I traded stocks pretty actively in high school and did somewhat well, and I stayed away from it a bit in college because I didn’t have time. However, I thought about getting back into it once getting a real job, and that’s when my brother introduced me to FIRE and I decided to do some math. It turns out that when your timeline is 10-15 years instead of 30-40 years, consistent returns are a lot more important because your nest egg growth will be dominated by contributions. If I make a bad call in a 10-15 year retirement track, I could have to start over, which means I could double my time to retire. If I make a bad call in a traditional timeline, I have plenty of time to make it back.
So I decided to follow the Boglehead approach, and it has worked out pretty well.
I needed a bit of coaxing.
I traded stocks pretty actively in high school and did somewhat well, and I stayed away from it a bit in college because I didn’t have time. However, I thought about getting back into it once getting a real job, and that’s when my brother introduced me to FIRE and I decided to do some math. It turns out that when your timeline is 10-15 years instead of 30-40 years, consistent returns are a lot more important because your nest egg growth will be dominated by contributions. If I make a bad call in a 10-15 year retirement track, I could have to start over, which means I could double my time to retire. If I make a bad call in a traditional timeline, I have plenty of time to make it back.
So I decided to follow the Boglehead approach, and it has worked out pretty well.