Where were you at 31?

[furpants]

Age 31 (2001)
$60k net worth. $16k retirement savings, $4k cash, $40k home equity. I was newly divorced and had just split half with the ex.

Age 37 (2007)
$253k net worth. $85k retirement savings, $10k cash, $45k investment property equity, $113k home equity. Have a new wife now, too, and she came with her own financial issues. She had loads of credit card and student loan debt, then decided to change careers (and go through more schooling) after being laid off. I supported her through all that, and we've been making some nice progress for the last couple of years.

[lucija]

Age 31 was 2 yrs ago for us...

We had some equity in our home and about 225K in investments (401(k), etc). Unfortunately, our loans (home, 2 cars) pretty much matched the amount invested.

[OAG]

1971-NW Zero to Negative.
First year of a 4 year tour in Alaska.

[packrat44]

At 31yo (32 years ago) I was working as a Mining Engineer when I met and married my wife a 22yo who was a newly minted Registered Nurse. Marrying her was the best move I have every made.

[Medit8]

I thought 20th Century Ultra was an American Century fund. At least it was when I invested in it some 12 years ago.

31 was 13 years ago. Lived paycheck to paycheck with about 3,000 saved up (in 20th Century Ultra coincidentally).

How things have changed. End in sight. 21 months to go.

[money248]

At age 31, January 2005: Single renter and IT employee down in the DC area.

Assets: 6K Cash & Liquid Accounts, 62K Retirement Accounts
Liabilities: 33K Grad Student Loans, 21K CC, 2K Bank Loan
NW: 12K

A little under 3 years later, I moved to NYC, became an independent IT consultant, got married in April and bought a new condo here in Jersey City, NJ. Now things are a little different from paying for the wedding and putting down the downpayment but:

NW:188K, 38K cash, 117K Retirement, 13K Stocks, 20K Home equity

Hope to pay off wife's student loans (30K) and car (11K) over the next 9 months. We hope to add 80K+ per year to our bottom line through home equity and 20% savings plan. Hope to be to 1.0M NW by 2017. FIRE'd by 2020 though I haven't done indepth calculations yet since I'm new here.

I've definitely increased my income but learned to keep my standard of living low and paid off all my debts that I had. Really tried to put into action what I learned in various books but the biggest is to Pay Yourself First.

[camefromnothing]

Hmmm..let's see

At 31: Wife and her debts, 1 kid, 0 savings
At 33: bought the first house, same wife, 2 Kids
at 51: ERed, kids in college, same wife
NOW: I'm 54, 1st kid graduated last year, 2nd a senior, same wife still works,

[bright eyed]

I have to revise my OP...

After all the fog cleared and ING got their crap together, I am now at $66,800, and not yet 31 (in a few weeks, i was rounding up)...hehe

i feel a little bit better...

[cletis]

At 30 I hit 100k liquid and about 150k NW. Now at 40 about 225k liquid and around 800k NW. It's kind of weird to think of it like this. Cletis

[JC_6]

I just turned 30 and I'm not married. I have $205K in emergency fund + 401K + Roth IRA + mutual funds. Another $40K in home equity so $245K net worth overall. By this time next year, hopefully, I'll be at around $300K net worth.

[saluki9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC_6 I just turned 30 and I'm not married. I have $205K in emergency fund...

You must be expecting one hell of an emergency to have an emergency fund that big at 30.

And I thought I was conservative keeping $75-80K around in short term reserves.

[laurence]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saluki9 You must be expecting one hell of an emergency to have an emergency fund that big at 30. And I thought I was conservative keeping $75-80K around in short term reserves.

And I thought the same having $20k! I always figured with impeccable credit, home equity, and large retirement funds there were lots of options if the 4 month stash got burned through. I just can't imagine both of us not finding any work at all for that long...

EDIT: oh, I see, that's all those funds combined.

[JC_6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saluki9 You must be expecting one hell of an emergency to have an emergency fund that big at 30. And I thought I was conservative keeping $75-80K around in short term reserves.

Actually, it's only $15K in emergency funds, the other $190K is 401K, Roth IRA, and Vanguard taxable funds combined. I guess I didn't word it too clearly.

[NinjaPigeon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgary_Girl That was only 4 years ago (I'm 35), combined with DH, our net worth was about $800K give or take a few thousand. No debt. Today, our net worth is $1.27 million and we still have no debt (unless you count a 17 month old toddler as debt )

I'm sure you might have posted this at some point, but how did you get to 800k at 31?

[Tadpole]

One year out of school and buying the first mattress I owned that didn't lay on the floor.

[Calgary_Girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NinjaPigeon I'm sure you might have posted this at some point, but how did you get to 800k at 31?

In 2003, this was our break-down (all figures are in CAD):

House = $379K
Retirement = $309K
Taxable Accts = $140K

Luckily, DH and I have usually been in the right place at the right time. In 2001, we were both working in the States for a large energy marketer and making good salaries plus good bonuses, which went a long way living in the South. Right before 9-11 we moved back to Canada and converted all of our U.S. cash to CAD dollars when the exchange rate was 1.5. We were able to purchase our house outright with cash (we had a mortgage for a total of 2 months ). Since then, we've been maxing out our retirement plans, our tax deferred investments and our house has appreciated with the overall Calgary housing market (now valued at $700K).

[accountingsucks]

I'm actually 31 now

Networth for me is

Home: $450K equity - have about 10K left on the mortgage
Retirement plan: $100K
Emergency fund: $10K

I guess not bad at a tad over $550K....I got lucky with the house as I paid 185K for it in 2002 and the Alberta housing market exploded around that time. I'm actually dissapointed with my retirement plan so far. I want to retire at 50 max and I need to start getting that balance up ASAP.

[kumquat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by accountingsucks I want to retire at 50 max and I need to start getting that balance up ASAP.

The power of compound interest is on your side. LYBM just compounds that. When I was your age my NW was about nil. You're on your way.

[daystar]

Here's a tale of 2 brothers. I'm 28 and my brother is 31. We received about the same amount of stocks and cash from our parents and grandparents growing up and also when we were adults. My net worth is about 300K and my brother's is 50K + about 100K home equity.

I rarely buy and sell stocks. I mostly just hold onto what I have. My brother buys and sells stocks like crazy. One could even says that he speculates or gambles. He recently lost 50K in american home mortgage. I max out my 401K and Roth IRA, while my brother contributes significantly less. My brother made $120K profit by selling a condo, while I've always been a renter. Strangely enough, I don't know where that $120K went because he only sold the condo 2 years ago. I know he must have paid off some of his wife's student loans. Maybe he blew the rest?

I've projected that I will have $500,000 by age 32 if I keep maxing out my TSP and my Roth and earn an average 8-10% a year on my investments.

[beebers]

I laugh at all the differing NW's. I think many are not mentioning inheritance and other sources that were handed down... but maybe not.

This post will hopefully be very enjoyable to read in 20 years.

I'm 31, married my wife (28) four years ago. We had $1,200 in the bank. 4 years later NW $180K = $90K IRA + TSP, Cash $50K, Equity $40K. 2 Kids. Plus no debt other than mortgage.

I plan to continue to max out the IRA's and TSP (with matching) and investing the $50k aggressively. I'm starting a job with a pension of a min $53K per year, COLA'd. Recieve the pension 20 years from now, age 51.

Military retirement kicking in at 60 worth $20K+ in today's dollars.

$73K per year min at the age of 60, in todays $. Considering we can live under $40K now with 2 kids, this is achievable.

I think I'm in pretty good shape, atleast a good start. But how in the world has some done so much better than I... Please teach.

Happy Holidays!!