A RECESSION IS COMING?? Here's how to make a WISHLIST

I wasn’t the biggest investor in my early 20s, but I knew a little. And I heard rumblings of a recession … or … we were IN a recession? I didn’t know. But I knew enough to know I’d see it through and come out stronger.

So I wrote down some stocks I wanted to buy if markets took a nasty tumble.

The S&P 500 dropped 56% and a lot of big names were trading at super discounted prices. I took advantage … even though I wasn’t as aggressive as I should have been.

If TikTok existed back then and I had a content creator I trusted who educated me on the benefits of recession investing, I’d be sitting on millions of extra dollars today.

Oh well. But it did prepare me for future recessions.

So, how do you MAKE a wish list? And what should you do if your wishlist is too long? First of all: A diverse portfolio is a good portfolio. BUT YOU CAN BE TOO DIVERSIFIED. You want a streamlined portfolio - around 10-20 individual stocks, if you can afford to buy sizable positions.

If you can’t afford it, then you might be better off buying larger positions of quality ETFs (one S&P 500, one tech, one dividend) during a recession.

Imagine buying 1 share of 100 different companies. So what? Even if one of those companies goes up 1000%, dude … you only have one share. It’s better to narrow down your list using my fundamental analysis template to around 10-20 companies.

I think about companies that I know, use, and love/like. A lot of these companies are going to be tech. And we know tech stocks get hit hard during recessions. People lock in profits, it’s harder for growing tech companies to get loans, they lay off employees to save money, blah blah blah. If they’re fundamentally strong (use the template), there could be deals.

Go to Seeking Alpha and start researching stocks NOW. Assemble your list. If you want to watch a movie, you use Netflix. If you want a burrito or Mediterranean bowl, you hit up CAVA. If you want medicine to help grow your hair but you’re too embarrassed to see your doctor, you go to HIMS. E-commerce platforms like AMZN could be hit hard, but they’d likely be temporary. Even AAPL could take a hit if people buy fewer iPhones. Do you think META, the world’s largest social media company, will cease to exist after one recession? I don’t …

Add in tariffs and trade wars and inflation and … there could be some deals to be had.

But I can’t come up with a wish list for you. You have to do it yourself. You have to think about the companies you use and whether or not you believe they’re strong enough to survive. If your research makes you feel like something is fundamentally strong, perhaps you buy a larger investment. If something is intriguing to you but higher risk … maybe you make that a smaller investment.

Wish lists are SUPER important, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest at all UNTIL THE RECESSION HITS!! What if there is no recession? Or what if markets go up 30% and then drop 20%? What if markets drop 20% and you wait to invest if they drop 40%, but they don’t, and you hesitate and miss your chance?! What if what if what if. You should always invest, every month, consistently, in high quality ETFs. But keep that wishlist handy with a little extra cash to deploy when the shit hits the fan. Or … if it hits the fan.

Here’s what I do: I start with a foundation. A base investment of say, 100 to 1000 shares, depending on the price. If the stock is SUPER expensive per share like NFLX, then maybe I just buy 10 or 25 shares to start. If I’m right, and there is a recession, I didn’t spend all of my money. And if I’m wrong, well, no big deal, I’ve got some skin in the game.

And by the way, if you’re looking to insulate your portfolio, dividends are a great option. Many are “recession resistant,” meaning they might go down, but not as much as tech, they have lots of cash, stable revenue, and high dividends.