$500,000

[pimpmyretirement]

16.5k a year will not cover health care premiums if your under medicare age.

If you know 32 year olds willing to pay $16,500 a year for health insurance, I know agents interested in selling to them.

Insurance in your 30's can be had for much less than that.

 

[MBAVisionary]

Great job. LBYM and savings did the bulk of the work. At least you didn't buy a 66K car that will be worth 46k next year. That is what my sibling did with gift money.

I totally agree. LBYM is a fundamental principle too many ignore.

 

[Gatordoc50]

Nice. I try to keep my goals for milestones on a three to five year basis to give some leeway for corrections. I also try to envision the numbers as single digit. For instance, you have 5 dollars and try to get to 6. Or even better, concentrate on shares owned instead of value of shares. That way a big correction is easier to handle.

 

[ESRwannabe]

Congratulations. Hitting $500k is a big deal.

Once I hit $500k I would have enough to ESR. I don't think I will get there until age 40 or so.

 

[SJ1_]

I don't post on here too often, but I just wanted to celebrate with a bunch of anonymous like-minded people that I reached a new milestone. I have half a million in cash/investments. My last big milestone was $250,000 in late 2006 at age 27.

Have any of you hit milestone targets lately? Do you feel weird talking to other people about it, because you're worried that they will be jealous or want your $$$$?

That's is great!
I really do not talk about it with other people, but my wife told a friend of ours that I was retiring next year and they looked at my like I was from mars.

 

[aida2003]

Congratulations!

With the market volatility, I've hit the same milestone about 4 times this year!

...and I keep saying to myself "It's a sale", but I must force to go shopping. Now if chocolate was on sale, I'd be first in line.

To Daystar: I'm really impressed by your accomplishment in savings/investments. Are you planning a family? If so, keep up your good work until it comes, because then your priorities will probably change, but the saved money will do majority of work for you then.

 

[desihopeful]

Doubled what was already a pretty large portfolio in 5years!! Very impressive.

 

[Milton]

Good work. It is a significant milestone, so don't be afraid to treat yourself to a nice dinner out or celebrate in some other way.

Have any of you hit milestone targets lately? Do you feel weird talking to other people about it, because you're worried that they will be jealous or want your $$$$?

It's usually best to be circumspect about disclosing your income, net worth or liquid investments. People who have less may feel inadequate and/or jealous. People who have more may put you down ("Only $500,000?!"). Generally speaking, keep your own counsel and share only with those you can trust to have your best interests at heart.

 

[Finance Dave]

I don't post on here too often, but I just wanted to celebrate with a bunch of anonymous like-minded people that I reached a new milestone. I have half a million in cash/investments. My last big milestone was $250,000 in late 2006 at age 27.

Have any of you hit milestone targets lately? Do you feel weird talking to other people about it, because you're worried that they will be jealous or want your $$$$?

Congrats! That's a big number, now just keep it there in light of volatility.

Yes, we've hit milestones recently too...DW just hit $300k in her 401k, which was her goal. Now I just have to hit my mark and then we can start thinking about Snagglepuss ("exit, stage left").

We have some close friends, and although we don't share exact numbers, we have told them that we're near the point where we can walk away from w*rk and have a different kind of life. IMO it depends on how you approach your discussion and who you tell. I'd recommend only those few very close friends, and then realize that not everyone may see the world the same way you do....some of our friends think we are giving up life now in exchange for maybe having a better life later if our health holds up....so they think their way is the better option. If you have such friends and tell them about your excitement, they may not share in the enthusiasm.

 

[bikeknit]

My husband and I paid off our house a year and a half ago, shortly after he got laid off! I told a friend and think she was a little jealous. Though we spend quite a bit less on travel etc. than she and her husband do.

 

[MDJO]

Congrats. My son is 25 and just hit $125,000, no debt, and a new pickup truck. I on the other hand, opted for the Porsche.....but that was after I hit $1M, and paid off the house...no debt

 

[ChadR]

As others have said yes it can make some feel inadequate or jealous. I know it prompted those feelings in me reading your post ha ha. That doesn't mean I also can't be excited for you. I'm almost more impressed with $250k by 27 than $500k by 32. Most people making enough money to even think about targets like that are earning at least bachelor degrees. If your one of them then hitting $250k in your first 5 years of work would be incredible.

$500K would be a great milestone. At 35, I'm hoping to hit that one in another 2-3 years!

 

[tightasadrum]

I didn't even start my investment portfolio until I was 30! You've hit a home run already at 27 with $250000. wow. And, for the record, I did buy a Porsche while in the Navy. Way back then, it only cost about $7000. In fact, I still have in in my basement. Someday I'll get it back on the road again...yea, right. I'm impressed how you doubled your assets in the last 5 years. How did you do that? How much of that was new money, and how much of it was new earnings? I must be in the wrong funds.
Keep up that rate of growth and you won't have to worry WHAT other people think.

 

[daystar]

I'm also a federal employee, so I will have a small pension coming to me eventually. Right now I'm planning to retire anytime between 48 and 75. If I'm offered an early retirement option, I have financially set myself up to take early retirement between age 48 and 56. If not, I should be easily able to retire at age 57. Now the big question is whether I want to retire. I'll just have to wait until I get there to decide.

I'm not married, don't have a house, and don't have any kids. This has allowed me to save more than the average person for retirement.

As far was getting to $250,000 by age 27, my parents paid for my college and I had received cash and stock from my grandma for years before that. I would estimate at that time, that $170,000 of my net worth was due to not spending any of the gifts given to me, and $80,000 was through my own work and saving.

Now at age 32, I would estimate that $250,000 of my net worth was due to my own earnings and savings, and the other $250,000 was due to gifts I received from grandma and parents.

 

[Dawg52]

Good job any way you look at it. At 30, I had just bought my first house and that took most everything I had. You are doing just fine. Looks like ER is certainly in your future.

 

[finanguru]

Cool beans

That's great... what is your advice to other people in their twenties who might or might not be concerned about their financial future?

 

[accountingsucks]

Congrats. I am hoping to get to this milestone by December of next year. The first 100K was the hardest

 

[Aiming_4_55]

Congrats on your milestone!

Regardless of savings via salary or gift, you still have it

 

[plex]

Congrats. If you haven't started planning on your FI number, never hurts to do it early, puts life in perspective when work is tough. Personally my FI number $700k+paid off house (as long as I am living single), should hit it around 35-36.

As for health insurance, I've said it many times, people who ER in the 15-25k, (higher if not single), spending range will be able to use the heavy healthcare subsidies in 2014+, and will get better coverage than medicare provides as well, as long as they don't fall into medicaid range. Perhaps it should not be planned on until it properly starts up, but that is only two years off.

 

[Surewhitey]

Well done...we got married when I was 26 in 97 and had $6k in debt only. By 2006 we got to $250k and then $500k by 2008. Now we're retired at age 41 in Mexico just shy of $1mm...

Got a lot of help from the salaries from 07 to 11 and saved like mad people...if you want to get to ER, you got to be a little crazy that way; instead of driving the BMW, saving...

We knew we wanted to do something "good" vs. growing a bank account...it hit us this year and we were in a circumstance to do it.

I love to compare / talk about it, just think its a little taboo still in our society. People think you're bragging instead of just being excited to use it to do something "higher"...

 

[lightspeed]

The nice think about financial milestones is they come faster and faster if you stick with it. From the time I started saving it took me 17 yrs to save our first million, then only 8 yrs to save our second million in liquid investments. You are doing great, better than I was at age 32.

 

[arebelspy]

The nice think about financial milestones is they come faster and faster if you stick with it.

Assuming you space them linerarly and have exponential growth, yes.

 

[Huston55]

I don't post on here too often, but I just wanted to celebrate with a bunch of anonymous like-minded people that I reached a new milestone. I have half a million in cash/investments. My last big milestone was $250,000 in late 2006 at age 27.

Have any of you hit milestone targets lately? Do you feel weird talking to other people about it, because you're worried that they will be jealous or want your $$$$?

D*

Well done!

By any measure and even with the help along the way, you're doing what almost all on this forum aspire to do - LBYM and FIRE; and, at a pace that's very impressive.

Your post, and another one about keeping a written record on a notepad, made me go back and look at my notes on our running investment balance that I've kept in my daytimer (yes, some people still use them) for 15 yrs. It's a satisfying read despite all the ups and downs. As I reviewed that running tally, the most noticeable thing to me, and the one piece of advice I'd offer to you, is to stick to your guns and keep plowing in the savings when it's hardest - when the market is tanking. I'm young enough to remember the crash of '87 and wonder why all the 50 yr olds I worked with were in such a frenzy; and I'm old enough to have felt exactly the same way in 2001 and 2008. And, because we just kept our heads down and kept plowing $$$ in during the past 10 yrs, we've been able to double our net worth twice in that time. We are now on the verge of being able to retire if we choose.

So, keep it up and, when the next crash happens...keep it up with vigor!

 

[panhead]

Daystar, nice work! Like others have said, with help or no help that is an amazing achievement! I've known people who received nice gifts like you and have and blew it all on partying their a*ses off. It takes alot of discipline to get a chunk of cash and earmark it for a much later time in life. I also received some nice help from my parents (rest in peace mom and dad, miss and love you both).
Sounds like you (at least for now) enjoy your job and have no plans for a very early retirement. That's cool, and it's also cool you are setting yourself up to do whatever you want no matter what happens!
Congrats again!

 

[Sea Kayaker]

This board sure isn't representative of broader society... the average Joe in Canada and the U.S. are not members here.

Now since in this thread it seems acceptable to share very personal financial stats, I'll join the party. Come this January, I should cross 800k in liquid assets at 39 years old. One million has always been my "number" as to when I will ER, so I am hoping 3 more years of saving like a madman and I should be there. DW has kindly offered to continue to work, bless her heart.

Congrats to the OP for the amazing progress at such a tender age...