Just Dave

30yo | 7+ yrs in finance 📊 MBA 🐊 On the path to FIRE 🔥 | Growth & income investing • Real estate • Smart money habits

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

Net Worth Tracker updated for April 2026

May 1st, 2026 Net Worth = $369,670

MoM increase = +$22,382 🤯 (largest positive change since Nov 2024)

YoY increase = +$121,648

- Debt levels remained nearly unchanged but assets increased significantly

- Most asset increases were investment accounts, predominantly the Roth IRA which benefited from appreciation + 2025 contributions

- Home values in the Providence area remained fairly steady, so insignificant changes to the rental property values

May 2026 is going to be filled with a lot of maintenance expenses and CapEx improvements for the rental properties, so I don't expect to see much improvement on paper... But we will see!

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

Net Worth Tracker updated for March 2026

Apr 1st, 2026 Net Worth = $347,287

MoM decrease = -$1,355 (-0.39%)

YoY increase = +$109,905 (+46.30%)

-Fairly significant cash outflows on furnishings & home improvements + vacation costs kept expenses for the month a bit high

-Contributions to investment accounts this month were largely offset by poor returns

-Housing prices continued to soften in Providence (depending on which barometer you look at)

Looking forward to a bounce back month and new all-time-highs by the end of April!

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

Years to retirement, by savings rate:

10%: 51
25%: 32
40%: 22
50%: 17
65%: 11
75%: 7

Took me a while to believe the bottom half of this table was real. It is.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

Q4 last year's consensus: recession by spring.
Q1 this year's consensus: earnings will crack.
Last month's consensus: this rally has run too far.

The market hasn't gotten the memo.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

The often-missed cost of skipping your 401k match:

$75K salary, 5% match left on the table.
That's $3,750 a year compounding at 8% over 30 years.
Roughly $425K never earned.

The match doesn't care that you'll set it up next month.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

A rate hike may be needed if inflation doesn't ease.

-Alberto Musalem, St. Louis Fed President

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

If you had put $10,000 in $VTI at the start of 2020, you would currently have roughly $19,000.
Six years. Pandemic, inflation spike, three rate hike cycles, two bank failures.
The market still nearly doubled.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

Every May for the past decade, the take was "sell in May and go away."

Tomorrow is the last trading day of May.

The investors who actually sold have spent most of those years buying back in higher.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

The often-missed cost of fund fees:

$500K invested at 8% for 30 years.
In a 0.03% expense ratio fund: roughly $5.0M.
In a 0.75% expense ratio fund: closer to $4.0M.

A million dollar gap from one ratio. The boring choice still wins.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

There are now more ETFs than US stocks. The product treadmill apparently has no off-switch.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

S&P 500 total return by decade:
1980s: roughly +400%
1990s: roughly +430%
2000s: roughly -10%
2010s: roughly +260%

The investor who quit after the 2000s missed everything that came next.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

"Clients are gung ho."

-Jamie Dimon today

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@bluehouseinvest Multi-family, apartments, and commercial can. Even in expensive markets similar to where I’m at (northeast). Especially so if you’re coming in with a larger down payment and are okay with a smaller ROE.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

The actual math behind $4,000/month in passive income:

$JEPQ at ~9% yield needs $533,000 invested
One rental property at $1,400/month net: call it $280K in equity

$813K in total assets. Two income streams.

That's a FIRE plan. Not a fantasy.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

$500K in a HYSA:
Monthly income: ~$1,900 at current rates
Rate-sensitive. Follows the Fed everywhere.

$500K in $JEPQ:
Monthly income: ~$3,750 in distributions
Driven by options premium. Doesn't care what the Fed does.

Same balance. Completely different cash flow.
One is a savings account. The other is an income engine.

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@unusual_whales So out of touch

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@unusual_whales What’s their logic on this take

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@SCHDETF It will be (and already has been in previous years) in some dividend growth funds that focus on payers & growers rather than highest yield/deep value

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@DudeWhoInvests 🤣

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@pelositracker @burrytracker @grok is the Trump administration the greatest collection of investors ever assembled

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@DeepValueBagger I’m offended by you hiding your portfolio size

[Just Dave @Dave_CashFlow]

@PolymarketHoops @grok where is Caitlin Clark going to be traded to 👀