Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020

[Livin Large in MT]

Today is my birthday and this past week portfolio went over $1M. When each of my kids was born, I invested $1000 for them...and then switched the money into Roth accounts as soon as they had jobs and earnings which allowed it. Today the 26 year old has more than $30,000 (her husband who got the bug from her is up to $17,000)and the 22 year old (still in college) has $12,000 all in tax protected Roth accounts. They have added a bit to the original $1000 investment I made but not very much because both went to college and had expenses to meet. I helped of course with the help of a small inheritance when my mom died (she left me $30,000 and after I invested it, I ended up with close to $100,000 available for tuition and expenses for the two kids...the oldest was 4 years old when mom died so I had 20 years to play with...people forget that college spreads over four years or more so you do have more years than you think for investing. I really worried during the 2008 crash but held the course and there is still a bit of money left in mom's accounts for the two kids once they decide on masters level studies if necessary).
So I showed both kids my portfolio achievement on my birthday but told them that my greatest achievement is knowing they got such a great start and that they can all look forward to having the same accomplishment when they reach my age even if they never put a lot more into those Roth accounts. If they just leave them untouched, they should have a good portfolio of taxfree dollars many years from now. Now that is a birthday present!

 

[seraphim]

Share your FIRE Milestones

Well, it's coming up on a year in retirement. Where'd the time go?

It seems I over budgeted, which is better than under budgeting. We could do fine on our pensions, without withdrawing from the portfolio. If we didn't want to travel. The little bit we take out pays for the travel bug, and let's us assist our starving artist son lol. He just decided - two years after college - that isn't the lifestyle he wants, so is starting to look for the nine to five, so he can can still make money in the theatre on weekend gigs. We've been discussing how to invest his current stash, which he was saving for when he took his shot at Broadway. I gave him five letters - VTSAX.

But we have spent a lot of time on the road, and can pretty much do was we wish while the portfolio gets bigger. Better than we had hoped for. Starting out year two Wednesday taking off towards the Catskills, then up to northern Maine. No schedule, no time limit ...

...it's better than I expected.

 

[MichaelB]

A milestone of sorts. Yesterday we cleaned out the last two boxes remaining from our move from NY. It's only been 10 years. They were boxed by different packers, so one is definitely a pre-NY move, neither had been opened in Florida.

 

[hakuna matata]

The portfolio is hovering 5% above our target which is great, and more importantly I am down to double digits on working days left! 99 as of today. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is starting to seem real finally. 99--I like the sound of that number, I wonder if I can convert the '99 bottles of beer on the wall' song to '99 days to retirement'?

 

[NW-Bound]

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.

I bought a bit of XBI, an S&P Biotech ETF, back in 2006. In 2012, sold off some. Way too soon!

As I watched the sector tank in March, I got itchy and wanted to buy back some. However, I did not want to commit too much cash, and wanted to make a short-term bet on a rebound, hence bought the leveraged ETF BIB. Got it a bit too soon, so just recently got in the black. I already wrote a covered call on it to hedge.

A bit of gamble like this is way more fun than going to Las Vegas. And at any time, one can change his mind and cut loss, or get out a bit earlier. I limit myself to no more than 1% of portfolio on this kind of bet.

 

[FIREd]

I bought a bit of XBI, an S&P Biotech ETF, back in 2006. In 2012, sold off some. Way too soon!

As I watched the sector tank in March, I got itchy and wanted to buy back some. However, I did not want to commit too much cash, and wanted to make a short-term bet on a rebound, hence bought the leveraged ETF BIB. Got it a bit too soon, so just recently got in the black. I already wrote a covered call on it to hedge.

A bit of gamble like this is way more fun than going to Las Vegas. And at any time, one can change his mind and cut loss, or get out a bit earlier. I limit myself to no more than 1% of portfolio on this kind of bet.

The good thing with stock options is that you can bet without committing any cash at all. It's the best kind of gambling if you ask me!

On a positive note, our potential passive income (dividends, interests, rents) for the next 12 months has just passed $72K. And I am not even squeezing for yield. It's more money than I used to make at my 9-5 job.

 

[Debinnov a]

Whoooo Hoooo! The sale of my business went through (after 26 years in business) so I'm "almost" retired at 57 (and DH 50). We still have to stay on and train new owners, etc. so not exactly taking it easy for the next couple months, but its a start! We will be living much more frugally than before, but I'm looking forward to downsizing and simplifying! I'm sure I will be posting questions regarding my portfolio as soon as things settle down.

I've been dreaming about this day for years! Giant milestone for us!

 

[NW-Bound]

The good think with stock options is that you can bet without committing any cash at all. It's the best kind of gambling if you ask me!

On a positive note, our potential passive income for the next 12 months has just passed $72K. And I am not even squeezing for yield. It's more money than I used to make at my 9-5 job.

I have never had the fortune of having a job where someone else pays the bet for me, so I can collect the winning without putting down any. I tried to make my own bet by participating in a couple of startups, but it cost me a few years of salary-free hard work for worthless stock certificates.

Anyway, I can never predict my passive income that closely, as quite a bit of it comes from cap gain and to realize it or not depends on the situation with the individual stocks. Unrealized cap gains are nice too, but the realized ones are a lot nicer if they are tax-free.

 

[Revlefty]

Crossed $600,000 this morning. Never thought I'd see the day!

30 years ago, when we were setting up our 403b, the agent said we should aim for $250,000 total nest egg for retirement. My how inflation and a bunch of years changes that number.

We crossed anothe milestone on Sunday afternoon--my 29 yr. old DD asked me to explain IRAs to her and asked if she should start saving now for retirement! After all these years, is she becoming fiscally responsible? Probably not. But at least she's thinking about it.

 

[movaly1]

Crossed $600,000 this morning. Never thought I'd see the day!

30 years ago, when we were setting up our 403b, the agent said we should aim for $250,000 total nest egg for retirement. My how inflation and a bunch of years changes that number.

We crossed anothe milestone on Sunday afternoon--my 29 yr. old DD asked me to explain IRAs to her and asked if she should start saving now for retirement! After all these years, is she becoming fiscally responsible? Probably not. But at least she's thinking about it.

Congrats on the $600,000.... I'm hoping to hit that milestone soon.

 

[rodi]

Had a couple of like minded coworkers make moves this week. One gave notice, the other is giving notice on Friday. Very inspirational to me.

Maybe not a milestone - but it reminds me that I've got 48 weeks left if everything goes to plan.

 

[nash031]

Crossed $600,000 this morning. Never thought I'd see the day!

Cool! That happened on Monday for us. Race ya!

 

[Revlefty]

Cool! That happened on Monday for us. Race ya!

A Race sounds like a win/win for both of us. It will be exciting to see how much we can accumulate.

 

[scrabbler1]

After taking 15-18 months to advance from $1.0M to $1.1M and 1.1M to $1.2M from 2010-2013, it took me only 10 months to advance from $1.2M to $1.3M thanks to today's stock market gains.

But I also had a few other little things which helped get me to barely $1.3M today. After a mild spending spree over the winter set me back a little, one of my stock funds posted an unusually large quarterly dividend in April. Also, I sold some old Strat-o-Matic cards which had been sitting in my closet for years, netting me nearly $400.

But when I added up today's ending balances in my brokerage accounts and local bank account, I came up about $150 short of $1.3M. However, I had recently made a cash withdrawal from an ATM so when I counted up how much cash I had in my cash drawer and wallet, it came to about $160. Therefore............I am about $10 over the $1.3M mark! YAY!

 

[movaly1]

Congrats on the $600,000.... I'm hoping to hit that milestone soon.

I hit it!

 

[Major Tom]

But when I added up today's ending balances in my brokerage accounts and local bank account, I came up about $150 short of $1.3M. However, I had recently made a cash withdrawal from an ATM so when I counted up how much cash I had in my cash drawer and wallet, it came to about $160. Therefore............I am about $10 over the $1.3M mark! YAY!

That struck a chord and made me chuckle. I've been edging towards my new milestone of 750K which is a bit harder to hit than it would have been otherwise, as I'm no longer contributing and at the same time, withdrawing from the portfolio for living expenses. The balance has been teetering around the 740K mark for a while now. Then yesterday, I remembered the ~6.2K cushion I have in checking, which brings me within ~4K of my goal. On the other hand, I'm about to spend a few hundred on hobby-related items, which will take me a bit further away from it.

Of course, one decent day in the market will take me right past my goal. but sometimes us numbers-oriented people have nothing better do than watch our balances

 

[Tree-dweller]

Also, I sold some old Strat-o-Matic cards which had been sitting in my closet for years!

Strat-o-Matic! Man, that brings back memories of many late nights with buddies playing SOM baseball. We even tried SOM basketball, but soon determined SOM worked best with a more plodding deliberate game like baseball.

 

[nash031]

I hit it!

I've hit it twice (had it, lost it, got it again all in two week's time!) What do I win?!

 

[Rdub]

One of my retirement goals is to enter it healthy. Had part 1 of my annual physical today... EKG was perfect and blood pressure was 110/70. Will get the results from my blood work on Weds. Only 331 days left, but who's counting.

 

[jollystomper]

After yesterday's market close, our net worth hit $2M. Of course we know this is temporary , but it is a nice goal to have touched for a day.

 

[Major Tom]

Of course we know this is temporary , but it is a nice goal to have touched for a day.

Perhaps, but it looks as if the general trend for you is headed in the right direction. Congratulations!

 

[Andre1969]

No new all-time highs to report of, but in June I'll be hitting a new milestone, of sorts. I have an online brokerage account with Scottrade, and I've always invested the dividends from the various stocks. As a result, every year has been better than the year before, when it comes to dividends. Well, it finally got to the point that on June, I should have my first month where the dividends break $2000. It won't do that every month, because different stocks pay out at different times. But, I figure I'm on track to make about $16,500 in dividends from my Scottrade account.

FWIW, here's how they've grown over the years...
2005: $440
2006: $882
2007: $965
2008: $1111
2009: $1515 (bought a lot of Cedar Fair/FUN, and that helped here)
2010: $3616 (started playing around with a gold fund and REITs, which helped boost it)
2011: $6646 (a lot of this was increased exposure to FUN, which also boosted its dividend, plus increased exposure to the REITs. However, other stocks were growing, too)
2012: $11058 (again, a lot of this was FUN and the REITs, but other stocks were compounding)
2013: $12369 (got burned by the REITs, and the gold fund, GGN started to tank a bit, but increased exposure to other stocks helped smooth it out)
2014: $16,500 estimate. (I've kept my exposure to Gold and REITs, and expanded stuff that pays around 4-6%, such as ED, MO, RDS-B, and T)

It's kind of cool to think that my dividends can make more in a month now, than they did all year in 2009. And, even in my worst month should still be good for around $760.

 

[danwhite77]

The Cure For The Summer Time Blues

(bought a lot of Cedar Fair/FUN, and that helped here)

Just want to say that I grew up going to Cedar Point all the time and now that I have a family I took them there last summer and they loved it. I think Cedar Point is better than Disney World/Land!

 

[dvalley]

^ awesome Andre!

It just occurred to me that my investments have for the first time surpassed what I owe on my mortgage (which I don't plan to pay off). I also have a decent sized equity in the house. I paid $400k for it, owe $300k and it's appreciated to about $500k now - not that I'm planning to sell.

 

[Andre1969]

Just want to say that I grew up going to Cedar Point all the time and now that I have a family I took them there last summer and they loved it. I think Cedar Point is better than Disney World/Land!

I guess Disney is good if you have little kids and/or like all that fantasy stuff, but I'm kind of a roller coaster junkie, so to me Cedar Point is the winner, hands-down. Me and a couple friends usually try to go every year or two. Went in 2007, 2009-11, and 2013. Unfortunately we're not going this year, because we're doing two weeks in Aruba, and one of my friends doesn't have enough vacation for anything else.

I buy season passes, which let me get into any amusement park that Cedar Fair owns...Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada's Wonderland, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Dorney Park, and a few others that are further away. If I go a few times per year, I figure it's paid for itself. And, being a shareholder (or unit-holder I guess, since it's an MLP), I don't feel so bad about spending money, as it comes back to me, in a way.

I bought a lot of FUN back in 2009 when it was trading for around $7-10 per share. At the time, it was paying 25 cents per quarter in distributions, and that's what I bought it for. But, as luck would have it, the distributions stopped almost immediately after I bought it, but then the share prices started rising. And then, eventually, the distributions came back, and started rising. it's currently trading for around $49-50 per share, and is paying 70 cents per quarter.