Subject: Re: I'd love to...
That was an outstanding post '38Packard! What a success story.

<<Started my own IT consulting firm in 1985. At first, doing work on the side, then in 1987 did it full-time>>

Would you say that this was the one critical turning point in increasing your savings (not immediately but the decision to go out on your own later causing the much large layoffs)? What are your thoughts about the moment you sis this, or how starting with just a few clients might work for others, etc? Most remain as an employee all the time.

<<I can honestly say that I am probably a poor investor as I seem to lose my objectivity when I see red in my portfolio and decide to sell - thereby locking in those losses.>>

This is a foundation idea of my writings, and whether this is good news or bad news, it is certainly so common as to almost be the norm. And almost the genuinely smartest people! See further below..

<<Knowing my weaknesses as an investor, I have held mainly cash and cash equivalents since cashing out of the S&P 500 ETF fund back in 2020. - I am still sitting in 90% cash today - and looking to re-deploy into an S&P 500 ETF and possibly into BRK.A (which I've held and sold previously) as this upcoming recession takes hold.>>

You have my admiration for your self insight, and given this the solution can be more easily solved.

I would recommend that rather than trying to adjust your personality/instinctive-reaction to changing quotes in your portfolio, I would focus on making your environment more robust/immune to them. For example you could invest directly 10% of your equity (with your market timing ideas for example), and treat that as your actual portfolio, and place the other 90% with a *important* different.. a different discount brokerage in RSP (equal weight index fund), with no margin facility that you can ever borrow from, that you simply forget about entirely. This move will allow you to get from 7 to 8 effectively guaranteed.

Manlobbi's Descent might help to do it faster as it concentrates exactly on this problem of investing in such a way as to be psychologically robust to large (they are normally temporary if you can adjust the time scale sufficiently large) quotation falls, but I think the above approach is more crucial in your situation.

<<Now, how do I go from seven figures to 10 figures? I can't right any wrongs from the past, so what do I do now?>>

This board is to get from 7 to 8 also, or 8 to 9 also. The word decamillionaire is clumsy so I kept it simple and it also broader that way.

Again your post was great, I read it with pleasure.

Shrewd it '38Packard!

- Manlobbi