I don’t have any better insite into the future than you do but I do know what my past performance has been. When I pick a stock to invest in, I have an expectation as to what return I will get. If that return has been suboptimal for too long, I decide to sell it. On the other hand stocks that have done well for me in the past, I will reevaluate as well, but just because they have become a larger percentage of my portfolio due to their exceptional growth, I’m not ready to sell. One example would be Berkshire Hathaway, I invested in 1982 and it became a very significant part of my portfolio. I liquidated most of it last year. I don’t think it’s a bad investment, but I don’t think it’s going to have the spectacular returns going forward so it is now a much smaller part of my portfolio.
If rebalancing means to sell, the best performing assets and buy more of the worst performing assets, that is not a strategy that I understand. Why do you wanna punish your best performing assets? I do believe in dumping the dogs. Anything that I bought that doesn’t perform as well as I expected and don’t expect to perform going forward, I dump. My balancing occurred. (note past tense.) when I was purchasing the majority of my assets. Certain percentage went into investments that I would hold for more than 10 years if they performed as I wanted them to the bulk of the rest, wanted the assets that I would hold for 5 to 10 years. Under five years was for cash heavy holdings. I have been retired for 18 years and I still feel the need to only follow the above advice. The only investments I’m really making today are when I sell off real estate or other holdings.
After 18 years of retirement, I am still trying to figure out what the optimum withdrawal rate from my retirement savings is. I don’t think there is an answer that that’s going to work for the next 34 years. So I have to be flexible about these things. Both of your retirement accounts, Roth and traditional, look like very long-term investments to me. You aren’t going to start taking money out for about 10 years and then you’re only going to be taking out initially a very small percentage. That would argue both of them should be almost exclusively invested in the equity markets. Shorter term needs you may wish to have in your non-tax advantage accounts. The notion that you want to restrict the growth in your traditional, Ira seems very odd to me. Unless you expect the tax rate to be over 100%, no matter how much tax you pay, maximizing growth will maximize your return. I do like your idea of simplifying to only two index funds, which is in fact what I did last month in my two IRA accounts. I have chosen two other funds that are more heavily focused on the US, but that’s my personal decision. My broker keeps telling me how good international funds are since they have been under performing for the last 10 years. Enjoy your retirement. It’s the best decision I ever made.
I believe in buying high-quality goods that I will use for a lifetime. The Klipsch speakers that you currently own are as good as anything you can buy today even though they are 50 years old. I too own a pair that I purchased 50 years ago when I worked at a high-end stereo store. The clothing that I own and wear are also quality goods. I have a chammy shirt from L.L. Bean that belonged to my great grandfather. The Levi’s jeans I am wearing right now are probably 20 years old, but still in good shape. I did put one pair of my Levi’s in the back of the closet because it was getting a little worn, but it wasn’t ripped or anything. It’s just a back up pair now. I have one shirt from Brooks Brothers, whose collar is a little frayed but it is probably 35 years old. What I’m wearing today I could have been wearing 50 years ago and I suspect I will be wearing until I die. The one area where I spend money that differs from most humble dollar readers is on automobiles. As I get older, I appreciate the improved safety features that new technologies brings to automobiles. The automatic driving assist in my new jeep grand Cherokee does correct me when I get distracted. I find it very useful at night and in the rain. I traded in a four year old Jeep with only 19,000 miles to get this new one. And the amount of money I got on my trade in at that point in time was probably 80% of what I paid for the car in 2021. I don’t like to spend money foolishly, but I don’t intend to be the richest man in the graveyard either.
You have to trust the math. Unless you expect to both die within 5 to 10 years, you are better off in equities. I am 70 and am 97% in stocks. A bit of cash from dividends that I will pull out next year. Even if the market crashes, you are not going to sell everything and what you have still in the market will come back. Dollar cost averaging works for buying as well as selling stocks. Trust the math.
I would not worry about crypto mining from quantum computing. I would worry about its ability to break Blockchain encryption, and therefore the security around the assetis at risk. There are encryption techniques available using quantum computing, but until they are in place, the entire blockchain world may simply be obsolete.
My thoughts exactly. The risk that the world will just decide that they are no longer interested in Crypto is too great for me. While crypto may be stable for many years and decades to come, many people probably thought the same thing about tulips back in the day when they were the hot investment item. If you don’t know about the tulip bubble, you should study it before you invest in crypto. I like assets with an intrinsic value.
OK, as somebody who has many advanced degrees in statistics and economics, I winced at your misunderstanding of the difference between mean and average. But for your analysis, it is of a little importance. A mean is where 50% of the people are above a specific number and 50% are below that number. Average is when you add up all of the people and divide by the number in the population. One or two outliers can’t significantly affect the value of an average whereas the mean may tell you what most people actually experience. For example, I was at a party last month where Jackie Marrs Was in attendance. Her $55 billion net worth made the average net worth of everybody in that room arround $660 million. I suspect that The mean net worth was probably under $1 million. my other comment is that one needs to worry about inflation in coming years. The actual 4% rule that is used by many planners says that 4% is the starting point for withdrawals from your portfolio. Withdrawals in future years are increased by the rate of inflation. But these are details. The idea that you don’t need one, two or $3 million to retire, is a correct assumption for most of us. if you have paid off your mortgage, your living costs go down substantially.
Two comments. First don’t look at the value for which you can sell the car but rather your replacement cost. The $2500 you paid to repair. It is a lot less than the replacement cost of a newer car. Second, and more importantly, the safety improvements of new cars is amazing. I purchased my first brand new car 18 months ago and I’m glad I did. The safety features of this car hopefully will save me when I do something stupid. I have no intention of being the richest man in the graveyard so this is one place where I am willing to spend some money.
Comments
I don’t have any better insite into the future than you do but I do know what my past performance has been. When I pick a stock to invest in, I have an expectation as to what return I will get. If that return has been suboptimal for too long, I decide to sell it. On the other hand stocks that have done well for me in the past, I will reevaluate as well, but just because they have become a larger percentage of my portfolio due to their exceptional growth, I’m not ready to sell. One example would be Berkshire Hathaway, I invested in 1982 and it became a very significant part of my portfolio. I liquidated most of it last year. I don’t think it’s a bad investment, but I don’t think it’s going to have the spectacular returns going forward so it is now a much smaller part of my portfolio.
Post: When to Leave Your Portfolio Alone
Link to comment from June 27, 2026
If rebalancing means to sell, the best performing assets and buy more of the worst performing assets, that is not a strategy that I understand. Why do you wanna punish your best performing assets? I do believe in dumping the dogs. Anything that I bought that doesn’t perform as well as I expected and don’t expect to perform going forward, I dump. My balancing occurred. (note past tense.) when I was purchasing the majority of my assets. Certain percentage went into investments that I would hold for more than 10 years if they performed as I wanted them to the bulk of the rest, wanted the assets that I would hold for 5 to 10 years. Under five years was for cash heavy holdings. I have been retired for 18 years and I still feel the need to only follow the above advice. The only investments I’m really making today are when I sell off real estate or other holdings.
Post: When to Leave Your Portfolio Alone
Link to comment from June 27, 2026
After 18 years of retirement, I am still trying to figure out what the optimum withdrawal rate from my retirement savings is. I don’t think there is an answer that that’s going to work for the next 34 years. So I have to be flexible about these things. Both of your retirement accounts, Roth and traditional, look like very long-term investments to me. You aren’t going to start taking money out for about 10 years and then you’re only going to be taking out initially a very small percentage. That would argue both of them should be almost exclusively invested in the equity markets. Shorter term needs you may wish to have in your non-tax advantage accounts. The notion that you want to restrict the growth in your traditional, Ira seems very odd to me. Unless you expect the tax rate to be over 100%, no matter how much tax you pay, maximizing growth will maximize your return. I do like your idea of simplifying to only two index funds, which is in fact what I did last month in my two IRA accounts. I have chosen two other funds that are more heavily focused on the US, but that’s my personal decision. My broker keeps telling me how good international funds are since they have been under performing for the last 10 years. Enjoy your retirement. It’s the best decision I ever made.
Post: Slow on the Draw
Link to comment from May 9, 2026
I believe in buying high-quality goods that I will use for a lifetime. The Klipsch speakers that you currently own are as good as anything you can buy today even though they are 50 years old. I too own a pair that I purchased 50 years ago when I worked at a high-end stereo store. The clothing that I own and wear are also quality goods. I have a chammy shirt from L.L. Bean that belonged to my great grandfather. The Levi’s jeans I am wearing right now are probably 20 years old, but still in good shape. I did put one pair of my Levi’s in the back of the closet because it was getting a little worn, but it wasn’t ripped or anything. It’s just a back up pair now. I have one shirt from Brooks Brothers, whose collar is a little frayed but it is probably 35 years old. What I’m wearing today I could have been wearing 50 years ago and I suspect I will be wearing until I die. The one area where I spend money that differs from most humble dollar readers is on automobiles. As I get older, I appreciate the improved safety features that new technologies brings to automobiles. The automatic driving assist in my new jeep grand Cherokee does correct me when I get distracted. I find it very useful at night and in the rain. I traded in a four year old Jeep with only 19,000 miles to get this new one. And the amount of money I got on my trade in at that point in time was probably 80% of what I paid for the car in 2021. I don’t like to spend money foolishly, but I don’t intend to be the richest man in the graveyard either.
Post: The Point of Diminishing Returns
Link to comment from December 6, 2025
You have to trust the math. Unless you expect to both die within 5 to 10 years, you are better off in equities. I am 70 and am 97% in stocks. A bit of cash from dividends that I will pull out next year. Even if the market crashes, you are not going to sell everything and what you have still in the market will come back. Dollar cost averaging works for buying as well as selling stocks. Trust the math.
Post: The rules we didn’t follow
Link to comment from November 1, 2025
I would not worry about crypto mining from quantum computing. I would worry about its ability to break Blockchain encryption, and therefore the security around the assetis at risk. There are encryption techniques available using quantum computing, but until they are in place, the entire blockchain world may simply be obsolete.
Post: Why Bitcoin?
Link to comment from September 27, 2025
My thoughts exactly. The risk that the world will just decide that they are no longer interested in Crypto is too great for me. While crypto may be stable for many years and decades to come, many people probably thought the same thing about tulips back in the day when they were the hot investment item. If you don’t know about the tulip bubble, you should study it before you invest in crypto. I like assets with an intrinsic value.
Post: Why Bitcoin?
Link to comment from September 27, 2025
OK, as somebody who has many advanced degrees in statistics and economics, I winced at your misunderstanding of the difference between mean and average. But for your analysis, it is of a little importance. A mean is where 50% of the people are above a specific number and 50% are below that number. Average is when you add up all of the people and divide by the number in the population. One or two outliers can’t significantly affect the value of an average whereas the mean may tell you what most people actually experience. For example, I was at a party last month where Jackie Marrs Was in attendance. Her $55 billion net worth made the average net worth of everybody in that room arround $660 million. I suspect that The mean net worth was probably under $1 million. my other comment is that one needs to worry about inflation in coming years. The actual 4% rule that is used by many planners says that 4% is the starting point for withdrawals from your portfolio. Withdrawals in future years are increased by the rate of inflation. But these are details. The idea that you don’t need one, two or $3 million to retire, is a correct assumption for most of us. if you have paid off your mortgage, your living costs go down substantially.
Post: There is no magic number – and it sure isn’t $1 million
Link to comment from September 13, 2025
Two comments. First don’t look at the value for which you can sell the car but rather your replacement cost. The $2500 you paid to repair. It is a lot less than the replacement cost of a newer car. Second, and more importantly, the safety improvements of new cars is amazing. I purchased my first brand new car 18 months ago and I’m glad I did. The safety features of this car hopefully will save me when I do something stupid. I have no intention of being the richest man in the graveyard so this is one place where I am willing to spend some money.
Post: How have you decided when it’s worth it to fix an old car?
Link to comment from May 24, 2025
And it came today, three days after I ordered it.
Post: Winning the Debt Game
Link to comment from April 29, 2025