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I think there are a lot more factors going into how people react. For myself, I look at my risk profile, I look at how I have done relative to the market, I look at how I have done over the past 5 years, I take into account inflation and cost of living and I think about what I need to maintain my lifestyle. And if, directionally, it is all going in the right direction then I am happy. I don't have an expectation of linear growth; I have been around long enough to know that won't happen and I am not measuring myself against friends, colleagues or posters on C-D.
Well, my house went up, so that helped. My stock accounts all went up over the year as well. I don't really look that often because it is what it is. The thing that drives me crazy is that at 63 I have a lot of cash earning nothing, but I'm afraid to put more than 60% in the market just in case.
Care to share your metrics on what percentage growth makes someone "successful" or not? This chart should apply to everyone, whether they have $100 to their name or $1 billion.
So far I see you have the following:
.01% - not successful
1% - not successful
10% - successful
Where's the cutoff between 1% and 10% that determines success?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lowexpectations
I wasn't aware of and ranking against others here because there hasn't been. You can't declare who is going to be happy with a certain net worth increase or decrease.
i appreciate that you guys are interested in my success categorization but im not sure why that matters. the more important thing is that we are talking about percentages and not numbers. maybe we can take everyone in this thread's % increase or decrease and the top 10% we will declare successful? i just used certain numbers for example, everyone can determine what % they deem to be successful. you cant determine who is going to be happy with anything (and some people wont be happy no matter what). this disagreement seems to be around whether or not you use dollar amounts of percentages to demonstrate your change in net worth (or How did you do? from the thread title). sure, both would be wonderful but by itself the % tells a lot more than the dollar number (and it tells enough by itself to be significant without anything else).
Last edited by CaptainNJ; 01-05-2016 at 06:07 PM..
i appreciate that you guys are interested in my success categorization but im not sure why that matters. the more important thing is that we are talking about percentages and not numbers. maybe we can take everyone in this thread's % increase or decrease and the top 10% we will declare successful? i just used certain numbers for example, everyone can determine what % they deem to be successful. you cant determine who is going to be happy with anything. this disagreement seems to be around whether or not you use dollar amounts of percentages to demonstrate your change in net worth. sure, both would be wonderful but by itself the % tells a lot more than the dollar number (and it tells enough by itself to be significant without anything else).
No need to be bashful. What's the percentage cutoff between success and failure? Your point holds no weight if the goalpost moves constantly.
No need to be bashful. What's the percentage cutoff between success and failure? Your point holds no weight if the goalpost moves constantly.
the success or failure is totally irrelevant to the discussion. i used an example and other examples can be used using totally different numbers. someone could get a 10% increase and see it as failure while another can see it as success. i have no problem trying to come up with my own personal opinion if you want. that is a tangent however, not pertinent to this discussion.
i am having this discussion with people that seem to think dollar amount is more useful. so if someone says "my net worth went up by $1000" apparently you think that is a more telling piece of information than if they said 10%, right? so moving along on your tangent, is $1000 successful? where do you draw the line in dollar amount terms of what is successful?
the success or failure is totally irrelevant to the discussion. i used an example and other examples can be used using totally different numbers. someone could get a 10% increase and see it as failure while another can see it as success. i have no problem trying to come up with my own personal opinion if you want. that is a tangent however, not pertinent to this discussion.
i am having this discussion with people that seem to think dollar amount is more useful. so if someone says "my net worth went up by $1000" apparently you think that is a more telling piece of information than if they said 10%, right? so moving along on your tangent, is $1000 successful? where do you draw the line in dollar amount terms of what is successful?
I'm the one trying to understand why you said percentages are the best measure for success at any net worth. For the sake of argument, assume all of my positions are wrong. What makes your claim right?
I'm not going to hound you for your number either. I'll ask a third and final time. Refusal to give a direct answer shows you are unable to furnish one.
What is the percentage cutoff between success and failure regardless of net worth? 2%? 5%? 25%? And if your answer is "it varies", what drives that variation?
I was up 26%, which kind of surprised me because I put a 25% increase as a net-worth goal, half-jokingly. Not to mention that my living expenses doubled in 2015 due to a move.
In 2015, I got a lot back from a bad 2014 stock pick. Two days after I bought it, boom, down 44% overnight. That hurt my end-of-year numbers for 2014. I held the stock, patiently collected the dividend, then sold at a profit in 2015. Had my best year ever trading-wise aside from that, too.
I also have a set savings amount that I was consistant with in 2015. 401K was relatively flat other than contributions. I think my savings, 401K, and trading-account contributions are main reasons for the incraese. A somewhat modified version of old-school [boring] saving, but I'll take it.
I'm the one trying to understand why you said percentages are the best measure for success at any net worth. For the sake of argument, assume all of my positions are wrong. What makes your claim right?
I'm not going to hound you for your number either. I'll ask a third and final time. Refusal to give a direct answer shows you are unable to furnish one.
What is the percentage cutoff between success and failure regardless of net worth? 2%? 5%? 25%? And if your answer is "it varies", what drives that variation?
percentage is the best way to gauge your change because it is comparable for everyone and is meaningful no matter what the dollar number is. you have a certain % your investments will change based on the performance of assets. you have a certain % your accumulated savings will change based on your savings rate. most people save as a % of their income because their spending will go up or down based on your income (a millionaire doesnt spend the same as someone worth $10k). for most people, everything is moving by %. if you earn $500k, you are going to save a proportionately more than someone earning $30k a year. it is not harder to grow your net worth if you have more money (unlike whoever said that $1 is easier to earn for someone with $10 than $100k is to earn for someone with $1 million). that millionaire will grow by a % because he earned enough to get that $1 million. he has an income that got him there. if he stopped earning from work, he still wants a certain % return on his investments.
i cant believe that this is something that needs to be explained. this is extremely basic. any statistics are basically useless without knowing the statistics for prior years and calculating the % difference.
i dont have a hard number for "success." i like to earn a greater return on my investments than the s&p. that could be a negative return or a positive return. i like to save 50+% of my net income. if i have done those two things, i consider that a successful year.
so what dollar amount increase in net worth do you consider a success?
Last edited by CaptainNJ; 01-05-2016 at 08:19 PM..
Person 1: 2014 - 100k net worth 2015 $120k net worth
Person 2: 2014 - 1 million net worth 2015 - 1,020,000 net worth
Both of them gained $20k.
if someone asked "How did you do? give me your dollar net worth change." and they both said "+$20k" do you think that is saying anything?
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