Dr. Philip Zhou Stock Investing

This is a follow up to my newbie's guide . It is based on what I've learned in the past 5 years and how I invest today. I started investing in April 2017. At first, I did not know what I was doing, but once I started to learn the ins and outs of picking stocks of solid companies, I started to outperform the S&P 500 by 2018. Since then, I more than doubled S&P 500 total returns. This chart shows my performance without any margin. Once I started using margin in 2021, my results further improved (like over 100% annually). Some smart use of options strategies bring additional returns.   1. Company must have wide moat This could be any sort of competitive advantage, such as a good brand name (like Apple), or having technology that is better than competitors (like Apple). It could also be network effects (like Facebook, Amazon). 2. Must be undervalued, taking into account current valuation and future growth. Low PEG ratio (1.0 is good), good forward P/E ratio. PEG = PE...

"Leverage for the Long Run" is one of my favorite articles. It shows that young investors should start by using leverage early on, and only once you meet your investment goals should you pull back and take less risk. In the long run, leverage is less risky as your overall returns are higher. In a stock market crash, you could lose 60% and still have more than very conservative investments like bonds. I wish I knew about this 5 years ago. I could have had much higher returns, especially in this never-ending bull market post 2011. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2741701  Leverage for the Long Run PDF   My Experience using Leverage/Margin I started using margin in 2021, after many years of using a cash only account. I read a lot of articles spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about using margin. They told stories of how people lost all their money very quickly using margin, leveraged ETFs, and options.  So I was terrified and never even consi...

Hi, my name is Dr. Phil Zhou (Philip Zhou, D.O.) and I am a physician and investor from California. I have lived in Los Angeles, San Diego, Bay Area, and Sacramento. I have also spent years in China. My background is in human medicine and pharmaceutical chemistry (Pfizer research grant). I am a Lakers fan. Why an investing blog? Stock investing is extremely fun! I am obsessed and do my homework more than anyone. When I was 12 years old, I started watching AMD stock. Every year I get better percentage returns than Wall Street by a massive percentage. I also took many classes on math and economics in college which helps in analyzing investing. This way, I can advocate for investment methods based on solid math rather than parroting traditional investment methods. I have tested these methods through multiple stock market crashes and backtested them using historical stock market data. Here I will post my analysis of Medical and Biotech stocks, and using Hedgefundie Leveraged ETF method (...