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Old 03-21-2013, 07:41 AM   #21
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passed the 3m nw mark last year, hovering around 3.3m now.
bought 2 rental houses for cash that will net about 18k / yr when rented.
refi our home for 3.00% for 7 years fixed.
refi'ed a few rentals between 3.75-4.25% for better cashflow.
in contract to buy 2 more rentals that will net about 12k / yr when rented.
counting down the days till i pull the plug in 3.75 years.
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Old 03-21-2013, 09:37 AM   #22
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I have three. The first was reaching the age of 55 with my employer. It allowed me the option of receiving my DB pension at 62 instead of 65 with no penalty. The second was excercising my significant dollar value stock options near the top of the market....a year later they would have been worthless. The third was getting a buyout package from my employer at age 59.

These three allowed me become FIRE.
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Old 03-21-2013, 10:40 AM   #23
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I wonder if when we reach $1M... will it also be "not enough" in my mind.
Probably, as they say, the first million is the hardest (it was for me anyway) but then I wanted more. (a lot more). When I finally reached my target number, I retired. As for milestones, I've been retired for one full year now.
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Anti Milestone?
Old 03-21-2013, 11:56 AM   #24
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Anti Milestone?

Maybe a sort of anti milestone, one night in the cardiac ward in Oct 07 led me to take a small buyout in 08. Figured whatever I had would have to be enough. Fortunately various calculations agreed that I had enough, solved the issues about wanting more and the 'one more year' syndrome.
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Old 03-21-2013, 12:20 PM   #25
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NW is at an all-time high of $1.76 million. Retirement and taxable accounts are also at an all-time high of $1.17 million. DH and I are 42 and 40, respectively.

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Old 03-21-2013, 12:27 PM   #26
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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.
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Old 03-21-2013, 12:33 PM   #27
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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
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Old 03-21-2013, 12:46 PM   #28
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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.
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Old 03-21-2013, 12:55 PM   #29
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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).
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Old 03-21-2013, 12:58 PM   #30
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Passed the 35x annual expenses mark last week.
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Old 03-21-2013, 01:01 PM   #31
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Passed the 35x annual expenses mark last week.
And yet you keep your DW working. Have you no shame?
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Old 03-21-2013, 01:03 PM   #32
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And yet you keep your DW working. Have you no shame?
None.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:08 PM   #33
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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.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:09 PM   #34
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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 .
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:15 PM   #35
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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.
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Old 03-21-2013, 06:48 PM   #36
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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?
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Old 03-22-2013, 07:46 AM   #37
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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!
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Old 03-22-2013, 09:32 AM   #38
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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!
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Old 03-22-2013, 09:58 AM   #39
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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.
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Old 03-22-2013, 12:57 PM   #40
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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.
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