Introduction

Welcome to the Monthly Update of the Blind Luck Beach House Project!! Where I walk you thru starting with ZERO to making your first $100K

They say making your first $100K is the hardest and once you’ve done it you’re 1/3 the way to a million because the compounding effect of just getting started is huge!!

For a detailed write up on why the first $100K is so important plus a some handy calculator tools showing you how long it will take check out this months post How Long Will It Take To Make Your First $100K?

My Goals

It’s always good to be specific when you set out on a new project or journey so you know what success looks like, so let’s refresh ourselves on what my goals are here. I outlined this process in my S.M.A.R.T. Goals What They Are & How To Use Them post. You can also find a good example of goal setting in my 2024 New Years Goals update where I write down and break down the details for my top 5 goals for 2024. (Which include this The Beach House Fund of course!)

So lets revisit the Beach House goal

Goal - High Level

Buy a beach house or have enough invested so I can rent a beach house whenever I want anywhere I want without thinking about money.

Specific Goals (The How):

Have $100,000 Invested
Within 5 years (by end of 2028)
Monthly Updates for accountability
Show others how to start from $0 and become financially independent

What I want to do is encourage anyone who has $0 to get started, and make a life changing amount of money

In 2024 the main focus is going to be to save $10,000 by the end of the year.

Now you might be scratching your head. $100,000/ 5 years is $20,000/ per year. Why isn’t that my number? well 2 reasons

Well that’s actually a good equation.

The math says I should have by the end of 2024 $15,984.50 or roughly $1,384.48 / month moving forward. (This assumes a consistent 8% return.

I did this math in my Milestone #1 Check-In Post you should check it out I have a nifty monthly contribution web calculator you can use for your own planning purposes.

I’m going to update my 2024 with a stretch goal that matches what the math says I should have saved by the end of 2024. Now since I’m not sure if I can hit the full amount I’m going to add it as a “stretch goal” so I can keep it in focus but acknowledge it’s going to be a challenge for me this year to hit.

Updated 2024 Goals:

Goal: $10,000 by end of year
Stretch Goal: $15,984.50

Progress Update

In April 2024 I made the usual contributions.

But you’ll notice in the charts, while the markets were down a bit in April, the biggest impact to our portfolio totals is still our monthly contribution. Our portfolio needs to get bigger before the effects of compounding starts to kick in a significant way.

As our portfolio grows the effects of compounding will get stronger, and after $100K it gets a bit easier but this first chunk it going to be a grind.

April 2024 Contributions:

$500 Regular Income
$390.33 CC Cash Back
$126.60 X Ads Revenue
$1,016.93 Total

Fund Total: $4,17672.76

Slowly but surely we are getting there!

The Details

Over all the first 8 months of the Beach House Fund Have been fantastic! We are making meaningful progress toward our goal.

Let’s review the numbers so far.

$4,026.21 Total Cash Contributions

$150.51 Market Gains

$20.47 Total Dividends Received

Portfolio Total $4,176.72

Not much more to report this month, just like hiking, step by step we are making progress.

Investment Allocations

In my original post for this project I outline the strategy behind my allocations, you can use whatever you’re comfortable with. Personally I feel safest with a well diversified index portfolio. I talk about what risks I’m trying to manage in My Simple 3 Fund Strategy article. Do your own research everyone’s life situation and finances are different. I’m a slow and steady kind of guy when it comes to investing but I also have healthy emergency fund reserves so I can tolerate some volatility.

As a quick reminder here are my target allocations.

70% $VOO SP500 Fund (S&P500 fund)
10% $SPHD (SP500 High Dividend Fund)
10% $JEPI (JPMorgan Equity Premium
10% $VXUS Total International Fund

M1 Finance Introduced a $3/ Month “Platform Fee”

I do want to address the new $3/ month “Platform Fee” that M1 Finance has introduced for all users with balances under $10K (this includes me!)

M1 Finance has announced they will start charging a $3/ month platform fee for users with account balances less than $10,000 and don’t already pay for M1+ pic.twitter.com/JWfgaM1koU
— Blind Luck Project (@Blind__Luck) March 15, 2024

While I don’t agree with the move, and I know I’m not alone in this as there has been a lot of venting on social media regarding this change, I don’t plan to move my account.

Here’s why:

This account will be over the $10K within the next 12 months (less than $36 in fees total)
They have added their “M1+ “ features for all users so there is some perceived value, such as better margin loan rates, analytics etc. While I don’t have any immediate plans to utilize these features it’s nice to have options.
Other platforms such as Robin Hood have a $5/ month for these same features. So M1 is actually cheaper
A plan consistently executed is better than a new plan every few months. While this fee isn’t ideal I feel my energy is best focused on continuing to invest, regardless of the platform.

The main reason I don’t agree with the M1 Finance change is how they announced it. I feel it should have been an opt in feature for existing users and they could have implemented the fee for new users. It feels underhanded when people sign up expecting a “Free” simple to use brokerage only to find out later that they want to start charging a fee.

Overall I understand why they are making this change, lots of small accounts tend to add extra overhead to a company who has to do compliance reporting, and provide customer support for every customer, even if they have very small accounts.

That being said many small accounts are going to be younger individuals and other brokerages such as Robin Hood are offering the ability to opt in. I think this is a better approach as they can capture and retain users earlier in their investing journey and benefit as their accounts grow with their future earning and investing power.

All this being said, M1 still meets my needs for this goal of saving for a beach house and have I have no plans of moving my account.

For more uptodate news on issues such at the new M1 Finance Platform Fee and how they might affect you, make sure to follow me over on X @Blind__Luck