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.
Before I get to the Performance Update, I need to share some photos from the road…
Road Trippin’
If my dad hadn’t died earlier this year, we would have stayed home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Traveling in a pandemic isn’t the best idea. However, it felt especially important to spend the holiday with my family. We also thought that we could travel safely by driving and minimizing contact with other humans. We accomplished the latter by bringing our own food and not spending time indoors at public places.
To break up the trip (and the sibling fights), we stopped at a couple of National Parks.
At Arches National Park, Dinosaur Arch is one of the lesser known formations:
Posing with Younger Daughter in front of Delicate Arch:
Younger Daughter was not impressed with the Grand Canyon:
Dad, it’s a hole.
This tree has seen better days:
Warning! Man throwing up ahead!!
October Performance
Our net worth started the month at $3,111,872 and ended at $3,078,350 for a loss of $33,522. They can’t (and shouldn’t) all be winners.
2020 (as of 10/31/2020)
- Days elapsed: 304
- Investment portfolio gains: $903,310 (Our gains are outsized because we took equity out of our home in order to increase our investable assets. The next number, net worth, which includes home equity, is more accurate.).
- Net worth gains: $678,310
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 2860
- Investment portfolio gains: $2,352,307
Cha Cha Cha Changes
More changes this month…
Good-bye Elevated Living Estates
I mentioned in last month’s Performance Update that we were under contract to sell the trailer park (Elevated Living Estates to the easily offended). The deal is supposed to close this month. So far, so good. Fingers crossed.
Good-bye House
We had planned to raise our children in our last fixer-upper:
Then, we found a deal in another part that was too good to pass up, so we moved. And then the world changed:
- January: Let’s put the old house on Airbnb!
- March: COVID. Let’s get long-term renters.
- December: Long-term renters are moving out.
So here we are. The numbers don’t work as a long-term rental. We are too busy to deal with an Airbnb, so we’re going to sell it.
This makes me a little sad. I really enjoyed the location of this home (lots of open space to take pointless walks) and this home was the last project I worked on with my dad:
But, life moves on.
*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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If I can be nosy, why is your group selling the trailer park? It sounds like as an investment, it was just hitting it’s stride. Did Covid change the situation? I didn’t realize that your dad was involved in the remodeling work you did at the “rental house”. Hopefully, the housing market is still seller friendly there in Colorado. Good Luck on selling the house.
Hi Deb. Yep, it was an investment. I really like to invest for the long-term, so selling after only 4 years of ownership isn’t usually how I like to operate.
Right now, trailer parks are exceptionally hot and the offer we received was just too good to pass up. I believe that I’ll be able to use the proceeds from the sale more effectively elsewhere.
There are other reasons too (nothing to do with the investment), but I don’t wish to discuss them publicly at this time.
Beautiful photos! It’s been fourteen years since the last (and first) time I saw the Grand Canyon; in May it got down past 40° camping on the rim, and then the next three nights camping down by the river it didn’t get below 80° at night. Lots of weird microclimates. I’d love to go back and try a rim-to-river-to-rim — I’m fitter now than I was at 26, strangely. Hopefully someday, And hopefully without becoming that guy on the sign. Yikes.
It’s great to hear you’re making out well on the sale of the trailer park. I was worried you intended to get out just because of other circumstances, and didn’t realize the finances were fortuitous. Excellent!
Wow, those are crazy temperature variations. What an amazing place!
I’d love to do the rim to rim hike as well. Put a date down and I’ll meet you there!
Hmm….I feel very doubtful. How far is it to the Colorado river?
seems like a good idea to sell that house. i know you’ll find somewhere to make money from the proceeds. we just saw that a place sold near where we would like to live for 159k. it looked livable in a nice neighborhood and we could have just written a check. i guess you gotta keep your eye out for these things. enjoy your holidays.
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Very interesting about the trailer park. We have one in our city that has continually been run into the ground. It has been continually owned by LLCs located in other states that continually neglect it; the latest has been sued by the city for not licensing it or paying taxes or fees. The previous owner was cited by the city for numerous health code and ordinance violations.
It occurred to me there might be opportunity here because I’m sure the city would be thrilled to work with a local owner or owners. I would imagine the owners would be happy to let the property go and make a quick buck. And with a little TLC, it could actually be a nice park. It is bordered on one side by the busiest road in our city, but on the other by a nice river.
On the other hand, it seems like it would be a ton of work and if my experience has taught me anything, if something seems like a ton of work, it’s probably 50% more work than you even expect if not more. And I don’t really know if I want to be a mobile home park owner. It’s more of a thought experiment at this point, but it does have me thinking…
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It is certainly lucrative and a TON of work. I’m two years in to a fixer upper 53 unit park in Canada
Love the shots from Arches, etc. Looks like you all had a blast as a family. And before winter really sets in.
Hoping that the mobile home park investment works out well for you all, sounds like it should. That’s a very different sort of real estate investment vehicle than what most folks get involved with!
It’s certainly wild to see how your place has changed over the years—serious project! I hope the decision to sell works out. Where are you all going to end up?
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