Hey everyone,
I think I am doing “not the worst possible” but I still have the strong feeling there are things I can do much better in terms of investing my money and hopefully one day being able to buy a house here in Los Angeles when the market turns into a sellers one (ever again?).
I have the feeling I am standing still in my progress towards financial independence as the index funds I own have been pretty volatile recently (can be I just need to learn more long term thinking). Also I suffer a lot from “bag man” I think it is called when you are always afraid you lose everything. On top of that it feels like everyone else is doing much better of course.
Here is where I am right now:
$215K @ 75% Stocks - 25% Bonds in Betterment / $250 a week contribution
$90K in a Vanguard Money Market Fund (don’t feel comfortable having ALL in betterment)
$42K in cash for monthly bills and potential emergencies.
No debt.
37 years old.
2 person household, single income.
EDIT: $150.000 to $170.000 annual income
I really don’t spend much money on myself, drive an okay 10 year old car I like and my hobbies are pretty much covered already equipment wise.
I am trying to build small passive income streams which make me maybe $400 a month average right now so far, hopefully more soon.
Fix cost here in LA are a bit crazy which is at some $6000/month. $2300 rent, $1000 to support my studying fiancé and the rest is car, groceries, dogs, health insurance $500/mo, some necessary subscriptions etc.
Any advice what can be done?
I’ll go through my monthly expenses in detail again to see if something can be axed but I don’t think that will be too much.
Should I move even more into index funds even though it feels like the 9 year bull run slowed down by a lot?
If I have all in the market, it’s kinda locked in a bear market and I can’t use it for a down payment in the following sellers market.
It’s tricky for me here, it is “give every dollar a job” VS “cash is king in bad times”.
Every day I am thinking about what else can be done or done better but it feels like I can’t figure it out :-/
Cheers and thanks a lot!