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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric L who wrote (36050)	12/6/2000 11:20:50 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (12) \| Respond to of 54805

Eric, that was such a nice post, that I could not resist a reply. I have a track record of being very open on this thread, and this post will certainly be that way. As I come near the end of my first year of retirement, at age 66, I have decided to post what this first year has been like. It isn't going to be pretty, or reflect very favorably on my judgment, but, if it helps some of the others on this thread to avoid pitfalls, it will serve its purpose. Basically, I retired, gave my business to my son, moved to LA on my own, and figured I could make enough increase in the market each year to pay the overhead involved. I thought I had enough on hand, that, even if the market dropped 50% I would be OK. What I did not figure on was: 1) My expenses were going to run twice what I figured. 2) My son was going lose a lot of money in my former business that I was going to have to cover. 3) I really was going to have my portfolio drop 50%. 4) When I had nothing to do but set around worrying about the market as my source of income, it was going to drive me up a tree. When I sold out 3 weeks ago, and realized how much money I had lost this year, and that my track record for the year did not indicate that I would do better next year, it was a real shock. I still had enough to live on, but if I continued to make bad decisions, I could be in real trouble. It took me about two weeks to pull out of this funk, and start planning what I had to do. And that was: 1) Get better control over what I was spending 2) Reset the deal I had with my son to stop all further expenses on my part. 3) Reset my portfolio as an investment only and stop living off of it. 4) Go back to work to make enough to live on, and keep me from looking at the market as a source of immediate income. That way, the market would not drive me up a tree. I am fortunate in that my health and energy level is great, and that I am the best Home Improvement salesman that any of you would ever meet. The people in California have no idea of the caliber of disaster that we are facing here on Utility bills the next few years. Therefore, I have made a deal with a local to run appointments here in LA and sell enough Heating and Air systems for them to cover my overhead. I started doing this one week ago, and have found that the peace of mind that I have now from it is terrific. I am still dancing every evening, I just run 2 leads, 5 days a week, and that takes care of things. I will keep this up until I can maintain my standard of living with fixed income, and just invest the difference. I could do this now, if I was willing to cut the way I live, but I refuse to do that. I think the thing that has bothered me most is having too much time on my hands to tinker with my portfolio. So, my warning to the rest of you is: Plan like Mike, not like than I did! LindyBill