Finally hit my first significant milestone this week!

[jon-nyc]

Congrats on the great milestone!

 

[stoutboy]

You were still doing comparably well in 1967 so I'm not quite sure what your greater point is. For example, the $200 a week you made in 1967 is equivalent to $1392 a week now, the .50 cent gas is equal to $3.48 a gallon today, the $3000 new car: 20.8k and the 19k house: 132.2k. So with the possible exception of the house, your standard of living then was better than most people have today.

SkyView: you're doing great for your age....congrats! Don't get ahead of yourselve, however. you're 45 years old, you may live another 45 years. Go to the library, bring up some newspapers from 45 years ago and look at the ads. In 1967 I was earning about $200.00 a week, gas was under 50 cents a gallon, I had just purchased a nice new home for $19,000 and my new car had just cost me around $3000. My point is you're ahead of the game but you have a long life ahead. So, would you like to get married, could you still have children, does your family live a long time, do you think the market will gain 4, 6, 8 or 10% in the future?

My life is nothing like I thought it would be when I was 45 years old. I have a "new" wife of 15 years, a child just under 14 years of age, I'm in a business I wasn't even thinking about then, been fired from a job I thought I would retire from and live in a different State that I hadn't even visited at that time. Wow! And, I've enjoyed every minute of my life. Hmmmm......who knows but if you keep doing all the "right" things for YOU, as it appears you have done, you'll be fine. But, expect the unexpected, save and live the life you're given.

 

[Retire2013]

Thanks to all for the kind words! I had more than a few beers with friends last night in celebration. One of them even commented that I seemed like I was in a good mood? I just said, "yeah things have been going well at work". It's a strange feeling to hit some personal goals like this and not be able to share with your friends and family. For that I am thankful for this type of community where we all are pursuing similar goals and can celebrate the mini-milestones along the way.

I know the last person I am telling is my 17 year old daughter. I have her convinced it is a struggle for dad to come up with all the money I give her! We are shopping for a used car right now so she can drive to her school (23 miles each way).

I do think she has inherited my sense for money (and not her mom's thank god). Last year on her 16th birthday I took her to the nicest mall in town and told her I didn't want to pick out a present she wouldn't like so we could get anything she wanted within reason. So with pretty much a blank check offer she picked out one pair of $30 jeans and wanted to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and that was it! She said she had enough clothes and didn't really "need" anything else! I think this is one nice outcome of her going to an all girls school. Even though they do not wear uniforms, these girls are not trying to buy a lot of clothes to impress the boys.

As I said in the original post, my next goal is to get to $1 million not including home.

Congrats on your milestone, but even more congratulations is in order for having such a wonderful daughter. Thank you for sharing your happy news with our Forum.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Definitely a wonderful goal to hit. New milestones will get a bit easier due to the power of compounding, complimented by additional savings at the same or greater rate.

 

[panhead]

Awesome! ....and yes, this is a great forum for (reasonably) anonymous celebration of these kind of milestones.

 

[Andre1969]

Congratulations Skyvue! $1M is a very impressive milestone, especially at your young age! On the subject of that old phrase about first $1M being the hardest, have you found that to be true, when you consider smaller milestones?

For instance, I hit the $750K mark for the first time in August. Just out of curiosity, I went back through my records, and noticed that it took roughly 71 months to break the $250K barrier. Actually, longer, but my records only go back to March 1998, which is when I got serious about saving after recovering from a bad divorce and paying down a lot of debt.

It took 58 months to get from the $250K mark to the $500K. And then, it only took 34 months to get from $500K to $750K. So, with luck, the $1M mark should come around even sooner!

Also, it's great that you have your condo paid off, in full!

 

[skyvue]

Congratulations Skyvue! $1M is a very impressive milestone, especially at your young age! On the subject of that old phrase about first $1M being the hardest, have you found that to be true, when you consider smaller milestones?

For instance, I hit the $750K mark for the first time in August. Just out of curiosity, I went back through my records, and noticed that it took roughly 71 months to break the $250K barrier. Actually, longer, but my records only go back to March 1998, which is when I got serious about saving after recovering from a bad divorce and paying down a lot of debt.

It took 58 months to get from the $250K mark to the $500K. And then, it only took 34 months to get from $500K to $750K. So, with luck, the $1M mark should come around even sooner!

Also, it's great that you have your condo paid off, in full!

I also got a late start on early retirement ambitions due to a divorce which left me in debt (negative net worth) at age 28.

I didn't reach the $250K level until March, 2004 which would have been roughtly 8 years later.

I reached the $500K mark 31 months after that.

I then didn't reach the $750K level until 51 months later, but I bought a new condo in that timeframe at the height of the housing bubble. It lost a lot of value almost immediately which hurt, but more importantly the stock market crashed occured during this timeframe which caused a huge slide backwards in net worth for a couple years.

It then only took 20 months for me to move from $750K to the current $1 million. A major help in this timeframe was my company stock price doubled in the that period which made my options more lucrative than in the past.

My saving rate has been fairly consistent. The performance of the stock market has been the bigger factor in how fast my net worth has grown.

 

[skyvue]

Another interesting tidbit. When I joined this forum in December of 2009 my net worth was only $430K. Perhaps not a coincidence my net worth began to escalate quickly right after then?

 

[rescueme]

The first million is the hardest..........

Agree. It's like that first kiss. Hard to get, but once there, every additional kiss (assuming the same guy/gal) dosen't give that initial "thrill" ...

 

[Milton]

The first million is the hardest.

true enough; or at least, it takes the longest.

The Mötley Fool has an article on this: Google "Your First Million is the Toughest".

P.S. I like the following quotation, found at page 267 of "Eight Steps to Seven Figures" (2000), by Charles Carlson: "While saving we accumulated interest and as you know, when interest starts to compound, you either get out of the way or get run over"!

 

[iam21177]

Way to go!!

 

[JoeWras]

Way to go skyvue! I especially liked hearing about your daughter. There is a lot of hope there for a bright future.

I also like to hear about paying off debt, not matter what the source.

I'm just a few years ahead of you, and I'm not ERed yet, but I'm pretty close to FI. Firecalc shows promising numbers. Depending on the market, and the HI options available, I'll be truly FI very soon, within the year. This realization has made my w*rk life so much better. Like you, I really can't talk about this with friends or family. It would create too much friction. And for sure, I'm not talking at w*rk. Heck no.

As part of my transition experience, I'm still w*rking, but have that freedom to smile at the madness knowing I can just walk if I need to. Sometimes it is almost like an out of body experience watching the rats run around. I just want to say, "Hey, that email is NOT the most important thing in the world. Really. Trust me."

Hope you get to feel the benefits of FI soon.

 

[Milton]

As part of my transition experience, I'm still w*rking, but have that freedom to smile at the madness knowing I can just walk if I need to. Sometimes it is almost like an out of body experience watching the rats run around. I just want to say, "Hey, that email is NOT the most important thing in the world. Really. Trust me."

Amen, brother!

 

[skyvue]

Way to go skyvue! I especially liked hearing about your daughter. There is a lot of hope there for a bright future.

I also like to hear about paying off debt, not matter what the source.

I'm just a few years ahead of you, and I'm not ERed yet, but I'm pretty close to FI. Firecalc shows promising numbers. Depending on the market, and the HI options available, I'll be truly FI very soon, within the year. This realization has made my w*rk life so much better. Like you, I really can't talk about this with friends or family. It would create too much friction. And for sure, I'm not talking at w*rk. Heck no.

As part of my transition experience, I'm still w*rking, but have that freedom to smile at the madness knowing I can just walk if I need to. Sometimes it is almost like an out of body experience watching the rats run around. I just want to say, "Hey, that email is NOT the most important thing in the world. Really. Trust me."

Hope you get to feel the benefits of FI soon.

Thanks for the kind words. I am feeling the same way at work lately as well. People are stressing out over re-orgs, potential new roles, etc...and I have this inner peace because I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Lazarus]

Thanks for the kind words. I am feeling the same way at work lately as well. People are stressing out over re-orgs, potential new roles, etc...and I have this inner peace because I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A re-org was started just as I was leaving. They said in a meeting, "We will have to work harder in the short term". I piped up, "I won't."

The first day after I retired my manager would have changed. Good timing for me.

After being retired only two months I no longer am stressed about corporate bs. All fading into the past now.

 

[Trawler]

Skyvue, Congrats on the milestone!!! Awesome Job!!! DW and I celebratred the 1 million mark including house, then 1 million excluding house twice, Then 1.5 excluding house and hope to celebrate the 2nd million sometime in the future.

 

[Koogie]

Congrats ! We took different routes to get there but I know the feeling just the same !
Financially speaking, seeing that 7 figure number for the first time was probably the best feeling of my life. It represented hope and the possibility of eventual personal freedom.
Since then it is has been a little less exciting to see the figures on the screen tick upward but I have high hopes for when we hit the 2MM mark as well.

 

[skyvue]

I put this original post out in August of this last year after having my net worth first hit $1 million. At the time, that included the value of my condo. I am happy and surprised that today I hit the next milestone already which is $1 million without the condo. This market rally is a welcome surprise!

 

[EvrClrx311]

Congrats!!! That was quick

 

[obgyn65]

Congratulations.

I put this original post out in August of this last year after having my net worth first hit $1 million. At the time, that included the value of my condo. I am happy and surprised that today I hit the next milestone already which is $1 million without the condo. This market rally is a welcome surprise!

 

[obgyn65]

Thinking about it, I reached a milestone a few weeks ago : I reached my 40 quarters for SS purposes. Since I am not sure how much my NW is, I have no NW-related milestones, if this makes sense.

I put this original post out in August of this last year after having my net worth first hit $1 million. At the time, that included the value of my condo. I am happy and surprised that today I hit the next milestone already which is $1 million without the condo. This market rally is a welcome surprise!

 

[GatherYeAcorns]

Nice. When I was 33, I barely had $1500 in my savings account with a debt of 11k in credit card debt hell. Today, its a different story. I'm lucky to have a pension and I've been funding my 401k/Roth.

 

[Gasdoc]

Awesome work! 2 comma club AND mortgage paid off. You should be celebrating, my friend! I look forward to that day....one more club (RE) and you've hit the trifecta!

Good on ya, mate.

GD

 

[Milton]

Since I am not sure how much my NW is, I have no NW-related milestones, if this makes sense.

Do you have at least a rough idea of your net worth? If not, I encourage you to sit down with pencil and paper and crunch the numbers. It shouldn't take too long, if you keep reasonable records.

I don't think it's necessary (or even desirable) to always know one's precise NW; but it's good to track this on a regular basis - e.g., annually, or every six months - to ensure that you are making progress.

You can delegate the work to an accountant, bookkeeper, or financial planner ... but no one cares more than you, and it's empowering to take control yourself.