Share Your FIRE Milestones - 2021

[Letj]

This is all market appreciation with no new funds since I'm retired. I'm an aggressive investor, with no bond exposure. I have one index fund (S&P fund) and a significant share of AAPL. I own both of these for the long term and do not trade them. I was up 29% in 2020.

That’s amazing. Congratulations! Getting lucky in the right stock would do it.

 

[RxMan]

I just realized I hit an unexpected financial milestone in 2020. The gains in my 401k plan outpaced my total salary for the year 2020 for the first time ever. Granted I make a lot less money than I did at my previous job 4 years ago but I’m still impressed.

My mind can’t process the idea that my money could be working to make more money for me than I can earn at a job. I sure do like the idea though!

 

[Alvin Tostig]

Just hit $3 million and if counting my house $3.5 million. I "retired" in June 2019 at age 63 (I'm still working maybe 8 - 10 hours a month as a consultant to my previous company...so in my mind I'm 99 percent retired).

So, in June 2019, my net worth was approximately $2.5 million without the house and $3 with the house. Amazing how much my net worth increased and I've actually left $ on the table as I gradually revised my AA from 65/35 to 45/55.

Never would have projected this....

 

[stlguy57]

Congrats Alvin. I've noticed the more the money grows, the faster it grows as well. Enjoy your retirement.

 

[Exchme]

Will be retiring within a month. Have been FI for a while but had a hard time believing it and my wife had an even harder time as I would get all wrapped up in fancy analyses and her eyes would glaze over. The analysis that finally convinced us was the simplest. I assumed no growth above inflation and found that even if we both lived to 95 years old, we would spend far less than what we have. Now it seems silly to have waited so long!

 

[slowsaver]

My investments just crossed $3M this week.

Two and a half years ago, they crossed $2M. Four years before that, I crossed $1M.

 

[Dtail]

My investments just crossed $3M this week.

Two and a half years ago, they crossed $2M. Four years before that, I crossed $1M.

Congrats.
Looks like Slowsaver is speeding things up.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

My investments just crossed $3M this week.

Two and a half years ago, they crossed $2M. Four years before that, I crossed $1M.

Awesome! Congrats!

I just noticed that my previous employer 401(k) account has quadrupled in value. It had a balance of ~150K in 2010 and it's up to 634K as of this morning. I haven't contributed a penny since 2010. I did rebalance twice a year if the levels got too far out of whack. It was 100% stock index funds until a few years ago. I have since diversified to a 60/40 allocation and continue to rebalance twice a year if necessary or if my bond allocation goes below 35% or above 45%.

Vanguard says my rates of returns for that account are as follows:
1 year: 24.5%
3 year: 13.2%
5 year: 15.1%
10 year: 12.0%

I've been very fortunate.

Just goes to reinforce the power of compounding.

 

[KevinZ]

I will retire on April 1st (not a fool) and DW will do in June. Both at 60 years old.

 

[chicamuxen]

I will retire on April 1st (not a fool) and DW will do in June. Both at 60 years old.

Awesome. Congrats!

 

[cnocmmz]

Buy and hold no-matter-what strategy has continued to work well through 2020. NW increased to 5.9M and IA to 5.2M. My original goal was to cut the cord at IA of 3.0M and waited till the nut reached 3.8M to do it for a little added cushion. With two mini pensions and two future SS checks and a small rental income, Firecalc says we're good to spend $217,000 annually at 100%, but most years we spend 50 -60k. Gonna have to try to step that up in 2021.

Impressive indeed!

 

[Digger1000]

I became a millionaire on Jan 7 or 8 of this year, I forget which one. All of my net worth is investable money.

Retired April 2017 at age 51 with 625k. My yearly spending is 2.3% of the amount I had at retirement.

 

[street]

^ that is outstanding! Very disciplined life style and I tip my hat to your success.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

That's awesome Digger1000! You should be very proud of yourself. Compounding works.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Congratulations, Digger1000! At 2.3%, I think you can at least adjust your spending to reflect that percentage of your current balance, as it's still a very conservative number, but I suppose if you feel like you've got all you will ever want, then you are definitely set! Go you!

 

[Bigdawg]

I became a millionaire on Jan 7 or 8 of this year, I forget which one. All of my net worth is investable money.

Retired April 2017 at age 51 with 625k. My yearly spending is 2.3% of the amount I had at retirement.

Congrats. Let me get this straight, you live on less than 15K/yr? Wow!

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

I became a millionaire on Jan 7 or 8 of this year, I forget which one. All of my net worth is investable money.

Retired April 2017 at age 51 with 625k. My yearly spending is 2.3% of the amount I had at retirement.

Congratulations, Digger 1000!
I'll be 51 this year but will probably have to wait until 55 to pull the plug since most of my funds are in 401(k)s.
I'm envious!

 

[Digger1000]

Congrats. Let me get this straight, you live on less than 15K/yr? Wow!

Yes, less than 15k per year on average the last 4 years. $0 health insurance premiums along with $0 federal and $0 state income taxes helps.

 

[Alex The Great]

Yes, less than 15k per year on average the last 4 years. $0 health insurance premiums along with $0 federal and $0 state income taxes helps.

This is definitely impressive. I guess you live in very low cost area, correct? And what does it mean $0 health insurance premium? You're on Medicaid expansion?

 

[Dtail]

This is definitely impressive. I guess you live in very low cost area, correct? And what does it mean $0 health insurance premium? You're on Medicaid expansion?

If one has a low enough MAGI, but is still above the FPL, then one can pay zero premiums for some Bronze plans as one example.

 

[Digger1000]

This is definitely impressive. I guess you live in very low cost area, correct? And what does it mean $0 health insurance premium? You're on Medicaid expansion?

I had about 20k in cash when I retired. So until about 6 months ago the only taxable income I had was dividends but those were qualified dividends so they arent taxed. I moved from small town Iowa after I retired to a Cleveland suburb. After I moved here Ohio changed their tax rates and now the first 22k is taxed at $0. Plus their is a $2,350 deduction so you can make 25k and not pay any state income tax. I had no idea Ohio was going to do that. I am planning to move to east Tennessee eventually.

I have been getting about 9k a year in dividends(plus I had cash to live on for 3 years) and so I have been converting 15k a year to a Roth IRA. But I have a longterm capital gains loss of 3k that I can carryover every year(currently at 84k in longterm loss carryover). Anyway my total income for ACA ends up being 21k. You can make 25k a year and get a bronze plan for $0 premium. The maxium out of pocket is 8k for my bronze plan. In 2019 I had an unexpected hernia. I travelled 366 miles down to DC and had surgery done for 1/3 of what it would have cost me here. I drove home the next morning leaving at 5:15AM after waking up from surgery the day before at 4PM. I never took any pain medication at any time in the weeks after surgery(I had it but didnt need it). The total cost I believe ended up costing me right around $2500 including motel and about $80 in tolls. My total spending in 2019 for everything in life was $15,600. It was under 13k in 2018. I havent figured up 2020 yet but it will be under 14k.

So with my 3k longterm carryover loss I will be able to continue converting about $15,500 a year to a Roth without having to pay taxes to anyone and keeping my bronze plan with a $0 premium. Only 22.5% of my money is in tIRAs.

Hope the above isnt overly confusing.

 

[Alex The Great]

I had about 20k in cash when I retired. So until about 6 months ago the only taxable income I had was dividends but those were qualified dividends so they arent taxed. I moved from small town Iowa after I retired to a Cleveland suburb. After I moved here Ohio changed their tax rates and now the first 22k is taxed at $0. Plus their is a $2,350 deduction so you can make 25k and not pay any state income tax. I had no idea Ohio was going to do that. I am planning to move to east Tennessee eventually.

I have been getting about 9k a year in dividends(plus I had cash to live on for 3 years) and so I have been converting 15k a year to a Roth IRA. But I have a longterm capital gains loss of 3k that I can carryover every year(currently at 84k in longterm loss carryover). Anyway my total income for ACA ends up being 21k. You can make 25k a year and get a bronze plan for $0 premium. The maxium out of pocket is 8k for my bronze plan. In 2019 I had an unexpected hernia. I travelled 366 miles down to DC and had surgery done for 1/3 of what it would have cost me here. I drove home the next morning leaving at 5:15AM after waking up from surgery the day before at 4PM. I never took any pain medication at any time in the weeks after surgery(I had it but didnt need it). The total cost I believe ended up costing me right around $2500 including motel and about $80 in tolls. My total spending in 2019 for everything in life was $15,600. It was under 13k in 2018. I havent figured up 2020 yet but it will be under 14k.

So with my 3k longterm carryover loss I will be able to continue converting about $15,500 a year to a Roth without having to pay taxes to anyone and keeping my bronze plan with a $0 premium. Only 22.5% of my money is in tIRAs.

Hope the above isnt overly confusing.

Digger1000, thank you so much for details. I believe this is very useful for everyone and not confusing at all. Yes I also noticed health care cost tend to be less in more expensive areas.

 

[jollystomper]

In some aspects this milestone brings a few sad thoughts for me. Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. He died in 1994, after 2.5 years of retirement. This month my retirement has now lasted longer than his did. All 7 of his kids were out of the house and independent when he was 64, and he could have retired them. But he chose to work to age 70 to maximize pension and SS survivor benefits for Mom, as she had been primarily a SAHM. They enjoyed much of his retirement, his bout with cancer from diagnosis to his death was short. Mom outlived him by 20 years, and appreciated what he had done for her. So some sad thoughts, but happy thoughts upon reflection as well.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

I just checked my 401k- the balance is now over a million dollars. I don't know when that happened, I haven't contributed in a year, and I never seen to check it since I'm not working anymore. Amazing.

 

[cyber888]

Today, I surpassed $900K in investments/cash assets, so less than $100K to go and I'll hit $1 mil. I would have hit $1 mil in investible assets, but paid $100K of mortgage debt the last few months. Eliminated my mortgage and just have a smaller HELOC balance.