Crossing into 7 figures

[Lancelot]

I crossed over to eight figures...

(When I price my portfolio in Vietnamese Dong)

[BunsGettingFirm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lancelot I crossed over to eight figures... (When I price my portfolio in Vietnamese Dong)

It's easy when you start pricing stuff in dong. Too bad store owners don't like it when you hand them a big steaming pile.

[boont]

Don't know when I crossed over but I think I noticed it when I started adding things up to apply for a new mortage a number of years ago.

I will say if I had not sold out of the market in 2000 I don't think I would have stayed there.

My view was to get out before the end of the Clinton administration. I felt strongly that things were going to go to hell after him.

I was sure right about that. Clinton made me a lot of money and I have been lucky enough to hang on to it.

boont

[GMueller]

I sincerely appreciate all the responses. Some good food for thought. However, I'm still curious about the second part of my original question: when you finally reached some predetermined goal/amount, whether it was $1M or some other figure, did you have the temptation to raise the bar. I'm asking for an obvious reason. I'm closing in on a figure I set a long time ago as my goal. Now that I have nearly reached that goal, I'm finding it difficult to resist the temptation to "add a little cushion." I can't really say that a cushion is actually necessary, but I still hear the siren call to "add a little more." Adding "a litttle more" would not entail an inordinate sacrifice, but I wonder whether if, after reaching the new goal, I'd feel compelled to bump up the bar another increment. My question is whether that is a common phenomena. And, if so, how have others dealt with it?

[boont]

I am willing to raise the damn bar as high as it will go.

But the point is, that when I reached 55 years of age that was as far as I was willing to go as an employee.

I am on this site because it is one of the few places where other people understand this.

And further, baring major setbacks, I am no longer primarily interested in building the pile. I am interested in living my life.

I must agree with a lottery winner I once heard speak. Someone asked him what he was going to do with the money and he replied, "I am going to buy my life back."

That is my goal now. Not to build the pile further but to "buy my life back".

boont

[jimhcom]

I think the pressure to raise the bar is just part of the battle to try to stay ahead of inflation. 7 figures is really not the point of relaxation any more, In So. Cal. thats just the cost of 2- 30/40 yr old track houses in a neighborhood you probably don't want to live in. Thats not exacly well off. To live comfortably and feel secure, for me the number is more like 2 x 7 figures. As far as the milestones. you are usualy too buisy to notice. and its kind of anti-climatic as you really don't feel different, its not what you expected.

[Andre1969]

I have a feeling that once I hit the $1M milestone, it probably WILL be pretty anti-climatic. For one thing, it'll probably be one of those things that will seem just within reach for so long, as I struggle around in the $900K range, that it'll become more of a nuissance than anything.

And once you're dealing with that type of money, the way markets can fluctuate, chances are I'd break that milestone, then drop below, then break it again, and have that cycle repeat itself.

For instance, just counting my pile for stocks/mutual funds/Roth/401k, I broke the $100K barrier in January '04. It went on to peak at around $103K, but by March it was down to $98K. By April I was up to $106K, then back town to $100K in May. In late June I was up to almost $110K, but then in August was down to $99K again.

However, factoring in savings bonds, checking account, MMA, etc, I broke $100K in August 2003 and never looked back.

I'm sure a similar thing will happen around the $1M threshold.

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boont I must agree with a lottery winner I once heard speak. Someone asked him what he was going to do with the money and he replied, "I am going to buy my life back." That is my goal now. Not to build the pile further but to "buy my life back".

My sentiments exactly. Living a long happy life in retirement is my goal now. In the distant future I want some yet to be born future auditor at the pension system to look at my account and suspect fraud, "No way this guy is still alive - somebody has created a bogus account and is ripping us off!" When they show up at my door to verify that I’m real I want them to be told “You just missed him, he and the grandkids went sailing.”

If you’re lucky enough to have amassed enough money to be reasonably sure that you can provide for a secure retirement free of deprivation, then it all becomes a question of how much more do you need to buy the things you want versus how much quality time you have to enjoy it all. If you’re making money hand over fist and figure you have plenty of time left, then go ahead and keep stacking gold bricks.

I’m with boont – I could always find a use for more money – but I’ve only got so much time and energy available and I intend to make my first concern enjoying what I got.

I hit 7 figures in the 80’s and then saw a big piece of it disappear on Black Tuesday. It came back fine, but the lesson I learned was that until you derive the benefit of actually spending your profits, it’s just a number on a piece of paper.

[d]

Quote:

to raise the bar

serves to reduce uncertainty/risk (i expect for most that risk tolerance decreases with age) and might also simply reflect a reassessment from when the goal was first set.

[MJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas I hit 7 figures in the 80’s and then saw a big piece of it disappear on Black Tuesday. It came back fine, but the lesson I learned was that until you derive the benefit of actually spending your profits, it’s just a number on a piece of paper.

That's why I never included my house in my net worth until I finally sold it recently. Now my portfolio is golden (at least for right now)

[modlair]

Quote:

My view was to get out before the end of the Clinton administration. I felt strongly that things were going to go to hell after him. I was sure right about that. Clinton made me a lot of money and I have been lucky enough to hang on to it.

Useful to keep in mind that the great Crash of 2000 was what it was and it extended into 2001 and was amplified via 9/11. The President of the US in the year 2000 was Clinton.

But no matter. There are a handful of folks out there who did indeed sell in 2000. Good job!

As for raising the bar, I think it raises itself. Even the frugal elevate their lifestyle as they get pay raises. You may have set the bar 15 yrs ago and then had 15 years of pay raises. Each pay raise you banked 2/3 and spent 1/3 (raised your lifestyle). Each increment of lifestyle raised the bar.

[scrinch]

I originally set the bar at $1M back in the 80's...then upped it to $1.5M and finally $2M (nominal) as our lifestyle improved (but while those numbers were still far away). Reached $1M in 2001 and $2M early this year, and am now struggling with "is it enough?" as well as the other RE issues (like what kind of example am I setting for my kids if I stop working?). Reaching $1M called for a toast with my DW at a quiet moment, but it was far from the goal, so it was only a token celebration...similar to the "burn the mortgage" toast.

I too have kept track of finances for a dozen years or so in Excel, but only quarterly. Any more often than that seemed to me like, as my old engineering boss used to say, "using a micrometer to measure a camel's ass."

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMueller However, I'm still curious about the second part of my original question: when you finally reached some predetermined goal/amount, whether it was $1M or some other figure, did you have the temptation to raise the bar. I'm asking for an obvious reason. I'm closing in on a figure I set a long time ago as my goal. Now that I have nearly reached that goal, I'm finding it difficult to resist the temptation to "add a little cushion." I can't really say that a cushion is actually necessary, but I still hear the siren call to "add a little more." Adding "a litttle more" would not entail an inordinate sacrifice, but I wonder whether if, after reaching the new goal, I'd feel compelled to bump up the bar another increment. My question is whether that is a common phenomena. And, if so, how have others dealt with it?

Yes, it's called "paralysis by analysis", but it stops when you die.

It also stops when something makes you realize that you've reached diminishing returns. In my case it was retiring from the military, a clear break that required either a job search or a longboard.

Others' diminishing returns are reached when:
- they have a health scare,
- they have a family crisis,
- when the weight of their BS bucket exceeds the weight of the benefits bucket,
- when their boss decides that they need to have a bad day,
- in the middle of a truly sucky meeting,
- when they realize that their airplane includes two sets of wings, a backup set of rotors, three parachutes, and a pogo spring. You can only pad so much and at some point you're missing more than you're gaining...

You've also read Bernstein's five-part "Calculator From Hell" articles, right?

[free4now]

I remember crossing into 7 figures around the time there were comercials for the Bachelor TV show with the tagline:

"He's a millionaire, 6 feet tall, 31 years old, and ivy league educated". [girls swoon]

And all of that was true of me, but I didn't have girls swooning or competing over me

Now that I'm actually living off about a million in California, I feel like a pauper with money. But like a prince with freedom and time.

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Others' diminishing returns are reached when: - they have a health scare, - they have a family crisis, - when the weight of their BS bucket exceeds the weight of the benefits bucket, - when their boss decides that they need to have a bad day, - in the middle of a truly sucky meeting,

What, you didn't like the meetings?

It got to the point where I was drawing pictures of sailboats on the obligatory notepad and dreaming of being far away. That way I got a small amount of enjoyment out of the time spent rather than walking out and mumbling, "I bet when I'm on my deathbed that I'll really regret wasting the last hour."

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas What, you didn't like the meetings? It got to the point where I was drawing pictures of sailboats on the obligatory notepad and dreaming of being far away.* That way I got a small amount of enjoyment out of the time spent rather than walking out and mumbling, "I bet when I'm on my deathbed that I'll really regret wasting the last hour."

I quit going to meetings. Period.

[justin]

Just do work during meetings and double bill.

[SteveR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMueller .. Adding "a litttle more" would not entail an inordinate sacrifice, but I wonder whether if, after reaching the new goal, I'd feel compelled to bump up the bar another increment.* My question is whether that is a common phenomena.* And, if so, how have others dealt with it?

In my case, I have raised the bar several times. Life events changed my thinking and long term plans several times and along with them my financial needs. My bar is pretty high but for many personal reasons. I ER'd in 2002 but choose to add to the next egg one more year. My wife died during that time and I choose to remain at work...more to keep my mind focused than for $$ reasons. I could have very easily stopped working and lived on my nest egg in relative comfort the rest of my life. However, I remarried a year ago so my bar got raised again for many reasons and my future changed to include more activities than it once did. Now we are in the final stretch. While I am indeed FI, I choose to still work. My bar is not much higher than it was several years ago... the difference is that I have made it past that mark and am now just coasting while I prepare my nest egg to provide income for the next 3-5 years and beyond.

In my case I have raised the bar just because I am that way with many things. Being raised as goal oriented does have some drawbacks but I will just have to learn to deal with them I guess.

[modlair]

Quote:

I quit going to meetings. Period.

I run a big project. It's an important project with "important" having a broad meaning well outside the business aspects -- meaning the project is important to the US's next generation fighter aircraft. US air superiority is not a God given right and without it we will lose the upcoming wars to be fought over oil.

Blah blah.

The project is late, is going to be later, there's nothing anyone can do about it, it's no one's fault, and the search for a scapegoat will eventually decide on a handful of people. I have a truly excellent chance of being numbered among them.

At some point I will walk. I will "Stop going to meetings. Period." Lots of people have important jobs and they walked. No one is indispensable.

Not much longer.

[flipstress]

Quote:

Originally Posted by free4now "He's a millionaire, 6 feet tall, 31 years old, and ivy league educated".* [girls swoon] And all of that was true of me, but I didn't have girls swooning or competing over me*

Please post a picture of yourself and I will try to find the swoon emoticon/thingy.*

Wait, actually, no need for a pic* * * (couldn't find a swoon one)