People make investments out of many things that they enjoy as hobbies – classic cars, antique watches, sports memorabilia, and other collectibles. I have a lot of collections of things, but I’ve never viewed any of them that way. One of the biggest collections we have is LEGO models & sets. I have many sets from when I was a kid and we’ve bought & … Continue reading Colorful, Collectible Bricks
There it is … the S&P 500 is just 6 points short of record territory, despite the CV-19 pandemic. I was chatting about the amazing rebound in the market yesterday with an old MegaCorp colleague and we were both astounded that it could jump back so quickly. He asked what I thought about the stock market right now and what I would do in his … Continue reading Amazing Rebound
I worked for three companies during the course of my career. I spent 12 years at the first, was ‘acquired’ by the second (where I spent another 12 years), and capped off my career at the third (for 3 years). All three were large, multinational ‘MegaCorps’ and blue-chip companies. Even though it’s been almost 4 years since I wound down my last days at my … Continue reading Tracking MegaCorp Performance
The colorful and entertaining Callan ‘Periodic Table’ was recently updated with 2018 market results. It tracks the investment returns of key indices over the past two decades. The most recent year – the 20th in the chart – was challenging. As you can see, cash was king and few investments posted positive returns. I have often referred to the chart as “fascinating, but useless” because … Continue reading The Dumbest Investment Chart
The holidays are a time for roaring fires and cozy Christmas dreams. Yet, the last few weeks have been far from that in the investment world as Wall Street grapples with big drops in S&P 500 value, a bond yield inversion, and global economic uncertainty. While I’d rather be writing about a ‘Santa Claus Rally’ – instead we are closing out the year in negative … Continue reading Playing with FIRE is Playing with RISK
I met a friend of my wife’s at the garden center this past Monday morning who retired a few years ago after 30+ years at a local MegaCorp. We were talking about the negative fortunes both our former employers have shown in their stock price. Both companies have seen much better days – down 25-40% from their peak a few years ago. He knew a … Continue reading MegaCorp Stock – Trading on the Familiar
The stock market has been having a great year (+17% S&P500), but that hasn’t stopped me from fretting over the price of MegaCorp stock (-8%), as I continue to sit on significant stock options as part of our early retirement portfolio. While many retirees may be celebrating the record market closes this week and ongoing ‘Trump Bump’, our portfolio is sitting FLAT for the … Continue reading Too Many Eggs In One Basket?
When I published my 200th post on MrFireStation.com, someone asked me to write about some of the FINANCIAL FAILURES that we encountered on our way to achieving financial independence and retiring early (FIRE). I will write about these over the next few weeks and cross-reference the posts in case someone wants to read about all of our mistakes at once! Today’s mistake has to do … Continue reading Financial Failures On The Way To Early Retirement – Stock Options
For those of you who have been following MrFireStation.com since early last year, you know about our plan to devote all of our final year’s paychecks and bonus to a good cause. We first wrote about our “One More Year” fund last April and gave more detail on the background on the idea and an update in December. To make us feel like we were … Continue reading One More Year Effort Becomes “Angel Fund”
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