Hi, my name is Bryce. My blog is called Save and Conquer. The “Save” part is pretty obvious for a personal finance blog. The “Conquer” part means winning financial independence regardless of the onslaught of misinformation from the professional financial establishment, who mostly want to profit off investors ignorance.
Day in and day out, we are bombarded with misinformation from the mass media. Just listen to CNBC for a few hours and you’ll know what I mean.
Investing Whiplash
I used to listen to all this drivel back in the 1980s and 1990s. During the Internet bubble, we were told we were in a new economy and piddly things like earnings didn’t matter anymore. It was the era of day-traders. People were making lots of money. For two years running (1997 and 1998) I made a 100% return in my retirement account. I did not listen to Greenspan talk about irrational exuberance. There was money to be made.
As the decade drew to a close, we were all afraid of the Y2K software bug, which turned out to be a non-event. Some code here and there was patched, and everyone was good to go.
Then, late in 2000 the market fell. I had a day where I took a $100k paper loss. I told myself it was all on paper and I’d get it back. Just keep betting on the new technology. During 2000-2002, my investable assets went from a high of $860k to a low of $140k. I got out of the market in 2002 after deciding I didn’t know anything about investing. Getting out at the bottom of the internet bubble recession only served to prove that point.
I also decided I needed to learn how to invest and stop gambling with our retirement savings. I began reading books on saving and investing. I started to learn how asset allocation and diversification were important. I eventually stumbled upon the Bogleheads and learned that low-cost passive index funds consistently beat the majority of active managers.
The keys to successful investing I learned are:
1) Invest early and often
2) Set an asset allocation that has the proper risk for your situation and ability to take risk
3) Diversify,
4) Never try to time the market
5) Use index funds, keep costs low
6) Minimize taxes,
7) Keep it simple
8) Stay the course. This worked very well for us through the Great Recession and the bull market afterward.
Our Simple Plan
I use my blog to pass this information on. My wife and I plan to retire in 9 years, so I also write about getting ready to retire and how we may manage during retirement. I have made several good acquaintances in the Yakezie network and hope to expand that in the near future.
I wish everyone luck in their financial and personal endeavors.
Note from Sam: This concludes the Yakezie Member Class for 1H2014. The next class will be open for application sometime after Labor Day, Sept 1, 2014. Blog on!
I’d love to know what investing book you’d most recommend. Thanks!
Bryce, I feel you on the big, gut-wrenching swings of DIY investing. I hate it, and only have about 10% of my net worth where I try and pick stocks. Any more and it’s too risky.
Welcome to the network!
My favorite investing book is The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing. It is a fairly easy read, but it is very comprehensive. The table of contents is
Part 1: Essentials of Successful Investing
Chapter 1. Choose a Sound Financial Lifestyle
Chapter 2. Start Early and Invest Regularly
Chapter 3. Know What You’re Buying Part I
Chapter 4. Know What You’re Buying Part II
Chapter 5. Preserve Your Buying Power with Inflation-Protected Bonds
Chapter 6. How Much do You Need to Save?
Chapter 7. Keep it Simple
Chapter 8. Asset Allocation
Chapter 9. Costs Matter
Chapter 10. Taxes Part I
Chapter 11. Taxes Part II
Chapter 12. Diversification
Chapter 13. Performance Chasing and Market Timing Are Hazardous to Your Health
Part 2: Follow-Through Strategies to Keep You on Target
Chapter 14. Savvy Ways to Invest for College
Chapter 15. How to Manage a Windfall Successfully
Chapter 16. Do you Need an Advisor?
Chapter 17. Track Your Progress and Rebalance When Necessary
Chapter 18. Tune Out the “Noise”
Chapter 19. Mastering Your Investments Means Mastering Your Emotions
Chapter 20. Making Your Money Last Longer Than You Do
Chapter 21. Protecting Your Assets by Being Well-Insured
Chapter 22. Passing It On When You Pass On
Chapter 23. You Can Do It – The Bogleheads Will Help
I hope that helps.
Congrats on making it through the challenge Bryce! I love the visual the title of your blog brings to mind. We really can conquer this beast called money when we exercise wisdom and patience. Those investing years were tough for all of us as we saw assets dwindle. The counter-intuitive thing is those were actually some of the best years to put money into the market instead of getting out.
Well done on completing the challenge, Bryce. And on the self investing as well – will follow what happens with great interest.
Wow that was one huge learning experience you had with the dot coms. I can’t imagine how emotional and stressful that time must have been for you. Sounds like you’ve come a long way since then, esp with plans to retire in less than 10 years from now. Congrats on completing the challenge.
Congrats on making it in! Thanks for sharing your story, the investments during that time sure seemed to be a wild ride. Well, it seems like you’ve learned some really good lessons based on that list. Investing early and keeping it simple are really good for allowing us not to be distracted and instead focus on actually making money to save/invest in the first place…while letting compounding work in our favor.
Congrats on making it in the challenge. I struggle with the same gambler’s methods of investing, I do my best to keep it simple with investing in index funds and paying off debt, sometimes you have to get brought down before you can rise up.
Congrats Bryce, its good to see that you fared the second 00s recession better than the first! Thanks for the boggleheads recommendation, I’ve never come across that before. Good luck on the 9 year retirement plan. What does “retirement” mean to you in this context? What are you financial goals before retiring?
I’ve enjoyed interacting with you during the challenge and congratulate you on becoming a member of the network!
Congratulations. Your experience is a perfect case for diversification! Before I started investing in the stock market, I invested in income property. I loved the aspect of being in control of my investments. I still do although I no longer own income property.
Congrats Bryce! What a roller coaster. I admire your courage to face those huge losses. Sadly, I chose to ignore them because it was too painful. I missed out on the learning opportunity and repeated my mistakes. Happy to hear everything turned out alright for you. Welcome aboard!
Bryce – you have a lot of experience to draw from and to my mind this makes you an authority on this subject. I’m trying to build up my knowledge so that I will take over the management of my investment portfolio. Congratulations on achieving your Yakezie membership!
Bryce – Kudos to you and your good lady. Looking to retirement after your run of bad luck / timing… and you have turned it around. I wish you well. I am amazed by the number of Financial Literacy programs out there that focus on Investing, but very little on getting people to the point where they actually have something to invest. There are a lot of people who do not have rainy day funds or anything to save at the end of the month regardless of their earnings.