This post is all over the place, so I’ll just jump right into it.
2024
Money: Best Year Yet!
This blog is supposed to be about money, so let’s start there. 2024 was slow going until November. Then, Tesla put the accelerator to the floor and SpaceX took off.
Tesla: Clearly this stock went full-on frothy because of expectations that the new administration will come up with federal regulations for autonomous cars. Currently, a manufacturer wishing to deploy an autonomous vehicle has to go state-by-state. Federal regulations that supersede states would make it much easier to get autonomous vehicles on the road. However, Tesla has to solve autonomy first.
I have version 13.2.2 (v13) of the software and it’s amazing. It is – by far – the best version of the software Tesla has ever deployed. It’s so good that I’ll probably pay the $8,000 to have it on my car for life.
Note: I’m a car person who enjoys driving, but the experience of not driving is better most of the time. It’s very relaxing and I don’t think one can appreciate it without experiencing it firsthand.
As good as v13 is, it’s not ready for robotaxis. Tesla fanboys will enthusiastically say things like:
It’s sooo close! It’s 98% there! It is almost solved!
But those last problems are the very, very difficult ones to solve:
- It’s easy to train a car to stop at a stop sign.
- It’s very difficult to train the car to figure out a complex traffic situation in heavy rain at night.
I believe that there is a chance that Tesla is able to deploy driverless vehicles this year in certain areas under certain conditions. But I think it will be at least a couple of years before Teslas will be able to operate without a driver in most areas of United States.
SpaceX: I’ve loved all things space my whole life. As a kid, I was always playing with rockets and watching shows like Star Trek (Side note: Is 2001 not the greatest science fiction film of all time?!??). One of my most vivid and saddest memories was when my 6th grade teacher told the class that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded. I also clearly remember driving down the Eisenhower out of Chicago when I heard that the Space Shuttle Columbia had disintegrated during reentry.
I’ve followed SpaceX with great curiosity and interest. In December of 2015, SpaceX landed a rocket for the first time. It’s on display at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, so of course I went to see it:
I teared up in 2018 when the Falcon Heavy completed its first launch, successfully landing the side boosters simultaneously.
SpaceX was way ahead of the competition and I knew I wanted to invest in it. It took me a couple of years to figure out how to do this comfortable. But back in 2022, I bought shares. SpaceX is now my second biggest holding after Tesla.
Just because a company is doing awesome things doesn’t make it a good investment. But if I had to guess, I think that SpaceX will work out very well for me this decade.
Best Year Yet!
We started the year with investments worth $4,562,750 and ended at $6,060,794 for a gain of $1,498,055 or a 28% increase. Since we sold investments to fund our lives and lent out $650,000 in private lending (12%), our stock portfolio performance is actually much better than 28%.
Investing is f***ing amazing! At my first job, I worked hard for 2,000 hours per year with people I didn’t like to earn $37,000 ($70,000 adjusted for inflation) before taxes. Now, 25 years later, our money is working far harder than we ever could:
$1,498,055* / $70,000 = 21.5 years!
*with little work
The past 10 years of market returns have been phenomenal. Consider that:
- There have only been 2 down years
- In 5 of those years, returns have been over 20% with 1 year over 30%!
The party won’t last forever. But those in attendance have done very well.
Getting My Ass In Shape
2024 was the year I went to the gym and didn’t quit. I started eating better and strength training aggressively. I’m still have a lot of work to do, but I’m in the best place I’ve been at in years. Money means nothing if you don’t have your health.
I also walked. A lot. I took 7,645,171 steps. I believe that I’ll do at least 8,000,000 in 2025.
Too Much
I think that most early retirees would tell you this:
Life is so busy! How did I ever have time for a job?
I keep nights and weekends freed up for our teens. So during the school year, I have about 7 hours during the day to exercise, pay the bills, fix stuff around the house, work on personal projects, practice guitar, do laundry, and whatever else comes up. It’s hard fitting everything in.
Daily routine aside, we traveled too much. We went on two cruises and took a couple huge roadtrips. Going to Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Germany, Mexico, and Los Angeles (twice) was great, but it was too much.
Perhaps all of my current adventures are a reaction to my childhood when we didn’t travel much. I was on a plane twice (going back and forth to Florida) in my first two decades of life. If our family went on vacation, it was usually going to Wisconsin (we lived about 30 miles south). In any case, I have it out of my system now. We’ll hang around Colorado for the most part in 2025.
I also quit the Mile High FI podcast. Even 3 hours per week was too much.
2025
More health: In the new year, I look forward to getting myself in even better shape. 19% body fat is still too much. My dad would probably still be alive if he had been in better shape. He was overweight which led to high blood-pressure with led to a burst aorta. Game over. I don’t want to suffer the same fate.
Another house?: We visited a couple of friends in 2024 who live in really nice spaces. I started thinking about the houses that Mindy and I have lived in over the course of our marriage (2 decades!). We’ve been in fix-and-flip mode the entire time. Even before we closed on any of our homes, we were thinking of how much we’d be able do sell them for a couple of years later. We never bought a home or fixed one up for us. During one of the visits, our friend Shaina said:
Your house should reinforce the behaviors that are important to you.
We have never lived in a home like that because we’ve only bought homes for investments. I haven’t even really liked the homes we’ve lived in. I’ve been a big fan of architecture from my days as a kid when my parents told me about Frank Lloyd Wright. Most of the homes we’ve lived in have been Frank Lloyd Wrong homes. To be fair, they have all been perfectly fine. Just not up to the standards of a design snob like me.
And it was never our plan to stay in our current home. It has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, so seems like a ridiculous house to stay in post-kids. It’s also a split-level with 4 different floors, so not the best space to grow old in.
We may change up our home situation sooner than later. If we do what we’re thinking about doing, it would be a very big project. The only thing holding us back is finding competent workers to complete it. The past two decades of my life have been consumed by never-ending home projects. I don’t want this to consume my life. I don’t want the project to end like one of those reality home remodeling shows where people are yelling at each other.
More details soon should we decide to move forward.
More 1500 Days!!!
You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:
- YouTube: My channel is mostly devoted to home improvement, but I have some other material coming up soon too.
- Instagram: Pretty pictures of dinosaurs, sunsets, and nail guns!
- Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
- Coworking space: On the surface, MMM HQ is a coworking space. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that we’re really building community. The members of MMM HQ are some of the finest people I know
- Buying a Tesla? Use my referral code to get some perks!
Its Fun to see your new year Goals. having Followed your journey for last 12 years and your TSLA investments ,its good that you still hold them.20000 steps a day is quite a nice goal.I Average around 9k/day.
Good Luck on all Goals.
Thanks for the kind words! Happy New Year!
Excited to hear about the house ideas. An article about what makes a house design “good” would be great!
Wow, this is a great idea. I’ve already started to write the post!
I’d be curious to know your thoughts too!
Oh man did I miss you sharing how you bought SpaceX stock? Was it through a closed venture fund? I’ve been following them since 2015 as well and have always wanted shares but just heard people say you need to know venture capitalists or buy Google since they have a stake.
Nah, I’ve never said it publicly. There are weird rules around this stuff, but I’ll share if you send me an email. It just feels a little weird talking about it publicly. Not sure why.
Please send me info on how to invest in SpaceX. Thanks so much!
Just replied to your email!
I too would like to know how to invest in space x, thank you in advance!
Email incoming!
I’ve been looking into how to buy SpaceX shares. Looking at a platform called Hiive, but I don’t know anyone personally who’ve used that platform so still in “researching phase” :). Could you please share info how to invest in SpaceX? It would be nice to have a reference so I could double-check what I am doing.
Hi Carl, Mahnosh (Emma) here from Vegas . I’m curious to know as well.
Happy New Year!
Hi Carl,
I’d like to know the route you took for the SpaceX stock as well. Just crossed over the A.I. level last year and excited to tip-toe into new options. I became a FI fanatic 8 years ago when I stumbled across MMM and then your blog. Those helped me find the Mad Fientist, Bigger Pockets Money, Choose FI, and the Money Guy Show, to name a few. I appreciate your info and passion and best of luck on your future endeavors.
Hey Ryan! Email incoming regarding SpaceX.
Thank you for the kind comment and Happy New Year!
I’d really like to know about your SpaceX investment as well. Thank you in advance for sharing!
Email sent
Hi Carl, another one being interested in spacex if you could share how you invested in it.
Thanks! Tom
Ps: started working out around the same time you did and found the following website really helpful that summarizes the most important points and gives you a clear path (no affiliation). Might be interesting for some of your readers: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro
Email incoming@
Can I get that information as well. I’ve been a fan since the beginning as I’m also a space geek.
Email incoming!
Hi Carl, thanks for all the inspiration your blog and personal stories have given me. I wanted to buy space X stocks for years and I would be happy to learn from you how this could be possible. Thanks and keep up your writing, Toby from Germany
Hi,
Another one interested in the SpaceX investment.
Thanks,
Jeff
Email incoming!
Yet another person interested in how to purchase SpaceX stock here. Passed the A. I. threshold, but haven’t found a good way myself. I’d like to know how you managed it, so please tell me.
Happy New Year.
Another example of your great stock picking. I remember you mentioning wanting to transition to holding index funds instead of individual stocks, but holding on to your Tesla holdings and SpaceX is genius level investing.
Best of luck on your fitness journey. I think the investments you are making for your health are more import now that you have already won the money game….
I appreciate your compliments, but wow, I got lucky too. I used to think Elon was the coolest human on the planet, so that led to Tesla. SpaceX and private lending aside, we’re still putting almost all new money into index funds. Although, I do like tech biased ones like the QQQs.
Fitness: My chest and back are a little sore today from the workout I did earlier this week. I love it!
I wonder if anyone can really say what house they’ll want in 20 years, but for you a house for yourself makes sense anyway.
I’m considering moving out that way, and possibly building a house, so I’m curious about the design thoughts. my design thoughts of 60×80 pole barn with living space in one end and garage / shop in the rest will probably drive you nuts 😉
“I wonder if anyone can really say what house they’ll want in 20 years, but for you a house for yourself makes sense anyway.”
Great point! Houses are a moving target. I do hope that the version of me at 70 years old is still happily married and can handle stairs though.
“Moving out this way!”
That would be super cool! A friend is building a bandominium. That isn’t quite a pole barn, but may also suit you.
Are you going to be at EconoMe again? If so, let’s talk in March.
Indeed, would be sad to be 70 and unable to be outside much.
they are both post frames, or at least all I’ve heard of. I may be out there in Febuary, if not I should be at Econome.
Great update, miss you on Mile High Fi though. Hopefully the drop in visits continue.
Kevin! How are you? Are you going to EconoMe this year?
Hi Carl. Loooong time reader, first time commenting. I retired at 48 two years ago and now I’m a stay-at-home dad to my two boys. I really appreciate what you said about reserving evenings and weekends for kids and family, leaving you only a seven hour window to get done what your ‘you’ stuff. I often find it hard to explain (even to myself) why some things take longer than anticipated, why my to-do list stays about the same length with ins and out… I should be more patient with myself and more conscious of the tradeoffs I’ve made. This post sparked that thought and I wanted to reach out. Thanks for listening!
Hi Jeremy!
“I often find it hard to explain (even to myself) why some things take longer than anticipated, why my to-do list stays about the same length with ins and out… I should be more patient with myself and more conscious of the tradeoffs I’ve made.”
Yeah, EXACTLY! I think I’m pretty good about managing time; yet there is never enough of it! 🙂 I think this is a good thing though. Here’s why: Both of us have made it a priority to hang with our kids after school. However, when I was working, that wasn’t the case. I’d often work into the night at my job. Now that my time is all mine, I feel like it is my duty to be more responsible with it. No one owns me but me. So, now that my time is all mine, my kids are getting much more of it. That’s never a bad thing.
For me at least, it was an error in how I did things when I was managing time when I was working. There was no reason I couldn’t have hung up the keyboard every day at a certain time and been done with it. But then there are issues, urgent emails, blah, blah, blah. I’m already trying to justify it!
I still have trouble allowing myself to do things like read fiction, create art, or play guitar. I’m getting better at it though.
I do hope you’re happy in your situation. Life is pretty great over here.
Happy New Year!
G’Day Carl, and Merry (belated) Christmas and HNY to ya from Bend. Congrats on that investment performance! Did you ride a Waymo last year perchance? I’m planning on hitting The Bay this Spring Break and that’s on my To-Do list
cheers!
Adam!
How the heck are you? I smiled when thinking about our chance meeting in Bend!
I rode for a very short time in a Waymo and plan to do it again in a couple of weeks. I’ll be in Hollywood for a show* and they service that area.
Waymo’s tech is really good. But then again, I took my Model Y out in a severe snowstorm (couldn’t even see the roads) and it did perfectly. I’ll post a video of that next week.
Happy New Year!
*Fingers crossed the fires get under control soon. So sad.
Mate! Life is goood! Snow here has been amazing for XC skiing. That’s cool your Y did well in a snowstorm, can’t wait to see the video
cheers!
Adam
I am thrilled for the year you just had Carl. Wow. How does a person top that???
I believe I am most impressed by your 20k steps a day!? And I thought my mere 12k steps was pretty good.
Ass kicked on all fronts.
Cheers,
Dan
Dan, you’re too kind.
I really appreciated meeting you last year. How cool is it to have friends wherever you go?
And you’re an inspiration. If I was half as fit as you, I’d be twice as fit as I am now!
Happy New Year! I hope your 2025 is the best ever!
Fun update to read about. Excited to hear the big reveal if it comes to pass!
Hello Friend!
You’ll get to see it in person before long…
I echo Kevin’s comments that we miss you on MileHighFI but Doug is doing a great job holding down the fort. Maybe 3 hours per quarter will be enough, but it’s always nice to hear you’ and Doug talk about asparagus … I mean, money and life.
Niel! Thanks for the kind words. I’ll be in Mile High FI again, maybe even next month when I see Doug at EconoMe.
Hi, thank you for all the insights and congratulations on the investment performance. I have enjoyed reading your thoughts on the value of time and the point of doing all this – to be able to invest time in loved ones, relationships, and health! I would also like to know how to invest in SpaceX. Could you also send me the email?
Hey Carl, awesome recap of 2024 — congrats on the stellar year with Tesla and SpaceX! It’s wild to see how your investments took off in November. I totally get the travel overload vibe; your plan to chill more in Colorado in 2025 sounds perfect — sometimes home is where it’s at. Loved hearing about your fitness journey too — 7.6 million steps is insane! Any tips for staying motivated on those big walking goals? Also, super curious about your SpaceX investment — how’d you get in on that? Thanks for the inspiring read, and here’s to crushing it in 2025!
Walking! I try to incorporate into things I have to do anyway. For example, if you work on landscaping your yard, you’ll get a ton of steps in naturally. If the grocery store is 2 miles away, why not walk it?
SpaceX: I have a post on that coming up in the next couple of weeks.
November was great! Since then, not so much. I’m in it for the long-term, so I don’t care that much either.