First off, Happy Birthday to my wife!<\/p>\n
Well, another year gone.\u00a0 For me, it was a great year even though for the third year in a row, I didn\u2019t have regular employment.\u00a0 I consider all the time off a blessing though.\u00a0 If only I were able to travel more!\u00a0 This year, 2014, I really need to find regular employment.\u00a0 My cash reserves will definitely run out sometime this year if I don\u2019t have regular employment.\u00a0 Of course, I\u2019ve been saying that for the last two years, and the money hasn\u2019t run out yet (thank God!).\u00a0 I\u2019ve been able to stretch my funds with odd jobs, contracts and substitute teaching.<\/p>\n
As with all New Year\u2019s days, I began my day by going through my annual finances.\u00a0 For the third year in a row, despite not having a job, we\u2019ve actually made a profit because our stock gains have outpaced our cash losses.\u00a0 Albert Einstein was right: \u201ccompounding is the most powerful force in the universe.\u201d\u00a0 And this was a very good year, a 26% gain for us.\u00a0 Alas, before I pat myself on the back for my stock-picking prowess, I must also come to terms with the reality that for the third year in a row, I did not<\/b> beat the S&P500 (29.6% gain in 2013).\u00a0 By this measure, I\u2019m actually losing potential gains, and I\u2019m a below average stock picker.\u00a0 For nine of the thirteen years that I\u2019ve been in the stock market, I\u2019ve beaten the S&P500 quite handily, but about three years ago, I started to go conservative on my portfolio to avoid losing money.\u00a0 And while I have indeed lost less money, I have also not gained as much\u2026 so late in 2013, I went back to my old ways, and truthfully, most of my gains for this year were from the last quarter, after I changed back to my old ways.\u00a0 Hopefully, this won\u2019t bite me too much whenever the market drops.\u00a0 These days though, I put stops on most everything to avoid some of my past disasters \u2013 riding the market to the bottom and then having to crawl back to where I was.\u00a0 For now though, I\u2019m happy \u2013 I hit a particular financial goal of mine that I\u2019ve been working on for years, and it looks like I will, indeed, be able to retire in the manner to which I have become accustomed.\u00a0 God is good!\u00a0 He takes care of me!\u00a0 My personal goal for this year is to again start beating the S&P500 by several percentage points on an annual basis.\u00a0 It calls for a riskier strategy, but also offers more rewards over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First off, Happy Birthday to my wife! Well, another year gone.\u00a0 For me, it was a great year even though for the third year in a row, I didn\u2019t have regular employment.\u00a0 I consider all the time off a blessing … Continue reading