I still believe that we’ll run out of schematics. Good thing I have a short day tomorrow at Company #1. I’m doing some church work in the afternoon.
Well, Company #1 came to realize today that my contract ends on Monday. I’m OK with this since I have other work, but since the current chip is running late, Company #1 was in a bit of a panic. They extended my contract through the end of the month without asking me if it was OK. I hope I’m not here that long; money or not. I’ve got two other chips to start and finish, hopefully before my summer vacation in mid-July. At least during slow times at Company #1, I can work on my other chip projects. I’ve been told that this is OK whenever there is a lull – they desire for me to be in the office to field questions whether I have work to do for them or not. This could work out alright–Company #1 does have the good tools that Companies #2 & #3 lack–though all things being equal, I’d rather work at home if not working for Company #1.
Today, I also rebalanced my retirement accounts – ever on the road to more conservative behavior. You see, I’ve been pretty risky these past 10+ years and it all worked out… except for those two big down market years (2002, 2008). I got absolutely killed those two times. I can’t afford to do that to many more times because, in theory, 2011 marks 20 years until retirement for me. My plan has been to start buying some bigger cap stocks and some bonds starting now… and so I did. Even with the adjustments, I’m still considered “super aggressive” according to the experts. It’s just my style, what can I say. Here’s my plan/breakdown:
| Big Picture | ||||
| 20 yrs out | 10 yrs out | Retirement | ||
| 30% | 25% | 25% | Large Cap | |
| 27% | 20% | 15% | Small Cap | |
| 8% | 7.5% | 5% | Real Estate | |
| 30% | 17.5% | 15% | International Stock | |
| 5% | 30% | 40% | Bonds | |
| 2011 | 2021 | 2031 | ||
Well, I will tell you that I’m less “safe” than this chart appears: my large caps and international stocks are almost all in the sector markets now – not in some index mutual. The way I figure it, my goal is to beat the index (S&P500 in my case), so to buy an index mutual equals defeat because no mutual can ever match the thing it is emulating. Even the best S&P500 index fund will underperform the S&P500 by a few tenths of a percent because fees are always involved (Vanguard comes closest because they charge less). If I’m on top of things, I should be able to beat the average. For the last couple of years, I’ve predominantly owned energy & oil stocks, and I’ve done amazingly well. I’m now adding gold & medical.
Day 121 mood: Another extremely productive day. I’m beginning to think that my role as a manager was keeping me from being productive on these chip layouts. I’m getting so much more work done now!