I reached my financial independence goal at the end of 2020, and did nothing more than follow JL Collins’ advice to have a simple portfolio. Last year, my portfolio appreciated $240,000 which was gratifying to see since my total contributions were less than $70,000. I say “nothing”, but I have to clarify that a lot of discipline was involved in ignoring the market chatter about potential crashes. It also involved a large leap of faith that having just a handful of ticker symbols would be enough to grow wealth. The hardest part of making smart decisions about investing is remembering that you cannot time the market. Where can I invest my money in 2022 you ask? Here’s the simple answer.
Invest in yourself first
Given the rate of inflation and the steady drumbeat of the great resignation, I am socking away the standard IRS limit across all investment vehicles ($61,000 in 2022), then investing my cash in all manner of training and technical help this year – SEO, website design, copywriting, branding, etc. Meg’s SEO course is the first time I’ve felt the positive rush of being a student again, which is such an affirming way to start of 2022. Returns on investments in yourself are highest since you are the most important income-generating asset in the world. This is especially true if you are looking to pivot into a different career path – your ability to manage an online business, even if you have a brick-and-mortar location, will stand you in good stead as the pandemic has shown us.
Cash is not king in times of inflation
If Argentinians are any indicator of what you should do in the case of hyperinflation, the answer is to spend your money as soon as it comes in. I can’t find the article, but I recall reading in the past month about Argentinian’s tips for Americans who are facing inflation for the first time, and their advice was to buy what you can that will hold value. It is common there to buy food and freeze it (not feasible in small NYC apartments), as well as find technological items if you’re due for an upgrade.
I personally would spend the money pre-paying website hosting fees for future businesses, pre-paying for domain name rights, or training (even if you don’t need it right away; you can often pay the deposit and schedule the session later). I would also pre-pay for gift cards that you might want – I have my eye on professional photography services for example, and bought some gift cards from Flytographer last November during their Black Friday Sale so that we’ll have vacation memories whenever we can actually safely fly again.
A simple portfolio for working parents committed to financial independence
JL Collins has three holdings: VTSAX, VBTLX, and cash. I hold these and also an international stock fund, an international bond fund, and a REIT fund. For some part of the last decade, I held positions in utilities, materials, and small-cap + mid-cap stocks. A lot of people I know are into cryptocurrency investing, and as long as you understand that this is your mad money portion of your portfolio, I’m all for it. You need to have a reason to want to keep investing, so if that reason is cryptocurrencies, do it, but don’t be too aggressive!
Don’t ignore US Treasury Savings Bonds
Series I savings bonds currently offer a 7.12% interest rate which is phenomenal when you compare to the at best 1% savings rate being offered at high-yield savings accounts. Of course, the 7.12% interest rate isn’t so great when you realize that inflation is running at close to 7%, but the fact that you’re doing better than inflation when other savings vehicles are not even close to being on par is cause for celebration. Sadly, you can only invest $10,000 per calendar year, but you can invest on behalf of minors. There aren’t any catches, though two things are worthy of pointing out: 1) you have to hold the bond for one year, and 2) if you redeem the bond after one year but before five years, you forfeit three months of interest. So if you redeem the bond at one year, you will receive nine months of interest.
Remember the protective measures
If you haven’t already purchased life insurance, do it. If you are a woman, seriously consider long-term disability insurance. If you have children, sock away money in their 529 plans just in case. Obviously you understand that you need health insurance and dental insurance at a minimum. These are the places that deserve your money even before you’ve invested in yourself and built a simple investment portfolio.
Do not fear a stock market crash
It is impossible to predict when a market crash will happen, just as it is impossible to predict if the stock market will buck its trend of having always gone up over the past 150+ years. This is a fool’s errand. You will likely live for a long time, and the best thing you can give your children is the gift of your own retirement so that you are no burden to them in old age. If you don’t have kids, then the best thing you can give yourself is a retirement primed for maximum enjoyment.
