What to do after you reach 1 million?

[CyclingInvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm CYCLINGINVESTOR, how did you ever make you income back from quiting work. 1 million can't offset your salary there.

My investments did well in the 5 years from mid-2001 when I hit $1m to Oct
2006 when I retired due to a very heavy REIT allocation for most of that
time. The 72(t) payout from my big IRA (funded almost exactly from dividends)
plus the dividends from my regular stocks (minus taxes) roughly matches my
pre-retirement spending. I did not need to replace the part of my salary used
for saving / SS / SDI etc. I also 'celebrated' reaching FI in 2002 by paying off
my mortgage, so my cash flow is actually much higher now than it was for most
of my career.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Not sure exactly where your restlessness is coming from having achieved $800K or so in liquid assets (for planning purposes, many don't include home equity as a variable in their FIRE plans unless a specific sale or downsizing is scheduled). You have done very well.

Stay with the plan, meaning steady as she goes with good diversification, disciplined savings, avoiding overspending, etc. etc.

If you're looking for some mental payback for having gotten to be a millionaire, consider this: whatever your anticipated annual expenses might be in retirement, your investments might now -- or soon -- generate that much in returns every year without your doing a thing. OR maybe you haven't gotten there yet, but that milestone will keep you on track so you don't do something crazy and lose your first million in 5 years.

[unclemick]

The 1990's was a weird decade.

Circa 1990 - my engineering graph paper and no. 2 pencil said I would have 1.3 mil by 2007 at age 63 if I worked, max contributed my 401k and made 10%/yr on average.

Layed off at the end of 1992 - no further contributions I am within 150k by doing nothing. If you could add back the 130k(2005,& 06) to replace Katrina losses - so close it's scary.

Life is often stranger than fiction. But I'll take it.

heh heh heh - a shill for the Boglesque: stay the course, hurry up and just stand there, balanced index - AND lest we forget a little pssst Wellesley for special cases.

[DRiP Guy]

You say you are 32 and have been saving 32 years...? Now that's starting early!



[edited to remove comment about NW and home valuation.]

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm Is there anyone out there that has advice on how to take $1 million to the next level?

You could consider a divorce to keep you in a familiar zone?

Ha

[maddythebeagle]

I will take an entirely different point of view and say that OP is completely full of **** ...........why on earth would a new poster be fishing for ideas on what to do next if he didnt already have most of the answers (from accumuling so much at that age).....what ever happened to the guy that wanted to FIRE at age 16...at least that guy was funny....

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm Am I paranoid? Someone please tell me.

Yeah, probably a little bit. (But nobody's perfect).

32 years old, $1,000,000.00 net worth.

Buy your parents a new car of their choice, then continue on.

[Harm]

I'm not a new poster. I just haven't posted alot!

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. I read once that if you want to learn to be a multi-millionaire, then ask one. So I'm hoping to learn from the people who have $1-$5 million to help me get there.

If you don't have 1/2 million yet, ask away. Maybe I can help you.

Every level should have a different mentality, IMO.

My parents saved alot from being frugal. But after saving, they still are frugal. But what is saving 5 dollars on gas going to do for you when you have a million or so dollars? I KNOW that is how they got there, but, well, shouldn't your context change after making the money? Same with making money.

Either way, thank you all for your postings. It does seem that to achieve great wealth, one needs to be in direct investments and run businesses. But with that said, the poster who said that making the first millionaire the hardest might be correct. Maybe I'll get that "feeling" that things are good with just investing in stocks/bonds/REITS as always.

[LOL!]

I think he just wants to play with the big boys now. He has almost a million, so he believes that some better investments are now available to him. But the reality is that a million ain't what it used to be with inflation and what-not. He may fall into the mindset that he deserves a wealth advisor or financial advisor ... he can afford it after all he's a millionaire dammit.

But the big boys have moved away from next door. He barely meets the private client criteria for WellsFargo banking. Also the idea of "managed account" is a crock to generate fees. Other things like hedge funds, private equity, managed futures, also generate huge fees that come from your pocket.

Oh, I am a multimillionaire and I am not in "direct investments" and I do not run a business. I do not invest in real estate. I just invest in mutual funds, ETFs and stocks.

[unclemick]

I hate to be a weeny - but I can't resist:

The last little dip de do - the 2000-03 market limbo - it dawned on me my down leg per Mr Market was more loss on paper than I ER'd with Jan 1993.

Interesting little 'pucker test'. Having survived that without breaking and running - I repeat Bogleism's a lot.

Now I are an 'old curmudgeon' - BUY Target Retirement! When you get to ten million post from your villa in the Bahamas!

heh heh heh

[DRiP Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm But what is saving 5 dollars on gas going to do for you when you have a million or so dollars? I KNOW that is how they got there, but, well, shouldn't your context change after making the money?

Sorry, dude. I was trying to suspend disbelief, but you just blew any credibility for me.

Now, it may be that somehow someway you have $1MM NW in your name, but I can guaran-dang-tee you that you did not EARN it , having an attitude like that.

Nor, would you be likely to keep it, BTW, which is far more important!

Take it for what it's worth.

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm My parents saved alot from being frugal. But after saving, they still are frugal. But what is saving 5 dollars on gas going to do for you when you have a million or so dollars? I KNOW that is how they got there, but, well, shouldn't your context change after making the money? Same with making money.

Some of my co-workers knew I had been FIed long before I ERed (a mistake I wish I could take back- the telling part, not the ERed part). There were times when I would complain about the cost of something, or talk about ways to save money, that someone would pop off with "Man, if I had your kind of money I wouldn't worry about piddly crap like that!"

Trying to explain that a million is not that much money to someone whose net worth is $75,000 was wasted breath. So, I developed this saying "Dude, rich people don't get rich by giving their **** away to other people, and they damn sure don't stay rich by doing it either."

[DRiP Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas "Dude, rich people don't get rich by giving their **** away to other people, and they damn sure don't stay rich by doing it either."

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm It does seem that to achieve great wealth, one needs to be in direct investments and run businesses.

Where'd you get that from? Seems to me most here are/were employees, military or gov't with pensions, professionals, and just hardworking folks in average paying jobs, all of whom mostly seem to use mutual funds and live beneath their means. No magic and not too many silver spoons.

No doubt plenty of entrepreneurs and direct stock investors here too, but your characterization that "one needs to be in direct investments and run businesses" doesn't really ring true in my experience.

[Corporateburnout]

Let's see......having a $1 million net worth at 32 and asking for advice........ Sounds fishy to me : : :

[Harm]

Some of you people think it's not possible to have 1 miillion net worth by 32. I don't understand.

Let's see, I had no debt (parent's paid for my college)

I was a TA in graduate school... earned some money there.
Married someone who earned my same salary.
Sold stock in 1999 to buy a house.
Rode the 2000-2002 market because lots of money went to the house downpayment.
All the while, extra money went to buy stocks at depressed levels.
Maxed out 401K, Roth (when we could), IRA.
Added to taxable accoutns stocks/bonds.
Rode 5 good years of market
Live in the northwest and rode housing boom last 2-3 years.

Not possible?

[Harm]

And kept expenses at $60000/year.
And got a 15 year mortgage at 5.25%

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corporateburnout Let's see......having a $1 million net worth at 32 and asking for advice........ Sounds fishy to me : : :

I'm not ready to jump and call Harm a fraud. Thanks to luck, the bull market of all times, and some good advice I had that kind of net worth before I was his age. I've got 16 years on him now and am worth a lot more, but there are plenty of people here with less $ than me that know a heck of a lot more about some of this stuff.

There was a time that I thought I was the smartest SOB around, right up until October 1987. On Black Monday I watched about a million of my dollars go *poof* and I knew I was not anywhere near as smart as I thought I was. The next day I talked with my broker and she offhandedly said that she had been talking to some of her clients "who have real money" and I knew a million bucks wasn't as big as I thought.

Modified to add:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm I just can't believe some people not thinking it is possible!

I don't have a problem believing it possible at all. In 1987 I was 28 years old and I lost nearly your net worth in a day.

[Harm]

I just can't believe some people not thinking it is possible!

[bssc]

I don't think that there are any great secrets, just LBYM and don't invest in anything that you don't understand or that you have a bad vibe about.

No one is going to say, well, now come invest in my hedge fund and you can start making 28% a year risk free if that is what you are looking for.

I still save more money clipping coupons than I do on having fees waived on my brokerage account since I am now a "high net worth individual"