$50,660.41 | Thoughts on FIRE

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven’t shared a portfolio update in a while, it’s been a busy last few weeks. Among other things, one thing my spouse and I dealt with was putting down one of our beloved dog family members.

For those of you who aren’t attached to animals, this may not seem like a big deal. For those of you who are, you know how hard this process has been for me. I have found myself grieving much more than I thought I would. While I don’t second-guess the decision that it was our dog’s time, I can’t help but find myself looking back on specific moments her life. I think about all of the quirks and fun moments of course, of which there were plenty! But, I also find myself thinking back on the moments that I regret – like when I thought about not spending money on something she would enjoy, or something that was not really a big deal in the long run. We were not cheap dog parents and we treated our dogs to all of the preventative care, good food and other support that they need, but I do regret that these thoughts entered my mind – especially because we have the means to afford the best for them.

OK – so you post about losing a pet, so how does that relate to finance? I have taken away an important lesson. For me, I learned that it’s okay to spend money on things that are important to you and your life. In the moments where having money does not or can not affect the outcome of your life, you will regret not taking advantage of opportunities that you could’ve. Does this change my outlook on FIRE and saving money to work towards my financial independence? No, definitely not. But what I’ve learned from this experience is that I’m not one of those people who can undertake extreme cost cutting in order to get to my financial independence number as fast as possible. I am happy to make my path a little bit longer than the optimal path, as long as the detours bring some joy to the people and things that I love.

Now, let’s take a look at my portfolio. Lately, I think I’ve been tracking more closely to the market, and before I calculate my numbers vs. the S&P 500, I think i’ll be down closer to the market than I’ve been with this portfolio. *Starts calculating*

• S&P 500 from January 4th – May 17th: +12.68% ((382.03 – 339.03) / 339.03) x 100
• My portfolio from January 4th – May 17th: +11.55% ((50,660.41 – 6,000 – 439.85) – 39,641.18) / 39,641.18 x 100

• 

My suspicions have been confirmed. Over the last month, my Roth IRA portfolio has gone from beating the market by about a half percent, to lagging it by over a percent. Take a look at how my “moonshot growth” slice is extremely underweight it’s original 20% allocation in my portfolio. The below screenshot emphasizes this point. Below is my M1 Finance portfolio performance over the last three months:

Damn. All of my portfolio slices except for one are in the green for the last three months – and the slice that isn’t has dropped a full 20%.

I’m still going to stick with my strategy – and will hold the companies I identified in my portfolio for an entire year, ending November. What’s my saving grace you say? My calculations up until this post have been a share price calculation, not a total return calculation. My portfolio’s dividend payout percentage as a percent of total invested is more than double the S&P 500, so I think my overall gain is tracking pretty closely to the market. I will run this total return calculation at the end of the year when I wrap up this portfolio, but until then I will still track my IRA to see if I beat the market.

Check out my full portfolio here: https://m1.finance/awNd6cXLSiWt

Thanks guys, happy investing and see you next time.