Breadwinner or single millionaires: Tell me your story

[Donzo]

One income. NW about 2.3m. A couple pensions coming in the future - (enough to cover expenses) they go up about 8% each year not taken so gonna let them ride. SS and probable inheritance.
When I got my career job, I thought it was to good to be true. Surely they would figure out I was not worthy.....So I saved and invested about 50% of my income. Well the career last over 20 years and a couple by outs (mega pharma). Maxed my 401K when they became available and continued to save as much as I could - it's all about delayed gratification - to a point - you need to enjoy life but not live any where near your means if you want out early. Good thing I did this because I burned out fast after some new management took over. I would have croaked if I was in a position of having to stay on under the new circumstances.

 

[Neecy]

Why not?

Because I am gauging how hard it was for folks to reach $1M on a single million. I am vested in a military pension (Reserve) and I am not saying I am currently a millionaire at this time since I do not have it saved up. I read someone's posting on the net worth IQ web site boost their net worth to $1,000,000 through counting the future value of their pension. So, I am trying to avoid that in this thread.

 

[Birchwood]

Married, prof. job now retired, lucky to have high income in 34 years of work. Live very frugally, one daughter. Early on Bought stocks of XOM, MMM, PEP, MCD, WAG, WFC,BIIB, AMGN, and others, and never met a mutual fund I didn't like.
I invested in Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, and Fidelity MFs ,and tons of cash positions.
NW= about 5.5M. invested asset.
I drive a 5 yr old Ford truck and my wife drives a 6 yrs old Honda.
We only spend about $60-70K / year.
The key is live below your means and invest the money.

 

[Kabekew]

Single, 45, ER'd at 41, no kids, no inheritance, ~$3.9MM net worth including $1.7MM house paid off, rest in brokerage accounts.

I hardly ever put anything in retirement accounts, started a software business that failed, plus lived past my means so by age 30 I had a negative net worth of about $25K on high interest credit cards. I got serious about budgeting, lived cheaply for a couple years while paying off the cards (nothing to retirement accounts), then lived cheaply a couple more to save up for my next software business (still nothing to retirement accounts).

The business did really well (thanks to lessons learned from my previous failed one, and ironically amassing a credit card debt that I was never late with and gave me a really high credit score I needed for the new business). I sold it to a mega corp for a few million after taxes, then ER'd the next year.

Of course, my second business could have failed too and I'd be broke now at age 45 with no retirement savings. It's higher risk/return going the business route versus safe, steady saving and investing so I can't fault the latter route either.

 

[jollystomper]

I am the breadwinner - wife has been a SAHM for over half of our marriage, and her total earnings are less than my best year of earnings at MegaCorp. Parents emphasized education, so good grades + Ivy League Math/Computer Science degree led to a very good IT technical sales/consulting/support job at Megacorp. We always banked all of DW earnings and only lived off of my salary. When my earnings started accelerating during the 90s we avoided the hype and got very serious about saving/investing, when Megacorp changed their pension rules we got even more serious. My compensation included a large bonus component (some years close to 50% of base) and our rule was to never spend more than 10% of the bonus.

Since we both came from modest backgrounds LBYM was easy to do on my income and still have a higher standard of living than we had growing up. This has also allowed us to cover our kids college expenses to avoid tuition debt.

 

[JacqJolie]

Single - 2 kids. One is 26, and the other is 13. They're fabulous and couldn't be happier with how they've turned out / are turning out - not much thanks to me, just lots of love, lots of independence and allowing them to make their own decisions and their own mistakes (plus consequences). Never been married, never lived with someone else other than the kids since circa 1987.

Went back to university when my oldest son was 3 months old. Fiddle faddled around for too many years in a "follow your PASSION! Do what you LOVE!" kind of haze before discovering Your Money or Your Life in about 2001 and got inspired to become FI. I had had a couple of uncles that ER'd in their mid 30's and didn't think it was possible unless some kind of lottery like they had had (sale of land with assistance from parents in the 70's) happened for me. Except that wasn't going to happen for me.

It clicked that I could do what I loved without having to earn money from it by saving a ton of money a la YMOYL. Learned the whole LBYM concept (read The Tightwad Gazette, Mary Hunt... and whatever kind of precursor there was to Mr. Money Mustache) and took it to a bit of an extreme (but not considering how much I made - top savings rate was about 85% on NI.) Turns out that now what I love is making money from the market - who woulda thunk?

Really focused though on maximizing my income since it kind of pains me to go below a certain threshold of spending. It feels neurotic and I become un-generous - to myself as well as others - so I don't like to do it. Just really love feeling abundant.

Didn't start investing hard core until I was in my late 30's and even then only in my taxable account. Left my RRSP's in the "professionals" hands until 2012 when I realized my returns had been freakishly higher than theirs. Had some luck in 08-09 - which I am grateful for - to run into the people (mostly traders) I have met in the workplace for guiding me to know what to do.

Just really grateful for all the learning and time it took to become what I hope I've become - a good steward of mine and my kids finances, pretty good employee, good manager.

 

[Olbidness]

52, 1 son, divorced. 1.2 investable assets, not counting pension. Reached millionaire status in spite of being married. Ex was a weapon of wealth destruction.

Same old story, LBYM , started at 26. Maxed out the 401K for many years but just 15% now. Coasting a little and enjoying life.

 

[Lakedog]

Single, 58 yrs old (retired @ 51). I didn't cross seven figures until well after retirement (not counting pension value). Retiring March 2008 with a bit over $500k and a pension that more than covers expenses, investable assets have more than doubled over the last six years. Soon after retirement at the 2009 market low, investable assets dropped as low as $320k. Some of the gain was savings from pension but most was from going heavier to equities during the market rebound.

 

[Neecy]

Because I am gauging how hard it was for folks to reach $1M on a single million. I am vested in a military pension (Reserve) and I am not saying I am currently a millionaire at this time since I do not have it saved up. I read someone's posting on the net worth IQ web site boost their net worth to $1,000,000 through counting the future value of their pension. So, I am trying to avoid that in this thread.

Edit: Because I am gauging how hard it was for folks to reach $1M on a single budget.

 

[Neecy]

Great stories! I am learning a lot.

 

[Neecy]

Went back to university when my oldest son was 3 months old. Fiddle faddled around for too many years in a "follow your PASSION! Do what you LOVE!" kind of haze before discovering Your Money or Your Life in about 2001 and got inspired to become FI. I had had a couple of uncles that ER'd in their mid 30's and didn't think it was possible unless some kind of lottery like they had had (sale of land with assistance from parents in the 70's) happened for me. Except that wasn't going to happen for me.

It clicked that I could do what I loved without having to earn money from it by saving a ton of money a la YMOYL. Learned the whole LBYM concept (read The Tightwad Gazette, Mary Hunt... and whatever kind of precursor there was to Mr. Money Mustache) and took it to a bit of an extreme (but not considering how much I made - top savings rate was about 85% on NI.) Turns out that now what I love is making money from the market - who woulda thunk?

Really focused though on maximizing my income since it kind of pains me to go below a certain threshold of spending. It feels neurotic and I become un-generous - to myself as well as others - so I don't like to do it. Just really love feeling abundant.

I used to love the MSN Your Money forum. I miss it. I also like to feel abundant.

 

[Free_at_49]

I retired shortly after my wife died in her 40s. I’m the creative type and she was the money manager. Creative types rarely make money, or if they do, they blow it. So I lucked out. Now I’m dating girls 35-45, preferably European, professional types. Finding a good woman is much harder than investing. So, any gold-diggers here?

 

[seeshells]

IMO LBYM's is paramount.

 

[ESRwannabe]

I will probably hit a million+ at some point. I'm 38 and have mid six figures in stocks/bonds/cash. I also have 10 years and counting vested in a government pension, but I'm not counting that. I'll probably inherit some money one day as well, but I don't think I'll need to include that either to hit 7 digits.

I have done nothing particularly special. I've never made a lot of money. I make about $65k a year now (I have a degree in comp sci and work in IT systems administration). I just started saving relatively early (mid 20s) and I live below my means. My living expenses have been around $24k per year or lower pretty much my whole working life. Half of my living expenses are rent.

I have made a ton of poor investing decisions. If I'd just stuck it all in the S&P 500 years ago I'd probably be better off, but where is the fun in that?

If I owned a house I could probably get down to $12k in living expenses. If I didn't have to own a car it'd go down a lot more.

The idea of becoming a semi-vagabond is tempting. Maybe go back to graduate school in something fun like physics. I was in graduate school for comp sci, but dropped out to take a job when the dot com implosion happened. Didn't want to take the chance of having too much education and no full time job...

A teaching/research assistant would cover my living expenses allowing my investments to compound on their own. Another alternative would be to go teach english in another country or maybe work with a NGO.

 

[nash031]

I read someone's posting on the net worth IQ web site boost their net worth to $1,000,000 through counting the future value of their pension.

Interesting that someone is that wrapped up in a somewhat meaningless number that they'd do that. To wit, on the Bogleheads NW survey for this year I'm worth almost $7MM thanks to a coming active duty pension, but I "claim" a NW right around $1MM thanks to home equity. In reality, the number I care most about is our investable assets which is still well below $1MM climbing towards our "number" to call FI by Jan 1, 2020.

It's interesting that some care so much about Net Worth, and others (me) don't really give a rip about it.

 

[obgyn65]

To answer your question, I became a millionaire a while ago on one income. No inheritance. Never married. No kids. Always LBYM.

I went through the other thread about millionaires and wanted to differentiate between dual incomes and inherited wealth.



How many became a millionaire with one income and no inheritance? Do not count a pension or real estate values. Did you become one by contributing the max to your 401K, TSP, 403b and Roth IRAs and LBYM? I would like to contribute to a Roth TSP but I am afraid of it since I will pay more taxes now and the balance does not seem to grow as fast as a regular TSP(used the calculators).

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[Jmo1969]

Xvv


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[HFWR]

I am a fractional millionaire...

 

[Culture]

I became a multimillionaire the boglehead way; I diversified.

1. I inherited about $1M.
2. I married a like-minded wife.
3. I LBYM. Over the past six year that I have tracked my spending it has ranged from 17-25% of my after-tax income on a 12 month trailing average.
4. I started my own business.
5. I earned a STEM degree from a top 10 (probably the top) university for STEM.
6. Diversified index investing starting early.

Any one of these steps made me a millionaire alone. I was well past $1M before inheriting anything or starting my own business. While my wife worked, I earned about 70-75% of the income while she was still working, and we realized she was effectively working for minimum wage after childcare and work expenses. However, she loved working. She now works for me part-time.

 

[WannabeRetired]

Way to go Culture! Very cool.

 

[Nords]

I think Nords posted a simple way to estimate present value of a pension based on I-bond yields.

I used it (but I don't "use it") and it seems very reasonable to me. My hesitation comes from uncertainty about pension futures.

It's an attempt to estimate the value of a government-guaranteed pension with a COLA, and I bonds happen to resemble that asset. It's probably a reasonable yardstick for a federal pension and for Social Security, but I'd hesitate to use it for state/municipal pensions. And of course I'd never use it for corporate pensions.

There are other ways to estimate it:
"Present value" estimate of a military pension - Military Guide

You have to assume that the govt will keep selling I bonds in sufficient quantities to support this type of calculation. That assumption appears to be in jeopardy. It's also dividend investing (the portfolio is not consumed) while an actual pension probably dies with you (unless you pay extra for survivor benefits). I'm just estimating the value of the pension, not its survivor benefits.

Today's I bond interest rate is 1.94% APY. (Individual - I Savings Bonds) If you withdraw a 4% SWR from a $1M portfolio then you'd have $40K/year income. Getting the same annual income from a portfolio of I bonds would require just over $2M. That's a pretty high price to pay (and a many more years of working/saving) for a secure inflation-adjusted annuity.

 

[Mulligan]

52, 1 son, divorced. 1.2 investable assets, not counting pension. Reached millionaire status in spite of being married. Ex was a weapon of wealth destruction.

Same old story, LBYM , started at 26. Maxed out the 401K for many years but just 15% now. Coasting a little and enjoying life.

I love that line.... "A weapon of wealth destruction". I'm guessing the ex wouldn't chuckle as much as I did on it.


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[aja8888]

I love that line.... "A weapon of wealth destruction". I'm guessing the ex wouldn't chuckle as much as I did on it.


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I saw that too...I can appreciate that phrase. (Made me cringe when I read it)

 

[NW-Bound]

I love that line.... "A weapon of wealth destruction"...

+1

I am glad that my wife is a "weapon of wealth addition". She did not make as much as I did and retired early at 50 too, but she spent less than what she brought in.

 

[Toocold]

Hit 2.1M NW last month. Single earner with DW being SAHM with 2 kids. Had relevation in early 30s (about 10 years ago) that while our NW was slightly positive, we had an uncomfortable level of debt, so we decided to control and track spending and pay down debt aggressively. Once we paid off the debt, including the mortgage, post-tax investable assets increased substantially as we maintained a modest lifestyle. It also helped that I kept getting promoted within megacorp and my comp increased almost 4x over that timeframe.

Curiosity will keep me going on how high I can go, but I suspect I'll eventually call it quits after my kids enter college (with NW ranging from $3-5M), and DW and I will do something fun.