30 and quitting my job! Why wait any longer...?

[retire@40]

I smell a troll (he can't be that ignorant!). Enough is enough.

Don't forget, he only has $30K saved up. This is all new to him.

My kid is concerned with spending $5 he earned while doing some yardwork at his uncle's house. He told me that even if he only spends $2, there goes 40% of what he earned that day, so he banks it instead and knows that Dad will buy him the ice cream.

Some of these "small" numbers can be very troubling to a beginner.

It's all relative.

 

[armor99]

Perhaps he is hoping to make his money off of this forum in tips for his entertainment..... come on now.... pass the cup around for this guy!!! We should pay something for this level of entertainment right?

 

[citrine]

kstrongt: welcome to the board....you will learn a lot here, if you are willing to listen.
BTW...how does your wife feel about you leaving work and playing the stock market with all of your savings? Will she be working while you do this?
I have the same dream of retirining early, but I need to work for the next 12 years to amass enough of a safety net to semi-retire. Have you thought about the impact on your kids? Is there any way for you to do this business venture on the side while you still retain your full time job?

 

[jclarksnakes]

It all depends how old you are, and how far you are in your "financial plan". You can't look at "X" dollars. You have to look at the percentage gain/loss, regardless of dollar amount of retirement investment/assets.

For some, $30k may represent 10% (or more) of their portfolio. For others, $30k may be a fraction of 1%.

Percentage (plus/minus) count. Dollar amounts (while entertaining) don't.

- Ron

Ron,
...I am somewhere between those percentages in your example. I lose it one week and make it back the next. No problem. We will be able to live on the pensions without actually needing any of the portfolio so it is all good from my viewpoint. I guess my admittedly strange sense of humor does not always come through (or play very well) over the internet.
Jeff

 

[NW-Bound]

Ron,
...I am somewhere between those percentages in your example. I lose it one week and make it back the next. No problem. We will be able to live on the pensions without actually needing any of the portfolio so it is all good from my viewpoint. I guess my admittedly strange sense of humor does not always come through (or play very well) over the internet.
Jeff

I remember very clearly a day in March 2000. I became $40K richer that single day. That would not be significant, except that I always thought of myself as a conservative guy. Sure, I had a seven-figure portfolio, but I was still holding 30% cash, with some conservative MFs. But the stars in the mix were the high techs of my own choice. I had no dotcoms, but a bunch of semiconductor companies, internet infrastructures, all kind of high techs. Was I brilliant or what?

Whatever I bought turned into gold. That did not feel right. So, the next day, I got scared and sold some, about $80K worth. Then, the day after, I saw that those $80K would have become $100K if I didn't sell. Fear turned back to greed. Then greed turned into fear. Back and forth several times a day.

I was so rich - on paper anyway - yet I lost sleep. I was tormented. I read Malkiel's "Random Walk" again and again, looking for an explanation. It was in there, called BUBBLE, but I wondered if it were different this time.

Well, I should have sold all, but didn't. Over the next 2 years, I became $600K poorer. Oh, I missed the "stock mania" of a lifetime. Of course, I was not that dumb to get sucked into the next housing bubble. I kept shaking my head over the climb of house prices. But I did not think of shorting home builders and subprime lenders. Oh well, maybe the next bubble...