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Sep 7, 2023Liked by Darnell Mayberry

Better late than never! You still have many decades ahead of you.

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I appreciate the words of encouragement, Mike. Thank you!

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Sep 7, 2023·edited Sep 7, 2023Liked by Darnell Mayberry

Glad you got the money to work! That's the hardest part. If you're interested in getting exposure to small companies, I'd recommend tracking a different index. The Russell 2000 has historically had issues with people front running the index as companies are moved in and out. They've made steps to correct, but I'd rather not put money there. The S&P 600 index doesn't have this issue, and they also apply a quality screen to weed out any junk companies. We use the fund SLYV which is an SP 600 value index, SLY is their small blend version.

I know JL Collins doesn't endorse it, but I'd consider investing in some international companies as well since you have a long time horizon. The bulk of our money is in VT (Vanguard Total World ETF), which buys a bit of every publicly traded company in the world at the market cap. I think it would be worthwhile to look into the research on the "value" of high dividend paying stocks. Larry Swedroe has done good stuff on that and his books on investing are great.

I've been reading William Bernstein's update of the Four Pillars of Investing. It's dense, but it's probably my favorite book on investing and the original version me started on a great path. Covers about everything you could need to know. Would definitely recommend it.

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Thank you Tanner. And I appreciate the tip on SLY. I’m going to look into it as well as the Four Pillars of Investing.

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Thank you for your vulnerability here Darnell! Boy, do I have a couple investing stories in which I robbed myself too! One being that my Roth IRA wasn't actually invested for a few years (it was just sitting in cash inside the roth), and a bigger one being I let my emotions get the best of me in the heat of the COVID crash and went to cash at the exact bottom (we all know what happened from there).

The mistake I made during the COVID crash punched me in the gut so much that I decided to write a letter to my daughters going over the findings that daddy has realized over his now 33 years: https://www.thewealthletters.com/p/the-wealthy-window-washer

Hope to continue to add to this letter over time and as they age!

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