(YES!) July TANKED Retirement Portfolio Update (+ YouTube $$)

Here are my retirement numbers for July as well as my YouTube earnings.

Hi, my name is Duane. After a career in the music industry, I retired early at 59 in 2021 with just over $500K. Soon thereafter, the stock market (and my investment portfolio) tanked. This is my early retirement journey.

***I AM NOT A LICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISOR OR RETIREMENT PLANNER. THIS CHANNEL IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY THAT MAY INTEREST YOU. PLEASE CHECK WITH A PROFESSIONAL BEFORE ACTING ON ANY OF THE OPINIONS STATED ON OR IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THIS CHANNEL***

If you received some good info from this video, feel free to buy me a coffee!

[noreenn]

Buzz's retirement garage gave you a shout-out on his recent video!

[jeffwhite]

Thanks for these updates showing a "real world" account and expenses. Much appreciated.😊

[prairiemark]

Great content! Thanks for posting and explaining. I am 5 years into retirement and at 70 y/o I started collecting my Social Security this January. I get a nice check and it has helped take any pressure off of us.

[EastSeasons]

Sade is beautiful. Imagination is awesome. I like that you feel the presence of a picture. Good job

[hillustration]

This is getting to be one of the channels I check in on regularly. The information is very relatable and practical. It's really helping me build my confidence that I will be able to retire in a couple years. Thanks.

[Pjeski]

3 days into August and the picture is changing. You are still good with those low expense numbers. If I could live off $2800 per month I would not go in on Monday.

[natelammers]

I’m in my late thirties but love your content and look forward to an early Barista FIRE in 8-10 years. I watch every video. I like that they are short and to the point. A lot of times I’ll listen to them on a car drive somewhere instead of the radio. I hope my viewing and 👍 help provide a little ad revenue for you. Keep em coming! We got this!

[quitefrankly]

Awesome! I appreciated your transparency!

[watercyclist]

Dear Dwayne. You are my favourite You Tuber as you are so positive and make really informative films. You also have a great sense of humour. You always help me pick up my mood with your positivity. Thank you so much Dwayne - you make your viewers happy😊 kind regards The Water Cyclist😅

[webcompanion]

Thanks for sharing this. I'm happy to see you're doing well Duane. You are an inspiration to many!

[jamesboardman]

Summertime and people are vacationing. My viewing habits are down now being outside as often as I can. That could be another reason why viewer count is down.

[SecondWindWorkshop]

Just did our monthly update to our tracker (retired Dec-2023) and July was pretty good for us too. We were up 2.51% All-in with everything for July month over month (we include our home value as we're almost done paying it off, so it's a good chunk) and we're tracking at a positive 12.02% so far for the year-to-date. It has definitely been a roller-coaster over the last couple months, but the upward trajectory has stayed intact. Keep on keeping on Duane!

[geoffreybent]

Keep at it mate the income will bounce back ! And thanks for the great videos

[davidbobo]

I'm retire with 100 k . You doin pretty good 3 years and only down 45 k down ..

[badabing]

It's not just political season, it's summer. My computer time in July is a fraction of what it is in January.
I'm 4 years into retirement and so far the market has been kind. Like everyone, I was pretty far down 18 months ago, but now back. So far, no big worries, which is good. Retirement is awesome when things behave within plan.

[SuburbanBBQ]

Youtube has been working hard at combating ad blockers. That may help a bit in the coming months. Consider mentioning your playlists and ask for people to play them when they get a chance. I'm about to queue up a couple to play on my living room TV while I work. I'll disable my ad blocker and let it rip. 🙂 Little things like that may help bump up your revenue. Your content is pretty evergreen and I think new viewers would benefit from watching all of the videos. Your journey is interesting and I'm living vicariously through you until I retire.

[mikeradcliffe]

Your doing great Duane! I never miss a video, and I watch it all the way through! You are defiantly on point and thank you for doing what you do!! It makes me feel a lot better about my plans for my retirement! God Bless You!!

[robertlewis]

Big up yesterday but you’re right, July was a roller coaster.
I’m trying to keep spending down and live a little more simple. I didn’t have a ton of money invested when I retired at 59 a year and a half ago but I think I’ll be fine even if things get kinda rough.

[jamesstead]

I'm just following what you're doing. Great content. Glad you're doing so good. Stick with it

[Trogdor]

Hey Duane. Long time watcher/subscriber, really enjoy your retirement update videos. Just commenting to say to not forget about inflation.

Using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics website, plugging in today's 323k USD into their CPI inflation calculator gives 281k USD purchasing power in August 2021.

If a large cup of Starbucks coffee was $3.50 back in August 2021, it's now about $4. The amount of money is the same in both time periods, but you can't buy as much stuff. In terms of purchasing power, you're still down around -14%.

Looking forward to future updates, keep those expenses down and that Youtube income high. Cheers.