Dear Friends and Family,
Contrary to typical advice, I look at my retirement portfolio frequently. How frequently? Twice-a-month frequently.
Yep. Every two weeks, I take a peek at something or other.
I know. The experts say you should look quarterly, but that seems crazy in today's volatile market. And, while I look every two weeks, I don't make "changes" nearly as frequently. I don't change my holdings every two weeks. I change my expectation on retirement date every two weeks.
Yesterday, was one of my two monthly checks. I have a model I built which takes into account inflation because a dollar today won't be worth a dollar tomorrow. And, while in the short run, it's close enough, in the long run it isn't. I know what I want in today's dollar for retirement, but sad to say, I'm not retiring today. And, fingers crossed, I need my retirement to last longer than today because I'm not planning on dying today, knock on wood.
So, inflation needs to be accounted for. And, because it's easier I enter it monthly. And, then I see if it impacts my retirement date. Sometimes, if it's lower than anticipated I can pull my date in by a month or two. Sometimes, if it's higher than anticipated I need to push my date out by a month or two. It tends to even out, but recently I feel like it pushes out two out of three months and pulls in one out of three months... with a gradual creep in retirement date.
Now, my end of month adjustments tend to be more drastic. A good month could pull retirement in three to six months and a very bad month can push retirement out a year or more. That's the adjustment when I look at how our portfolio performed over the month. The last two months have not been pretty. I'm hoping this month is a prettier picture. We'll see in 11 days.
Well, yesterday, I did my inflation math and looked at the numbers and our retirement dates didn't change. Yeah for us!
Cheers!
mouse
Contrary to typical advice, I look at my retirement portfolio frequently. How frequently? Twice-a-month frequently.
Yep. Every two weeks, I take a peek at something or other.
I know. The experts say you should look quarterly, but that seems crazy in today's volatile market. And, while I look every two weeks, I don't make "changes" nearly as frequently. I don't change my holdings every two weeks. I change my expectation on retirement date every two weeks.
Yesterday, was one of my two monthly checks. I have a model I built which takes into account inflation because a dollar today won't be worth a dollar tomorrow. And, while in the short run, it's close enough, in the long run it isn't. I know what I want in today's dollar for retirement, but sad to say, I'm not retiring today. And, fingers crossed, I need my retirement to last longer than today because I'm not planning on dying today, knock on wood.
So, inflation needs to be accounted for. And, because it's easier I enter it monthly. And, then I see if it impacts my retirement date. Sometimes, if it's lower than anticipated I can pull my date in by a month or two. Sometimes, if it's higher than anticipated I need to push my date out by a month or two. It tends to even out, but recently I feel like it pushes out two out of three months and pulls in one out of three months... with a gradual creep in retirement date.
Now, my end of month adjustments tend to be more drastic. A good month could pull retirement in three to six months and a very bad month can push retirement out a year or more. That's the adjustment when I look at how our portfolio performed over the month. The last two months have not been pretty. I'm hoping this month is a prettier picture. We'll see in 11 days.
Well, yesterday, I did my inflation math and looked at the numbers and our retirement dates didn't change. Yeah for us!
Cheers!
mouse
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