Major Milestone Achieved - Sort of

C

ChiSaver

Dryer sheet wannabe
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
17
I was doing my net worth calculation over the weekend and found a nice surprise. For the first time in my life, I saw 2 commas in the final number. I don't know exactly when it happened, but I tend to update my spreadsheet every 2 months or so with the last time being on January 15th. My best guess is that we hit the million mark sometime around the first of March.

Now to be perfectly fair, I calculate net worth 2 different ways and this particular milestone was achieved using home equity (about 160k), cars (30k) and personal property (20k). Even with that taken into account, it was nice to see that I have investments worth over 800k and hopefully, it will be a short run to get those into the 2 comma zone as well.

It is little surprises like these that make all the saving worth it. I was really motivated to find even more areas to save, although it is getting tougher with 3 kids ages 5 and under. Thanks to everyone on this forum for indirectly inspiring the DW and I to get to this milestone. I am thankful to find a group of like minded thinkers.
 
That's a great achievement for someone your age! Good job!
 
WEll done, though it must be too early in the morning for me as my brain thought you were saying you had $10m.
 
Three kids under the age of 5 and you have $800K in investable assets? I bow to you. That's wonderful.
 
Surprises like that are nice, aren't they? I got a similar one last January, and also have young kids. Smaller number than you, but still a nice one. Felt good.

I like your idea of figuring networth both with and without home equite. I do the same. But I exclude vehicle value and other possessions as part of the equation. Just investments with and without home equity in the equation. I'm such a tightwad that I figure vehicles and other assets will be totally depreciated before I part with them.

Good job!
 
What do you mean, sort of?
A million is a million, according to GAAP.
 
Great achievement Chisaver - well done.
 
Well done! I am hoping to learn more inveestment strategies so I can get there too! Thanks for the inspiration!
 
Just updated my net worth spreadsheet and had to smile. I actually hit 1M in investable assets. Actually I was only 700 bucks over, so I'm glad the market didn't go down today :). I found it interesting that this was almost exactly one year to the day that I posted the original message. Thanks again to everyone on this board for keeping me motivated.
 
I don't know if this will happen with you, ChiSaver, but when I first topped the $1M mark in investable assets last April it was a bit of a roller-coaster ride above and below the cherished mark, dropping below $1M last May and not getting back above it again until September. I have not hit the $1.1M mark yet but have been getting close to it and have stayed above $1.05M for a few months. [Being ERed means I depend pretty much on the assets' value and don't add anything from the outside.]
 
Fantasm: Good question. My wife and I are both lucky to have great paying jobs. While we end up having to pay a boatload in child care, we were able to put away about 140k (401k's, Taxable, 529's, etc) last year and will up that this year. Also the market was able to increase it another 50k or so. We are invested roughly 80/20 at the time and plan to keep that allocation for another 10-15 years before paring down our stock position.

We ended up making 3 substantial financial moves this year. Both my wife and I took new jobs that we both enjoy substantially more than our previuos ones. We also refinanced our mortgage to a 10 year 3.75% fixed that should be taken care of by the time we consider ER.
 
Congrats, hitting 7 figures is truly a milestone, and one that evidently many people never reach. Keep it up...
 
Congratulations! DW and I hit that mark a few years ago, but strangely enough we didn't even notice it until a year after it happened. We're rapidly approaching another milestone this year.

Btw, I don't really count 529s or other assets we're saving for our kids. While we're managing them, they don't really belong to us anymore.
 
Excellent job. I hope to join the club w/i three years. I agree with the other poster--I wouldn't count 529s as part of that total. And I wouldn't include house and cars. But regardless, you've done very well.
 
While I very rarely post, I check this blog at least once a week and get so much information and inspiration from the folks that participate. Thank you so much for providing a forum to discuss things with like-minded individuals.

I was updating our NW spreadsheet this morning as I have gotten in the habit at the end of each month. I was excited to see that we crossed the $2M mark for the first time. You can see my original post to see that I calculate it two ways, and this is definitely the easier one to hit, but if history is any indicator, $2M in investments only should be achievable in about a year.

Not much else has changed. The kids are getting older (8, 7, 4) and provide the DW and I with constant excitement. We are both still in positions I mentioned moving to about 3 years ago and couldn't be happier with w*rk (for now :) ). Living in the same house which has just about 7.5 years left of payments and driving the same cars. I will turn 36 in a few weeks and DW turned 37 a month ago. We plan to be FI shortly and are shooting for retirement at 45.

In no small way has this board helped and encouraged us through this journey. Thanks to all of you for your support.
 
Wow, you two are really doing well! Obviously you have high paying jobs but you are also managing your money well and LBYM in a major way. Don't be too disappointed [-]if[/-] when the market gets choppy any day now.

I do count my home in my net worth, but I do not include my vehicle as it is a rapidly depreciating asset.
 
Meadbh said:
I do count my home in my net worth, but I do not include my vehicle as it is a rapidly depreciating asset.
Click to expand...

I include both home and vehicles. I figure the vehicles don't distort the picture much. With an average age of 22.67 years, they are pretty much fully depreciated. :D

And they make up a very minor part of the total figure.:dance:
 
Ya but.......you are restoring your muscle cars and adding value, and I drove a new car off the lot in 2012! :LOL:
 
Meadbh said:
Ya but.......you are restoring your muscle cars and adding value, and I drove a new car off the lot in 2012! :LOL:
Click to expand...

Theoretically thats how it works. In reality I'll spend more to fix it up than it is worth. The upside of added value on a Monte Carlo is extremely limited. I could spend $20k to make my car worth half that. Think hobby, not investment.

Driving the car guarantees a smile. Good enough for me.

Of course a 2012 Mustang (Right?) would also make me smile...
 
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