It’s been awhile since our last post. To be honest I just haven’t been up to the task. There were several days where I was trying to will myself to write a blog but I could never get motivated enough to even open the app let alone start writing a blog.

Part of this lack of motivation is due to dates passing that we previously had planned as milestones in the precovid era. For example, if our plans had materialized we would just be finishing our first week of full time RV living. Instead as I write this we are in our RV but paying a hefty fee for a weekend site. While fun, it’s not where we were hoping to be at this stage.

Since returning home from our trip we have been busy with work and trying to think through the logistics of what we are going to do once our son returns to school in January. The biggest decision is how to go about selling our house to get the most money into our pockets. The sale price isn’t really a concern as our neighborhood is in a highly desirable area so we are focusing on reducing fees and commission. A regular 6% commission will cost us almost $30k so we need to find a better way or negotiate a better rate.

One thing we both agree on is once the house sells we are getting out of California as quickly as possible. However, South Dakota in January or February doesn’t sound very appealing so we will find a place to stay outside of California until the spring and then make our way north to establish our domicile. It just doesn’t make any sense to stay in an expensive state and pay more for food, fuel, space rental fees along with ridiculously high sales taxes on top of it. That’s just a waste of money.

Speaking of money…………………..

Here is where we ended the month of October 2020:

Portfolio = $1,071,525

Portfolio Goal = $1,500,000

Amount needed to reach goal = $428,475

Our portfolio decreased by $16,517 or 1.52% from the end of September

Year-to-date our portfolio is up 2.29%

Net Worth = $1,287,456

This is a decrease of $15,874 or 1.22% from the end of September

Year-to-date our Net Worth is up 2.92%

October was a volatile month as expected. The beginning of the month saw the markets moving higher only to be sold off as we moved closer to the election and uncertainty grew. Overall we ended up with a small loss on the month which isn’t so bad considering the contentious and polarized state of our country with a pandemic on top of it.

The first week of November saw some nice gains despite the contested election. This was kind of surprising since uncertainty is never a good thing for stock prices. But the markets are clearly telling us that they feel the election has been decided. Even though the Presidency appears to have changed the Senate has not. This means gridlock and the certainty that no major changes will be accomplished for at least two years. Believe it or not this is the preferred outcome for Wall Street which is why the markets are reacting as they are. Gridlock is good.

Personally, I’m just happy this election is over. And if I can pontificate for a moment let me say that our country needs a severe cooling off period. Even more important, the people need to start listening to each other instead of the politicians, and even worse, the political pundits on TV and social media.

These are the people who are driving the wedge between Americans and raising the temperature in our country to the boiling point. The reality is that none of these people really care about the average American or the sanctity of our Republic. To them we are a talking point and a source to be pandered to for our vote every other year. Ultimately what they all really care about is power, connections and their own bank accounts. IMO, it’s naive to think otherwise.

As Thomas Jefferson said “a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy.” We all need to do our part to bring civility and reason back to our society because these people have ZERO interest in doing so.

Going forward if the election outcomes remain as they are the markets will be more data driven. Stimulus, unemployment, growth and of course covid will be the main focus. IMO as goes the numbers for these four topics so goes the markets for the remained of the year.

It will be interesting to watch but as always we will stick to our plan and focus on the long term goals.

Thank you for reading our blog.

Until next time………………………

Joe