You now have more than you’ve ever had in your life.
Posted on October 3, 2025

The stock market hit a peak this week. At the end of September, our portfolio is ~19% greater in real spending power than it was more than ten years ago despite our withdrawals for spending that have added up to more than 60% of our portfolio value then. You are in the same happy place if your portfolio is invested similarly to ours and you’ve only withdrawn your Safe Spending Amount each year. (SSA, Chapter 2, Nest Egg Care [NEC]).

Details:

I updated the tracking sheet I provide here to the end of September. Our real portfolio return is 10.5% since our last withdrawal for spending on December 1. We have more now than we did before we withdrew last year. (The PDF is here.) Assuming this real increase doesn’t disappear when I do the final calculation on December 1, we’ll calculate to a real increase for our SSA. You will, too, because you will have more then than you had at the time of your last withdrawal..

== I’m amazed and pleased ==

The historical spreadsheet that I provide the first week of December (on November 30 last year) shows our investment portfolio on September 30 – measured in Constant$ or the same spending power –  was ~19% more than it was before our first annual withdrawal for spending in December 2014, almost 11 years ago. This is despite withdrawals that add to +61% of our original portfolio.

== Off to Spain. Back in a couple of weeks ==

Patti and I enjoyed out trip to Spain last April and decided to go back. We will visit Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona. I planned day trips to Segovia, Toledo, and Cordoba. Should be fun.

Conclusion: You have more money now than you’ve ever had in your life if your portfolio is similar to ours and if you’ve withdrawn just your Safe Spending Amount each year. Our portfolio is ~19% greater now in real spending power than ~11 years ago despite withdrawing +60% of the original amount for our spending.