March net worth update

[banders]

3/22 ~ 5/23 (14 months): +¥10m
5/23 ~ 11/23 (6 months): + ¥10m

Pleased with that and long may it continue; but this:

After some thought, I have cashed out 1/3 of our 2024 gains.

It is about two years' worth of living expenses, so will make a difference if we get a crash or the yen strengthens. If things keep going up then we'll make slightly less money but I think it is worth that tradeoff.

So, for example, if your living expenses are even just ¥200k pm, that means your gains in Jan and Feb were over ¥14m? How did that happen?

[RetireJapan]

3/22 ~ 5/23 (14 months): +¥10m
5/23 ~ 11/23 (6 months): + ¥10m

Pleased with that and long may it continue; but this:

After some thought, I have cashed out 1/3 of our 2024 gains.

It is about two years' worth of living expenses, so will make a difference if we get a crash or the yen strengthens. If things keep going up then we'll make slightly less money but I think it is worth that tradeoff.

So, for example, if your living expenses are even just ¥200k pm, that means your gains in Jan and Feb were over ¥14m? How did that happen?

Partially the exchange rate (almost all our investments are in world stock funds) partially stock market growth.

That's why it seemed a no brainer to lock in our living expenses for the next couple of years

[Deep Blue]

I’m not sure I got this right, but you are in your mid-40’s and in reasonable health Ben?

If you have thirty+ years left and no large spending needs (kids university etc) plus ample savings… why are you doing switching equities to cash?

Is the peace of mind really worth sacrificing decades of growth? Or are you confident the market will fall and you can buy back in cheaper?

[RetireJapan]

I’m not sure I got this right, but you are in your mid-40’s and in reasonable health Ben?

If you have thirty+ years left and no large spending needs (kids university etc) plus ample savings… why are you doing switching equities to cash?

Is the peace of mind really worth sacrificing decades of growth? Or are you confident the market will fall and you can buy back in cheaper?

I would like to be healthier (have knee and hip issues) but as far as I know fairly healthy.

We've reached our financial goals now, so I am not really focused on accumulation any more. We have about 1.5x what I thought we would need invested, and given that we will also have pensions soon(ish), even that is overkill.

I feel better with a larger cash pile. I see that as our runway, so that we can ignore the investments as our income becomes less predictable.

Doesn't necessarily make sense if we are trying to optimize for financial growth, but I think we're in a different phase now. Certainly feels different to the 'save money and invest it' previous phase.

We'll see how it goes. I will likely share the ups and downs here or on the blog

[Deep Blue]

Fair enough. Few of us (myself included) really push the limits in terms of maximizing returns. I’ve also run far larger cash positions than needed over the years and if I modeled how much I’ve missed out on I’d probably start crying.

At the end of the day, peace of mind is well worth investing in too, even if it means investing a little less elsewhere.

[RetireJapan]

I'm kind of drifting into a two bucket strategy: cash and stock market.

Need to figure out the size of the cash bucket, then we can more or less put things on autopilot.

[JimmyK]

Hi there. What are you guys investing in through NISA and IDeCo? I’m just getting started, so will have missed a lot of the gains many have experienced, but hoping there’s still a bit more life left in the current bull run!

[RetireJapan]

Hi there. What are you guys investing in through NISA and IDeCo?

Low cost world stock fund.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

Hi there. What are you guys investing in through NISA and IDeCo?

Low cost world stock fund.

Same, but my wife uses Developed Ex-Japan

{Global without Emerging markets and no Japan}

[ChapInTokyo]

Just did my monthly net worth spreadsheet. Seems like everything is going up at once.

Makes me nervous

Another year of living expenses accumulated in Feb. Net worth ATH. Pretty crazy stuff.

How's everyone else doing out there?

Hi, this was a very useful reminder that when the going's too good to be true, it might be time for another big crash! kind of thing.

One of my US funds that I hold started their 4th quarter 2023 commentary with this rather sobering observation:

A small number of mega-cap companies drove stock prices last year. The “Magnificent Seven” stocks
(Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms, Tesla, and Nvidia) ended the year with an
aggregate market cap of almost $12 trillion, more than the U.K., Canadian, and Japanese stock markets
combined. Their 111% return in 2023 accounted for approximately 75% of the 26.3% total return in the
S&P 500. The average stock delivered a much lower return, with the equal-weighted S&P 500 gaining just
10.4%.

If 75% of the 26.6% total return in the S&P in 2023 was driven by the rise in those "Magnificent Seven" stocks, that does look quite a lot like a bubble to me. I think cashing out a part of your gains was definitely a sensible move!