When looking for a picture from my last article, I ran across some of my old comic artwork that I was going to incorporate into my blog weekly…
Just for fun, I think I’m going to republish the very short series, just for the fun of it It was harder than I imagined, but a lot of fun too. I actually look back proudly on my shorted lived series!
The comic strip below was created a bit before Halloween on 10/22/2010. I really liked that date because of the way the numbers look, I actually created it on that date because if I added a zero at the beginning of the first 10, it would be a palindrome. In my world both 10 and 010 is still ten).
I’m the small black dot in the picture, I called my self MR (for Money Reasons and because I was a guy, so a mister… seemed clever at the time…) back then. I was slowly going to develop the black dot as the comic strip grew in popularity, but I gave up way before then, lol.
Notice in the last square I’m even running (rolling, whatever) in fear!
Thanks for letting me relive the recent (or not so recent) past, depending on your perception of time.
Yes, yes, I’m really late (ha, for the past few years even)!
When I looked at my results for 2019, it looks great… at least until I looked at the S&P 500 results for 2019… the S&P 500 index scored a whopping 30%, vs my mid 20s percent… ugh!
That said, I’m still pretty good overall because I did do some risk adjusting by bring my asset allocation mix back into the balance that it should be… So ouch, but it’s okay…
These past few years, I’ve accomplished a lot of my financial goals (house paid off, kids college cost fully funded, etc) and have even started played around with the idea of semi-retirement… One of the biggest things holding me back is the expense of Medical Insurance for emergencies. My daughter is a gymnist and my son a part time fire fighter (in addition to attending college), so it’s a valid concern for me. I don’t hear a lot about that in a lot of FIRE equations, but it should be considered (at least until your are a vhnwi – Very High Networth Individual).
I mentioned in my last update that I believe I have enough critical mass now and that I wanted to experiment. Instead I decided to take a break and try to live a bit of that Upper Middle Class lifestyle that I’m striving for in my wealth pyramid below. Turns out, that lifestyle is still a bit out of reach for me and also more expensive that I originally believed, so I’m still in that “think green line” area in the picture below. Another fact that is keeping me in the “Think Green Line” area, is that fact that bulk of my net worth is either tied up in my house or 401k. It’s great, but I’m definitely on the cash poor side.
Ignoring my whining, I have enough money from my dividend funds (I’ll post about them in the future) to at least dip my toe into the entrepreneurial pool… So perhaps I’ll try and find a rental to buy or maybe start a low startup cost business… idk… Lately, I have the urge to find someone with the right characteristics to work on ideas and strategies. It’s surprising how hard it is to find anyone that is interested in thinking outside of the box on wealth accumulation! Then again, I’m not the best conversationalist… so perhaps the fault lies with me.
After taking a hit at the end of 2018, my secret wealth goal has improved to the highest level that it has been yet (79.63%) in 2019. Sadly, my percentage has fallen a bit these past few weeks… I’m not sure how this year will play out, but I’m hoping I break the 80% barrier at the end of year 2021. We’ll see…
Okay, onto health! For the past few years I’ve been working out pretty hard to accomplish two goals.
Benchpress all the weight in my basement and do three 45 plates on each site for at least 1 rep (this I accomplished). I was going to three gyms and working out like a fiend. I have to say I was quite pleased with the results!!! See picture below of my arm.
The Second goal is to focus on my body aesthetics and optimize my health. I wanted to hit my strength goal first, now I’m doubling back and taking on this challenge.
So to summarize, it’s smooth and steady for me so far.
Wow, that’s all I have to say for my initial reaction when I heard the news. Once one brokerage went to the “Zero Commission” trading model, then all of the other major discount brokerages had to follow or die. It’s the ultimate example of dominoes falling once the first one toppled into the rest.
Zero payment for a service is a horrible business model for business, but luckily most of the brokerages make their money in their other branches of business. Ha, I wonder if the brokerages are going to run online Ads like other internet businesses? I joke, but some might actually do this, and it might not be a bad idea if done intelligently and in a limited fashion…
Anyway, for me personally, no commissions open up entirely new strategies for me to experiment with, and for those considering investing for the first time, this is the perfect time to test the waters.
One HUGE benefit of this change is that you can now invest with little money without any negative effects. When you have $50 to invest and the commission was $5, you start your investment with an instant 10% loss. With the commission penalty gone, young and starting investors have no reason not to jump into the investing arena.
I can’t way to start creating different strategies that commission fee would limit me at before!
Anyway, short post today, in my mind, I’m still reeling in all the possibilities.
