So I took a look at my stock market account and I am down 4 years. Four years of annual expenses. Had I cashed out my account two months ago, quit my job and did nothing for 4 years, I’d have the amount of money left in my account as I do now.

FIRE wisdom says, you need 25x your annual expenses to retire. 4 out of 25 represents a 16% hit.

It’s not great, but I’m surprisingly OK with it. I’m actually pretty excited about the stocks on offer. Facebook is getting a beating and approaching a level where I’m tempted to buy (a year or so ago I planned to buy at $80, but that edged further and further away). I’m not sure it will reach $80, but I’ll be happy to start averaging down from around $120.

CVS and FDX are on sale. Tobacco stocks (MO, PM, BTI) are at bargain basement prices. FQVTF is at a less insane valuation. ABBV is starting to tempt me. There’s actually too much out there where prices are looking good.

I just need to be patient until I get the cash to go out and buy!