My main goal* was to build an investment and cash portfolio of $1,120,000* ($1,000,000 to retire on and $120,000 to pay off the house) in 1500 days**, starting from 1/1/2013 and ending in February of 2017. I made my goal in 2016, my 1500 Days are over, and I’ve left my job. In the interest of openness, I’ll continue to share my numbers.
After an insane 2020, January is off to a roaring start. Our net worth increased $236,821. About $150,000 of this was profit from the sale of the trailer park (Elevated Living Estates to the easily offended). We’re still waiting on one last payout. I’ll have more to say about the sale when all of the dust settles.
Good old stock appreciation was responsible for the other $86,000 in gains.
Bye-Bye Real Estate?
Our real estate holdings are flying off the shelf!
Bye-bye Trailer Park
Part of the reason we decided to sell the trailer park was because someone was willing to pay a healthy price for it. Trailer parks have been hot for a while and the recent real estate feeding frenzy has only made the demand crazier.
Bye-bye Rental Home
We also put our other home on the market in January. When we moved into our latest live-in flip, our plan was to keep the old home and turn it into an Airbnb. Then, COVID came along and quashed that plan. We pivoted and turned it into a conventional rental. However, the numbers didn’t work well and we had since decided not to pursue Airbnb, so it was time to sell. This sale closes in February.
Bye-bye Syndication Deals
We have money invested in six syndication deals and half of them are under contract to sell in the first half of the year. I have a feeling that the syndicators are also trying to capitalize on the frothy housing market.
Bye-bye Stocks? Nope.
Financially, 2020 was a spectacular year for us with most of the gains coming from stock appreciation. If 2021 is going to be a winner, my gut tells me that the gains will come from selling our real estate holdings.
Just because I think the stock market will have a lesser year doesn’t mean that I’m changing what I invest in or that I’ll try to time the markets. The situation is quite the opposite. We’ll take the real estate gains and put them mostly into VTSAX as soon as the money hits our accounts.
And perhaps I’m wrong and the stock market will have another killer year? Lots of smart people think so. It doesn’t matter either way because one year is a blip to the long-term investor.
January Performance
Yay, another month of growth! Our net worth started the month at $3,519,746 and ended at $3,756,567 for a gain of $236,821. Life is good.
2021 (as of 1/31/2021)
- Days elapsed: 31
- Net worth gains: $236,821
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 2952
- Net worth gains: $3,038,524
2021
I always talk up index funds (thanks JL!), but they’ve never been the majority of my portfolio or even my largest holding. At the time of this writing, we hold about $500,000 more in stocks than funds:
If our home sale closes, the money will go into index funds and the ~$500,000 in proceeds will go to index funds.
The older I get, the more I just want to keep it all simple. I enjoyed farting around with stocks, but owning them consumes mental bandwidth. For example, since Tesla is 20% of our net worth, I spend at least 30 minutes every day consuming Tesla news. Knowing the status of the Texas and Berlin Gigafactories doesn’t increase my daily happiness or improve my life.
Aimlessly wandering around my town and taking pictures of crazy art does make me happy.
*My goal wasn’t to have $1,120,000 at the end of 1500 days, but at any time before the day count was up. Why? It all goes back to the 4% Rule. Remember that our little friend, Mr. 4%, is nothing more than the most conservative safe withdrawal rate. Since my investment portfolio now sits at $1,550,000, I can spend about $62,000 in my first year of retirement.
**My original goal was $1,000,000 and no debt, I later raised the goal by $120,000 to $1,120,000 because I will have debt in the form of a mortgage and I firmly believe in not paying it off (LOOK at the MONEY I’m MAKING!). My compromise was to have enough money put away to cover the mortgage at the time of retirement.
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****My 401(k) contributions include my own, Mrs. 1500’s, and the contributions from my corporation. Self-employment with a solo 401(k) is a very powerful savings tool. I should have done this years ago.
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Wow, you are approaching the $4M pretty quickly!
I remember reading these updates when you were around $2M and it feels like it was not too long ago.
I know, right? Compound growth is a force to be reckoned with!
With the tech and Tesla correction, does this mean you’re down over $300,000 in February?
Yeah, I’m down about that much from my all-time high. It would be nice for everything to correct even more though. We just came into about $550,000 in cash from a home and syndication sale and it would be nice to put this money in at lower prices.
Awesome stuff, love these updates. Gives me something to aspire to!
Have you considered rebalancing more toward VTSAX out of those large individual stock positions (Tesla)? I assume that’s in a brokerage account and the tax implications may not necessarily be worth it, but might help cut your Gigafactory news intake down from 30 minutes to 20 minutes!
Yep, capital gains!
But, the other thing I think about is that I really do believe Tesla has loads of potential. If the company is able to execute on most of what it’s doing, I think it will be beat the markets over the next 10 years. I also admit that a part of me enjoys keeping up with tech.
It’s funny to me that you spend time reading up on Tesla news as a stockholder. Counterintuitively, I completely ignore news on every stock I own, to the point of being surprised by Costco’s special dividend last year because I never noticed their announcement. I buy and hold so I mostly don’t care what they do day to day or even year to year unless it’s huge news. But I watch VTSAX’s price every day. No idea why. I guess we all have our little investing obsessions?
revanche @ a gai shan life recently posted…Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (38)
Obsessions indeed!
Another $230k? At this rate you’ll be on the Forbes list by the end of the year!
Congrats Carl!
Mr. Tako recently posted…The ROE Conundrum: Where Did The Shareholder Returns Go?
Nearly a cool quarter million. Nice.
Who knows what will happen with the market in the next year. But, it’s probably a safe bet that it’ll trend up assuming the population continues to increase around here…and we all want more stuff.
Relatedly, I’m exceptionally excited to see what Mr. Buffett has to say about things this year. His letter is due on 2/27 and I always find them interesting. Considering what he’s seen and his global perspective, I’m wondering what he’ll say related to the pandemic, frothy tech, and cheap money.
Looking forward to hearing The Rest of The Story with your trailer park tale!
Chris@TTL recently posted…Black Wall Street and the Business of Creating a Community
Thoughts on buying Tesla here? Seems attractive in the $500s. Thanks
Whoah, hard one. The stock is still very expensive for what Tesla does today. But, if it accomplishes its mission…
I put a tiny amount into a couple of companies on Robinhood. Play money, really. It has definitely led to me checking on those stocks more than I would care to admit!
BC | FrugalWheels recently posted…The truth about eBay dropshipping
You know Carl, being up 236k is something that I hope to do in two years, You accomplish it in a month haha! I hope to get there one day and learn what the true magic of compound investing means. It’s finally beginning to get hot to where a 1% change makes a meaningful difference to my finances but nowhere near to what my preferences are to enjoy a financially independent life.
I have time on my side!
David @ Filled With Money recently posted…Be Patient, Building Wealth Takes Half of an Eternity
Nothing like clearing up some mental bandwidth by removing a few investments that give you a headache. Can relate to that 100%! Sold off a vacation property after it had appreciated significantly because I kept obsessing about things I could do nothing about. At least with VTSAX you know there’s nothing you can do about it =)