So I’m finally approaching the part of the year where I can buy some stocks. If you read The Broke and Beautiful Life, you may have seen Stefanie’s article last week where she asked if she should invest in herself or herself? She mentioned that when she has large goals, she likes to save by percentage. This is an excellent way to reach several goals, but one that personally stresses me out.

I like to stack my goals – or, essentially, make a to do list of them. In the last few years, my major savings goals have been to max out my Roth IRA, buy at least $1,000 of stock and get my emergency savings up to $5,000.

To be quite honest, I have yet to hit the 3^rd goal on the list. I was pretty close last year and then I actually wound up taking a few grand out of that account to move to New York City.

If I had been playing the percentage game, my emergency savings would be in better shape, but retirement savings considerably less so. So it’s all really a trade off in what you feel comfortable with. I tend to feel less overwhelmed tackling one goal at a time and I’ve noticed I’m more motivated to save more so I can cross that item off the list.

Clearly, I was a debt snowballer. Well, I was more a debt avalanche-er. But that’s a different story.

All that said, maxing out my Roth IRA doesn’t require a lot of thought. It’s set on a target date fund. Once or twice a month, I click over to Fidelity, contribute or actually buy into my target date fund (which I hope you’re remembering to do – most [maybe even all? I don’t know] contributions actually just go into like a savings account within your brokerage account, you still have to remember to use that money to buy any stocks and funds). Piece of cake.

My emergency savings is even easier. That is literally a single click of the mouse.

But stocks are way more difficult. A few weeks ago I wrote about how I find the stocks I watch, so today I thought I’d tell you what 5 stocks I’ve had my eye on for the last year.

1. RCL – Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines

So I’m on the fence about this a little bit, mostly because I started looking at it last year right after buying stock and it has literally doubled since then. So part of me thinking it would’ve been an excellent buy in 2013, but now…?

However, RCL has a few of the aspects that I trust most in a stock. Numbers aside, it is a very strong company. It is an industry that I have a lot of faith in (despite all the bad cruise ship crap that happens, people still freaking love cruises). Even at the height of the recession, the cruise industry was going strong because many cruises, including nearly all the lines owned by RCL, are very affordable. Times are tough, why wouldn’t you want to take a $300 all-inclusive cruise to the Bahamas for a week? Except 99% of people are still going to buy crap while onboard. The money making model for cruise lines is pretty much brilliant.

Additionally, I feel like I know the industry well enough to watch where it is going overall with a more informed eye than many others. I also understand what I’m investing in here (thank, Warren Buffett).

Now the nuts and bolts, the P/E is higher than I would like it to be (not surprising considering the market right now – the forward P/E looks good). Their cash flow is acceptable to me. They have dividends.

Suffice to say, I think if a correction happens that takes the price to under $60 a stock before I make my purchase, this is likely to be my top choice.

2. DLTR – Dollar Tree Inc

Continuing with the trend of buying what I trust and understand, I definitely feel like The Dollar Tree has staying power, especially beyond any of the other “bargain” stores. This is because the products are actually all $1, and the stores feel clean and welcoming instead of overcrowded and seedy. You don’t feel like you’re in a dollar store when you’re in The Dollar Tree.

They also own Deal$ which is a great discount store, but I don’t think it has anywhere near the same presence and reputation as The Dollar Tree.

The P/E is very high now and predicted to stay kind of high and there are no dividends.

Unfortunately, I think I missed the best of the boom with this stock. I think it would be a very safe bet and I’d be unlikely to lose money on it, but I think I want to invest my money in something that is a little more of a value buy.

3. GOOG – Google, Inc.

Well, it’s freaking Google. Do I even need to say any more? They’re going to take over the world. Someday there will be a battle between the Amazon droids and the Google self flying/driving/teleporting?!? modes of transportation and that will be how the world ends.

I would just want a correction before I buy it. And I’d be a little sad I could really only buy 2 shares of it.

4. EBS – Emergent BioSolutions Inc

I’ve been watching this since way before the whole Ebola thing. Emergency BioSolutions make anthrax vaccines for the US government and a prostate cancer drug. However, they are also one of 3 centers in America with a set up to mass produce vaccines in the event of a pandemic outbreak. They always assumed it would be the flu… but apparently they have looked into what they would need to do to mass produce any sort of Ebola vaccine, should the need arise.

This starts to push into an area I know little about, which makes me uncomfortable.

Also, the P/E is astronomical and they’re operating at a major deficit.

I’m not buying this.

5. TSLA – Tesla Motors Inc. 

Oh Tesla, how shiny and new and fun you are. For that reason alone, I probably won’t buy you. You’re the cool kid in school, but we all know most of them become townies.

If even Elon Musk is saying you’re overpriced right now, I will be holding off on purchasing you, but I do think maybe you’ll be around for a long time. I think you’re a solid “thing” among the affluent, holding your own with Porches and Jaguars and the like and if you ever made your dang cars affordable to the common folk, that would be pretty darn brilliant.

And a great time to invest in you… especially right before that happens.

What stocks are you guys watching?

 

**Disclaimer: I have very little to no idea what I’m talking about. If you invest in any of these stocks, you’re doing at your own risk. Just like me. Really… we should all be buying index funds. But I disclaim that sentence too.**