166 | So Little Control

We can do everything right when it comes to investing - control costs, manage taxes, properly diversify, get the right blend of stocks and bonds, have a long horizon, and behave as well as the best investor.

But the actual timing of returns is still so far out of our control that it's scary.

Most everyone would be comfortable, probably even recommend, using the past 30 years of returns to project the next 10 years of returns.

Anything more elaborate than that quickly becomes a waste of time and energy.

But on our journey to life changing returns, the timing of those returns can change the trajectory of our life.

In 1988, if you had $250k invested and used the return for the previous 30 years to predict your balance by 1998, you'd expect to have $428k, but would have ended up with $1.1m. Check the math here.

Saving for an addition to your home? How about an addition and a second home and a career change and a college education or two?

In 1999, you'd have expected $629k by 2009, but would have ended with a meager $190k.

In 2011, you'd have expected $543k by 2021, but would have ended with a whopping $947k.

And remember, this is the experience when you're investing the right way.

It seems like we have two choices.

We can try to saddle up for the bull ride of investing and tether our financial well-being to every jolting buck.

Or we can acknowledge that while powerful, our investment returns tend to be a distraction from where our life - generating income and spending and saving it - is actually lived.