If you never spend your investment gains, what exactly are you investing for?
This question hit me hard after a year of nonstop financial management, market volatility, and real estate turnover in 2025. I had done everything “right” from an investing perspective, yet I felt deprived.
So I made a new financial rule for myself: once a year, I allow one luxury expense that directly improves my quality of life. Not a reckless splurge. A deliberate reward.
This year, that reward cost about $14,100. It’s unnecessary, therapeutic, and has quietly become one of the best investments I’ve ever made.
Can you guess what it was?
Explaining This Year’s Annual Luxury Expense
The stock market was especially volatile in the first half of 2025. As a result, my stress level was higher than normal since I like to stay on top of my investments every day. I’ve been this way since 1995, when I made my first investments through my Ameritrade account.
Back then, I had a total of about $1,000 invested. Today, the amount is obviously much higher, which naturally magnifies both gains and emotional swings.
But to compound the stress of being an active public equity and fixed income investor, I also had the busiest real estate year in my history.
First, I started the year by spending about two months preparing our old house for sale. This involved painting, fixing fogged windows, repairing broken fixtures, interviewing realtors, and doing extensive market research.
Ultimately, I found a top-tier real estate agent who sold the house with a strong all-cash preemptive offer and only a 13-day close. That part felt like a huge win.
I thought that would be the end of the real estate work.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t. A good tenant of five years wanted to move.
A Tough Real Estate Decision With A Rental Property
My tenants, who had been living in the upstairs portion of my rental house since 2019, gave me their 45-day notice. Unfortunately, this was after I returned from five weeks in Honolulu, four weeks of which was spent remodeling my parent’s two-bedroom in-law unit.
The upstairs of my rental consisted of two bedrooms and one bathroom, and they wanted more space for their first child. Hooray for them!
I offered to rent them the downstairs portion of the house as well, which I had used as a personal getaway sanctuary since 2019. They were thinking they could rent it for two or three months as their parents visited to help out. It was the easiest solution, so I obliged.
Downstairs contained a large main bedroom, a luxurious master bathroom, an office/bedroom, and a large balcony facing the ocean. It would be perfect.
I was willing to rent the space for $2,000 a month, or a total of $6,000 for the entire house. I estimated the market rent was closer to $6,500 – $7,000.
Even with a discount to market rent of $500 – $1,000, they decided to move elsewhere. They found a three bedroom, two bathroom place outside the city for less. All good.
So I had a decision to make.
I could either:
- Continue renting out just the upstairs two-bedroom, one-bathroom portion again for potentially a market rent price of $4,500 – $5,000, or
- Finally rent out the entire house and significantly boost passive income by potentially $2,500 – $3,000 a month total
This was an extremely tough decision.
The downstairs portion of the house had been a lifesaver during the pandemic. I would take the kids there for two to three hours at a time to draw, hang out, and enjoy the hot tub. In return, my wife got two to three hours of childcare relief.
Those moments mattered.
But with increased expenses from buying a new forever home in 2023 and AI negatively disrupting Financial Samurai, I decided to give up my five-year sanctuary, including my beloved hot tub which is now unused, and rent out the entire house to a wonderful family.
Financially, it was the right decision.
Emotionally, it stung.
Giving Up My Favorite Material Item – And Getting It Back
I felt sad knowing I no longer had this special space to take the kids. We had shared so many great bonding moments together in the hot tub. After tennis or pickleball, I’d always go for a soak. The hot tub was where I relaxed, decompressed, and thought through new post ideas.
I even spent time responding to thoughtful comments while soaking.
After a couple weeks of hot tub withdrawal, I decided I’d had enough!
I drove down to my old hot tub store in San Mateo to test out the latest models. Fully expecting prices to be up 50% since I first bought a hot tub in 2006, I was pleasantly surprised to see prices were only about 15% higher.
That’s when I decided to buy a Sundance Valley Prado model for about $12,000.
It was the largest model that could fit through my side gate without needing to hire a crane to lift it over the house. Originally, I considered a small two-person hot tub. But I figured if I was going to do this, I might as well get the biggest one that fit.
With an extra-large lot, space wasn’t an issue.
The Cost Of My Luxury Expense: A Prado Hot Tub
The Multi-Step Reality Of Installing A Hot Tub
Before installing the hot tub, I needed a flat cement pad with rebar reinforcement. I submitted bids on Thumbtack and received three estimates ranging from $1,600 to $2,600.
My handyman offered to do it for $1,100, but he wasn’t enthusiastic about the work and isn’t known for being detail-oriented. Since a hot tub weighs several thousand pounds when filled, this wasn’t a place to cut corners.
I went with a specialist who completed the job in one day for $1,600.
Next came the waiting period. The hot tub would take four to six weeks to arrive, which worked out perfectly since concrete also needs time to cure with daily misting and reach maximum strength.
Installation day went smoothly, until it didn’t.
Although the narrowest part of the gate was 34 inches wide and the hot tub was 33.5 inches tall, the top got stuck in a tree. We had to saw off several branches. It wasn’t ideal because the tree will grow back thicker over time and provide even more privacy.
Finally, the hot tub was in place.
The last step was filling it with water and hoping everything worked. Before that, the installers did a quick one-second electrical test to confirm it powered on.
I then hired an electrician to upgrade the outdoor outlet from TR (tamper resistant) to WR (water resistant). While he was there, I had him replace a few other noncompliant outdoor outlets.
Total electrical cost: about $500. I know, crazy expensive for the work, but I didn’t know how to do it myself.
Was It Worth The Hassle And The Money?
As you can see, installing a hot tub is a multi-step ordeal. There’s also the question of how large to make the cement pad – the smaller the better to preserve yard space.
But everything worked out, thank goodness.
I’ve now been enjoying the hot tub alone and with my family for months. The total cost came to about $14,100, and it has been completely worth it.
I soak almost every day, and sometimes twice a day. In the past, when the hot tub wasn’t at my primary residence, I used it maybe twice a week because I had to drive there. Now it’s just right outside the family room.
Now I use it three to five times more, and maintenance is much easier. I even write posts in the hot tub using voice dictation.
In fact, I’m writing this post right now from the hot tub.
Take A Percentage Of Your Investment Gains And Enjoy Them
Just as I recommend calculating how much time your investment gains save, consider taking a percentage of your investment gains each year to enjoy. A good range is between 5%–10%, but at least 1%, for goodness’ sake.
For example, if your $1 million portfolio climbs by 15%, for a $150,000 gain, consider spending $7,500–$15,000 on something great. Unless you want to die with large sums of money, it’s imperative to be intentional with your spending.
Stocks provide no direct utility. They don’t hug you back. They don’t reduce stress on their own. If you never translate investment gains into a better life, what’s the point?
A hot tub is clearly not a necessity, just like eight hours of sleep a night or a daily 30 minute nap after lunch aren’t necessities either. Yet all of these things materially improve how you feel day to day.
I decided to take less than 5% of my investment gains from my taxable portfolio to pay for the hot tub.
When the market was tanking in March and April 2025, there were no gains to enjoy. So I bought nothing superfluous, even though I had sold a property for a profit.
But once the market recovered, I decided to enjoy some of those gains in a way that benefits me and my family every single day.
So far, it’s been an absolute no-brainer.
The Next Luxury Expense From Investment Gains
Making one luxury purchase outside the norm per year is enough for most people to feel satisfied. This belief is one reason I felt uneasy about the prospect of buying a new car in 2025.
A car is also a luxury expense, especially if it costs more than a $28,000 Honda Civic. But if I’m going to buy a car I’ll drive for many years, I want it to be nice, spacious, and most importantly, safe for my family. That means spending at least $60,000.
Now that it’s the new year, I can reset my luxury expense budget and consider a car if needed. So far, it’s not necessary because I spent a couple thousand dollars fixing up my current one.
And with the way 2026 is shaping up, I probably won’t have investment gains to spend! Thankfully, the hot tub will last for years to come.
Invest responsibly. Manage risk diligently. And once in a while, reward yourself in a way that actually makes life better. Because investing shouldn’t just grow your net worth, it should improve your well-being too.
Readers, did you reward yourself with any luxury expenses after the stupendous 2023, 2024, or 2025 stock market? How do you decide when and how much stock to sell to use toward a better life?
Track Your Investments Wisely
The easiest way to know how much to spend on a luxury expense is to know your portfolio inside and out. That means understanding its asset allocation, income generation, and returns. You can do that with Empower and its free investing tools.
Last week, I went to the post office to send out a dozen signed copies of my USA Today bestseller, Millionaire Milestones. If you’re interested in participating in the promotion, you can sign up for a free financial review with Empower. You can read about my experience and the instructions in this post.
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