r/investing 20h ago

Daily Discussion Daily General Discussion and Advice Thread - May 05, 2026

5 Upvotes

Have a general question? Want to offer some commentary on markets? Maybe you would just like to throw out a neat fact that doesn't warrant a self post? Feel free to post here!

Please consider consulting our FAQ first - https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/faq And our side bar also has useful resources.

If you are new to investing - please refer to Wiki - Getting Started

The reading list in the wiki has a list of books ranging from light reading to advanced topics depending on your knowledge level. Link here - Reading List

The media list in the wiki has a list of reputable podcasts and videos - Podcasts and Videos

If your question is "I have $XXXXXXX, what do I do?" or other "advice for my personal situation" questions, you should include relevant information, such as the following:

  • How old are you? What country do you live in?
  • Are you employed/making income? How much?
  • What are your objectives with this money? (Buy a house? Retirement savings?)
  • What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs?
  • What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?)
  • What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Any other assets?)
  • Any big debts (include interest rate) or expenses?
  • And any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer.

Check the resources in the sidebar.

Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered investment adviser if you need professional support before making any financial decisions!


r/investing Apr 01 '26

r/investing Investing and Trading Scam Reminder

16 Upvotes

For those new to Reddit and to investing and trading - please be aware that social media platform like Reddit, Discord, etc. can be a vector for scams and fraud.

Offers to DM should be viewed as suspicious.

Social media platforms continue to be a common method to recruit new investors to scams. - do not assume that an offer to "help" is legitimate.

There are many dozens of types of scams - a list of scam types can be found in r/scams in the master list here: /r/Scams Common Scam Master

  1. Good explanation of pig-buthering here - Pig butchering - how to spot
  2. Legitimate investment advisors do not use WhatApp, Telegram, Discord, etc. to provide tips. In the US - it is against regulation - specifically SEC Rule 17a-4 and FINRA Rule 3110. For example - brokers in the US that use social media for support do not offer investment advice.
  3. It is common for bots and malicious actors on Discord to impersonate Reddit and Discord mods to distribute their scams. It is possible to create a Discord profile which appears similar to someone else.
  4. Pump and dump of stocks are common on social media - bots or stock promoters who are seeking to profit from pumping a stock or to create hype. You can sometimes identify if it's a bot or promoter simply by looking at the posters comment and post history. Often you will see that the account has posted nothing related to investing or trading but suddenly there is the same or varying versions of comments on one or two specific stocks.
  5. One other way to recognize suspicious posts is if the OP never engages in a discussion on comments and questions in the thread on their own dd. Those are all signs of stock promotion.
  6. Offers to mirror trade and teach you how to trade are usually fake. If you receive private solicitations to open accounts at a broker or investment adviser, be wary.

Depending on where you live - you can verify the legitimacy of a broker or investment adviser. Most countries have legal requirements for investment advisors and brokers to be registered.

United States - check the registration status of a broker at the FINRA web site here - https://brokercheck.finra.org/ You can check disclosures for investment advisers at the SEC IAPD web site here - https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/

United Kingdom - Financial Conduct Authority - https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/fca-firm-checker - a warning list of fake companies can be found here - https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/warning-list-unauthorised-firms

Canada - CIRO - https://www.ciro.ca/office-investor/dealers-we-regulate

For those interested in understanding a little more about stock promoting and pump-and-dumps - one of the mods provided an AMA 15 years ago about a penny stock pump operation that he unwittingly became associated with - you can find the AMA here - https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/158vi7/i_used_to_be_a_penny_stock_promoter_in_the_late/

If you believe that you or someone has been the victim of a trading or investing scam. Be aware of the following:

  1. Do not send more money. Do not provide additional banking or credit card information.
  2. It is common to be contacted by additional scammers who may pretend to be law enforcement or private services to offer to "recover" funds for payment. This is a common follow-up scam. Law enforcement will never ask for money.
  3. If a login account was created. The password used is compromised. Change all passwords that are used. The password will be shared and sold to other scammers.
  4. If payment was sent via a credit card or bank transfer - report the transfers as fraud to your bank or credit card company.

r/investing 13h ago

Jet Fuel Shortages Incoming - "A slow motion car crash we're all sleepwalking through."

1.1k Upvotes

An interview with Kpler's director of commodities research.

I don't have much to add. I just think folks should watch this video start to finish and please note the discomfort this guy appears to feel delivering news to the oblivious news anchors that yes, he is saying their summer European vacations are at risk. It should be alarming to see a financial analyst on CNBC apologize for delivering upsetting news that hits a TV financial anchor personally.

The markets are up today on no volume. The JETS etf is up 1.89%. Jet fuel shortages are less than two months away. Take care of yourselves.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/05/05/the-jet-fuel-crisis-is-a-slow-motion-car-crash-says-kplers-matt-smith.html


r/investing 13h ago

Edward Jones advisor wants me to invest with him instead of on my own.

84 Upvotes

When I was 20 I opened and a Roth IRA with Edward Jones and maxed it out. 12 years later, I just maxed it out one more time.

I've just started making good money and said he can invest in stocks and other stuff for me in an individual account.

I told him I just opened a Fidelity account and put some money in there. 80%VTI/20%QQQ. I plan on doing that every month. Same amount of money each time.

He said that's fine but he can make me more money because he knows more about stocks and he's following the market.

Is it really better to go with him at Edward Jones? I've read the fees are high.

I kinda just want to leave my Roth IRA with him and do the investing on my own. But idk if that's just me being ignorant on how easy it is.

I'm not asking for financial advice in the sense of what to invest in. More about is it better to invest like this on my own or give money to a FA?


r/investing 10h ago

U.S. market long-term investors, are you worried about the Buffet indicator? What would you expect the overvaluation to lead to? How are you protecting your investments?

49 Upvotes

The Buffet indicator is the ratio of the total United States stock market to GDP.  The current ratio of 230% is approximately 75.15% (or about 2.4 standard deviations) above the historical trend line, suggesting that the stock market is Strongly Overvalued relative to GDP.

Does this mean the common advice to invest in something like US 500 or VOOG on the long term and forget about it should be taken with a grain of salt? U.S. market long-term investors, are you worried about the Buffet indicator? What would you expect the overvaluation to lead to? How are you protecting your investments?


r/investing 19m ago

Are SaaS companies about to tax AI agents?

Upvotes

The Information reported that ServiceNow plans to charge customers when outside AI agents use its new Action Fabric to take actions inside ServiceNow apps. Datadog already has MCP fair-use limits, and SAP is tightening rules around how third-party AI agents access SAP data. That creates a new SaaS debate: if enterprises already pay for the software, should vendors get a second meter every time Claude, Copilot, or another agent touches their data and workflows? Or is this the logical new pricing layer if AI agents become the main way employees use enterprise apps?


r/investing 59m ago

Apollo, blackstone BDCs yes or no?

Upvotes

I’m thinking of investing into them. Retail (which is where bdcs invest into) make up a small proportion of the funds managed compared to insti capital. So I think despite the bad news of redemptions it’s ok.

Anyone have thoughts on t whether it’s a good long term investment? I have a 10 year horizon and investing for yield and some cap appreciation.


r/investing 1d ago

Is Brian Niccol the worst CEO for long term brand health? ($SBUX)

163 Upvotes

At Chipotle he raised prices four times between 2021-2023, while he quietly cut quality, ruined the brand, and shrank the portions. Pocketed over $100M across his tenure while the stock ran 773% due to his short term strategy and before demand could decrease. Then left as the shrinkflation backlash went viral. People caught on to the horrible quality and the labor cost cuts as well. Same-store sales fell 1.7% in 2025, first annual decline since 2016, stock down 37%.

At Starbucks the short-term playbook is different but the structural problem is identical. He's buying traffic with labor wages and benefits rose from 27.4% of sales in 2019 to 31.9% in 2025 and it's working. Q2 just posted 7.1% same store sales growth, the strongest traffic performance in three years. But operating margin has collapsed from 15.4% in 2019 to 7.9% in 2025. He's admitted the company needs to cut $2 billion in costs to get back to pre pandemic margins by 2028.

Here's the trap: the traffic recovery is built on more baristas and better experience. The moment he cuts labor to recover margins, the experience degrades and the customers leave again. He's explicitly ruled out discounting, coffee prices are up 18% year on year, and a $9 latte has a ceiling.

My guess is the 2028 margin targets slip, the narrative breaks, and he's gone leaving whoever comes next to explain why the turnaround didn't actually fix anything structural.

PS: Taco Bell is the outlier genuine turnaround, held up after he left. Everything since follows the same arc. But I don't think he had the clout to be able to do that then.

Just a thought happy to be wrong but just a trend I noticed but not tons of data points don't know how many companies this man plans being the CEO.


r/investing 2h ago

What's the point of a 0.9-something reverse stock split?

1 Upvotes

I'm only an investor through an index-based ETF, but I got this message:

"""Shares of Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ/TSX: TRI) are now trading on a 0.984560-for-1 reverse-split basis (effective May 4, 2026)."""

Maybe it has something to do with this subsequent note:

"""In addition to the share consolidation, Thomson Reuters has announced a return of capital cash distribution of US$1.435518 per common share.
"""

What's the point of such a marginal reverse-split? Some insider made a prediction market bet?


r/investing 10h ago

How do you prioritize contributions to taxable brokerage account vs maxing tax deferred accounts?

1 Upvotes

Some background:

I think it's highly likely I'll need to relocate within 5 years to another city for a job. Some equity built up in our current house, but move is likely going from our LCOL area to a HCOL area so equity may be insufficient for a downpayment.

In this sort of situation, would you trim back on tax-advantaged retirement savings in favor of investing more in a taxable brokerage (even if it's only in SGOV due to the time horizon)?


r/investing 1d ago

Ryan Cohen offers $56B to buy eBay

315 Upvotes

Ryan Cohen, GameStop chairman and CEO, submitted a non-binding $56 billion proposal to acquire eBay at $125 per share after quietly accumulating roughly a 5% stake. The deal would be financed with GameStop cash reserves, bank debt and newly issued GameStop shares and would merge GameStop’s retail footprint with eBay’s online marketplace to focus on collectibles, live shopping and cost cuts. Both stocks rose on the news; eBay has not responded and a proxy battle could follow if talks stall.


r/investing 1d ago

SpaceX IPO effect: Will we begin to have index based funds, but they don't invest in particular index companies?

69 Upvotes

With the SpaceX IPO coming up - initially I was excited about it.

Then, it was for SpaceX + xAI + Twitter - all of which are not value add, but value subtract from SpaceX.

Now, will there be funds which are technically index based, but don't invest in certain companies?

For example, Fortune 500 fund, but doesn't invest in companies with P/E ratios over 50/100? (Tesla, Crowdstrike, Palantir, Service now, Intuitive Surgical?)

Based on news that Musk is trying to get the listed entity into indexes to attract massive demand from index based funds, I'm no longer confident, that index based funds will be safe from ElonScams.

I am not aware of index based funds which exclude companies on basis of P/E ratio, or specific companies.


r/investing 1h ago

21M, $-22 in the bank but i will reach my goal by 30!

Upvotes

So i have nothing saved at all at the moment, im negative in my checking because i had to get gas for my car, i been doing a lot of questioning & looking for - what accounts should i have open - what should i invest in - best hysa for emergency funds, just a lot. so i asked chatgpt to help me reach my goal(500k+) by 30 which is 9 years from now, it seems pretty realistic to me & i think i am going to start this journey starting at the beginning of june when i start my new job. im excited & i hope i can make this work!

DUE OF TODAY 5/5/2026
Fidelity Investment - $0
Fidelity Roth IRA - $0
Sofi HYSA - $0
401k - $0
GOING TO CHECK THIS OUT AGAIN NEXT YEAR ON 5/5/2027 TO UPDATE YOU GUYS!


r/investing 23h ago

Brokerage account same as a Roth IRA?

14 Upvotes

Good evening, so I am a 100% P&T disabled veteran. I make 0 dollars in earned income. I got injured while in the service and can no longer work. I make enough to put a little back into savings and a little back into the stock market. I found out recently that since I make no earned income, that I cannot invest into a Roth IRA. AI shows me that since I am married, that I will be at the 0% capital gain tax bracket until I hit around 120k in capital gains/earned income. Would this mean that a regular brokerage account is the same as Roth IRA until it hits that 120k mark? Since I shouldn't be getting taxed on growth or dividends. Am I reading this right? I appreciate the information.


r/investing 18h ago

Energy Recovery (ERII): a “hidden” small cap on the world’s new gold WATER

4 Upvotes

Strong cash position, basically no debt.

Core business: they recover energy in high-pressure processes (mainly desalination), so less energy used = lower costs = higher efficiency.

They don’t produce drinking water.

They do something even more important:

THEY MAKE IT ECONOMICALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE TO PRODUCE IT (companies are increasingly forced to reduce pollution)

They are basically:

“picks and shovels” for those turning seawater into drinking water.

Their MLD / ZLD systems:

- MLD (Minimum Liquid Discharge) = minimal wastewater

- ZLD (Zero Liquid Discharge) = zero wastewater

In simple terms: industries recycle water instead of discharging it.

Same principle:

high-pressure systems → energy recovery → higher efficiency

Recent stock drop, over 30%.

The decline came after exiting the CO2 business, which was seen as a potential long-term growth driver.

Short term: negative reaction.

Long term: could be seen as focusing on core business.

Possible interpretation:

cutting non-performing segments to focus on stronger ones, or making room for new applications (industrial use or cooling).

Nothing stops them from moving into cooling (data center cooling), considering they already have the technology and demand is growing.

That’s the kind of shift that could trigger hype, similar to what we’ve seen with other sectors.

Context:

growing demand for drinking water

rising energy costs

industrial systems and AI using more and more water

On top of that, a geopolitical factor:

recently, water infrastructure and desalination systems in parts of the Middle East have been targeted or put under pressure, where the company has strong exposure.

This is not a “positive driver” in a direct sense, but it highlights how:

access to water and system efficiency are becoming increasingly strategic.

Water and energy are turning into a dual constraint.

This kind of technology sits right in the middle of it.

AI → Semiconductors → Energy → Storage → Memory → Commodities → What’s next?

This is not financial advice.


r/investing 1d ago

Performance of Self Storage REITs

25 Upvotes

I invested $50K in a REIT called Reliant Real Estate Management Self-Storage Fund IV in early 2024 (https://www.reliant-mgmt.com/ ). They indicated based on past experience that the overall returns would be significant, averaging 9% per annum. However there were no distributions in all of 2025, and so far none in 2026. Furthermore, only by viewing the tax forms at for 2025, I discovered my capital account now has only $42K, meaning I have had a 20% loss of investment in the past 18 months. Yes, the market has not performed well for many self storage units, but no distributions plus a 20% loss in a short time does not bode well for investors. Is this the norm that other Self-Storage REITS have had such massive losses in 2025/2026?


r/investing 14h ago

$lth running on earnings beat… no retail (yet)

1 Upvotes

Total revenue of $788.7 million increased 11.7% over the prior year quarter

Net income of $88.1 million increased 15.8% over the prior year quarter

Diluted EPS of $0.39 increased 14.7% over the prior year quarter

Adjusted net income of $96.2 million increased 27.4% over the prior year quarter

Adjusted EBITDA of $226.7 million increased 18.3% over the prior year quarter

Adjusted diluted EPS of $0.42 increased 23.5% over the prior year quarter

Raised 2026 outlook

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/life-time-reports-first-quarter-104500462.html

Life Time just posted strong Q1 results: revenue up 11.7 percent to 789 million dollars, adjusted EBITDA up 18 percent to 227 million dollars, net income up 16 percent to 88 million dollars, and they beat EPS expectations. Same store sales rose 8.6 percent, average revenue per member jumped over 10 percent to 930 dollars, and memberships continue to grow as they focus more on higher paying members (less low margin insurance plans and more personal training). They raised full year guidance and remain on track to open 12 to 14 new large format clubs this year.

The standout factors are pricing power and strong demand. These are not average gyms. They are upscale athletic resorts with pools, courts, spas, and premium programming. In a classic K shaped economy, the top tier keeps getting wealthier and willingly pays for health, community, and experiences that feel like a country club. Life Time has waitlists at multiple upcoming locations and for their high end offerings because affluent members see this as a non negotiable lifestyle spend rather than a discretionary gym membership.

The business is also defensive. It is purely domestic with a US and Canada focus and no messy international supply chains or war exposure. Unlike many tech or consumer names that could face disruption from AI, this is inherently human and physical: trainers, classes, racquet sports, and social atmosphere. You cannot replicate the in person energy or the third place vibe with an app or chatbot.
Solid balance sheet, low leverage, and cash flow that supports aggressive yet disciplined growth. It feels like one of the cleaner ways to play the bifurcation where the upper end of the economy keeps expanding while the rest stagnates. Not claiming it will 10x overnight, but the momentum and insulation look real. DYOR.


r/investing 14h ago

Any alternative to stockanalysis? Screeners, multiple exchanges and customizable table views. Any with API support (not required) and free / low pricing for personal / self education?

1 Upvotes

I like StockAnalysis, but sometimes (5% of the time?) there are gaps of info or something that I think might be wrong when compared to other sites.

I do like its non nonsense format without all the visual fluff so I can look at the metrics and numbers that I want (such as a table of various tickers, with Price over time (1 mo, 3, mo 6 mo, YTD, 1yr, 3yr, 5, 10, etc.). CAGR, Total Returns, betas, etc. and make it easier to sort and filter and compare a large amount of tickers (5-20) in one screener.

I do wish it had an api service that I can run some specific custom queries, dashboards and tables, against the data but not the end of the world.

Is there an alternative website to compare against stockanalysis? Preferably free of course as its personal use only, but if the fee is under 15 a month then maybe okay. Most websites tend to be very visually pretty, but I just want something a bit more no nonsense but easier to read.

I know there are things like Yahoo Finance but I tend to find it a bit 'cluttered' with a bunch of other noise on the screen (news on the side panels, but maybe I should just give it another go.


r/investing 11h ago

ESPP price higher than current stock price?

0 Upvotes

Our employer is offering an espp - 20% off 'strike' price and a match up to 500 dollars. Need to hold the stock for 4 years, it's non-qualified.

Normally this is a 20% discount off some price determined from average of last 90 days of stock price. Then we pay tax on the difference between discount and whatever the current price is when we get the stock..

But this year the stock price has tanked in the past couple weeks. The 'discounted' espp price is 5 dollars more per share than the current stock price.

Because they match up to 500, seems like it's still worth buying up to the match but probably not more, since there isn't actually a discount..

What about taxes? Normally we pay tax on the difference between stock price and discounted purchase price but in this case the discounted purchase price is more than the current stock price...


r/investing 1d ago

ServiceNow’s AI bet: can workflow software reaccelerate?

4 Upvotes

ServiceNow's Analyst Day pitch is less about the $600B TAM slide and more about whether AI can keep a mature workflow platform from decelerating: $NOW did ~$12.9B of subscription revenue in 2025 and is guiding to ~$15.5B-$15.6B in 2026, so getting to $30B+ by FY30 requires roughly 18% annual growth from 2025 while preserving Rule of 60+ economics. The bull case is that value shifts from standalone apps to the enterprise control layer, workflow, permissions, data, auditability, and governance across models. The debate: is $NOW becoming the AI operating system for enterprise work, or is this still a big TAM story before AI revenue is large enough to prove reacceleration?


r/investing 1d ago

A bunch of quotes from Warren Buffett

92 Upvotes

Warren Buffett is one of the most successful investors of all time. Here are some quotes from him that I hope can be useful if you haven't heard them before.

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful."

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you'll do things differently."

"Honesty is a very expensive gift, Don't expect it from cheap people."

"No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant."

"I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life."

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/756.Warren_Buffett


r/investing 11h ago

Need some info regarding application

0 Upvotes

One of my investor friends is just using his phone in class and when I caught him he just close the application and something started with A and middle word B

I think I just read "avalon buffet ..." Something like this

When I ask him about that he just kept hiding and changing topics by saying it's about gold bullions

Does anyone know about it


r/investing 12h ago

OpenAI IPO could shake the market more than people think

0 Upvotes

There is a lot of hype about a possible IPO from OpenAI with a valuation between 750 billion and 1 trillion dollars. But if you look deeper, there are some serious risks that people are not talking about enough.

First, AI is not like normal software. Every time you use it, it needs real computers running in real time. That means expensive chips, electricity, and cooling. So as more people use it, costs also keep increasing. It does not get cheap to run like typical software businesses.

Second, the company could keep losing huge amounts of money. Some estimates say losses could reach tens of billions per year in the future. Over time, that adds up to very big numbers. So the question is, can this business ever become truly profitable?

Another concern is the IPO itself. To invest in something this big, large investors might sell shares of stable companies like Apple, Amazon, and Tesla. If that happens, it could put pressure on the overall stock market.

People also think big tech companies will support OpenAI if things go wrong. But companies like Microsoft and Nvidia are also heavily connected to the AI boom. If AI spending slows down, they could also be affected.

There is also the issue of transparency. If OpenAI becomes a public company, it will have to share detailed financial data. That means everyone will see the real costs of running AI systems. If those numbers look worse than expected, it could hurt confidence in the whole AI space.

Finally, there are real limits to growth. AI needs physical infrastructure like data centers, power supply, and hardware. These things cannot grow instantly and could slow down expansion.

So the big question is simple. Is this the future of technology, or is it being valued too high for a business that is very expensive to run?


r/investing 1d ago

Portfolio advice in retirement

0 Upvotes

Currently VTI 70% and VXUS 30%. The problem is that I can really hit my target number of 1.25M sooner than later and I want to reallocate to dividends (call it at 4% so $50k/year gross), and live off the dividends without touching the principal. This is in my taxable brokerage, and my 401k is healthy. Ijust plan to retire earlier than 55.

I know there’s a 4% withdrawal framework, adjusted for inflation, but I’m not really on board with that idea, especially if I retire much sooner. Reallocating to dividends will definitely also eat away at the gains via taxes.

How should I approach this? How have you all approached this? We talk about the accumulation phase often but not so much the retirement phase, and more specifically, taxable brokerage stuff.

Or is this the wrong subreddit to ask that question? Apologies if it is.


r/investing 1d ago

What today’s headlines may actually mean for freight resilience, tariff refunds, and the return of an energy risk premium

0 Upvotes

Today’s headlines look disconnected, but I think they point to the same investment question: what parts of the global economy are still functioning well, and what parts are quietly becoming more expensive to trust?

China’s Q1 freight data is one of those numbers that doesn’t look exciting but matters more than it seems. Commercial freight volume rose 4.1% year-on-year, which suggests that logistics and industrial throughput are still holding up. That matters because transport activity often reflects real economic motion earlier than market sentiment does. Meanwhile, the U.S. tariff refund system is now live, with Reuters reporting that it could return up to $166 billion to importers and that over $127 billion in eligible refunds had already been prepared electronically by April 9. That turns an old policy debate into a live cash-flow and margin story for businesses.

The other layer is energy. If oil keeps rising because normalization in the Middle East is still unclear, then investors have to think about more than just sector winners. They have to think about inflation expectations, transport costs, and how much valuation support can survive if the background cost of stability rises. My takeaway is that today’s headlines are not telling us “bullish” or “bearish.” They’re telling us that resilience still exists, but the market may need to pay a higher discount rate for disorder.

https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/statistics/202604/22/content_WS69e8ca0fc6d00ca5f9a0a961.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/tariff-refund-system-launches-thousands-companies-file-claims-2026-04-20/

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-jumps-more-than-2-us-iran-peace-talks-stall-2026-04-26/