Last July, when I turned 36, I created a Goal page (see the chart at the bottom of this post). My account balance was around $57,000 then. I projected that I could get to $92,260 by the time I hit my 37th birthday in July 2008. I was within $3,000 six months early, but then my account tanked. I had a good second half of 2007 for returns and a great second half for making deposits.
With just a four months to go I’ll be cutting it close. My balance is $77,131.36 before the market opens this morning. I just scheduled a deposit of $2,000 that will be credited tomorrow. I expect I’ll be able to deposit another $2k for April, May, June and July which will bring me up to $87,131.36 without counting gains (and hopefully not deducting more losses).
That leaves me with $5,128.64 left that I need from pure growth. If I can stop having losses on stocks like HUM yesterday, I can handle a few poorly timed picks and eak out $1,282.16 per month in growth to get to where I want to be.
This seems like a fairly easy task and I’ll be watching this closely. Getting there early isn’t as important as still being there when my birthday ticks around again. I won’t have to factor much in for holding back cash for taxes since I’ve had and expect to have some heavy realized losses to balance me out this year.
|
Age |
Yearly Contribution |
Growth & Profit Minus Taxes |
Balance |
|
36 |
|
|
$57,000 |
|
37 |
$25,000 |
$11,400 |
$92,260 |
|
38 |
$25,000 |
$14,761 |
$132,021 |
|
39 |
$25,000 |
$21,124 |
$178,145 |
|
40 |
$25,000 |
$28,503 |
$231,648 |
|
41 |
$25,000 |
$32,431 |
$289,079 |
|
42 |
$25,000 |
$40,471 |
$354,550 |
|
43 |
$25,000 |
$49,637 |
$429,187 |
|
44 |
$25,000 |
$60,086 |
$514,273 |
OMG – I checked HUM at open this morning and saw it down another $12 (25%). Wow, I’m so relieved to have gotten out with the loss that I did have to take. Being out of HUM to work towards my goal with elimination of dead weight holding me back is a good feeling.
I have a similar contribution plan for my trading account. I’ve decided to make a committment and save $50,000/year to be added too my trading account.I will qualify for a retirement sometime in 2015, so I visualize this goal like running a marathon. I specialized in the “Married Put” strategy, so far so good. Your daily postings thru this blog makes my trading journey not so lonely afer all. Mahalo Warren
Great to have you around here Warren. Thanks for reading and commenting. $50k a year, does that include growth from your portfolio? Those committments really help me stay focused.
nice plan you have there,i think personaly that you can earn even more not just 25k a year having in mind your current portfolio,anyway wish you all best in your goals……do you sell puts on rimm,lately since the volatility/up dpwn couple bucks each day/ i have been stading a little bit this stock an movment i a notice it is good ,a have been playing some times,so far so good,if it continues after earnings same ,just to see how its move i will maybe just concentrate on this one and other couple,what wouldnt be a bad idea,,,,,,
I traded RIMM years ago, but missed the big run up and decline. I’ll have to give it another look.
There are lots of stock with volatility these days. RIMM is facing iPhone, Asian government spying problem, and consumer led slowdown. There must be better candidates?
Good luck mate. I feel though even if you come up short in the end, you are still up and going further up… it may just take a little bit longer. But there are many out there who got burned already with the US Market volatility.