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 2015 was to get my portfolio up to $874,353. Because we saw exceptional returns in 2013 and 2014, I have already accomplished this. Let’s have a look at October.
Bullshit
About a decade ago, some of Mrs. 1500’s relatives told me interesting news. They were making lots of money in the stock market. They had gone to a seminar by some guy (name redacted because I don’t like phone calls from lawyers, but you can figure it out) who promised a method to beat the market and were now making bucketloads of money. I was suspicious, but told them I would take a look at one of his books. Here is one of the first things that I read:
Sane? Safe? There is absolutely nothing sane or safe about telling people that 10-20%/month is reasonable.
As if the ridiculous returns weren’t bad enough, he went on to mention that he made a 250,000% return on a recent stock transaction. To put it another way, he turned $1 into $250,000. Not so quick. Reading the rest of the page, this guy explained that he sold a stock for a profit a couple seconds after buying it. He then extrapolated the gain to a one year, “annualized” return. Apparently it’s OK to talk about performance in annual terms when it serves your purpose.
And he isn’t incorrect. If you want to play with numbers, you can make them scream anything you want by manipulating dates and other variables. Of course, any person with more than 3 brain cells knows that extrapolating yearly performance from a couple seconds is an exercise in complete ridiculousness.
Fast Times at Trillionaire High
I want to revisit his “10-20% per month” claim. Let’s say that I go to his seminar, but I’m a bad listener and I do very poorly, only earning a pathetic 100% per year, far less that 10%/month. In the example below, I start out with $10,000 and never add another dollar. Here is what happens:
In 30 years, I have almost 11 trillion dollars. Not enough to pay off the US debt, but nothing to sneeze at either. And yes, Van Halen will definitely play my birthday party and you’re all invited.
Yikes, I’ve dated myself with that reference. Let’s move on.
On second thought, let’s not. I’ve lost all self-control. Hang with me for a short diversion from all of this serious stuff.
Are you Spicoli or Brad?:
Brad: Why don’t you get a job Spicoli?
Spicoli: What for?
Brad: You need money.
Spicoli: All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine.
Pirate King (boss at Captain Hook Fish and Chips): Brad, you’re going over there as a representative of Captain Hook Fish and Chips. Part of our image, part of our appeal is that uniform, you know that.
Brad: You really want me to put this stuff back on?
Pirate King: Yes, I do. Show a little pride.
Oh wow, I don’t know what got into me. If you’re still reading, I promise to mostly behave myself for the rest of this.
Beating the markets isn’t a reasonable expectation
If anyone ever tells you that they have a “system” or “method” to beat the market, consider the following:
- If Mr. Oracle has figured out the stock market, why are they teaching a class in Nowheresville Nebraska for $7,000/week? Why don’t they just use their own method, make billions and ride off into the sunset? The “guru” will usually tell you they do it because they ‘love teaching’ or ‘want to help others.’ Here is what is really happening:
- You cannot participate in the stock market without effecting it and this fact makes most methods useless. Every time you buy or sell a stock, it effects the price. This is supply and demand, perhaps the most fundamental concept in economics. If I put in an order to buy 100,000 shares of Apple, the stock price goes up. This is why any system will fail. It may work for a short amount of time, but people will catch on and it won’t work anymore. Even the great ones like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett changed their strategies.
From my perspective, though, Charlie’s most important architectural feat was the design of today’s Berkshire. The blueprint he gave me was simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices. –Warren Buffett (2014 Berkshire letter)
- The very few people who do have it figured out aren’t sharing the pie. I listened to a 60 Minutes episode about high frequency trading done with computers. Some of these guys are making bucketloads of money. And they’re not sharing their computers or money with us.
If anyone tells you they can beat the market, demand to see performance for a time period of at least a decade, but preferably multiple decades. Beating the market over the long term is amazingly difficult.
The answer to all of this is just to stick with index funds for the long term. That is why I’m slowly selling my stocks in favor of good old, Vanguard funds.
Performance Update: October
October was a great month and a stinker all at the same time. My portfolio went from $979,614 to $1,058,857 for a gain of $79,243, the biggest ever! It’s also the first time I’ve ended a month with a net worth over 1.3 million****. Yippee, I’m great!! Not so fast…
My performance was actually subpar. The increase of 8.1% didn’t come close to the S&P 500’s 8.9% performance for the same time period. Queue the Sad Trombone:
2015
- Days elapsed: 293
- Days remaining: 62
- 2015 gains: $71,506
- 2015 401k contributions: $42,200***
- Left to go (2015 only): Goal accomplished!
Since the start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 1033
- Days remaining: 467
- Gains since 1/1/2013: $472,814
- Needed for $1,000,000 (investments and cash only): I’m there, woot!
- Needed to retire ($1,120,000 in investments): $61,143
- Net worth****: $1,308,857
Rebalancing this thing
I was farting around on Personal Capital (<<<— just click it, you’ll be a better person) over summer and noticed this graphic:
Yikes. I enjoy my home country of the United States, but my portfolio allocation is unhealthy. 84% is just too much to have in the USA egg basket. At this time, the US markets are some of the most expensive in the world too, which doesn’t bode well for returns over the next 10 years (shout out to Michael Kitces!).
Over the summer, I decided to put future 401(k) contributions into Vanguard’s Total International Stock Index Fund (Vanguard doesn’t allow the purchase of Admiral shares in solo 401(k)s). I’d feel a lot better if my portfolio was 70% US, 20% foreign, and 10% alternatives.
UPDATE: Some folks in the comments including Dividend Growth Investor and Jason from Reaching our Balance have some interesting thoughts about foreign investing. I’ll revisit this on Monday.
If that last picture wasn’t scary enough, check out this one:
The top two items are what scare me most. I’m not happy that just two dangerous eggs, Facebook and Apple, make up over 30% of my portfolio. I need to rebalance here too, but I’m doing it slowly so I don’t get whacked too bad by the taxman. I sold some of each earlier this year and will hit the sell button again right after January 1st.
These stock purchases a relic from my past. I purchased Apple in 2007 and Facebook around IPO time in 2012. Despite my success with these two stocks, I firmly believe that index funds are much the best way to go for the average investor. I look forward to the day when individual stocks make up less than 10% of my portfolio.
No bonds, but more cash
Notice that I said nothing about bonds. I’m not sure if I’ll ever have bonds in my portfolio, but I definitely will not while Mrs. 1500 and/or I both have jobs. When we both leave work, I’ll reassess the situation.
Finally, we’re finally in a position where we’ll start having a cash surplus (no more home remodeling!). In some months, it will be quite significant because my work owes me a big bundle of money (“Hey work, please stop messing up my checks in your favor!”). I’m going to use the cash to build up reserves. Perhaps in 2016, we’ll use some of it to help buy a rental property.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my allocation, rental properties or Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
MMM
I’ll never forget the month that Mr. Money Mustache and I got a total of 10,000,000 views between our blogs (9,925,000 of them were MMM). I just made all of that up, but the percentages probably aren’t far from the truth. It’s all good though.
Without the Mustached One, there would be no 1500 Days. Without the Mustached One, I’d still be looking forward to decades of employment (***shudder***).
By some twist of cosmic fate, I also live close to MMM in Northern Colorado. It’s a bit surreal. On some evenings, I know that heavy doses of ridiculous spending are being committed because I see this up in the sky:
Anyway, if you’re anywhere close to Northern Colorado, I hope you come out for the MMM meetup. First beer is on me. Literally. I’m clumsy and am always spilling drinks and food all over myself.
*I still owe something like $120,000 (I’m too lazy to update this every month) 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.
**This is an affiliate link. If you sign up, the blog makes a little bit of money. Personal Capital is a totally free and superior 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 I think you’re one of the smartest, most beautiful people that I have never met.
***My 401k contributions include my own, Mrs, 15oo’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.
****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
- Bicycles
- Water bottles! I don’t know how this happened, but I noticed the other day that we have something like 7,563 water bottles in our home. Somehow, they have learned how to reproduce and they are multiplying exponentially. Yes, we have a Tribble problem.
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.
Wait, so you’re done? You can pay off your house twice right now! 😉
Chris @ Flipping a Dollar recently posted…October 2015 Profits – 4th Quarter Boom
Well, I want $1,120,000 in investments. The $!,300,000 included $250,000 of home equity, which I do not count. So, I still need $60,000 more.
Hey, do you have $60,000 I can borrow?
Oh duh. I was just confused since the one number was bigger. OK, I’ll let you keep blogging then. But I’m watching closely…
Chris @ Flipping A Dollar recently posted…October 2015 Profits – 4th Quarter Boom
Can I still have the $60,000? You won’t have to listen to me anymore! 🙂
LOL 1/4 of my net worth gone to help someone I talk to online. I don’t think that’s in my YNAB budget. I think my wife might literally kill me too.
Chris @ Flipping A Dollar recently posted…October 2015 Profits – 4th Quarter Boom
Good news! My portfolio is up to $1,090,000, so you only have to give me $30,000 (1/8!). I’ll even throw in some water bottles that are sure to appreciate in value*.
*Ummm, probably not.
I was heavy in US stocks also earlier this year, and Personal Capital showed me the error of my ways. Its amazing how much a graphic will speak to me sometimes instead of just numbers.
Mrs SSC recently posted…How do you define success?
I know, right? I could spend hours every week messing around on that site.
I am overweight on my US stock position, but at some level we have to remember that almost 30% of earnings of these corporations are outside the U.S. so buying solid U.S. companies where their top-line growth abroad isn’t necessarily all that bad. And I love the Fast Times at Ridgemont High references. Just watched that movie again the other night.
Jason recently posted…November Monthly Challenge
I had heard the same thing, and it made sense to me.
Hmmmm, I’ve heard this before too from the likes of Jim Collins. I need to do some more research…
I’m having issues with my work holding my retirement funds for a pretty long time before depositing into my retirement account. Makes it very difficult to keep track of and make sure theres no shenanigans. Other than that they don’t seem to keep track of my sick and vacation days. A bit frustrating seeing accounts not going up and having “-5” vacation days when I’ve used 3.
MMM is great, him and jlcollinsnh showed me what to do with my surplus cash. It was piling up and I was ignorant about the market.
I would flip my shit if that was happening to me. I’m livid that we “simplifying” our funds by lowering our expense ratios a bit but increasing flat fees. Id need to have over $280000 in my 401k before I would break even in fees. Ugh.
Chris @ Flipping a Dollar recently posted…October 2015 Profits – 4th Quarter Boom
Whoah, sound like some heavy fees. Yikes. What do you mean by “break even” though?
Ah, coming back. No, the fees are all really small and that’s the thing. I only started working at this company last year. The fees are something like $13 a year right now (just using the annualized ER). Now they’re lowering them by 0.01% but adding in quarterly fees to a total of $50 per year. So now instead of $13 in fees I’ll have $60. The only time the extra 0.01% of expense ratio would equal the $50 is if I had almost $300k in my 401k, which won’t happen for a long time considering the limits on 401ks!
Chris @ Flipping A Dollar recently posted…Getting over my DSLR fear
“Mr. Hand! What are you doing here?”
That is such a funny movie. I’m gonna show my age here but, that movie is 6 years older than I am.
You made me curious about my allocation. I’m 69% domestic and 25% int’l. I guess that is good? I am also trying to reallocate my portfolio as well. After signing up for personal capital (thanks for that btw), I saw I had a couple redundant funds, and a few that had higher fees than I would like. So, I’m slowly moving those high fee funds into IVV. Its an S&P index ETF, the first one I’ve owned so I’m not used to it. Each transaction has a $7.95 fee so I’m piling the money up in a cash fund that way I can make the purchases in larger chunks. I think that’s the best way to do it?
You should try selling those water bottles as a side hustle. Haven’t you heard? There is a huge market for random, gently used, water bottles. You should cash in before that bubble pops! I’m sure you could make 30% monthly returns or at least the $60,000 you need to reach or goal.
Whoah, a $7.95 for each? Yeah, I’d probably pile the money up a bit to so that cost as a percentage of the transaction is minimized.
And holy cow, you’re not supposed to be so smart at such a young age. Go nuts and to out and buy a Porsche Cayman or something ridiculous like that. Better yet, buy me one!
I’ll trade you a Cayman for my water bottle collection!
Actually I was mistaken about the $7.95 fee. Because IVV is a Fidelity iShare ETF, it is commission free. They offer about 30 Fidelity/iShare ETFs that are commission free, but the rest (probably about 200) carry the $7.95 fee.
Porsche huh? I figured you for a Lamborghini guy. Even if I was a trillionare, I don’t think I could buy a high end sports car. Just not my style. Now an old school hot rod on the other hand? Well, that’s a different story.
Ha! Does an Acura NSX count as an old school hot rod? Don’t roll your eyes. Stop it!
I like the old school stuff too, but I don’t like the old technology. I never want to work on another carburetor or drum brake as long as I live.
Fund names that start with “V” for the win!
No bond funds, eh? Did you get that Vanguard email from last week where they talked about bonds? It was a good 3 minute read.
Nah, I didn’t get that email. Google isn’t showing me anything either. What am I missing?
Hi Mr 1500 days,
Actually, someone who owns shares in a company like Facebook, could essentially sell a long-term covered call, and use the money to invest in something else.
For example, FB is at $102.50/share now. If I had 100 shares, I could simply sell a January 2017 call at strike 5 at $97.50 ( the 2018 options will likely be available on FB in a few weeks). I can use that $97.50 to buy whatever I want. You are capping your upside, but you are deferring the bite on the sale for a few years ( you were going to sell anyways, right?)
I agree with you on people who annualize returns – options investors/traders are notorious for stating that they made a 100% annualized return – which is bogus of course because of reinvestment risk.
As far as gurus are concerned… If Buffett had never managed other people’s money, he would still be a multi-millionaire today. But not the third richest person in the world. But when you combine his great investing record, alongside with his using OPM at a hedge fund, and a long record of compounding, you get miracles.
I do agree however that those selling a $7,000 course are just selling snake oil… Unfortunately, a sucker is born every second. You should research claims made by those who sell trading systems on futures… It is scary out there.
Dividend Growth Investor recently posted…How early retirees can withdraw money from tax-deferred accounts such as 401 (k), IRA & HSA
Options! I’ve never messed with them. but yeah, they sound like a viable option to draw it down.
So far, I’ve been using trailing stop loss orders to get rid of stuff. I like those because as long as the stock keeps going up, I get to keep it. I’d prefer never to sell, but I can’t handle that risk long term in companies like Facebook.
That guy I referenced is so full of nonsense. He just got out of prison actually for tax evasion. Despite that, my relatives still firmly believe in the bullshit.
As far as international stocks are concerned – are you aware that roughly 40% – 50% of revenues on S&P 500 companies is derived from international operations?
When you own S&P 500, you have exposure to the international economy. The whole idea of home bias is BS for US investors – our stock market is much more diverse than most others. In Canada for example, you have heavy exposure to commodities and financials – this is not the case for US.
Also the US has a pretty good rule of law, that is better than many emerging markets for example.
With foreign funds you have a currency risk, extra tax withholdings ( which you cannot get a credit for in a tax-deferred account), and you pay more than US stocks. By buying US stocks with foreign operations, you are sidestepping this extra “hassle”.
Long story short- you don’t need international stocks ( plus, VGTSX is more expensive than VXUS/VTIAX)
Dividend Growth Investor recently posted…How early retirees can withdraw money from tax-deferred accounts such as 401 (k), IRA & HSA
Good points from Dividend Growth Investor.
Mr. 1500, I’m curious why you hold VGTSX instead of VXUS.
Tawcan recently posted…Ask the Readers: how do you track your household finance?
I mentioned this in the article: “Vanguard doesn’t allow the purchase of Admiral shares in solo 401(k)s.”
Eventually, when I leave my job and close the corporation, I’ll roll it all over and get admiral shares.
Yeah, I need to do some research. DGI is a sharp guy, but so are the folks who run the roboadvisors and they have significant foreign holdings: https://www.betterment.com/portfolio/
I need to do some research.
If I were so smart, how come I am not rich 😉 (yet)
I think Bogle and maybe Buffett ( though not 100% sure on him) are not big fans of international stocks over US ones. Though at 20% of net worth, you are probably going to be just fine with international.
Dividend Growth Investor recently posted…How early retirees can withdraw money from tax-deferred accounts such as 401 (k), IRA & HSA
I know I definitely heard this from Bogle. I think you’re right about Buffett and Munger too. It is discussed a little in this article: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-warren-buffett-is-wrong-about-investing-in-global-stocks-2015-03-04
I sometimes feel like a really draconian liberal, wanting to protect novice investors from charlatans claiming they can safely beat market returns without risk. I mean, someone needs to shelter the new, trusting investor from guys like this, right?
And then my conservative come out, and I cringe at the idea of regulation and a government body failing at this regulation anyway…
It just bugs me that people can make these sort of claims with impunity.
Done by Forty recently posted…As I Accelerate Towards the Earth
Yeah, I can totally relate to this. I want to jump up and down at my relatives who still strongly believe in this jerk. To add to it, the guy just got out of prison for tax evasion.
Vanguard, Jack Bogle and Warren Buffett are all worth many magnitudes more than this jerk, so perhaps their is hope. Perhaps it’s all a bit like financial natural selection; the dumb and ignorant will quickly be separated from their money.
So your water bottles believe in monthly compound growth, but your investments do not. I’m really confused.
We are US and equity heavy too. Our plan is to increase to more international funds through purchases, and to really balance things out when I have an opportunity for a Rollover with my 401K. I should really consider rebalancing my Roth at the very least though.
Hmmm, now I’m not so sure about my plans. I need to do some reading. More on Monday…
Yeah, I think I am just over 80% in US stocks. I blame it on the booming market. But seriously though, 1,750 shares of Facebook? I was happy to get my token one share for posterity’s sake around the IPO. Individual stock-wise, at most I have a few dozen shares of blue chip companies. Holding any more than one share of a social network would make me nauseous.
Norm recently posted…How To, And How Not To, Rent An Apartment From Me
“Holding any more than one share of a social network would make me nauseous.”
Earnings release is tomorrow evening. Check in with me at 5pm to see is I’m nauseous.
Really though, 1,000,000,000+ people use that thing multiple times per day. If management can’t figure out how to make money from that kind of engagement, they should all be fired.
We’re somewhat heavy in Canadian stocks and would like to more international exposure. I guess US counts as international. 🙂 It’s tough to have less exposure in the US since so many big international companies are US based. Good points on these “gurus.” Looks like it’s time to sell some of these Facebook shares and buy some Vanguard index ETF’s.
Tawcan recently posted…Ask the Readers: how do you track your household finance?
Yeah, I do love those Vanguard ETFs. Where would we be without Bogle?
Hahha, man i love your posts. If you ever do retire i would add a cash component to ride out market bottoms too. And if i ever invest in bonds it’ll be individual ladder held to maturity. Those BOND ETF’s skeeve me out.
FYI, i hate Ruby because it looks and smells like Perl, but hasn’t gone through the teething phase yet. And provides new and inventive ways to shoot yourself in the foot.
Thanks Zaxon!
“If you ever do retire i would add a cash component to ride out market bottoms too.”
Completely agree. I want to have at least 2 years of cash on hand. If the markets take a huge dump, I’ll live on that. I wouldn’t mind having an income property too. A small, single family home in my ‘hood will crank out $1600/month which is about half of my living expenses.
Ruby! I haven’t done that much with it yet. I’ve been to a conference though and the Ruby crowd is a strange one.
There seem to be a load of jobs in it though. I was thinking of learning it in case I ever want to back to work. ***shudders again***
Water bottles are secretly bunnies the way they reproduce? =)
Mrs. PoP recently posted…PoP Income Statement – October 2015
Apparently so. Does 24 need a new water bottle?
Totally respect the decision to index even though it isn’t for me.
Back in my MBA days, they made us “prove” with the ONE HIGH AND HOLY MATHEMATICS [Amen] that having 20% international in your portfolio produced higher returns AND lower risk. But I think that is a little silly for an American. Most (more than half) of the S&P 500 revenue comes from outside the US. Your international exposure is already really high if you are in American indexes. It only makes sense if you want to massage your Beta.
Financial Velociraptor recently posted…Bonus trade HCLP roll down and out
Thanks Raptor, point taken.
You made it back to the double comma club 🙂
Dominic @ Gen Y Finance Guy recently posted…October 2015 – Detailed Financial Report #10 – Net Worth $301,788 [+66.4% YTD]
Yes, and the air is s fine here. Please be a dear and join me some day soon.
I’ve got my own Trillionaire Plan almost ready for posting. It’s not $11 trillion, but heck I’m only a teacher. Stay tuned…
Man, just the thought of Van Halen playing your B-day party almost triggered my party response. Have fun at the ‘Stache-a-palooza…sorry I can’t be there.
Ed! If I join the Trillionaire Club before you, I’ll share my gold plated, diamond encrusted 787 with you any day.
I’m actually gonna be visuting Colorado and in Boulder/Denver during the MMM get together, but have event tickets for that night. Too bad, would have been cool to go. Too be honest though, I think I’m a bit afraid I’d get punched in the face for not being frugal/extreme enough to be a real mustachian.
Damn! MMM is a really nice guy, so I’m sure he wouldn’t have punched you in the face. Maybe an elbow to the gut, but not a punch to the face.
Have a great time in Colorado!
Will there be diamond encrusted Birthday cake at the Van Halen show?
Brian @DebtDiscipline recently posted…Millennials and Student Loan Debt
YES! And it doesn’t stop there. Every guest guest gets a gold plated, diamond adorned replica of the gold plated, diamond adorned cake.
#killinit
I also struggle with divesting my individual stocks I hold from my younger years. The tax implications can make it tough to sell. I’m working on it though, slow and steady.
Fervent Finance recently posted…Fringe and Other Workplace Benefits
Don’t forget that you can donate appreciated stock and avoid capital gains taxes that way. If you’re already planning to support some church/cause/non-profit and have stock to unload, that’s one way to do it that should help come tax time.
Eventually, I plan to donate it all to charity. For now though, the plan is to get myself to 90 without having to work at Walmart. Do you think my kids will hate me when they learn they aren’t getting most of my money? 🙂
I’m always amazed how much time and effort folks put in to getting rich quick instead of just doing the proven method of getting wealthy. I watched my uncle for years always chasing the “next big thing” and he always made fun of my dad “the teacher” and yet my uncle still works and my dad has been retired for 12 years. You can hope to be rich or you can be rich…I guess you just have to decide which you want to do in life.
Lance @ Healthy Wealthy Income recently posted…Extreme Saving: How to Save Half of Your Money
That’s a great story. There is no way to get rich quickly unless you’re extremely lucky and win the PowerBall. However, that doesn’t work out well for a lot of people either.
“You can hope to be rich or you can be rich…I guess you just have to decide which you want to do in life.”
Exactly, love it! And you know, it’s not hard to get rich. I was in the hole by $60,000 when I came out of school. Just 15 years later, I’m up to 1 million. This may not be rich to some people, but it sure the hell is to me.
Most of my stocks are large US Stocks. I think they have enough foreign exposure for me.
The US Market consistently beats foreign markets.
No Nonsense Landlord recently posted…Getting Rid of a Bad Tenant
Yep, that is the theme. I am reconsidering it all. Tune in Monday and Tuesday for an update.
Yeah, beating the market is the battle I think we all fight constantly. Our egos say we can do it, but the reality is that it’s a zero sum game. Best bet is to either follow the Bogle approach and buy a low cost index or, if you have the time and inclination, follow the Buffett approach and do your homework and hold on to your purchases for . . . ever. Patience pays off!
-DP
DP @ Someday Extraordinary recently posted…“Waiting for the Universe to Respond to What You’ve Been Manifesting”
Dude… love your writing style! Best Spicoli vs Brad tangent I’ve read (and first). 🙂
Like everyone else, I’m a bit overweight in domestic equities so I’d love to hear what you say when you revisit the foreign investments topic.
Awesome job with the FB and APPL! But, yeah 30% is a pretty large nut. You’re definitely smart to be considering a re-balancing over indexes.
Anyhow, love the blog. You’re riding some tasty waves my friend!
Michael @ Financially Alert recently posted…How To Budget Like A Badass – The Easy Way (Part 2)
“Why don’t they just use their own method, make billions and ride off into the sunset? The “guru” will usually tell you they do it because they ‘love teaching’ or ‘want to help others.’”
Truer words have never been said. These FURUs (fake gurus) seem to be popping up and reproducing faster than your water bottles.
-FwF
FreewillFinance recently posted…Get rid of my Private Mortgage Insurance?
I’ve never equated stock market investing with quantum mechanics but there you go… Schrodinger’s Cat with funny jackets!
I’m a firm believer in the value of index funds. You can’t beat the market so you might as well ‘join’ it. Also, stocks aren’t traded as often so costs/fees are generally lower than other managed funds, too. There’s a lot to like…
diane @smartmoneysimplelife recently posted…Women, Retirement and Poverty – Don’t be a Statistic
Ha! Awesome post as always, 1500. I remain confused why those “I’ve figured out a way to beat the market, and for a small fee, I’ll share the secret with you” guys are so utterly successful. Like you said, those people who may ACTUALLY have a way to perform better than market averages tend not to share their mechanisms with the mass population because the public will fuck things up. Royally fuck things up.
Only idiots share their secrets with a larger group of idiots – in this case, the average investor. But no, these guys aren’t idiots. They are cleverly profiting off of the idiocy of the average investor by claiming that they have a secret. Unfortunately, it works.
I need some Cheetos.
Steve @ Think Save Retire recently posted…The Friday Feast ~ the 6th of November
Congratulations on your tremendous progress to date. You’re nearly there now.
Your portfolio does scare me though – so much in the US and so much in your biggest few stocks. I’m over in the UK and I can’t imagine having 85% in UK stocks.
I also get twitchy if a stock gets to more than 2% or 3% of my portfolio.
Now that you’re so close to your goal, it might be a good idea to throttle back a little.
Mike Rawson recently posted…Relative Strength Index (RSI) Oscillator – TA 6
You’re totally right! A friggn’ overvalued social media company (facebook) makes up almost 20% of my portfolio. Ugggh!
Right after January 1st, I’m going to sell more facebook and more Apple. I’ll use the proceeds to rebalance.
Great blog and summary. Did Mrs. 1500 have separate investment accounts before she met you? I’ve always wondered how people merge their investment accounts (if at all). I suppose that you just have a joint Personal Capital account.
Smart Money MD recently posted…Don’t Forget To Contribute To Your Roth IRA!
Hi MD!
Before marriage, Mrs. 1500’s job didn’t have and investment plan and she didn’t have an investment account.
Now that we’re married, everything is merged. With that said, I manage it all. I don’t even thing she knows the logins for anything. I should tell her what they are sometime in case I get run over by that bus!