SkyView: you're doing great for your age....congrats! Don't get ahead of yourselve, however. you're 45 years old, you may live another 45 years. Go to the library, bring up some newspapers from 45 years ago and look at the ads. In 1967 I was earning about $200.00 a week, gas was under 50 cents a gallon, I had just purchased a nice new home for $19,000 and my new car had just cost me around $3000. My point is you're ahead of the game but you have a long life ahead. So, would you like to get married, could you still have children, does your family live a long time, do you think the market will gain 4, 6, 8 or 10% in the future?
My life is nothing like I thought it would be when I was 45 years old. I have a "new" wife of 15 years, a child just under 14 years of age, I'm in a business I wasn't even thinking about then, been fired from a job I thought I would retire from and live in a different State that I hadn't even visited at that time. Wow! And, I've enjoyed every minute of my life. Hmmmm......who knows but if you keep doing all the "right" things for YOU, as it appears you have done, you'll be fine. But, expect the unexpected, save and live the life you're given.
Thanks to all for the kind words! I had more than a few beers with friends last night in celebration. One of them even commented that I seemed like I was in a good mood? I just said, "yeah things have been going well at work". It's a strange feeling to hit some personal goals like this and not be able to share with your friends and family. For that I am thankful for this type of community where we all are pursuing similar goals and can celebrate the mini-milestones along the way.
I know the last person I am telling is my 17 year old daughter. I have her convinced it is a struggle for dad to come up with all the money I give her! We are shopping for a used car right now so she can drive to her school (23 miles each way).
I do think she has inherited my sense for money (and not her mom's thank god). Last year on her 16th birthday I took her to the nicest mall in town and told her I didn't want to pick out a present she wouldn't like so we could get anything she wanted within reason. So with pretty much a blank check offer she picked out one pair of $30 jeans and wanted to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and that was it! She said she had enough clothes and didn't really "need" anything else! I think this is one nice outcome of her going to an all girls school. Even though they do not wear uniforms, these girls are not trying to buy a lot of clothes to impress the boys.
As I said in the original post, my next goal is to get to $1 million not including home.
Congratulations Skyvue! $1M is a very impressive milestone, especially at your young age! On the subject of that old phrase about first $1M being the hardest, have you found that to be true, when you consider smaller milestones?
For instance, I hit the $750K mark for the first time in August. Just out of curiosity, I went back through my records, and noticed that it took roughly 71 months to break the $250K barrier. Actually, longer, but my records only go back to March 1998, which is when I got serious about saving after recovering from a bad divorce and paying down a lot of debt.
It took 58 months to get from the $250K mark to the $500K. And then, it only took 34 months to get from $500K to $750K. So, with luck, the $1M mark should come around even sooner!
Also, it's great that you have your condo paid off, in full!
Agree. It's like that first kiss. Hard to get, but once there, every additional kiss (assuming the same guy/gal) dosen't give that initial "thrill" ...The first million is the hardest..........
true enough; or at least, it takes the longest.FinanceDude said:The first million is the hardest.
Amen, brother!JoeWras said:As part of my transition experience, I'm still w*rking, but have that freedom to smile at the madness knowing I can just walk if I need to. Sometimes it is almost like an out of body experience watching the rats run around. I just want to say, "Hey, that email is NOT the most important thing in the world. Really. Trust me."
Way to go skyvue! I especially liked hearing about your daughter. There is a lot of hope there for a bright future.
I also like to hear about paying off debt, not matter what the source.
I'm just a few years ahead of you, and I'm not ERed yet, but I'm pretty close to FI. Firecalc shows promising numbers. Depending on the market, and the HI options available, I'll be truly FI very soon, within the year. This realization has made my w*rk life so much better. Like you, I really can't talk about this with friends or family. It would create too much friction. And for sure, I'm not talking at w*rk. Heck no.
As part of my transition experience, I'm still w*rking, but have that freedom to smile at the madness knowing I can just walk if I need to. Sometimes it is almost like an out of body experience watching the rats run around. I just want to say, "Hey, that email is NOT the most important thing in the world. Really. Trust me."
Hope you get to feel the benefits of FI soon.
Thanks for the kind words. I am feeling the same way at work lately as well. People are stressing out over re-orgs, potential new roles, etc...and I have this inner peace because I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
skyvue said:I put this original post out in August of this last year after having my net worth first hit $1 million. At the time, that included the value of my condo. I am happy and surprised that today I hit the next milestone already which is $1 million without the condo. This market rally is a welcome surprise!
skyvue said:I put this original post out in August of this last year after having my net worth first hit $1 million. At the time, that included the value of my condo. I am happy and surprised that today I hit the next milestone already which is $1 million without the condo. This market rally is a welcome surprise!
Do you have at least a rough idea of your net worth? If not, I encourage you to sit down with pencil and paper and crunch the numbers. It shouldn't take too long, if you keep reasonable records.Since I am not sure how much my NW is, I have no NW-related milestones, if this makes sense.