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Earning $1mil and stuffing 100% of it into the stock market is a risky move.

You lay out basically the situation I found myself in. But I set aside some for a future house down payment (less risk for that chunk), future wedding (less risk for that chunk), and even ignoring that, most advice wouldn't say to stuff the remaining 100% into markets.

So maybe 60% went into markets. With hindsight it oftentimes sounds like a good idea to just drop it all in the market. But life is uncertain and crystal balls are in short supply... you would feel stupid if you made $1mil, put it all in stocks, and life came out of nowhere and took a dump all over you when the markets tanked.

Not saying I'm in a bad position, but its nowhere near "1mil at 10% per year (which is in itself kinda a wild base assumption)".

TLDR: people have a rosy unrealistic view of how this works out.



Most people earn money over time. Putting these savings 100% into the stock market as you earn them is pretty reasonable. It’s only a sudden cash windfall that presents problems. The fix for that is to put money in 1, 2, and 3 year treasuries, and invest that money into equities as the treasuries mature.




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