Watching the money

It's still a very strange feeling to have this IRA I inherited from my mom. I used to watch her balance on a regular basis, and now that it's my money, I do the same, of course. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet that this is mine. The portfolio (acquired over years by her investment guy) currently has 17 stocks in it. A couple of years ago the investment guy switched to a different investment company, which I think has been much better in terms of the fees. Previously there was a fee based on transactions, so every quarter when we'd have our telephone update/meeting, of course there were recommended changes of buying/selling. At one point it dawned on me, well ya, of course they want to buy/sell! It wasn't too much later that he announced he was switching and most of his clients (including me, for my mom) moved their portfolio with him. This company just charges a flat 1% fee. I've noticed the quarterly buy/sells have gone way down, which has also allowed the portfolio to become much more stable, in my opinion. (Not that it was doing bad before that, though). And less fees, means more money stays in the retirement account.

This group of stocks has done amazing so far this year. I had hoped for 10% growth for the remainder of the year (I got MY % of the account transferred to me in early March). 10% for the whole year. Right now, in the 4 months I've had it, the growth is almost 13%, for 4 months. While I know the stock market could be very up and down over the rest of the year, it would be really awesome if it even ended up at this 13% growth for the whole rest of this year. 

I had taken my first distribution, for this first year, when I got the account in March. So far, in 4 months the growth has almost put me back where the initial balance was, before I took the distribution. That kind of blows my mind, a bit. Since my goal is to use this money to pay off my mortgage before I retire, IF (and that's a big bold if, LOL) I end up with a couple of really good years in the next, say 5 years, I could possibly even be in the position to pay it all off before 7 years (retirement age of 67) goal. If I could pay off my mortgage at 65 and still work another year or two, that would be even more amazing, retirement funds wise. But, even if the portfolio earns just a minimal amount over the next 7 years, it will still be enough to get my mortgage paid and for that I'm extremely grateful. 

There are some very nice stocks in this portfolio...Nvida, Apple, Google, First Solar, Microsoft, Costco, Amazon are among the 17 different companies. About 20% of the portfolio is in 3 long term CD's, earning between 4.5 and 5.05%. The fact that I need to have it all withdrawn within 10 years and then for it to just earn back the next year what I took out, while an awesome problem to have, LOL, it's a bit overwhelming. And while it's great to have it keep growing, there's a breakeven point between letting it grow in these early years vs. the tax hit I'll take on taxes/higher tax bracket. I haven't worked that math out yet.