Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020

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33 and at the beginning of the month crossed $100,000 in investments for the first time. It feels good. Real good.

It's about a fifth of what I should have, had I been able to stay in the military. The early retirement pension for disability is helping get by, plus the savings I made sure to stockpile knowing my career was done in, so I'm still able to sock away a little percentage to do what I can to make that investment grow. I was also able to invest most heavily in the deepest pits of 2008-2009. That's helped the most, I think.

What I'm able to put in per year averages out to hitting the limit on an IRA, paltry compared to what some put away to hit FIRE, but I can only live the life I have.

For the last decade my returns have just about matched my average contributions, sometimes greatly exceeded it, but even so I think when I start drawing on it in the next 20-30 years, it will have grown into a nice sum.

$100,000! Woohoo! :dance::dance::dance:
 
namesbond said:
I just turned 30 years old and have saved $133,000.00 with only a small car loan $7,000 left on a $15,000.00 car at 2.75% and small mortgage $64,000.00 left on a $120,000.00 condo at 3.375% for debt. Making just under $50,000.00 a year this puts me at 2.66 times my salary at a very young age. I've been maintaining a savings rate around 40%.
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That's awesome! Good for you. When I was 30 I had about 35k saved up. I blew too much money in my 30's. By mid to late 30's that began to change and I did real well after that. Keep it up. You could be retired in 15 years and be sitting on easy street assuming you can keep up the pace and you get pay raises.
 
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RetiredGypsy said:
33 and at the beginning of the month crossed $100,000 in investments for the first time. It feels good. Real good.[...]
$100,000! Woohoo! :dance::dance::dance:
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CONGRATULATIONS!!! Six figures at age 33 is absolutely terrific, IMO. You are well on your way.

I think I had about a dollar ninety-eight when I was your age. :ROFLMAO:
 
W2R said:
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Six figures at age 33 is absolutely terrific, IMO. You are well on your way.

I think I had about a dollar ninety-eight when I was your age. :ROFLMAO:
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I didn't have my first 100k until age 37. Then the bottom fell out of the stock market a year later. So I agree ,100k at age 33 is awesome.
 
I hit the $100k mark when I was 31. That was in the mid-1990s before the market took off. Those were my peak earnings years as I was working FT. I had just refinanced my mortgage so I was keeping a lot more of what I made. Congrats to RetiredGypsy and namesbond!
 
Friday I called Megacorp to start my pension. 3 weeks of w**k left and I am done, then 2 weeks of accrued vacation, and the cord is fully cut.
 
DrRoy said:
Friday I called Megacorp to start my pension. 3 weeks of w**k left and I am done, then 2 weeks of accrued vacation, and the cord is fully cut.
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Congrats! :dance:

Just for grins, you might want to take notes to record activities on your first day of FIRE. I did that and enjoy reading it once in a while.
 
scrabbler1 said:
Color me impressed, too. I pierced the 60% savings rate twice in my working years, but that was due to some very strong years of investment income which got reinvested and therefore counted (for me) as part of my savings rate. I was usually in the 35%-55% range for most of my working years.
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By the way, I don't count rental, dividend and growth income in my savings rate calculation. I think it is fair to focus on savings rate of earned income. That way I don't become a sloppy saver when market does better. What helped me bump up savings rate from 10% to 60% over the years were:
1. Hawkish eye on avoiding lifestyle inflation
2. Got lucky with hefty pay raises
 
pjigar said:
I envy young savers as well. I was at $107,000 net worth when I was 30 but I was earning close to $90,000/year so 1.2x salary savings ratio which wasn't that great. Now saving ratio is 6x salary at 42. And savings rate is approaching 60-65% of salary.
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Wow- that's awesome! Our best savings rate year was a little in excess of 40% of our gross pay, but our taxes are hefty. We're proud that the last 5 years or so we have saved more than we spent!
 
Vincenzo Corleone said:
Recently climbed to over $2.75M (not including home). On schedule to reach $3M by September. I can't believe it. :dance:

Just turned 50 last month. Looking to FIRE by 55. :cool:
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So my wife recently updated Quicken to include some updates to an older 401K from a previous employer she still hasn't rolled over. We're now at the point where we can take 4% of our stash to cover our expenses. I'm only 50 though, so I'll have to wait a few more years (IF things continue as they are) before considering RE.
 
Jasonjam83 said:
Update! Just surpassed 300k!


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
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DW and I just hit 400k. 9 months ago our net worth was 300k, so with a couple of salary increases and the market gains we've been able to average a save rate of 11k per month over that time period. Hopefully we can keep this pace up!
 
pjigar said:
By the way, I don't count rental, dividend and growth income in my savings rate calculation. I think it is fair to focus on savings rate of earned income. That way I don't become a sloppy saver when market does better. What helped me bump up savings rate from 10% to 60% over the years were:
1. Hawkish eye on avoiding lifestyle inflation
2. Got lucky with hefty pay raises
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I understand what you're saying. But I included nonwage income because my wage income varied so much in my working years, mainly from twice reducing my weekly hours worked in the last 8 years I worked. Based on only my wage income, my savings rate would have dropped a lot, making that rate unrealistic if not irrelevant. My investment income was growing in those last 8 years thanks to my growing portfolio and strong investment returns in the mid-2000s. So I think it is relevant to combine the two income sources because they both represent money coming in but not spent.
 
My first post here...I've been reading the forums for a while, but decided to finally register and start posting.

33 year old from Canada here.

In just realized that in January I hit a milestone $250,000 invested in my portfolio (combination of funds & stocks). Most in Registered retirement accounts, the rest in Tax Free Savings Account.

Next milestone would be half a million I guess. Hoping to crush it before 40.
 
Just crossed a half million dollars in investable assets 2 weeks shy of my 32nd birthday. :dance:
 
Rdub said:
Congrats, that is a big milestone!
BTW- does your user name refer to the car or something more cosmic?
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Neither. It's a reference to the geographic location in which I live- Northern Virginia abbreviated NoVa, just outside of DC
 
wingfooted said:
Just a question. I've got more or less the same 'problem'.

How do you emotionally handle the rollercoaster in net worth while maintaining an investment portfolio. The daily swings can be ferocious.
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Yeah the ups and downs can be pretty wild- I've seen my portfolio lose 1.5 million and single day drops of over 100k. But whenever I see the huge drops I just remember that there have been huge gains in a single day too. I think my biggest single day gain was a bit over 90k.

I always continue to just shrug my shoulders and stay the course. The good Lord giveth, and the good Lord taketh away.
 
wingfooted said:
Just a question. I've got more or less the same 'problem' [of 5 mill investment portfolio].

How do you emotionally handle the rollercoaster in net worth while maintaining an investment portfolio. The daily swings can be ferocious.
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We are in that ballpark. The last few years have been easy. Remembering back to 1987, 2000, and 2008-09, it wasn't fun to see the percentage swings even with the then smaller portfolio. But, you just ignore them and follow the investment plan.

If you can't ignore the air pockets that will necessarily be hit, your portfolio allocation is too heavy on equities. And if you think there is a chance you can't ignore them just because you now have a bigger portfolio, or have retired, you need to adjust the portfolio allocations now. We've been moving toward a bigger fixed income alocation in anticipation of soon retiring. Given we were 100% equity for forever, we still look too heavy to most--but we have enough "cash" and short term bonds to survive a relatively long bear market with no equities being sold.
 
novaman said:
Investment portfolio crossed the 5 million mark today.
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Congrats on that milestone. I closing in on that number...not quite there yet but getting close. Plan to fire before year end 2017.
 
DrRoy said:
Friday I called Megacorp to start my pension. 3 weeks of w**k left and I am done, then 2 weeks of accrued vacation, and the cord is fully cut.
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Congrats DrRoy....just seemed like yesterday when I saw your post that you had given your 8 month notice.
 
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