WELCOME to the ROARING 20's!!

[rayray]

Welcome to the roaring 20's my fellow DGI'ers!!

Best wishes to everyone and your families, now and in the future. Out with the old and in with the new...2019 was a good year and a difficult year, very difficult at times due to some family health issues but that's life--we deal with it the best we can--we all do, in our own ways...the difficult times. Here's to good times and whatever else might come our way.

Now we enter a new decade, the roaring 20's... The last decade was a ride, I became officially cancer free, got married, found out we couldn't have children, lost our beloved dog, lost a mother and gained great friends...another decade of life in the books. Here's to another decade of life, whatever comes let's embrace it the best we can! Love it and hold it tight because in a blink of an eye it will be gone, gone forever. We can't buy back time, no one can...

Now onto the finances....I ride the market, the good times and the bad--I don't prep--I don't sell--I don't panic--the heart might flutter but that's about it. I don't plan on changing, I'll ride out whatever comes our way in the market. I don't, well, I feel that I don't take a lot of risk in the market--I don't gamble or speculate--I invest. Do I make some bad buys? Absolutely.

My investing philosophy is...

Invest in a Quality company
At a Reasonable price
Look for that Dividend
And Never sell

I don't let politics or the news dictate my investing..I stay the course.

Accumulate through new contributions, collect dividends then invest....lather--rinse--repeat.

I'll see what happens going forward...even though we have entered the roaring 20's we are technically in the final year of this decade, as we know it doesn't start at zero--it begins at one and ends in zero. Nevertheless this decade is at a end and we are beginning a new era, the 20's.

At the beginning of the last decade I had about 100k in the market (retirement accounts) and now at the end it's officially in the seven figures. We don't make outrageous salaries, we plug away week in/week out and don't stop. I suppose I could have done better by harvesting gains...but it stresses me out so I don't. The other day, a friend contacted me, we talked finances and once we were done he said okay now it's time to sell and get out...He's been trying to get me to sell for close to twenty years. I don't know, maybe he's smarter, well, I know he is (has a masters in finance) but I'm not selling. He has his philosophy and I have mine.

We'll see where this decade takes us...a recession is bound to happen but I'm okay riding it out and staying the course. I thought about building a cash pile but probably won't. These zero trades make it nice investing smaller dollar amounts.

Friends...
 
Happy New Year and....


Happy Investing!!!

[fenders53]

I enjoyed your post Ray. We all realize this is a financial site and we should be prudent sharing personal info, but I don't see a problem with sharing a bit of our lives, hardships and triumphs, hobbies and such. I didn't come here to converse with robots. I enjoy the posts from guys and gals who trouble themselves to put a person behind the name. I'm very pleased to hear you are cancer free. Some things are worth a lot more than money. Sorry to hear you can't have children. I know what that feels like.

Here is just a little about me. I have been married for about 34 years. We couldn't have children and adopted an infant from South Korea. She is 23 now. Absolutely wore me out during her teenage years. I had to ride her hard to get through high school. I have an old lifted Jeep Cherokee with bulletproof offroad winch bumpers and such. Did I ever tell you guys she drove it right through the front of the elementary school when she was 14? Yes THROUGH the brick wall. Messed up the 3rd grade classroom pretty bad. She was famous in this little town (notorious is a better word). I was away on military duty when she called in a panic. Repair costs were well over $11K. She worked PT at Subway for over a year for that crime as I made her pay half the damages. She surely isn't perfect but she has a very strong work ethic. College didn't work out after squandering high school but I gave her a few semesters. A couple years working as a waitress and she found a little direction. She asked for one more shot and I paid for some medic training. She graduated at the top of her class of a 15. Her first academic success since she was 10 years old. Now she works crazy long hours in a hospital ER, medic for the fire department and drives the ambulance sometimes. A few months ago she called me emotionally distraught because she just lost a motorcycle accident victim her age. 30 minutes of CPR on a kid that was already dead, but she showed up when it mattered. Somebody has to do that job for low wages and I know just couldn't. We all have a calling in this life and I am proud of her. Maybe I couldn't have children so this little girl would have parents? She doesn't have much financial sense. One of my 2020 goals is to start a $10K port in her name and let her pick a few of the stocks. If she shows some interest, I'll make it a joint account in a year or two. If not, I guess I'll just will her some money with a trustee when I leave this world.

As far as investment styles, we are polar opposites Ray, and that is OK. As I've shared before, I balked on the GOV 3% annuity plan and moved my retirement account to a self directed IRA in 2018 so I could be in charge. Just in time for a 20% correction. I was nervous the big one was coming three years from true retirement age. I was too cashy so I luckily only lost about 8%. 2020 S&P up 28% but I am only up about 17%. Risk adjusted I guess that is OK because I will never take a full beating if the market crashes. To me those numbers say I pretty much matched the market. The goal is never less than 4% and my needs are met but I am clearly doing it the hard way. I sold about 325 option contracts this year. I purchased zero options I believe that is gambling and I want to be the house always. My successful option trade percentage makes me believe I am on the right side. I pocketed a ton of put and call premiums. The downside is I picked some great 2019 stocks and got called out of my position way too early and often. I would have been way better off skipping the covered calls this year. But my inclination is stick to the plan for now. It's my belief my strategy will outperform when the S&P up over 15% annually. I think that will include most years over time but I can't know what the next five years bring us. I do know I will never get burned like a pure long DGI investor if it goes completely south. I am very protected from that outcome. Our age matters no matter how we choose to attack this market. Stay tuned for 2020 results

[ChadR]

Fenders not happy to hear that your daughter about wore you out in her teenage years. As my daughter just turned 12, this decade might not be too good for me. Along with my daughter, I have a 10 year old son. Married 13 years. I'm a CPA who left to start my own practice last January. Through all my savings, I knew that we could go for a while without me having to abandon my practice and go back to work for someone else. Thankfully enough clients followed me and we only took a small income hit this first year and should be doing better this year. Nice to work from the house and be around the family even more.

My investing style is similar to rayray. It's done me well since we will hit the double comma club this year assuming no major recession.

[fenders53]

Chad,

The teen years can be tough, but all kids are different. Mine was just too strong willed and fearless for her own good. It was a rough five years for sure. I'm lucky she didn't get into any truly serious trouble.

Congrats on the final approach to double commas! I'm a few years off and comfortable with that as my first priority is to not see my port cut in half no matter what the market does. I try to not lose sight of the fact that due to all my future pensions, I'd be fine if just bought a giant CD now. I find myself wishing it would pull back 10% soon, before we set ourselves up for something more catastrophic. This melt up is defying gravity. I fail to see the fundamentals. The FED is powerful for sure.

[crimsonghost747]

Hey guys, sorry I've been lazy! Meant to post in this thread as soon as I saw it. I just love these little yearly reviews, both from the personal and financial side. It's great to see progress being made.

Big year for me.
Fender, maybe about a year ago I said that while I'm significantly younger, I'll race you to retirement. It wasn't a challenge of any sorts, just a way to show that we are very much in the same boat where we will be using our investment income for living expenses relatively soon.

Well.. I hit that milestone called financial independence, quit my job and for a couple of months now I've been living very happily "retired" in Asia, enjoying the year-round warm weather, amazing nature, friendly people and the overall feeling of freedom. Of course I'm not going to sit on my ass for the next 50 years, or however long I have left, but I consider this as my retirement as I've hit the point where I choose when and what work I do, if I do any.

It truly is a life changing feeling when I know that I don't have to work in order to have food on the table. If something interesting comes up, sure I'll take it. Or just work a month or two here or there to get some more money if I feel like I need it. Actually, I have found even myself in a couple of job interviews these past months but it's a different ball game when it's all on your own terms. Also seriously considering starting some sort of business in a few years, I always wanted to give it a try and I do know that I need something productive to keep my brain busy.
But long story short, life is great!

And then to the financial side:
I still have a pretty nice pile of cash that I saved up during the recent years in order to buy an apartment/house for myself. Still no apartment/house, so it definitely looks like I would have been way better off just investing that money too. But now the cash is not only serving for it's original purpose, but also as a buffer just in case things go wrong and I'm currently taking my living expenses out of there so the dividends can keep compounding. And I'm also keeping up my previous amount of monthly deposits to my investment account, so while I'm obviously still waiting for the inevitable correction, I'm still also pouring in a pretty significant amount each month so that dividend stream keeps growing.

I don't really need much from the financial markets in 2020. I'll be super happy if I see average dividend raises of about 10% for my portfolio. I still do meddle around with options a little, so it would also be nice not to get absolutely trashed with those. :p

[rayray]

Thanks for the stories--It's nice to read some personal stances in life.

Fenders, great job with your daughter, sounds like she's on a really great path in life--a job that really makes a difference. Everyone ought to be very proud. I wanted to go the adoption route, even the fostering route but the wife didn't want to go that way. To do it right we both had to be on the same page.

ChadR--welcome to the double comma club!! I set goals, it helps me to stay focused. The first goal was to hit 7 figures in assets at a certain age--I did that 3 1/2 years ago, 5 years ahead of schedule--it really took us by surprise! It took us another 3 years to accumulate 7 figures in the market. I buy and hold, and believe in adding to quality holdings when they take a beating--I've never had a stop loss set. I have sold, I have also trimmed and I've also made some horrible mistakes. My buy and hold strategy happened by accident--when I was going through cancer the Great Recession occurred, two good friends were calling me to sell sell sell--I could care less--I just wanted to get better. My portfolio lost 50 plus percent--not one share or unit got sold. Ironically both friends have finance degrees--they love to buy high and sell low, they suffer from FOMO and FOLE (fear of losing everything). I give them credit--they're very dedicated. My way of thinking is that we may never see another Great Recession in our lifetimes, what? From Great Depression to Great Recession, was almost 80 years? After this bull run I'm assuming we're back to normal recessions. We can do that standing on our heads!!

Crimson--great job becoming retired!! Or as they say FIRED.

[fenders53]

Crimson, glad you are realizing your early retire plan.  I remember you mentioning that.  I did about three years of that and it was wondersful.  I knew I'd have to do something for wages to stay out of the port until I truly retire in a few years.  I've worked fulltime at HD for a year now.  That QUICKLY morphed into running a dept for not nearly enough pay for the stress.  Going back to part-time in a couple weeks.  I'll be happier.   

Ray, you'll definitely want to be in complete agreement with your wife.  It's a lifelong commitment of course.   

As I've shared I got burned pretty bad during the tech bubble.  I stayed 95% invested from then until last year, with one exception.  I smelled 2007 coming and went about 35% cash early on.  I averaged it back in fairly quickly close enough to the bottom in 2009.  I missed 3/4ths of the beating with a good chunk of money.  I'll never get that lucky again.  I have no need to be fully invested from now on so that's a comfort when the big one happens. I don't happen to think anything like the Great Recession is coming either Ray, but it seems clear the Central banks are going to be reckless until it doesn't work.  We've never seen anything like this so who know how or when it ends?  I'll see another -25% though.  That's a certainty IMO.  We'll all survive it.

[crimsonghost747]

(01-04-2020, 06:56 PM)fenders53 Wrote: Crimson, glad you are realizing your early retire plan.  I remember you mentioning that.  I did about three years of that and it was wondersful.  I knew I'd have to do something for wages to stay out of the port until I truly retire in a few years.  I've worked fulltime at HD for a year now.  That QUICKLY morphed into running a dept for not nearly enough pay for the stress.  Going back to part-time in a couple weeks.  I'll be happier.   

I could very well see myself going a very similar route. Taking a few years off and then going back for a while, or simply going back for a short time gig once in a while. Life happens, plans change, never say never. It's all about the freedom and the peace of mind that comes with financial independence.
Part time is definitely a great option, I'm glad that you have the chance to do it and really glad that you're taking advantage of that possibility. It'll keep you busy and bring in some money while still leaving a lot of time to do whatever you feel like doing.

[fenders53]

It is about the freedom.  If a person wants to work until they are 75, then they should.  My mother was never content unless she was doing accounting for somebody at least part-time.  I decided when I was very young that I wanted to call the shots. and some sacrifice then would be worth it.  The time sure flew by.