5 ms·

I'm curious, how many years did it take before you realized it was the best advice you've ever been given? I've been "getting rich slowly" for 8 years, and boy

I'm curious, how many years did it take before you realized it was the best advice you've ever been given? I've been "getting rich slowly" for 8 years, and boy let me tell you, it sure is slow. Definitely doesn't feel like my wealth is growing in index funds fast enough to retire within this life time.

lacker 8y ago
The last 8 years has been a pretty good time for investing in indexes. The S&P 500 has gone up by a factor of about 2.5x over that time! http://www.macrotrends.net/2488/sp500-10-year-daily-chart http://www.macrotrends.net/2488/sp500-10-year-daily-chart If the market hasn't been going up enough for you to feel good about your investments over the past 8 years, you are probably not saving enough to meet your goals.
BraveNewCurency 8y ago
> Definitely doesn't feel like my wealth is growing in index funds fast enough to retire within this life time. Ha ha, I feel the same. But don't discount the fact that small percentage returns are actually exponential growth. (For example, 2% returns actually doubles your money every 10 years.) Just because it 'feels' like your investments are stalled doesn't mean that they are.
- jackcarter 8y ago
  > 2% returns actually doubles your money every 10 years I wish! More like 35 years. 7% returns will double initial investment every 10 years.
  - dogma1138 8y ago
    That said tho if you invest even $200 a month from the age of 20 till retirement you will have more than 1M by retirement with a decent index fund.
    - ryandvm 8y ago
      That said, one million dollars ain't what it used to be after 45 years...
      - dogma1138 8y ago
        Index funds tend to scale rather well with inflation tho.
  - W-oland 8y ago
    7.2%
charlesdm 8y ago
You can play it safe (i.e. "getting rich slowly", like you have been) or you can take more calculated risks. Higher risk, higher upside, but perhaps the upside is disproportionately higher than the downside or the additional risk you are taking on, so you could be willing to invest in said company / asset / etc. As a counterexample, I've done great on individual stocks when I really understood the company well. You generally get 2 to 3 good investment ideas per year, so you could go overweight into those ideas. Stan Druckenmiller (who is an interesting person in itself with unconventional views) uses a similar strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LgojkA6bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LgojkA6bo
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
asdsa5325 8y ago
Maybe you should double check, because there has been some pretty nice gains over the last 8 years.

lacker 8y ago

The last 8 years has been a pretty good time for investing in indexes. The S&P 500 has gone up by a factor of about 2.5x over that time! http://www.macrotrends.net/2488/sp500-10-year-daily-chart http://www.macrotrends.net/2488/sp500-10-year-daily-chart If the market hasn't been going up enough for you to feel good about your investments over the past 8 years, you are probably not saving enough to meet your goals.

BraveNewCurency 8y ago

> Definitely doesn't feel like my wealth is growing in index funds fast enough to retire within this life time. Ha ha, I feel the same. But don't discount the fact that small percentage returns are actually exponential growth. (For example, 2% returns actually doubles your money every 10 years.) Just because it 'feels' like your investments are stalled doesn't mean that they are.

jackcarter 8y ago
> 2% returns actually doubles your money every 10 years I wish! More like 35 years. 7% returns will double initial investment every 10 years.
- dogma1138 8y ago
  That said tho if you invest even $200 a month from the age of 20 till retirement you will have more than 1M by retirement with a decent index fund.
  - ryandvm 8y ago
    That said, one million dollars ain't what it used to be after 45 years...
    - dogma1138 8y ago
      Index funds tend to scale rather well with inflation tho.
- W-oland 8y ago
  7.2%

charlesdm 8y ago

You can play it safe (i.e. "getting rich slowly", like you have been) or you can take more calculated risks. Higher risk, higher upside, but perhaps the upside is disproportionately higher than the downside or the additional risk you are taking on, so you could be willing to invest in said company / asset / etc. As a counterexample, I've done great on individual stocks when I really understood the company well. You generally get 2 to 3 good investment ideas per year, so you could go overweight into those ideas. Stan Druckenmiller (who is an interesting person in itself with unconventional views) uses a similar strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LgojkA6bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LgojkA6bo

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

asdsa5325 8y ago

Maybe you should double check, because there has been some pretty nice gains over the last 8 years.