Category: About DVETF

 

My name is Micah McDonald and I am The Deep Value ETF Accumulator. I’m a retired USAF Crew Chief, which is a fancy title for general aircraft mechanic. I am now a metrology (calibration) technician working in the oilfields in the Arctic Circle in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

I am married and have seven children and a multitude of grandchildren. I’m a Christian man who is not perfect, but forgiven. We live in Palmer, Alaska which is about 45 miles north of Anchorage. I enjoy mountain hiking, fishing, driving in the mud, shooting guns, skiing, researching investments, listening to podcasts, reading, spending time with my church family and spending time with my wife, kids and grandkids.

We have the bulk of our investments in a 401k, two Roth IRA’s and a standard brokerage account. We save about 20 to 25% of our income into IRA’s and the brokerage account. I no longer contributing to the 401k, but I do manage the funds that are in there. My 401k allows me to invest in ETF’s, which I do, but they take 1% of my money every year in “management fees”.

My investment philosophy is relatively simple. I buy ETF’s as if they were mutual funds and I hold them for a very long time. I employ a similar strategy as dollar cost averaging, but with a twist. I buy ETF’s that have good long term track records, but are currently out-of-favor and relatively cheap. I trim the fat, or sell just the profits on my holdings when they reach an all-time high or when profits are greater than $1000. That’s my idea of strategic re-balancing.

I have tried my hand at buying and selling individual stocks with some success. I’ve bought and sold stocks based on the IBD, Investor’s Business Daily CANSLIM method with very limited success. I have invested in leveraged ETF’s with a great deal of success, until, that fateful time when I invested in UWTI, a triple leveraged oil futures ETN.

Although I was making good money using TQQQ, a triple leveraged ETF that tracks the NASDAQ 100 and BIB, a double leveraged ETF that tracks biotech stocks; I sold off my leveraged ETF’s, because I was losing my shirt in UWTI. The loss I took on UWTI had the most transformational effect on my investment philosophy. It was during that 2-year process of losing money that I finally realized that I am investing for our future and not gambling. I’m not prepared to debate the difference between gambling and investing in this forum, but I learned the difference for me.

Since I finally discovered the difference between gambling and investing, I endeavored to learn all that I could about actual long term investing and wealth building. As I researched and learned from numerous financial titans, I realized that I liked and agreed with several of them, but I also disagreed with some of their advice. Dave Ramsey helped me get out of debt and have more to invest, but I disagree with the use of mutual funds. I learned most of what I think I need to know about investing in equities from Paul Merriman, but I don’t agree with the need to keep a balanced portfolio. I went on to learn even more about long term wealth building from Joshua Sheats, Rob Berger, Todd Tresidder, Roger Whitney, Scott Allen Turner, J. David Stein, Ric Edelman and others. What I learned specifically, is that there isn’t just one way to build wealth over time, and there definitely isn’t just one way to build a long-term portfolio of equities. It was through these mentors that I developed a system of investing in equities that works for people like me. People like me enjoy buying and selling stocks, but we also see the need to keep our heads on straight and build wealth over time. Although each of these mentors teach different methods to invest, each one has contributed in some way to the eventual building of The Deep Value ETF Accumulator.

In future installments of this ‘about me’ series, I will spend some time describing my investment journey. Additionally, I will share some of my personal and financial goals. And of course, I will describe in detail how the Deep Value ETF Accumulator was developed and how I use it as my primary means of investment due diligence.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to drop me a comment or question.

The Deep Value ETF Accumulator; AKA Micah McDonald