Category: Investments Page 1 of 4
The third quarter was an eventful past three months for the Shirts retirement portfolio. I was able to extract my old 401k into Fidelity and slowly deploy the funds over the duration of the quarter. This allowed me to purchase a number of individual stocks, get our cash/bond target allocation right, and learn all about investing in US Treasury Bonds. We have been following the Equity Glide Path for our stock/bond allocation to reduce sequence of return risk and ended…
A question I received a number of times over the last year has been "Can you give me advice with my investments?" Leaving my job at thirty six exposed me to friends as someone who knew what they were doing with money. I've been talking to more people about FIRE in person and I also enjoy writing about advanced investing topics. However, the answer on investment advice is....NO. I'm not an investment adviser, have no desire to be paid to…
I recently picked up a copy of Mastering the Market Cycle by Howard Marks from my local library after receiving multiple recommendations on reading. I'll admit I was skeptical and delayed reading it for a while due to the title - I'm a buy and hold investor and thought I would be reading something promoting market timing. The book turned out to be far more than market timing, but instead a great lesson on the history of the markets, how…
Now that we have left our jobs and declared early retirement, it is time to put our drawdown strategy into action. So what does this actually look like? Specifically where is the money we live on coming each month? How long until we have to start maneuvering our IRAs? Here is the outline of how what we plan to live on prior to reaching 59.5 Disclaimer: These numbers are a combination of actual numbers and estimates. Ultimately the accuracy will…
The first quarter of 2019 was a great quarter, not just because I delivered my retirement notice, but also because the market rebounded from its year-end levels! The US Stock Market Index is within 5% of its all-time high and we all experienced one of the best recoveries from a bear market in the history of the US Stock Market. I’m sharing the details of our portfolios for others that may like to do some additional tinkering. Most of our…
March 2019 is going to be a busy month! We are two weeks away from the news being out about the change. I'll be posting more often to chronicle the recent adventures leading up to exiting my employment. I wanted to begin this series with a Frequently Asked Questions, inspired by someone who just went through leaving his job forever (thank you Steve). Who is your blog's target audience / who do you most relate to? Everyone's story is unique. …
If you've ever bought a stock or mutual fund, this question will eventually come up: Should I Reinvest Dividends? (and Capital Gains for Mutual Funds). There's no right or wrong answer, but this will outline the case for and against reinvesting your dividends. The case for reinvestment: Dividend reinvestment is automated. There's no thought into if/when to invest the money, the dividends and capital gains roll right back into the investment that generated them. It is simple Dividend Reinvestment is…
Introduction to Rewards Credit Cards I first stumbled across travel rewards while in college. I had little bit of credit and was able to apply for and get a Hilton Honors points credit card. Earn a free hotel night or two to supplement a trip? Sign me up! Over the course of the next ten years we would earn a few free nights a year. Eventually we added the Hilton Amex and has a brief run with manufactured spending (thanks…
"When the bear rears its ugly head, throw cash at it until it goes away" - Anonymous. 2018 has come to a close and I have now completed two thirds of the "work nine more months" plan. The fourth quarter came with gut wrenching excitement if you check your investment accounts on a regular basis (that's me!). Here is the year end update on our asset allocation and investments. There was some tinkering and attempts at market timing this quarter.…
The Investment Policy Statement: The written document between a portfolio manager and an investor outlining the investor’s goals and risk tolerances. As a do-it-yourself investor, this is a written document written by me and for me. The concept always seemed elusive to me, but I finally set down and formalized my Investment Policy Statement. Credit goes to the White Coat Investor for originally introducing this idea to me the recent market volatility for forcing me me formalize the IPS. Today…