My net worth has increased 74% since I retired 4 years ago

[Digger1000]

I retired April 3,2017 at age 51 and my net worth is 74% higher today than it was on my retirement date. Thats insane.

This post probably wont age well, we'll probably have a market crash soon. Thats ok. I can handle a 50-70% market pullback.

 

[Ready]

I retired a month later than you and pretty much the same results. The good news is that we are less likely to experience sequence of returns risk since our net worth has gone up so much in the first four years of retirement. If we based our retirement on a 4% withdrawal rate of our initial balance at retirement, we should be very well positioned moving forward.

I just rebalanced yesterday to take some of the gains off the table. No reason to be too greedy when things are going so well.

 

[CardsFan]

5 years here, and up 50%. AA is 55/45. Crazy.

 

[RobLJ]

6 years and 50% here, although part of that is the insane house inflation in Reno after we moved (I'm underestimating the house by 20% just in case). I cut down from 50/35/15 in 2018 to 40/35/25 last February, in fears of SORR, then have just allowed the stock % to go up from a low of 37% to now 50% (I put in about 4% late last March when the allocation hit 37%).
With SS about 3.5 years away and too much cash, I'm letting the stock allocation go up to 55% and eventually 60% when I start drawing SS since SORR is much less than it was 2-4 years ago.

I retired April 3,2017 at age 51 and my net worth is 74% higher today than it was on my retirement date. Thats insane.

This post probably wont age well, we'll probably have a market crash soon. Thats ok. I can handle a 50-70% market pullback.

 

[NW-Bound]

I retired 9 years ago, and my wife 14 years ago.

My stash is currently 2.01x its value back in 2012, when my earned income stopped.

While I have more money, our expenses shrunk over the years when the kids got out of college and flew the coop, such that our trailing 12-month expenses are just 2% of the stash value. That 2% of portfolio even includes a recently purchased new car paid in cash.

My WR is lower than 2%, because my wife has started her SS, while I am still delaying mine. And of course I do not buy a new car each year.

The car before this one was also purchased new in 2003. That car still only has around 30K miles on the odometer. I think I am done with buying cars in this life. Back to WR below 1%.

Who would have thunk the market god would be so generous. If he turns off the spigot, well I think I can survive.

 

[skyking1]

I retired April 3,2017 at age 51 and my net worth is 74% higher today than it was on my retirement date. Thats insane.

This post probably wont age well, we'll probably have a market crash soon. Thats ok. I can handle a 50-70% market pullback.

That's pretty exciting. Were you in construction by chance with that username?

 

[Digger1000]

That's pretty exciting. Were you in construction by chance with that username?

No. Its my nickname based off my last name.

 

[Digger1000]

I retired 9 years ago, and my wife 14 years ago.

My stash is currently 2.01x its value back in 2012, when my earned income stopped.

While I have more money, our expenses shrunk over the years when the kids got out of college and flew the coop, such that our trailing 12-month expenses are just 2% of the stash value. That 2% of portfolio even includes a recently purchased new car paid in cash.

My WR is lower than 2%, because my wife has started her SS, while I am still delaying mine. And of course I do not buy a new car each year.

The car before this one was also purchased new in 2003. That car still only has around 30K miles on the odometer. I think I am done with buying cars in this life. Back to WR below 1%.

Who would have thunk the market god would be so generous. If he turns off the spigot, well I think I can survive.

Very,very,very nice. I love it.

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ Well, my expenses can still go down a bit more as I age.

And when I start SS, the WR will go down even more. Maybe I can just live on our SS? I just don't see anything worthwhile to "blow the dough" on, other than for travel. By the time this Covid is gone, I may be too old to care to get out of town. Oh well.

I still like to see my stash grow. I am an active investor, and this is my pastime.

 

[Midpack]

Similar for us, as with many here I suspect. But I don’t let it go to my head, as we’ll have a serious pullback sooner or later. In the meantime, WHEE!

 

[flyingaway]

I retired April 3,2017 at age 51 and my net worth is 74% higher today than it was on my retirement date. Thats insane.

This post probably wont age well, we'll probably have a market crash soon. Thats ok. I can handle a 50-70% market pullback.

That means you did not spend enough.

 

[dmpi]

I'm up an amazing 90% over 7 years and I'm only 65% invested. That's one reason I'm fearful of the market. This crazyness can't go on forever. A side effect of all this is I'm sitting on large capital gains with tax rate (state and federal) looking like they potentially might take off like a rocket ship.

 

[W2R]

Similar for us, as with many here I suspect. But I don’t let it go to my head, as we’ll have a serious pullback sooner or later. In the meantime, WHEE!

Absolutely!!

Isn't this economy terrific? Once again, for the zillionth time in the past few years, I can report that today my nestegg (portfolio + bank accounts) is higher than ever before in my entire life. I love it! Even if/when we have a serious pullback, I'd be starting out at a higher amount so I could afford to lose more.

 

[street]

All of you have done extremely well!! Congratulations!

It will be 5 years on the first of May 2021 for me. I just can't beleive it is 5 years already. WOW! My portfolio is 38% larger then 5 years ago, after expenses for those 5 years of living. As far as net worth and how much that has grown I would be only guessing. The ranch I will never sell but if I had too it would worth about 7 to 8 times more then what I paid for it. My home I'm sure went up some in the last 5 years. I never use net worth for any measuring tool.

 

[chassis]

Well done to all.

 

[teejayevans]

When I see a thread like this, I know a market downturn is coming. Time to rebalance...

 

[Koolau]

At only 30+% in the market, my net worth has barely doubled in the 15 years since FIRE. Not too impressive, but I sleep like a baby and rarely check my balances (once a year, maybe.) Of course, I've gone through a bunch of money during that same period, so there's that. YMMV

 

[foxfirev5]

Even after 5 years of heavy capital expenditures my relatively conservative investments are up 28%. Not counting the lakehouse which has skyrocketed in value. On top of that my expensive wish list is shrinking. I've made a lot of purchases while prices were good (new roof, HVAC system, car etc) in anticipation of inflation in the near future.

Grateful for my good fortune. If we're able to resume travel I anticipate my rate of growth to decline significantly. ��

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

It's interesting but for my projections as I approach my date, I shave 30% the day I quit and plan 5% return and 3% inflation and still don't feel too comfortable. Ironically, I think I'd feel better if the market had been flat. I can see things rolling along for a few years but also can see a spike in inflation and crash depending on how the world economy wakes up from the rough start of the 2020s. Inflation is my biggest fear and have a long time horizon so I am staying almost 100% equities.

 

[marko]

RE'd 15 years ago with $X in a 60/40 dividend heavy portfolio.

Over the years we've withdrawn a little over that $X amount. Now, 15 years later we have over $2.5X from what we started with despite the withdrawals.

The math geniuses at TRPrice say that my 'Personal Rate of Return' (gains minus withdrawals) has me at +6.8% overall gain 'since incept' despite my withdrawals.

Yes, it's a great economy, but one must be invested--market or real estate etc-- to realize the economy's full potential.

 

[grasshopper]

After 15 years of retirement Vanguard shows a personal investment rate of 7.8%

My portfolio has grown 66%, my only BTD is adventure travel

I am starting to think I am getting to old for some of my adventures.

 

[Time2]

Our last income from work was 10/18, we retired 31 months ago.
We have spent $270k, (more than half of that for kids tuition)
Our NW is $345k higher than it was 31 months ago.
So far so go, on Sequence of Returns.

 

[Dawg52]

After 15 years of retirement Vanguard shows a personal investment rate of 7.8%

My portfolio has grown 66%, my only BTD is adventure travel

I am starting to think I am getting to old for some of my adventures.

Nah. Pedal to the metal!

After 14 years of retirement my portfolio has more than doubled but 25% of that is from inheritance. So a steady return but nothing like some have experienced over the last few years. No complaints though as I maintain a pretty conservative AA.

 

[Markola]

Great news but this string would be even more insightful if folks provided their starting withdrawal rates.

 

[GravitySucks]

Great news but this string would be even more insightful if folks provided their starting withdrawal rates.

8 years and up about 65% from starting balance. 4.5% WR first 5 years, about 5.5% WR last 3 years.