My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- year end 2020 update

Happy new year! A year ago, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal was to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $77,000 of my own money into this portfolio ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share the end-of-the-year results, how I’m doing against the market and my thoughts on the dividend aristocrat experiment. Finally, I will be sharing an update on what I plan to do during 2021--stay tuned!

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$3,000,000 in mistakes -- my 7 biggest money regrets

I have spent a decent amount of time reflecting on my biggest money mistakes. 13 years ago I started on a journey to build wealth. I can’t say that I always did the right things. In fact, I made a lot of mistakes. And now looking back, those mistakes have amounted to $3+ million dollars in either lost opportunity or lost money. In this article, I’ll be talking about specific mistakes and try my best to quantify how much money was lost.

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My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- Nov 2020 update

At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $73,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.

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Road to $10 million - Retire by 35 and become a deca-millionaire by 50

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For those who have been following my story, you know that I plan to retire at 35 years old with a $4 million net worth. It has been over a year since I’ve started blogging and as I approach my FIRE number, I think I owe it to you guys on “what’s next.” Recently, someone asked if I planned to keep an aggressive, mostly-stocks portfolio or if I was going to rotate into bonds or an all-weather portfolio during retirement. The short answer is no. The nuanced answer is, maybe some real estate. In this post, I will talk about how my setup will allow me to retire comfortably, while still growing my net worth to $10 million by the time I’m 50 years old.

I will break down my Road to $10 million into 4 major components, explain how each one of them will play out over the next 15 years, and then bring it all together at the end.

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My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- Oct 2020 update

At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $66,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.

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My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- Sept 2020 Update

At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $62,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.

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My $77,000 experiment portfolio -- June update

At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $48,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.

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5 tips on how to use 529 plans

The cost of higher education has gotten expensive over the years. This means that being financially prepared for those 4+ years of college is more important than ever. As a parent of 1.5 kids (yes, one is in the oven), 529 plans have been top of mind for me especially during a market pullback such as now. In the following article I’ll share with you the reasons and best ways to utilize your 529 accounts. But first, what is a 529 plan? A 529 plan is essentially a brokerage account that is used specifically for education expenses. Anyone can deposit money into that account, and you can then purchase mutual funds that the plan offers. The gains that are made in that account can be spent tax-free. It is similar to 401k plans, used for retirement, or HSA accounts, used for medical care.

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5 tips to land a high paying Software Engineering job during COVID-19

It is sad to see a lot of talented, former colleagues of mine get impacted as a part of the broad layoffs at companies like Lyft, Uber, and Airbnb. There will be at least dozens of thousands of highly skilled tech professionals out of work when it’s all said and done. And those who are fortunate to not be laid off, have already seen pay cuts (e.g. Lyft cutting 10% of base pay) or will see decreased future compensation (e.g. no yearly bonuses, suspension of promotions). On the bright side, there are still tech companies out there who are still hiring. As of the writing of this article, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple are hiring. So if you’re looking for a new job, you still have the opportunity to earn the big $$$. The following are 5 tips I would give to anyone looking for a software engineering job today.

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Is this the end of the FIRE movement?

The main concepts of the FIRE movement started from a book called “Your Money or Your Life” in 1992. And in 2011 Mr. Money Mustache amplified those concepts by giving the average worker hope. That as long as they can increase their savings rate through frugality, they can one day live off of a “safe” withdrawal rate of 4%. It has since become popular amongst millennials and has branched into different flavors (e.g. lean FIRE, barista FIRE, fat FIRE). But for the first time in its short history, the FIRE movement is being challenged. Since 2011, the real estate market has been booming, exceeding its 2007 levels and the stock market has averaged a yearly return of 13.6% from 2011-2019. In other words, it has not been truly tested--until now.

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How am I navigating COVID-19?

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the global economy. Public health issues aside, it has changed how millions of Americans live every day. And in an economy where 70% of our GDP is based on consumption, if that consumption pattern is disrupted, we are bound to experience some turbulence in the stock market. In this post, I'll be talking about how I am navigating the COVID-19 stock market crash and some thoughts of how bad I think it really is.

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How is COVID-19 impacting my portfolio?

At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked 7 dividend stocks to compare against VTI. The goal was to have a similar appreciation, but better dividends. On Feb 24th, news about COVID-19 sent the US stock market into a frenzy. We have since seen 9 (as of 3/13/20) 1000+ point swings in the DJIA. In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the total stock market, and share my thoughts.

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The $77,000 Experiment -- My Dividend Aristocrats Portfolio

This is the blog post series where the rubber meets the road, where the pen meets the paper, and where my $77,000 meets its Dividend Aristocrat friends. In one of my previous posts, I had written about why I think Dividend Aristocrats is a great alternative to real estate, and in general, provides a great way of increasing one’s monthly cash flow.

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How much did I spend in 2019

Now that 2019 has come to an end, I took some time to review my finances. The week between Christmas and New Year is my favorite week of the year. Other than the obvious reasons of getting to spend time with family/friends and getting a breather from work, I get to spend time reflecting and reviewing the previous 51 weeks. And I often learn something that significantly impacts how I operate in the following year.

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How much did I make in Nov 2019 from this blog?

Lately, I’ve started to run ads on my Road to FIRE blog. It is to ensure that can achieve and maintain a cashflow neutral blog. And in the name of transparency, I plan to come out with a report every month or quarter (TBD). In it, I will highlight the costs associated with running this blog and how much I’ve made from the ads. And if you’re curious about what I plan to do with any excess profits, don’t worry I will report on every cent made and spent.

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4 Mistakes that will keep you from becoming a multi-millionaire

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When thinking about FIRE, people often ask me what should I do to fat FIRE? While an important question, an equally important question is what should I not do if I want to fat FIRE? I’ve had many money-conversations with people living in poverty, high-income individuals, low-income individuals, and HENRYs (a HENRY is someone who is a “High Earner, Not Rich Yet.”). The mistakes that I’ve deduced from my experience applies to all of these groups, but especially the HENRYs.

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3 ways to maximize your 401K retirement account

Have you ever been given the advice to contribute 15% of your income into retirement? Or that you should max out your 401K? Or that you should at least contribute up to your employer match? Don’t worry, those are not going to be my tips to maximizing your 401K. In this article, I’ll share the most common mistakes you should avoid to not only maximize the returns but also protect your 401K account.

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How engineers can FIRE in 15 years and have $4,000,000 in net worth

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One of Silicon Valley’s prominent venture capitalists, Marc Andreessen, once said, “software is eating the world.” Profit margins for software are high, and at the same time, distributing software is becoming cheaper and easier. As a result, engineers are handsomely compensated in today's labor market. This is especially true in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York City. In this article, I'll step through a hypothetical, but realistic scenario of a software engineer starting their career in Silicon Valley in 2019 at a big tech company. We will see how long it takes to reach $4,000,000.

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