Spend it on fun. Fuck, you might die tomorrow. I make just over $200,000 per year, but I give most to those less fortunate. Gave a car and a house to a family of 5 in need this year. Granted, the house only cost $124,000, but it Feels really good to do that. So, I treat myself to strippers who enjoy fucking me in the VIP rooms across the nation! True story.
I grossed 225 in 19, expect 250-300 this year depending on how much consulting I take on and if I get a signing bonus elsewhere. Damn good stock market year on top of that.
I don't live too large. Status purchases are for insecure bores. Money means freedom, whether to support friends in need, walk away from a shit job, or enjoy the company of women both dancer and civvie.
You guys must live on a shoestring budget. Juice saving 30% and alec 25% is crazy good. I would say that most people don't have much left at all after rent/mortgage, insurance, credit cards, utilities, food, clothing, car, entertainment, etc. Life is expensive.
Housing is a big cost. Wife and I live in a good neighborhood house was around 180K when we bought it. Houses in California like ours are 450K. I drive a paid off car with over 150K miles. I keep it up and would drive it on vacation. My wife has a nice car with few miles on it. People need to learn to live within their means!
I'm single, no kids, no debt, no car, and I live with roommates. I could save 36000 a year if I wanted to but I want to have fun. Ironincally I don't go to SCs that much over other interests. My plan this year is to save for a cheapo car and then eventually a house. Eventually, I want a 15 year mortgage on a house I rent out so I can live for free.
Consider me the ghost of future Christmas. I saved a high percent of my income all my career. I retired young and live ( comfortably and modestly) off my investments, mainly index funds. Since January, my investments are up 31%. Nice. Very nice.
i am happy everybody had a good year, just be conservative investing your money in the market in 2020 i loss overall in 2019 (it was my fault being greedy) but will recovery it in 2020. good luck to all
There were a couple of popular books by Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller that forever changed my perception of the stock market. He's a hard-core economist from MIT but his wife is a psychologist and he writes about the psychology of bubble formation. Shiller called correctly the dot-com bubble in stocks (with simple arguments about the inflated value of P/E ratios) and the fall in housing (with a similar argument about price-to-rent ratios). I got slaughtered in the dot-com bubble but (following Shiller) I timed the housing market and bought a pretty custom home at half-price in late 2009.
Right now the stock market is *very* overvalued if look at P/E ratios overall:
Depending on your age I can see setting aside some money each month to put in the stock market -- but it's otherwise a very bad time to dump lump-sums into the market. It's driven by investor psychology and low interest rates. Current Fed chair doesn't have any balls and he's been bullied effectively by Trump into keeping interest rates low.
Overall P/E ratios are about double historical norms. You're buying overpriced stocks right now and the correction will eventually come.
if you're serious, good job bro. I'm rooting for you brother. If you're being your classical self...well that is the dream all us young bucks wish to aspire. For our dividends to pay for our lifestyle. We call that...passive income.
Read a lot of books about stocks. There are many many many metrics that tell you when you should or shouldn't buy, but they can never tell you *exactly* when to enter and exit. A lot say things like "You should enter low and exit high" which we all know.
It is better to think of the market as risky and just accept it. Accept that it will drop and you can never truly know when. Even if you have an idea, and you miss it, you lose money. Remember that missing a gain is almost as bad as missing a drop, although we don't think so due to loss aversion.
If you want to get into literature, read up on Fama's work or an author that summarizes it. I watch youtube videos and Rational Reminder is my favorite. Instead of focusing on timing the market, which is well known to fail, focus on having a diversified portfolio. That way you give your returns a higher certainty. Which is much better than having a higher risk adjusted return.
It seems indexed/passive funds for the most part out-perform actively managed funds, tells you it's next to impossible to know when to get in and out unless you get lucky - a good # of people left a lot of profits on the table in 2019 thinking the bottom dropping out of the market was eminent - not saying it won't happen at some point but hard to know when.
I recall reading an article of a study that showed that people who stayed in the markets thru the downturns tended to recover their $/loses quicker than those that got and then got back in (since it's hard to time the proper exit/entry points) - and of course low markets allow for buying opportunities.
It took a lot of courage for Shiller to challenge the idea that stocks always reflect their underlying value. Anyone who's lived through the dot-com era and the housing crash knows that asset values can get wildly out of whack and that group psychology and irrational human decisions drive markets.
Neither idea is entirely right. The two have had debates on and on. They will never get a resolution. In fact, they often come to some similiar conclusions. I think if you were to ask both they would recommend passively investing, for different reasons. Shiller would say that market inefficiencies exist, but you can't predict them so don't bother. Fama would say they don't exist in the first place. Or, if they do, they are so minute that it is pointless.
I spent a few years in sell-side equity research, and invested successfully in my sector, and most people have as much business stock picking as performing a liver transplant.
Financial institutions (banks, mutual/hedge funds, family offices) have squads of industry experts, from professors to high-end consultants. You don't.
Financial institutions can look a CEO/CFO in the eye and get their "body language" on the next earnings release, maybe even get leaked information. You can't.
Financial institutions have enough money to ride out a bad call. You (probably) don't.
Financial institutions can offer journalists a weekend in the Hamptons, in exchange for writing a slam piece on their short positions. You can't.
Financial institutions have real-time information via Bloomberg, equity sales and trading. You don't.
Financial institutions get access to special investments that return well above stocks. Unless you're an accredited investor, you don't.
Even with all this, most active mutual and hedge fund managers don't return better than the index. Coming out of Wall Street, I thought my you-know-what didn't stink. I made $60k in a year day trading, then lost $100k in a single bad trade.
Tetradon , i made more than one bad trade, do you have any tips, i think the sp500 and QQQ will get hitting new highs in 2020, i might load up the truck on those two, just buy and hold them for 30years
Dave Ramsey talks about a couple wealth benchmarks. Once someone has a million dollars of net worth ( no debt), they have achieved financial freedom. Once they have 5 million, they have generational wealth. They can pass enough money on to their children and grandchildren ( and their children, etc) so that every generation will have financial freedom. Forever.
Of course, generational wealth ends when someone does something stupid, like day trading or living beyond their means.
There’s a home improvement show on HGTV called Home Town. It’s based in a small community in Mississippi, not too far from New Orleans, where they take a home in the $30,000 to $60,000 range and turn it into a showcase home for a total investment under $100,000.
I’ve lived in high cost cities, like LA, where people live in million dollar homes that aren’t as nice as these $100,000 homes in Mississippi. And, they struggle to get by with incomes of $100,000 to $200,000. Plus, the traffic and crime of a big city. I’ve known a lot of these people and, for the most part, their lives are pretty unhappy. Even so, the possibility of living in Mississippi ( or Iowa, or Arkansas, or even parts of Texas ) is unthinkable to them.
I suggest that if you are struggling to get by on an income of $50,000 to $150,000 in a large city, there is an alternative to the hamster wheel that is your life.
Mark 94, on one of those personal finance websites, I saw the "plight" of a family of 4 (maybe 5), they were cash flow-negative on $350,000 income. Yet every other line item was an expensive vacation, payments on a Mercedes, a private school, or an overinflated expense like their $1.2 million McMansion. Unless you're truly rich, you can have the best of one thing, but not the best of everything.
I live in a moderately high cost area of New England, but I make good bank (see my first post on this thread), save a ton, and this metro is one of the few where I can work in the industry I love. I anticipate 30-40 years left in my working life, so no plans to move out of the area. Who knows, when I'm done I might retire elsewhere. But that's a ways off.
In LA, people have historically been willing to spend 50% of their after tax income on housing. For the middle class, that means half their gross income is used on fed and state taxes and half of what’s left over on housing. So, someone making $100,000 has $25,000 to spend on food, utilities, cars, education, clothing etc. As homes appreciate, they use home equity loans to supplement basic living expenses. That’s a model that just can’t work over the long haul.
Mark, I'm more familiar with NorCal, but you couldn't pay me to live in California nowadays. Between the cost of living, the fires, the crime, and the feces on the street, even native Bay Area friends want out. Sounds like LA has a lot of similar problems. I visit, and certain parts have their charm in small doses, but it just doesn't feel like it could ever be home.
Not that New England is perfect. Weather and housing prices come to mind (on the latter, I'm staying in safer equities though watching political events domestic and foreign). But I'm thriving and know I can ply my trade here.
"mark94 Jan 2, 2020
Consider me the ghost of future Christmas. I saved a high percent of my income all my career. I retired young and live ( comfortably and modestly) off my investments, mainly index funds. Since January, my investments are up 31%. Nice. Very nice."
How are they doing since January now? Still very nice?
If you really had been the ghost of Christmas future, you would have known to sell your stocks at historic highs, before the markets collapsed. I know people say you shouldn't time the markets, but after the longest bull market ever in all of history, I'll never understand how people can't cash in. It could take years for you to recover that money.
It's like watching a player go on a long winning streak in blackjack and him refusing to cash in his chips, only to watch them his chips dwindle back to where he started.
“How are they doing since January now? Still very nice?”
I think you misunderstood the point I was making. I followed the path that Juice is just beginning. Work hard, save as much as I could, invest in the stock market, stay invested in good times and bad, don’t buy stupid shit, retire young.
My investments have dropped significantly in the last month but it hasn’t affected my lifestyle in the least. I’m still in stocks which, as they always do, will bounce back at some point. That’s how I handled 2008/2009 and every other bear market.
Gotcha. In that case, yes I did misunderstand it. I took it as you gloating. Anyway, yes good advice for Juice and glad it hasn't effected your lifestyle. I'm hoping for a rebound and for this to pass
as well.
53 comments
Lots of stock market reinvesting and soon some real estate
Dats what ladies likes to hears bout! 💩💩💩💩💩
If i can keep this up I'll be in amazing shape finacial wise in the next 10 years plus
I don't live too large. Status purchases are for insecure bores. Money means freedom, whether to support friends in need, walk away from a shit job, or enjoy the company of women both dancer and civvie.
Right now the stock market is *very* overvalued if look at P/E ratios overall:
https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe
Depending on your age I can see setting aside some money each month to put in the stock market -- but it's otherwise a very bad time to dump lump-sums into the market. It's driven by investor psychology and low interest rates. Current Fed chair doesn't have any balls and he's been bullied effectively by Trump into keeping interest rates low.
Overall P/E ratios are about double historical norms. You're buying overpriced stocks right now and the correction will eventually come.
Here’s someone who can help.
https://tuscl.net/member.php?id=256882
It is better to think of the market as risky and just accept it. Accept that it will drop and you can never truly know when. Even if you have an idea, and you miss it, you lose money. Remember that missing a gain is almost as bad as missing a drop, although we don't think so due to loss aversion.
If you want to get into literature, read up on Fama's work or an author that summarizes it. I watch youtube videos and Rational Reminder is my favorite. Instead of focusing on timing the market, which is well known to fail, focus on having a diversified portfolio. That way you give your returns a higher certainty. Which is much better than having a higher risk adjusted return.
I recall reading an article of a study that showed that people who stayed in the markets thru the downturns tended to recover their $/loses quicker than those that got and then got back in (since it's hard to time the proper exit/entry points) - and of course low markets allow for buying opportunities.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cass…
It took a lot of courage for Shiller to challenge the idea that stocks always reflect their underlying value. Anyone who's lived through the dot-com era and the housing crash knows that asset values can get wildly out of whack and that group psychology and irrational human decisions drive markets.
Alas academics.
Financial institutions (banks, mutual/hedge funds, family offices) have squads of industry experts, from professors to high-end consultants. You don't.
Financial institutions can look a CEO/CFO in the eye and get their "body language" on the next earnings release, maybe even get leaked information. You can't.
Financial institutions have enough money to ride out a bad call. You (probably) don't.
Financial institutions can offer journalists a weekend in the Hamptons, in exchange for writing a slam piece on their short positions. You can't.
Financial institutions have real-time information via Bloomberg, equity sales and trading. You don't.
Financial institutions get access to special investments that return well above stocks. Unless you're an accredited investor, you don't.
Even with all this, most active mutual and hedge fund managers don't return better than the index. Coming out of Wall Street, I thought my you-know-what didn't stink. I made $60k in a year day trading, then lost $100k in a single bad trade.
Don't be clever.
Investors do not
Most of my excess money into dividend yield, a little bit to speculate. Ironically I'm doing better with my speculative stocks than anything else.
Of course, generational wealth ends when someone does something stupid, like day trading or living beyond their means.
I’ve lived in high cost cities, like LA, where people live in million dollar homes that aren’t as nice as these $100,000 homes in Mississippi. And, they struggle to get by with incomes of $100,000 to $200,000. Plus, the traffic and crime of a big city. I’ve known a lot of these people and, for the most part, their lives are pretty unhappy. Even so, the possibility of living in Mississippi ( or Iowa, or Arkansas, or even parts of Texas ) is unthinkable to them.
I suggest that if you are struggling to get by on an income of $50,000 to $150,000 in a large city, there is an alternative to the hamster wheel that is your life.
I live in a moderately high cost area of New England, but I make good bank (see my first post on this thread), save a ton, and this metro is one of the few where I can work in the industry I love. I anticipate 30-40 years left in my working life, so no plans to move out of the area. Who knows, when I'm done I might retire elsewhere. But that's a ways off.
Not that New England is perfect. Weather and housing prices come to mind (on the latter, I'm staying in safer equities though watching political events domestic and foreign). But I'm thriving and know I can ply my trade here.
I lived there again in the mid 90s. Housing was much more expensive. The vibe had changed. It was the opposite of Paradise.
Consider me the ghost of future Christmas. I saved a high percent of my income all my career. I retired young and live ( comfortably and modestly) off my investments, mainly index funds. Since January, my investments are up 31%. Nice. Very nice."
How are they doing since January now? Still very nice?
It's like watching a player go on a long winning streak in blackjack and him refusing to cash in his chips, only to watch them his chips dwindle back to where he started.
Anyway, best of luck to you.
“How are they doing since January now? Still very nice?”
I think you misunderstood the point I was making. I followed the path that Juice is just beginning. Work hard, save as much as I could, invest in the stock market, stay invested in good times and bad, don’t buy stupid shit, retire young.
My investments have dropped significantly in the last month but it hasn’t affected my lifestyle in the least. I’m still in stocks which, as they always do, will bounce back at some point. That’s how I handled 2008/2009 and every other bear market.
This too shall pass.
as well.