Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020

[splitwdw]

Cho oyu & Jasonjam, Great progress, congratulations!
Cho oyu, I can remember one time when we were close to $500,000. Just needed a couple hundred. I had a small emergency fund for our cars that I didn't count in with our totals. I ran the money to the bank and added to our savings account so we would be over the 500,000. mark. I get excited when we get close to certain numbers. LOL My husband thinks I'm a little nuts.

[catman2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasonjam83 Just surpassed 200k today! DW and I had a late start (me-31, DW-30) but we've come a long way since we first got married 4 1/2 years ago being about 60k in debt. Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

Great going. You've turned the corner from debt to substantial savings where you can start to see your compounding accelerate in $ terms.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[cho oyu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw Cho oyu & Jasonjam, Great progress, congratulations! Cho oyu, I can remember one time when we were close to $500,000. Just needed a couple hundred. I had a small emergency fund for our cars that I didn't count in with our totals. I ran the money to the bank and added to our savings account so we would be over the 500,000. mark. I get excited when we get close to certain numbers. LOL My husband thinks I'm a little nuts.

If I had come up a few dollars short, I'm pretty sure I would have been counting up the coins in the change jar and looking up exchange rates on all the small bills in various foreign currencies (the recent euro fall would have made all of a $10 impact!).

At least now I can stop looking at my accounts for a while!

[scrinch]

JasonJam and cho oyu, congratulations on reaching these milestones! You're both well on your way to independence!

[growerVon]

With the recent swell in equities, DW and I have hit 750k investing net worth! Looking forward to that next one!

[pletal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cho oyu As of market close today, I have breached the two comma club by all of $117. The first, I'm sure, of many a trip back and forth across that boundary as bills get paid and the market fluctuates, but it still brings just a hint of a grin when I see the numbers on the spreadsheet. Seeing the numbers is both somewhat surreal and anticlimactic at the same time as providing a brief moment of gratification from fruition of hard work and time. There's just no visceral feel of holding anything solid in one's hands and I am also not FI. The somewhat contrary feelings aren't too surprising on any account, I suppose, but it certainly would have been nice for this to have been more of a definitive event.

Surreal and anticlimactic, been searching for those words for awhile. My wife says the same thing. Hit 1mm kept going, hit 5mm still working. Until the hard work and money you saved really changes your life (retire) it probably will be the same feeling every time you hit a new milestone. We haven't retired yet, but now I know it is my choice to work or not my attitude has changed. Makes it a little easier. Congrats on all and good luck moving forward.

[Whakamole]

I just passed $900K. Slowly but surely!

[wingfooted]

My portfolio high point was achieved mid November 2014.

Then came the Thanksgiving 'Black Friday' with OPEC maintaining production in spite of oversupply concerns. My portfolio, heavily overweight the energy names took a big hit....

Effective today, I have managed to trade back above that November 2014 high point.

[lostgator]

My wife and I just crossed 500k in our retirement accounts today. I'm pretty excited about this because it wasn't too long ago (2011?) that we were in a mess! I'm 46 and she is 45. We still feel a bit behind, but we have our act together now (we're saving 60-70k / year after "waking up") and we have also paid down our real estate properties quite aggressively so that they are no longer underwater. This is exactly the point where (a few years ago) I felt like we would be OK if we ever got to this point, so today feels extra good. Thanks SO MUCH to those that patiently helped me out. It's great to see everyone making strides in meeting their goals! Best of luck to everyone!

[Trueace]

Am 30 now and recently passed 250k. My golfball has now become a softball I think.. then hopefully a basketball.. then avalanche haha.

[Retire44]

Wife and I are 42...Today's market move has bumped us over $3.2m for the first time! I've been keeping tabs on how long it takes to double from each 100k; we first hit 1.6 in Feb 2012. So about 39 months to double. If we can keep up our savings rate and the markets are cooperative, 39 months from now I may be posting from a remote location. We've been motivated over the last several years by reading this forum & learned so much along the way. It's nice to have a place to share milestones with people who appreciate/encourage your efforts!

Keep up the good work everyone!!

[Sittinginthesun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retire44 Wife and I are 42...Today's market move has bumped us over $3.2m for the first time! I've been keeping tabs on how long it takes to double from each 100k; we first hit 1.6 in Feb 2012. So about 39 months to double. If we can keep up our savings rate and the markets are cooperative, 39 months from now I may be posting from a remote location. We've been motivated over the last several years by reading this forum & learned so much along the way. It's nice to have a place to share milestones with people who appreciate/encourage your efforts! Keep up the good work everyone!!

Interesting as I just had a look and its taken almost exactly 36 months for our portfolio to double. Thanks for the idea to have a look. If we can double again in the next 4 years I will be doing the happy dance!!

[PhrugalPhan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sittinginthesun Interesting as I just had a look and its taken almost exactly 36 months for our portfolio to double. Thanks for the idea to have a look. If we can double again in the next 4 years I will be doing the happy dance!!

I just looked at my worksheet (portfolio + savings) and I see it was 33 months ago when I had half of my current amount. My high level of savings probably accounts for my faster rate. I'll be shocked, but extremely happy, if it is double 4 years from now. Wouldn't that be something .

[wingfooted]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retire44 Wife and I are 42...Today's market move has bumped us over $3.2m !!

Early 40's and $3MM+ is excellent. Gives you a decision point - become 'rich' (> $10MM net worth) or retire early.

Let the bull run !

[Rdub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingfooted Early 40's and $3MM+ is excellent. Gives you a decision point - become 'rich' (> $10MM net worth) or retire early. Let the bull run !

I agree- great job Retire44 on building your NW! Interesting dilemma Wingfooted, I used to tell my best friend that I would retire once I hit a $10M NW.

I have one good friend who retired 2 years ago at 43. He was overly stressed with work, has a young family, NW >$10M, so he "retired". He struggled his first year of retirement without a clear plan, so he started helping a friend at a startup. He got sucked in full time and retired again 2 months ago "for good". I hope it sticks.

Another great friend of mine always planned on retiring at 50. He retired last year at 50, married with no kids and probably double the NW of my friend who retired at 43. We had dinner with him last week, he bought a small piece of land and is growing organic fruits and veggies and traveling as much as they can. He is really enjoying the retired life and wished he would have pulled the plug a couple years ago.

My take is you need to be both emotionally and financially ready. I had planned on retiring this year at 45. I am financially ready and nearly there emotionally. I have a high probability of reaching a major financial milestone if I work through April 2016. My job is much less stressful now, than it was last year. So, after realizing the financial milestone was within reach, I got infected with the OMY syndrome.

[Travelwanted]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rdub I agree- great job Retire44 on building your NW! Interesting dilemma Wingfooted, I used to tell my best friend that I would retire once I hit a $10M NW. I have one good friend who retired 2 years ago at 43. He was overly stressed with work, has a young family, NW >$10M, so he "retired". He struggled his first year of retirement without a clear plan, so he started helping a friend at a startup. He got sucked in full time and retired again 2 months ago "for good". I hope it sticks. Another great friend of mine always planned on retiring at 50. He retired last year at 50, married with no kids and probably double the NW of my friend who retired at 43. We had dinner with him last week, he bought a small piece of land and is growing organic fruits and veggies and traveling as much as they can. He is really enjoying the retired life and wished he would have pulled the plug a couple years ago. My take is you need to be both emotionally and financially ready. I had planned on retiring this year at 45. I am financially ready and nearly there emotionally. I have a high probability of reaching a major financial milestone if I work through April 2016. My job is much less stressful now, than it was last year. So, after realizing the financial milestone was within reach, I got infected with the OMY syndrome.

Great job indeed!

NW of 10m or 10m in investable assets? It can make a big difference.

I'm 43, debating the very subject of ER. I'm ER'ing this summer but another j*b awaits if I want it. Financially I think I'm good - can spend >240k/yr with <3% WR. Emotionally I THINK I'm good but won't know unless I take the leap!

[Rdub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travelwanted Great job indeed! NW of 10m or 10m in investable assets? It can make a big difference. I'm 43, debating the very subject of ER. I'm ER'ing this summer but another j*b awaits if I want it. Financially I think I'm good - can spend >240k/yr with <3% WR. Emotionally I THINK I'm good but won't know unless I take the leap!

Hi Travelwanted- 10m of NW, ~1.7 real estate/8.3 investable. My wife retired last year (38) and had no problem adjusting to her new lifestyle. I have a bunch of activities/goals for retirement, so I am easing into them this year. Concerts are booked (3 down, 10 to go), I am learning the acoustic guitar, 3 vacations are scheduled, raced my car in March and am looking forward to the next event, took a BBQ/Smoking class since I love to cook. I still need to hit the driving range as I want to get my golf game back as I head into retirement. In addition to all this, my 2 little angels are keeping us on our toes with homework, soccer, gymnastics, ballet, t-ball and piano. This work thing is getting in the way, but just not ready to pull the plug on it yet. I plan on telling my boss in Jan 2016, just after I book our long summer vacation to maui.

[CamasSaver]

Hello All.

Well, I just turned 43 and from my last post and update on this forum, I past 100K back in October 2013 and have continued to make some progress in savings. Being a family of 5 with the majority of income being relied on by myself I guess I could say I should be proud of where I am.

I have managed to get $152K in a 401K and since October 2013 I opened a Roth IRA and began maxing it out the last 2 years. We now have $17K in my Roth IRA and I also opened one for my spouse this month before the April 2015 deadline and funded a full $5500 to her Roth IRA for 2014's contribution. Yay!! I also managed to boost her return this month alone with 2 stocks and made her $623 so she already has $6123 in it - WOW!! This now puts us up at about $180K in retirement so I am anxious to get to the $200K mark this year.


By the way, we have 0 credit card debt... another BIG obstacle I have managed to maintain over the last 4 years.

We also have our oldest in her first year off at a state university and have paid her room and board for the year in full. I am however requiring her at this time to take out the maximum school loans of $5500 and will help her if I choose to but put it on her shoulders to begin to learn the value of a education and also in hopes she will apply herself even more.

Keep saving and thank you for the great info I obtain when I review this site.

[NYEXPAT]

Fire'd for almost 30 years already, but did have a newborn Son 3 weeks ago!

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYEXPAT Fire'd for almost 30 years already, but did have a newborn Son 3 weeks ago!

Congratulations! What is his name?