Funny, I'm up 45%/year going back 30ish years, since we're on the Internet just saying things.

It's not a flex, I'm just saying that it's not super rare for people to get those returns. If you're really doing 45% that's above and beyond though and would be curious what your strategy is.

If you're getting 20% returns you've quit your day job and are doing this exclusively, right?

And has he got a coin to sell you!

He's either not really getting 20% or is cheating on his taxes.

Source: I have a personal relationship with my auditor, and I'm pretty sure he hates me because I don't willfully cheat on my taxes.

Nothing to sell here unless you want to invest in my next company. I do pay all the taxes I owe. The curse of good luck is I don't have much reason to believe my future returns will continue to be so good.

Not GP, but there's no secret sauce here. VTSAX is up 25% each of the last three years, and it's hardly unique. The market has been doing well. Things that track the market will also do well.

"going back 15ish years"

The (US) market has done 11% annualized in the last 15 years. 20% is not just "traking the market". It's the difference between going from $1m to less than $5m or more than $15m.

Now, if "15ish years" means "12 years and 9 months, from the exact bottom" then yes, the annualized return has been over 18%.