Meet Jesse: He's ditched Bitcoin for bonds

Unlike some of the readers we have profiled recently who mainly use a combination of low-cost ETFs to compound their savings, 27-year-old Jesse is a bit different. 

When he started out, Jesse's main game plan was to get rich quick, with little care for the consequences if it didn't go to plan. Then again, who didn't feel almost invincible when they were young? That's one of the novelties of youth. 

Back then, he invested in cryptocurrencies and meme stocks. Now, eight years later, having ridden the wild swings of these very investments on their way south, he's entirely focused on generating passive income. 

Today, nearly half of his portfolio is invested in bonds through Blossom - a micro-investing platform that launched in 2021 with the aim of democratising the fixed-income market. The rest is spread across income-focused ETFs, and more speculative investments from his early days in the market. 

Jesse has learnt plenty of hard lessons in that time - including that the FIRE movement is "BS" for those who don't earn more than six figures and that you can't time the market, as well as the importance of taking the emotion out of your investment process.

In this Meet the Investor profile, Jesse candidly shares the highs and lows of his investment journey so far, his hopes for generating between $50,000 and $60,000 in passive income from his portfolio in the future, as well as two of the worst investments from his eight years in markets. 

Livewire investor profile:

• Name: Jesse
• Age: 27
• Employment status: Employed 
• Years investing: 7-8 years 
• Investment goals: Passive income
• Products used: Cryptocurrencies, bonds, equities, ETFs, REITs, and BDCs
• Biggest portfolio holding: Bonds

How old are you and how long have you been investing?

What is your objective from investing? 

What products do you use to execute your strategy? 

How would you describe your strategy?

My goal is income and compounding gains - so I do my own dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) with basically all my picks and with the bonds. They're long-term holds with appreciation being secondary, so price stability is a factor too.

Could you please share your top five holdings in percentage terms and tell me a bit about why you hold each of these positions?

4. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) - 4% - Again, leftover from early investing (one of the only ones I'm up on by about 50%). 

Could you tell me about your worst investment?

UST. It was an algo stablecoin pegged to USD that was yielding 20% p.a. on a DeFi protocol before it collapsed to basically zero last year. I lost a few hundred bucks. I'm also underwater on a handful of altcoins that I invested $100 each into.

In traditional markets, I'm down 80% on my Coinbase Holdings (NASDAQ: COIN) and over 90% on Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE: SPCE). Space and crypto are two massively speculative markets.

My worst investment overall (if you could call it one) was a used Holden Astra convertible I purchased for $1,800 and owned for a few days before my mechanic told me it was basically a write-off.

How does Livewire help with your investing process and what tips can you share with other investors about using Livewire?

Can you share a personal passion or ambition you have for your future?

On the personal ambition side - I want what almost everyone wants, really: To buy a house, get married, have kids, provide them as comfortable of a life as possible without working myself to death and see as much of the world as possible while I'm at it.

Would you be interested in being profiled in our Meet the Investor series?