Race to 2024 - please join :)

Had my termination interview and survey today with the HR head. It was…interesting. No one has been openly envious, but some have given lukewarm congratulations.

The HR director went a step further. She got a bit emotional, said it’s “crazy” how work culture can direct our entire lives. I concurred crazy was a good word. Then she muttered maybe she’d do the same as me, caught herself, then blurted, “no, just kidding.”

I felt for the young woman (she might be my age, hard to tell with all the makeup). She must be immersed in the megacorp nonsense constantly. I’ve done a relatively decent job of avoiding it my career (declining promotions and such) and most of my supervisors have been savvy enough to not push the issue.

And LBYM and financial discipline are such foreign concepts to so many, they’ll never have the freedom to choose as we do.

Well, I suppose the least I can do is make myself a martini and give my very soon to be former coworkers a toast. Slainte!
 
Net Worth Excluding Real Estate and Personal Property
06/20/2017 - $1,205k
10/02/2017 - $1,273k - Nice little quarter, I would say.
1/1/2018 - $1,354k - Still headed in the right direction. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
4/1/2018 - $1,398k - Smaller increase this quarter as the market hasn't helped. Luckily my contributions more than made up for the lack of market returns.
07/02/2018 - $1,461k - Q2 was similar story to Q1. Moving in the right direction though.
10/01/2018 - $1,537k
01/01/2019 - $1,328k - Ouch, what a terrible December
04/01/2019 - $1,520k - Q1 got back much of what Q4 lost!
07/01/2019 - $1,576k - Nice quarter and a new high. Still chugging along.
10/01/2019 - $1,594k - While I'm way up from January. I'm not that far up from same period prior year. But, I'll keep piling it in and hope the market helps me along the way.
01/01/2020 - $1,729 - Excellent Q4 for 2019, which more than made up for Q4 2018. Here's hoping 2020 brings more of the same.
04/01/2020 - $1,453k - Wow, the last 3 weeks have been brutal. Down $276k from last quarter and $67k from last year!
07/01/2020 - $1,763k - Amazing that this market has been so resilient and I am grateful for it. However, I am still expecting a W recovery, at best. All the money that was lost in Q2 is gone forever, unemployment is still extremely high and our deficits are out of control. You all may have even seen in a different thread that I have recently purchased October SPY puts with the thought that once Q2 earnings are realized and valuations are proven to be out of whack, we'll have a retest.
10/01/2020 - $1,948k - Well, those SPY puts haven't worked out so well. Finally closed them out at a loss a few weeks back. Anyway, another good, yet mystifying quarter. I did a separate thread where I celebrated eclipsing $2M. That lasted for about 2 days and I still haven't gotten back. Hopefully for the year end update I'll make it. Considering where my portfolio was on March 23, this update is really remarkable.
01/01/2021 - $2,194k - What an absolute mess of a year. While very thankful for how my portfolio performed, it is completely illogical. While the rest of the world was burning down, stocks marched higher. I'm fearful that 2021 takes it all back. That being said, I hope I am once again wrong, as doing so seems to be very profitable... And, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and Cheers to (fingers crossed) life getting back to normal
04/02/2021 - $2,422k - Was travelling yesterday so missed the 4/1 balance. Up nearly $1M from one year ago....freaking amazing. Being so close to my number, $3M, I'm wondering if I should start to adjust my allocation to a more conservative approach. Current I'm something like 83/8/9. On the one hand, it's what got me here so if it ain't broke don't fix it, on the other hand, I don't want to see it go away in a correction. I'm young enough that I could continue to w*rk for a couple more years if needed, but I don't really want to. Also, now seems like the worst time to buy bonds. No clue what to do. Anyway, hope you all had a nice quarter, as well
07/05/2021 - $2,704k - Another amazing quarter. Of course owning NVDA has helped. Still worried about a pull back. Being so close to my number with still some years left has me nervous, not wanting to give it all back.
10/01/2021 - $2,672k - It was a rough last few weeks. High for the Q was actually $2,792.
01/01/2022 - $2,985k Really nice year; even hit the $3M mark a couple times in the last few months. Just bought a vacation home, so about $100k of this is now gone per Dec 28th, but being so close to the end of the year, I just left it in to keep 2021 clean. Original goal was $3M; with inflation I'm thinking I might need to up that to $3.5M or $4M
04/01/2022 - $2,899k Rough quarter plus I removed some funds for the vacation home I mentioned last quarter. But, Q1 finished better than it looked like it was going to a few weeks ago. So, cheers to that. Here's hoping for a better Q2.
07/01/2022 - $2,409k Very rough quarter. Basically back to where I was April of 2021. Here's hoping for a better second half
10/01/2022 - $2,294k Still going the wrong direction. Considering inflation, war in Europe, etc, etc. we may be in for a long recession. No worries. We've been through this before in '01/'02 and '08/'09 so we can get through it again.
01/01/2023 - $2,502k Got some of what we've lost back. Here's looking at a more profitable 2023. Happy New Year, everyone!
04/01/2023 - $2,906k Nice Q1! Still below all-time high, but working our way back there. Also, still reviewing wether I need to up our target number and wether to adjust our AA to a more conservative approach. Getting too close to the end to have the sequence of return risk that we went through in 2022.
07/01/2023 - $3,213k This is our first quarter that has ended over the $3M mark, all thanks to NVDA. Finally for the first time in 13 years had to sell some as it was becoming way too large a % of our portfolio
10/03/2023 - $3,132k Slightly down this quarter. Would be up quite a bit more had I not sold the NVDA, but no looking back, it was too risky of a % of our NW considering where we are in this journey. Also, nothing wrong with getting over 5% on a huge chunk of cash!
01/01/2024 - $3,453k Really nice run at the end of the year and this is with nearly $900k in money market! We have exceeded our original target ($3M), but have increased it to $4M recently due to inflation. Also, as mentioned in other posts, to line up with DD's high school graduation 06/25 and one final bonus 03/26, I'm targeting a 4/26 exit date. One other big factor is when our company will go public. I have a large portion of stock that is basically illiquid until we go public. It's too much to walk away from, but signs seem to point to this year, so we'll see.
04/01/2024 - $3,695k Another decent quarter and still sitting on a ton of cash. :dance:
07/02/2024 - $3,752k - Eke'd up a bit. Fairly tame quarter.
 
$2.30M invested assets - on target for 2030 - age 55 for unfettered access to 401k and RSU/options. I'll take a quarter like this!
| % of Target|
|investments and cash| investments plus RE cash flow
2017 Q4|42.4|50.0
2018 Q1|41.1|53.0
2018 Q2|42.9|60.4
2018 Q3|42.1|66.6
2018 Q4|38.8|62.4
2019 Q1|44.0|68.5
2019 Q2|45.3|71.3
2019 Q3|42.8|68.8
2019 Q4|46.3|74.2
2020 Q1|40.0|77.6
2020 Q2|42.3|80.5
2020 Q3|43.7|83.5
2020 Q4|47.9|92.0
2021 Q1|50.7|94.9
2021 Q2|53.5|105.9
2021 Q3|53.2|107.2
2021 Q4|56.4|112.7
2022 Q1|54.3|104.2
2022 Q2|53.5|105.9
2022 Q3|49.8|98.2
2022 Q4|54.6|100.7
2023 Q1|58.3|108.6
2023 Q2|62.4|114.5
2023 Q3|60.7|113.3
2023 Q4|71.0|122.9
2024 Q1|78.6|130.4
2024 Q2|79.4|132.3

Working on the multi legged stool. Targeting to have taxable brokerage account/Cash/Stock Options, traditional IRA and Roth IRA have about the same weighting upon FIRE.

| | |Networth Breakdown %| |
|t-IRA|Roth IRA|Taxable/Cash|RE Equity|Home Equity
2020 Q4|30|32|2|29|7
2021 Q1|30|32|3|28|7
2021 Q2|29|32|3|28|8
2021 Q3|29|31|3|29|8
2021 Q4|29|31|3|30|7
2022 Q1|29|31|3|30|7
2022 Q2|25|27|10|26|12
2022 Q3|25|26|10|27|13
2022 Q4|25|26|12|25|12
2023 Q1|25|27|12|25|11
2023 Q2|26|28|10|25|11
2023 Q3|26|27|9|26|11
2023 Q4|27|29|11|23|10
2024 Q1|27|30|12|22|9
2024 Q2|26|29|10|22|13
$2.32M invested assets - on target for 2030 - age 55 for unfettered access to 401k and RSU/options. We purchased a second home in Northern Wisconsin, for which we put down just north of $100k, so not a bad quarter considering that drain on our investments. Unfortunately, my Mega Corp removed RSU's and options for people my salary grade, so I no longer get that 10% bonus every year, but OTOH it will keep me less fettered to the lab/desk and could provide an earlier exit if desired.

The cabin purchase reduced our taxable investments by 30%, so now our net worth breakdown is as follows:
t-IRA/401(k): 26%
Roth IRA:29%
Brokerage/Cash: 10%
Rental RE Equity: 22%
Home/Cabin Equity: 13%

Keep slogging on...
 
Q1 2016 - 31.8% of our target, have a lot of heavy lifting to do in order to get ready for 2024 FIRE
Q2 2016 - 32.9% (+1.1%) of the target NW, very encouraged by the progress, looking forward to join 2 comma club this year.
Q3 2016 - 34.2% (+1.3%) of target, and finally joined two comma club
Q4 2016 - 35.6% (+1.4%) so far so good
Q1 2017 - 37.7% (+2.1%) big news - payed off house and have zero debt now. Markets have been hot during Q1 - that helped a lot
Q2 2017 - 39.6% (+1.9%) chugging along, hoping to cross 40% by end of July
Q3 2017 - 41.6% (+2.0%) - yey! looking forward to the midpoint of the race
Q4 2017 - 43.9% (+2.3%) that was blockbuster year, hope to have more of those going forward !!!
Q1 2018 - 44.9% (+1.0%) not bad
Q2 2018 - 46.5% (+1.6%) nice quarter!
Q3 2018 - 49.7% (+3.2%) looking forward to cross half-way mark this year!
Q4 2018 - 47.1% (-2.6%) terrible December killed that quarter, still positive for the year though
Q1 2019 - 51.1% (+4.0%) yey!!! Finally crossed half way mark
Q2 2019 - 53.2% (+2.1%) have exactly 5 years to go according to original plan
Q3 2019 - 55.0% (+1.8%) still racing
Q4 2019 - 57.9% (+2.9%) for the full 2019 our NW went up by 10.8% of the target and we beat year end estimate by $112k
Q1 2020 - 52.8% (-5.1%) At this point we are just happy to have our paychecks and that we both can work from home.
Q2 2020 - 59.6% (+6.8%) thankful for Q2 market gains and also believe we will see one more leg down before full recovery to February highs.
Q3 2020 - 63.7% (+4.1%) this year is shaping up to be interesting
Q4 2020 - 67.6% (+3.9%) crossed $2M mark on out NW, not complaining at all
Q1 2021 - 70.0% (+2.4%) nice small milestone!
Q2 2021 - 73.9% (+3.9%)
Q3 2021 - 74.4% (+0.5%) green for the quarter - that what counts
Q4 2021 - 78.7% (+4.3%) six years of racing here
Q1 2022 - 77.2% (-1.5%) slightly down, will see how it will go this year ...
Q2 2022 - 70.4% (-6.8%) rough quarter and we are back to Q1 2021
Q3 2022 - 68.2% (-2.2%) not as bad as was previous Q, but still red. To be fair it is not all that bad as we can buy cheap now*
Q4 2022 - 72.1% (+3.9%) finally some gains, but stull red for the year. Looking forward leave those red quarters behind in 2023 !!!
Q1 2023 - 75.8% (+3.7%) slowly recovering from the 2022 losses, looks like OMY is in books for us - class of 2025 or even 2026 if inflation will continue to bite.
Q2 2023 - 80.4% (+4.7%) we hit all time high at $2,413k, still behind but slowly closing those gaps between current state and 2 target lines.
Q3 2023- 79.3% (-1.1%) down again, looks like 2024 FIRE will not materialize, oh well, OMY - here we go, Exit 2025 here
Q4 2023 - 86% (+6.8%) we hit all time high at $2,581k, still behind but moving in the right direction. Due to inflation we are changing original target of $3M total NW to $3M excluding RE and as of today new FIRE date looks like end of 2025 or first half of 2026.
Q1 2024 - 91.6% (+5.6%) we hit all time high this quarter again at $2,748k and still might make original target by end of the year. But as now target moved to $3M without RE - our tentative FIRE date moved to End 2025-Mid 2026.
Q2 2024 - 93.1% (+1.5%) mild quarter for us, but hit all time high again at $2,794k. End of this Q was our originally planned FIRE date but we did not hit original target, but that is OK, we are chugging along :cool:
 
Today is my last day at MegaCorps! My company phone data seems largely transferred to my personal account. I'll be turning in the corporate phone, the computer I'm currently typing on, and the keys to my company truck in a couple hours.

There's a summer potluck today and I'm pretending they're throwing it in my honor. The president of the company just came in and gave me a hug (I'm one year older than him, so we're peers on some level). I got invited to an all-day party on the 4th at the nearby lake by another coworker whom I helped onboard last year. I'll attend the party in the morning as DW likes to sleep in, so I can still spend most of the day with her and make sure our neighbors don't catch our lawn on fire.

I've felt wistful the last week-plus, reminiscing all the other big life changes: graduating high school, graduating from the Academy, leaving the Army, leaving grad school, and now leaving MegaCorps. Leaving Megacorps feels the most similar to graduating high school, but with less anxiety. It's still very different, because you finish high school with a cohort, but you voluntarily leave megacorps alone.

DW seems to be steadily recuperating from her spine surgery last week. She's upright and shuffling around, almost ambulatory. The wound is clean and healing.

This might be my last post here. But I plan to make periodic posts in the 2030 thread as I work to full FIRE. Boy, do I hope that happens.

Cheers!
 
We should hit our number sometime in 2024 because of the 2023 year-end bull run. But like I said, I will keep at it until at least 2026. My job is easy going with years of experience under my belt. Easy and stress-free money is hard to say no to.
Goal post moved due to inflation: looks like we will be FI next year sometimes. I am going to keep working until DD finish college or medical school whichever comes later!
 
My spouse has finally decided to retire next Spring! I casted my laptop to the TV and showed the Fido planner and FireCALC, with explanations. I may work until then, or even past then, as my work is not really that stressful, and that would give us health care for a little longer, plus I could make Rule of 55 withdrawals starting in 2026. So probably 2025, or maybe even 2026 for me, although really we could both quit tomorrow and be very comfortable.
 
Last week I let my boss know I'm leaving just before Christmas. I can't officially put in the paperwork with HR until the end of September. I'll still be 49 on my last day, just barely. I've been in the same field for 30 years...I'm tired, and I've become more comfortable giving up extra money to claim my 50s for myself.
 
Last week I let my boss know I'm leaving just before Christmas. I can't officially put in the paperwork with HR until the end of September. I'll still be 49 on my last day, just barely. I've been in the same field for 30 years...I'm tired, and I've become more comfortable giving up extra money to claim my 50s for myself.
Not going to make 2024. I turn 55 near the end of 2025 so I could pull the plug on Jan 1, 2025, but DW is a teacher and they have staffing issues, just like most other school districts, so she plans on finishing out the school year. The weather's pretty crappy in January around these parts, so I'll probably stay at my j*b until DW is done for the school year. With signing up for the ACA marketplace being month-by-month, it looks like we have a semi-firm date of around July 1st, 2025.
The clock is ticking...
 
Q1 2016 - 31.8% of our target, have a lot of heavy lifting to do in order to get ready for 2024 FIRE
Q2 2016 - 32.9% (+1.1%) of the target NW, very encouraged by the progress, looking forward to join 2 comma club this year.
Q3 2016 - 34.2% (+1.3%) of target, and finally joined two comma club
Q4 2016 - 35.6% (+1.4%) so far so good
Q1 2017 - 37.7% (+2.1%) big news - payed off house and have zero debt now. Markets have been hot during Q1 - that helped a lot
Q2 2017 - 39.6% (+1.9%) chugging along, hoping to cross 40% by end of July
Q3 2017 - 41.6% (+2.0%) - yey! looking forward to the midpoint of the race
Q4 2017 - 43.9% (+2.3%) that was blockbuster year, hope to have more of those going forward !!!
Q1 2018 - 44.9% (+1.0%) not bad
Q2 2018 - 46.5% (+1.6%) nice quarter!
Q3 2018 - 49.7% (+3.2%) looking forward to cross half-way mark this year!
Q4 2018 - 47.1% (-2.6%) terrible December killed that quarter, still positive for the year though
Q1 2019 - 51.1% (+4.0%) yey!!! Finally crossed half way mark
Q2 2019 - 53.2% (+2.1%) have exactly 5 years to go according to original plan
Q3 2019 - 55.0% (+1.8%) still racing
Q4 2019 - 57.9% (+2.9%) for the full 2019 our NW went up by 10.8% of the target and we beat year end estimate by $112k
Q1 2020 - 52.8% (-5.1%) At this point we are just happy to have our paychecks and that we both can work from home.
Q2 2020 - 59.6% (+6.8%) thankful for Q2 market gains and also believe we will see one more leg down before full recovery to February highs.
Q3 2020 - 63.7% (+4.1%) this year is shaping up to be interesting
Q4 2020 - 67.6% (+3.9%) crossed $2M mark on out NW, not complaining at all
Q1 2021 - 70.0% (+2.4%) nice small milestone!
Q2 2021 - 73.9% (+3.9%)
Q3 2021 - 74.4% (+0.5%) green for the quarter - that what counts
Q4 2021 - 78.7% (+4.3%) six years of racing here
Q1 2022 - 77.2% (-1.5%) slightly down, will see how it will go this year ...
Q2 2022 - 70.4% (-6.8%) rough quarter and we are back to Q1 2021
Q3 2022 - 68.2% (-2.2%) not as bad as was previous Q, but still red. To be fair it is not all that bad as we can buy cheap now*
Q4 2022 - 72.1% (+3.9%) finally some gains, but stull red for the year. Looking forward leave those red quarters behind in 2023 !!!
Q1 2023 - 75.8% (+3.7%) slowly recovering from the 2022 losses, looks like OMY is in books for us - class of 2025 or even 2026 if inflation will continue to bite.
Q2 2023 - 80.4% (+4.7%) we hit all time high at $2,413k, still behind but slowly closing those gaps between current state and 2 target lines.
Q3 2023- 79.3% (-1.1%) down again, looks like 2024 FIRE will not materialize, oh well, OMY - here we go, Exit 2025 here
Q4 2023 - 86% (+6.8%) we hit all time high at $2,581k, still behind but moving in the right direction. Due to inflation we are changing original target of $3M total NW to $3M excluding RE and as of today new FIRE date looks like end of 2025 or first half of 2026.
Q1 2024 - 91.6% (+5.6%) we hit all time high this quarter again at $2,748k and still might make original target by end of the year. But as now target moved to $3M without RE - our tentative FIRE date moved to End 2025-Mid 2026.
Q2 2024 - 93.1% (+1.5%) mild quarter for us, but hit all time high again at $2,794k. End of this Q was our originally planned FIRE date but we did not hit original target, but that is OK, we are chugging along
Q3 2024 - 99.4% (+6.35) HUGE quarter put us at just slightly short of the original $3M target for total NW as we ended at $2,981. New target is $3M investable and we are at $2,659 or 88.6%.

With such good market performance does anyone joining class of 2024?
For us -we are targeting 2026 now, is there a thread of that year that I can join ?
 
Q3 2024 - 99.4% (+6.35) HUGE quarter put us at just slightly short of the original $3M target for total NW as we ended at $2,981. New target is $3M investable and we are at $2,659 or 88.6%.

With such good market performance does anyone joining class of 2024?
For us -we are targeting 2026 now, is there a thread of that year that I can join ?
If not, start one! ;)
 
I'm currently shooting for April 2025, but some days the job gets me annoyed enough that I'm half-tempted to move that up some! My birthday is April 2, and my goal is to announce my retirement/resignation on that day, as a birthday gift to myself, and be gone before the end of the month.

It just hit me...that's exactly 6 months away, from today! I will admit, the closer it looms on the horizon, I find myself having second thoughts.
 
Net Worth Excluding Real Estate and Personal Property
06/20/2017 - $1,205k
10/02/2017 - $1,273k - Nice little quarter, I would say.
1/1/2018 - $1,354k - Still headed in the right direction. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
4/1/2018 - $1,398k - Smaller increase this quarter as the market hasn't helped. Luckily my contributions more than made up for the lack of market returns.
07/02/2018 - $1,461k - Q2 was similar story to Q1. Moving in the right direction though.
10/01/2018 - $1,537k
01/01/2019 - $1,328k - Ouch, what a terrible December
04/01/2019 - $1,520k - Q1 got back much of what Q4 lost!
07/01/2019 - $1,576k - Nice quarter and a new high. Still chugging along.
10/01/2019 - $1,594k - While I'm way up from January. I'm not that far up from same period prior year. But, I'll keep piling it in and hope the market helps me along the way.
01/01/2020 - $1,729 - Excellent Q4 for 2019, which more than made up for Q4 2018. Here's hoping 2020 brings more of the same.
04/01/2020 - $1,453k - Wow, the last 3 weeks have been brutal. Down $276k from last quarter and $67k from last year!
07/01/2020 - $1,763k - Amazing that this market has been so resilient and I am grateful for it. However, I am still expecting a W recovery, at best. All the money that was lost in Q2 is gone forever, unemployment is still extremely high and our deficits are out of control. You all may have even seen in a different thread that I have recently purchased October SPY puts with the thought that once Q2 earnings are realized and valuations are proven to be out of whack, we'll have a retest.
10/01/2020 - $1,948k - Well, those SPY puts haven't worked out so well. Finally closed them out at a loss a few weeks back. Anyway, another good, yet mystifying quarter. I did a separate thread where I celebrated eclipsing $2M. That lasted for about 2 days and I still haven't gotten back. Hopefully for the year end update I'll make it. Considering where my portfolio was on March 23, this update is really remarkable.
01/01/2021 - $2,194k - What an absolute mess of a year. While very thankful for how my portfolio performed, it is completely illogical. While the rest of the world was burning down, stocks marched higher. I'm fearful that 2021 takes it all back. That being said, I hope I am once again wrong, as doing so seems to be very profitable... And, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and Cheers to (fingers crossed) life getting back to normal
04/02/2021 - $2,422k - Was travelling yesterday so missed the 4/1 balance. Up nearly $1M from one year ago....freaking amazing. Being so close to my number, $3M, I'm wondering if I should start to adjust my allocation to a more conservative approach. Current I'm something like 83/8/9. On the one hand, it's what got me here so if it ain't broke don't fix it, on the other hand, I don't want to see it go away in a correction. I'm young enough that I could continue to w*rk for a couple more years if needed, but I don't really want to. Also, now seems like the worst time to buy bonds. No clue what to do. Anyway, hope you all had a nice quarter, as well
07/05/2021 - $2,704k - Another amazing quarter. Of course owning NVDA has helped. Still worried about a pull back. Being so close to my number with still some years left has me nervous, not wanting to give it all back.
10/01/2021 - $2,672k - It was a rough last few weeks. High for the Q was actually $2,792.
01/01/2022 - $2,985k Really nice year; even hit the $3M mark a couple times in the last few months. Just bought a vacation home, so about $100k of this is now gone per Dec 28th, but being so close to the end of the year, I just left it in to keep 2021 clean. Original goal was $3M; with inflation I'm thinking I might need to up that to $3.5M or $4M
04/01/2022 - $2,899k Rough quarter plus I removed some funds for the vacation home I mentioned last quarter. But, Q1 finished better than it looked like it was going to a few weeks ago. So, cheers to that. Here's hoping for a better Q2.
07/01/2022 - $2,409k Very rough quarter. Basically back to where I was April of 2021. Here's hoping for a better second half
10/01/2022 - $2,294k Still going the wrong direction. Considering inflation, war in Europe, etc, etc. we may be in for a long recession. No worries. We've been through this before in '01/'02 and '08/'09 so we can get through it again.
01/01/2023 - $2,502k Got some of what we've lost back. Here's looking at a more profitable 2023. Happy New Year, everyone!
04/01/2023 - $2,906k Nice Q1! Still below all-time high, but working our way back there. Also, still reviewing wether I need to up our target number and wether to adjust our AA to a more conservative approach. Getting too close to the end to have the sequence of return risk that we went through in 2022.
07/01/2023 - $3,213k This is our first quarter that has ended over the $3M mark, all thanks to NVDA. Finally for the first time in 13 years had to sell some as it was becoming way too large a % of our portfolio
10/03/2023 - $3,132k Slightly down this quarter. Would be up quite a bit more had I not sold the NVDA, but no looking back, it was too risky of a % of our NW considering where we are in this journey. Also, nothing wrong with getting over 5% on a huge chunk of cash!
01/01/2024 - $3,453k Really nice run at the end of the year and this is with nearly $900k in money market! We have exceeded our original target ($3M), but have increased it to $4M recently due to inflation. Also, as mentioned in other posts, to line up with DD's high school graduation 06/25 and one final bonus 03/26, I'm targeting a 4/26 exit date. One other big factor is when our company will go public. I have a large portion of stock that is basically illiquid until we go public. It's too much to walk away from, but signs seem to point to this year, so we'll see.
04/01/2024 - $3,695k Another decent quarter and still sitting on a ton of cash. :dance:
07/02/2024 - $3,752k - Eke'd up a bit. Fairly tame quarter.
10/01/2024 - $3,991k - Oh, so close to $4M! Really good quarter considering that I am sitting on nearly $1M in cash. Really need my company to hurry up and go public so I can cash that out and put in my notice!
 
$2.55M invested assets - on target for 2030 - age 55
Investments and cash 86.4%, including RE cash flow 139.2%
Net worth breakdown is as follows:
t-IRA/401(k): 26%
Roth IRA:29%
Brokerage/Cash: 10%
Rental RE Equity: 22%
Home/Cabin Equity: 13%

Keep slogging on...
t-IRA/401(k): 27%
Roth IRA:29%
Brokerage/Cash: 10%
Rental RE Equity: 21%
Home/Cabin Equity: 13%
 
At the ripe old age of 56 I decided to pull the plug at the end of Oct2024. :peace:

39 years of Federal service (with almost a year sick leave included) under FERS.

OPM sent interim payments beginning in NOV :cool:

No debt, home paid for, and finished with +$1,100,000 in TSP/IRAs

With FERS pension, military reserve pension (at 60yrs old), and Soc. Sec. (eventually) we should be able to spend +20% above our spend during the w**rking years. :)

Glad I retired 💯
 
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Well Monday Dec 30th will be my last day of work life at 40.5 yo. I had planned to RE in Feb 2026 but the last few months threw me a curve ball. My father passed away about a month ago. I took a leave of absence for about two months once we learned he had stage 4 lung cancer. During those two months I was able to be with my dad everyday and fully help him get from suddenly very sick to full enjoyment during his last two weeks of life. We had some amazing and special moments during this time which I will always cherish.

In terms of money, we hit the money goal a bit ago but kept pushing so my wife could hit her personal work goals and for me to see the finishing of some science projects after my company was bought out 1.5 yrs ago. She will work in 2025 due to her having a 6 month full pay sabbatical to use up and a 4 week remote work benefit = 7 months full pay little work. Having such a great spouse is the ultimate investment as she is the one that encouraged me to go ahead and leave the work life now as the money would be irrelevant in the next 13 months and her having a good perspective seeing my emotional needs during my dads illness. Due to this two year bull move we can essentially have a 2% SWR projection and still that would be spending far and away more than we have ever spent on an annual basis. We purchased a brand new vehicle and have the house payoff cash that we put into 10yr bonds to essentially have the govt interest pay almost all the annual mortgage and home insurance costs projected over the next 10 years. Man it is surreal after pushing so hard for the past 20 yrs to be here. I can now have time to grieve, enjoy, and work towards the next season of life's goals. Wishing everyone the best on hitting those goals.
 
So at the end of 2024, 26% OVER my goal that I set back in 2011 (with typical inflation rates). I felt I was doing really well until 2022, then two things happened:
1) Real world inflation rate going through the roof (not the official Fed government rate). Feels like everything costs twice of what it did in 2021.
2) DF explained to me that yes the 401K looks great, but that $ can't be accessed until 59.5 without penalty; requiring to wait until October 2026 for that tap to be turned on. Except for the HSA, we are cash broke. When we have gotten any extra cash, have been giving it to NC Hurricane Helene Relief or into our automobiles (average miles on them is 270,000 miles).
The real world application is we just need to pile money into cash until the stash is large enough to ride until Oct'26 or until Oct'26 itself.
Feeling like "Class of 2024" Member with double OMY hangover.
 
So at the end of 2024, 26% OVER my goal that I set back in 2011 (with typical inflation rates). I felt I was doing really well until 2022, then two things happened:
1) Real world inflation rate going through the roof (not the official Fed government rate). Feels like everything costs twice of what it did in 2021.
2) DF explained to me that yes the 401K looks great, but that $ can't be accessed until 59.5 without penalty; requiring to wait until October 2026 for that tap to be turned on. Except for the HSA, we are cash broke. When we have gotten any extra cash, have been giving it to NC Hurricane Helene Relief or into our automobiles (average miles on them is 270,000 miles).
The real world application is we just need to pile money into cash until the stash is large enough to ride until Oct'26 or until Oct'26 itself.
Feeling like "Class of 2024" Member with double OMY hangover.
I'll be tapping my current 401(k) next year at age 54.5. See IRS webpage below:


Scroll down to this section:
ExceptionThe distribution will NOT be subject to the 10% additional early distribution tax in the following circumstances:Qualified plans
(401(k), etc.)
IRA, SEP, SIMPLE IRA* and SARSEP plansInternal Revenue Code section(s)
Separation from serviceThe employee separates from service during or after the year the employee reaches age 55 (age 50 for public safety employees of a state, or political subdivision of a state, in a governmental defined benefit or defined contribution plan) **yesno72(t)(2)(A)(v),
72(t)(10)
The columns didn't line up in my copy-and-paste example, but this is something I would check out to see if your employer 401(k) plan offers. My JH plan offers this, but the only catch is that they charge a $25 fee for every withdrawal transfer, so I plan on only taking one or two distributions per year. My plan is to set up a Money Market account (with 6 months of living expenses taken from a taxable account) at our local credit union and then transfer 6 months of projected living expenses into that account so it will be at least earning more than a regular checking account. I then plan on monthly free transfers from that account into a checking account for bill payment and living expenses.

Hope this helps.
 
Net Worth Excluding Real Estate and Personal Property
06/20/2017 - $1,205k
10/02/2017 - $1,273k - Nice little quarter, I would say.
1/1/2018 - $1,354k - Still headed in the right direction. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
4/1/2018 - $1,398k - Smaller increase this quarter as the market hasn't helped. Luckily my contributions more than made up for the lack of market returns.
07/02/2018 - $1,461k - Q2 was similar story to Q1. Moving in the right direction though.
10/01/2018 - $1,537k
01/01/2019 - $1,328k - Ouch, what a terrible December
04/01/2019 - $1,520k - Q1 got back much of what Q4 lost!
07/01/2019 - $1,576k - Nice quarter and a new high. Still chugging along.
10/01/2019 - $1,594k - While I'm way up from January. I'm not that far up from same period prior year. But, I'll keep piling it in and hope the market helps me along the way.
01/01/2020 - $1,729 - Excellent Q4 for 2019, which more than made up for Q4 2018. Here's hoping 2020 brings more of the same.
04/01/2020 - $1,453k - Wow, the last 3 weeks have been brutal. Down $276k from last quarter and $67k from last year!
07/01/2020 - $1,763k - Amazing that this market has been so resilient and I am grateful for it. However, I am still expecting a W recovery, at best. All the money that was lost in Q2 is gone forever, unemployment is still extremely high and our deficits are out of control. You all may have even seen in a different thread that I have recently purchased October SPY puts with the thought that once Q2 earnings are realized and valuations are proven to be out of whack, we'll have a retest.
10/01/2020 - $1,948k - Well, those SPY puts haven't worked out so well. Finally closed them out at a loss a few weeks back. Anyway, another good, yet mystifying quarter. I did a separate thread where I celebrated eclipsing $2M. That lasted for about 2 days and I still haven't gotten back. Hopefully for the year end update I'll make it. Considering where my portfolio was on March 23, this update is really remarkable.
01/01/2021 - $2,194k - What an absolute mess of a year. While very thankful for how my portfolio performed, it is completely illogical. While the rest of the world was burning down, stocks marched higher. I'm fearful that 2021 takes it all back. That being said, I hope I am once again wrong, as doing so seems to be very profitable... And, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and Cheers to (fingers crossed) life getting back to normal
04/02/2021 - $2,422k - Was travelling yesterday so missed the 4/1 balance. Up nearly $1M from one year ago....freaking amazing. Being so close to my number, $3M, I'm wondering if I should start to adjust my allocation to a more conservative approach. Current I'm something like 83/8/9. On the one hand, it's what got me here so if it ain't broke don't fix it, on the other hand, I don't want to see it go away in a correction. I'm young enough that I could continue to w*rk for a couple more years if needed, but I don't really want to. Also, now seems like the worst time to buy bonds. No clue what to do. Anyway, hope you all had a nice quarter, as well
07/05/2021 - $2,704k - Another amazing quarter. Of course owning NVDA has helped. Still worried about a pull back. Being so close to my number with still some years left has me nervous, not wanting to give it all back.
10/01/2021 - $2,672k - It was a rough last few weeks. High for the Q was actually $2,792.
01/01/2022 - $2,985k Really nice year; even hit the $3M mark a couple times in the last few months. Just bought a vacation home, so about $100k of this is now gone per Dec 28th, but being so close to the end of the year, I just left it in to keep 2021 clean. Original goal was $3M; with inflation I'm thinking I might need to up that to $3.5M or $4M
04/01/2022 - $2,899k Rough quarter plus I removed some funds for the vacation home I mentioned last quarter. But, Q1 finished better than it looked like it was going to a few weeks ago. So, cheers to that. Here's hoping for a better Q2.
07/01/2022 - $2,409k Very rough quarter. Basically back to where I was April of 2021. Here's hoping for a better second half
10/01/2022 - $2,294k Still going the wrong direction. Considering inflation, war in Europe, etc, etc. we may be in for a long recession. No worries. We've been through this before in '01/'02 and '08/'09 so we can get through it again.
01/01/2023 - $2,502k Got some of what we've lost back. Here's looking at a more profitable 2023. Happy New Year, everyone!
04/01/2023 - $2,906k Nice Q1! Still below all-time high, but working our way back there. Also, still reviewing wether I need to up our target number and wether to adjust our AA to a more conservative approach. Getting too close to the end to have the sequence of return risk that we went through in 2022.
07/01/2023 - $3,213k This is our first quarter that has ended over the $3M mark, all thanks to NVDA. Finally for the first time in 13 years had to sell some as it was becoming way too large a % of our portfolio
10/03/2023 - $3,132k Slightly down this quarter. Would be up quite a bit more had I not sold the NVDA, but no looking back, it was too risky of a % of our NW considering where we are in this journey. Also, nothing wrong with getting over 5% on a huge chunk of cash!
01/01/2024 - $3,453k Really nice run at the end of the year and this is with nearly $900k in money market! We have exceeded our original target ($3M), but have increased it to $4M recently due to inflation. Also, as mentioned in other posts, to line up with DD's high school graduation 06/25 and one final bonus 03/26, I'm targeting a 4/26 exit date. One other big factor is when our company will go public. I have a large portion of stock that is basically illiquid until we go public. It's too much to walk away from, but signs seem to point to this year, so we'll see.
04/01/2024 - $3,695k Another decent quarter and still sitting on a ton of cash. :dance:
07/02/2024 - $3,752k - Eke'd up a bit. Fairly tame quarter.
10/01/2024 - $3,991k - Oh, so close to $4M! Really good quarter considering that I am sitting on nearly $1M in cash. Really need my company to hurry up and go public so I can cash that out and put in my notice!
01/01/2025 - $4.196k - Got a little help from some small inheritences. Looking like 2026 for me with some things happening at work that I can't walk away from. Happy New Year, everyone!
 
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