1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Performance Update 19/50: Flying High in July

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My main goal is to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 in 1500 days with no debt*, starting from 1/1/2013. Every month, I provide an update on my status. My goal for 2014 is to get my portfolio up to $768,536. Because we saw exceptional returns in 2013, I have accomplished this goal as well as my goal for the end of 2015. Time to look back on the month of July.

Woweee!!
Woweee!!

My portfolio continued to rock and roll in July. I started the month at $913,233 and ended at $924,818. Considering the S&P 500 had a drop of 1.6% for the month, these returns are sweet. Most of my run up was due to facebook**, a bet I made a long, long time ago. Here are the numbers as of 7/31/2014:

2014

  • Days elapsed: 213
  • Days remaining: 152
  • 2014 gains: $55,183
  • Left to go (2014): Goal accomplished!

Since the start (1/1/2013)

  • Days elapsed: 576
  • Days remaining: 954
  • Gains since 1/1/2013 gains: $338,775
  • Needed for $1,000,000: $75,182
  • Net worth***: $1,124,818
Go, go, go!
Go, go, go!

I’m going to show you mine!

I’ve always been hesitant to share my portfolio. I have some individual stocks and I think that this is a dangerous idea for most investors. The last thing I want to do is give anyone bad ideas. For the sake of transparency, I do need to tell you what I own and why I own it. I’ll start doing this one week from today. Stay tuned.

 

*I still owe something like $120,000 on my mortgage. Because I have a low rate, I firmly believe in not paying it off. My compromise is to have enough money put away to pay off the mortgage at time of retirement. So, to retire today, I would need about $1,120,000.

**Lawyer/legal bleating: I’m not a financial adviser and this shouldn’t be looked upon as advice. Do your own research! I’ll explain why I bought this next week.

Dinosaurs scaling the famous Leaning Tower of TP
Dinosaurs scaling the famous Leaning Tower of TP

***The numbers on the right side of the page only reflect my investments and cash. Net worth includes, but is not limited to:

  • home equity
  • cars
  • extensive book collection
  • vast assortment of plastic dinosaurs
  • toilet paper; lots and lots of toilet paper
  • fancy LED light bulbs everywhere!

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*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

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Comments

    • The little guy made it out OK, although one of the dinosaurs is going to get him on Thursday.

    • I’m scared! That is why it has taken my 19 months. I’ve finally made peace with it. I’m curious to know what everyone thinks of my style.

  7. Good job 1500! Sounds like you will probably be retired before 1500 days, how cool is that!? I got like… 20ish years… based on the 40% savings rate (cause that’s about what I think I can save when kids come along). Hopefully things go better than that, if I can find a way to boost income just a little this will come around much faster.
    Kipp recently posted…Income and Expense for July 2014My Profile

    • 40% is a pretty killer savings rate. You’re doing a great job and who knows. 20 years may turn into 15 or even 10…

  8. I’m quite sure you will have 1000’s of opinions on what you “should be doing” and “how wrong you are”. The point is that it is YOUR portfolio and you can do what you want with it. If nothing else it seems to have been working out for you! I’d ignore anyone’s advice who isn’t willing to share their own portfolio and decisions that went went into building it.

    I don’t know if you read seeking alpha but for 99% of the comment streams lord almighty i haven’t seen that much preaching since i was in sunday school. There is that magical 1% though that are simply treasure troves of information.

    Share or not, i’ll still read your entertaining blogs 🙂

    • I’m quite sure you will have 1000′s of opinions on what you “should be doing” and “how wrong you are”.

      You have no idea! Some of my nastiest comments have come from when I’ve divulged my investments. The thing is though that I’ve done really well. I’m not saying that I’m an investing genius (luck has something to do with it), but I’ve soundly beat the markets for 10 years. If you can top it, tell me how.

      “I’d ignore anyone’s advice who isn’t willing to share their own portfolio and decisions that went went into building it.”

      This is a great point. Next time someone tries to kick me down, I’ll throw this back at em’! Show me your cards fool!

      Ha, yeah I’m guilty of reading Seeking Alpha. If I can’t say anything nice, I won’t say anything at all…

  9. Thanks for your blog-I enjoy it immensely!
    I am very interested in what you are going to do once you reach your 1million dollar goal. You will also pay off your residential mortgage. What kind of income producing investments are you considering? Maybe this would be a future post or ten? Keep up the great work…you’re an inspiration to us all.

    • Ha, yeah I have a lot of explaining to do. Since my mortgage is so low, I’m not going to pay it off early. I will save enough to account for it though. More later…

    • No clue. It depends on a lot of things. If I have a work contract, I would fulfill my obligation. That is most important. After that…

  12. I would probably call it quits if I had $1 million saved (okay maaaybe only $800,000 – you caught me) and my condo paid off, so about $1.5 million total is what it looks like these days. I need another $1 million to get there!

    You’re getting pretty darn close to your goal of $1 million! $75k – you should be there in no time.
    Leigh recently posted…I might keep my Barclaycard ArrivalMy Profile

    • Ha, don’t jinx me! 🙂

      I won’t count my dollars before they compound. I could get up to $998,000 and then a 20% correction could zap it down to $800,000…