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Performance Update, May 2022: Maximum OOF!

June 30, 2022 by Mr. 1500 Days 17 Comments

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.

Summer is here which means adventure in the 1500 household. We just got back from Germany. In a couple of weeks, we’ll head to Camp FI Rocky Mountain (week 2). Before summer is up, we’ll spend time in Sunriver/Bend (Oregon) and Pismo Beach (California).

Pismo Beach, California

I’m not a huge fan of short-format travel (less than 2 weeks), but kids’ busy schedules mean that our travel must be short. We look forward to slow travel (at least a month in one location) after the children leave the nest.

About The Time We Spontaneously Bought Another House…

We bought another house! And it was somewhat spontaneous. We were walking around our neighborhood and noticed someone moving out. This happened:

  • Me: Hey, it looks like you’re moving out?
  • Homeowner: Yes, we plan to put it on the market in July.
  • Me: Here’s my information. If you’d like to sell it to me, let me know.

1 month later:

We own another place.

And you guessed it; this one needs work. But, not a lot. We’ll redo some of the flooring, replace interior doors with conventional ones, and give the place a new kitchen.

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This is a precarious time to be making deals. Very precarious. But:

  • I’m a long-term investor. The value of this house could very well dive in the short-term, but I think in decades.
  • I believe in Longmont and my little corner of the town.
  • This will be a fun and easy project. Also, we get to film it for BiggerPockets. Fun!

I’ll have more to say including:

  • More details on how we found the house
  • How we funded the deal
  • The rehab process
  • What we intend to do with it

These are stories for another day.

For now, we’re going to enjoy summer. The home will be a crash pad for friends until the girls go back to school. No more missing out on life to swing a hammer.

Another beautiful summer evening in Longmont

May Performance (Maximum OOF!)

Mr. Market has been grumpy in 2022 and his poor mood is reflected in our portfolio. In May, our investments lost another $68,206:

Oof! Chart from Personal Capital***

2022 (as of 6/1/2022)

  • Days elapsed: 150
  • Net worth gains (actually losses): –$833,372

Since the Start of The Experiment (1/1/2013)

  • Days elapsed: 3438
  • Net worth gains: $3,423,227

Different?

I started this blog on January 1st of 2013 and this is the first time it feels “different.” By that, I mean:

  • This drop is the biggest one yet. With COVID, the drop was quick, but the recovery was almost as quick. We may be in for some extended pain this time around.
  • It happened very quickly. Six months ago, you could get a 30-year mortgage for around 3%. Now, you’re going to pay close to 6%! That’s crazy!

Our net worth is down a little over $1,000,000 from our all-time high. I don’t worry about myself. Sporadic downturns are the price you pay for all of that sweet-ass upside. Inflation and the war will end. Mr. Market will be happy again. In the meantime, I hope y’all are hanging in there.

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

Mile High FI podcast:

  • Listen on Apple, Google, YouTube, and Spotify

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.

***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.

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Filed Under: Performance, Travel

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gary Grewal says

    June 30, 2022 at 11:05 am

    It was fun listening to you and Doug banter about the new spontaneous house purchase, what case of right place right time! Hope this luck comes my way. Sure they could have rehabbed and sold it, but nice that you brought a personal story along.

    Glad you are taking time to enjoy life and summer. I remember you saying you’re busier now than when you were working!

    Keep cruising Carl, and enjoy your visit out here in CA!

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 1, 2022 at 8:48 am

      Woot! I can’t wait to see the Pacific Ocean in California again! Happy times!

      Are you in the Bay area?

      Reply
      • Gary Grewal says

        July 8, 2022 at 7:36 pm

        Bay Area? That’s only for millionaires! I am not too far in the Sacramento area. Let me know if you find your way here!

        Reply
        • Mr. 1500 Days says

          July 9, 2022 at 9:41 am

          Oooh, I may be passing near you in late July. I’ll shoot you an email should we make it.

          Reply
  2. Alesso Oliveira says

    June 30, 2022 at 11:24 am

    Congrats on the new deal! 😉
    Enjoy

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 1, 2022 at 8:47 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  3. Tech says

    June 30, 2022 at 1:36 pm

    Losing a million can’t be a good feeling (it took me my whole investing life to reach that magic number). Keeping the positive long term view is the best way to look at it. I am down the most ever during this round of market grumpiness too. I dropped out of the 7 digit or double comma club. Still adding to the stash following my plan and confidant this is only temporary and the market will return to new highs. Your are right the 2020 down turn didn’t last long enough to even let the market losses sink in. I just focus on the number of shares I own that number is going in the right direction and hasn’t gone down.

    Good luck on the new house and keep enjoying the summer.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 1, 2022 at 8:46 am

      Losing a million can’t be a good feeling…

      Actually, it’s more of a sense of relief. Relative to historical PEs, we’re in a better place now, but still high: https://www.multpl.com/s-p-500-pe-ratio

      So, I always thought it would drop; I just didn’t know when or what the cause would be.

      Thanks for the kind words on the house!

      Reply
  4. Ryan says

    July 7, 2022 at 11:38 am

    What’s the new pre-IPO investment? 😀.

    Reply
  5. Maverick says

    July 9, 2022 at 9:08 am

    My mid-year predictions…

    I’ve been doing a lot of reading and analysis so I’m sharing what I’ve noted in my journal here what may happen in 2022:

    – The US stock markets will continue to fall, maybe another 20% to 3400 – 3200 in S&P500 (don’t be lulled into a sucker’s rally)
    – Housing prices will fall 5 – 10% as interest rates rise
    – A recession will be confirmed (2 consecutive qtrs of declining GDP)
    – Crypto will continue to get hurt
    – Tesla stock price will drift lower like an EV running out of charge

    Short term gimmicks like more stimulus in the form of student loan forgiveness or gas card rebates would only make inflation worse.

    What could slow / stop the runaway inflation? A significant change in policy. Such as at least ONE of the following:

    – Immigration reform
    – Expansion of nuclear power
    – Expansion of refining capacity
    – etc. (some other significant change in policy that permits economic GROWTH)

    There is an outside chance that the Fed (Federal Reserve) gets spooked (possibly by higher unemployment/layoffs), blinks and CUTS interest rates in 2022.

    Note: Do your own research before you invest.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 9, 2022 at 9:38 am

      I hope the public comes around to nuclear energy. In light of what’s going on in the world, we should be pivoting towards it at full speed instead of against it.

      https://xkcd.com/1162/

      Reply
  6. Wade says

    July 12, 2022 at 12:28 pm

    Small localized nuclear is the answer, but it isn’t “green enough”. Sad days.

    Winter is coming (north of the wall) in Europe.

    Another house. 🙂

    I feel sorry for your project list, but I know you do like projects. My running joke with a friend is “can’t afford not to buy unlimited houses.”. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Liam says

    July 12, 2022 at 2:35 pm

    Just wanted to say that I love the podcast, heard about you guys from the Mad Fiantist.

    And I can see that the blog is just as entertaining, wishing us all luck in the market going forward!

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 14, 2022 at 3:12 pm

      Thanks so much Liam!

      Reply
  8. Cubert says

    July 13, 2022 at 3:57 pm

    I still can’t believe you’re not paying off the mortgage. Sigh… 😉

    Hope you’re doing well, sir. Be sure to put in a big fancy hot tub at the new house for when we visit, k??

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 14, 2022 at 3:12 pm

      Now this is exactly the situation why I have a mortgage! A 30-year mortgage costs close to 6% and I’m paying 2.75%. I’m paying down my mortgage with dollars that are worth less, meanwhile because of inflation, our income is up.

      Reply
  9. Sabrina Tabassum says

    November 9, 2022 at 11:42 pm

    I really loved reading this article. thanks for sharing.

    Reply

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Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only (primary home excluded)
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**
1/1/22 (9 Yrs Later): $4,762,642
1/1/23 (10 Yrs Later): $3,112,821

2023: Investments only
1/1: $3,112,821

Overall
2023 investment gains: $0
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,526,778
Net worth***: $3,342,821

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental. We have since sold it.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $290,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

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Disclaimer

Investing is risky business. The information contained on this site is for informational purposes only. As with all matters financial, proceed with caution. Do your research and seek professional advice.

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