Won the game. Now what!?

[CM]

You may be more comfortable investing in international markets with lower valuations despite even lower interest rates (in developed markets). I know I am:
https://interactive.researchaffiliat...&type=Equities

For example: https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/xnas/ixus/quote

[Kamban]

2 docs (43,45) 2 kids (9,11) VHCOL area. Gross income 620K,,,,,,,,,.

What happened before is water under the bridge. No one could have predicted the markets.

I would recommend maximizing the retirement amounts, fund 529 and put the rest in taxable investments. Unless you are aiming for FIRE, you would do well by age 60 and beyond.

[Tangler]

I agree. You have a 2 TD lead going into halftime. Lots of game yet to be played.

YES, and you are playing a team with a great offense.

Thoughts from someone who is not that smart but who has over 5M and no debt.

1. Paying off debt is not a mistake. Don't beat yourself up over that. Debt = Risk. Now that you have no debt you have less risk. Frankly, time to take more risk.

2. Paying off a mortgage is out of style, but plenty of wealthy folks (myself included) decide to do it at some point (WCI has no mortgage, POF has no mortgage, Plenty of folks on this forum have no mortgage). So, just to reiterate my thoughts: paying off debt is conservative but not wrong.

3. You NEED to get busy. NOW. You need to invest. Max out IRA, do backdoor Roth IRA, then save in taxable.

4. Since you have no mortgage (no debt?) and you have a good income I would pick an asset allocation that you can live with BUT realize you can be aggressive. an 80:20 or 90:10 Stock bond portfolio in a 3 fund portfolio (google this + bogle heads) that you plan on adding to continuously but NEVER selling for greater than 15 years is reasonable for someone without a lot of debt who is young.

5. You need an investment policy statement = IPS = plan (look for this at WCI blog and read about it). You need an emergency fund for 3-6 months expenses and a plan for investing, insurance, housing, etc.

Zig Ziglar would say: "if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time" You need a target. Don't aim at nothing.

Enjoy a beverage, have a happy holiday, and celebrate your fantastic situation.

You are indeed winning. You have by no means won, but enjoy the game and the journey!

[Random1]

I don’t think you won, you have made a good start. For your income level, your retirement savings seem low. I’m very conservative, 8 years older , one income in our family, less than half of yours, no debt, no mortgage,four kids college taken care of and 6 mil in the bank for retirement

[xraygoggles]

You're doing very well, but I wouldn't say you've won the game. Based on your post, you have ~400k in liquid assets and 1.5M in illiquid assets. You need to focus on plowing everything you can into taxable, to catch up to your RE. You can't retire with your current numbers, since it wouldn't provide enough monthly income from just the investment home and small portfolio.

Most people don't recommend the following but you can also consider diversifying your investments into other things like private investments (pre-IPO companies) or cryptocurrency or buy into an imaging center or urgent care clinic (or whatever your specialty is, not sure).

If you decide to get additional RE, I would recommend not paying it off early: the main reason investment homes can be a good investment is because of the leverage you have that juices up your returns. Why get rid of the best part of it?

[abds]

you can also consider diversifying your investments into other things like private investments (pre-IPO companies) or cryptocurrency

This is such bad advice it’s offensive.

[Kennyt7]

call Optus financial or Garrett planning network to hire an advisor as you seem to be somewhat lost
when you learn the game you can DIY

[fatlittlepig]

U belong to the 1% of physicians who need a financial advisor.

[Medica8ed]

YES, and you are playing a team with a great offense.

Thoughts from someone who is not that smart but who has over 5M and no debt.

1. Paying off debt is not a mistake. Don't beat yourself up over that. Debt = Risk. Now that you have no debt you have less risk. Frankly, time to take more risk.

2. Paying off a mortgage is out of style, but plenty of wealthy folks (myself included) decide to do it at some point (WCI has no mortgage, POF has no mortgage, Plenty of folks on this forum have no mortgage). So, just to reiterate my thoughts: paying off debt is conservative but not wrong.

3. You NEED to get busy. NOW. You need to invest. Max out IRA, do backdoor Roth IRA, then save in taxable.

4. Since you have no mortgage (no debt?) and you have a good income I would pick an asset allocation that you can live with BUT realize you can be aggressive. an 80:20 or 90:10 Stock bond portfolio in a 3 fund portfolio (google this + bogle heads) that you plan on adding to continuously but NEVER selling for greater than 15 years is reasonable for someone without a lot of debt who is young.

5. You need an investment policy statement = IPS = plan (look for this at WCI blog and read about it). You need an emergency fund for 3-6 months expenses and a plan for investing, insurance, housing, etc.

Zig Ziglar would say: "if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time" You need a target. Don't aim at nothing.

Enjoy a beverage, have a happy holiday, and celebrate your fantastic situation.

You are indeed winning. You have by no means won, but enjoy the game and the journey!

This super helpful, thanks Tangier.

Points noted from others too: would edit the title to winning, not won!

[Medica8ed]

I don’t think you won, you have made a good start. For your income level, your retirement savings seem low. I’m very conservative, 8 years older , one income in our family, less than half of yours, no debt, no mortgage,four kids college taken care of and 6 mil in the bank for retirement

Very impressive! Did you get super-sized returns from somewhere along the way? Please share your method.

[Medica8ed]

You're doing very well, but I wouldn't say you've won the game. Based on your post, you have ~400k in liquid assets and 1.5M in illiquid assets. You need to focus on plowing everything you can into taxable, to catch up to your RE. You can't retire with your current numbers, since it wouldn't provide enough monthly income from just the investment home and small portfolio.

Most people don't recommend the following but you can also consider diversifying your investments into other things like private investments (pre-IPO companies) or cryptocurrency or buy into an imaging center or urgent care clinic (or whatever your specialty is, not sure).

If you decide to get additional RE, I would recommend not paying it off early: the main reason investment homes can be a good investment is because of the leverage you have that juices up your returns. Why get rid of the best part of it?

Thanks! I'm definitely a control freak which is why I prefer my assets to be tangible (rentals). I do have $5K in BTC (which cost me $15K 😆 so much for taking more risks). That was inspired by a friend who put $30K in 12 years ago (he's comfortable retired now obviously). Seeing what happened to DASH and ARBNB IPOs I feel like regular investors are shut out from sensible entries.. I did make money on TSLA this year, but caught only a fraction of its epic run.
I'm trying to take risks but have a terrible track record of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time 🤷♂️
I'll shovel into indexes for now. Watch me ruin those for everyone 🙃

[Panscan]

Why are you so convinced the market will lose money over the next 10 years? How many times has that happened in american history?

[CordMcNally]

Very impressive! Did you get super-sized returns from somewhere along the way? Please share your method.

I can't answer for that particular person but a physicians income plus living beneath your means plus well diversified index funds multiplied by average returns will get you there.

[CordMcNally]

Why are you so convinced the market will lose money over the next 10 years? How many times has that happened in american history?

Rarely.

[EntrepreneurMD]

Don't kid yourselves. 11-12% annualized long term return effectively eliminates your chance at any upward mobility or substantial RE efforts. Nothing wrong with a strategy with which at least a sizeable portion of your portfolio does 30, 50, 100% annualized. What I personally strive for is to make those types of returns consistent over the years and decades, not a one time windfall. That is key over a lifetime and well into retirement, even more so if multi-generational effort.

In reality the most successful in our society keep playing the game once they have won the game. Mistakes are made in the beginning and fewer/more benign mistakes are made as your skills improve, resulting in a continuing enhancement of returns with experience. Hence the later years are a bad time to quit playing the game.

Quit reading what someone else with self interests gets posted on the internet. That is what gives social media so much intrinsic value. Controlling the narrative around investment for the masses means keeping you satisfied/compliant while keeping significant inflation from eroding the enhanced returns and buying power of billionaires, so Buffet and Bloomberg keep playing the game. Their game, pawns. Think like the kings, there are plenty of pawns out there that will do your bidding. Playing as a king is better than playing as a pawn. Last person standing in the game is the king.