PP is once again positive YTD

[mathjak107]

Raising a family in nyc with our incomes would never allowed us to hit goal without aggressive investing and the wind at our backs.

Anything we did to accomplish meeting our retirement goals had to be from compounding our investments.
Volatility was fine  as long as we were rewarded for it which we were.

Suppose your goal had been to live on your own personal ocean liner, complete with chefs, maids, butlers, and a helicopter.  You COULD do it by investing aggressively enough.  But it would involve being extremely lucky.  Aiming for it, you're very likely to miss.

You did exactly that, but dialed back slightly.  The principle of what you're espousing is the same.  "Make up some goal, then invest
aggressively enough to get there!"  It's not actually very helpful, because
your goal might not be realistic, and it might lead you to losing
everything.

A goal without a realistic plan is just a wish .

[mathjak107]

Your goal posts are not going to be fixed most likely.

What my goals were for retirement were very different pre the success of my real estate investments then after .

Those goal posts moved as a higher potential income entered the equation

They could have moved lower too if we lost money and i couldn't see away to make it up.

The important thing iss to match a realistic plan to the ending chapter. Then you are free to adjust  both.

Basing my retirement goal on the 13% average returns we had in the past would have been a wish.

[mathjak107]

Raising a family in nyc with our incomes would never allowed us to hit goal without aggressive investing and the wind at our backs.

Anything we did to accomplish meeting our retirement goals had to be from compounding our investments.
Volatility was fine  as long as we were rewarded for it which we were.

The extreme difficulty of saving a high fraction of one's income while raising a family is precisely why I choose not to live in a place like NYC.

interesting enough fidelity has a new tool . you can compare  average account balances and contribution percentages to 401k's by zip code .  compared to the national average our high cost area has folks saving more than  30% more  and 11%  of max vs 8% for the national average .

i bet if you throw in enough comparisons of zips folks in high cost areas actually save more than low cost areas  .

https://communications.fidelity.com/wi/ ... oicompare/