Meh at hitting a million

[Beldar]

Anyone else feel that "millionaire next door" moment was anti-climactic?

Congratulations Laurence, thats a great achievement (and a neat way to realize it).

It was a very anti-climactic epiphany for me too when I made the same discovery one day.

_B

 

[zesty]

I've never celebrated milestones. It's easy to go online and find people who have done much better than me, and who would consider my milestone a terrible disappointment.

 

[ESRwannabe]

I will never know what it's like to reach the million $ mark because I won't work long enough to reach it. I keep my expenses low so I don't need that much money to retire. I've always lived on less than $20K/yr and don't mind living on that for the rest of my life if it means I don't have to work as long. Nothing wrong with working longer to have more to spend, it's just not what I want.

Same here (well I will hit a million, but don't need to). I live on $28k but rent is $940 a month. If I bought a house I'm pretty sure I'd spend under $20k easy.

I figure my pension will be worth close to $1 million depending on how long I keep working and I think my investments will get there in the next 10 years, around 50.

Also to address the OP. Yeah I imagine my reaction will be similar. I thought I'd be real happy when I was able to bring in $20k per year from investments, which was a goal of mine, but then when I got there it was, "meh".

 

[laurence]

Was this a 'net present value' sort of pension calculation?

Yeah they froze my pension a long time ago, so there is a lump sum option to roll over, all I did was add that.

 

[laurence]

Reaching $1M net worth is quite a milestone-- but I think a bigger one is hitting that value in just investments that you'd actually live off of. So not including real estate, present pension value, material stuff, and etc. Of course not all investments are immediately liquid at this age like 401K, Roth, and etc. Mentally though, having the pot of $$ is a big deal and this is where it really strikes me with the most impact.

As other posters have said though, a million isn't what it used to be so it's probably more like $1.5M where the real partying should be these days. Haha.












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I think that's it, it's no change to our lifestyle, our freedoms, our options, it's just a number. It's great, I know I'm a lucky guy, I think I just can't wait to retire now and I'm getting impatient, and know that I need to plow on in a job I'm kind of burn out on...

 

[38Chevy454]

Congratulations and some celebrating are certainly warranted. As Nash said, the majority of people in USA are far behind where you are, even those that are saving toward retirement have not met the $1M milestone at your age. So keep up the good habits, your second $M will come along much faster.

 

[aaronc879]

Congratulations, Laurence! I'm a little envious, because I got laid off, and entered ER, before I could sample the sweet joys of having a cool (or even an uncool) million. It's harder to get there now that I'm in the withdrawal phase, and not adding extra contributions. Seems like my portfolio has been hovering around the 750K mark for quite a while now. The highest it has ever been was around 780K. I've only been withdrawing $15,600 a year (though spending ~17K/year due to a little extra income), but I think it's going to be quite a long time before I hit the million mark. If and when I do, I suspect a million will be worth rather less than it is today.

Maybe you mentioned this in the past but how do you live on $17K/yr in SF.? Would I be correct to assume you have a paid off house or multiple roommates? I live on under $17K most years but I live in small town Wisconsin where I get a 2 bedroom, 1000 sq ft, top floor apartment for $560/mo.

 

[nash031]

DW and I have noticed that we're not good at celebrating things, so I say celebrate this... because you only do this thing once!

 

[RobbieB]

I agree.

Waiting for a mill and a half...c'mon

The next celebration comes at 2 mill, everyone knows this -

 

[Closet_Gamer]

When we hit $1m it was a bit of a "well what do you know?" moment. It made me smile but wasn't a huge deal even though I was 41.

I think that's because people who hit that at 41 and are FIRE-minded know that $1m is interesting but just a waypoint on the journey. After the smile, it just begs the question of how you get to the next waypoint.

DW and I hit waypoint #3 last month

Two more waypoints to go!

 

[Markola]

I find it is a more satisfying threshold after a couple of years hindsight and regular savoring on my own neighborhood walks. In real life there is no trumpet fanfare, singing of angels and parting of clouds when $1 million NW is hit, nor would we probably want to post it on Facebook if we're a person who wants to keep his real friends, so we have to celebrate it quietly ourselves. I plan to have a nice dinner with DW every time we cross a $250k threshold because that represents another $10k in future ER income at a 4% SWR, which makes me want to celebrate! Congrats and Ta-Dah! (your trumpet fanfare)

 

[JPatrick]

Congrats!!
Go ahead and pop the cork..I've still got our empty bottle and there's a space next to it for number two..

 

[DaCounselor]

"Anyone else feel that "millionaire next door" moment was anti-climactic?"

In my house, not only anti-climactic but completely un-noticed for several months. To my surprise, at the moment of realization, it was treated much like the Grand Canyon by Clark Griswold.

Nonetheless a tremendous accomplishment Laurence.

 

[Dreamer]

Congratulations, Laurence. I did not celebrate either. We are retired now and our investing style is more conservative, so I am sure that we will not reach the next million. However, I think that I need to start celebrating more things. Hope you do also.

 

[Linney]

We felt "meh" about it too. As a member of this forum, by the time you reach that 1st million you have a really clear understanding that it is not enough* to sustain a lasting freedom from work. Sad but true!

That said we landed upon a way to mark the occasion. We went out for a celebratory night with pizza and beer. It seemed fitting -- with only 1 million that would be level of "celebration" we could afford

When we finally reach FI plus a little, THAT will be time when we break out the champagne and steaks.

Congrats on achieving the 1 million mark! Celebrate it - even if in some small way.

--Linney

*living in not low COL area, being a couple/family not single, no pension, etc. etc. the usual caveats

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

<snip>
Anyhow I realized I had forgotten about some old pensions and quickly figured out their cash value and realized we had hit a million NW. Now that's combined and including the ~$200k in equity in our primary residence, which I know many don't count, but it was the first really big milestone I had set for ourselves. And you know what? It wasn't the cork-popping, celebratory moment I had dreamed of so long ago. It was like Voyager leaving the solar system, I knew I'd cross the line back and forth for a while, and I realized a million bucks wasn't as much as it used to be. Hopefully FIRE will be more exciting. Anyone else feel that "millionaire next door" moment was anti-climactic?

At least my wife is still only 40 (I turn 42 next month) so she can say, "million by 40".

Congrats! Hitting a milestone is always cool.

For us, hitting $1M including the house was kind of cool yet meh because home prices in Vancouver have been so ridiculous. We're happy we have a paid off roof over our head in this crazy market but it doesn't feel tangible from a wealth perspective for us.

Hitting our various milestones, gives us a sense of comfort that we're on track. But unless the milestone really impacts our lives, they just end up being numbers in a spreadsheet for us. eg Something like paying off the mortgage was really cool because we felt the additional free cash flow and accelerated savings.
It's reassuring to see the numbers grow but I don't think I'll get really euphoric until I hit the particular milestone that I'm wanting to achieve to trigger my retirement notice.

 

[rodi]

Congrats! Hitting a milestone is always cool.

For us, hitting $1M including the house was kind of cool yet meh because home prices in Vancouver have been so ridiculous. We're happy we have a paid off roof over our head in this crazy market but it doesn't feel tangible from a wealth perspective for us.

Hitting our various milestones, gives us a sense of comfort that we're on track. But unless the milestone really impacts our lives, they just end up being numbers in a spreadsheet for us. eg Something like paying off the mortgage was really cool because we felt the additional free cash flow and accelerated savings.
It's reassuring to see the numbers grow but I don't think I'll get really euphoric until I hit the particular milestone that I'm wanting to achieve to trigger my retirement notice.

This - except San Diego vs Vancouver. Home prices are so outrageous that I'd rather not consider my primary residence value in my retirement nest egg.... but once the house was paid off - the cash flow improved dramatically - making ER possible sooner. (Lower spend rate, higher savings rate.)

 

[Legally_dead]

We crossed the $1M net worth threshold today at age 32 (including paid off house) and celebrated by dressing up like cows for free Chick-Fil-A. The day I paid off all debt had more emotional significance. While this particular milestone was not a major cause for celebration, almost everyday DW and I reflect on how fortunate we are to not have money related stress in our marriage and that I was able to recently take a lower paying job closer to home, eliminating a ridiculous commute.


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[Markola]

We crossed the $1M net worth threshold today at age 32 (including paid off house) and celebrated by dressing up like cows for free Chick-Fil-A. The day I paid off all debt had more emotional significance. While this particular milestone was not a major cause for celebration, almost everyday DW and I reflect on how fortunate we are to not have money related stress in our marriage and that I was able to recently take a lower paying job closer to home, eliminating a ridiculous commute.


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That's incredible. Congratulations! You should have dressed as unicorns

 

[jollystomper]

To the OP, congrats! When we hit the $1M net worth at age 48 we mildly celebrated by going out to a somewhat fancy dinner. Of course, we both laughed about it, as we expected, due to the market, that we would cross back and forth over that line several times.

That was 10 years ago. Seven years after than, even with the market meltdown 0f 2007-2008 we made it to $2M net worth. $1M was nice, $2M makes us feel comfortable . So best of luck to you as you make it to the next million!

 

[A Bird In Hand]

Anyone else feel that "millionaire next door" moment was anti-climactic?

Yeah, that was pretty much the case with us when it happened a couple months ago. We knew it was coming up soon, so the surprise factor wasn't there. It was slightly novel to see the account statements show $1,000,XXX, but at the end of the day it was not such a difference from the $9XX,XXX we were used to seeing over the last couple years.

At least my wife is still only 40 (I turn 42 next month) so she can say, "million by 40".

We hit the milestone a few days before I turned 40, and I did walk around thinking "million by 40!" for a few days. But yeah -- 'meh' is right. I'm a lot more interested in how/when the next million will come.

 

[W2R]

So I was on a walk the other night and one of the things I do is calculate account balances and sum up the ol' net worth, calculate when it will double between growth and contributions, etc. It probably makes me a freak but it's meditative in a way.

Anyhow I realized I had forgotten about some old pensions and quickly figured out their cash value and realized we had hit a million NW. Now that's combined and including the ~$200k in equity in our primary residence, which I know many don't count, but it was the first really big milestone I had set for ourselves. And you know what? It wasn't the cork-popping, celebratory moment I had dreamed of so long ago. It was like Voyager leaving the solar system, I knew I'd cross the line back and forth for a while, and I realized a million bucks wasn't as much as it used to be. Hopefully FIRE will be more exciting. Anyone else feel that "millionaire next door" moment was anti-climactic?

At least my wife is still only 40 (I turn 42 next month) so she can say, "million by 40".

Congratulations, laurence!

Next goal could be $1,000,000 invested, with no debt at all. I'll bet that one is much more exciting to you.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

My boyfriend and I passed $1 million in savings a year or two ago, and it was exciting to me, but not nearly as exciting as paying off my student loans next month! No more debt (other than a small mortgage on an investment property)! My boyfriend never gets excited about our savings...or much of anything for that matter.

 

[COcheesehead]

My boyfriend and I passed $1 million in savings a year or two ago, and it was exciting to me, but not nearly as exciting as paying off my student loans next month! No more debt (other than a small mortgage on an investment property)! My boyfriend never gets excited about our savings...or much of anything for that matter.

 

[Dash man]

Reaching one million is a great milestone! But net worth goals become a moving target as inflation and lifestyle realities kick in. The first million is the hardest to achieve, with the second being easier. We just did a net worth calculation this month as were very pleasantly surprised at where we stand now at age 60. Our NW has tripled in three years mostly to some good stock options DW had had from her employer. But keeping diversified helped to since her company stock has not had a good year.


Enjoying life!