Performance Crapdate: August! September!! October!!! Oh My!!!!

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.

Oof! It’s already November! Where does the time go?

Mindy and I have been having a lot of fun in my part of the world working on our project place. After about 6 weeks of working about 20 hours per week, we’re almost done:

Note: See our YouTube channel for juicy remodeling updates.

When I get wrapped up in something, I tend to focus on It and drop everything else. So, I’ve missed my August and September money updates. I’ll bring you up to date in a moment.

Why Do This?

These updates are kinda stupid. I preach and truly believe that long-term investing is the only way to go. When I invest money, I’m sending those little dollars on a very long mission. I don’t plan on seeing them for at least a decade and when they return, I hope that they bring back many new friends. So why publish monthly (or in this case, quarterly) updates?

• Entertainment: It’s a lot of fun for me to watch the ebb and flow of the markets. I love watching my version of The Money Show.
• Openness: I hate it when people talk about big goals but then provide no evidence.

Lately, The Money Show has been really interesting. I started this experiment January of 2013. For most of that time, the dollars marched up and to the right with little rest. This year, the dollar soldiers are on hiatus.

But, this is how it goes. You must take risk and as long as you’re in it for the long-term, you’re going to be OK.

pic.twitter.com/hPaiQpHd1S

— Brian Feroldi (?,?) (@BrianFeroldi) October 28, 2022

August! September!! October!!! Oh My.

I’ve never reported three months at once, but I’ll keep it simple. Here is what our investments looked like:

• August: $3,864,542 (down $247,005 from last month)
• September: $3,735,617 (down $128,925 from last month)
• October: $3,626,020 (down $109,597 from last month)

Add in our $230,000 in home equity and our net worth is puttering around at $3,856,020:

In the past 3 months, our investments are down about $485,000. Since our all-time-high about one year ago, we’re down $1,400,000. Oof.

Our game is growth investing. In a low interest rate environment, our growth stocks were juiced up on cheap money. Kinda like an 8 year old on Halloween who has consumed 18 fun-size Butterfingers (1,530 calories).

But when interest rates go up (or those Butterfingers start their battle with the GI tract), things turn quickly. Cheap money goes away and valuations begin their retreat to their mean. And we still have a bit to go.

2022 (as of 11/1/2022)

• Days elapsed: 304
• Net worth gains (actually losses): –$1,136,622

Since the Start of The Experiment (1/1/2013)

• Days elapsed: 3591
• Net worth gains: $3,039,977

It’s all going to be OK. Eventually, the Fed will calm down and stop raising rates. Sometime after that, it will start lowering them. People will become more optimistic. The housing market will recover. Stocks will go up. After the dark comes the dawn.

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

Mile High FI podcast:

• Listen on Apple, Google, YouTube, and Spotify

Also here:

• 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.

*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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