| | | Major thinking this weekend. Not young anymore. Six years older than my father when he passed, and ten
years older than his only brother when he died of a heart attack.
My relationship with money was formed by the time I was a teenager. Numerous things, like only ever going
on one vacation to Ocean City when I was about four. Dad having to ask his boss for advanced pay to put
oil in our tank so we could have heat in the winter. His family couldn't lend him the money, as they were all
in the same boat, having enough at the end of the month to cover. I could go on and on. I got a summer job at
fourteen, and became a saver.
The girls don't want my money. They say the wife and I gave them the best thing ever already, paid for their
college educations, so they could start out debt free. They are always about, go here, go there. That's not us.
My only trip out of the U.S. was to Paris. It was nice, but I would rather walk out on the back porch with my
dog, and enjoy my sixteen acres, and my big garden, currently brilliant green, covered in winter wheat.
Anyway, to the case at hand, my IRA. Since I figured out years ago, that we had plenty to live on without
taking money from here, it became, I could leave my girls a nice chunk of change. Looking back at Dec. 2018,
when I switched to growth, I was fairly happy that they would have got about $140k when I passed. After a
six year, ten month run, with a 20.7% CAGR, they would now each get $500k. That is beyond belief to me.
I've always been a goal setter. So what is the goal here? It dawned on me, that for the first time ever, there
wasn't actually a goal, just more. That's ridiculous! Even though my goal was to beat the market, and I have
done so, it doesn't mean you have more money. Looking at end of year statements, end of 2021, says
$967,385. Two years later, $748,469. Not cool!
I'm going to make an official goal. At any time, regardless of what the market does, the total IRA value stays
above $960,000, giving each daughter $480k. That's 3.4 times what they would have received Dec. 2018.
Every major pivot could be a big mistake. Maybe if I stayed the course, I could leave even more money.
I'm going with the saying, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. New, and no doubt last goal, is to
leave each daughter $480k, and build my grandkids accounts. Better get a plan. |
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