Am I the only one

[harley]

You're dealing with the wrong stash. An edible from the other stash will help you sleep.

 

[RetiredAt49]

Appreciate all the input. I do think I sleep a little better when the market is down a little , very odd. And yes I think it might be a few things.
Such as how heirs will handle it.
And I should spend more etc.

I think most of us on this form have been very fortunate and with that comes responsibilities.

If you sleep better when the stock market is down (and thus your portfolio is down), then your sleep issue is not the lack of money nor the fear of it disappearing…. Turn off the media, unplug from the Internet for a few days, and hit the outdoors for awhile!

 

[dmpi]

Imposter syndrome?

 

[Koolau]

I don't lose sleep, but I'm more concerned about losses (which are more likely when the markets are up/going up.) Like right now: My old megacorp stock has been on a tear. Never thought I'd have that much money in one account. I'm paralyzed whether to take some out or let it ride. Never worried about it before. Could it be as simple as worrying about "losing" some of it in the future?

 

[DrRoy]

As the stash grew I reduced the exposure to equities, so no.

 

[dknighd]

Can you pin it down?

I could see lots of worries that might be milling about in your head, a small sample:
Fears that heirs will mishandle it?
The feeling that maybe you should give more away to charity?
Thoughts that you should live it up, but spending it makes you anxious?
Lurking desire to buy something big (vacation home, boat, etc.) but fear you don't have enough to do it?
General fear that you/spouse will lose it as you become older and vulnerable?
General malaise about getting older?

If you can pin it down, you might find actions you could take to settle you down. Note also that other things may be disrupting your sleep, so it may be worth it to go to a sleep doctor.

I sleep better some nights than others. For me it seems to be almost random. I do not think it is connected to the size of my stash. Although, that also seems to be somewhat random, so maybe subconsciously it is. Not likely IMO.



So far I think my average night sleep is fine. My dad has problems sleeping at night, but I think that is because he takes afternoon naps. He takes naps because he is tired. He can't sleep at night because he slept during the day. He has essentially broken down his daily sleep requirements into two (sometimes three) pieces. I do not think that is a problem, but I'm not a sleep expert.


Sometimes I wonder. If you worry about sleeping well at night, perhaps that makes it harder to sleep well? Just a random thought.

 

[Rocky mtn high]

You're dealing with the wrong stash. An edible from the other stash will help you sleep.

I think your on to something

 

[dknighd]

I think the secret to a good nights sleep is to go to bed happy.

 

[Toocold]

For the longest time, I thought after I pull the trigger, I'd comfortably wake up at 9:30am. Nope. I still wake up between 5-7am every day. I still get 6-8 hours of sleep.

 

[Car-Guy]

Thinking about this thread a bit more and it occurs to me, that while I worry a lot less about money as I get older (already mentioned that earlier in this thread), I also have been able to put investing "almost" complete aside since I've moved almost everything to fixed income investments. Investing now takes me about 10% of my time that it was taking. Helps w/sleep too!

I have zero stocks now, and haven't traded a stock/equity in over a year. In addition, I'm saving an almost incalculable amount of time not swing trading and watching the business news everyday to keep on top of what's going on in the investing world. Matter of fact, I have so much spare time now I'm not sure what to do with it. Sure I may miss a big market run up, but I don't worry about big drops ether. (The old risk/reward discussion)

So my biggest investing issue now is keeping enough free cash (not invested in CD's) to fund life and my "addiction(s)". I've solving that by putting maturing CD's into SWVXX for quick access. Life is good for now!

 

[rk911]

Am I the only one who gets less sleep the higher the stash gets? It seems very odd but the higher it gets the less sleep I get. There’s plenty of money there, don’t even spend the dividends and interest. So what’s the worry?

I don't sleep well but that has nothing to do with our NW or finances. Those are things which I don't worry about.

 

[dknighd]

For the longest time, I thought after I pull the trigger, I'd comfortably wake up at 9:30am. Nope. I still wake up between 5-7am every day. I still get 6-8 hours of sleep.

I get up when the sun rises. It seems natural. So in the summer I wake up earlier than I do in the winter.

 

[DangerDad]

I think a lot of folks have anxiety related to $/investments/NW for a variety of reasons, and especially near/during retirement. I’m not familiar with anxiety directly related to increasing net worth, however I appreciate OP sharing his situation with us. I would encourage him to examine this issue and ask himself: what’s going on here?

My own challenge is spending. For me, it’s difficult to shake the “scarcity mentality” I grew up with, despite being blessed with abundance in retirement. But I’m getting better at this!

Back to OP: it’s likely that further self-examination and insight regarding the source of your anxiety will lead to meaningful improvement.

Cheers,
DD

 

[Koolau]

Thinking about this thread a bit more and it occurs to me, that while I worry a lot less about money as I get older (already mentioned that earlier in this thread), I also have been able to put investing "almost" complete aside since I've moved almost everything to fixed income investments. Investing now takes me about 10% of my time that it was taking. Helps w/sleep too!

I have zero stocks now, and haven't traded a stock/equity in over a year. In addition, I'm saving an almost incalculable amount of time not swing trading and watching the business news everyday to keep on top of what's going on in the investing world. Matter of fact, I have so much spare time now I'm not sure what to do with it. Sure I may miss a big market run up, but I don't worry about big drops ether. (The old risk/reward discussion)

So my biggest investing issue now is keeping enough free cash (not invested in CD's) to fund life and my "addiction(s)". I've solving that by putting maturing CD's into SWVXX for quick access. Life is good for now!

As long as you have "enough", you can skip the markets.



I do have money in equities (mostly in MFs.) Probably about 35% of my stash. I spend 15 minutes a quarter reviewing my Vanguard statements and maybe half an hour the first of the year reviewing the year-end statement. I can't recall making any changes in the past 10 years - so I spend almost no time. Set and forget is (almost) what I do, though I remain vigilant to major market changes - just in case. YMMV

 

[Car-Guy]

As long as you have "enough", you can skip the markets.

That's the way I see it too. I'm pretty sure I can live the way I want from now until (well the end) just on our SS payments and interest we are getting from our fixed income investments and never dip into the "the bucket". And as most you know that have been reading my posts over the years, you'll know I'm not a LBYM type. DW is, but not me.

 

[threeonesix]

Am I the only one who gets less sleep the higher the stash gets? It seems very odd but the higher it gets the less sleep I get. There’s plenty of money there, don’t even spend the dividends and interest. So what’s the worry?

Stop paying attention to the media and you will sleep a strong 8 hours every night.

 

[Koolau]

That's the way I see it too. I'm pretty sure I can live the way I want from now until (well the end) just on our SS payments and interest we are getting from our fixed income investments and never dip into the "the bucket". And as most you know that have been reading my posts over the years, you'll know I'm not a LBYM type. DW is, but not me.

I feel certain I could survive on my SS/pension and interest, but I'm sorta playing "casino" with what I can stand (or bear) to lose. So far, it's been a good bet, but clearly, it is not for everyone. Enough is enough! That's hard to beat in my book.

Heh, heh, just hope your DW doesn't catch on to how much fun BTD is!

 

[Act2]

Usually my (good) financial situation does not impair my sleep. The exception is when my asset allocation does not match my risk tolerance and the market is volatile. I have less in stock than I used to for this very reason.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

We worry more about how to keep our stash than we do watching it grow. This iron-fisted confiscatory gov is going to keep coming for more and more of it.

 

[pb4uski]

... This iron-fisted confiscatory gov is going to keep coming for more and more of it.

Sure, whatever you say. [emoji1787]

Funny/strange that in the US that a married couple over 65 could have $120,000 of income from qualified dividends and long-term capital gains and pay $7.50 in federal income tax. Talk about confiscatory! Where will this iron-fisted money grab end?

And if that $120,000 were all ordinary income the tax would be $10,276, a whopping 8.56% of income.

I'm surprised that more seniors don't renounce their US citizenship and move elsewhere given these outrageously confiscatory taxes!

 

[Luvtoride]

With the way things are these days, (ex. inflation/bank failures, etc) I'm not sure how much is enough anymore. But, even with that said, the older I get, the less I worry about money.

I never realized sleep was related to assets, money and net worth. As long as you get enough sleep to get up and function thru the day, what is the concern about “less sleep”?

 

[LateToFIRE]

I feel certain I could survive on my SS/pension and interest...

I'm so used to a low interest rate environment, I totally failed to even consider this possibility

Could probably do same if invested almost everything in a nicely structured portfolio of Treasuries and high-grade corporates.

 

[pb4uski]

... Could probably do same if invested almost everything in a nicely structured portfolio of Treasuries and high-grade corporates.

Yup. That's the plan until equities becomes a better value.

 

[Finance Dave]

The more our “stash” increases, the better I sleep - just means our WR is that much lower…

Since you’re ahead - maybe you can reduce your equity allocation, reduce risk & volatility, and sleep better? I’ve slowly gone from 60:40 to 50:50 as our portfolio has grown.

This.

When I was in the wor*ing and saving mode, I worried more because I was 80-90% equities, and the volatility was crazy. But when I was within about 3 years of FIRE, I slowly shifted and now only hold about 25% equities. So if the market goes down 30%, I've only "lost" about a quarter of that, or 7.5% of our overall portfolio. I sleep much better knowing this. My brother once told me..."you only have to get rich once!"....and I did that so now I've dialed it back.

If you still have a lot in equities, I can understand why you wouldn't sleep as well.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

Sure, whatever you say. [emoji1787]

Funny/strange that in the US that a married couple over 65 could have $120,000 of income from qualified dividends and long-term capital gains and pay $7.50 in federal income tax. Talk about confiscatory! Where will this iron-fisted money grab end?

And if that $120,000 were all ordinary income the tax would be $10,276, a whopping 8.56% of income.

I'm surprised that more seniors don't renounce their US citizenship and move elsewhere given these outrageously confiscatory taxes!

We presume you always pay more than your tax bills show and tell the IRS to keep the change. How much is customary to tip Uncle Sam and what form do your file that contribution on?