Millionaire celebration!!

[WannabeRetired]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetpack The biggest milestone for me was when I had a well paid day job and my business was starting to take off... There was the first month my business made more than my work.. That was fun. I quit 2 weeks later. Exciting times.

That would be a great feeling right there.

[mtheulen]

Reached 1 mil at 44 years, then watched a chunk evaporate in 2008. Regained all plus more.Never celebrated per se.Just thanked my lucky stars that I started investing at a early age

[kaudrey]

Congrats!

I hit $1M in investable assets (not counting Real Estate) in February. But I didn't celebrate - although I am sure I smiled! I might have told my husband. When my investments can swing $30K to 50K in a quarter or $150K a year, I feel like it will likely fall below that again before getting over the hump for good. I think I'll have to hit $1.2 million to feel like I won't fall below $1M again (although of course I know it could still happen).

What made me feel better than the number was the fact that I reached it 13 months earlier than my goal date. That makes me feel a bit more secure about meeting later targets. BTW, I am 45 and my DH is 40. We are shooting to retire in 12 years.

[smurray5991]

In the 1980s or 1990s, when my parents net worth far exceeded the $1 million mark, I bought my father a fake $1,000,000 bill as a novelty present. It still sits in the office in my mother's house (my father passed in 2000).

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When I went over the $1 million threshold just prior to the 2008 crash, I didn't do anything to celebrate (it didn't last long!). But I also haven't done anything since markets recovered and my investable assets are well over that now. Now $2 million might get my attention a little.....

[nash031]

My wife and I exchanged a high-five when our "net worth" cracked it, but both of us realize it's just a number, and invested assets matters more to our ultimate goal. I doubt we'll celebrate. Maybe open a bottle of wine. Then again, that could just be Thursday. :-)

[robertf57]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andre1969 That's something I hadn't taken into account in the past, but have been thinking more and more about lately. My split is something like 55% non-retirement/taxable, and 45% retirement/tax-deferred. So, maybe my balance isn't too bad. And, part of what I classify as "retirement" is actually a Roth IRA, and I think with that, you can at least take out what you put in, before 59.5? FWIW, there is something called a Rule of 72(t) or something like that, that will let you access an IRA before 59.5, without penalty. I don't know much about it though.

Just to be sure, depending on the type of qualified plan, you can start withdrawals at 55 if you no longer work for the employer. You can also create a withdrawal plan of "substantially equal payments" from IRAs using a number of withdrawal setting methods. Don't let age necessarily keep you from early retirement. Lots of good options prior to 591/2!!

Oh, and I didn't celebrate on my crossing of million $ marks. I'll celbrate when we actually retire. (Maybe 2016!)

[FIREd]

We celebrated by uncorking a bottle of bubbly. It's a milestone we passed once and, barring a global meltdown of epic proportion, one we should not revisit.

[luckydude]

NW hit $3.5 million early last year through a combo of LBYM and minor family legacy, but I never felt rich, never celebrated, and continued to live the good old LBYM lifestyle. Then last year another unexpected family legacy multiplied our NW several times. Whatever excitement I felt from this windfall was tempered by the fact that it resulted from the passing of a love one, and to this day I feel guilty about how I’ve come about it.

I had planned on FIRING late last year but got talked into working PT a while longer. DW and I still live pretty the same way---14-year-old/8-year-old non-luxury vehicles; eating out and shopping using coupons; no cable, etc. Despite the big number on the spreadsheet, the funny thing is the number still doesn’t seem real and I still don’t feel rich.

[WannabeRetired]

Wow, luckydude. That's quite the situation you're in. I think I would feel modestly rich with a net worth at $3.5 million. Multiplied by several times, I would definitely feel rich. It sounds like you're the dictionary definition of stealth wealth.

Sorry for the loss of your loved one.

[iam21177]

Congratulations!!! Way to go!

We will be hitting that mark in 2 years. Maybe we'll get a bottle of champagne, sit on our deck, and just enjoy the view!

[GSMAN]

I don't remember celebrating it as it kind of snuck by me. Although I don't know why but when I realized I reached the million dollar milestone I did feel a little different about achieving this number. I came from a very modest background and never really thought it was acheivable. I should hit the $2m mark in a couple of years and that will be cause for celebration. Maybe I will buy me a new fishing shirt!!

[Palmtree]

Go ahead and get excited. Life should have some celebrations! Despite it being "not what it used to be" it is a major milestone!

We're not there yet but it's so close I can taste it. (Our investment accounts are at 975K today.) Just a push more and we are over the line. When it does, I plan on celebrating with DW by opening a $$ bottle of champagne then a nice dinner out. It's a small mental reward for years of a frugal lifestyle.

Actually, we are already way over the line. We also own two homes with no mortages (vacation and home) That adds 700K or more to our "real" net worth. But for my personal millionaire milestone, I only like to count the number Vanguard gives me in our investment accounts.

[LoneAspen]

For a few weeks after the startup I'm at IPO'd, the stock was approaching levels that would have made we worth about $2 million after-tax on paper. But the lockup hadn't yet expired, and I wasn't fully vested anyway, so it was just funny money.

The stock has since dropped to more "realistic" levels, and the lockup has expired. I'll be fully vested in Feb 2015, and if the stock remains at today's levels, I'll have about $1 million after-tax. If they can continue growing the business (and I believe they can) and the stock doubles, then I'll have the $2 million after-tax I'm really shooting for to truly FIRE.

I'm not going to bother celebrating for "only" $1 million because I can't really FIRE on that, it's not enough. But at $2 million after-tax, yeah I'd celebrate that. Probably with a nice 30 year old Bordeaux.

[Ronstar]

I didn't want to celebrate knowing that it could go below 1m the next day

[splitwdw]

I remember watching my accounts as I grew closer to the million mark in investable assets. That was exciting and almost said the "wh****" word when we crossed. Other than letting my husband know there was no celebration. Now I'm excited about the next monetary goal. It's fun!!!!

[slazenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by David1961 For the millionaires, did you do anything special to celebrate when you realized you were a millionaire? For those not yet there, do you have any plans for how you will celebrate?

The thing I'm trying to decide as I approach this, is should I celebrate being an augmented millionaire (Net worth millionaire) or wait until I have one million in investable assets. I'm leaning towards just celebrating both and predict the two will only be ~ 2-3 years apart!

[Floridatennisplayer]

I used to think having 1m would be amazing. Now that I've well passed that in 401k and Personal stocks......doesn't seem like near enough. Even with both houses paid off and no debt.....it seems like expenses keep escalating. I think 2million is the new 1 million.

[ejman]

What I've gathered from this thread is that there seem to be several ways to calculate this being a millionaire business. Three basic modes seem to jump out and I'm sure there are many more:

1) The original accounting NW calculation i.e assets minus liabilities. The asset side definition gets a little squishy sometimes as one includes the estimated value of real estate, vehicles, artwork, hobby and other personal assets. I've even seen estimated value of clothing in some of these calculations.

2) Financial assets (Investable assets) millionaire - i.e. all assets that have a readily ascertained value on a financial exchange and are tradable for cold hard cash.

3) The Dividend millionaire = A sufficient amount of Investable assets to generate an upper middle class comfortable lifestyle without touching principal for an undetermined length of time . Maybe $3-5 million under current conditions

Of course these are snapshots at one moment in time and the line can be crossed multiple times...

Then of course, definitions really get gummed up because there is the elephant in the room... the value of pensions and SS....

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejman What I've gathered from this thread is that there seem to be several ways to calculate this being a millionaire business. Three basic modes seem to jump out and I'm sure there are many more: 1) The original accounting NW calculation i.e assets minus liabilities. The asset side definition gets a little squishy sometimes as one includes the estimated value of real estate, vehicles, artwork, hobby and other personal assets. I've even seen estimated value of clothing in some of these calculations. 2) Financial assets (Investable assets) millionaire - i.e. all assets that have a readily ascertained value on a financial exchange and are tradable for cold hard cash. 3) The Dividend millionaire = A sufficient amount of Investable assets to generate an upper middle class comfortable lifestyle without touching principal for an undetermined length of time . Maybe $3-5 million under current conditions Of course these are snapshots at one moment in time and the line can be crossed multiple times... Then of course, definitions really get gummed up because there is the elephant in the room... the value of pensions and SS....

Riding the elephant in the room is the only way I get to play in this thread. I checked mine at retirement to be worth a 2.5 million dollar annuity. So yes I am happy with my pension check, but I ain't buying the fact it's worth anything but the next months check. So I will just have to live vicariously through others posting here. And yes, I would think a million dollars is a lot of money!


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[stepford]

As I recall watching my NW rise over $1M in 2004 wasn't nearly as big a deal watching it go through $1M again (the wrong way) in 2009. I didn't take much note when it went back over 1M the same year, but I may breathe a tiny sigh of relief when it hits my goal of $2M later this year.