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.
Half of 2021 is over. Where did it go? I have no idea.
In 2020, COVID-life creeped along like a drunken sloth. In 2021, life is flying by like a rabid t-rex on amphetamines.
Mid-Year Review
I’m mostly an index investor now. Before that, I didn’t know what an index fund was, so I bought individual stocks. (see the full list of my investments here) I’m a nerd, so most of those stocks were big tech. I’m stubborn, so I’ve held on to them and they’ve treated me well.
So far this year, Google (Alphabet) and Facebook are knocking it out of the park. Amazon and Tesla have underperformed.
Looking at 6-month performance is silly. Investing should be for the very long-term.
The youngest of my holdings is Facebook which I bought when it IPO’d in mid-2012. If I back the chart up to that date, the story is a lot different. These stocks, especially Tesla, have absolutely killed it:
Despite this outsized performance, I’m a big believer in index funds. My fancy tech companies will eventually be killed off by more innovative companies. The pace of disruption is accelerating and the risk to holding an individual stock is that you ride it to $0. I did this with more than one company during the dot-com bubble. Whoops!
However, the big tech companies of today are in much better positions than those vaporware companies of two decades ago, so I’m not in a huge hurry to sell them. In the meantime, almost all new money will go to index funds.
June
June was a stellar month. Our net worth started the month at $3,937,772 and ended at $4,100,516 for a gain of $162,744:
2021 (as of 6/30/2021)
- Days elapsed: 181
- Net worth gains: $570,770
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 3102
- Net worth gains: $3,364,473
To Infinity! And Beyond!
Compound interest is an amazing phenomenon to experience. When I first started investing, I was thrilled when my portfolio went up $2,000 in a month. For the first 6 months of the year, we’ve averaged $95,000 per month.
If you take anything from this blog, I hope it’s that you’re inspired by my numbers. I hope that you hold on for the long-term no matter what happens to the markets in the short term.
Put your money to work so you don’t have to.
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.
***This is an affiliate link. If you sign up, the blog (me) makes some cold, hard, beautiful, cash. Personal Capital is a totally free and awesome way to keep watch over your investments. It’s worth it for the fee analyzer alone. I would never recommend anything that I don’t personally use and completely believe in, so give it a try. If you’ve already signed up through the link, please know that you are a fine person of above-average intelligence.
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
$95,000 a month…. That’s truly remarkable Carl.
When am I going to get on your level?? *sad face*
David @ Filled With Money recently posted…Excessive Consumerism: 11 Reasons Why to Avoid It
Haha! You’ll be surprised how fast those dollars start to reproduce eventually…
I can’t believe you did not celebrate breaking 4 Million!
I guess after the first three the rest just seem to roll in…no big deal. 😉
Your wealth growth has been amazing. I did the whole buy and hold and ride to zero a bunch of times, I am 100% index now but when I see your individual stock performance I am jealous and have a small bit of regret going all index investing. My progress is slow and steady while this year has been great I am no where near $95,000 per month growth. Keep rolling in those millions!
4 million! I’ll do something for 5, but then maybe I’ll stop with these updates. The money is fun, but it’s diminishing returns after a while as far as utility. With the mortgage and home improvements, we’ve spent around $30,000 in the first half of the year. There just isn’t anything I really want to buy.
Indexing is the way to go. Despite my big tech holdings, VTI/VTSAX is still my biggest.
With that said, if Tesla can stay ahead and build a competitive edge in batteries and autonomous tech, it may be the biggest company in the world this decade. So, I’m holding on to that one.
it’s funny you say there really isn’t anything you want to buy. i just realized we had some unexpected gains from some risk i took with cash that was just sitting idly around. i could not think of anything special we would buy either with relatively “found money.”
it’s a good place to find yourself but makes me wonder a little why i’m still working.
freddy smidlap recently posted…The Privilege of Working Your Nuts Off
Quite amazing how it all snowballs, right? Sounds like you’ve been busy with your renovations and such- we are busy in the middle of buying a new (to us) fixer upper and it’s been a huge slog to get through all the bank stuff on a house that, apparently is “unlivable” (according to the mainland based underwriter). I haven’t even checked our index fund balances, I have been that busy! Going to need your home reno videos soon- though I did learn the proper way to paint a single wall house. Which is NOT buying silicone caulking to put between the tongue and grooves- the instructions said “not paintable”, and I said “we’ll see about that”. I lost.
You’re almost part of the 1% !
Whoah, I just Googled it and see the 4.4 number. We’re already over it with home appreciation, but I feel better being a little conservative with it all.
Those Yahoo Finance performance charts are interesting, Carl. Do you have to pay to access that?
Totally free! And yeah, they’re super cool.
“Put your money to work so you don’t have to.”
Yes. Yes, yes, and YES! That’s the idea, that’s the takeaway.
Great job sitting on your butt and doing nothing while earning a high earner’s annual wage this past month.
Well, I wouldn’t say nothing. I know you’re out there traveling and enjoying our fair world. 🙂
Chris@TTL recently posted…Your Start to Financial Freedom (From Scarcity to Abundance)
When I get deflated about whether or not we’re going to hit the numbers we need for retirement, I think of you and a few other bloggers who got there sooner than expected and gin up a little hope to hold me over. I do hope you’ll keep doing some kind of monthly updates, even if it doesn’t totally revolve around where the market has taken your portfolio this month.
Revanche @ A Gai Shan Life recently posted…Is this a mid-career crisis?
Thanks for the encouragement! Writing helps me think through things, so perhaps I’ll keep it going. Dunno…
As someone with a solid net worth and a long time reader, I hope you continue to do the updates! I think they are awesome, it’s a great real life “look how I got here”, and it is inspiring! It’s also a very cool in real time compound interest lesson and I imagine there will be lots of philosophical nuggets you will discover about the value of money, enough, real happiness, etc as you continue along and the numbers continue along.
PS I once rode in an elevator with you at a FinCon and I felt like a secret friend because I knew all this stuff about you and your life. But it also felt kinda weird, if you know what I mean. ?
Thanks for the kind words!
Hopefully, I didn’t fart in the elevator!
Are you going to FinCon this year? If so, I’m going to host a Franklin BBQ lunch on Wednesday and you’re invited.
hi Mr. 1500 Days!
Can you tell me the next plan after you have achieved what you want? i want to learn it