Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020

[scrabbler1]

The exact same thing happened to me! Guess we had the pleasure of experiencing that milestone several times!!

I also went back and forth across the $1M mark several times in the last few years. Now I am safely over it and are approaching $1.2M, all in ER.

 

[HFWR]

2009 - Qualified for subsidized retiree health insurance
2012 - Refied mortgage to 3.75%. Payment now lower than most 1BR apartments
2013 - Qualified for a small pension, enough to pay the TI portion of PITI

 

[LitGal]

Not sure if this is exactly a milestone, but I ERd about 6 months ago and my portfolio has appreciated more than what my salary would have been for those 6 months. With all the talk about how devastating it is if your portfolio loses value in the first few years of ER, it makes me feel a lot better. But I also know not to expect this growth forever. Still, it is nice to start ER with a cushion.

Last year, when working out the numbers to see if I could ER, I'd listed what my max. 401k contribution could be if I worked OMY. (I opted to retire anyway.) Fast forward 8 1/2 months: just ran across that sheet of paper and-- HOW NICE!!-- the 401K has grown in the current market by the same amount I would have contributed had I not ER'd. Yes, this may be a special moment to savor, and not expect it to repeat.

 

[EvrClrx311]

Net worth just crossed $300,000 between home equity ($77K), savings ($51K) and retirement (the rest)... turned 31 last week and hoping to reach $1,000,000 by 40. We'll be setting aside approximately $35,000 a year to retirement, so I guess that'll depend heavily on how nice the market plays these next 9 years and how real estate does (probably best to exclude it from these milestones).

 

[FIREd]

Passed the 35x annual expenses mark last week.

 

[REWahoo]

Passed the 35x annual expenses mark last week.

And yet you keep your DW working. Have you no shame?

 

[FIREd]

And yet you keep your DW working. Have you no shame?

None.

 

[akck]

Passed my retirement goal for the third and hopefully final time (need to retire before it goes below again ). Finally have my final 3 high years exceed my previous average, which significantly added to my pension. Have over 20 years of SS earnings, so I'm increasing my SS by almost 5% per year. Wife qualified for retirement medical benefits so we'll be double covered. Of course we both vested in the pensions, but that was years ago.

While not a milestone, the retirement goal above went from $1M down to $250K as our numbers firmed up. That's the main reason we'll be able to retire before age 65.

 

[GolfingDuo]

Within sight

Just not much of a big deal reading some of the numbers posted here.

I am a career National Guard soldier coming up on 60 years old. At 55 plus now I am within 5 years of my mandatory retirement 34 years in now and will have just under 39 when it is all said and done.

I will never be rich in money. I am though set for what we expect to have and spend in our retirement. If I get to my 60 year mark I will have locked in two pensions/annuities valued over 2100 per month. We have socked away about a 500k and it is still going. This also does not include SS so yes I will not be spending my time my time at the Taj Mahal we will just have a grand time with each other.

Together the wife and I have plans on relaxing and enjoying travel and life together. We have worked hard and enjoyed life as we have been married for 33 years. Nope not ever gonna get married again .

 

[misty57]

I remember in 1981 at age 24 reaching a milestone of having $5K in an EF. How exciting was that!!

There have been many milestones reached along the way. Sometimes it was two steps forward and one step back, but in the end DH will RE this year at age 56 - the "ultimate milestone"... and what we have been working toward since we set that first milestone way back when in 1981.

 

[wanaberetiree]

I wonder if when we reach $1M... will it also be "not enough" in my mind. Anyway didn't mean to hijack the topic, so back to it...

$100k. Woohoo

yes you will, you will what's 3-4% of $1M?

 

[LitGal]

Reflecting Back....

the list was longer than I originally thought:

--re-locating to Ohio, from SF Bay Area in 1996, cut cost of living in half;
--in 2000, used inheritance from MIL to pay off mortgage; then saved/ invested the unused "mortgage payment" until ER in 2012;
--by 2004, completed purchase of 10 years of service credit in CalSTRS (to improve monthly pension);
--during last 12 years of teaching, maxed out 401K annually;
--DH's megacorp confirmed that both he and I could pay for retiree health ins. at a reduced rate.

If not for these milestones, I'd still be grading, grading, grading.....certainly not posting here!

Thanks for asking the question: it's a reminder to appreciate ER every day!

 

[tkopel]

This is kind of a funny milestone, but we finally reached a net worth of $0! Which is good considering it used to be -$150,000 (student loans). With the Army loan repayment program, and my husband and I getting Gazelle intense on the last of our debt, and finally putting money aside for retirement, we now have $32,000 in retirement accounts and $32,000 left of my student loan. $0 never felt so good!

 

[Andre1969]

This is kind of a funny milestone, but we finally reached a net worth of $0! Which is good considering it used to be -$150,000 (student loans). With the Army loan repayment program, and my husband and I getting Gazelle intense on the last of our debt, and finally putting money aside for retirement, we now have $32,000 in retirement accounts and $32,000 left of my student loan. $0 never felt so good!

Actually, looking back, hitting a net worth of zero was one of the happiest milestones of my life! I went through a bad divorce that left me about $26,000 in credit card debt. Had to take on a second job delivering pizzas, moved in with my grandmother, and rented my condo out, in an attempt to get it paid down as quickly as possible. Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS, dunno if they're still around) put me on a 5 year plan to pay it off.

I ended up paying it off in two and a half years, making the final payment around Thanksgiving of 1998. And, I never felt so free! Unfortunately, that moment was short-lived, as it was also the timeframe my tenants decided to stop paying their rent, so I had to kick them out. They also wrecked the place a bit. Made me gun shy about being a landlord again, so I just moved back into the condo.

I was really looking forward to staying with my grandmother a bit longer, and keeping the part time job longer, and with the rental income really socking some money away. But, while things don't always work out the way you plan them to, they often find a way of working out.

 

[Karloff]

Funny this came up, last week we reached $100k.

I was just thinking of what my next milestone is. Maybe $250k.

What's funny is that as we accumulate, I keep thinking its just not that much. When I started saving I remember thinking, "man, if I had 100k. Wow... ". Back then it seemed like a lot.

I wonder if when we reach $1M... will it also be "not enough" in my mind. Anyway didn't mean to hijack the topic, so back to it...

$100k. Woohoo

I feel exactly the same way. Funny how our perception changes as we age and life gets more complex. When I was single, a little younger (29, I believe) and reached $50K in savings, I thought $100K would make me feel immensely better and anything above that was basically icing on the cake. I wish! Now, married, 35, after having surpassed that figure a couple of years ago or so, I feel that we are not nearly where I'd like us to be, retirement-wise. I would retire yesterday if I could, but my target is still at least two decades ahead of us... My goal this year is to reach $200K in retirement savings. We are getting close! Hopefully I'll be able to contribute to this thread once we reach that milestone.

 

[NYCO]

When I was single, a little younger (29, I believe) and reached $50K in savings, I thought $100K would make me feel immensely better and anything above that was basically icing on the cake.

30 years old and just hit $50,000 this week in Roth, solo 401k, and HSA. I have a long ways to go, but still a good milestone.

Another milestone I think is just refinancing my house to the lowest interest rate I'll ever see of 3.25% w/ 100% financing 30 yr fixed (I know it's frowned upon, but it's my situation).

 

[tennisno1]

paid off mortgage, kids college saved / paid for. One graduates in May and the other in two years...almost like a mortgage! I'm at financial independence now with the recent run up......and three years and counting for ER at 55......

 

[Skyward1]

I paid off the mortgage the first of the year and then finally bumped up my 401k to the maximum. I should hit $500k NW this year which for my age of 45 isn't particularly great but I'm single and I look at it as if my imaginary wife had a similar NW we would be hitting 1M NW this year.

 

[Live And Learn]

Finally realized that I really CAN retire because all my pessimistic calculations were simply overkill - I expected not one, but two or three things to go wrong. I'm now confident that I am FI (and would have a 3% starting WR). The biggest milestone was achieved last week when I told the bosses that I'm FI and am thinking of retiring. They all think something must be wrong -- how could I possibly retire at the ripe old age of 50 ? I've made it clear that I can go at any time. They are being extra nice to me now However its 9pm on a Friday and I am still at work !!! I can't wait to finally make the move but I'm waiting to see if they try and keep me a little longer by making me an offer I can't refuse.

 

[hpnutty]

2MM in financial asset value (401k, HSA, stocks, MFs, cash) and no debt. Ten years ago we were at $550M with a $80,000 left on a mortgage. That's when I became aware at the age of 44 that I needed to actively manage our investments, debt, saving and spending activities. I wish I would have started sooner.

 

[Boose]

DH and I are 41 and crossed over the $1m mark (and back, and over again) last year. Then we added a mortgage - on a great place where most of the other residents are retired, so we get to pretend. Oh, and I received a transfer from the j*b that was making me so miserable the past couple of years. Life is good, but we're still focused on ER.

 

[kevdude]

Major milestones of late:

1. Joined E-R.org in 2011.
2. Posted 1st, um, post in 2012.
3. Quit mega-corp on 2/6/2013.

Not exactly retired, more semi-retired as we have rental properties I will now manage (D/W was handling it mostly previously). Also hope to find properties to flip to help with income so we don't drain savings too quickly.

Did I mention I left mega-corp? Woo hoo! I guess this kind of puts me in the Class of 2013. Well, the Semi ER Class of 2013.

 

[jon-nyc]

'Fully funded' the kids 529, meaning by my estimation it should pay for college and grad school anywhere he wants to go. Did this before he turned 4.

 

[jon-nyc]

I'll add - we've been FI for years, RE next Friday!

 

[obgyn65]

I do remember that "one" post. One of the funniest posts ever .

2. Posted 1st, um, post in 2012.