Anyone wake up and say "How did I accumulate so much?"

[truenorth418]

Similar to some others here, I was not surprised that I achieved financial independence, because it was a long term objective that I planned and saved for.

However, as the bulk of my assets are in stock funds, I feel very fortunate that stocks have increased in value so much since my early retirement. I hope this remains the case.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Part of me is amazed and humbled at hat we have been able to save and put away. I was not expecting this when it started work, 20 years ago, or may even 2008-2009.

I feel the same. I joined the Air Force back in 1993 as a high school drop out and that was because I was really persuaded to do so even though I was making "AWESOME MONEY!" as an assistant fast food manager. THANK GOD the Air Force allowed me to enlist under a quality of force waiver. No telling what I would be doing today if that single sheet of paper was marked "DISAPPROVED".

Back then, I figured I would do my 4 years and head back home and do something else. Well...life happens, right?

22 years later I could look back on an awesome career, a great pension, cheap health insurance and a mess load of education (formal and "living life").

Today, DW and I have a NW that boggles the mind and I am embarrassed to speak of it to anyone but my DW and strangers on the internet. Some luck, good timing, and a little perseverance got me where I am and I am eternally thankful for it.

 

[ownyourfuture]

Anyone wake up and say "How did I accumulate so much?"

I certainly have.

Started an IRA at Fidelity in 1986. Opened a brokerage account at a small local bank around 1992. Signed up for the ESPP & 401(k) in 1995. Started out putting 5.00% in each, upped that to 15.00% each from 2002 to 2015. Transferred the brokerage account from the local bank (outrageous commissions) to Fidelity in 1998. Retired in 2015. Very fortunate.

I think there's something else worth mentioning in this thread. The past 40 years have made it pretty easy to be a successful investor. There’s been some blips along the way, the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981, Black Monday in 1987, desert storm 1991, Asian Contagion, Russia's meltdown, White House ‘scandal’ 1998, the 2000 bubble, 911, the credit crisis 2007-2008, etc.

But let's face it, during that time, there hasn’t been an ‘extended’ truly painful bear market.
Combine that with the federal reserve & their equivalents around the world, playing the zero interest rate game, & you have the financial markets without any competition.

Something tells me it will be very hard to match the previous 40 year market returns, in the following 40.

 

[always_learning]

For me, it's not so much that I wake up and wonder how we accumulated so much, but how it grew to so much.

 

[brett]

The last ten years has been great.

Inflation was lower than we expected.

Investment returns were considerably higher than expected.

It is all good.

 

[doneat54]

I am amazed to. With about a 32/68 AA I've hit about 9% growth out of both 2020 and 2021.

 

[jollystomper]

Another reason why I feel blessed accumulating so much - I had fun doing it! And not just from the "watch our money grow" viewpoint.

I had a career that I loved, it was like a hobby many times. Almost never did I have the feeling "I am miserable, I need to grit my teeth to get through this, it is my penance to deal with now for a better future". It was almost always "I'm making this much, able to save and invest, and having this much fun at work and at home?? What is wrong with me??"

 

[qwerty3656]

I'm somewhat in the opposite position (not complaining, I've still been very fortunate). When I was in my late 40's, I was making really good money and projected a "fat fire". My company went bankrupt and I was really never able to replace that income. I'm 58 now and will have a comfortable retirement, but probably half of what I was anticipating.

 

[yakers]

DW was a career teacher and generally loved it, we lived definitely LBYM and maxed out IRAs/403b and some savings. After teaching 20+ years she had 'the class from hell' and could not see going on but she saw herself as a teacher and we had been very tight on money most of our life, but I ran the numbers and told her she did not HAVE to work anymore, when it actually sunk in things shifted for her/us. She worked one more year (not has bad as previous year, but the psychological barrier had been breached. She retired in 2006, I followed in 2008, she still regards those to years as 'magic years' I liked my job, but decided it was time to go after some medical issues. Could have had more $ but can't get more time.
The surprise part if that our portfolio just contiinues to grow. We have been spending more, before COVID, but looks like leaving our boys far more than ever anticipated.

 

[Palmtree]

Like the OP, I too am shocked at our nest egg at this point. I had a small creative art related business with one employee....me. My wife was an elementary school special education teacher. Combined, our incomes were not even what a good programmer would make with 5 years experience. But we saved. We saved and were frugal and still budget-traveled like crazy during her summer breaks. (Thank you, Rick Steves) All along I had that 1 mil goal in mind. Now, we knew that she might, just might, be eligible for a pension one day. But, that would require teaching for an entire 30 years. With her daily stresses, that seemed an impossible milestone, so I never really calculated it in to our plans. The world spins around, life goes on, and somehow we end up still together 28 years later. We pass the 1 mil mark in investments (champagne was involved) and that forgotten pension is suddenly back on the list of possible. With a new goal in mind, she focuses on the future and makes it thorough two more years. The market goes up and up as I spent my time winding down the business. A few years later, and here we are. Retired and living on a lake. Between the pension and the investments, we are taking in much more than we are used to spending. I keep telling her, you don't have to clip coupons anymore. She still does, as decades old habits die hard. The 1 mil mark has been past a long time ago, and we now marvel at what the market has given us. We still refuse to fly 1st or even business class (yet), because we know what is given can easily be taken. Still, we feel blessed every day to live in this time, have this opportunity, and also have each other.

 

[calmloki]

Gal and I never made much working for others, but we both like real estate, so started buying beat up old places that would benefit from our labor. This during times of 12+% interest, so the prices for un bank finance-able places were pretty low. Paying off high interest loans is like a guaranteed return on investment, so we accelerated the loan payments as much as we could.

Time passed and all of a sudden we had over 50 paid for doors rented and decided we would start selling - just in time for the 2008 real estate crash. Rather than sell we kept on renting places out and loaning accumulated money to real estate investors - and, not to fight the ocean, started plunking money into the stock market like every other person. And that is making money like mad.

Now we are back on the rental divesting path, and short of alien attack it's hard to imagine a scenario where we run short of money before we run out of life. Our lifestyle is still what it has been for the last 45 years, under $40k/year - I'll stew over the optimal $3.50 expenditure but making a $550k loan is quick and easy. money is funny.

 

[brett]

I was one of the lucky ones. I had a career that I loved. A wonderful employer(for the most part), challenging work, lucrative remuneration, plus monetary and travel rewards for overachievement. There were also lots of long days and business travel. So glad that I changed careers early on in my working life.

The best part...we both retired with good health and the financial ability to pursue our travel bucket lists.

Very thankful for what we have and where we live.

 

[mystang52]

I was in my early 40's and attended a lecture by the author of some financial planning book, at a local Barnes and Noble. Naturally, there was a free analysis if you gave some basic info. The author called me a few days later, to follow up on the info I gave.
I distinctly recall him asking me when I wanted to retire - I replied 55. He told me that it would be impossible. Well, he was correct, I guess, 'coz I didn't retire until I was 60. But left out in the calculations was that despite LBYM, having young children means less disposable income. Once the kids were out of the house, we lived a little better but stashed away a heckuva lot more savings.
I often have the same wonder as OP: how did I get here? But I'm enjoying it now, and that includes spoiling the grandkids.

 

[Potterquilter]

After 13 years of retirement we are astonished at where we are. We did the slow and steady 401K/IRA thing and Lived far below our means. Our biggest fear was medical expenses prior to Medicare so we continued our frugality.
We live in a lovely home and RV four months out of the year at least. I never thought we would continue to increase our net worth post retirement.

We were indeed lucky. Very little college debt and neither of us was unemployed ever, except for some years I took off for babies in the house. Our houses always increased in value. And the stock market, since retirement has been very good for us.

I’ve been reading here for years and had an account many years ago. It is very helpful to be encouraged and get solid personal experiences to help people down the road to FI.

 

[PandaBear]

I am both stunned and feel blessed. I always lived below my means, even when I was single. But the most important factor in my wonderful, soon to be retirement, was choosing the correct spouse. Honestly, when I started reading this forum, I didn’t consciously understand that Dh and I had pensions and what that meant. I didn’t even even imagine retiring. I knew dh was putting money in something called a 401K but had no idea what that meant.

Since joining this forum in 2014, our retirement savings have doubled. Some of that is dh’s contributions from 2014-2019 (when he retired) but most is not.

I am so grateful I found this forum when I did. I especially appreciate that since then, I can fully articulate to our children (who were 22, 19 and 17 when I joined) what they can do to to prepare for retirement young, when so much time is on their side. Our kids are maxing out TSP’s and 401k’s and setting money aside, and that makes me so proud.

 

[travelover]

I'm just amazed at how smart I am because I know there is no such thing as luck.

 

[rk911]

I'm just amazed at how smart I am because I know there is no such thing as luck.

luck, chance, kismet, karma, opportunities, choices made that set other actions in motion (a butterfly flapping its wings leading to a hurricane)...call it what you will but it does play a part in all of our lives.

i do know one thing is true...the older i get the smarter my folks become.

 

[Oz investor]

I'm just amazed at how smart I am because I know there is no such thing as luck.

i disagree , i think my skill is knowing how lucky i am ( now and in the past )

in relation to the OP

NO
i think i need to double what i have ( but don't put a $value on property , i value that on income minus costs )

 

[Toddtheformeraccountant]

Yep, absolutely.

I think the same thing, when I look at our portfolio and think, how the heck did that happen, and squint my eyes to make sure I'm looking at the numbers right. Then I think back to when we bought a house in 1999, had basically zero net worth....and in 21 years, we accumulated a ridiculous level of net worth, with no crazy schemes, no options, no individual stocks, simply index ETF's, and being prudent and having a wife that is low maintenance, and now we are both retired at 55.

 

[FlaGator]

Only when I look at what I have now compared to the negative net worth I had as a college graduate in 1982

"Well, how did I get here?"

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...e.0.0l7.4840j0j1&pglt=161&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=HCTS

 

[Midpack]

Yes. And although we worked at it saving, investing and LBYMing, we’re not self-congratulatory about it - there was some luck involved (for all of us). We did much better financially than our expectations when all is said and done, but it isn’t over yet...there are still no guarantees, just probability. We hope for the best, but we know it could all go pear shaped before the finish line.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

To the OP's question....yes, absolutely.

I'm still working but we blew through our number a while back. With the market run-up, we've now also blown through our charity target and put money aside to help family. I'm contractually obligated to work a bit longer so we've added a beach house to the plan. If I decide to go past the current contract, I have no idea what we'll do with the money.

But let's face it, during that time, there hasn’t been an ‘extended’ truly painful bear market.
Combine that with the federal reserve & their equivalents around the world, playing the zero interest rate game, & you have the financial markets without any competition.

Something tells me it will be very hard to match the previous 40 year market returns, in the following 40.

I was thinking this exact same thing. I believe the underlying economic engine is still primed for long term growth, but substantially different government policies could really change how easy it is to create wealth.

 

[firewhen]

It is astounding

But there are 2 key things:

watching what we spend (which is even better than making more, since an extra dollar of income is taxed and nets to less, while a dollar saved is untaxed)

investing wisely--even with some bumps along the way stocks have been money making machines--As much as we have saved, the unrealized capital gains are well over half our balances, which has greatly inflated our net worth.

 

[53anddone]

Hardly a day goes by I don't look at our Net Worth and say WTF.

Like may others in this thread we got here through meticulous planning and some luck. But here we are so now the job is to do some good in the world and not just become some rich jerk.

I try and stay humble but its hard not to pat yourself on the back a bit. I just do it in private.

 

[big-papa]

Yeah, I can stand back and say "wow". But I also know exactly how I got here: hard work, career progressions, lucky to be born when I was, happened to choose a field that turned out to be well-paying, good health, lucky to invest during an epic bull market, company stock options/RSU's/bonuses, Saving 100% of DW's salary while living off of mine until the point where we had our only kid and DW switched to SAH.

I do recall certain milestones, like when our savings went over 6 figures the first time (I say "the first time" because it bounced around quite a bit and, yeah, there was 2008). I also remember the first time our portfolio grew more in a year than my year's salary.

That's not to say I couldn't have done better, sooner. I most certainly could have learned more about investing sooner than I did, but I simply wasn't interested when I was younger as retirement seemed so far away. I invested, sure, but it was haphazard and without a real plan. And I made one career move that would have been life altering by leaving a startup company a year before it went public because I was convinced that it was not even going to survive another year. And I've been layed off from work a few times, though almost every time I saw it coming and already had the next gig lined up before I was notified. And I usually made significant money in the process between severance packages and sign-on bonuses. Not all rosy as there was one time in 2012-13 where I was between jobs for 10 months and was seriously starting to wonder if I had been chosen to be an earlier retiree than I had planned. But we had already done all of the right things and were able to weather it till the next job finally did come along. And now if they show me the door, I'm done. Though I'd really prefer that it happen after summer 2022 when a significant number of RSU's vest.

Real life is messy and success is always going to be a combination of skill, hard work, and luck.

Cheers.