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Congrats on great progress !!!!
38 in SoCal, not sure how to make ER a possibility
- Thread starter dvalley
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Congrats on great progress !!!!
WyomingLife
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I just wanted to poke my head in here and say what an inspiring thread this is. Thanks to the OP and the commenters. These "time lapse" narratives are compelling -- this one in particular.
LitGal
Full time employment: Posting here.
+1
I remember the challenges of saving for retirement when living in California, an expensive state. Congratulations on all you have achieved!
dvalley, I read thru this entire thread today for the first time. Great Job! I know you will meet your 1.4 million dollar goal. I wonder too if once you get there is you will retire or keep it up for a few more years. Hopefully we will all get to read what you do.
@LitGal, good to see you back! thanks for all your support throughout.
@sheehs1, thanks for taking the time to read from the beginning and for your kind words. Good question about continuing to work a few more years. I guess we'll all have to wait and see what happens including me
My dream always was to retire to a nice quaint, peaceful area with some acerage (2-5acres) that I could build myself a nice shop on because I have so many interests and hobbies that center around tools, building, DIY, techie stuff but I always imagined it'd be with a great woman in my life. Unfortunately that part of my life hasn't quite materialized yet. I don't know if that same dream looks all that enticing as a single person, I'd rather be in a big city in that case, which might require more than $1.4M, may be 2M?...so all that is TBD!
@sheehs1, thanks for taking the time to read from the beginning and for your kind words. Good question about continuing to work a few more years. I guess we'll all have to wait and see what happens including me
My dream always was to retire to a nice quaint, peaceful area with some acerage (2-5acres) that I could build myself a nice shop on because I have so many interests and hobbies that center around tools, building, DIY, techie stuff but I always imagined it'd be with a great woman in my life. Unfortunately that part of my life hasn't quite materialized yet. I don't know if that same dream looks all that enticing as a single person, I'd rather be in a big city in that case, which might require more than $1.4M, may be 2M?...so all that is TBD!Well that (de-)escalated quickly. It's amazing how a couple of months can completely change the financial picture
My Q4 2018 update:
Networth (savings+investments) = $620k (3% YTD gain but 10% loss since the last update)
Primary home equity = $340k
AA = 89% equity / 11% cash
On a positive note I threw some dry powder at the market so may be there will be a few extra gains on the upswing
Happy New Year
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Well that (de-)escalated quickly. It's amazing how a couple of months can completely change the financial picture
My Q4 2018 update:
Networth (savings+investments) = $620k (3% YTD gain but 10% loss since the last update)
Primary home equity = $340k
AA = 89% equity / 11% cash
On a positive note I threw some dry powder at the market so may be there will be a few extra gains on the upswing
How did you lose 20K equity in your house 3rd to 4th quarter? My son lives in SoCal and I just sold a house there. Didn't see the housing market go down out there. ??
I went by Zillow's zestimate and then subtracted another $5k off the top to play it conservative.
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We closed Q4 with loss also, about same 10% on investments as yours. So hold on here, it all will be ok for us at the end. I am actually excited about market turbulence as it allows to add at lower prices, I see you are doing the same
SpinDr
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Great thread dvalley.. This could be a year where you second guess your equity allocations. Based on experiencing multiple market downturns, over 40+ years, I’d recommend holding tight and even invest more aggressively when you start to see widespread coverage about market meltdowns, historic losses, the future of stock investing in peril, or anything that indicates that the future will be very different (usually all down) from the past. These kind of messages are usually the start of better times within a few months[emoji16]
Being on the sidelines and trying to time the market is what got my friends burned in the long run and they are still working wondering when can they ever retire. I have been monthly investing in Vanguard index funds since graduating college in 1989 and retired early last year. Did not pay too much attention to share prices or listened to professionals saying the sky was falling. Buy and hold , easier said than done.
Well that (de-)escalated quickly. It's amazing how a couple of months can completely change the financial picture
My Q4 2018 update:
Networth (savings+investments) = $620k (3% YTD gain but 10% loss since the last update)
Primary home equity = $340k
AA = 89% equity / 11% cash
On a positive note I threw some dry powder at the market so may be there will be a few extra gains on the upswing
Happy New Year
Time for the Q1-2019 update. It's been a good quarter after Q4 last year. I finally broke past the previous networth high of Q3 2018 which was $690k.
My Q1 2019 update:
Networth (savings+investments) = $705k (13.7% gain since Q4)
Primary home equity = $340k (stayed the same per Zillow)
AA = 91% equity / 9% cash (8% or so is sitting in MM right now waiting for a good buying opportunity)
As for Q2, currently S&P is still 4% off of it's previous high in 2018. So if the market recovers to that point or surpasses it I should see similar gains.
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dvalley, I see you also did great in Q1, new high for your NW, congratulations!!!
UnrealizedPotential
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I don't know where you live, but you might consider moving to a cheaper area. Maybe even consider moving to another country. Sometimes we have to do things we wouldn't have considered before, to get what we want.@LitGal, good to see you back! thanks for all your support throughout.
@sheehs1, thanks for taking the time to read from the beginning and for your kind words. Good question about continuing to work a few more years. I guess we'll all have to wait and see what happens including me
I live in a cheaper area than normal, but I am considering moving again, just because by doing so it gives me a greater chance of what I want out of life. We only get one life, and it's short.
Just another option for you.
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Quoting my previous two posts #86 and #99 because I finally hit the $750k milestone this past quarter (without primary home equity). It's a big milestone and has taken a while for me to get here but usually, hopefully in my case too, the second stretch is shorter/quicker. Fingers crossed
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Great job, dvalley !!! Second stretch will go faster, gust keep going
I'm plugging away. My savings and investments reached $770k -actually peaked at $780k but then slid back down.
Using the bankrate.com calculator at 6% yoy return I'm looking at about 8.5 more yrs before reaching my target of $1.5M. Looks like it'll be a couple of years later than I was targeting but who knows things could go better or worse.
Using the bankrate.com calculator at 6% yoy return I'm looking at about 8.5 more yrs before reaching my target of $1.5M. Looks like it'll be a couple of years later than I was targeting but who knows things could go better or worse.
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Great progress, dvalley
About timeline to reach target - there are too many unknowns, and you may went too conservative with 6%, or may be too aggressive, only time will tell.
Our original plan had curves for 5%-6%-7%-8%-9% yoy returns, then we started to plug actuals and saw that our real curve fits almost perfectly 9% one. And no - portfolio does not return 9% but we earn more and add to portfolio more then originally assumed we will be able to.
So you never know how it all will play out at the end, you are just plugging away and prepared to be flexible if something will not go as planned So far so good for us though
About timeline to reach target - there are too many unknowns, and you may went too conservative with 6%, or may be too aggressive, only time will tell.
Our original plan had curves for 5%-6%-7%-8%-9% yoy returns, then we started to plug actuals and saw that our real curve fits almost perfectly 9% one. And no - portfolio does not return 9% but we earn more and add to portfolio more then originally assumed we will be able to.
So you never know how it all will play out at the end, you are just plugging away and prepared to be flexible if something will not go as planned
So far so good for us though 
