Table Of Contents

• Introduction

• My Goals

• Contributions

• Progress Update

• The Details

Introduction

Welcome to the December 2024 update of the Blind Luck Beach House Project!! I know I know I’m a bit late getting this out this month. But in my defense I was traveling for the holidays (what else is being retired good for?) and we also crossed the $10K milestone so I wanted to roll this update into a full “end of 2024 / Milestone 2 $10K / Monthly update”.

So while a little behind schedule this is an extra juicy update! I even changed the portfolios allocation for the first time in 16 months! So let’s dive in and see what all has changed.

They say making your first $100K is the hardest because it requires your to change your money habits and build systems to accumulate wealth. 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

When I first set out on this goal in September of 2023 I knew it was going to be a multi year process. I also knew the first year would be the toughest as I worked on getting some momentum going on this so I set some specific and measurable goals.

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 let’s revisit the Beach House goal, and how we are doing on our journey.

Goals - 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 for a down payment

• 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. (Yay We did it! )

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 question.

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.

Updated 2024 Goals:

• Goal: $10,000 by end of 2024 (We GOT IT!)

• Stretch Goal: $15,984.50 end of 2024 (Didn’t Reach)

Contribution

In November 2024 I made the following contribution. .

December 2024 Contributions:

• $1,100.00 Regular Income

• $173.96 CC Cash Back

• $29.70 X Ads Revenue

December Total: $1,303.66

Fund Total: $10,066.09

Contributions To Date: $9,107.38

Total Profits To Date: $958.71

Good news is I hit $10K in the portfolio before the end of the year! (Good bye $3/month platform fee)

And I contributed more than I did in

Progress Update

Bad news? I’m very behind from where I should be based on my How Long Will It take calculator.

I ran that math since day 1 I should be averaging a monthly contribution of $1,257.93/month vs the $569.21/ monthly average I’ve actually done. while this is a good start I really need to pick up the pace, If I’m going to reach this goal in 5 years.

As you can see from the chart below I’m roughly $11,099 behind schedule. almost half the amount saved from where I should be at this point.

In my defense I was able to max out my ROTH IRA in 2024 ($7K) and contribute to my other investment goals. so falling a little behind on my goal of saving for a beach house is OK with me. I know if I keep making forward progress and keep my finances as a whole strong I’ll eventually reach my goals.

My goal for 2025 is to not let myself get any further behind from my 5 year project than I already am. This require a significant uptick in monthly contributions.

If you want to find out how much you should be contributing every month to reach an investing goal by a given date, check out the Contribution Calculator, I made this tool after I realized I was falling behind on my goal in order to help me get back on track.

The Details

Over all the first 16 months of the Beach House Fund the markets have been quite strong, which have helped us along and helping push us over the $10K mark despite me being a bit behind schedule for contributions.

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 fund based portfolio.

I go over what risks I’m trying to manage in My Simple 3 Fund Strategy article.

I’ve updated my Beach House Fund in response to increased global tensions, a possible bubble in tech stocks, and trying to diversify more into industrials. I outlined my updated strategy in My Simple 4-Fund Strategy post.

I don’t make changes to my allocations very often (this is the first minor change in 16 months) keep in mind I’m not an advisor and am just sharing with you what I’m doing with my beach house fund. your goals and risk tolerance may be different than mine and you should 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 summary here are my updated target allocations.

• 70% $VOO SP500 Fund (S&P500 fund)

• 10% $SPHD (SP500 High Dividend Fund)

• 10% $JEPI (JPMorgan Equity Premium Dividend Fund)

• 10% $BRK-B (Berkshire Halthaway)

This was a tough decision for me as many advisors will recommend you have 25-30% of international exposure in your portfolio. I’m bucking this trend for a couple reasons that I outlined in my My Simple 4-Fund Strategy post. I don’t expect a major change in my overall performance, but feel this new allocation strategy will mitigate some of the risks I was concerned about.

That’s it for this update! We are making great progress but we still need to pick up the pace in 2025, wish me luck!

Subscribe to the newsletter to get the monthly update on the beach house fund, We’ll be hitting $10K soon!

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