Nothing. At age 40, I had zero debt, and a few thousand in the bank. I worked 4 days a week, as a psychologist at a private psychiatric hospital. I also took a month paid leave, every year. I worked almost exclusively with violent, involuntary admissions. Most of which were the result of extreme drug or alcohol abuse. I was highly respected.
When I inherited $10k, I studied the stock market, read “Fortune 500” and “Forbes” magazines. I developed a strategy, and then waited for my chosen stock to drop down to my buy price. The wait was 3 months. It was Jan 9, 1991. 13 months later, I sold the shares for $22k. It was much more than I’d anticipated, and the money didn’t seem real.
I repeated the process, waiting 4 months for the next stock to hit my buy price. After 16 months, I sold the shares for $55k.
After waiting 3 1/2 months, I bought my next stock. The stock traded below my buy price for 11 months, before beginning a really good run. I loved this stock, and intended to own it til the day I died.
On Feb 15, 1995, my shares were worth $135k, my goal. It was my day off. I wrote my resignation letter, drove to work and turned it in.
On Feb 1, 2000, the value of my shares hit their all time high of $2 million. Then the tech bubble burst, followed by 9/11, and the recession.
By the time Intel Corp bought the stock for cash, the co-founders of the company had retired. I lost interest in the company and Intel.
In 2011, I bought NVDA, at $17 a share. The stock traded below my buy price for 2 years and 10 months.
Today it’s trading at $312 a share. At the end of 2018, the shares went from $289 a share to $135. I sold just enough shares to live on.