I read her blog a bit, and she doesn't go into much detail in dollar terms on what they have. And Madison DuPaix is a pseudonym, not her real name. She does show a 1000% increase in net worth since 2003. But not the starting basis, besides disclosing it between $1 and $1 million. I'd say this 1000% is realistic, having experienced a similar "success" over the last 5 years or so. But starting with a small positive net worth and growing it 1000% in 5 years won't continue forever.
My take is that she is a rather savvy young lady, and smart. But I wonder if her goal is to make a living from selling her ER/investing/tax advice. Anyone smell a book deal coming up soon? Nothing wrong with it, but living off of book advances and website advertising still doesn't fit any definition of ER in my book. Maybe semi-retirement...
From the yahoo finance article, it says that "...two-thirds of her salary was going to daycare, taxes, and retirement savings. She now achieves the same annual cash flow [ie - 1/3 of her gross pay] by drawing down 2 percent of her savings."
So, if she was making $50,000 a year, her net was $16,667 which would mean her nest egg was $833,000 ($16,667/.02)? I find it hard to believe her personal savings had grown to this level in 6 years or so of full time post-college employment. Maybe there is some rounding errors, or errors in the article? Maybe her husband makes a half million a year and gives half of that to her to invest?
Where is John Galt when you need him?
