Ethereum returned -10.96% in 2025 in US Dollar terms. That’s based on an “opening” trade of $3,332.41 on January 1, 2025, and a “closing” trade of $2,967.04 on December 31, 2025. Despite the negative annual return, 2025 was eventful for Ethereum. On August 24, 2025, ETH hit a new all-time high of $4,953.73 – finally eclipsing its 2021 peak. On April 9, 2025, it touched a yearly low of $1,386.80. Eth in 2025: volatile but […]

In 2025, bitcoin returned -6.33% in US dollar terms based on a buy-and-hold approach of buying the “opening” trade on January 1, 2025, and selling the “closing” trade of December 31, 2025. Those trades were, respectively, $93,425.10 and $87,508.83. That -6.33% return came after a blistering 120.98% return in 2024 and 155.41% in 2023. 2025 was a volatile year for bitcoin. On October 6, 2025, bitcoin set a new all-time high with a trade of […]

For 2025 my main goal is to be profitable. To maintain transparency, I’ve been reporting both on my income and my expenses this year. My day job has been subsidizing my side hustles, which kind of play out as a time-consuming hobby. My goal this year is to turn this around. Working at my business regularly helps me to sleep better at night, but without profit it eventually will just be added stress. I’m still […]

The team-of-one at We Want Guac proudly presents: Darcy’s 2025 finances in review! 2025 Finances: Spending This was my second full year living in Los Angeles! I knew my spending would definitely increase this year; one reason I knew it’d go up is because my new apartment has a higher rent. I’m feeling the $2k squeeze every month, gosh… For reference, here is a recap of how much I’ve spent every year since 2017: Year […]

Tweet The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm is terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. Vincent Van Gogh Year in Review This year just passed was a landmark in the journey so far, with the movement to a part-time dedicated role, following over 25 years of full-time work. In early 2024, the portfolio met its target goals. This meant that further investment contributions became […]

Don’t miss an episode of our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. Tune in on: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Now, here’s today’s article: In Morgan Housel’s book Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes, Housel recommends that people,  “Plan like a pessimist and dream like an optimist.” But pessimism and optimism are opposites, and feel like they shouldn’t coexist. Most people struggle with holding opposing views at the same time. But Housel argues this is an important exception: “They seem like conflicting mindsets, so it’s more common for people to prefer one or the other. But knowing how to balance the two has always been, and always will be, one of life’s most important skills.“ Housel uses illustrative examples to further bolster his point, but I want to apply his recommendation to retirement planning, because it’s a perfect idea. “Plan Like a Pessimist…” How much should you have in cash or (more likely) low-risk bonds as you start retirement? I think about matching my future liabilities with specific assets. And I do my best to ensure those assets don’t lose value between now and the liability date. If the liability date is tomorrow, I can’t afford to take any risk. I need to invest in something like a Treasury bond. But I expect that eventually, my liability date is far enough in the future that I can take investment risk and still feel like the money will be there when I need it. So I start by looking at charts like this one… …and I think that five years is usually enough time for stocks to outperform bonds. Then I look at charts like this one… …and think that six years is usually enough time for the sequence of returns risk to decrease to pre-retirement levels. Simple conclusion: perhaps I want to build six years of safe Treasury bonds into the start of my retirement plan. I realize that cash and bonds usually underperform stocks. The math there is straightforward. But we also know that stocks have had 5-year periods of negative performance. And, being a pessimist, I don’t want to knowingly underfund my future liabilities. Every timeline is unique, and we don’t know which timeline we’ll live through over the next 5+ years. Will we get a terrible run of stock market returns? My crystal ball is as foggy as yours. So I’m planning like a pessimist. For the next 5-6 years if not longer, I can see a scenario where Treasury bonds outperform stocks, and I’d want my next ~6 years of spending to be allocated to safe Treasuries. I want that margin of safety in my retirement plans, and I am willing to accept “lower returns on average” in exchange for that margin of safety. Ben Graham (Warren Buffett’s most significant mentor) once quipped: “The purpose of the margin of safety is

As always, a warning that there is a lot of maths ahead! Property has performed fairly well this year, though interest rates continue to be high. Initial value: 430,000Stamp duty: 23,000Settlement fees: 2,400Current value: 663,000Capital Growth: 207,600 — or 45% over 8 years, an average of 5.6% per year But wait! There are other factorsContinue reading “Property Review 2025”

There appears to be some law that all articles written this time of year have to be based on the calendars changing. I was going to write a different article on some other topic, but on the advice of my legal counsel, I’ll assimulate. I’ll stick to larger financial trends or macroeconomics if you like words with many syllables. Let’s start with the year in review. Since you already lived this year, it shouldn’t come […]