How are your investments doing?

[stucknutz]

I love this thread!

I appreciate everyone's 2 cents on this subject and it helps people like myself learn how other people look at things through a different lens.

 

[drssg]

Money managers act like Oaktree...they never want you to sell and bank profits because that cuts off their money train too.

You can bank profits, idle for a bit and then buy back once things get cheaper.

You can grow a portfolio much bigger this way then doing the money managers favorite word...dollar cost averaging.

You can also shrink a portfolio in this manner, by incorrectly guessing what the future will be.

I believe in not taking more risk than is necessary. If I'm financially comfortable, I'm not going to fret that I could have made (or lost) a few percent more with a different approach.

 

[riptides]

I'm all in for a Dec rate cut and the SCOTUS likely limiting tariff powers of POTUS.

Things go up and down, but I've have 14% more upside than downside in my investing career.

I don't try to time the market, I don't move things around. Look at fundamentals and choose wisely and sit, that is all I do.

choose wisely and sit,

For a particular period of time. I at one point had 5 year goals. I only re-evaluated to due to life changing events. Three of them.

 

[riptides]

That's our average over the last 20 years of investing. Yes, 14% per year.

Respectable.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We did all of our retirement planning based on 6-7% returns.

In reality we did much better.

So I quit early.

 

[Torvy]

This is one of my accounts that I do like Ron Popeil and "Just set it, and forget it". It has a neat little snapshot of percentages. I'm seeing similar returns as CKF above.

View attachment 4344778

Look at the returns for the S&P over those same periods.
3mo 6.2%
1y 13.65%
3y 80.54%
5y 89.57%

If you aren't beating the S&P over time, I'd rethink your strategy. The risk is spread across so many companies, it is almost a given.

That said, a good advisor can keep you well above the S&P.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Look at the returns for the S&P over those same periods.
3mo 6.2%
1y 13.65%
3y 80.54%
5y 89.57%

If you aren't beating the S&P over time, I'd rethink your strategy. The risk is spread across so many companies, it is almost a given.

That said, a good advisor can keep you well above the S&P.

The numbers I posted are average annual rate of return. It beats the S&P by a bit. If I calculated it right I think, discounting my contributions, my 5 year actual increase is around 93%. So just short of double.

 

[Tpondel]

You literally thought that is what I meant?

Put it money markets, US treasuries, or even dividend stocks.

Warren Buffet has sold most equities and has rotated into almost a trillion dollars of US treasuries.

• Cash and Short-Term Investments: Berkshire holds a record amount of cash and U.S. Treasury bills, which reached approximately $381 billion by the end of Q3 2025. This represents about 31.1% of its total assets, a historically high figure.

 

[jmc]

You can bank profits, idle for a bit and then buy back once things get cheaper.

You can, but you will be reinvesting with only 80% or less of your profits, after fed and state capital gains taxes that can't be avoided.

 

[Paddy]

I'm 65 and still 95% S&P index. Ready to move 5 years worth of expenses to something safer for the day I have to ride out a down turn.

I have two 401K plans and neither have Treasury note funds. Any suggestions for safe, typically in a 401 k plan and somewhat liquid?