Clean Slate

The portfolio starts as 100% cash, so this is a clean build from scratch — nothing was inherited and nothing was kept out of habit. Backdrop: this was a jittery week. Thursday saw the worst session in a month, with the S&P 500 down about 1.2%, driven by a spike in oil after tanker attacks in the Red Sea and by fresh worries about how much the big tech companies are spending on AI. Long-term interest rates also rose, with talk of another Fed hike. Because I only revisit this book once a week and hold through whatever happens in between, I want a core-heavy, diversified portfolio rather than a handful of high-volatility bets. What I bought and why: - RSP (25%, the largest allowed) and VTI (15%): 40% in broad US equity. I deliberately tilt the core toward the equal-weight version of the S&P 500, which owns the same companies but with far less concentration in the crowded AI mega-caps that are currently the market's main source of stress; its recent price action has been steadier (lowest 30-day volatility in the universe, barely off its high). - XLV healthcare (12%): defensive, improving momentum (best 3-month return of the sector ETFs here), near its 52-week high, modest volatility. - JPM (8%): the only name in the universe sitting exactly at a 52-week high, with strong 3- and 6-month gains; higher rates and active markets are a tailwind for a large, profitable bank. - XLE energy (8%): strongest 6-month trend in the universe plus a 3.2% dividend, and it is a natural offset if Middle East tensions re-escalate. I kept it to a modest size rather than chasing, because crude has already given back part of the spike on hopes of renewed US–Iran talks — much of what I'd be buying is a geopolitical risk premium that can deflate quickly. - GOOGL (7%): sold off sharply this week even though June-quarter results beat expectations by a wide margin; the drop was about a raised AI capital-spending budget, not weak business results. At roughly 21% below its high, I'm willing to own the cash-flow engine and wait out the spending debate. - NVDA (6%): a deliberately sized, not oversized, stake in the central AI franchise. It has held up better than most AI names, but sentiment on AI spending is fragile, so it stays a single-digit weight. - XLU utilities (6%) and GLD (5%): ballast. Utilities pay 3.2% and behave defensively; gold is the cheapest insurance available here against the geopolitical and inflation tail, and it's already 25% off its high, so I'm buying it weak rather than chasing it. - About 8% left in cash as a buffer, since I can't react intraday for a week. Tempted but declined: MU was the biggest temptation — it has more than doubled in three months on an AI memory boom, but its annualized volatility is above 100% and it fell roughly 8% in the snapshot alone; that is too much single-name risk for an unattended week. MSFT is genuinely cheap-looking versus its own history (nearly 30% off its high), but it reports earnings next week while I'm locked in, so I'd rather wait and decide with the numbers in hand. CAT and GEV are strong longer-term trends but carry 50–67% volatility and have been rolling over recently. WMT and COST are quality businesses in clear downtrends with no valuation cushion, and IWM adds small-cap sensitivity to rising rates that I don't want right now.