Though my personal investments never affect the opinions in videos I produce (which should be apparent from very critical videos I’ve made about several of these companies), I feel it is best to be transparent about my long term holdings in various companies I discuss in my videos on occasion. This may also be of interest to those generally curious about my investments. 

Note: These are NOT suggestions on what to invest in, so do not take this page as financial advice in any way. I am not a financial professional. This is for informational purposes only.

Current Holdings (Updated September 15th, 2021):

Tech Related Stocks:

• AAPL – Apple Inc.
• ADBE – Adobe Inc.
• AMD – Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• AMZN – Amazon.com, Inc.
• ASML – ASML Holding N.V.
• COIN – Coinbase Global Inc
• GM – General Motors Company
• GOOGL – Alphabet Inc
• INTC – Intel Corporation
• MSFT – Microsoft Corporation
• NET – Cloudflare Inc
• NVDA – NVIDIA Corporation
• TSM – Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co.
• VGT – Vanguard Information Technology ETF

Other Holdings:

• CDR – CD Projekt S.A.  [Warsaw Stock Exchange Symbol]
• QQQ – Invesco QQQ Trust  [Nasdaq 100 Index ETF]
• SPY – SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
• VDC – Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF
• VFIAX – Vanguard 500 Index Fund
• VMGRX – Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund
• VOO – Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
• VSGAX – Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund
• VTSAX – Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund
• VUG – Vanguard Growth ETF
• VWUSX – Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund

A list of my official social media accounts.

Not all of these are active, it’s just a list so you can know which are actually me. I may have forgotten some obscure sites, you can always message me on Twitter to ask.

Over the years, I’ve found people who have attempted to impersonate me via fake email addresses to scam companies out of free products.  This short tutorial will help you ensure that an email that appears to be from me is genuine.  You should be aware that it is entirely possible for someone to spoof the “From” field in an email, but I have set up my email system through Google Apps in such a way that it should be virtually impossible for someone to successfully spoof my email.

At the very least, after reading this article, you will be able to identify a spoofed or genuine email from me. This information may not apply to others who have not set up their email in the same way.  Of course, you can always send an email directly to my posted email address to verify.

Step 0: The ‘From’ Field

If the ‘From’ field does not say @ThioJoe.com, you can be assured that it is fake.  Please forward me any scam emails you receive that claim to be me.  If it does appear to originate from my domain, but you have reason to believe the email is suspicious, follow the next steps.

Step 1: Find the Email Headers

Email headers contain the “raw” data that the computer sees in an email that gives it all sorts of information about who sent the email, how it was sent, and other useful info.  Every email program will have the ability to view the raw headers, but the process will be different for each program (such as Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, etc).  This website has guides for almost every email software out there, so go here to find the process specific to your inbox software: https://mxtoolbox.com/Public/Content/EmailHeaders/

Step 2: Use Google’s Header Analyzer Tool

Google has a very useful tool for analyzing headers, which can be found here:  https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/messageheader/

Copy the entire header text you found from the email in question, then on the page linked above, paste it into the box and click “Analyze the Header Above”.

Optional: Use Gmail / Google Apps Built in Header Analyzer
If you use Gmail or Google Apps, you can open any email and click the drop down arrow (next to the reply button), and click “Show Original.”  This will save you from having to copy and pasting the headers.

Step 3: Look at the Results

Hopefully, the results will look something like this. Notice that all three authentication tests (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) all pass.

Google’s header analyzer tool results:

Authentic email passes SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

Gmail / Google Apps built in “Show Original” analyzer:

Gmail’s built in analyzer will also show passed tests

I realized that a lot of people who initially think my videos are real were looking for something free.  Whether it be a free way to get faster internet, cable, phone calls, etc.  So I thought why not go to the heart of it all, and just make a video about how to get free money!  Surely this would be a popular one.  I thought it was pretty funny, so let me know what you think as well.

This video is somewhat related to my “Reading My Hate Comments” series, but slightly different.  Instead of reading hate comments exclusively, I try to pick legitimate questions, funny questions, general comments, etc.  Although “Reading My Hate Comments” was a pretty popular series and is often requested, there’s one thing that stops me.  You see, ever since I made those videos, idiots have been spamming my videos with blatantly fake hate comments trying to get on those videos.  I always ignore them, and they would never get in a video.  I want to entertain my viewers, but I certainly don’t want to encourage stupidity in my comments section, and for this reason I probably will not do another “Reading My Hate Comments” in the foreseeable future.  This will hopefully be a suitable replacement.

   A lot of people hate on the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and I agree that it does have it’s flaws.  However, I have found it to be quite useful when people steal and re-upload my videos to YouTube.  I spend a lot of time making videos, so as you can imagine, I am very frustrated when someone downloads my videos and re-uploads them as their own.  In such a case, I utilize the DMCA to remove that content quickly and easily.

     YouTube has an easy method for taking down videos. You simply submit a DMCA take-down request, and the content is removed.  The request is a legal document, and filing a false DMCA take-down is punishable by law.  In the event that someone files a false or incorrect DMCA take-down request, you can file a counter-DMCA take-down  and the only response to a Counter-DMCA request is a lawsuit.  I’ve never had to file a counter-DMCA take-down, and no one has filed one against me.

    I have had to submit over twenty DMCA take-downs over the last few months, and in every case it was someone who re-uploaded my video.  After I submit the request, the infringing video is taken down and they receive a copyright strike.  If they were to file a counter-DMCA notice (which would be perjury), I could sue them for a substantial amount of money.  One guy even had the audacity to upload five of my videos.  Well, I submitted five DMCA take-downs, and three strike is enough to get your account banned.

This video is a joke that talks about how to watch a video on YouTube. In case you didn’t know already.

Why not?