Forget 'Sexy' Stocks... Here's What to Buy Instead

Editor's note: Every Friday, we showcase a featured topic from our YouTube show, Altimetry Authority.

This week, we tackle themes from a recent episode, which you can view for free right here.

Read on below to learn about the bedrock of a reliable portfolio...

'Hey buddy, how are you doing? Is your dad at home?'...

I remember answering the phone one day when I was 9 years old. At the other end of the line was a man's voice – a sugary, syrupy voice that I can still recall perfectly.

I knew something wasn't right. I wasn't old enough to know exactly what. It just sounded so fishy.

So I called my dad over and handed him the phone.

It turned out the call was from a stock promoter. If you've ever seen Boiler Room or The Wolf of Wall Street, you'll know exactly the kind I'm talking about... a con artist calling around, looking for someone to buy whatever worthless stock he was pushing that day.

And my dad fell for it.

Not just once – over and over again.

My dad was a highly intelligent man...

He was a doctor... a pathologist, in fact. He'd regularly work 80-hour weeks at the hospital.

And when he came home, he'd keep working. We had a whole room in our home in rural Maine dedicated to his microscopes, medical slides, medical journals, and other lab equipment.

Yet despite all that, we never seemed to have much money growing up.

It wasn't until much, much later that I realized why that was... All too often, my dad got taken in by the kind of hucksters who'd trick him to make a fast buck for themselves.

To build generational wealth, the first thing you have to focus on is a generational mindset.

Cutting corners and get-rich-quick schemes are a path to falling behind, not getting ahead.

If I'd been in a position to stop my dad from making those mistakes a few decades ago... I would've done so in a heartbeat...

And I would have told him to focus on a specific type of stock instead...

I'm talking about the stocks of big, healthy companies with strong competitive advantages. These businesses have near-bulletproof balance sheets. And they're not chasing a fad.

They're the companies you expect to be around for the next 20 years... and 100 years after that.

These mundane compounders might not be the "sexy" stocks you'd see pitched in The Wolf of Wall Street.

And yet, they're the stories people will talk about decades later – like buying IBM and General Electric in the 1950s, or Microsoft in the 1980s.

You'll look back on them in a decade or more... and know you didn't have to worry about what the "pros" said on CNBC or what overconfident amateurs posted on message boards.

These companies dominate their industries and generate substantial cash flow. And they'll keep on growing... no matter what's happening in the headlines.

Put simply, they're the kinds of stocks you can hold for years without second-guessing.

If you're looking to build long-term wealth, this is where to start.

Regards,

Joel Litman
August 1, 2025

P.S. We dove deeper into my favorite portfolio strategy in last Friday's episode of Altimetry Authority. New episodes air every Tuesday and Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern time.

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