The picture is what it cost to send a first class letter when I married my lovely wife. The 55c cost today (+34%) is a reminder that inflation ticks away one penny at a time.
When it comes to inflation/deflation, I like to maintain a neutral position. More broadly, I seek to avoid the need to pick winners.
I also avoid making predictions about an unknowable future. Most importantly, because it’s impossible (!) but also because I have no idea what my life is going to be like ten years from now.
What follows is present-focused.
Quantify Your Exposure
Start with your core cost of living – that’s what’s going to inflate and outliving your money is a key risk.
What’s in my Core Cost of Living?
- Healthcare ($19,300 of premiums and $7,200 to a family HSA for a plan with a $14K family deductible) – this sector is ripe for disruption, I get little for my spending
- Taxes, Utilities, Car Costs and Insurance
- Food, Clothing and Kid Activities
- Childcare – a massive line item 2009 to 2019, now a source of income for the family, our middle-schooler is a sitter
- Mortgage, rent, car loans – my main project from 2010 to 2020 was getting this down to zero – once that was achieved, I went a step further and turned it into a source of income
Next, consider your sources of passive and active income. Rents, royalties, dividends, interest (at least in the good old days), consulting and any other forms of income. Write it all out.
Compare your Cost of Living with the Sources of Income and calculate your net burn rate, or your net annual surplus.
Net annual surplus gets routed to discretionary spending, luxury items and/or new investment capital.
The best investment decision I ever made had nothing to do with asset allocation. From 1990 to 2008, I routed 50% of my gross income to new investment capital.
In my early 20s – healthcare costs were peanuts, no childcare costs, living in a shared apartment… I saved a ton. Good thing, too. I had no idea how much my cost of living would pop when I had kids.
My 40s (2009 to 2018) saw unexpected unemployment combine with a big jump in childcare, healthcare and housing costs. This resulted in a burn rate that forced us to make a series of changes, and choices, which proved quite useful in hindsight.
Also write out your balance sheet – assets and liabilities.
Include a liability called “deferred tax and agent’s fees“. Estimate this liability as 6% of the gross value of all the real estate you own plus 25% of all the capital gains in your portfolio (exclude the exempt portion of the gain on your primary residence). Making this number real will help you avoid incurring unnecessary expenses by tinkering with your assets.
The best time to sell great assets is never.
Let it roll.
Feel The Byrn 
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