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.
We mostly take summers off. We travel, ride bikes, and walk a lot. Too much leisure with no work drives me a little nutty. So when school is back in session, I’m itching to start working on something again.
School is back in session and it’s time to start moving again. Mindy and I started working on our next project house this week.
Like most of our projects, things tend to get complicated quickly. We were only going to give this house a cosmetic facelift including a new kitchen, replacing flooring, and paint, but then I talked to a friend who said something like this:
This house has great views out back, but no windows.
This is what the back of the house looks like:
He’s right. If you were standing on the deck with your back to the house, you’d see this:
But, Frank Lloyd Wrong designed this house, so the only rooms that have this beautiful view are either bedrooms or a bathroom. Ppppft.
So, I pulled up Sketchup and popped part of the top:
The inside would have a loft area:
I don’t know if I’ll ever move forward with these plans. It’s a big job and while I’m pretty good at construction, I’d need an experienced carpenter to help me out. Good workers are hard to find. If this person is you though, send me a note. If you’re not local, I’ll put you up. Plus, I pay well.
I’ll have much more to say about this project soon…
July Performance: Dunno
Continuing the theme of 2022, July was another wild month for the old portfolio. During the previous three months, our net worth went from $4,729,622 down to $3,859,137 for a loss of $870,485. Yikes.
But in July, Mr. Market’s mood perked up and our net worth grew from $3,859,137 up to $4,341,547 for a gain of $482,410:
2022 (as of 8/1/2022)
- Days elapsed: 212
- Net worth gains (actually losses): –$651,095
Since the Start of The Experiment (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 3499
- Net worth gains: $3,525,504
Dunno
I’m neither optimistic nor pessimistic about what the rest of the year may bring. One year ago, not many would have predicted that there would be a war in Europe or crazy inflation. Ten years ago, no one would have predicted that Mr. Market was about to run with the bulls for almost a decade. So, it’s a silly exercise to predict where the world will be in the short term. The permabears who yell about a market downturn every other month are just looking for clicks. Don’t feed the bears.
Over the long term (more than 10 years), I think the world will continue to get better. Humans face a lot of issues, but we’ll figure them out. Some industries will die, but others will grow creating opportunity and growth. Humans, I believe in you. Let’s figure this shit out. Onward and upward!
More 1500 Days!!!
You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:
Mile High FI podcast:
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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Hey I’ve been reading for a few years , really appreciate the light heartedness of the writing. And the soothing balm of a common undertone: don’t worry about it.
I’m finally leaving my career in 22 days for FIRE.
I decided to comment today not only to have my little brag but also because I am also opening up a roof to gain more space. I am in the design phase as well and am leaning towards a gable dormer instead of your shed style. I’m looking forward to the project, it is just a titch above my skill level now which is how I like my projects to be.
There is a UK guy on YouTube with good info on dormer building. Check out skilbuilder.
Take care
CDN!
Big congratulations on leaving your job! If you’re a local, perhaps we can swap labor? I’m thinking that the CDN means Canadian though…
“I’m looking forward to the project, it is just a titch above my skill level now which is how I like my projects to be.”
Totally agree! Easy stuff is boring!
Thanks for the tip on skill builder! I assume this is him?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-d003Yym8o
Carl,
Ha — well, neither a carpenter or capable but always happy to see your projects start coming together 🙂 Holler if you need some unskilled labor!
I’m really interested in the FLW part. Do you have any more on the design background? Is a clone of another FLW house?
Hope y’all are well!
Note that I said “Frank Lloyd Wrong“
I would love to do this (renovations and buy-flip) but my market isn’t suitable. You generally only recover 70-80% of the cost of building/renovation when you sell. This is before labour (which is very cheap at around $20 per day for semi-skilled), just the cost of building materials alone puts you in the negative. It is far cheaper to buy a home than to build or upgrade. Can see this in the property prices where the real price has been growing at negative 3% per annum for the last decade.
Many sellers exit the market after selling their home, choosing to rent or eventually purchase a home in another country. So the demand just isn’t there. The rents/cap rates are not high since there is a lot of properties to choose from for a renter. Interest rates are pretty high at around 8% floating, no fixed options.
I’d be curious if you, Mindy or BiggerPockets have encountered any such markets and how one would go about doing renovations/buy and flip? It feels like you can only renovate for personal/consumptions reasons, not at all in terms of investing/profit?
Carl,
I was wanting to come to Colorado one more time this year (September) and was thinking of contacting you to swap a little work for a place to stay while I acclimate to the altitude. (Hiking 14nrs.) I’m from Minnesota. I can swing a hammer a little, been working in construction/design work for 30 plus years. I believe I emailed you about your fold down bed idea in the past. Let me know if your interested. Thanks
Hi Bob! When were you thinking of coming out? I most likely could put you up, although it may be a construction zone. What do you think? If you’re serious, send me a note at retirein1500 at gmail dot com.
Another great (and funny post)!!
Congrats!!!
Hi there Carl,
I really enjoy reading your blog and listening to Mile Hi Fi, they have been instrumental on my FI Journey. I’d like to get your thoughts if any on a topic that might be of interest to people who are currently pursuing FI. I guess its actually a subset of the total population of FI pursuer who might be interested in what you have to say. The advice or maybe thoughts would be for people who are in a similar place as you were back in 1/1/2013 with $586k to your name. You hoped on a calculator and plugged in a 10% return and a $2k per month investment and figured out with those variables you could accumulate 1 mil in 1500 days.
From 2013 to the end of 2021 the S&P 500 returned 16.87%. Damn!! What a great time to pursue FI during that run!
I’m feeling a bit discouraged because at the end of 2021 I calculated that if I kept up my monthly savings/investing rate and got 6.5% on the majority of Vanguard VTSAX I could move to FI within 3 years. But now with the S&P 500 down 21%, our net worth has decreased by nearly $175k. Pushing out our FI date multiple years. Damn 🙁
Man..is achieving FI really based on Mr. Market Returns? Do you have to have some luck here on timing when building our VTSAX position?
It would be cool to hear you write back on your thoughts to people who are within a handful of years to getting to that FI number and got punched in the face this year. Its not hard to stay motivated to keep going after it but just feels a little discouraging when the amount of years you have to keep working gets pushed back.
Sincerely
On my way to Fire
MC
Hey MC!
Don’t despair. We are in a weird (shitty) time right now. We have a crazy war along with massive inflation which have conspired to kick Mr. Market in the sensitive regions…
But, as someone in the accumulation phase, you should celebrate. You’re buying what you’ve always been buying, but at at a Pootin Discount.
Imagine what would happen if you saw either of these headlines tomorrow: “Putin pulls out of Ukraine” or “Inflation is tamed! No more rate increases planned.” Mr. Market would react very positively. And I suspect we will see this headlines in the next 6 months. So, the only thing to do is to sit tight and be optimistic.
And one other thing regarding this: “…our net worth has decreased by nearly $175k.”
How fortunate are you that you have enough money saved up that a market correction caused you to lose almost 200K, probably more than 99% of folks have saved up? Nice work my friend!
One more piece of perspective: Our portfolio is down $1,500,000 from its all time high from 11 months ago. I don’t sweat it one bit because I know the best is always ahead.
Looks like personal capital is not available outside USA