Mid-Year Financial Check In

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We're down approximately $330k from the high in Jan 1. We haven't stopped investing so if or when the market rebounds we should be in a good position.

Also note, this is a great financial topic that everyone should have participated in yet it only has 5 posts as of now, 2 days after kork posted. Smh.

Out of town for a few weeks so I'm finally able to post something. I read but no time to respond!

Down $400k on retirement accounts
down $300k on taxable investments.

We've also added to our 0% CC debt but are getting serious about decreasing it. I sent $4k to it in June 2022 alone and since 1/1/2022 it went up $10k. So in may 2022 we owed around $25k. It's down now to $19.5k Plan is to pay it off by Feb 2023. I have to sit today and make payment plans. I think $2437 by Feb 2023.

DH also got a surprise bonus. I think we'll spend it on a trip next year.

[srblanco7]

As of last week, our investment account balances have almost fully recovered to where they were at the end of 2021. Currently within 0.5% of our (end of) 2021 balance. For clarity, this is including contributions (401ks, Roth IRAs, general savings) and withdrawals (cash for two new to us vehicles) as well as investment performance.

[kork13]

Was there a blip at the end of 2021? If so, I can't see it in my account balances ... At least on the taxable side....

Ok, I confirmed it on the S&P500, and I do see the same dynamic in my Roth IRA ... but I guess my taxable contributions of late have outpaced any market drops that we've faced. I see a drop between Feb-Aug'20, then sharply higher balances from then on. My taxable investment account is 3x higher now than it's ever been ... I've been intentionally trying to load it up ahead of buying another rental property at some point in the future, as well as building up an accessible pot of money for use after I retire from the military in (likely) ~5 years.

[disneysteve]

As of last week, our investment account balances have almost fully recovered to where they were at the end of 2021. Currently within 0.5% of our (end of) 2021 balance. For clarity, this is including contributions (401ks, Roth IRAs, general savings) and withdrawals (cash for two new to us vehicles) as well as investment performance.

We are not quite back to 12/31/21 but we're also within 0.5%. However, the comparison is flawed for us because 2023 marked the first year of us drawing from our savings to live on. If I add back in the money that we've withdrawn this year, the total would actually be over the 2021 figure.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Retirement close to 1/1/2022 same with taxable and everything else.

[srblanco7]

H1 2024 Investment Accounts Performance Check

We're at +10.85% (note: includes contributions) with an AA of 73/20/7.

A bit more than half is in brokerage account (51%), 42% in 401k and 7% in Roth IRAs.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

this is our highest assets ever. guess we are doing well.

[disneysteve]

YTD our portfolio is up 9.13%. I think that's pretty damn good seeing as I'm retired and we're now living off the portfolio. I did work some this year but minimally. My gross for the year was $11,600 and take home was $8,400.

In real numbers, we're up $308,000. Our annual spending last year was about $135,000 so we are doing just fine, and our spending will be lower going forward for a variety of reasons.

[srblanco7]

YTD our portfolio is up 9.13%. I think that's pretty damn good seeing as I'm retired and we're now living off the portfolio. I did work some this year but minimally. My gross for the year was $11,600 and take home was $8,400.

In real numbers, we're up $308,000. Our annual spending last year was about $135,000 so we are doing just fine, and our spending will be lower going forward for a variety of reasons.

Are you up $308k net of H1 2024 withdrawals? or up $308k prior to H1 2024 withdrawals?

[james.hendrickson]

So I checked Schwab, the S&P 500 delivered about 26.6 return in the last 12 months, my IRA is at about 8% return.

Its not great, but at least I'm investing in the markets.

[disneysteve]

Are you up $308k net of H1 2024 withdrawals? or up $308k prior to H1 2024 withdrawals?

Net of withdrawals. Our actual balance today is 308K higher than it was on 12/31/23.

[disneysteve]

So I checked Schwab, the S&P 500 delivered about 26.6 return in the last 12 months, my IRA is at about 8% return.

How is your IRA invested? If it isn't in the S&P 500, that's not really a meaningful comparison. Also if you are steadily adding to it, your return wouldn't be the same.

[kork13]

I intentionally try to avoid watching the markets & such most of the time, reserving my attention for these semi-annual updates. Overall, fairly good progress

Total Net Worth up ~8.9%/$175k since January (including new contributions), now solidly above the $2M mark. Most of that growth is from investments (~$155k, average +9.6% YTD), the remainder mostly from real estate value appreciation (conservatively estimated). Without doing the detailed math, our 1yr trailing investment performance is between 14-16%, TNW up ~$300k over that period.

The next 6-12 months will likely be financially chaotic for us. My family will finally join me in Japan in ~Nov, and we'll be selling our current home (owned outright), which has appreciated over $100k (~35%) since purchase 4 years ago. We're also staying to consider selling our current rental property (also owned outright), since it's becoming bothersome to deal with through the property management company, and I want to build up a more consolidated clutch of multiple investment properties wherever we settle down post-military (in 4-8 years). Proceeds from those sales (in the range of $650k-$700k total) will ultimately go into taxable investments for mid-term holding/growth (lateral step for NW, just reclassifying). DW may (potentially) also be able to start working as a physical therapist, which would likely boost our income by at least 30%. Our childcare costs may go down somewhat, but that's still TBD.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Our retirement accounts are up YTD ~18% including contributions, 4% in our taxable/cash, but our debt is down 2% which is mortgage. I don't count home equity outside of paydown. I just assume our down payment and mortgage paydown and i know appreciation will be helping. I'm not even sure entirely because I don't know DH's new 401k because it's with a no-name company versus before we knew it was with fidelity.

[scfr]

In the first 6 months of the year, our net worth increased 6.2%. Financial assets increased 7.2%, and non-financial assets increased 1.4%. Owning a depreciating asset (a vehicle) is a drag on net worth, but a drag that we accept. Most of the growth is ROI. The return has been better than we need (our conservative financial planning has been based on investments keeping pace with inflation), and our total nest egg at just a few years away from full retirement is more than we need. We had a bit of unexpected expense in the form of medical deductible & co-pays from a winter storm slip & fall accident that DH suffered. We made a home improvement (gutter guards). We made a bittersweet move away from Vanguard, to Charles Schwab & Fidelity. And I mentioned this before but because it was perhaps the most significant financial milestone during the 6 months, I downshifted to 20 hours a week work.

We are thinking about doing a bit of informal asset reallocation. DH has had a bit of "fun money" to buy indivdual stocks, but he's thinking about selling them and just sticking the money in something like a brokered CD. (We will continue to own stocks, primarily in our ETFs and mutual funds.)

In the second half of the year I/we will be doing some regional travel by car or train, very inexpensive. I say I/we because I have 3 short trips planned but only 1 includes DH. I'm also planning to go to 2 concerts, but again, the expense will be small. But we do have a big "blow that dough" in mind. Each time I calculate the NW I remind DH that it's okay for us to loosen the purse strings a bit, and for a couple years I've been mentioning that if he is going to get one of those "fancy cars" that he likes to dream about it would be better to do it while he can still really get a lot of enjoyment out of it. So . . . we are seriously considering accepting even more drag on the NW by ugpgrading to a luxury car, which may come as a shock to some of the old timers here.