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.
It feels weird writing about money right now:
- There are other things to worry about. Some are getting sick and many more are suffering from the secondary economic consequences.
- The market has been experiencing wild gyrations. It seems silly to report where my portfolio was on one day since the next day it may be up or down $30,000.
But, this blog is supposed to be about money, so I feel that I owe you my numbers. Perhaps it’s also more interesting to talk about personal finance now anyway. After all, difficult times are when good money skills matter most.
Before I get to the money part, I have a little more to say about the other circumstance. Unless you live in a supermax prison or a cabin in the middle of the woods, the virus has affected you. It’s strange how quickly life went from normal to batshit crazy. I hope that all of us come out of this a little stronger, more resilient, and with greater gratitude for normal life.
March Spending: $2,752
March was our lowest month of spending since we started keeping track. Aside from the mortgage ($1,238.49), our three biggest expenses were:
- Groceries ($947.60): We stocked up.
- Household/auto ($215.47): Mostly tools. And a little toilet paper.
- Utility bills ($129.31)
In 2019, our average monthly spending was $5,424.75. So, our COVID spending was half of normal. Yikes.
In the past, Mindy and I have talked about doing a lean spending month. We’d cut out restaurants, alcohol, and any other frivolous spending. We never pulled the trigger on it though. Until now when we were forced to.
We’re now leanFIRE or virusFIRE or covidFIRE…
March Performance Update
Our investment portfolio (stocks, rental home, coworking space, trailer park, and other real estate deals) started the month at $2,078,857 and ended at $1,979,773 for a loss of $99,084. Add in our primary residence and our net worth now sits at $2,344,773:
One interesting exercise is to look at Personal Capital charts B.C. (before COVID) and A.C. (after COVID).
B.C.: From 1/1 through 2/19 (all-time S&P 500 high), the market was on a happy trajectory upward, kind of like a roller coaster getting ready for the big drop…
** queue the screams **
A.C.: This looks like a really fun roller coaster, but a really violent ride on the S&P 500:
My portfolio isn’t down as much as the stock market because much of it is in real estate. Before I tell you how I value real estate holdings, you have to know how I think about these investments:
- Stock market: I’m a growth investor, so I care about long-term appreciation. I hold some of these investments in post-tax accounts so we can sell them for money to live on in retirement.
- Real estate: Property is about cash flow. I hold almost all real estate investments in a self-directed 401(k) account for tax efficiency.
I hold real estate for diversification. Or so I thought.
COVID has already hurt the stock market hard and real estate will suffer soon. So much for diversification.
Stocks V. Real Estate
Despite all of the doom and gloom, the stock market isn’t down that much. My second biggest stock holding is Amazon which is actually up significantly:
Real estate will suffer, but I expect it to be a lagging indicator. We have lost members at the coworking space due to furloughs. I don’t expect that my syndication deals will pay anything for the next 6 months. One of our private loans also stopped paying. We had plans to Airbnb our old house over the summer (prime vacation time in Colorado). With the virus torching that plan, we signed on long-term renters.
The drops don’t worry me. You’ll never know the cause, severity, or timing of the next market drop, but you do know that it will drop. And it will rise again after.
2020 (as of 3/31/2020)
- Days elapsed: 91
- March losses: $99,084
- 2020 losses: $55,267
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 2647
- Gains since 1/1/2013: $1,448,997
Portfolio and Net Worth
- Investment portfolio and cash value: $1,979,773
- Net worth (primary home included!): $2,344,773
Still Plugging Away
When school was canceled, I thought that I’d have to give up my home remodeling projects. I thrive on building and creating, so this threw me into a mini-depression.
I decided that I needed to carve out some time for myself every day. It isn’t easy, but I’ll usually wake up at 6 and do some work on the home and then if homeschooling goes well, I squeeze in a couple more hours in the late afternoon.
At the moment, I’m working on a deck. This will be a fancy piece of work totaling about 400 square feet and featuring a curved edge. I built a small, simple deck years ago, so this one is much more difficult. It’s been a fun challenge though and has come out great so far.
When the deck is done, I’ll build a sun-powered pool heater and the zip-line I promised my children years ago. I’ll also lay the foundation for a backyard pizza oven that I’ll build at a later date. After that, I’ll put the tools away for the summer sit on the deck for a spell. Maybe life will be on its way back to normal by then?
*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.
****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.
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.
Hi Carl…interesting times for FIRE. This is a really nice post, considering the circumstances.
I’d like to offer a “hack” for your Personal Capital graphs to show that volatility is not nearly as bad as it feels.
The graphs, by default, only show the very top of the value. I hate graphs that don’t show zero on the Y axis. To force the graph to the “proper” Y axis, I create a new “fake liability.” Then look at the value shown on the lowest line of the unmodified Y axis, and enter that value as the new liability. Bam! You’ll see a proper graph.
With a proper graph you’ll see volatility isn’t as nearly as bad as the default graph shows. (It will also look like you lost your life’s fortune on the final day)
After you’re done admiring the proper graph, be sure to set the fake liability to zero but leave it there for the next time you want to see a proper graph. If you don’t do this last step the graph will show the wrong value into the future.
Thanks for the suggestion! I probably shouldn’t even post pictures like that in case they scare some people.
When it comes to investing, we should all think in decades and when you push the numbers far out, everything becomes less scary:
Yup. For those of us who have been doing this for awhile, we get it.
For anyone just starting out, and sees their balance drop lower than what they’ve invested, it’s scary AF (me in 2000 and a newish workplace account in 2008)
I hope all PF and FIRE bloggers keep showing the big picture
Separately, I dabbled in owning a rental property in the 90s. After one sob story from a tenant, I decided it wasn’t for me. I can’t imagine what it’s like now
Actually, all things considered you guys seem to be weathering the storm fairly well (i.e. holding Amazon). That sucks to hear about the difficulties with the real estate though.
I would have guessed the trailer park would be the first of your assets to run into issues. Those tenants being on the lower end of the income scale.
Are your tenants still paying rent? My understanding is that many states have put evictions “on hold” and tenants can skip paying with limited consequences (not sure if this applies in Colorado).
In any case, it’s a difficult time to be a landlord, but your tech holdings seem to be weathering the storm. I hope it all works out in the balance.
Best of luck to you and your family Carl!
Mr. Tako recently posted…Lockdown Week 7: When The Food Ran Out
Yeah, we can’t complain!
Regarding the trailer park, in a twist that I never saw coming, it did better in April than March. Perhaps the defaults are coming in May?
Mr. 1500 Days recently posted…Performance Update (Day 2647): COVID Crashes The Party
Fancy deck? Pizza oven?! That is going to be a magnificent backyard! In the last month or two I’ve done some real basic stuff around the house (painting the porch, running Cat6 & coax from the basement to a plate in the home office) but that’s downright inspirational. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well and have a few hours to recalibrate each day!
Yeah, I feel like a mad scientist in our new backward. So many ideas, so little time to execute them! I didn’t even mention the outdoor gym part!
I found the dinosaur! Can you spot Mindy photobombing in the window? 😀
I’m looking forward to seeing the deck come together! That should be a fun project.
Ha! I didn’t notice Mindy photobombing!
I admire that you share your numbers and how you have responded to the pandemic challenge. Many wealthy people, like yourself, have income from numerous places. I would encourage anyone, with due diligence, invest in real estate that to help hedge against uncertainty I’m markets. By real estate I mean cash flow properties that more then likely have enough tenants paying rent so if a few left the other tentants keep your investment in the positive cash flow. I’m not offering advise as you are doing well for yourself I simply love engaging in discussions on wealth and more.
Yeah, I think that multiple sources of income that have loose correlation is a great idea. That’s why we own a trailer park, stocks, a coworking space, and a rental home. With any luck, they all won’t get kicked down at the same time.
It appears that you almost invested in gold your portfolio or just in S&P500, as it lost under 10% of its value.
This is much better that most of the world leading funds 😉
Of course, Tesla owner agreed with my earlier opinion on your blog, that the shares are overpriced.
Who needs Tesla when gas just under two bucks per gallon?
Financial Independence recently posted…April 2020 update ($489,265 +$47,946 or +%10.9)
Yeah, my individual stocks carried the load.
I know the co-working space was partly fun but do you have ROI numbers pre-covid and post covid?
A nail saloon near my house is closing and my friend and I were toying with turning it into a froyo place. One can easily grab and go froyo; I think without all the social distancing issues.
Financial Freedom Countdown recently posted…Cash Out Refinance And Why Am I Doing It?
Hey FFC!
We had about 70 members pre-COVID and are down to 60 now. I’m curious to see how membership rebounds after this is over. I think that people will be craving interaction, so I wonder if we’ll see a boost? Or if the economy stays in the gutter, maybe we’ll see more cancellations.
FroYo! Mindy and I thought about opening one of these up a long time ago. We never did it, but it seems like it could be fun/profitable with the right location.
Yes, it gets cold in SF bay area only 2 months of the year and I can see demand for at least 9-10 months. You and Mindy are definitely invited if I decide to open it up with my friend.
My friend has the know-how so I’ll be leaning on him more for the go/no-go decision.
Financial Freedom Countdown recently posted…Cash Out Refinance And Why Am I Doing It?
Yet another great post!
Hi,
I just discovered your blog and have been jumping between topics.
In your earlier post, you mentioned about apple and how it was affecting you because of the volatility.
Knowing what you know today, and looking back…. would getting rid of apple shares back then be a wise choice , And why?
Since your purchase in 2007, AAPL has appreciated almost 15 times, CAGR of almost 22%,
Im just beginning to gain more awareness, and would like to hear out all opinions.
Thank you.
I did get rid of my Apple shares. I bought them in 2007 when the iPhone was announced and sold them about 10 years later. I thought that phone sales would slow as consumers replaced them less.
Selling the shares was one of my bigger investment mistakes of all time! Whoops!
It feels strange just writing about money:
There are other things to worry about. Some get sick and many more suffer from the secondary economic consequences.
The market has seen wild fluctuations. It seems silly to report where my portfolio has been one day since it could have risen or fallen the next day by $ 30,000.
But this blog is about money, so I feel like I owe you my numbers. Maybe it is more interesting to talk about personal finances anyway. Good financial skills are most important in difficult times.
Before I get to the money part, I have to say a little more about the other circumstance. If you don’t live in a Supermax prison or hut in the middle of the forest, the virus has infected you. It’s strange how quickly life went from normal to crazy. I hope that all of us will emerge from it a little stronger, more resilient and more grateful for normal life.