No. of Recommendations: 13
To rival the idea that cash rules, that only looking for quick outperformers that we can post and brag about on the forum, there's a longer term model option presented below.
In my working life, which ended in 1994, I never earned more than $55,000 and I only began one IRA and I contributed precisely $22,800 to that account. I was busy building the insurance business we owned and watching, never changing, my $47,000 of inherited stocks (inherited in 1975 and not of course in the account below). So for my life my net worth build was in a taxable account, not an IRA. And it was for me a life focus on business-- building businesses, not contributing or saving money in an IRA. To each his own.
But I did start and keep a small IRA account which I will profile below. I offer this simply to offer members of this board a different option, not the obsessive buy and sell model often used in forums based on value and quick returns that can be presented to members for purposes of showing short term performance
The following is this IRA account beginning in 2011 when evidently I transferred in to the account $118,684.57 from my previous account which was not online and I only have paper records for. I have never volunteeringly sold a single stock from this portfolio profiled below, but of course there have been buy-outs and mergers and changes to the stocks involved anyway. Previous to this acount where I had the stocks in another firm - I did have some stocks basically go to zero, one being Bank of Granite...the stock headed by the CEO named John Forlines Buffett personally honored at a Berkshire annual meeting in the mid 1990's. Unfortunately Charles Snipes bankrupted Bank of Granite shortly after Forlines retired.
But anyway, the account has never had a tech name, it is dominated by insurance brokers and railroads. Fairfax and Markel are in the account, not Berkshire. As I mentioned the total (and once I investigated I found the contributions to be far smaller than my memory initially suggested up until a couple of months ago but of course it was a long time ago) was less than $23,000 and I never added a penny after 1994.
While you guys may be far superior to this and think of it is not-so-good, my view is that to invest as little as $23,000 up until you are 30 years old and to attain $1.3 mil at age 69 seems "satisfactory" to me. To do this without hard core and hyper-active intense buy/sell value investing makes it even more pleasant and tolerable...at least to me.
I offer this simply as a distraction from "Berkshire and cash" model often cited here- or only considering one or two stocks that are hammered to the board by those that dominate the discussion and get all the "likes". Successful investing is not hard to do, but you can't compete for likes and show-and-tell themes than mandate short term "I got me 30% in two weeks...sold and locked in my gains baby!" and expect (in my opinion) to do well in life managing money. Of course I'm old and opinionated.
The largest position in this account is Brown and Brown; second largest is Old Dominion Freight Lines (trucking companay in my neighborhood). I had Kansas City Southern and Burlington Northern in the railroad bunch, but both got bought of course. A few more got bought so I bought new stuff at times.
And to end the display narrative I'll add that I've never had more than $1000 in cash in the account at any moment. I always stay fully invested in all my accounts including this one.
Investment Results
Year Return Beginning Market Value Deposits Minus Withdrawals Investment Results Ending Market Value
Since Performance Inception +14.81% $126,513.16 +$118,684.57 +$1,072,030.55 $1,317,228.28
YTD +9.80% $1,199,701.17 $0.00 +$117,527.11 $1,317,228.28
2022 +0.81% $1,190,031.46 $0.00 +$9,669.71 $1,199,701.17
2021 +20.59% $986,824.87 $0.00 +$203,206.59 $1,190,031.46
2020 +12.82% $874,655.60 $0.00 +$112,169.27 $986,824.87
2019 +24.56% $702,183.47 $0.00 +$172,472.13 $874,655.60
2018 -1.26% $711,136.40 $0.00 -$8,952.93 $702,183.47
2017 +12.33% $633,078.14 $0.00 +$78,058.26 $711,136.40
2016 +15.75% $546,940.28 $0.00 +$86,137.86 $633,078.14
2015 +0.15% $546,101.43 $0.00 +$838.85 $546,940.28
2014 +19.64% $456,465.26 $0.00 +$89,636.17 $546,101.43
2013 +41.70% $322,142.95 $0.00 +$134,322.31 $456,465.26
2012 +19.51% $269,559.28 $0.00 +$52,583.67 $322,142.95
2011 +16.33% $126,513.16 +$118,684.57 +$24,361.55 $269,559.28
