My Financial Journey

My All Time Investment Performance January 2016

January 3, 2016 MFJ Comments 0 Comment

Continuing on my tradition from last year I have calculated my cumulative investment returns from 2006 until now against the SP500. I actually had to make some corrections to my calculation as I had missed the SP500 dividends in the annual return for some years so my outperformance was not quite as big as I had previously stated.

Overall my nestegg returns are still besting the SP500 though not quite as handedly as before. One item of note is my individual stock investments have crushed the SP500 over the years but my overall nestegg has just barely edged it out. This basically means I’ve underperformed the index with my 401k investments – which is kind of disappointing.

75% of my 401k today is in index/lifestyle funds, but in the past I’ve probably tried to be too smart and like most people cost myself returns versus just doing the smart/easy thing and sticking it all in an index fund. This is something for me to keep on an eye on.

On the other hand my stock performance has been so good it probably makes sense for me to just quit my job so I can cash out the quarter million dollars I have tied up in my 401k.

Returns By Year

Year	SP500	MFJ Nestegg	MFJ Stocks
2006	15.79%	14.37%	14.20%
2007	5.49%	5.50%	7.25%
2008	-38.42%	-47.98%	-37.00%
2009	26.46%	32.75%	35.78%
2010	12.48%	24.60%	36.94%
2011	0.31%	-5.53%	-2.29%
2012	13.47%	18.12%	10.25%
2013	29.60%	50.20%	68.58%
2014	11.39%	8.91%	7.91%
2015	-0.73%	7.34	14.34

Cumulative Returns By Year

Year	SP500	MFJ Nestegg	MFJ Stocks
2006	15.79%	14.37%	14.20%
2007	22.15%	20.66%	22.48%
2008	-24.78%	-37.23%	-22.84%
2009	-4.88%	-16.68%	4.77%
2010	6.99%	3.82%	43.47%
2011	7.32%	-1.92%	40.19%
2012	21.78%	15.85%	54.56%
2013	57.83%	74.01%	160.55%
2014	75.80%	89.51%	181.16%
2015	74.52%	103.42%	221.48%

Annualized Returns since 2006

SP500 +7.30%
MFJ Nestegg +7.36%
MFJ Stocks +12.39%

My Investment Holdings – January 2016

January 2, 2016 MFJ Comments 0 Comment

In annual tradition I will list all of my current investments. These really do not change significantly from year to year as I don’t do a lot of buying and selling and well now as my portfolio has grown so big the amount of money I am putting in towards new investments tends to be sort of insignificant.

Looking back to last year’s list it really is pretty similar with my 401k mutual funds taking up about the same percentage. My stop stock holdings have shifted slightly due to appreciation/depreciation with my top 5 holdings being Netflix, Under Armour, Tesla, Amazon, and Buffalo Wild Wings of which Amazon and Tesla have replaced Chipotle and Panera.

SYMBOL	Percentage
VIEIX	11.20%
VINIX	11.60%
VILVX	11.17%
VPMAX	11.83%
NFLX	7.36%
UA	5.83%
TSLA	5.75%
AMZN	5.31%
BWLD	4.77%
SCTY	3.46%
SBUX	2.54%
AAPL	2.50%
CMG	2.48%
MIDD	1.96%
AMBA	1.55%
BJRI	1.33%
WFM	1.10%
BOFI	1.10%
PNRA	1.08%
BIP	1.04%
IPGP	0.65%
ANET	0.63%
TXRH	0.56%
ZOES	0.51%
BIDU	0.43%
PRLB	0.43%
ISRG	0.42%
COST	0.36%
PCLN	0.24%
SAM	0.23%
DDD	0.21%
INVN	0.20%
SSYS	0.17%

Retirement Nestegg Report – December 2015

January 1, 2016 MFJ Comments 0 Comment

Well another year in the books and another year of growth for my nestegg. Overall my nestegg grew by over $80,000 this year and topped the half-million mark in April.

My investments outperformed the SP500 pretty handedly this year with my nestegg investments besting the SP500 by almost 6% and my individual stock accounts besting it by almost 13% which is excellent – especially in a flat year like 2015. **note earlier version of this post incorrectly listed SP500 return without dividends

Another very positive thing is that I contributed $47,500 to my nestegg this year which is an all-time record for me as well. This is actually a little surprising for me given all of the expenses we had this year with a new baby and being in the middle of building our dream home. I definitely have $50,000 in my sites for next year – which is also what I said last year, but I still have the looming house hanging over my head so am still hanging onto a large cash cushion for surprises.

Taxable Account – $23,691.87 (+11.88%)
Traditional Rollover IRA – $31,829.74 (-3.07%)
My Roth IRA – $146,721.47 (-2.28%)
Wife Roth IRA – $82,105.95 (-0.12%)
Traditional 401k – $241,310.02 (-0.76%)

Roth/Traditional % = 43.53% (tax free)

Total Retirement Nest Egg $525,659.05 (-0.73%)
Retirement Salary (4%) – $21,026.36

Monthly Contributions $802.85 (401k)
SP500 Performance -1.75%
My Monthly Investment Performance -0.88% (+0.87% vs SP500)
My Monthly Individual Stocks Performance -0.70% (+1.05% vs SP500)

My retirement contributions for 2015 $47,506.55
401k $18,000.00
401k matching $11,206.55
My Roth IRA $5,500
Wife Roth IRA $5,500
Taxable Account $7,300

SP500 Performance for 2015 +1.38%
Investment Performance for 2015 +7.34% (+5.96% vs SP500)
Individual Stock Performance for 2015 +14.34% (+12.96% vs SP500)
Total Investment Return 2015 +$32,684.06

Retirement Nestegg Report – November 2015

December 1, 2015 MFJ Comments 0 Comment

Well a little bounce back after last months drubbing and I am getting closer to breaking an all-time new high and my investments are still doing quite well against the market for the year. We have started house construction and there are numerous costs hitting our budget this year related to that, yet we are still on pace to put about $50,000 into our investment accounts which will be an all-time high for us – so I feel pretty good about that.

The new house will certainly put a crink in our finances for the foreseeable future, but the good news is we saved a lot of money when we were young so we should not jeopardize our financial future too much by taking on that massive liability. Granted we could be retired by now if we had never entertained the idea of a house out in the country with loads of land and an indoor basketball court, but life is all about balance and with our ability to save a large portion of our take home pay we should be able to overcome seemingly unfrugal decisions.

Taxable Account – $21,175.65 (+4.41%)
Traditional Rollover IRA – $32,836.97 (+0.96%)
My Roth IRA – $150,138.67 (+2.76%)
Wife Roth IRA – $82,208.01 (+2.95%)
Traditional 401k – $243,151.54 (+1.00%)

Roth/Traditional % = 45.24% (tax free)

Total Retirement Nest Egg $529,510.84 (+1.93%)
Retirement Salary (4%) – $20,780.31

Monthly Contributions $1,716.64 (401k)
SP500 Performance +0.05%
My Monthly Investment Performance +1.60% (+1.55% vs SP500)
My Monthly Individual Stocks Performance +2.73% (+2.68% vs SP500)

Retirement Nestegg Report – October 2015

November 9, 2015 MFJ Comments 0 Comment

Well my individual stocks took a drubbing this month – pretty sure this has to be the worst monthly performance ever compared to the SP500. Lots of my biggest stock holdings were beat up this month. Bank of Internet down 38%, Solar City was down 31%, Buffalo Wild Wings down 20%, Tesla Motors down 17%, etc. Ouch I guess I suck at individual stock picks and should sell them all change strategy and only invest in index funds – or maybe individual stocks can be volatile in a very short period like a month and they will make me very wealthy some day. Guess time will tell.

Taxable Account – $20,281.92 (-7.95%)
Traditional Rollover IRA – $32,523.57 (-9.13%)
My Roth IRA – $146,105.44 (-1.62%)
Wife Roth IRA – $79,852.00 (-1.92%)
Traditional 401k – $240,744.68 (+8.41%)

Roth/Traditional % = 45.24% (tax free)

Total Retirement Nest Egg $519,507.61 (+1.90%)
Retirement Salary (4%) – $20,780.31

Monthly Contributions $1,716.64 (401k) Roth IRA $1000 Taxable $1000
SP500 Performance +8.30%
My Monthly Investment Performance +1.17% (-7.13% vs SP500)
My Monthly Individual Stocks Performance -3.82% (-12.12% vs SP500)

Retirement Nestegg Report – September 2015

October 1, 2015 MFJ Comments 2 comments

Taxable Account – $22,033.72 (-3.26%)
Traditional Rollover IRA – $35,791.96 (-3.64%)
My Roth IRA – $148,510.84 (-2.87%)
Wife Roth IRA – $81,413.76 (-3.63%)
Traditional 401k – $222,077.53 (-2.33%)

Roth/Traditional % = 45.24% (tax free)

Total Retirement Nest Egg $509,827.81 (-2.83%)
Retirement Salary (4%) – $20,393.1124

Monthly Contributions $1,716.64 (401k)
SP500 Performance -2.71%
My Monthly Investment Performance -3.16% (-0.45% vs SP500)
My Monthly Individual Stocks Performance -3.21% (-0.50% vs SP500)

Retirement Nestegg Report – August 2015

September 1, 2015 MFJ Comments 0 Comment

Well there were a few exciting days during the last month. There was the flash crash where stocks fell for like 30 minutes and the media ran with it for the entire month. With the volatility in the market I thought it was a very good time to get some more money into the market and I added $8,000 in contributions to our Roth IRAs this month. I was not able to get it all invested, but did take advantage of a few of the dips to buy some more Solar City and Tesla stock. Overall this month my accounts fell some, but I was still able to outperform the SP500. I still have another $1k I can contribute this year to my Roth IRA as well as about $3k in cash so hopefully we have some more precipitous drops in our near future. Overall for the year including 401k matching I have been able to add just under $42,000 to our retirement accounts this year, which I found really encouraging as I feel like this has been an expensive year for our family with the new baby, building a house, and some other family emergencies.

Taxable Account – $22,776.99 (+6.23%)
Traditional Rollover IRA – $37,145.15 (-6.96%)
My Roth IRA – $152,891.90 (-3.04%)
Wife Roth IRA – $84,476.02 (-3.29%)
Traditional 401k – $227,385.17 (-5.21%)

Roth/Traditional % = 45.24% (tax free)

Total Retirement Nest Egg $524,675.23 (-3.96%)
Retirement Salary (4%) – $20,987.01

Monthly Contributions $1,716.64 (401k) $3,500 (Wife Roth IRA) $4,500 (My Roth IRA)
SP500 Performance -6.26%
My Monthly Investment Performance -5.73% (+0.53% vs SP500)
My Monthly Individual Stocks Performance -5.58% (+0.68% vs SP500)