Happy Holidays everyone! I hope 2018 found y’all becoming increasingly healthy, wealthy, and wise.
2018 was our 6th full year of early retirement and world travel. Do anything long enough and memories start to jumble together… Did we visit Paris this year or last year? Was Jr walking when we were in Chiang Mai? Thankfully our financial records and photos cleared it up in an instant. (Another good reason to track spending?)
This year we meandered through 11 different countries (Taiwan, UK, Spain, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and the United States.) If my math is right, this brings Jr’s country total to 35. Our Instagram shares some fun photos of each.
We’ve now started to ask ourselves, “What is next?”
We’ve been thinking and planning for summer 2019… the options are limitless, really. But, also for the first time, we are all feeling a bit more sedentary. On the one hand, we kind of want to do something big in this last year or two before Jr would officially start school. And on the other hand, we like where we are.
Jr is super happy with pre-school and his friends there. He says he likes his Taipei home.
Winnie has been making massive improvements with her flute and painting. She even made Christmas cards this year. It’s amazing how much skills can grow in a year.
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Bref2yXgBfo/ hidecaption=true width=200]
I’ve been playing guitar more, and a great Berklee grad comes by each week to make sure I’m not slacking. I’ve also been training for an Olympic distance triathlon come April (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run.) This is actually the first year I’ve biked more miles/kilometers than I did when I had a regular commute, in part due to a 200 km “race” in March. (If you enjoy biking as much as I do, perhaps join the Go Curry Cracker Cycling Club on Strava.)
I’ve also done a bit of blogging. This post is the 51st (and final) of the year… I guess I missed a week. A lot of the topics come from figuring out things for our unconventional lives, learning as we go. Thank you for your interest, comments, and positivity! And thank you to all of the guest post writers for sharing their stories and expertise.
While in Minneapolis and Seattle we hosted meetups with readers, and enjoyed coffee with numerous readers around the globe. Press wise, our story was shared in some big media pieces with Time/Money and ABC World News Tonight. It is still amazing that we are able to share another way to live to so many people.
Thank you for being supportive and friendly. I wish you all a bright and successful 2019.
Now, a bit about the stock market…
When shoes go on sale, people buy more. When stocks go on sale, people buy more whiskey and Xanax.
Instead, might I suggest self-medicating with a bit of chill and perspective? This is likely to result in both a longer life and a healthier portfolio.
On Twitter recently a reader commented that they’ve seen some financial gurus freaking out about the stock market, and it made them anxious. I offer this as Exhibit-A in the case that money is almost never the solution to life’s real problems. Can you imagine being one of the richest 1% of people on the planet, and losing your shit over completely normal and expected events?
We humans should experience the full range of emotions, including sadness and fear. Not doing so is about as creepy as the word guru. We are emotional creatures, and this is our true nature. But we are also creatures of reason, capable of logical action in spite of and because of our underlying primal emotional energy.
Balance and chill. It’s an important foundation of a positive and rewarding life.
Myself, I’ve internalized a lot of stoic thinking from philosophers like Marcus Aurelias, but find some chill where you can. (More books that have influenced my outlook on life here.) My reaction to recent market activity? Meh.
Now, did I say stock market declines were normal and expected events? Yes, yes I did.
Investment markets also exhibit their own true nature, including volatility and dynamism, up and down. Normal and expected.
I’ve lived and invested through 1999 and 2008. Perspective.
Living through decades of normal market activity has been great exposure therapy and helped me earn some chill. This recent normalcy is an opportunity to earn some more.
What will the market do today, or tomorrow, or next week? I have no idea. Nobody else does either.
But we do know humans will continue to exhibit our true nature, solving problems, creating solutions, innovating… creating wealth in the process. The trend is undeniable, even as it occasionally challenges our chill.
To wrap up the year, here are the most popular new posts of 2018:
- How to Grow Your Net Worth by $1+ Million in Less Than 4 Years (With One Simple Trick)
- Does Extreme Frugality Really Matter
- Is Your 401k Too Big? (There is also a Part 2.)
- Another Round-the-World Trip, Another $7000 in Free Travel
- Investing is Boring (Related: Our 2018 asset allocation.)
And here are 2018’s most popular posts from previous years: (It is interesting what remains popular)
- Never Pay Taxes Again (still works!)
- How We Saved Multi-Millions (serious snark)
- The Great Roth Controversy
- Renters for Life
- The Path to 100% Equities
And lastly, here are my favorite photos from the year
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BkN-4kNDJLx/ hidecaption=true width=200]
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BklYKhoh_yc/ hidecaption=true width=200]
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BksduViHiW5/ hidecaption=true width=200]
[instagram url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BqoqqeGFQPX/ hidecaption=true width=200]
“When stocks go on sale, people buy more whiskey and Xanax.” I see many individuals with cash waiting for shares to go on fire sale.
Might happen. Might not.
I have rhum zacapa and cuban cigars…. eheheh
I liked these words “When shoes go on sale, people buy more. When stocks go on sale, people buy more whiskey and Xanax.”
I was in a poetic mood :p
Aside from being in a poetic mood – How would you view and react to the current market volatility (Bear Market) if you were in mid-late 60’s..?
Enjoy Christmas with my family and then take a nap?
Well, I’m in my 60s and still pretty meh. I lived through 2000 and then 2008 without worrying much either.
I am irritated that the stock market took a dive so late in December. I promised myself a few months ago that I would convert an extra 25K to Roth if the Dow got back down to 22,000. Earlier this month gave up and harvested a chunk of capital gains instead. NowI I’ll wait until January to do more Roth conversions.
I hear you on the traveling and not remembering which year you did which trip. I have a buddy who visited all seven continents in one year! Antarctica was a bit of a journey. He was on a boat with eight others for over a month. Sadly, that particular company no longer an option for Americans because the insurance is too high for them when Americans are on board (we’re very litigious). I’m sure there are others, though. I hope next year is full of exciting travel as well!
“buddy who visited all seven continents”: 8th continent Zealandia; like an iceberg 93% submerged.
First time I’ve heard of it. I’ve been to all of the other ones sans Antarctica.
I once did a tour in Australia, and the guide gave a long speech about the waiver of liability he was passing around.
“For you Americans, this documents means coffee is hot”
Merry Christmas to you & yours! Bummer I missed you when you guys were back in Minnesota last summer. Perhaps another time or another place.
Cheers!
-PoF
You are always welcome in Taiwan :)
Requested to follow you on Strava. Love biking too!! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
My mother and I discuss finance a lot. She is in Mr. Market, and I hear up 5k, down 4k etc. My response is always the same, I made XXXX today. Today, 12/24 she lost a ton. I said, I made XXXX Today, but good news, markets are closed tomorrow and I’ll still make XXXX tomorrow. I’ve preferred real estate notes for over a decade now. It works well for me, little to no leverage different markets in the US and I’m in control, well much more control than the market.
I disagree with the fundamental premise. She has the same number of shares, just as you have the same number of nails and pieces of wood.
I disagree with all premises: Neither shares nor lumber have a fundamental value. The exchange rate with currency is variable and that of currency to other goods and services is also variable.
Merry Christmas. The projects I lend on are being improved, the nails and wood analogy is IMO inaccurate. New lumber, nails, flooring, roofing and labor are added every day. The borrower receive no more money until work is complete. In REI lending, I can choose the percentage of the value to lend, rates and terms. The projects turn every several months on average, allowing compounding at a faster rate, or relating to the comment terms, more wood and nails.
But, dividends… what happens when a company reduces or stops paying dividends, stock price drops. You can sell or hold. If a borrower stops paying, I take the improved house. I can improve the property myself if needed, rent it, sell, lease option, much more flexible.
Different asset classes respond to stimuli differently, the trick is understanding the risks, rewards and reactions of each while matching to your style and temperament.
Good luck in the new year
So, bonds
Those Christmas cards Winnie made are amazing! O_o
Right? She is super talented.
I must say that, as someone in the accumulation phase, getting VWRL (the €-favourite world tracker) at a discount feels like a nice end of year bonus. No scared thoughts this time around. I did panic sale earlier in my investment ‘career’, but mostly in very high markets. More scared of heights, apparantly.
Yesterday was a huge plus all over the place. Could be one of those days which impacts your returns for years to come. I wonder how many people missed it by selling…
I might ‘time the market’ a bit by buying some extra VWRL, with my end of year bonus.
Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year! I have a situation, and I was wondering if you could offer your opinion. The husband’s grandparents contributed $10K over the past 6 years into a Roth IRA under the husband’s name. Now that I understand the power of investing in pre-tax accounts, I want to move the Roth contributions to a Traditional (to reduce our taxable income), and later use the Roth conversion ladder to access the money tax-free. Am I missing anything here? I am allowed to take out the contributions from the Roth with no problem, correct?
Past contributions can’t be changed. You can decide what to do with future contributions.
You can withdraw Roth contributions at any time without taxes or penalties. You can only contribute earned income.