He Invested $2,000 in 1997 and Watched It Grow Into $1 Million Over 21 Years
3 min read · RealCase summary
A Reddit investor opened an Ameritrade account with $2,000 in 1997, saw it crash down to $37 during the dot-com bust, and rebuilt from there to a $1 million portfolio by age 50 -- about 21 years later.
He started with $21,000 in first-year income out of college and roughly $20,000 in student loan debt. After early losses on individual stock picks -- "I pretty much focus on mutual funds now after getting my a** handed to me on individual stocks a few times" -- he shifted toward a buy-and-hold approach: "I pretty much buy and just let it sit," having last rebalanced three years before the post. He held through the 2009 recession, saying he "lost about 60%" at the time but recovered.
His portfolio spans 11 major positions, including the Emerald Growth Fund (18% of the portfolio), Vanguard 500 Index Fund, Fidelity Select Air Transportation, Fidelity Industrials Portfolio, Hennessy Focus Fund, William Blair Small-Mid Cap Growth Fund, James Balanced: Golden Rainbow Fund, 250 shares of Microsoft (around $23k), 100 shares of Alibaba, 100 shares of Meta, and the T. Rowe Price Latin America Fund. Contributions ran through a 401(k) and IRAs alongside frugal living. "I've never tried to time the market before," he said.
Key takeaways
- ›Opened a brokerage account with $2,000 in 1997 while carrying around $20,000 in college debt
- ›Kept an aggressive 75%-plus equity allocation for over two decades and never tried to time the market
- ›Reached $1 million by January 2018, with a Vanguard index fund and a handful of mutual funds making up the bulk of the portfolio
Original source
Read the original (Yahoo Finance)
Next story →
He Ran an AI Headshot Business Alone From Bali — It Reportedly Cleared $100,000 in Its First Two Weeks
More Investing stories
Saving Over Half Their Income, a Couple Built a $2 Million, Nine-Property Rental Portfolio in Seven Years
Shu Matsuo Post and his wife lived on her teaching salary, saved his, and invested in rentals starting with a $216,500 Minnesota duplex in 2018; seven years later they own nine properties worth about $2 million and he is financially independent.
He Grew Up With Zero Net Worth and Built $1 Million in a Decade Through Index Funds and Career Growth
A man who grew up poor and spent nearly a decade with zero net worth quadrupled his salary through career moves, then invested aggressively in index funds, reaching $1 million in net worth within 10 years.
A Retired IRS Auditor Invested About $20,000 at 51 — By Her Death at 101, It Was Worth $22 Million
Anne Scheiber retired from the IRS in 1944 with a modest pension and roughly $20,000 in savings, invested nearly all of it in blue-chip dividend stocks, and by her death in 1995 had grown it into a $22 million portfolio.