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.
Life continues to be busy in the 1500 household, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We’re wrapping up the kitchen now, currently waiting for countertops to arrive. I also need to install new lighting, tile the backsplash, and build a booth. However, most of the crappy work is done. The last projects where you work on the surfaces you’ll see every day are the most fun.
October
October was a great month. The best ever. My first job out of university paid me less than $40,000 per year. Our portfolio went up over $600,000. In one month.
I’m always a little shy about posting updates like this.
When I started this blog, I wanted to be public with my numbers to show the dirty details of our journey and inspire others. But when the numbers get big like this, sometimes people get mad:
Bragger!
But, it’s just what happens to money if you give it enough time. Also, I publish these updates every month, so those who accuse me of bragging should check out some of the months that didn’t go so well.
Best Month Ever
I won’t beat around the bush or bury the lead. October was an amazing month. Our net worth went from $4,258,593 all the way up to $4,864,732 for a gain of:
$606,139
How did this happen?
House Refi: $100,000
In April of 2020, we took out a mortgage on our home and invested the proceeds. So far, this has worked out well. Leverage isn’t for everyone, but if you can stomach it, you’ll probably end up with more money if you don’t pay off your house.
Our mortgage was 3.5% and rates are really great right now, so we refinanced. We’re now at 2.875% (30 year) and we only had to pay $400 in closing costs.
$100,000 of our net worth increase this month is due to the new appraised value of our home.
Tesla: $347,461
Tesla stock started the month $778.40 at and ended at $1081.86 for a gain of $303.46. For my 1145 shares, this came out to a gain of $347,461. Oof.
I don’t recommend holding individual stocks. Most of my Tesla holdings are a throwback to a silly purchase in 2012 when I didn’t know about index investing. Sometimes you get lucky.
Indexing: A Lot
Indexers, don’t fret! It was a good month for VTSAX too:
Most of our money is in index funds now. Indexing is simple, passive, and incredibly effective. What more could you want?
October Performance
So yeah, October was great. Our net worth started the month at $4,258,593 and ended at $4,864,732:
2021 (as of 10/31/2021)
- Days elapsed: 303
- Net worth gains: $1,254,986
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 3225
- Net worth gains: $4,048,689
2021
If the gains hold, this will be the second year where net worth increased by over $1,000,000. It’s a little crazy for me to process. As a kid, I thought having a million dollars was some crazy unattainable goal. Now, I don’t have a job and we make that much in a year. Surreal.
Some random thoughts:
1. You have to be in it: Being in the market at all times is incredibly important. An article from the Motley Fool has this to say about what would happen if you missed the 10 best days between 2003 and 2018
If you were fully invested in the S&P 500, your annualized total return was 7.7%. But if you missed the 10 best days in the market, it dropped to a paltry 2.65%.
–Motley Fool
Lesson: Do not be naughty and try to time Mr. Market. Mr. Market will be mad and it won’t work out well for you.
2. Start young: I started investing when I started at my first real job a little 22 years ago. I remember being excited when my portfolio would go up $100 in a day. Fast forward to today when we just had a $600,000 month. Life is good.
Lesson: Money will do great things if you give it enough time.
3. If you’ve had the same success, consider giving back: I was just reading about crab mentality. Supposedly if there a bunch of crabs in a bucket and one tries to escape, the other crabs will pull it back. No one wins. Crabs, this is shitty and I expected more from your species!
If you’re the person who did well with money, don’t be like the crabs. Instead, I encourage you to lift others. We all win that way.
This morning, I talked to students at The University of Colorado. Perhaps a couple of my words will sink in.
Lesson #1: Crabs are assholes.
Lesson #2: We’re all in this together. If your life is great, perhaps you can help make some else’s life great too.
More 1500 Days!!!
You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:
Mile High FI podcast:
Also here:
- EconoMe: Hey look, I’m speaking at EconoMe later this year!
- Facebook: Facebook group and page
- 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.
Other resources I like:
- Camp FIs are amazingly fun! I hope to attend Rocky Mountain and Joshua Tree this year. See you there?
- Need to learn how to invest? The Simple Path to Wealth is all you need.
- New to FIRE? Need some FIREy guidance? Check out Fiology and the accompanying workbook!
*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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*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
As a native Marylander (we learn to go crabbing by the Chesapeake shortly after we learn to walk) I was wondering where you were going with that title. 😀
Thank you for taking the time (via this blog, your talks, and every other venue you’ve pursued over the years) to fight against that tendency and give back to those who need to hear it. Nothing is better for your health than ignoring people who try to cut down your successes. Well, except maybe some freshly-steamed blue crabs. Yum!
“Nothing is better for your health than ignoring people who try to cut down your successes.”
Truth! I have been bothered by anonymous people on the internet, but that’s sooo silly! Why should I care what some rando thinks of me?!??
Those blue crabs sound awesome! #Maryland2022~
Man, borrowing on your house to buy stocks, just the thought of that terrifies me. But I get the math and the probabilities, but not for me. I’ve had zero debt for twenty years and I am going to keep it that way. I won’t even take a 0% car loan, I pay cash. And of course we paid the house off early. It just feels nice to own our house, but that isn’t important to a lot of people. That’s why they call it personal finance.
Not taking a loan at 0% is a little perplexing to me. I don’t like debt either, but I like more money more than I dislike small, low-interest debt.
To extend the example, what about a ridiculous hypothetical situation: 🙂
What if you had an investment that would bring you a guaranteed 10% every year and you could borrow money at a locked-in rate of 5%. So, you’re absolutely guaranteed to make money and the more you borrow, the more you’d make. Would you do it?
I love ready these updates. It is so inspiring. I am tracking about 18 months behind you and get excited to see the future!
Thanks!
The future is good. And maybe even great!
Carl,
From reading your blog when you were just approaching your FI number, and to see how quickly you & Mindy’ve reached these new levels, is simply incredible. You’re proof that even when everything doesn’t go exactly as you originally planned financially (Elevated Living Estates, I’m looking at you), you can continually grow your NW as long as you keep taking steps in the general right direction. Really well done and inspirational!
Thanks for the kind words! I’m a pessimist at heart, but I readily admit that most of the time, everything seems to work out for the best. Life is good.
Hey Mr. 1500, first time posting a comment, but lurking for a long time. I love your monthly updates, it’s amazing how your portfolio grew over just couple of years.
I’m wondering, have you ever created a calculation of how big portfolio would you have if you didn’t invest in individual stocks?