Is your portfolio at a high?

[Koolau]

I looked at the average average growth over the last 3 years. If I were to withdraw that growth amount it would be like a 17% withdrawal rate and a life changing boost in income.

Can you spell "BTD"??

 

[NW-Bound]

Despite having jettisoned most of my semi holdings way way early, including the scorching hot MU, hence reducing my stock AA to 50-55%, my stash keeps setting new highs. Yesterday, the 7th digit rolled up one notch. I looked up my record, and the last time it rolled up was in Oct 2025. That's only 7 months ago.

Perhaps I should post this in the "Market Crazy" thread.

 

[TheWizard]

Despite having jettisoned most of my semi holdings way way early, including the scorching hot MU, hence reducing my stock AA to 50-55%, my stash keeps setting new highs. Yesterday, the 7th digit rolled up one notch. I looked up my record, and the last time it rolled up was in Oct 2025. That's only 7 months ago.

Perhaps I should post this in the "Market Crazy" thread.

You must be quite wealthy...

 

[street]

You must be quite wealthy...

If I had NW-Bond stash I'd throw mine away! GOAT!

Man, I had to look and yes, today an ATH. I also rolled to a new 7 digit number some month's back also. It took from last July/August to roll over another number.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

ATH for me today, halfway to 10 digits. ETA: OOPSIE! I MEAN 8.

I am a 64 year old widow who lives in my mom’s basement. I bought peanuts at Aldi yesterday because they were 1/3 of the price of almonds, per ounce.

I have issues.

 

[GenXguy]

My stash hit another ATH. I'm afraid if this keeps up much longer, I'm going to either have to jump up another tax bracket and exceed IRMAA threshold down the road or just let more dough sit in the stash as I get older. Nothing more I can do in the short term, though, due to the ACA MAGI handcuffs.

 

[TheWizard]

ATH for me today, halfway to 10 digits.

I am a 64 year old widow who lives in my mom’s basement. I bought peanuts at Aldi yesterday because they were 1/3 of the price of almonds, per ounce.

I have issues.

10 digits threshold is $1,000,000,000.
Half of that is $500 million.
You can probably afford a large sack of almonds, in my opinion...

 

[NW-Bound]

You must be quite wealthy...

To be wealthy is to have 8 digits (a decamillionaire), and I am not there. Rather, I am just lucky to take advantage of this crazy market. And overnight, the market god may just take it all back. It's this apprehension that caused me to lower my stock AA to way below my usual 80% stock AA.

If I had NW-Bond stash I'd throw mine away! GOAT!

Man, I had to look and yes, today an ATH. I also rolled to a new 7 digit number some month's back also. It took from last July/August to roll over another number.

Well, then you are not doing too shabbily yourself. Perhaps my stash has made more than yours in terms of dollar amount (in contrast to percentage gain) simply because I am more active in trading. Even after selling off most of my red-hot semi stocks, I still try to make some money selling OTM puts. Why, in just 14 days of May so far, the option premium alone gives me 1.4%, while the S&P is up 3.3%. This means I almost keep up with the S&P despite the 52% stock AA.

I used to work months to make this money I made in 14 days. It's the crazy market that enables me to generate cash this way, it does not feel real.

 

[CSdot]

Another ATH, but with all this 10 digit talk, I feel further behind than ever.

 

[CSdot]

ATH for me today, halfway to 10 digits.

I am a 64 year old widow who lives in my mom’s basement. I bought peanuts at Aldi yesterday because they were 1/3 of the price of almonds, per ounce.

I have issues.

Do you mean you are at 5 digits (half way to ten)?

 

[RetiredHappy]

10 digits threshold is $1,000,000,000.
Half of that is $500 million.
You can probably afford a large sack of almonds, in my opinion...

This earlier post said halfway to 8 digits. Maybe the 10 digits is a typo?

Airfare upgrade, I just can’t, but would you?

So does anyone fly premium economy instead of BC & allocate a recovery day at the destination instead?

www.early-retirement.org

 

[NW-Bound]

... Even after selling off most of my red-hot semi stocks, I still try to make some money selling OTM puts. Why, in just 14 days of May so far, the option premium alone gives me 1.4%, while the S&P is up 3.3%. This means I almost keep up with the S&P despite the 52% stock AA...

Something more: So far 14 days into May, my stash is up 2.2%, vs the 3.3% of the S&P. As mentioned, the option premium generated 1.4%, which means the stock appreciation is 0.8%, which is measly for the stock AA of 52%. It would be 0.52*3.3% = 1.72% if I were indexing my stock portion.

As I sold off most of my semi stocks which drove a huge part of the gain of the S&P, having left mostly the ho-hum stocks of the S&P, the 0.8% is about right for my holdings. But I proved to myself again that the option selling of 1.4% gain is tremendous help, even though the total gain of 2.2% is still way short of the S&P 3.3%.

I feel good that I still get a decent gain despite taking less risks, by having a low stock AA plus holding more value stocks, then making it up via option trading. Still, the only way to know for sure of my portfolio risk is for the market to crash, and to see how much I lose vs. the S&P. This, I am perversely awaiting.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

OMG! LOL! Yes, half way to 8 digits! I guess I had 10 on the brain because I passed over 5 million today. It is a shocking number to me.

Neither my husband nor I had 4 year college degrees, just associate degrees. My parents were divorced before I was five, and my brother and I grew up with a single parent renting an old house in a bad part of town. We had food and clothing and the basics, but no car or extras.

We were living proof that LBYM and investing every paycheck for years on end truly works. I have a lot of trouble getting over the mindset that every penny counts. I spent a half hour today figuring out the cost of whey protein isolate per gram of protein on Amazon, Costco and Sam’s Club. . Then I started thinking it was all too expensive and maybe I should just figure out what the cheapest food protein is and just eat that. Sigh.

 

[Andre1969]

I have a lot of trouble getting over the mindset that every penny counts.

It's a hard habit to break. Yesterday I got excited seeing what was already an ATH get $30K added to it, to make yet another ATH!

Yet, I also spent some time yesterday trying to glue part of the outer side sole back on an old, inexpensive canvas Vans shoe. A shoe that you can probably get on sale for $30-40 from time to time.

Yep, old habits die hard!

 

[GeorgeCap]

Anniversary highs are when the math gets fragile, not when it gets generous. A 17 percent withdrawal pulled from three years of equity beta does not survive the next compression — the same beta runs both ways. 2022 wiped out three years of balanced-portfolio bond returns in roughly nine months. Whether the next ATH triggers a rebalance into the asset that lagged, or gets met by ignoring the asymmetry, is the load-bearing decision.

 

[Ronstar]

After going through more than 50 years of constantly striving for all time highs, I've come to the realization that such behavior is not prudent for us now in our 70's. There comes a time when we should start enjoying the fruits of our labor. The time is now.

So I spent a bunch of $, and we're still at an ATH.

 

[street]

After going through more than 50 years of constantly striving for all time highs, I've come to the realization that such behavior is not prudent for us now in our 70's. There comes a time when we should start enjoying the fruits of our labor. The time is now.

So I spent a bunch of $, and we're still at an ATH.

Exactly!! Who would of thought in retirement that money would be the least thing to be worried about. I know it is all on paper and can disappear but way more other things in life after retirement too be concerned about.

 

[FD1000]

Every day this week and last week at ATH.

I'm amazed too.
In less than 3 years our portfolio grew from $3M to $4M. In that time we bought 2 new vehicles, did renovations over $100K, at least 2 months of vacation annually overseas and more.

It was invested in 99+% bond OEFs.

 

[TheWizard]

OMG! LOL! Yes, half way to 8 digits! I guess I had 10 on the brain because I passed over 5 million today. It is a shocking number to me...

Ok, so $5M is very good, but nothing like $500M.
You should still be able to buy some almonds, but just a small bag...

 

[ls99]

Nowhere near to the 10 digit league, but still up beyond my wildest dreams.
In a post long ago I showed the house I was born and grew up in.
Am in "have difficuly BTD" club.
But, cand do, and spend on whatever I want.

 

[rjsos5]

I think above was meaning to say 10 million vs.10 digits. Yup 10 million such a nice round number. Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. And no cheating, not allowed to count home equity. Einstein was right, compounding returns (am substituting for interest) are the eighth wonder of the world. The real magic sauce is starting early. Fun exercise, start with a penny, double every day, how soon will you have a million?

 

[FD1000]

I think above was meaning to say 10 million vs.10 digits. Yup 10 million such a nice round number. Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. And no cheating, not allowed to count home equity. Einstein was right, compounding returns (am substituting for interest) are the eighth wonder of the world. The real magic sauce is starting early. Fun exercise, start with a penny, double every day, how soon will you have a million?

It’s about your investment portfolio after all expenses, not including any other assets, and especially not real estate.
This was my intention when I started this thread.

Example:
Yesterday your portfolio was at ATH.
Today you paid $50K in taxes. Your portfolio should be above yesterday's to report ATH.

 

[CSdot]

The market didn’t help today.

Was flipping through YouTube videos earlier and came across one that said with our current inflationary environment, $5M is about what is needed to support a comfortable middle class retirement. I got the impression they meant $5M liquid, in addition to also having a paid for home on top of that portfolio.

So you are in the top 5% for Net Worth in the US. Welcome to the middle class.

What a depressing thought!

 

[FD1000]

The market didn’t help today.

Was flipping through YouTube videos earlier and came across one that said with our current inflationary environment, $5M is about what is needed to support a comfortable middle class retirement. I got the impression they meant $5M liquid, in addition to also having a paid for home on top of that portfolio.

So you are in the top 5% for Net Worth in the US. Welcome to the middle class.

What a depressing thought!

Seriously?
At $5M it's much better than the top 5%.

Read
What Percentage of Retirees Have $4 Million?

How Many People Actually Retire With 5 Million Dollars?

Many people often wonder what the percentage of people actually retire with $5 Million dollars and if its even enough.

www.fuchsfinancial.com

How can you be in the middle class?

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, as y'all can guess, my 7th digit ratchets back down one notch today. Well, I did not expect it to last, and it didn't.

Nowhere near to the 10 digit league, but still up beyond my wildest dreams.
In a post long ago I showed the house I was born and grew up in.
Am in "have difficuly BTD" club.
But, cand do, and spend on whatever I want.

Eh, I joined this forum as far back as you did, but missed the posted photo of your childhood home.

Ok, so $5M is very good, but nothing like $500M.
You should still be able to buy some almonds, but just a small bag...

What are the almond grower stocks, so I can buy some?