12-13-2018, 10:29 AM
(12-13-2018, 04:34 AM)crimsonghost747 Wrote: First of all, I agree with the notion that 80 stocks seems to be way too much. Even if you just skim through their quarterly reports and spend 10mins on each, you'll end up using 13h everytime the quarter changes. I know I spend 10min on some, 1h on other reports. I've been between 20 and 30 stocks for a while now and personally that feels like a good range to be in.
Secondly, I'm not too sure why everyone feels like they can't eat out of the portfolio when they get old. Even if you plan on going somewhere after you die, you can't take any of it with you! I get that you want to leave some for your family and that is fine but it's not like you have to leave every dollar you've managed to acquire in your lifetime. Do the math on it, you probably have figured out an X amount of yearly income that you would like to have so you can retire early, right? And you've probably got an estimated sum of where your portfolio needs to be to accomplish that? Just see how that amount (and the time it takes to get to that amount) changes if you choose to withdraw different amounts on top of the dividend income. Even a 2% withdrawal will significantly reduce the amount that you need to get to your goal. And while you withdraw 2% annually, I'm still pretty certain that the value of the portfolio will keep going up.
It's a mental thing for me. The thought of selling the principal gives me extreme anxiety. I get the statistics and understand the 4% rule, but it's just not for me. If I needed to, I could live off of the dividends generated by my DGI portfolio today. It would be a bare subsistence sort of Lean-FIRE existence, and not really pleasant or what I'm aiming for long-term. So, I have every expectation that in 20-30 years' time, when I am contemplating a proper "retirement," the income stream will be sufficient to meet my goal of living off the eggs and leaving the golden goose alone.