Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020

[Maenad]

$600K as of today. We're ~1/3 of the way there (in 3.5 years we finish the mortgage and the FIRE savings does the hockey stick).

 

[WannabeRetired]

$600K as of today. We're ~1/3 of the way there (in 3.5 years we finish the mortgage and the FIRE savings does the hockey stick).

Congrats! It's tough being patient for the next milestone, isn't it?

 

[Andre1969]

Hit a new month-end high yesterday, of $942K. I know I should be ecstatic, as that's just a stone's throw from $1M. And at the rate I'm adding to my 401k, plus dividends, even if everything stays flat, I'll hit $1M sometime in 2015. But, as I get closer, it just doesn't seem like the big deal it once was, when I first started this journey.

Part of it is that I've realized, for quite some time now, that $1M isn't enough for me to retire comfortably on. I think it would be, if I owned my home free and clear, but that won't be happening for awhile.

Then, there's inflation. When I finally recovered from my divorce and started saving again, I did set the goal of $1M, plus a paid off house. But, that was in late 1998. Adjusting for inflation, that would be about $1.4M today.

But, I'm sure $1M will still be something to be proud of. While it's not the end of the race, it's still a pretty major milestone! I might still shoot for a goal of $1M...just whatever $1M in 1998/1999 dollars would come out to, adjusted for inflation, by the time I get there!

 

[Retire44]

Hit a new month-end high yesterday, of $942K. I know I should be ecstatic, as that's just a stone's throw from $1M. And at the rate I'm adding to my 401k, plus dividends, even if everything stays flat, I'll hit $1M sometime in 2015. But, as I get closer, it just doesn't seem like the big deal it once was, when I first started this journey.

Andre1969, I had the same experience as we built our savings. Early on, I thought I would do something special when we hit $1m...you know, like a sports car. Ha! The discipline that we learned along the way certainly made doing anything like that seem foolish. So we went out to our favorite pub to "celebrate" and spent $40 on drinks and dinner.

Congrats on your milestone, it is definitely something to be proud of! Certainly there will be more!

 

[Major Tom]

Andre1969 - A million may not be worth what it used to be, but it's a good-sounding number.

A million.

Yep - still sounds good to me. Congratulations on getting withing spitting distance of it!

 

[Andre1969]

Andre1969, I had the same experience as we built our savings. Early on, I thought I would do something special when we hit $1m...you know, like a sports car. Ha! The discipline that we learned along the way certainly made doing anything like that seem foolish. So we went out to our favorite pub to "celebrate" and spent $40 on drinks and dinner.

Congrats on your milestone, it is definitely something to be proud of! Certainly there will be more!

Thanks! It is interesting, how our priorities change over time. I remember back in 2004, when I was getting my condo ready to sell, I thought I would clear about $40,000 on it. Well, I figured I would go and splurge, and buy one of those Chrysler 300C Hemi's, which had just come out.

Well, by the time the condo finally sold, thanks to delays from the renovations, I cleared about $77,000. And ended up investing most of it.

It's strange to think that I was actually willing to spend $40K on a new car, ten years ago. Yet today, the thought of doing that makes me cringe!

When that condo did finally sell, the only thing I really splurged on, was buying better beer instead of the rotgut...but eventually fell back into my old ways. That condo sold at just the right time, too, as it happened one month after I made the final payment on my car. So suddenly, that was $347/mo I no longer had in car payments, and about $1100/mo the condo was no longer costing me. And once that money got invested, it put me up over the $200K mark. Felt really good at the time.

 

[FIREd]

But, I'm sure $1M will still be something to be proud of. While it's not the end of the race, it's still a pretty major milestone!

It sure is!

The biotech sector has suffered a reversal since early March and the value of DW's stock options has plummeted. So our net worth is down 11% in April, a milestone of sorts I think.

 

[wingfooted]

Hit a new month-end high yesterday, of $942K. I know I should be ecstatic, as that's just a stone's throw from $1M. And at the rate I'm adding to my 401k, plus dividends, even if everything stays flat, I'll hit $1M sometime in 2015. But, as I get closer, it just doesn't seem like the big deal it once was, when I first started this journey.
But, I'm sure $1M will still be something to be proud of. While it's not the end of the race, it's still a pretty major milestone! I might still shoot for a goal of $1M...just whatever $1M in 1998/1999 dollars would come out to, adjusted for inflation, by the time I get there!

The first million is indeed something to be proud of.

You will find that the first million is the toughest million - from there on your assets are working for you along the lines of 'it takes money to make money'.

Congratulations and look forward to your reports of the second and third million dollar milestones.

 

[dvalley]

Congrats! I'd love to be anywhere near $1M. I'm only at $330k as of yesterday

 

[Major Tom]

Congrats! I'd love to be anywhere near $1M. I'm only at $330k as of yesterday

330K is a whole lot more than most people have. You'll get there. The important part is that you have developed a saving habit, which is obviously yielding some very pleasant results

 

[HFWR]

Don't think I'll make it that far, unless you include the PV of SS and my scrawny pension... :-(

But the numbers work, which works for me!

 

[dvalley]

330K is a whole lot more than most people have. You'll get there. The important part is that you have developed a saving habit, which is obviously yielding some very pleasant results

Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement! After my expensive divorce a few years ago I was emotionally disinterested in everything until late last year when I joined the community here. That inspired me to become interested in my finances once again. Since then (8mos) my portfolio is up $90k so I'm happy, I just wish I didn't lose what I did including the precious time over the past few years. But c'est la vie

 

[Andre1969]

330K is a whole lot more than most people have. You'll get there. The important part is that you have developed a saving habit, which is obviously yielding some very pleasant results

Once you get into those larger numbers, things can take off fast, too. For instance, I just looked at my spreadsheet, and I first topped the $330,000 barrier in November 2005. And now, 8 1/2 years later, I'm at $945,000 (went up $3K today).

FWIW, I was also at around $330K in November, 2008, but wasn't nearly as happy about it by that time. What the market giveth, the market can taketh away!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

My milestones are continuing to reduce our expenses. This past month we did our own taxes, bought bar soap by the case direct from the factory, stockpiled dish detergent on sale, changed cell phone plans, price shopped more on car repairs and lowered our electric bill to 1/3 of what it used to be. In total we lowered our annual recurring expenses another $3 - 4K a year, or up to $200K over a 50 year retirement.

 

[Sniggle]

Finally hit seven figures on the 401K: Current Balance $1,000,511.30. Beat my stretch goal of getting to $1 mil before the end of my 50th year (currently 50 years, 4 months)

Pretty proud of myself, considering the wife does not work and I am just a lower level corporate slug

 

[travelover]

Uh oh. This is starting to sound like a Wheee thread.

Time to sell equities.

 

[wingfooted]

Finally hit seven figures on the 401K: Current Balance $1,000,511.30. Beat my stretch goal of getting to $1 mil before the end of my 50th year (currently 50 years, 4 months)

Well done !

 

[wingfooted]

Uh oh. This is starting to sound like a Wheee thread.

Time to sell equities.

People have been saying that the last couple of years- and they missed the big run-up in 2013. Every market corrects, eventually, the problem is there is no reliable way to predict when the correction will happen.

 

[travelover]

People have been saying that the last couple of years- and they missed the big run-up in 2013. Every market corrects, eventually, the problem is there is no reliable way to predict when the correction will happen.

Thanks! I was just about to dial my broker and go 100% Bitcoins.

 

[WannabeRetired]

Finally hit seven figures on the 401K: Current Balance $1,000,511.30. Beat my stretch goal of getting to $1 mil before the end of my 50th year (currently 50 years, 4 months)

Pretty proud of myself, considering the wife does not work and I am just a lower level corporate slug

Impressive!

 

[MDJO]

Awesome!

 

[MDJO]

With a few months of buyout payments left from megacorp, I have finally crossed a milestone I set about 33 years ago - 2M in liquid net worth. House paid for, cars paid for, part time consulting gig is going well, DW is going back to work part time. Golf game getting better. Friends say that I look more relaxed than they have ever seen me. Sometimes I can't believe that all of the planning and perseverance actually paid off. People still don't believe that I am retired - I am constantly told that I am too young to be retired. I never get tired of hearing that.

 

[dvalley]

Finally hit seven figures on the 401K: Current Balance $1,000,511.30. Beat my stretch goal of getting to $1 mil before the end of my 50th year (currently 50 years, 4 months)

Pretty proud of myself, considering the wife does not work and I am just a lower level corporate slug

With a few months of buyout payments left from megacorp, I have finally crossed a milestone I set about 33 years ago - 2M in liquid net worth. House paid for, cars paid for, part time consulting gig is going well, DW is going back to work part time. Golf game getting better. Friends say that I look more relaxed than they have ever seen me. Sometimes I can't believe that all of the planning and perseverance actually paid off. People still don't believe that I am retired - I am constantly told that I am too young to be retired. I never get tired of hearing that.

That is awesome!

 

[jjquantz]

Golf game getting better.

That's the important one.

 

[Huston55]

Golf game getting better. .

That's the important one.

+Fore!