Q3 YTD: How are you doing?

[disneysteve]

Today marks the end of the third quarter of 2025. It's certainly been a good year so far as investing goes. Despite all of the economic turmoil and uncertainty, the market has continued to climb (except for the dip back in April). What will happen in the coming days if there is a prolonged government shutdown is a big question mark, but strictly looking at performance through 9/30, how have you fared?

This has been our most expensive year ever in terms of spending, largely because of the nearly 40K we spent to redo our kitchen. Despite that, and despite this being my first full year of retirement, our portfolio is up about 10% for the year.

I'll freely admit I'm surprised. I expected the tariffs and rising inflation to have more of an effect on the market by now. I do still think it's going to catch up with us even though it hasn't happened yet. I've kept us at about 60/40 as far as AA goes. I may back off more on equities but haven't as of yet.

[kork13]

I haven't paid attention, but I'm apparently up over 14.5% this year, at least in my brokerage & retirement accounts. Other assets are tougher to value, and I assume the real estate investments are returning less than that (in the past, I think my overall return has been around 8-10%). But within the market investments, I'm basically 90% stock, which has definitely helped.

[ua_guy]

YTD clocks at 13.9%, and that's with 80% of my assets parked in bonds over the last few months. I'm not sure the math is mathing because the bonds don't earn nearly that, although the 20% I've kept in the market and continue to buy through contributions is doing slightly better than 17%.

Home values are holding, the market is gliding along today, even as the government shuts down. The market doesn't feel in tune with reality, but it's better than a recession, right? This is the most uncertain I can recall feeling about markets and about what might happen next.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

the year has been very good year so far. up 19% YTD. but overall massive increase in nw and portfolio 43% with savings.

[srblanco7]

YTD our investments are up about 13% and at an all time high. Hoping the market performance holds thru the end of the year - and then we'll likely take some additional "winnings" off the table in our brokerage account. Currently at a 71/29 AA.

[disneysteve]

YTD our investments are up about 13% and at an all time high. Hoping the market performance holds thru the end of the year - and then we'll likely take some additional "winnings" off the table in our brokerage account. Currently at a 71/29 AA.

Yeah I'm teetering on pulling off some winnings because of the tremendous uncertainty. I hate to miss out on big gains going forward but I'd also hate to see hundreds of thousands of dollars of portfolio value vaporize overnight when the crap finally hits the fan.

[srblanco7]

Yeah I'm teetering on pulling off some winnings because of the tremendous uncertainty. I hate to miss out on big gains going forward but I'd also hate to see hundreds of thousands of dollars of portfolio value vaporize overnight when the crap finally hits the fan.

Without predicting anything imminent nor trying to time the market - likely just time for us to de-risk our portfolio (some more). With retirement now an imminent event our capacity to absorb risk is further decreased (even though our risk tolerance has not).

[disneysteve]

Without predicting anything imminent nor trying to time the market - likely just time for us to de-risk our portfolio (some more). With retirement now an imminent event our capacity to absorb risk is further decreased (even though our risk tolerance has not).

This too. We're at the "we've won the game" stage where we no longer need to take as much risk. I'd rather get a slightly lower overall return and reduce the risk of larger losses in a market correction. I'm going for lower volatility. I've also been steadily working to simplify our portfolio and consolidate holdings and accounts. I recently rolled over my 401k into my existing rollover IRA so that got rid of one account. And this week I sold off a fund in my inherited IRA so got rid of another line item on my spreadsheet.

[colbysir]

Up about 8% YTD here. I didn’t expect that either after how messy April felt. Still mostly index funds, no big trades. Hoping Q4 holds steady so I can finally rebalance without panic-selling.

[srblanco7]

This too. We're at the "we've won the game" stage where we no longer need to take as much risk. I'd rather get a slightly lower overall return and reduce the risk of larger losses in a market correction. I'm going for lower volatility. I've also been steadily working to simplify our portfolio and consolidate holdings and accounts. I recently rolled over my 401k into my existing rollover IRA so that got rid of one account. And this week I sold off a fund in my inherited IRA so got rid of another line item on my spreadsheet.

Simplification is a work in progress for us (and we still have a fair amount of work to do ). We have around a dozen funds in our brokerage account - the result of buy and hold over 30+ years. We'll be able to exit a few of them at the start of next year (at least 3) to kickoff the process. Though I'm a bit challenged with wanting to simplify our brokerage account and implement a roth conversion strategy at the same time without paying too much in taxes.

[disneysteve]

Simplification is a work in progress for us (and we still have a fair amount of work to do ). We have around a dozen funds in our brokerage account - the result of buy and hold over 30+ years. We'll be able to exit a few of them at the start of next year (at least 3) to kickoff the process. Though I'm a bit challenged with wanting to simplify our brokerage account and implement a roth conversion strategy at the same time without paying too much in taxes.

Taxes are the prevailing problem. We have a couple of mutual funds in taxable accounts that we've owned for over 30 years. They have substantial gains. I sold a chunk of one of them in January and plan to sell another chunk in January 2026 but it will take about 6 years to fully get out of it without triggering ridiculous taxes in any one year.

[cypher1]

Just checked 401K which is about 16.3% (95/5 AA) and HSA is 17.49% (VASGX only) for YTD. I'm guessing Roth and taxable around 14-16% but I really don't pay attention to these percentages. I'm probably somewhere between 90/5/5 for equities/bonds/cash at age 44.

[bjl584]

We are doing just fine
Our portfolio is at a record high actually.
I'm waiting for the bubble to burst, but who knows when that will happen.
A healthy pullback could be a good buying opportunity

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We are doing just fine
Our portfolio is at a record high actually.
I'm waiting for the bubble to burst, but who knows when that will happen.
A healthy pullback could be a good buying opportunity

Are you trying to market time or DCA? I have found that investing when you have the money and if you never pull it out then it seems to go up. Maybe i'd have made more instead of dumping it in.