A few weeks ago I asked Fidelity to send my brokerage history dating back to when I opened the account in 1998. Last week I got a big package in the mail and so thought it’d be a great time to go through my investing track record!
When I got into the market
When I was in 5th grade, I really wanted to open a brokerage account. It was the beginning of the dot com bubble, and everyone seemed to be talking about the stock market. It seemed like a good way to make money.
I’d heard stories of how my Dad took his paper route money when he was a kid and started trading stocks. But, he was a bit reticent to let my brother (a year younger) and I open accounts given the market was so hot, and that we had a good chance of starting out investing at the peak of a cycle.
Luckily, my Mom thought it was a good idea and eventually took us to Fidelity one afternoon to open accounts.
By this time, I was 12 and in 6th grade. But, not too young to start saving (in fact we’d opened savings accounts when I was in first grade – the idea that for every $100 I scrapped together I could get $5/yr for free was too good to pass up – this was when interest rates weren’t 0%).
My Performance
The first year was rough. I bought one stock, MXE, a Mexican Holding company (like Berkshire Hathaway, but cheaper, and maybe the Mexican market was being overlooked, was the vague investment thesis). It went down 17% that year (I eventually made a modest profit off it). Most of my ideas in the early days were from reading Worth magazine to see which stocks they were pumping at the time, and then pick the one I liked the most.
The next three years were pretty amazing though. I traded in and out of a few tech stocks. I was in cash for the blow up in 2000. And, I was finally was able to afford a share of BRK.B (Berkshire Hathaway’s “b class”). These all lead me to beating the market by 125% over 1999-2001. Finally, I had that freshman year nest egg I always dreamed of :).
I won’t bore you with every trade (there were many over the decades, but not that many each year). In summary, here’s a chart of my annual returns over the last ~20 years:
Over the next decade or so, I made some good calls and bad ones. Overall, I tend to beat the market in down turns, and lag it when things are going great.
Here’s a chart of my annual returns relative to the S&P 500:
I’m proud to say that my public equities have outperformed the S&P 500 by about 3% per year on average. Of course, a lot of this is luck. I had some rational behind every trade I made, but does a freshman in high school really know what they are doing?
It’s interesting to note that my annual returns are starting to converge closely with the S&P 500 over time:
Scorecard
The S&P has returned a 6.5% IRR since 1998 – 2017 (when my data ends for now), vs my 9.5% average annual return.
Overall for every dollar put into the S&P in 1998, you’d expect to have $3.29. For every $1 I invested, I have $5.59, which is about 41% more.
Data notes
I’m understating my returns a bit here. My transaction costs were around $20/trade when I started, which was a meaningful amount of money relative to my overall portfolio. So, my returns are probably a bit higher each year, especially in those early years (>1% of my portfolio went to fees in 1999 alone).
I got the S&P return data here for reference.
I almost calculated a sharpe ratio, but realistically I’d need to do a lot more data analysis on my portfolio and I don’t have all the info I need. However, I’d like to think my standard deviation relative to the S&P is lower given I’ve always had a decent amount of money in cash.
What I learned
- Starting to invest/save early has a few major advantages including compounding, as well as working towards your 10,000 hours to “master” money management.
- You can start with a very small amount of money, my first savings account had <$100, and as long as you have >$1,000, you can start investing in the market.
- It’s important to take a long term view on your savings/investing. I’ve never withdrawn money from my Fidelity account. This is money I don’t need, and won’t need unless something very terrible happens.
- Don’t freak out during downturns, and don’t think you’re a genius when you make a lot of money. A lot of this is luck, which hopefully evens out over time.
- You have to pay up for really great companies – I sold Amazon 5 years ago because it was very “expensive” on a P/E basis. This is really hard for someone like me who’s naturally frugal.
- Analyzing your investing style and decisions can give you some insights into your personality/strengths/weaknesses – I’m less aggressive than I should be, cheaper than I should be, and tend to focus on ‘contrarian’ opportunities more than average.
- Almost no one can consistently beat the market – this is why the majority of my money is now in low cost ETFs, with a few exceptions. Of course, if you are extremely shrewd and level headed and can dedicate >10 hrs/day to it, there is a lot of alpha out there.
- You can’t regret bad decisions and missed opportunities, just learn from them.
- Allowing your child to start investing with a small amount of money is a good idea, as long as they are very interested in it, and prudent. They’ll lose money at some point, which is a good thing. And, over time, they’ll learn a lot while saving along the way.
More to come
I’ve had the opportunity to do some investing in private tech companies, and so would like to update my overall annual investing IRR with these returns in a future post. Overall I’d estimate I’ve gotten around a 7x return on these investments over the past 8 years. It should be very interesting data to add!
It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be
happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or tips.
Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article.
I want to read even more things about it!
Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Many thanks, However
I am encountering difficulties with your RSS. I don’t know why
I am unable to join it. Is there anybody having identical RSS
problems? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond?
Thanx!!
whoah this weblog is magnificent i really like studying your posts.
Keep up the great work! You recognize, a lot of persons
are looking round for this information, you can help them greatly.
Your style is really unique compared to other folks I have read stuff from.
Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this page.
What’s up to all, the contents existing at this web page are
really amazing for people experience, well, keep up the nice work fellows.
Quality articles is the important to attract the users to go to
see the web page, that’s what this web site is providing.
Great weblog right here! Additionally your website so
much up fast! What host are you the use of? Can I get your associate hyperlink for your host?
I wish my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol
Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this blog.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s
tough to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and visual appearance.
I must say you’ve done a amazing job with this.
Additionally, the blog loads super fast for
me on Firefox. Excellent Blog!
Article writing is also a excitement, if you be acquainted with afterward you can write or
else it is complex to write.
Hello, I enjoy reading through your article. I like to write a
little comment to support you.
My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was entirely right.
This post actually made my day. You can not imagine just how
much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a co-worker who has been doing a
little research on this. And he actually bought me breakfast because I stumbled upon it for him…
lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this topic here on your web site.
Keep this going please, great job!
Appreciation to my father who told me about this web site, this web site is actually remarkable.
Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the web the simplest thing
to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they just don’t know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and
also defined out the whole thing without having side-effects
, people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more.
Thanks
Hi there mates, good piece of writing and good arguments commented here, I am actually enjoying by these.
Hey! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing
many months of hard work due to no back
up. Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
This post is priceless. Where can I find out more?
Links wirken hier wie Empfehlungen in der realen Welt.
Je vertrauenswürdiger eine empfehlende bzw. verweisende Quelle ist, desto
wertvoller ist der Backlink bzw. die Empfehlung.
Weniger die Anzahl der Links an und für sich (Linkpopularität).
Hier spielt zunächst die Anzahl der verschiedenen verlinkenden Domains, die sogenannte Domainpopularität, eine
Rolle. Die zweite Ebene ist die thematische Beziehungsebene.
Übertragen auf die Semantik bzw. Graphentheorie sind Links die Kanten zwischen den Knoten bzw.
Entitäten. Link stellen egal Beziehungen zwischen den Dokumenten und deren dort abgebildeten Themen dar.
Owned- und teilweise auch Self-Placed-Links wie
Branchenbücher sind vorrangig für die Entitäten-Bildung zuständig, während Paid- und Earned Links Sinn für die Verbesserung der Autorität einer Domain machen. Wir bei Aufgesang
orientieren uns hier an ein semantisches Verlinkungskonzept- Mehr dazu im Beitrag Semantisch Themen finden: Wie identifiziert man semantisch verwandte Keywords?
Umsetzung: Hier übernimmt der/die SEO-Manager(in) wiederkehrend vor allem eine beratende Funktion. Zufolge dem ob man sich für einen aktiven skalierbaren Linkaufbau oder organischen Linkaufbau via Content-Marketing entscheidet.
This piece of writing is truly a fastidious one it helps new the
web users, who are wishing for blogging.
Magnificent web site. Lots of useful information here. I’m sending it to some pals ans
additionally sharing in delicious. And of course, thank you to your sweat!
It’s amazing to pay a visit this web site and reading the views
of all friends concerning this paragraph, while I am also zealous
of getting familiarity.
It’s wonderful that you are getting thoughts from
this paragraph as well as from our dialogue made here.
Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts.
Any way I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but
your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back later.
Many thanks
Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you’re a great
author.I will make certain to bookmark your blog and will come back at some
point. I want to encourage you continue your great work, have a nice morning!
Post writing is also a fun, if you be familiar
with then you can write or else it is complicated to write.
Zudem sollten sie externe Links Hand in Hand gehen eigenen Fenster oder Tab öffnen lassen, damit sie User
nicht deren eigenen Seite verlieren. Bei der Checkliste für
den Content solltest du auch den Einsatz von optimierten Bildern sitzen. Diese
werten Texte nicht nur visuell auf, sondern senden ebenfalls positive SEO-Signale nahezu
Suchmaschinen. Daneben sollten Seitenbetreiber darauf achten,
dass Bilder zwar eine gute Qualität haben, aber nicht zu groß ausfallen. Zur
Orientierung: 2-4 Verlinkungen pro 1000 Wörter zeigen Google und Nutzern, mit
welchen Quellen deine Seite arbeitet. Das kostet SEO-Punkte.
Und dann wäre da noch sollten Unternehmen Bilder mit einem ALT-Attribut versehen, das das Fokus-Keyword trägt.
Ansonsten leidet der Pagespeed darunter. Ausführliche
Informationen und praktische Checkliste gibt es im Blogartikel zu Bilder SEO.
Videos haben in der letzten Zeit Jahren im Web stark an Bedeutung gewonnen. Das gilt auch
für den Dateinamen der Bilder. Unternehmen sollten ihre
Videos auf YouTube hochladen. Denn: Bewegtbild eignet sich nicht nur, Content schnell und
einfach zu erklären, sondern steigert auch die Verweildauer auf der Seite.
Ob Newsletter-Anmeldung, Produktkauf oder Download:
Jede Seite will User dazu bewegen, eine bestimmte Aktion vorzunehmen. Nach Google und Google Images ist das Videoportal die drittgrößte
Suchmaschine des Webs. Dieser sollte verständlich
formuliert und grafisch hervorgehoben sein. Dabei unterstützen wir Sie als erfahrene SEO Agentur
mit fundiertem Wissen und zahlreichen individuell zugeschnittenen Maßnahmen, die Sie und Ihr
Angebot in den Suchmaschinen nach vorne bringen und
Ihr Ranking verbessern. Korrekte Darstellung auf allen Endgeräten: Smartphones,
PCs, Tablets… Mehr Informationen auf OnPage
Optimierung Agentur. Unternehmen sollten daher an jeder wichtigen Stelle auf der Seite
einen Call-to-Action-Button integrieren. Sie suchen eine SEO Agentur?
Kontaktiere uns für ein persönliches kostenloses Erstgespräch.
Als erfahrener Partner helfen wir von seonative unseren Kunden dabei,
auf Google besser gefunden zu werden und die Umsätze zu steigern. Sie wollen SEO Selber
machen? Lernen Sie SEO in unseren SEO Workshops!
In den letzten Jahren hat sich Nordic walking von einer Randerscheinung zum
Breitensport entwickelt, der immer öfter begeisterte Anhänger findet.
Die Vorteile liegen auf der Hand: Dank der Unterstützung der Stöcke laufen Sie Hand in Hand gehen gleichbleibenden Rhythmus und bewegen neben den Beinen, den gesamten Körper und die Arme.
Zudem erfahren Gelenke und Muskulatur eine weitere Stützfunktion, was die Belastung herabsetzt.
Nicht immer entscheidet der Preis über die Qualität. Um mehr geht aus den nächsten Nordic walking Runden herauszuholen, sollten Sie sich vorher unterschiedliche Nordic
Walking Stöcke anschauen, um sich fürt passende Modell
zu entscheiden. Oftmals sind es auch die Stöcke im unteren und mittleren Preisniveau, die mit Top Leistungen aufwarten.
Hervortreten überhaupt keinen Grund, über die Nordic Walker zu lächeln. Was
bringen Nordic Walking Stöcke? Dieser Breitensport ist eine aktive Methode, den Stoffwechsel anzuregen, das Herz zu stärken und gezielt Knochen und Muskulatur zu trainieren. Erwiesenermaßen ist Walking eine schonende Methode, den überflüssigen Fettpolstern an den Kragen zu
gehen.
Hiya very nice website!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing ..
I will bookmark your site and take the feeds also?
I am glad to seek out a lot of useful info right here within the
post, we’d like develop extra strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.
. . . . .
Undeniably believe that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to
be on the web the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they just don’t know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without
having side-effects , people could take a signal.
Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured
I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post
or vice-versa? My website goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I
believe we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you are interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
I look forward to hearing from you! Awesome blog by the way!
Remarkable! Its really awesome post, I have got much clear
idea about from this piece of writing.
quadwaia 7b17bfd26b https://coub.com/stories/3100822-__top__-icad-sx-mechanical-pro-crackl
Hello, Neat post. There’s a problem together with your site in web
explorer, may test this? IE nonetheless is the market chief and a huge
part of other people will leave out your magnificent writing because of this
problem.
I read this article fully concerning the resemblance of hottest
and preceding technologies, it’s awesome article.
Hi there, I found your blog via Google whilst looking for a comparable topic, your web site got here up, it seems to be good.
I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, simply turned into alert to your blog via Google,
and located that it is truly informative. I am going to watch
out for brussels. I will appreciate when you continue this
in future. A lot of other people will be benefited out
of your writing. Cheers!
Wow, that’s what I was exploring for, what a stuff!
present here at this blog, thanks admin of this web site.
Wonderful items from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff prior to and you’re just extremely excellent.
I really like what you have bought here, really like what you’re
stating and the best way by which you assert it. You make it enjoyable and
you continue to take care of to keep it sensible. I can not wait to learn far more from you.
This is really a terrific site.
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site
is excellent, let alone the content!
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues?
A few of my blog audience have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but
looks great in Opera. Do you have any recommendations
to help fix this issue?
What’s up, this weekend is good in favor of me, because this time i am reading this impressive informative article here
at my house.
It’s very effortless to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks,
as I found this piece of writing at this site.
Ein künstlicher Tannenbaum nicht notwendigerweise immer unecht wirken.
Mit den passenden Dekoelementen und dem richtigen Zubehör zieht auch mit
einer Kunsttanne weihnachtliche Stimmung ein. Kugeln: Die passenden Kugeln et alia Dekorationselemente dürfen auch bei einem künstlichen Baum nicht fehlen. Entstehen den Schmuck
aus glas oer Kunststoff. Umso mehr die traditionellen Schmuckstücke sind
besonders preisintensiv aber auch sehr filigran und kunstvoll.
Lametta: Lametta ist nicht jedem gefallen. Viele Familien können aber darauf
nicht verzichten. Kommen zu das Lametta mittlerweile
in verschiedenen Farben, sodass es passend zur Farbe der Kugeln aufgehängt werden kann.
Diese kommen aus Amerika und werden dort gern zum Aufhängen am Baum genutzt.
Als Alternative zum Lametta gibt es auch Kugelketten. Lichterketten: Lichterketten lassen den Kunstbaum erstrahlen.
Die Ketten gibt es ganz klassisch mit Kabel oder kabellos.
Letztere funktionieren mit einem Funksender und Batterien. Sie haben den Vorteil, dass das Kabel
nicht aufwendig in den Ästen des Baumes versteckt werden muss.
eldemae 7b17bfd26b https://trello.com/c/iq9pfax7/38-free-hamsterball-download-full-version-upd
Appreciation to my father who told me regarding this webpage,
this blog is actually awesome.
You’re so cool! I don’t think I’ve read anything like that before.
So nice to discover another person with some unique thoughts on this subject matter.
Really.. many thanks for starting this up. This website is something that’s needed on the web, someone with some originality!
Great article, just what I was looking for.
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular post!
It is the little changes that make the most significant changes.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
magnificent points altogether, you simply gained a brand new
reader. What could you suggest in regards to your post that you
made a few days in the past? Any certain?