How far from your all-time high are you?

[TromboneAl]

The results are probably depend a lot upon whether one is in the accumulation phase or decumulation phase.

 

[DblDoc]

This time I chose to do nothing. Already retired, there was no source of new funds to invest so I would have had to rebalance towards equities to try to take advantage of the dip. I compromised and didn't rebalance but also didn't panic and sell, just held.

As much as people think rebalancing improves returns there is no good evidence it does so. It does manage the level of risk in your portfolio so is, therefore, worth doing. Standing still and doing nothing is frequently a very good strategy in investing - assuming your underlying plan is sound

DD

 

[Midpack]

Now for us as well, investment performance and additional savings (still working-accumulating, for now)...

 

[Alan]

It should come as no surprise those not yet retired, not living off their nest egg and usually still contribution to the pot are more likely to have recovered than those of us withdrawing from our stash...

The results are probably depend a lot upon whether one is in the accumulation phase or decumulation phase.

This was my case. Savings went down 11.5% over 5 quarters, then up 28% over this last 4 quarters. I just kept pumping in savings at my normal, high rate and re-balancing to keep the AA at my target.

Now I'm RE'ed things will be different next time around.

 

[kyounge1956]

I am almost back to even on my investment return. As of yesterday my 5 year investment return was down -.3%.

Today was a big up day for my portfolio, so I may have a positive return now.
​

My retirement savings are at an all time high, but I think that's because I'm still in the accumulation phase. I'm not sure how to calculate what my return has been over the last several years, because my contributions have varied over that time. Is there a plug-in-the-numbers spreadsheet somewhere that I can use to figure this out?

Anyway, I'm just glad my balance isn't dropping faster than the contributions come in as it was a little over a year ago. That was scary!

Also, this is my retirement accounts only. If I count my house, I might still be going backwards. I'm pretty sure housing prices here haven't recovered anywhere near as much as the market has. There are five brand-new townhouses just down the street from me. They were finished some months ago but last time I checked, only one had sold. It went for about as much as the high appraisal I got on my residence in 2006, but is larger and newer, suggesting that my home would now sell for many thousands of dollars less.

 

[Meadbh]

A hair short of the high but some of it was moved into real estate (paid off a $165K mortgage).

Edit: But we were adding to the pot until this year and still are not all the way back. Bottom line we took a hit!

If you paid off a $165 liability with $165 of assets, the net effect on your net worth should be zero. This makes me wonder how many people on the Board are calculating NW without accounting for liabilities.

My NW (assets minus liabilties) is at an all time high.

My assets look even better!

 

[Meadbh]

Pre-crisis high: May 2008
Crisis bottom: November 2008 (down almost 18% from the pre-crisis high)
Back to pre-crisis high: May 2009
Currently: all time high, 82% higher than pre-crisis high.

Still working, and still adding money to our portfolio.

Net worth since March 2001:

Wow. I'd like to know how you got that last bit of almost vertical slope going!

 

[FUEGO]

This makes me wonder how many people on the Board are calculating NW without accounting for liabilities.

I think we are getting a lot of apples, oranges, bananas, and grapefruits reported here. Hard to compare apples to apples.

My numbers above were based on net worth (assets minus liabilities). Assets being anything valuable enough to care about (cars, house, investments, accounts receivable, loans to family), liabilities being anything I owe (college loans, mortgage, credit card debt, an I O U to my daughter's piggy bank for $70).

I think there was a lengthy debate here a couple years ago about what should be included in net worth, and some suggested houses and mortgages have no place. If that were the case though, then I would call it something besides net worth.

 

[Meadbh]

I think we are getting a lot of apples, oranges, bananas, and grapefruits reported here. Hard to compare apples to apples.

My numbers above were based on net worth (assets minus liabilities). Assets being anything valuable enough to care about (cars, house, investments, accounts receivable, loans to family), liabilities being anything I owe (college loans, mortgage, credit card debt, an I O U to my daughter's piggy bank for $70).

I include liabilities (all of which mortgages on revenue properties and therefore good debt). I don't bother with personal property since I drive a 15 year old car and don't have any valuable antiques or artwork.

I think there was a lengthy debate here a couple years ago about what should be included in net worth, and some suggested houses and mortgages have no place. If that were the case though, then I would call it something besides net worth.

I agree. The definition of Net Worth is very clear in the accounting textbooks. If we are excluding real estate assets and liabilities, perhaps we could all it "investable assets".

 

[Alan]

I include liabilities (all of which mortgages on revenue properties and therefore good debt). I don't bother with personal property since I drive a 15 year old car and don't have any valuable antiques or artwork.



I agree. The definition of Net Worth is very clear in the accounting textbooks. If we are excluding real estate assets and liabilities, perhaps we could all it "investable assets".

I don't own a house, so no house value, and I have no liabilities. I didn't include any assets which is why I said "savings" in my post - "investable assets" is a better term I think.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

We are in the same boat. Renting, with no other liabilities. Makes net worth calculations pretty easy.

The mental accounting for homes is interesting. If we were to buy the condo we are lusting after in this building

(prices for 2 bdrms down to $400K from $500K last year. Whoopee!) We would face property taxes of something like $8K a year plus another $3.5K for association fees. It would take something like $287K of conservative investments to generate an income stream to cover the minimum annual costs.

 

[texastech97]

I don't have data for my net worth but do keep track of my retirement. I'm still in the rat race so new contributions, and DCA has helped me along with the market recovery.

My previous high was on 06/05/2008.
My low point was on 03/09/2009, down about -38.5%.
I'm currently at my all time high at +14% from my previous high.

 

[Rustward]

Peak October '07
Valley March '09 -30% off the peak
Current -5.9% off peak which happens to be +34.4% above the valley

 

[FIREd]

Wow. I'd like to know how you got that last bit of almost vertical slope going!

Ah, the magic of being granted a boat load of stock options near a market bottom...

 

[REWahoo]

Ah, the magic of being granted a boat load of stock options near a market bottom...

Ah, the luck of the [-]Irish[/-] French.

 

[donheff]

If you paid off a $165 liability with $165 of assets, the net effect on your net worth should be zero. This makes me wonder how many people on the Board are calculating NW without accounting for liabilities.

I wasn't initially considering actual net worth - I was looking at my portfolio and mentally calculating the $165K back in to evaluate how close I was to the previous high. When I look at actual net worth including the current value of two houses I am a little worse off, or so I would guess based on the housing market.

 

[FIREd]

Ah, the luck of the [-]Irish[/-] French.

Hey, we only work 35 hours a week, give half of our earnings to the government and take 8 weeks of vacation a year. How are we supposed to reach FIRE without a bit of luck?

 

[freebird5825]

May 07 - Peak
Mar 09 - Trough

I'm still accumulating and I am too lazy to do the math to subtract the ongoing DCA and reinvested cap gains and dividends.
The good news is I am slowly creeping up on the May 07 peak value...just a little bit more.

I also missed the part about NW. I only counted my investment portfolio, i.e assets. No debt, no mortgage...only liabilities are COL expenses and taxes. And I'm a-going to keep it that way.
I did not include my home. There was never a housing boom out here in da boondocks, so there would not be a bust either.
Status is FIREd, using 100% survivor pension for COL and 50-75% of fixed annuity income for ongoing portfolio building.

 

[Meadbh]

Hey, we only work 35 hours a week, give half of our earnings to the government and take 8 weeks of vacation a year. How are we supposed to reach FIRE without a bit of luck?

If I had le lifestyle Francais, I wouldn't need to FIRE!

 

[audreyh1]

Ah, the magic of being granted a boat load of stock options near a market bottom...

Sweet!

Nothing beats dumb luck!

Audrey

 

[davemartin88]

Low point was early 2008, reached a new peak this week.

 

[free4now]

Sorry I'm getting to this thread late, but I suggest including info about whether the poster is retired and draining their net worth, or working and adding to it. Makes it easier to do apples to apples comparisons. Even over a couple of years that can make a 10+% balance difference.

 

[free4now]

I'm down about 20% from my all time high. I'm retired, renting, living off my net worth exclusively. I've been spending a bit more than the 4% I had intended, but that accounts for only a few percent of my net worth since the crash, and threads like this scare me feeling like I'm falling behind. I figured I'd post my results to show others who are underwater that they're not alone.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I count only end of month numbers, PF is off slightly under 1% from highest point on 11/30/09, I consider that 1% a fluctuation rather than a concern; and significantly, I’ve been withdrawing at about 3.5% since 11/08, no new money has been added since I retired, 08/31/08. And more importantly to me, PF is approx. 4.9% above it’s value on the day I retired, 08/31/08. Is that keeping up with inflation?

 

[ESRwannabe]

My retirement savings are at an all time high, but I think that's because I'm still in the accumulation phase. I'm not sure how to calculate what my return has been over the last several years, because my contributions have varied over that time. Is there a plug-in-the-numbers spreadsheet somewhere that I can use to figure this out?

Anyway, I'm just glad my balance isn't dropping faster than the contributions come in as it was a little over a year ago. That was scary!

Also, this is my retirement accounts only. If I count my house, I might still be going backwards. I'm pretty sure housing prices here haven't recovered anywhere near as much as the market has. There are five brand-new townhouses just down the street from me. They were finished some months ago but last time I checked, only one had sold. It went for about as much as the high appraisal I got on my residence in 2006, but is larger and newer, suggesting that my home would now sell for many thousands of dollars less.

I got my investment return data from my brokerage account. I have been too lazy with keeping track of the data and wouldn't be able to figure it out otherwise. My networth is at an all time high. I rent a two bed room apartment and my only significant assets are my investments and my car.

During the crash I panicked at one point and put my money into bonds for about three months. I also changed funds/stocks a few times. I'm not sure how much this set me back. In hindsight I wish I had not messed with things at all. My AA has been around 80/20 through most of this. So it has been a wild ride. I am really happy to be back to 0% investment return.

I continued making monthly contributions throughout this. I also took my emergency cash down from 12 months to 3 months to put that money into stocks. I've gotten it back to 6 months worth now. Since states are now feeling the affect of the recession I want to get it back to 12 months of living expenses asap just to be safe.