Crossing into 7 figures

[modlair]

My view was to get out before the end of the Clinton administration. I felt strongly that things were going to go to hell after him.

I was sure right about that. Clinton made me a lot of money and I have been lucky enough to hang on to it.

Useful to keep in mind that the great Crash of 2000 was what it was and it extended into 2001 and was amplified via 9/11. The President of the US in the year 2000 was Clinton.

But no matter. There are a handful of folks out there who did indeed sell in 2000. Good job!

As for raising the bar, I think it raises itself. Even the frugal elevate their lifestyle as they get pay raises. You may have set the bar 15 yrs ago and then had 15 years of pay raises. Each pay raise you banked 2/3 and spent 1/3 (raised your lifestyle). Each increment of lifestyle raised the bar.

 

[scrinch]

I originally set the bar at $1M back in the 80's...then upped it to $1.5M and finally $2M (nominal) as our lifestyle improved (but while those numbers were still far away). Reached $1M in 2001 and $2M early this year, and am now struggling with "is it enough?" as well as the other RE issues (like what kind of example am I setting for my kids if I stop working?). Reaching $1M called for a toast with my DW at a quiet moment, but it was far from the goal, so it was only a token celebration...similar to the "burn the mortgage" toast.

I too have kept track of finances for a dozen years or so in Excel, but only quarterly. Any more often than that seemed to me like, as my old engineering boss used to say, "using a micrometer to measure a camel's ass."

 

[Nords]

However, I'm still curious about the second part of my original question: when you finally reached some predetermined goal/amount, whether it was $1M or some other figure, did you have the temptation to raise the bar. I'm asking for an obvious reason. I'm closing in on a figure I set a long time ago as my goal. Now that I have nearly reached that goal, I'm finding it difficult to resist the temptation to "add a little cushion." I can't really say that a cushion is actually necessary, but I still hear the siren call to "add a little more." Adding "a litttle more" would not entail an inordinate sacrifice, but I wonder whether if, after reaching the new goal, I'd feel compelled to bump up the bar another increment. My question is whether that is a common phenomena. And, if so, how have others dealt with it?

Yes, it's called "paralysis by analysis", but it stops when you die.

It also stops when something makes you realize that you've reached diminishing returns. In my case it was retiring from the military, a clear break that required either a job search or a longboard.

Others' diminishing returns are reached when:
- they have a health scare,
- they have a family crisis,
- when the weight of their BS bucket exceeds the weight of the benefits bucket,
- when their boss decides that they need to have a bad day,
- in the middle of a truly sucky meeting,
- when they realize that their airplane includes two sets of wings, a backup set of rotors, three parachutes, and a pogo spring. You can only pad so much and at some point you're missing more than you're gaining...

You've also read Bernstein's five-part "Calculator From Hell" articles, right?

 

[free4now]

I remember crossing into 7 figures around the time there were comercials for the Bachelor TV show with the tagline:

"He's a millionaire, 6 feet tall, 31 years old, and ivy league educated". [girls swoon]

And all of that was true of me, but I didn't have girls swooning or competing over me

Now that I'm actually living off about a million in California, I feel like a pauper with money. But like a prince with freedom and time.

 

[Leonidas]

Others' diminishing returns are reached when:
- they have a health scare,
- they have a family crisis,
- when the weight of their BS bucket exceeds the weight of the benefits bucket,
- when their boss decides that they need to have a bad day,
- in the middle of a truly sucky meeting,

What, you didn't like the meetings?

It got to the point where I was drawing pictures of sailboats on the obligatory notepad and dreaming of being far away. That way I got a small amount of enjoyment out of the time spent rather than walking out and mumbling, "I bet when I'm on my deathbed that I'll really regret wasting the last hour."

 

[Martha]

What, you didn't like the meetings?

It got to the point where I was drawing pictures of sailboats on the obligatory notepad and dreaming of being far away.  That way I got a small amount of enjoyment out of the time spent rather than walking out and mumbling, "I bet when I'm on my deathbed that I'll really regret wasting the last hour."

I quit going to meetings. Period.

 

[justin]

Just do work during meetings and double bill.

 

[SteveR]

.. Adding "a litttle more" would not entail an inordinate sacrifice, but I wonder whether if, after reaching the new goal, I'd feel compelled to bump up the bar another increment.  My question is whether that is a common phenomena.  And, if so, how have others dealt with it?

In my case, I have raised the bar several times. Life events changed my thinking and long term plans several times and along with them my financial needs. My bar is pretty high but for many personal reasons. I ER'd in 2002 but choose to add to the next egg one more year. My wife died during that time and I choose to remain at work...more to keep my mind focused than for $$ reasons. I could have very easily stopped working and lived on my nest egg in relative comfort the rest of my life. However, I remarried a year ago so my bar got raised again for many reasons and my future changed to include more activities than it once did. Now we are in the final stretch. While I am indeed FI, I choose to still work. My bar is not much higher than it was several years ago... the difference is that I have made it past that mark and am now just coasting while I prepare my nest egg to provide income for the next 3-5 years and beyond.

In my case I have raised the bar just because I am that way with many things. Being raised as goal oriented does have some drawbacks but I will just have to learn to deal with them I guess.

 

[modlair]

I quit going to meetings. Period.

I run a big project. It's an important project with "important" having a broad meaning well outside the business aspects -- meaning the project is important to the US's next generation fighter aircraft. US air superiority is not a God given right and without it we will lose the upcoming wars to be fought over oil.

Blah blah.

The project is late, is going to be later, there's nothing anyone can do about it, it's no one's fault, and the search for a scapegoat will eventually decide on a handful of people. I have a truly excellent chance of being numbered among them.

At some point I will walk. I will "Stop going to meetings. Period." Lots of people have important jobs and they walked. No one is indispensable.

Not much longer.

 

[flipstress]

"He's a millionaire, 6 feet tall, 31 years old, and ivy league educated".  [girls swoon]

And all of that was true of me, but I didn't have girls swooning or competing over me 

Please post a picture of yourself and I will try to find the swoon emoticon/thingy. 

Wait, actually, no need for a pic      (couldn't find a swoon one)

 

[HFWR]

I'm six feet tall...

Does being thousandaire count? :

 

[wabmester]

And all of that was true of me, but I didn't have girls swooning or competing over me 

Yeah, what's up with that?   Do the babes not go for millionaires anymore, or is it just that they can't sense my millionaire aura?

And where's the mansion and the yacht that Elmer Fudd kept talking about?

Turns out the term "millionaire" was coined about 150 years ago.   Back then, it basically connoted what "billionaire" does today.

BTW, I noticed a new feature on zillow.com recently.    Check out the home of the Beverly Hillbillies.

 

[Andre1969]

I always thought the mansion used for the Beverly Hillbillies got torn down and replaced with something bigger, but danged if that doesn't kinda look like it!

A bit out of my price range, though. Heck, $1M doesn't get you much any more. Maybe <a href="http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?city=NORTH+HOLLYWOOD+&state=CA&zprop=20025974" target="_blank">this place</a>. And even here you'd have to send your 6 kids and housekeeper down to the gas station every time they needed to use the can!

**edit: oops, that didn't work the way I wanted to, but at least the link is clickable.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

A tall rich good looking guy that doesnt need to carry a baseball bat at all times is in need of better marketing.