#61 - Virtue vs. Vice

Your home base for investing, finance, personal growth.

Happy Friday everyone! I took a week off to reset and reflect. During that time, I decided it was the perfect moment to evolve the Gazette.

Going forward, we’ll lead with mental/personal growth topics. How you think and show up each day shapes everything in your life, including your finances. The second section will still cover the market recap, but with a tighter focus on the Freedom Fund stocks.

Virtue vs. Vice - The Quiet Battle

"You’re either feeding your virtues or your vices. Every choice moves you in one direction or the other."- Bedros Keuilian.

Every day and every decision you make in your life is a deposit either in your strength account or your sabotage account.

A virtue is a habitual choice to do what is right, even when it’s hard. Virtue is uncomfortable. It’s showing up for the workout. Having the hard conversation. Choosing clarity over comfort, responsibility over excuse. A few examples of common virtues:

• Discipline – Doing what needs to be done, even when you don’t feel like it.

• Integrity – Being honest and consistent, especially when no one is watching.

• Courage – Taking the right action despite fear or discomfort.

• Patience – Choosing calm and persistence over frustration or haste.

• Gratitude – Choosing to focus on what you have, not what you lack.

• Humility – Having strength without arrogance, and openness to growth.

A vice is the easy shortcut that often leads to regret, weakness, or self destruction. Vices don’t always look like destruction on the surface. Sometimes it’s just checking your phone instead of checking in with yourself. Sometimes it’s numbing instead of growing. And the thing about vice? It compounds just like virtue does, but in the wrong direction. A few examples of common vices:

• Laziness / Sloth – Avoiding effort, responsibility, or discipline.

• Gluttony – Overindulgence in food, drink, or anything pleasurable.

• Pride / Arrogance – Inflated self-worth that resists correction or accountability.

• Greed – Obsessive desire for more (money, power, control) at the expense of others.

• Envy – Resentment of others' success, rather than focusing on your own path.

• Wrath – Uncontrolled anger, aggression, or bitterness.

• Dishonesty – Lying, cutting corners, or hiding truth to avoid discomfort or consequence.

Virtue isn’t about perfection. It’s about repeated, intentional decisions that align your actions with your highest values. Because at the end of the day, you’re always becoming something. You don’t rise to the level of your intentions, you fall to the level of your habits. Choose to stack small wins toward the version of yourself you actually respect.

Before every decision, ask yourself — am I feeding virtue or vice?

Choose the stronger version.

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Market & Freedom Fund Recap

This week, U.S. stock markets rose modestly, driven by cooling inflation data and jobless claims that increased investor confidence in potential Fed rate cuts. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each gained around 0.7%, led by strength in tech and semiconductor stocks. Bitcoin held above $100K for a fifth straight week but saw a slight dip after recent highs as traders took profits.

Last week I sold out of all my shares in $SCHD ( ▼ 0.3% ), $TER ( ▼ 0.2% ), and $DE ( ▲ 0.36% ) to consolidate some cash and trim some positions I didn’t feel like holding on to anymore. Currently the Freedom Fund sits at 13 total positions, and I plan add two more new positions before the end of 2025.

This weeks Friday Freedom Fund purchases went into adding more to my $SOFI ( ▲ 6.45% ) and $OUST ( ▲ 7.11% ) positions. I believe these two up and coming companies have room to grow in the next 3 years. Since I started my small position in Ouster $OUST ( ▲ 7.11% ) and wrote up my thesis about the company in the May 30th Gazette edition the stock is up almost 60% in 10 trading sessions. Unfortunately I bought too little at the right time, however I think there will be sell-offs in the next few months to continue to add to the position.

Portfolio News:

• $OUST ( ▲ 7.11% ) - Ouster Digital Lidar Approved by Defense Department for Unmanned Aircraft

• $PLTR ( ▲ 1.27% ) - Fedrigoni and Palantir Partner to Accelerate Operational Transformation with AI

• $APLE ( ▲ 0.52% ) - Apple Hospitality REIT Acquires Homewood Suites by Hilton Tampa-Brandon

• $SHOP ( ▼ 0.53% ) - Shopify is joining forces with Coinbase and Stripe to bring frictionless, secure stablecoin payments to merchants around the world

Looking forward to getting back into the summer swing of things and hope the market heats up the rest of the year for everyone!

Freedom Fund Background: I launched the Freedom Fund in October 2022 as a public brokerage account to show that anyone—with just a bank account and Social Security number—can start investing, even with a couple hundred dollars a week. I started from $0 to make the journey real and relatable. Each week, I share transparent updates on purchases, sales, dividends, and growth on X (@GrahamSchroeder) so you can follow along in real time. The hardest part of investing is getting started—so I did, publicly, to help others do the same.