$100,000 and other good news

[SLC Tortfeasor]

It's sort of funny that this thread has suddenly been revived after about three months of dormancy. Anyway, you might be curious to know that since I last reported on this issue, I've gone from $100,000 to $118,000.

The woman and I are still planning our wedding, which will be a reasonably modest affair. We're splurging on the honeymoon though, going to Greece and then hiking the Haute Route in Switzerland at a time when its very expensive for Americans to travel in Europe. But we're in love, and it's only money, right? :

 

[runchman]

I say take a nice honeymoon - you never know when those pesky kids might arrive, and then your time alone is on hold for a *long* time.

Congrats on the +18k too

 

[bow-tie]

It's sort of funny that this thread has suddenly been revived after about three months of dormancy. Anyway, you might be curious to know that since I last reported on this issue, I've gone from $100,000 to $118,000.

The woman and I are still planning our wedding, which will be a reasonably modest affair. We're splurging on the honeymoon though, going to Greece and then hiking the Haute Route in Switzerland at a time when its very expensive for Americans to travel in Europe. But we're in love, and it's only money, right? :

Congrats SLC. FWIW, I think spending the money on a great honeymoon will always trump dropping big coin on the wedding. Have fun!

 

[SteveR]

We had a home wedding and small reception in the back yard. We spent maybe $1000 on the whole thing. But, it was also our third wedding each so there was no need or desire for a big wedding; been there done that and grateful my FIL paid for the whole ball of wax.

We went to Maui for our honeymoon. Very nice but also quite expensive. Thank goodness for my annual bonus! Well, at least it was nice while it lasted.

We took a cruise two years ago. It was a nice idea but we just made it in between huricanes (western caribbean cruise) only to get stuck in the Bahamas because of a broken propeller. We want to actually finish that cruise but it may have to wait a while.

Spend the money on a nice and unique honeymoon. The memories will be priceless.

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. It should be fun.

 

[Darryl]

Nice move from $100,000 to $118,000 in the last few months.

Glad to hear your not scrimping on the honeymoon. Ours was 22 years ago I think we drove our NW to zero. It was one of the best investments I ever made. I remember it like it was yesterday, we went to Maui & Oahu.
Our financial life has tracked very well with the exception of underestimating the cost of two kids and an income drop when my wife left work to care for them, but we came through that adjustment just fine.

 

[djmob]

Congrats.

I have a newbie question relating to this.

My wife and I are currently have about 125,000 in retirement savings of which 100,000 is in IRAs. I'm currently 34 and hope to retire early (not sure yet exactly what age that is yet), but if I do retire before 59.5 will it be difficult to redrawal money from these accounts? Is it advisable to also put money into a regular taxable account. Currently I have a little over $20,000 in a regular brokerage account.

 

[rw86347]

Congrats.

I have a newbie question relating to this.

My wife and I are currently have about 125,000 in retirement savings of which 100,000 is in IRAs. I'm currently 34 and hope to retire early (not sure yet exactly what age that is yet), but if I do retire before 59.5 will it be difficult to redrawal money from these accounts? Is it advisable to also put money into a regular taxable account. Currently I have a little over $20,000 in a regular brokerage account.

We are in the same boat, and the same age. You are about 6 months behind me in saving. I looked hard and long into the exact same question. There are two solutions I considered.

1) SEPP (Substantually Equall Payment Plan) This allows you to pull money out from an IRA early without penalty under very strict guidlines. You must have identical withdraws every year for until 59.5, and still have money left over for retirement.

I like to think of my savings as a "money tree" and I didn't feel my money tree was mature enough when I reach 45 to pull money out of it. So I think I will allow it to grow untill 59.5.

2) I own a rental, and love it! I like working with my hands and people. I spend about 2 hours per month dealing with my douplex. My ROI is 10%, and is inflation friendly. It pays twice as much money as the 4% rule, but does require some work (2hr/mo). I think I might buy one more douplex, and then hire a good property manager. This should bring in $3500/mo with any work. This will allow me to retire at 45. Pay very little taxes, and live a carefree life style.

This is my 45-60 stop gap measure. By then my IRA should be worth 3 million. And considering that I didn't need it for the past 15 years. It should be all gravy.

I have a great spreadsheet I would love to share with you. Email me and I will share more.

RW

 

[Celany]

congrats to you! on making 100K & then another 18K in the past few months!

I'm more of a lurker than anything...I'm 27 & really really really hoping to make 100K by the time I'm 30. It depends on sooooo many factors. I've got about 47K right now, & if a number of factors go well, then I may very well meet my goal.

It's so inspiring to hear someone else meeting it though!

 

[runchman]

I'm more of a lurker than anything...I'm 27 & really really really hoping to make 100K by the time I'm 30. It depends on sooooo many factors. I've got about 47K right now, & if a number of factors go well, then I may very well meet my goal.

It's so inspiring to hear someone else meeting it though!

I wish I'd discovered asset allocation and indexing at your age. I'm an old fart of 43 - but believe me, blink your eyes and you'll be there, and 100k will seem like a distant memory!

To think how much better off I'd be had I avoided active money loosing stock picking for so many years. I'd probably be retired right now.

You are off to a great start, just keep plugging away at it, over and over and over.

- John

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

congrats to you! on making 100K & then another 18K in the past few months!

I'm more of a lurker than anything...I'm 27 & really really really hoping to make 100K by the time I'm 30. It depends on sooooo many factors. I've got about 47K right now, & if a number of factors go well, then I may very well meet my goal.

It's so inspiring to hear someone else meeting it though!

Good luck to you. It sounds like you're in extremely good shape already!

For what it's worth, thanks to a beefy tax refund and a favorable stock market over the past couple of days, I'm now up to about $123K! It's so much fun to watch it go up every day. But if the market tanks I'm sure I'll suddenly be somewhat less excited about tracking my net worth!

 

[rw86347]

Good luck to you. It sounds like you're in extremely good shape already!

For what it's worth, thanks to a beefy tax refund and a favorable stock market over the past couple of days, I'm now up to about $123K! It's so much fun to watch it go up every day. But if the market tanks I'm sure I'll suddenly be somewhat less excited about tracking my net worth!

I just hit $184!!! Just think, I gained $84k in 19 months!

 

[accountingsucks]

I'm 31 and have about 65K in the retirement accounts. Now that my home is paid off I"m hoping to add 50K per year. I like it when the market is up, as I can get into work and find out I've already made $500 from the markets....heee heee. Now of course this is a bad way of looking at things since the markets have done well lately, but it makes the days go by faster.

 

[runchman]

It's so much fun to watch it go up every day. But if the market tanks I'm sure I'll suddenly be somewhat less excited about tracking my net worth!

Isn't that the truth? My best 'up' day was 10,500 which was very exciting. Then when we had that 3% drop day, my best 'down' day was -23,500 !!!

I've stopped tracking it so close, so when the inevitable down market comes I don't drive myself nuts.

What a bunch of money whores we are

 

[rw86347]

Isn't that the truth? My best 'up' day was 10,500 which was very exciting. Then when we had that 3% drop day, my best 'down' day was -23,500 !!!

I've stopped tracking it so close, so when the inevitable down market comes I don't drive myself nuts.

What a bunch of money whores we are

I keep hoping for a depressed market, but I have to admit I like seeing up days much more than down days.

 

[laurence]

Congrats! All your base are belong to us, make your time!

100k in investable felt great. Since then my investible has gone up to ~120k but my NW is down because the housing market crash. But I'm not selling so it's only on paper.

EDIT: Whoa, make that $126,591.23 - boy, between compounding and contributing, this thing really starts to pick up steam!

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

I'm 31 and have about 65K in the retirement accounts. Now that my home is paid off I"m hoping to add 50K per year. I like it when the market is up, as I can get into work and find out I've already made $500 from the markets....heee heee. Now of course this is a bad way of looking at things since the markets have done well lately, but it makes the days go by faster.

Dang, 31 and your house is paid off?? Way to go! That must be nice. You'll be able to make some huge contributions to your nest egg now.

Congrats! All your base are belong to us, make your time!

100k in investable felt great. Since then my investible has gone up to ~120k but my NW is down because the housing market crash. But I'm not selling so it's only on paper.

EDIT: Whoa, make that $126,591.23 - boy, between compounding and contributing, this thing really starts to pick up steam!

How long ago did you hit $100K?

What a bunch of money whores we are

Yes, that is the absolute truth. When you have a major life goal (FIRE) that is totally dependent upon money, you tend to think a lot about money. But it's okay. We're not obsessed with money for its own sake, or because we want to buy mansions and Lamborghinis (well, actually I would like to have a Lambo, preferably this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/E-GE...43QQihZ002QQcategoryZ6290QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem), but because we want more time to spend on the things in life that really matter. If I need to be a money whore to reach that goal, then I'm okay with that.

 

[Celany]

first off, thank you all who congradulated me on what I've done so far. I actually took a moment to pat myself on the back. considering that I'm usually thinking & crunching numbers, it felt good to take a moment to be pleased at how I've done.

I'm 31 and have about 65K in the retirement accounts. Now that my home is paid off I"m hoping to add 50K per year.

wow, I can't even imagine owning a home. I live in nyc right now, & although my rent is EXTREMELY reasonable for my situation (I split $1200 for a 1 bedroom w/my bf ), I don't see myself as buying a home anytime in the next, oh, 10 years. even though I crave one, probably the way that most women crave a baby. but it doesn't seem to make sense to buy in nyc without a HUGE down payment, or 100% down.

eventually, I plan to leave here though, & I'm depending on being able to cash out on some of my investments, to buy a small home. As I'm sharing 550 sq ft with a boyfriend & 2 cats, that shouldn't be too hard. I think I might even like one of those 50k mini-homes - less cleaning!

 

[laurence]

I hit 100k hmm...almost a year ago, or has it been a year? Anyway, that's 14k more in contributions plus 12k in returns. This year ('07) I noticed returns outpacing contributions, which is also very cool.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

I hit 100k hmm...almost a year ago, or has it been a year? Anyway, that's 14k more in contributions plus 12k in returns. This year ('07) I noticed returns outpacing contributions, which is also very cool.

I've noticed that as well in my own accounts. It's a nice feeling to know that eventually your investments will be able to steam along under their own power (or snowball down the mountain -- pick your metaphor).

 

[jasond]

I remember the joy of when I first hit 100K. I'm now right around 400k retiring in about ten years hopefully. All I did was save 10% of my income into my thrift savings plan at work, they also chipped in 5%. Never saved a lot in my life just took advantage of my 401k. Luckily I will also get a small pension from the federal government that should allow me to retire at 56. We'll see.

Jason

 

[Calgary_Girl]

I hit 100k hmm...almost a year ago, or has it been a year? Anyway, that's 14k more in contributions plus 12k in returns. This year ('07) I noticed returns outpacing contributions, which is also very cool.

I've noticed this also more and more lately. I always heard it takes money to make money. Now I know what they were talking about!! Our net worth passed $1.25 million in March and it keeps magically growing....

 

[NinjaPigeon]

I've noticed this also more and more lately. I always heard it takes money to make money. Now I know what they were talking about!! Our net worth passed $1.25 million in March and it keeps magically growing....

I don't have that big of a snowball just yet, but I can already see the momentum even on my rather pathetic portfolio. I've had a $3k capital appreciation in my main retirement account this year. That's more than I saved my entire first year out of school!

 

[Meadbh]

Just got my paper statement for my principal post tax account.
The sum of income + dividends + capital gains = annual expenses.
Next goal: income + dividends = annual expenses.

 

[Cassius King]

Any updates to this thread. At the time of this thread, the market was rallying and everybody was experiencing nice gains.
Does anybody care to share their experiences from the last 3 years?

Cheers, The Dude.