"Your First Million is the Toughest" How long did it take you?

[maddythebeagle]

somewhere around 13-14 years....professional job, little debt out of school, LBYM (sometimes a cheap bastard), some side income, minimize investment expenses, remodeled modest house doing a lot of the work myself in a moderate market....Did buy a new vehicle (at dealer cost) but plan to keep for 15-20 years...

 

[yakers]

Slow and steady wins the race

.

Even slower & steadier. After 34 yrs for me (expect to retire in next 6 mo) DW retired last year we have all of maybe $750K in taxable/deferred/tax free funds, a house @maybe $550k and COLAd pensions with a NPV of maybe 2M. Not the descretionary assets of the self employed but enough to not worry about how the market goes. Took a long time, fortunately love the work, DW still teaches but for nothing now.

 

[Milkman]

Great answers! As Milton suggested, there are a lot of motivated people on this site. I am impressed by how quickly some people achieved this goal (and beyond) and how everyone with their unique circumstanses, took advantage of their own situation to make things happen.

I suspect the one characteristic trait on this board is discipline.

Milkman

 

[Tandemlovers]

We passed the 1 million mark January of this year, and are almost 20% along the way to the next million.
We started 20 years ago.
I am 45 and my husband, the wage earner, is 54.
Our figure excludes the value of our home.
We have always maxed out on 403b contributions, and have always made a non-deductibel IRA contribution (remember when non-working spouses could only contribute 250.00 yearly?!!?)

 

[tryan]

15 years to the first million. 7 to the second. Nearly all real estate.

 

[retire@40]

...I suspect the one characteristic trait on this board is discipline.

Along with persistence and determination.

 

[bright eyed]

Started minimally saving 4 years ago. Started saving in earnest three months ago.... Bankrate: Calculator: How long until you're a millionaire? says that it'll take us another 6-8 years to get there if we get our savings where I want it (70% of our salary)

edit: Excluding a townhouse that isn't appreciating at all.

this calc said in about 17 years but that's w/ a flat contribution rate - i will at least increase to the max every year so that's a little nudge up and hopefully whatever else i can get a hold of (raises, bonuses, lottery winnings )

 

[Spanky]

We passed the 1 million mark January of this year, and are almost 20% along the way to the next million.
We started 20 years ago.
I am 45 and my husband, the wage earner, is 54.
Our figure excludes the value of our home.
We have always maxed out on 403b contributions, and have always made a non-deductibel IRA contribution (remember when non-working spouses could only contribute 250.00 yearly?!!?)

20% gain since January, 2007? Your portfolio seems risky - mostly international or emerging market equities?

 

[kcowan]

The Toronto stock exchange index is up 25% YTD in USD. About half from exchange gains. Not too risky.

 

[Tandemlovers]

20% gain since January, 2007? Your portfolio seems risky - mostly international or emerging market equity?

About 23% European and Emerging market mutual funds.

We've also done well with Vanguard's Energy Fund the last 12 months.

We plan to shift even more of our assets into overseas funds, due to the cost of the war and the falling dollar.

 

[Tandemlovers]

20% gain since January, 2007? Your portfolio seems risky - mostly international or emerging market equities?

Sorry about the double entry...still learning how to navigate the site!

Part of the ~18% gain includes principal contributions to our retirement accounts, of course, so the actual gain is somewhere around 15%.

Still, it's been a thrilling ride!

 

[Milton]

The Toronto stock exchange index is up 25% YTD in USD. About half from exchange gains. Not too risky.

The steady decline against most other major currencies is something to behold ... and seemingly no end in sight, as long as the massive trade and current account deficits continue.

 

[Spanky]

We plan to shift even more of our assets into overseas funds, due to the cost of the war and the falling dollar.

I thought about shifting more $ into emerging markets and overseas back in March in which the market took a dive. My return would have increased had I acted. Anyway, it makes no sense to dwell on the past. I think international stocks will continue to perform well.

 

[kumquat]

The first took about 20 years, the second 7 more (assisted by small inheritances), third about 3 more and the 4th (this month) 1 more. 3 & 4 came from mega-corp stock options, mega-corp up 500% in last 4 years.

Joining mega-corp was the luckiest think I ever did.

 

[chinaco]

If one starts with $100k in year 0 at an 11% return it take about 7.5 years for the money to double. $100k has to double 3 times for $800k So it will about 23 years to reach $1MM. To reach 2MM only requires it to double 1 time. But the proportion is off. The same period of time would take $1MM to $10MM.


If one starts with a small amount of savings, it is likely to take 25-30 years to reach $1MM.

 

[tryan]

If one starts with a small amount of savings, it is likely to take 25-30 years to reach $1MM.

Probably a big contributor to why most don't "make it" ... and another reason why those who "make it" rarely loose it.

 

[dessert]

We started saving in 1977. We crossed that mark last year not counting the home we own. We are not educated investors but Fidelity 401K gave us enough information to where we kept everything diversified and dollar-cost averaging did it's job. We paid for our home, always owned two nice vehicles and a new boat, so we are not misers at all.
Right now we are saving a good bit each month and the way the market is moving, we are now 15% on the way to the second mark.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Not quite sure... I was 'nose to the grindstone' and looked up one year (I think it was 1998(after 21 years of working) and found that I had $1M in total investments, not counting the house). So I thought I was on track. Then 2000 came along and my portfolio dropped like a rock ... I was in my 'gambling' mode back then, 100% equities. I angonized about that for a while and then went back into 'nose to grindstone mode'. Well fortunately I just kept on investing the max in 401K through those years and left my hand off the throttle. 2003-4 and stuff is back on track. 2005 I got religion and saw the light at the end of the tunnel, so I started to get conservative. Instead of 100/0 allocation I am now 60/40. ... getting close to 2nd $M, but now I'm off the 'corporate teat', it will grow a little slower I think. ... my 'working' spreadsheet (wishful thinking and unscientific) shows that I will be at over 8M when I reach 100 years old @ 6% annual growth rate. Hope they have 'body parts' at Wal-Mart by then.

By the way ... 19 days into retirement and I am wondering why I waited so long... MAN THIS IS THE WAY TO DO IT!
Sorry .. devil made me do it.

 

[yona]

Took me 7 years since I took my first full time job. We don't earn a lot and I am not smart, but:

- I live frugally
- I listen very well to what Buffett says

 

[UVaOK]

Took me 7 years since I took my first full time job. We don't earn a lot and I am not smart, but:

- I live frugally
- I listen very well to what Buffett says

How did you get to seven figures in seven years without earning much money? This seems pretty difficult. Even if you had started with $100k, you'd need an average annual return of almost 40% to get to a million in that time frame.

 

[yona]

During these 7 years our combined salaries averaged around 80K to 90K a year. I never really calculated it, but this is my estimation. I think we saved more than 50% of it. The taxes in HK are very low and there is no capital gain tax nor dividend tax.

My investments were OK, but not that great until two years ago, when I read Buffett saying he can guarantee more than 50% a year if he had less than 10 million to invest.

I just followed what he did when he was young. My last year's return was 48%. Above this I used some leverage (100K), which worked for me.

This year I didn't borrow money, and my return YTD is more than 80%. (This is just an estimation. By the end of June it was 71% and it is up a lot since.)

 

[Sam]

Have you contacted Warren Buffett lately? He's looking for someone to take over his responsibity.

Anyway, the performance of your portfolio is simply amazing, almost unbelievable. Congrats.

 

[JustCurious]

I just followed what he did when he was young. My last year's return was 48%. Above this I used some leverage (100K), which worked for me.

This year I didn't borrow money, and my return YTD is more than 80%. (This is just an estimation. By the end of June it was 71% and it is up a lot since.)

Yona, would you share with us the specific investments in your portfolio? I would love to see how you are earning such terrific returns!

 

[free4now]

About 10 years to pre-tax million, 15 years to post-tax million.

 

[Milton]

Yona, would you share with us the specific investments in your portfolio? I would love to see how you are earning such terrific returns!

I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastics.