnight for cold brew, so I prep that too. I don't mind drinking iced coffee in the winter and it's so much easier than doing pour-over every day.
1 pm: I schedule a drive-through COVID test for later in the week. The weather is pretty godawful - it was supposed to snow but that quickly became freezing rain instead. I manage to sneak in a few short walks with my dog but otherwise we spend the day snuggled under a blanket eating snacks and watching Schitt's Creek.

MONDAY Daily total: $95 

8 am: Very few meetings today, so I dig through the rest of the emails and messages I missed while traveling last week.
12 pm: During lunch I lay in my bed - one of the luxuries of remote work, second only to elastic waistbands. On the other hand, I have pandemic fatigue and it's being exacerbated by the shitty weather. Returning to isolation in my apartment is jarring. The space is small. My loud neighbors suck. I wish I could go on a long walk. I miss my family. I want a hug. I am tired of hearing people complain about how hard "isolation" is when they have a house, partner, backyard, cable, and a ten person "pod" to socialize with. The only human contact I had for nearly a year was with my dentist drilling out an old filling. When I traveled to see my family I quarantined upon arrival and got tested, but I still didn't feel comfortable snuggling and hugging them since we would need to be in and out of hospitals for the procedure and appointments. It was still wonderful to see them in person, despite the circumstances. My stress and loneliness is fuel for the fire of my rage at people who still don't take this shit seriously. I cope by snuggling my dog, who I am always thankful for but especially now. I'm really glad that we are able to spend so much time together.
1:30 pm: I spend the rest of the day cleaning up drawings and prepping for a meeting tomorrow.
7 pm: I got a surprise bill in the mail for one of the COVID tests I took when I was traveling. I have to pay $95 on top of the copay at the visit - this is the price WITH insurance. Our healthcare system is garbage.
12 am: I can’t sleep. I get a tickle in my throat. I think it’s a result of having the radiator on for several days straight - my nose, mouth and eyes are all very dry - but I get up and check my temperature (normal) and make sure I can still smell the detergent scent on my pajamas (I can). I put in some eye drops before going back to bed.

TUESDAY Daily total: $0 and some sanity 

8:57 am: I stay in bed until the very last minute.
\a frenzy of anxiety that lasts the entire day**
5 pm: The focus of my anxiety runs the gamut from work to COVID to earthquakes to my dog’s health to increasing cost of living. I make it through work despite my rapidly crumbling mental state. I try to give myself a break and remind myself that it’s okay if I’m not doing my absolute best in the midst of all this. In any case, the meeting I prepared for yesterday got pushed to next week and nobody informed me. 🙄 I check my temperature. While I’m at it, I take my blood pressure and note that too.
P.S. Regarding anxiety disorders, I am prescribed medication and go to therapy. I highly recommend seeking therapy if you’re having trouble dealing with things on your own - you don't need to have a diagnosed disorder to benefit from it. Many providers do sliding scale.
6 pm: The weather is absolutely disgusting. I have very few opportunities for exercise between bad weather, no gyms, and living in an apartment above someone else. Even if I suit up in all my rain gear, my dog refuses to walk very far when it's wet. Maybe I should move my coffee table tomorrow so I can do some weights or yoga.
7 pm: I catch up on the WSB/GME mayhem and memes, then I play around with the forecasting tool on my 401k website. After my upcoming paycheck I might experiment with bumping my 401k contribution up. If my living expenses don't increase, I might be able to get closer to 10% over the course of this year without too much pain.
9 pm: I snuggle my dog and play games on my phone until bedtime.

WEDNESDAY Daily total: $37.50 

7 am: My farm share box arrives today. Thank god - I dropped the ball and got very few veggies in my grocery order, plus I've been rationing the berries I spent so much money on.
9:30 am: I get my COVID swab. I had to drive half an hour to get there. I wonder what the bill will be for this one. Results could take up to a week. Why isn't this easier? On the way home I get gas: $37.50.
10 am: Since I got back earlier than expected and it's not raining (!!!!) I take the opportunity to go on a walk with my dog. It's really nice to sweat and get my heart rate up a bit.
11:30 am: My dog was snoring so loudly that I had to mute myself during a call. I guess the walk wore him out!
8 pm: I finish up work and join a zoom happy hour with some friends. I bust out a bottle of wine that I got for Christmas. The call is pretty fun, although by the end I definitely have screen fatigue. I go to bed pretty much immediately.

THURSDAY Daily total: $7.89 

6 am: After about 5 am I couldn't get back to sleep, so I get up and take the dog for a walk. Until I get a negative test I've been wearing my mask even outdoors, and it leads to condensation from my breath forming droplets on my eyelashes. When it's cold enough, they freeze. Facial icicles - just another thrilling pandemic experience. After I get home I towel off my dog's muddy paws, rinse my face and get to work, since I have six hours straight of meetings today. (Ugh)
~a million years later~
6 pm: I order a new digital thermometer because mine consistently tells me my temperature is just above 96 degrees and that can't be true? Anyway, it's $7.89. I detach my butt from my desk chair and go make some pasta with pesto for dinner.
8 pm: I start getting my shit together to study for my next licensure exam. They've been looming over me. I got derailed by COVID - maybe I can pass the rest in 2021? If there were a guaranteed raise or promotion I'd probably be a lot more motivated to shell out $1400+ for these tests....
9 pm: I figure preparing to study is enough for today. I download a few library books on my kindle, take half a THC gummy and snuggle in bed to read.
12 am: Before I go to sleep I check my phone and see that I tested negative for COVID! I'm glad the results came back so fast, and it's a huge relief - I'm very thankful for all the measures I took to travel safely even though it was not at all fun or comfortable. Stoned and sleepy, I dream sweet dreams of the paycheck hitting my account tomorrow morning, and I can't fucking wait to budget it.
______________________________________________________
WEEKLY EXPENSES

• Food + Drink: $221.12
  • $202.90 groceries
  • $18.22 delivery
• Fun / Entertainment: $0 (Thank god library books and fucking around on the internet are free)
• Home + Health: $164.91
  • $102.89 medical
  • $62.02 home items
• Clothes + Beauty: $0
• Transport: $37.50 on gas
• Other: $90.46 on gifts

GRAND TOTAL: $513.99
______________________________________________________
REFLECTION
This was definitely a higher spending week than usual, primarily due to the fact that I was just returning from out of town and had to put gas in the car, which doesn't happen often since I work from home right now and walk most places. I think my spending is typically pretty responsible. My main financial priority in 2020 was creating a realistic budget - I had been using YNAB for a while but kept underestimating how much money I needed in each category. I dialed that in, and now in 2021 I'd like to focus on minimizing expenses where possible (especially things that aren't important to me) as well as saving (both in my emergency fund and retirement) so I can get that sweet, sweet compound interest. In 2021 I'd also really like to improve my wardrobe and look a bit more professional, but I'm obviously not motivated to spend money on work clothes while we are still 100% remote. Long term I would really like to increase my income, especially since the cost of living is only going up. That means getting my license is high on the list of priorities.
Hope you enjoyed the diary, and let me know if there is anything unclear that I can elaborate on further!
(edited to fix a few grammar and math issues!)

Alright. Hear me out autists. We all know bears are gay. But with TSLA shares reaching an ATH of $816.99, it sure seems like its fundamentals are completely divorced from reality. And the media analysts have been pounding on TSLA for seemingly years now. So is this a good company to be a gay bear on? Or Nah? (edit: TSLA ATH now @ $884 lol)
 
On 7 Jan 2020, Royal Bank of Canada admitted that "There is no graceful way to put this other than to say we got TSLA's stock completely wrong" and upgraded TSLA from $339 to $700. And on 6 Jan 2020, Morgan Stanley upgraded their TSLA price target to $810 when just 18 months ago they announced their comically low price target of $10 (that's $2 post split) resulting in a massive rally. Did Morgan Stanley dive head first into WSB level 3 autism territory, or is there something that the uninitiated could be missing? Let's do a deep dive into Tesla the company and see if their stock really is in a bubble, or if there could be some substance behind the current insane rally.
 
 
The common FUD narrative among TSLAQ is that TSLA's $800+ billion market cap is now larger than the 10 largest auto manufacturers combined. (edit: Apparantly this is a common FUD talking point that is/was false. TSLA is/was nowhere near that level when it was touted around as so. Although it is undeniable that Tesla's market cap became more and more absurd throughout 2020)
 
Indeed, this is quite insane. Even without us autists doing complex calculations, a simple google search shows that they would have to sell around 65 million vehicles a year to be priced at that level. So how many vehicles did Tesla produce? Tesla announced on 2 January 2020 that they've sold a little shy of 500K vehicles for CY 2020 with plans to increase production by 50% YoY. This would ultimately bring them to 20 million vehicles produced by 2030.
 
20 mil by 2030. Although we all know the term "Elon Time", which refers to CEO Elon Musk casually announcing an estimate of a product and missing projected timelines by large margins, there seems to be some credibility to this statement. Back in 2014, Elon Musk gave an interview (2:28) where he stated "I feel comfortable that we'll be able to achieve at least half a million cars a year by 2020".
 
OK. So let's give him the benefit of the doubt. As a matter of fact, Tesla is actually building factories at breakneck speeds with construction literally running 24/7 and each of their large factories (Austin and Berlin) is said to be capable of producing up to 2 million vehicles a year. Giga Berlin which was an empty field 9 months ago is already close to finishing its outer construction layer. Obviously they plan to announce more factory constructions in the future as well. So they do seem to be on track to grow on average 50% YoY for now. But 20 million cars produced by 2030 is still massively shy of 65 million vehicles. Even with growth factored in, TSLA's stock valuation still seems insanely high. So what gives? The common explanation among the Tesla fanboys is that TSLA is a tech company, not an automotive company, so it should be valued just so.
 
So what is this mystical technology the fanboys speak of, and how is it being deployed in terms of profitability for Tesla? Well, it turns out that Tesla has three main technological advantages and two main revenue streams that might put them leaps and bounds ahead of competitors.
 

1. Autonomous Driving - Tesla is the current market leader in vehicle autonomy. It has over 3 billion miles logged as of April 2020. The next industry leader Waymo (owned by google) has approximately 20 million miles logged. One thing for sure is that no company will be able to catch Tesla in terms of pure data advantage within the next 4-5 years. And when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, data is king. This could be the bread and butter of Tesla. Tesla already charges customers $10k per vehicle to enable full self driving in which 25% of their customers choose the option. However, Tesla hasn't taken full profits on their books yet due to it still being in beta mode. Once they solve autonomy, an over-the-air (OTA) software update will be sent out just like how your iPhone updates and bam! now you have a self driving vehicle. Let's say Tesla charges $2k a year for a self driving vehicle that can also function as an autonomous uber driver which will help you pay down your vehicle or self driving subscription service. That's like selling two iPhone pros per every customer every year. And customers on their robotaxi network will also have to share 20% profits with Tesla. Think about this. The highest cost of ride hailing are for hourly wages. If no human is required to drive that vehicle, the cost of the ride hailing service will become insanely cheap. So cheap to the point that many people who live in cities will feel like they no longer need to own a vehicle and just call a robo taxi. People already do this in large cities! As this process accelerates, vehicles that don't have autonomy solved will lose market share dramatically every year. People who want cars will mainly want to buy a vehicle with an autonomous option, and people who don't care about owning a car will use robo taxis. If Tesla solves autonomy 4-5 years ahead of competitors, the entire auto industry will be disrupted by Tesla just like how the iPhone ended Blackberry and Nokia's dominance.
   
2. Vehicle Manufacturing - Tesla is an innovator when it comes to vehicle manufacturing technology, specifically robotics. Along with their insane factory automation process, they also have giga casters that mold car pieces quickly and efficiently that no other manufacturers have, and giant automated paint shops. This cuts down massively on labor and allows for quicker production while keeping margins high. Due to innovative technologies like these, it is estimated that Tesla's Shanghai Model 3 vehicles net around 30% profit margins, even after they've recently slashed their prices by 8%. Tesla recently slashed their Model Y price by 30% but still boast an astonishing 29% profit margin which is approximately 3 times the industry average. So even if robotaxi doesn't work out, they are still an industry leader by a large stretch in terms of profit margins. These margins will only increase after Giga Berlin is operational due to no longer having to ship vehicles across the Pacific to European customers.
   
3. Vertical Integration - Tesla is well known for its vertical integration. This is mainly due to having supply chain issues in the early days, but what this has enabled is agile production capability and larger profit margins. Due to this capability, Tesla improves components of their vehicles on the fly instead of the annual model release the traditional industry uses. Also, they don't have to share profits with suppliers or worry about constraints, delivery delays, or slow progress on contracts.
   
4. No Advertising & Dealerships - Elon Musk is a walking billboard. The media literally gives Tesla free advertisement every day. As production increases, Tesla might have to start advertising in the future. But for now it seems like Teslas are selling themselves. Tesla has literally sold 100% of the vehicles they've ever produced, and they have never advertised any of their vehicles. Also, they do not have to share profits with dealerships with direct-to-consumer sales. If their market dominance and technology superiority continues, it is bound to stay the industry leader just like apple did with its iPhones. And if they solve autonomy first which they seem on track to do so, what's more to say?
   
5. Regulatory Credits AKA Carbon Credits - This is one that TSLAQs love to bring up when it comes to Tesla profits. You see, a handful of US States enacted a law that requires manufacturers to sell a certain percentage of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) in their state which will earn them ZEV credits. If not, they will either have to pay a massive penalty fine, or buy ZEV credits from vehicle manufacturers who have plenty to spare. And Tesla has an overflow of ZEV credits laying around. So Tesla is literally getting paid by other vehicle manufacturers to build their vehicles. TSLAQs (incorrectly) state that the only reason Tesla makes a profit is because of regulatory credits. However, Tesla's ZEV credits only make up around 5% of their revenue (page 4, row 3) and it is slowly falling. No serious vehicle manufacturer will likely produce ICE vehicles in the year 2030 so ZEV credits fazing out is to be expected. Tesla vehicles are massively profitable as mentioned in bullet #2 even without the ZEV credits.
   

 
So we went over the main revenue streams of Tesla. And if all works out well, it seems likely that Tesla has a good chance of 'winning' if they maintain their market leadership. However, the competition is coming, right? We have our favorite EV players such as Nio, XPeng, Li, Rivian, BYD etc. Also the traditional ICE manufacturers VolksWagen has their ID.4, Ford has thier Mustang Mach-E, Audi has thier etron, Porche has their Tycan, and GM has the Chevy Bolt and 30 EVs planned for the future. It seems inevitable that these industry giants with their massive resources will overtake Tesla. Or will they?
 
 

Why the Competition is NOT Coming (Tesla's Moats):

 

1. Difficulties of creating an EV vs. Mass Production: Creating a shell of an EV or a prototype is extremely easy. If anything, Nikola has showed this to be true. Rivian seems to be having the same issue Tesla had when starting up where they had to constantly push back release dates due to how difficult it is to engineer and manufacture an EV. So designing a prototype is easy. Manufacturing an EV is another thing. But mass production is a whole different beast. It took Tesla well over 16 years to perfect their technology and mass produce their model 3 despite having the best engineers in the world working for them. Ever wonder why every single vehicle manufacturer has constantly been pushing back their EV production timelines? It's because EVs are difficult. Also to note is that no vehicle manufacturer other than Tesla has been able to achieve mass production in EVs. And until then, Tesla has no competition in the near horizon.
   
2. Supercharger network: Tesla has the largest charging network in the world by orders of magnitude and they will continue to grow. VW is a low trailing second in the market due to penalties in their dieselgate scandel and as a lucky maneuver, decided to build their electrify-america charging network. BTW, due to sunk costs, VW will likely be the only traditional ICE manufacturer that stands a chance of survival in the long run. Tesla owners barely get range anxiety like they used to back in the day. This is because it is easy to find a charging station even if they are going on a long trip with their map integration. However, you cannot say the same for the other EVs.
   
3. Lidar vs. Camera: Tesla's vehicles notoriously does not use lidar technology. Instead, they almost only rely on vision (cameras). There are three main reasons for this. (I.) Cameras are extremely cheap. Lidar is not. One of Waymo's vehicles are estimated to have cost over $250k back in a 2017 estimate. Although in recent years Waymo seems to have developed lidar hardware that costs 90% less at $7.5k, it is still ridiculously expensive compared to cameras without adding much value. Here is Elon Musk's explanation, massively paraphrased: "Cameras augmented with AI can do almost all the things that lidar does chiefly depth sensing. Human vision does not require a separate depth sensor, and the entire driving infrastructure is built with human vision in mind. Lidar is a fools errand." Instead, Tesla augments its self driving technology with radar and maps. (II.) Lidar technology is usually augmented with something called HD maps. This is extreme detailed mapping (to the centimeter level) that helps lidar depth sensors with navigation. However, the issue with HD maps is that the file sizes are obviously large. And when detailed maps need to be updated due to construction or whatever which happens everywhere, every day, an OTA update needs to be sent out. And how do you update a fleet of all your vehicles when nationwide full coverage of 5G isn't a thing? So vehicles like Waymos are extremely good at driving within their geo-fenced locations, until they leave the area. And then they are absolute crap at it. OTOH, vision-based self driving vehicles are initially bad at the task until they have sufficient data and then they can drive well in almost every situation even without it being connected to the network. (III.) Vision-focused self driving AI can be augmented with additional sensors such as radalidar afterwards, but the inverse does not work. To put it short, if your lidar sensors disagree on the information they see at the moment, its entire system cannot function.
   
4. Technological Dominance: Tesla's vertical integration and engineering produced innovative solutions such as the octovalve, heat pump, leadership in battery and vehicle efficiency, custom designed AI chips and an AI supercomputer server (Tesla Dojo) specifically made for autonomous driving advancement. No other company can come close to what Tesla is currently doing.
   
5. Misdirected Competition: Remember how we talked about ZEV credits? Well most ICE vehicle manufacturers only sell their vehicles in ZEV mandated states and nowhere else. They literally lose money when they sell their vehicles, or have to massively hike up their prices to make a profit even with tax credits, unlike Teslas. For this reason, they only make enough vehicles to make up for their ZEV credits. Naturally, one can assume the limits of effort gone into such vehicles. Now, let's talk about the EV start ups. I've already mentioned the massive growing pains they will have to reach mass production. However, the Chinese EV startups have one thing to their advantage - massive 5G infrastructure within China which will undoubtedly benefit automation, especially in the case of HD maps. However, this doesn't apply outside of China. To add to this, they do not produce in-house custom AI chipsets which is a massive hinderance in processing data. Tesla did this with Nvidia for a while and ultimately decided that they had to design their own chips because of the lackluster performance.
   
6. OTA Software Updates - A minor point, but Tesla has been designing their own software for years now. Well known to the public, Teslas update very frequently and with each update gets slightly better UI and performance. Yes - a software update allows Teslas to get better efficiency out of their vehicles. One can argue that any auto manufacturer can implement OTA software updates, but Tesla is leagues ahead at the moment with top notch software developers.
   
7. Talent Pool: Guess what the #1 company engineers want to work for is? That's right. Tesla. #2 is SpaceX. Try all they want, but the best engineers aren't going to want to work with Ford or GM.
   
8. "The Competition": I already mentioned the half-assedness of traditional ICE vehicle manufacturers but I wanted to bring up another point. One thing that traditional ICE manufacturers have weighing them down are their employees. Their ICE engineers don't translate well into a totally different EV drivetrain. There are sunk costs (equipment etc) that deal with ICE manufacturing processes. Also, Ford, GM, and VW all have unions, pension funds, and stockholders. What do you think their reaction will be when they decide to ditch the currently-profitable-but-soon-to-be-shrinking ICE vehicle component and transition into resource intensive EVs? That's right. They won't like it. The only solution is to half-ass it and slowly transition into EVs while trying to keep afloat their ICE vehicle component. With massive product line diversification and lack of focus, this is not going to be an easy transition. VW CEO Herbert Diess famously stated that "My goal for the future is clear: leading the Group into a sustainable and successful future. The global transformation in the industry will take roughly ten years, with or without Volkswagen." and tried to convince board members basically stating that VW will need to transition into EVs within 10 years or go bankrupt. Ultimately, Diess wasn't successful in achieving full cooperation of the board and had to compromise in his goals to a more gradual transition. The competition is NOT coming. Oh, and as for Waymo and Uber? Well Uber recently sold off their self-driving startup, and Waymo sunk a jaw dropping $3.5 billion for their operation. LOL. They are paying drivers to monitor their expensive "autonomous vehicles" while Tesla gets this done while making a profit. As of 2020, Waymo still only has 600 vehicles and has never left the bounds of Pheonix, AZ.
   

 
OK. So I'm sure I've missed some points but I think this paints a decent picture on why Tesla is considered the one and only market leader at the moment. Now let's go into...
 
 

Tesla's Disruptive Potentials:

 

1. The $25,000 EV: In Tesla's battery day announcement, Tesla projected that their battery technology will enable them to build a $25k vehicle in the future. According to projections using Wright's law, this seems to be plausible. Most think this will happen around 2023-4. Think of the disruption this will bring. EVs are well known for having lower maintenance cost vs. ICE vehicles due to not having as many moving parts. The true cost of ownership for a $25k vehicle will be vastly superior to a $20k ICE vehicle. Once this happens, ICE vehicle demand will fall through the roof. The only ICE vehicles being sold at high volume will be used vehicles. What happens to the traditional ICE manufacturers then? Tesla vehicles are already perceived to hold their value much better than other brands because of the overall feature it comes with.
   
2. Tesla Auto Insurance: Tesla collects massive amounts of data. They can easily profile their customers' driving patterns, check if they have self driving enabled, the route they drive etc. Currently Tesla vehicles are insured at a much higher premium vs. economic ICE vehicles. Once Tesla goes fully into the insurance business, traditional insurance companies will not be able to compete with them on price or margins. This is because the insurance business is based upon data on the customer and projections.
   
3. Solar City - Tesla's other business deals with solar panels, Tesla power walls, and their Autobidder software which sells the electricity that you generated back to the grid. Tesla currently offers the lowest solar panel price in the U.S. and moreover, takes 20% of the revenue generated from their autobidder software. Renewable energy is poised to grow. More than 50% annually is the current projection. And Tesla seems to be one of the industry leaders in this market as well.
   

 
 

Risks:

1. Failing autonomous driving: definitely a major risk as the current stock price is largely betting on this single technology to materialize. However, their current progress and the rate of improvement after rewriting their autopilot code seems promising.
   
2. Failing mass battery production (battery supply issues): Although Tesla is the largest producer of batteries in the world, they will need to produce more if they want to keep up with the current pace of expansion. This will be a major bottleneck for Tesla if they cannot solve this issue. As a solution, Tesla has reduced their reliance on copper and are said to be producing batteries with little to no copper. We shall see how this pans out.
   
3. Tesla is infamous for its poor Quality Control on their vehicles and slow/poor Customer Service. We shall see if time solves this issue.
   
4. Lack of Tax Incentives: Tesla's vehicles no longer provide Federal tax incentives to U.S. customers. However, they seem to be doing fine with over 80% EV marketshare in the U.S. alone. They're stealing market share from BMW, VW, Acura... you name it.
   
5. Elon Musk Death: Elon Musk has been able to achieve amazing engineering feats. If he dies, I'm sure a lot of the company's potential will go with it.
   

 
 

Alternative Battery Technology:

 

1. Solid State Battery - Quantumscape which is currently the leader in this sector has plans to enter mass production by 2024. We shall see if their battery technology turns out to be as efficient as Tesla's. If QS's SS batteries turn out to be superior to Tesla's, they might have to start purchasing from them.
   
2. Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) Battery - Likely not a good use for vehicles. Very low efficiency and wasteful vs lithium-ion batteries. Currently no infrastructure for HFC in place. Might be useful for freight shipping. Elon Musk famously stated that HFC's are "Fool Cells"
   

 
 

Tesla Future Products Lines:

1. Cybertruck: Insane profit margins, amazing performance. estimated production end of 2021 or 2022
   
2. Semi Truck: estimated production 2022 or later
   
3. Model S Refresh: Insane specs. Likely release is 2021
   
4. 2020 Roadster: Insane specs but surprise! The "2020 Roadster" renewal never happened and most are projecting 2022 or later
   
5. $25k EV: 'nuff said
   

 

TSLA Analysis:

 
TSLA Institutional Ownership: 62.85%
TSLA Insider Ownership: 5.21%
TSLA Fanboy Ownership: estimated 5%+
So there is a stable 70%+ of ownership that will not/cannot sell this stock, unlike PLTR which has only 12% institutional ownership and 63% insider ownership. This is the reason why I think the stock won't drop tremendously even when it tanks. There are plenty of people who are willing to snatch up more shares at a discount.
 
 
Why did TSLA shoot up so quickly in 2020: This is my personal opinion, but TSLA fans are known for doing deep research into the company. In the early days this was in forums such as the Tesla Motors Club where they shared their own research on revenue, projections, and potentials. Now we have YouTube and information dissemination has gotten easier. Interest in investing has skyrocketed in 2020. Stock market trading GLOBALLY has gotten easier via smartphone with apps such as Robinhood and the prosperity of the American stock market has no doubt attracted global retail investors. For years, Tesla's stock has been pushed down by FUD analysts. Paid by big oil and traditional ICE manufacturers? Or really that dumb not to do any DD and spread completely false information on a company that you are massively shorting. We might never find out. Retailers have caught onto Tesla's potential ahead of analysts this time. And as in Morgan Stanley and RBC's case, analysts have just been catching up on the future potential of Tesla to not make a further fool of themselves.
 
 
Future scenarios and Personal Opinion: Currently, Tesla holds over 18% of the global EV marketshare. As more EV players come into space, it might seem like Tesla is in danger of losing marketshare. Not everyone wants a Tesla and that is understandable. But as the overall pie is growing, Tesla, with their 50% YoY production increase plans (which is exponential growth), will likely remain a market leader sustaining their current 18% market share even in 2030 just like how the iPhone did. This is, of course, if they can keep up their growth.
 
Even if TSLA fails to develop their robo-taxi network technology, their full self driving subscription seems highly likely to materialize at the current pace albeit a lower revenue model.
 
Ultimately, do I think the current stock price is a bubble? Fuck yes I do, maybe by up to 20%. I'm not buying any more TSLA shares anywhere near this price. My FOMO was back when the stock price was $415 after doing my DD and this was with the intention to buy more shares even if the stock bottomed out. Well, it never bottomed because the S&P inclusion was announced shortly after I purchased it.
 
But if you ask my personal opinion, you gotta be a "buy high sell low" type top level autist if you're looking for short term gains and purchasing at this level. I'm looking at long term, slow moving, dead ass boring, Bitcoin HODLing, Warren Buffet style "time in market beats timing the market" boomer gains here. My next purchase will be whenever the stock price, if ever, bottoms out. However, just because I think TSLA is overpriced doesn't mean that I'm shorting this stock either.
 
Amazon was notoriously non-profitable or barely profitable until 2015 because they were reinvesting their profits into expansion. That is what Tesla is doing right now. Remember all the analysts who continuously warned investors for over a decade to stay away from AMZN because they are unprofitable? Well, I don't see any sane analysts parroting that narrative anymore. And then its stock price shot to the moon after they enabled profit mode. It's stock price nearly doubled due to the pandemic and I'm still not planning on shorting this stock even though the pandemic will likely go away in less than a year.
 
I don't know how TSLA will do in the short term. Nonetheless, I do believe that Tesla has the best chance among any auto maker out there to reach a $2-10+ trillion valuation within 10 years. So I'm just going to lean back and enjoy the show.
 
 
TL;DR: Tesla HAS NO COMPETITION. This is as if android wasn't developed until 4 years after the iPhone was released. Do NOT short or buy puts on TSLA. Although the current run seems absolutely insane, there is some substance to hold it up and possibly keep shooting up higher
 
 
Positions: TSLA shares @ $415 and a bunch more with an average price of $518. No calls because my wife's boyfriend did not permit.
 
 

Back of the Napkin Calculations

Warning: These are literally back of the napkin, pure crack fantasy calculations based on four factors:

1. Tesla will be able to increase production by 50% YoY until 2030 without fall in demand or issues scaling. As a side note, Toyota sells 10.5 million vehicles in a year so only time will tell if Tesla is able to sell 20 million vehicles a year.
   
2. ZEV credits will gradually diminish due to manufacturers switching to EVs.
   
3. Tesla will solve level 3 autonomy by 2022 and will charge customers $1k/yr. Tesla will have level 5 autonomy by 2026 and launch its robotaxi network by 2027 which it will then charge customers $2k/yr.
   
4. The robotaxi revenue is from the 20% profit sharing Tesla plans to do, but as far as the numbers go, I straight up pulled it out of my ass while referencing Uber's revenue and fudging numbers.
   

 

Year	Vehicles Produced	Vehicle Sales Revenue	ZEV Credits	Full Self Driving Revenue	Robotaxi Revenue	Total Revenue (Vehicle Related)	Notes
2019	367k	20.2 B	0.6 B	0.36 B (est)		21.6 B (est)	FSD early access (cost $8k, 1 time fee)
2020	500k	23.9 B (est)	1.5 B (est)	0.6 B (est)		26 B (est)	FSD early access (cost $10k, 1 time fee)
2021	750k	35.8 B	1.3 B	0.9 B (est)		38 B (est)	FSD at Level 2.5
2022	1.1 mil	53.7 B	1 B	1 B+		55.7 B	FSD at Level 3 (FSD subscription service - lower pricing model @ $1k/y)
2023	1.7 mil	80.6 B	0.7 B	2.7 B+		84 B
2024	2.5 mil	120 B	0.4 B	5.2 B+		125.6 B	FSD at Level 4
2025	3.8 mil	181 B	0.1 B	9 B+		190.1 B
2026	5.7 mil	272 B	-	13.7 B+		285.7 B	FSD at Level 5
2027	8.5 mil	408 B	-	30 B+	1 B	439 B	Robotaxi Launch (FSD subscription service @ 2k/y)
2028	12.8 mil	612 B	-	55 B+	5 B	672 B
2029	19 mil	918 B	-	93 B+	13 B	1 T
2030	20 mil	1 T	-	130 B+	20 B+	1.1 T

 
As you can see, I omitted R&D expenses, operating expenses etc., and haven't even attempted to calculate their net profit or factor in that Tesla's revenue might drop due to introducing cheaper variants. But this back of the napkin, crack infused revenue model shows that Tesla's potential can be gigantic. This is even without its other businesses like Solar City or Tesla insurance etc. Please... don't reference this anywhere because it is dumb math and I likely made some huge errors lol.
 
 
See also:

• ARK Invest's TSLA 2024 Price Target of $7,000 ($1500 post split) written back in Jan 2020.
  
• Ark Invest was widely mocked when they stated that their 2022 price target was $700-$4,000 ($140-$800 post split) back in 2018 after Elon Musk sent out his now infamous "funding secured" tweet. Tesla's stock was around $60 ($300 pre split) at the time.