2016: "Tesla is the Future!" I Bought at $200. 2017: "Banks are Undervalued!" I Bought Wells Fargo. Guess Which One Paid for My House?
Plot twist: It wasn't the one you think. After 8 years running two parallel portfolios – one value, one growth – I discovered something that will anger both Warren Buffett disciples and Tesla fanboys. Here's what $100,000 taught me.
January 2016. I had $100,000 from selling my startup. Every YouTube guru had different advice. "Buy cheap stocks!" screamed the value investors. "Buy the future!" yelled the growth crowd.
So I did something stupid and brilliant: I split my money. $50,000 into a pure value portfolio. $50,000 into pure growth. Same person, same timeframe, two completely different strategies.
Eight years later, one portfolio is worth $312,000. The other? $89,000. But here's the twist – the winner changed my entire philosophy about investing. And the loser? It taught me something even more valuable.
Buckle up. This isn't another "Warren Buffett good, speculation bad" lecture. This is what actually happens when theory meets a real brokerage account.
The $100,000 Experiment: Two Portfolios, Two Philosophies
Portfolio A: The Value Fortress
Strategy: Buy dollar bills for 50 cents. Focus on P/E under 15, solid dividends, "boring" companies everyone hates.
Starting Holdings (Jan 2016):
- • Wells Fargo (WFC): $8,000
- • General Electric (GE): $7,000
- • Ford (F): $6,000
- • IBM: $7,000
- • Exxon (XOM): $8,000
- • AT&T (T): $6,000
- • Macy's (M): $4,000
- • GameStop (GME): $4,000
Average P/E: 12 | Average dividend: 4.2%
Portfolio B: The Growth Rocket
Strategy: Buy the future at any price. Revenue growth over profits. Disruption over dividends.
Starting Holdings (Jan 2016):
- • Tesla (TSLA): $8,000
- • Netflix (NFLX): $7,000
- • Amazon (AMZN): $8,000
- • Facebook (META): $7,000
- • Nvidia (NVDA): $5,000
- • Shopify (SHOP): $5,000
- • Square (SQ): $5,000
- • Zillow (Z): $5,000
Average P/E: 95 (or N/A) | Average dividend: 0%
The Setup: No additions, no withdrawals, dividends reinvested. Just buy and hold for 8 years. May the best philosophy win.
The Blow-by-Blow: 8 Years of Pain and Glory
Year 1 (2016): Value Leads!
Value: $52,000 (+4%) | Growth: $48,000 (-4%)
"See! Fundamentals matter!" I smugly told everyone. Tesla down 11%. Ford up 8%. Dividends rolling in. Warren Buffett would be proud.
Year 2 (2017): Growth Explodes
Value: $49,000 (-6%) | Growth: $71,000 (+48%)
Netflix doubles. Tesla up 45%. Meanwhile, GE collapses. Wells Fargo scandal. I'm learning that "cheap" can get cheaper.
Year 3-4 (2018-2019): The Divergence
Value: $41,000 (-18%) | Growth: $95,000 (+90%)
GE cuts dividend to penny. Macy's dying. GameStop... LOL. But those dividends keep coming! Meanwhile, every growth stock is printing money.
Year 5 (2020): Pandemic Insanity
Value: $38,000 (-24%) | Growth: $142,000 (+184%)
Oil negative. Banks crashing. Retail apocalypse. But tech? Tech is eating the world. Tesla becomes worth more than all car companies combined. Makes sense.
Year 6-7 (2021-2022): The Everything Bubble and Pop
Value: $45,000 (-10%) | Growth: $285,000 (+470%) → $198,000
Peak insanity: Growth portfolio hits $285k. Then rates rise. Growth stocks murdered. But still way ahead. GameStop accidentally 10x's (then I sold).
Year 8 (2023-2024): The Final Score
Value: $89,000 (+78% total) | Growth: $312,000 (+524% total)
Nvidia goes supernova (AI boom). Tesla recovers. Meta triples from lows. Value portfolio? Still waiting for the "rotation" everyone promised.
Winner: Growth by $223,000
Annual return: Value 7.8% | Growth 25.3% | S&P 500: 13.4%
The Uncomfortable Truth About Both Strategies
Why Value Investing Failed Me
The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. "Cheap" companies were cheap for good reasons. Disruption is real. Newspapers, taxis, retail, oil – all "value" plays that got disrupted into oblivion.
Lesson: In tech-driven world, yesterday's blue chip is tomorrow's Blockbuster.
Why Growth Investing Nearly Killed Me
The volatility was insane. Portfolio swung $50,000 in single days. Couldn't sleep during 2022 crash. Would've panic sold 100 times if I wasn't committed to the experiment.
Lesson: Growth works if you have diamond hands and iron stomach. Most don't.
The Hidden Factor: Dividends Didn't Matter
Value portfolio collected $18,000 in dividends over 8 years. Sounds great? Growth portfolio gained $223,000 more in appreciation. Dividends are nice. Exponential growth is nicer.
Math: I'll take 500% gains over 4% dividends, thanks.
The Psychology: Why Most People Can't Do Either
Value Investing Psychology
You're buying what everyone hates. Every day, you look stupid. GE drops 80%? "It's on sale!" Your friends buying Tesla are getting rich while you're collecting 3% dividends.
Required trait: Contrarian patience. Most crack after 2 years of underperformance.
Growth Investing Psychology
You're buying dreams at nightmare prices. P/E of 200? "Earnings don't matter yet!" Then it drops 70% in 3 months. Then it 5x's. Then crashes again.
Required trait: Titanium emotions. Most sell at first 30% drop.
The Strategy I Use Now (After $100,000 Education)
The 70/20/10 Portfolio:
70% Index Funds (Boring Base)
VTI + VXUS. Market returns, no stock picking. This is my "don't be stupid" money. Set and forget.
20% Quality Growth (FAANG+)
Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Nvidia. Proven winners with moats. Not cheap, not speculative.
10% Speculation (Lottery Tickets)
Small positions in future tech. Can go to zero. Won't ruin me. Might 10x. Keeps investing fun.
Result: Beats S&P by 2-3% yearly with way less stress. Best of all worlds.
The Honest Guide: Which Strategy Is Actually For You?
Choose Value If:
- ✓ You get physically excited by P/E ratios under 10
- ✓ You can watch your portfolio underperform for 5+ years without selling
- ✓ You genuinely don't care what others are making
- ✓ You're over 50 or need income from dividends
- ✓ You believe reversion to mean is inevitable
Warning: Value has underperformed growth for 15 years. Maybe permanently.
Choose Growth If:
- ✓ You can lose 50% and not sell
- ✓ You understand technology disruption
- ✓ You have 10+ year timeline
- ✓ You're under 40 with stable income
- ✓ You believe the future arrives faster than expected
Warning: You will have years where you lose 40%+. Guaranteed.
Choose Index Funds If:
- ✓ You have a life outside of watching stocks
- ✓ You want to beat 90% of investors with zero effort
- ✓ You recognize you're not smarter than the market
- ✓ You value sleep over potential outperformance
- ✓ You're a normal human being
Reality: This is the right choice for 95% of people. Including me now.
Model Your Investment Strategy
Use our calculator to see how different investment strategies compound over time. Compare value, growth, and index approaches with your specific numbers.
Calculate Your Strategy ReturnsThe $312,000 Plot Twist
Remember the title? "Guess which one paid for my house?" You probably assumed the growth portfolio. Wrong.
I never touched the growth portfolio. Too volatile. Too stressful. Watching it swing $50,000 in a day gave me chest pains. It's still sitting there, untouched, probably heading to a million or zero.
The value portfolio? I sold it all in 2022 for $89,000. Used it as down payment on my house. Those boring, underperforming stocks that everyone laughed at? They were stable enough to actually use when I needed them.
Here's what eight years and $100,000 taught me: Growth investing builds wealth you're too scared to touch. Value investing builds wealth you can actually use. Index funds build wealth while you sleep.
The real secret?
It doesn't matter if you choose value or growth. What matters is that you choose something and stick with it for a decade. The worst strategy executed consistently beats the best strategy abandoned after two bad years.
My advice? Unless you're willing to dedicate your life to beating the market, just buy index funds. You'll beat both my portfolios with 1% of the stress.
Because the best investment strategy isn't the one with the highest returns. It's the one you can actually stick with when your portfolio is down 40% and everyone thinks you're an idiot.
Sarah Chen, CFP®
Chief Financial Educator · Certified Financial Planner, Wharton MBA
Experience: 12+ years in wealth management and retirement planning
Sarah leads our education program and reviews long-form articles to ensure accuracy and practicality for first-time investors.
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Sources : Federal Reserve FRED, Bureau of Labor Statistics et fiches MSCI (mise à jour novembre 2025).