Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020

[PhrugalPhan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowcat While everything is falling into place, DH is still questioning if we have enough. After explaining it MANY times and MANY different ways, I have boiled down my response to, "If we can't live on $2M of retirement funds, $18K of annual rental income, established HELOC, over .5M of real estate (if sold and down sized) and future SS, we deserve to live under a bridge." I think he might actually be able to understand that. This is all getting pretty exciting. Can't wait to join the ER group.

I need to remember the bridge comment too. My girlfriend is going to be pension eligible in 4 years with likely ~$800k in retirement funds (she's near $700k now) and almost no major expenses (paid house), and yet she worries about having enough. I'm still having to convince her she'll be fine.

[old woman]

My investment accounts got to a million last week. They have grown 12K since then, amazing to me the past two years is fast growth and mom died leaving me about 170K so the final payout of that put me over the top. I reached 400K about 8 years ago before the crash so from a low of 200 something it skyrocketed but I was saving about 50% of my wages and getting profit sharing and bonuses so not just growth and inheritance. I wish mom was still here but the money was nice.

[gowgow]

We paid off the mortgage on our house today! We had $22,000 left to pay but I just decided "screw it, I want to be done NOW". The downside is that the million dollar portfolio goal is now that much further away. We also (unfortunately) had to withdraw $10,000 to pay of our credit card that was getting out of control due to a couple vacations, eating out way too much, and various other expenses. The investment accounts are now at $935k instead of $967k. Of course, with no more mortgage payments, we can use that money to fund the retirement accounts.

Net worth is as follows:
Age:45
Debts:None (first time ever!)
$935,000 investment accounts
$461,000 Zestimate on our now paid off home
$500,000 Current value of farmland in Illinois

$1,896,000 Total

I think we're on track. I really haven't set a FIRE date, but think I'll probably end up working another 15 years unless the market is especially kind. I've always thought I would retire at 59 because that's when my father did. When i graduated college he really stressed the importance of saving early, and this was truly a great gift. He's a true inspiration. He's now been enjoying retirement for 16 years and his overall net worth has basically stayed steady in the 3.5-4.0 million range. I hate to think about my parents passing, but when they do, it looks like I may stand to inherit another million or so. In addition, he recently told me that he plans to pay for most (if not all) of my kids college. I'm truly fortunate and what I want most is to pay it forward to my kids, and my grand kids (assuming I eventually have some).

[wingfooted]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gowgow We paid off the mortgage on our house today! We had $22,000 left to pay but I just decided "screw it, I want to be done now).

I agree, million dollars is just a number but psychologically very comforting to put a mortgage in the rear view mirror. Now if you can just manage those credit cards....


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[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gowgow We paid off the mortgage on our house today!

Congratulations! That's a great feeling, and every month you will smile, knowing that you do not have to pay that mortgage.

I just reached a milestone number in my investible assets, for the first time. I don't really want to say what that number is, but it's a nice, round number that I have never seen before. It seems like I have been just below it almost all year so finally reaching it is a great feeling, too.

[nuke_diver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gowgow We paid off the mortgage on our house today! We had $22,000 left to pay but I just decided "screw it, I want to be done NOW". .

Congrats...I did something similar a year and a half ago and it's been wonderful to be completely and utterly debt free. I should have done it sooner but it was hard to write such a big cheque :P

[gowgow]

Thanks, it is indeed very nice knowing that I most likely will never have another house payment, and I really wanted the psychological reward. I understand there are tax benefits, and potential better investment returns possible when holding a mortgage, but it always seemed crazy to me that people would spend 30 years paying for a home. In total, we held a mortgage for 15 years (owning 3 different houses during that period). Enough is enough!

Regarding the credit cards, a big part of the problem is that our month to month spending had been supplemented for several years by a work at home company that my wife ran. She had to close the business and so we're trying to get used to living only on my paycheck which after taxes, social security and a fully funded IRA left us with 2 $2000 bi-weekly paychecks each month. We had until now been making double mortgage payments ($2000) which left only $2000 to live on. This is not easy in Seattle with a family of 4 and 2 kids.

The trick now is to figure out just how much we need to live on without letting the cards run up again. This will determine how much we can save.

[rodi]

Congratulations gowgow. I paid off my mortgage a few months ago and it was a GREAT feeling. My biggest bill is now gone. (Replaced by COBRA, since I retired in the same timeframe.... oh well.)

My latest milestone is that my investment accounts have regained the amount I drew out to a) pay off the mortgage, b) 1.5 years withdraw rate to prefund my retirement. I drew out a big chunk to accomplish this in June 2 weeks before I retired. My accounts have now recovered that amount through market gains.

[Toocold]

Two mini-milestones for me:

First, I changed my direct deposit to go directly into our main investment account and set an automatic monthly transfer from our investment account to our checking account. Mentally, I am trying to shift from "living off my paycheck and saving the difference" to "We are living off my investment income first, supplemented by my paycheck for the difference."

Second, August will be the first month that our passive income is above our living expenses. We had an especially low expense month, so I doubt this trend will continue, but this feels good!

[Andre1969]

On August 19, I broke the $1M mark in investible assets, and was able to stay above that through the rest of August. So, not I get to preserve it for history, in my Excel spreadsheet, where I keep the totals for the last business day of the month. The grand total... $1,016,956. So, onward and upward...hopefully!

[rodi]

That's a great milestone Andre.
I remember the first time I crossed 1M in investible assets.... and remember when it stayed above it for long enough to seem real.

[serie1926]

First $1M is the hardest

Congrats!

[retirementguy1]

My NW hit $250k this month. I'm 32 years old. Five years ago I probably had a negative NW of $120k due to mortgage debt. I'm looking forward to posting again in a few months when the house is paid off.

[gowgow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andre1969 On August 19, I broke the $1M mark in investible assets, and was able to stay above that through the rest of August. So, not I get to preserve it for history, in my Excel spreadsheet, where I keep the totals for the last business day of the month. The grand total... $1,016,956. So, onward and upward...hopefully!

Congratulations on this. I've mostly been a lurker here, but have been following your progress in particular because I believe we're the same age (45?) with a similar amount of investments. It's great that you broke through the one million barrier. Hopefully I'll be able to do the same someday.

[gowgow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retirementguy1 My NW hit $250k this month. I'm 32 years old. Five years ago I probably had a negative NW of $120k due to mortgage debt. I'm looking forward to posting again in a few months when the house is paid off.

Nice. Were you under water on the mortgage a five years ago? If not, then I wouldn't consider you to have had a negative net worth. Yes you had the mortgage debt, but you also has the asset (the home) in your possession.

[Andre1969]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gowgow Congratulations on this. I've mostly been a lurker here, but have been following your progress in particular because I believe we're the same age (45?) with a similar amount of investments. It's great that you broke through the one million barrier. Hopefully I'll be able to do the same someday.

Thanks! And yeah, we're pretty close in age. I'm 44. Hope you break the $1M barrier soon!

[RobLJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andre1969 Thanks! And yeah, we're pretty close in age. I'm 44. Hope you break the $1M barrier soon!

Congrats, Andre; it will go up fast from here, I think.
With my paycheck tomorrow, we'll hit 1.9 million networth (but 210K is house equity for those who subtract that). We hit 1 million Sept 2010, so we almost doubled in 4 years (not sure the bull can last another 4 years, though).
On the mortgage meme, we paid off the 1st house over a year ago, since the cash allocation was high and not paying the house interest looked more valuable than short-term bonds. It was a good feeling; I think the savings account we withdrew the $ from was paying .02%.

[Andre1969]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobLJ Congrats, Andre; it will go up fast from here, I think. With my paycheck tomorrow, we'll hit 1.9 million networth (but 210K is house equity for those who subtract that). We hit 1 million Sept 2010, so we almost doubled in 4 years (not sure the bull can last another 4 years, though).

Thanks, and let's hope that bull can continue! Back in September 2010 I was around $537K, so I've come close to doubling, as well, in that timeframe. I would have hit $1M sooner, but back in 2012 I bought a new truck ($20K) and paid down my HELOC some in 2013 ($40K)

I figure I want to hang it up at $2M or age 50, whichever comes first. I've run the numbers, and to get to $2M by age 50, I have to average a return of about 11.2%. This takes into account keeping my 401k contribution maxed out.

[Huston55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andre1969 Thanks, and let's hope that bull can continue! Back in September 2010 I was around $537K, so I've come close to doubling, as well, in that timeframe. I would have hit $1M sooner, but back in 2012 I bought a new truck ($20K) and paid down my HELOC some in 2013 ($40K) I figure I want to hang it up at $2M or age 50, whichever comes first. I've run the numbers, and to get to $2M by age 50, I have to average a return of about 11.2%. This takes into account keeping my 401k contribution maxed out.

Back in about 2006, we looked at our NW and compared it to our "number." I calculated that a 12% annual return would get us to our number by 2013. We committed to make up any investment return shortage in a particular year with additional contributions from bonuses or cutting spending where possible to achieve 12% each year. Then I plotted the annual NW we should have for the subsequent seven years. And, despite the 2008/9 dip dive, we achieved our number on schedule. Although we did fall behind in 2009/10, we stuck to our AA and poured as many $$$ as we could in each year, and got there.

Food for thought as you work to reach your number by 50.

[retirementguy1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gowgow Nice. Were you under water on the mortgage a five years ago? If not, then I wouldn't consider you to have had a negative net worth. Yes you had the mortgage debt, but you also has the asset (the home) in your possession.

When I bought the house I didn't have any equity. I only put 3.5% down. My home appreciation plus paying down my mortgage has helped me reach $250k. I do receive rental income and I plan on selling it when I FIRE so I include it in my NW.

Assets - Liabilities = NW. I had 40k cash, no investments, and 160k mortgage debt. -120k.