HX Weekly: May 5 - May 9, 2025

Hello reader, welcome to the latest issue of HX Weekly!

As you probably know, we stopped publishing HX Daily back in February.

Since then, we've been very focused on the beta for our algorithmic trading platform, Signal Trader Pro. Check out our Signal Trader Pro site here if you haven't seen it.

If you would like to continue to receive similar FREE DAILY content from me (Enrique Abeyta ) – please sign up for my free e-letter Truth & Trends, which published by Paradigm Press Group publishes.

You can subscribe by clicking on the box below…

So, what's HX Weekly all about?

Well, each Friday, we'll bring you a new edition of HX Weekly that includes three distinct sections.

In the first section, Thoughts on the Market, we'll offer insights into current economic and market news.

In the second section, HX Daily Redux, we'll revisit investing concepts, tactics, and more from past issues of HX Daily.

And in the third section, Market Wizard’s Wisdom, we’ll share thoughts, quotes, and theories from the greatest investing minds of all time.

Now, let's dive in!

I: Thoughts on the Market – Investing in a Six Minute World

According to a recent report highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, the median investor spends just six minutes researching a stock before buying it. Six minutes. That’s less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee.

It's no surprise, then, that the average holding period for a stock has collapsed from 8 to 10 years in the 1950s and '60s to just a few months today. In an era of instant gratification, patience has become a rare investing trait.

But this short-term mindset is the polar opposite of Warren Buffett’s philosophy.

As you’ve probably heard, at 94 years old, Buffett officially stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway this past weekend. His tenure is the ultimate case study in what can be achieved with long-term thinking.

Consider this: Buffett compounded Berkshire’s share price at 19.9% annually for over 60 years, delivering a total return exceeding 5.5 million percent. Those numbers are almost beyond comprehension.

He didn't do it by chasing trends or reacting to headlines. He did it by finding great businesses and holding on for decades. Berkshire's positions in American Express (since 1964), GEICO (since 1976), and Coca-Cola (since 1988) are proof.

That mindset might be your biggest advantage in a world of six-minute decisions.

The chart below from a recent article by one of our favorite finance blogs, A Wealth of Common Sense, reflects this.

While we all have unique skills, timelines, and goals as investors, what's clear from the chart is that the longer we hold stocks, the higher our odds of gains increase.

So, as mentioned before, in a world with a short attention span, most investors are actively diminishing their potential gains by moving in and out of stocks in just a few months.

As the chart depicts, your odds of gains after holding a stock for only 3 months are only 66%.

Sure, that’s better than a coin flip, but do you really want to take that risk with thousands of your hard-earned dollars on the line?

If you were to hold that same stock for just over a year, not only would your odds of a gain increase by almost 10%, but the long-term capital gains rule would kick in, and you'd have to pay far less in taxes on your gains should you sell.

Hold that same stock for 10 years or longer, and your odds of gains increase to 83%. Hold for over 20 years and it’s 100%!

Now, we're not advocating that investors only buy and hold stocks forever. After all, here at HX Research, we have long-term (HX Legacy) and shorter-term investing strategies (HX Income & HX Trader).

Both HX Income and HX Trader have been very successful in taking shorter-term bets on specific stocks, and we have a lot of fun working with our subscribers on these ideas. It's worth noting, however, that we also have over three decades of professional experience behind us!

What we’re highlighting here, backed by example (Buffett's success) and data (the chart), is that time and risk matter more than you think.

In fact, these two factors shape everything about your investing outcomes.

While a longer time horizon won't guarantee a positive outcome, it significantly increases your chances of success. The market rewards patience because, in the short term, it's often chaotic and hard to predict.

That’s why short-term strategies can feel like guesswork, while long-term thinking like Warren Buffett's offers a clearer path forward.

Still, staying focused on the big picture is easier in theory than in practice. It takes discipline to ignore the daily noise and stick to a plan designed for the future.

We think this famous Buffett quote sums up this topic nicely:

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” 

Remember this wisdom from “The Oracle” the next time your golf buddy gives you a hot stock tip!

II: HX Daily Redux – Think You Know Warren Buffett?

Today, we’ll revisit an HX Daily post from May 2024 titled August 2024 titled "Think You Know Warren Buffett?”.

We originally wrote this piece on the cusp of Mr. Buffett’s 94th birthday.

As we sit here pondering his recently announced retirement, we thought it would be fun to revisit this piece filled with some little-known facts about “The Oracle of Omaha”. Enjoy!

As we wrote earlier this week, legendary investor Warren Buffett’s 94th birthday will be tomorrow, Friday, August 30.

There have been probably MILLIONS of pages written about Buffett through the decades, so we wanted to try to put some new thoughts out there.

On Tuesday, we laid out the case that the key to Buffett’s success has actually been GROWTH investing and not VALUE. We don’t think many folks have made that case before…

Today, we were originally going to share some great Warren Buffett quotes.

We learned something surprising, though, in the last six months. Buffett doesn’t give good quote!

We mention this because we have been publishing quotes daily on HX Research socials (Twitter and Instagram – do you follow us?) and have compiled over 1000 quotes from great investors.

Buffett’s partner Charlie Munger is a quote machine. They are smart, short, funny, and often incredibly clever. He has awesome quotes!

We think Buffett is also smart, funny, and incredibly clever. His quotes just aren’t that great.

We published our favorite one earlier this week. We like THAT one so much, we are going to publish it here again…

“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

That one is a “10 out of 10”! There are some other decent ones but as a group they aren’t spectacular.

As we were looking for quotes, though, we started looking up facts about Buffett. THAT is where we found some really interesting stuff!

There are a lot that are well known by many folks but there are a few that might surprise even the most ardent fan of Buffett.

Here they are…

1) He Made $53,000 By the Age of 16

He started making money at the age of six! He walked around his neighborhood selling packs of gum for a nickel each.

When his father became a congressman and the family moved to D.C., he delivered The Washington Post newspaper and made a $175 a month. That is more than $3000 a month in today’s dollars. He was thirteen years old at the time.

The article I read said he had made $53,000 by the age of 16. That is an amazing $848,000 in today’s dollars. Wow!

The man was BORN to make money!

2) 94% of His Wealth Was Made AFTER He Turned 60

For a guy that had made almost $1 million by the age of 16 – this is fascinating.

Mind you at the age of 52, he was worth $376 million so not like he was just sitting around doing nothing.

Since then, though, his net worth has gone through the roof! It currently stands at over $140 billion! That is the power of compounding…

Also, I just turned 52 five days before Buffett’s birthday this year. Am definitively NOT worth $376 million but gives me some hope for the next forty years!

3) He Thought Graham and Dodd Were Dead

Buffett first attended my alma mater – the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He studied there for two years but then moved on to the University of Nebraska where he graduated at the age of 19.

Buffett then applied to Harvard Business School and was rejected. After the rejection, he discovered that his investing idols Benjamin Graham and David Dodd were professors at Columbia Business School.

“I wrote them a letter in mid-August,” Buffet said. “I said, ‘Dear Professor Dodd. I thought you guy were dead, but now that I found that you’re alive and teaching at Columbia, I would really like to come.’ And he admitted me.”

That is ONE way to fill out an application!

4) His Face Was on Cherry Coke Cans in China

Don’t know that I have that much to say about this one…going to let it sit right here…

5) He Loves the TV Show Breaking Bad

Everyone I know says this is one of the best tv shows of all time. Personally, have never watched it because don’t like to watch shows that are too depressing.

My father’s family is from New Mexico and lived the show so figure – why do I need that in my life now?

The show is too depressing for me but apparently Warren Buffett “The Oracle of Omaha” and the world’s most famous investor loves it!

He has some surprises in him…

We hope you enjoyed some of these facts about Buffett that may have surprised you!

We read over a dozen articles on the subject and want to give full credit to this one -

It was by FAR the most informative and fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

III: Market Wizard’s Wisdom - Warren Buffett

It’s been almost a week since “The Oracle of Omaha” announced his retirement at the end of 2025.

We cannot overstate Warren Buffet's impact on our investing philosophy.

That said, we wanted to revisit some wisdom from "The Oracle" that we shared just over a year ago in April 2024. Enjoy!

One of the great things about investing is that you can get wisdom from some of the greatest investors that have ever lived.

Recently, we have been working on a project that compiles thousands of quotes from these great investors.

Today we are going to share some from the most significant investor of all time – Warren Buffett.

We are a big fan of Buffett. That probably will not surprise you.

It is hard to argue with this long-time track record. He is also good at distilling his investment wisdom in phrases that resonate with regular investors.

There is one aspect of his wisdom, though, that sometimes troubles us.

We can't recall a time we actively disagreed with something he said, but there are quite a few times when we read his advice and think to ourselves…”Yes, but only in some cases.”

Here are a few of his most interesting quotes and concepts…

Like a lot of Buffett's wisdom, this one is very much framed by his investing style.

Remember, he runs an insurance company and takes a long-term perspective on investing. We think this approach makes a ton of sense for almost every investor.

It isn’t, however, the only way to make money.

We have a long-term investing strategy that takes a similar approach to Buffett. A decade is a long time, but if you wouldn't hold a stock for at least three to five years, you are unlikely to make the kind of returns we are looking to make in those ideas.

We want to generate consistent smaller returns for TRADING strategies. You may not make two or three times your money, but knock out twenty +8% returns, and it adds up!

Buffett's advice IS excellent, but there are many ways to bake a cake.

Here is another one…

We love this quote, and not just for investing.

We are fond of saying, "Action does not equal progress."

Broadly speaking, his advice for INVESTING strategies is true again.

Again, though, for TRADING strategies, it doesn't make any sense at all.

Instead, the opposite is true. For those to be successful, you have to be very active.

This is why one of our sayings is, "Trade A Lot or Don't Trade At All."

For our final Buffett quote…

This one is where I come closest to disagreeing with Buffett straight-up.

We don't disagree with the first two parts of his idea. Most people only start paying attention once many other people are paying attention.

It would also be great if you could find those ideas before the rest of the folks become interested. Not always easy to do, though…

Our big problem is with the final statement. Here, we strongly disagree.

Think of the most significant stocks of all time…Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), etc.

With almost every one of these stocks, you could have bought it after it had already gone up several folds and made life-changing money.

Many of Buffett's returns across the last few decades have come from his ownership of AAPL.

Finally, remember another one of our sayings – "Every stock that goes up ten-fold went up two-fold, three-fold, and five-fold first."

For significant returns, the trend and popularity are your friends.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this week’s issue of HX Weekly…