Investing career

This is an index to an on-going series of posts.

I started investing in 2000 when I purchased my first mutual fund. Since then, I have focused on growing that portfolio, via self-teaching. The goal of the portfolio is to fund me and my families’ retirement. From the start, I know eventually I would start withdrawing from it. I have always put off the homework of making a withdrawal plan. Last year (2021), I realize it is time to start.

I’ve decided to record this homework in a blog. It will be a series of posts with two main topics: growing phase and withdrawing phase. The former mostly occurred while I lived in the US. I have been living in Japan from 2015, so the latter topic will have a mix US- and Japan-related discussions. I have not invested in physical real estate, so the discussion will be around mutual funds, ETF and etc. As an engineer by training, there will be quantitative discussions where possible.

My goal is to help both young and old. For young people, I hope that the data I present will show that it is wise to start investing early. I will share how I did so. For the old people, I hope to share strategies for grooming the nest egg as it shrinks.

Career Path #

graph LR; A(Design) --> B(Grow) B --> C(Withdraw)

Design #

Does a solution exist?
- Twins and investing.
- 6% per year for 35 years.
What is the financial goal?
- Time horizon.
- Risk capacity.
How to choose an asset allocation?

Grow #

Which accounts to open?
- Roth vs Traditional vs 401k.
  - Contribution priority.
- In Japan: iDeCo and NISA.
- US expat living in Japan.
- In Taiwan.
How to maintain a portfolio?
- Portfolio rebalancing.
- Portfolio glide path.
- Life events.
About taxes
- Tax gain harvesting.
- Tax loss harvesting.
- Tax loss harvesting and ETF.

Withdraw #

Withdrawal rate
Tax gain harvesting

Miscellaneous #

Emergency fund with better returns yet safe.
Fee comparison of incoming wire transfers at Japan banks.
Tools
- On Beancount
- A CLI tool that converts financial data to Beancount files.
- Schwab to Portfolio Performance converter

I am not a financial advisor. Do not take my words as financial advice, ever. Please do your own research and/or consult a professional before making any financial decisions.