School me on investing...

Wiped out? Not in my 40 years of being in them. They take a hit any time the market in general does- like most investments do- but unless you're dumb and panic sell or NEED that $$ during the dips... it's a non issue.

A bit of research tells me that yes- there are a lot of employers that don't match 401k much or at all (I was surprised), and that's a strong indication that your employer is not a good one in general.

 

Here's what not getting out does. 6 months of contributions at lower than normal prices on shares due to Covid crash.
You can see the trend. It's a combination of: Initial Investment, Share growth of that investment, additional shares and growth of additional shares.
Now when mutual fund prices got back to the Covid Crash levels, the combination of added shares at lower costs and that growth has given me a better portfolio value.

Current through last Thursday.

 

I'll just go on the record and say that Covid was very....very....good for the wife and I.

 

If that level of destruction happens there’s really nothing you can invest in now that will survive.

History is the best predictor of the future, imho. People have historically done very well over time with traditional methods (401k, IRA, mutual funds, etc).

 

Yes there is. Drugs, booze and pussy are recession proof. And when squeezed I’m willing to do fairly reprehensible things to survive.

 

By your logic of using history as a metric then we’re all tucked if you go back far enough to measure trends over time.

 

Only if you own it or can produce it.

 

No, if you go back over time the winners were the ones that actually invested in tradtional methods, because unless you are Bezos, Buffet or Peter Lynch, or you cheat, you aren't making the market move on your own, and statistics will kick the crap out of you every time over the long run.

If you want to read: The Big Investment Lie would be a good start for you.

 

well I guess it’s a good thing I have a history in the market

 

Have you started building your free house yet?

 

Not yet. I can wait until material prices are down and people are standing around with their dicks in their hands looking for something to do. I'm not paying material and labor rates as they stand now. I'm looking at already built lake houses in the same place I bought the property. I'll move the value of this one to another location and sit and watch what happens for the next 18 to 24 months. I got time.

 

Buy a sawmill, and build a timberframe

The cost of everything is just stupid still. I'm not sure it WILL go down.

 

Either way I'm good. I can sit here on my hands and still be fine, I can buy something and still be fine or I can build and still be fine. Even if I got dumb and bought some gold...I'd still be fine.

 

This is super easy to test. Let’s check back in 5, 10 and 20 years. I have a lot of confidence in my non-fatalistic approach.

3 years ago I had 35 rental units. As of February I have none. I have to do something with the money and the traditional investing approach is the only thing that makes sense.

 

$20 is $20...

 

Ah yes. The unwritten book of the road!

 

Got any 3/2s in Lubbock I can take off your hands? I just offered 260 for a 250 listing and was promptly informed that they had multiple offers higher than that. It had been listed for about 11 hours at the time.

 

Why?