As of May 1, 2026, my total net worth is $1,305,516.32.
That’s the headline number, but the more interesting story is what’s happening underneath: my home and crypto both dropped, while my “do‑nothing” automated investments just kept quietly doing their thing in the background.
This update is part accountability, part behind‑the‑scenes look at how I’m simplifying my portfolio as I march toward financial independence. If you enjoy watching a 50‑year‑old Gen Xer slowly de‑FOMO his portfolio, this one’s for you.
What changed so far this year?
Here’s the quick version of the big moves since the last check‑in:
- Primary residence estimate: $616,000 → $583,000 (a drop of $33,000)
- Crypto: $53,000 → $44,000 (a drop of $9,000)
- Overall net worth: still solidly north of $1.3M
So on paper, I “lost” $42,000 in those two lines. But that’s exactly why I treat both my house and crypto differently from my core investment strategy.
My home: a conservative hedge, not an investment thesis
My property is my primary residence, not a flip, not a rental, and not a carefully engineered real estate bet. It’s where I live, sleep, cook, and obsess over spreadsheets.
Marking it down from $616k to $583k is simply me being conservative with valuation, not an emotional referendum on my future. I’d rather err on the side of underestimating than inflating my ego with a fantasy Zillow number.
A few points on how I think about my home:
- It’s a hedge against rent inflation, not my main “get wealthy” asset.
- Short‑term price moves don’t change my day‑to‑day life at all.
- As long as I can comfortably afford the carrying costs and stay flexible about where I live in the long run, I’m happy.
If you’re on your own FI path, I think it’s useful to decide: is your home primarily shelter, lifestyle, or investment? The more you can see it as shelter and a moderate hedge, the less you’ll stress about month‑to‑month valuation swings.
Crypto: my designated moonshot/fomo bucket
Crypto has taken a hit this year, dropping from $53k to $44k. That’s a decent percentage move in a short time, but honestly, it barely registers emotionally for me anymore.
That’s because I’ve made a clear, written decision about crypto in my plan:
- It’s a moonshot / FOMO bucket, not a core holding.
- I’m unlikely to add or withdraw from it for the foreseeable future.
- I fully accept that it could swing wildly or go much lower.
In other words, I’ve mentally written that money off as experimental capital. If it 5x’s, great. If it gets cut in half, that’s the price of admission for playing in an extremely volatile sandbox.
This is very different from the way I treat my VEQT contributions and globally diversified index funds, which are the serious, grown‑up part of the portfolio designed to get me to FI.
The boring hero: automated VEQT contributions
The real story this year isn’t the drop in house and crypto values. It’s that my new investments are mostly just dollar‑cost averaging (DCA) into VEQT, on autopilot.
VEQT (Vanguard All‑Equity ETF Portfolio) is basically a one‑fund, globally diversified equity portfolio in a single Canadian ETF. Under the hood, it owns:
- A broad U.S. total market ETF
- A Canadian all‑cap ETF
- Developed markets outside North America
- Emerging markets exposure
As of early 2026, VEQT holds around 13,000+ stocks globally, with allocations across U.S., Canada, developed ex‑North America, and emerging markets. In plain English: when I buy VEQT, I’m buying a tiny slice of thousands of companies around the world, in one click.
Why I like automating into VEQT right now:
- It massively simplifies my portfolio. One ticker, global equity exposure.
- It’s rules‑based and low cost, so I’m not wasting energy on constant tinkering.
- It lets me focus on saving rate and life design, not stock picking.
For a middle‑aged guy still targeting FI by 2030, this kind of automation is worth more than any clever trade I might make.
Why automated passive investing works so well
Since more readers are asking how to start, let me zoom out and talk about why I’m leaning harder into automated, globally diversified index investing.
1. Diversification in a single click
A globally diversified index fund or ETF typically holds hundreds or thousands of securities across sectors and regions. Instead of betting on a handful of stocks (or coins), you’re essentially buying a slice of global capitalism.
That means:
- No single company, sector, or country can easily sink your entire portfolio.
- You participate in the long‑term growth of many economies at once.
When just 2–3 index funds or ETFs can give you broad global exposure, the complexity of managing a DIY stock portfolio starts to look pretty unnecessary.
2. Lower fees, higher odds
Passive index funds and ETFs tend to have lower management fees because they’re not paying teams of analysts to try to outguess the market every day. Those small fee differences compound over decades into very real money.
With a fund like VEQT, you get:
- Broad global equity exposure.
- A rules‑based, transparent approach.
- Lower costs than many actively managed alternatives.
I like those odds way more than trying to find the next superstar manager or stock.
3. Automation beats willpower
Automating contributions (DCA) into a global index fund or ETF does a few powerful things:
- It removes timing decisions — you invest through bull and bear markets.
- It turns investing into a habit, not a sporadic event that depends on mood.
- It protects you from your own worst enemy: you, on a bad day, doom‑scrolling financial Twitter.
When markets are down, your automated contributions buy more units at lower prices. When markets are up, they keep you participating instead of waiting on the sidelines trying to be clever.
For most people (including me), a simple, automated, globally diversified setup will beat the average DIY tinkering portfolio over a couple of decades.
Wrapping up: less drama, more design
On paper, this has been a “down” year so far for two of my more volatile buckets: my home valuation and my crypto. In practice, nothing meaningful has changed about my trajectory.
- My primary residence is still a place to live first, and a conservative hedge second.
- My crypto is still a moonshot / FOMO sandbox that I don’t plan to touch.
- My automated VEQT contributions are quietly doing the heavy lifting toward financial independence by 2030.
If there’s one takeaway from this update, it’s this: you don’t need a perfect portfolio. You need a good enough, globally diversified, low‑maintenance system that keeps running even when your attention is elsewhere. The rest is just noise, and maybe the occasional blog post.
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