Welcome to May! The temperatures are rising and the grass is growing. I’ve been working in the yard and shaping up the garden for this year’s crop. But the garden isn’t the only place I’ve been planting seeds…
You can check the latest and greatest info on the Track Our Progress page.
First, the numbers:
Net Worth:
- End of March Balance: $867,523 up $40,657
- Year to Date (YTD): Up $107,143 (up 14.1%)
- Since January 2018 (this is when I started tracking our net worth): Up $562,523
Portfolio:
- End of March Balance: $716,266 up $44,900
- YTD: Up $100,395 up (16.3%)
- Since January 2018: Up $476,266
April Highlights
The Casino is Open!
The big news in April was that I moved some money into cryptocurrencies. Yes, you read that correctly. I’m sure you have some questions… let’s get to ’em!
Isn’t this counter to the “simple” index fund approach I’ve been espousing? Am I a hypocrite?
You betcha.
Aren’t cryptocurrencies incredibly volatile?
Yes, no question.
Is there a dividend, or are returns purely price appreciation?
No Divvys. Just hope that a sucker is willing to pay more for what I have at a later date.
Can’t I lose the entirety of my position?
Most likely
Is this really investing?
Not really. It is close to pure speculation.
Hasn’t the easy money been made already?
Given that I am buying in now, the odds are high.
Well then… what the hell am I doing?
Good question. First off, this is not money that we need to live off any time soon. We have a decent emergency fund in place. If it all went Poof! It would suck, and I would certainly drop some F-bombs, but it wouldn’t effect us financially overall. Secondly, we are on pace to max our Roths, 401ks and HSAs, and make a decent contribution to our taxable account this year. If we didn’t have these bases covered then I wouldn’t even be thinking about crypto. Simply put, having a solid financial footing allows us the opportunity to take some risks. I think I wrote a post about this once… oh yeah, HERE IT IS.
That said, I see the underlying blockchain technology as a disruptive force for the future. The benefits of smart contracts, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and generally being able to “prove” identity and ownership just seem inevitable. It also seems to me like the public perception of Crypto is nearing critical mass. It seems that every day another story comes out about another company/city/country is accepting some form of Crypto. Owning some crypto is one way I can get some exposure to the growth potential.
Certainly, a part of the motivation is that this is sort of like buying a lottery ticket. Major price fluctuations are very common. Even a very small position could turn into a decent chunk of change. In fact, I’ve named my Crypto position as my YOLO account in our tracking sheet. That should tell you how confident I am in the underlying value here.
Last but not least is FOMO. If twenty years from now crypto prices are several multiples of their current values then I would be kicking myself for missing the opportunity. On the other hand, the amount is small enough that if it was all lost, it wouldn’t be that bad. Put another way, the extremely high (but low probability) returns is worth the small (but highly probable) loss.
So what did I buy?
Primarily Ethereum and Bitcoin, but I spread a small amount over about a dozen currencies in the hope that one of them has a major runup. Diversification, right?
Do I think you should buy some crypto?
Absolutely! Gotta pump those prices!
Just kidding! (and no, I did not buy Doge) You should definitely do your own due diligence here. (hopefully, more than I did!). And I can’t stress this enough… don’t put any money here you can’t live without! But if you are looking to spread out your exposure into different areas and you are already filling up your tax-advantaged account then… What the heck? Give it go!
Coming Up in May
New Roof Goofing (cont.)
I mentioned this last month, but we finally settled on a roofer in April. The shingles arrived and are awaiting installation. Most likely, they will be on by the time this post is published. Personally, I am excited about upgrading the existing 3 tab shingles with the new architectural ones. They should improve the home’s curb appeal.
The Taxman is late, but he is still coming
The IRS extended the tax filing deadline to May 17th. Since we owe this year, we have been holding off as long as we can. But nonetheless, the bill is due soon. As a result, our contributions to our Roth’s will be less than normal for May.
Greening Up My Thumbs
Earlier this year I started vegetable plants from seed. In May, these bad boys will get transplanted into the garden. To make room, I just expanded the garden. I took a sloped section of the yard that has been a pain to mow and chopped the hill down and built a 4’x4′ raised bed into the hillside and added some pavers on the low side to accommodate the grade change.
Not stopping there, I made my own growing mix of peat moss, compost and vermiculite and have a compost bin on the way. Is this overkill? Probably. But maybe the distraction will keep me from YOLOing more money into my crypto account!
Thanks for reading!
