Since you started...

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I looked and saw I started reading/posting here in November 2006. A lot has changed since then both financially and personally. I thought it might be fun to see how people have changed. It's weird following bits and pieces of people's lives in funny ways. You know a little about them cobbled together through what they share and it builds an image in your head of them. let's share what you want to share

We were DINKS and now we have 1 kid and 1 on the way. It is our biggest accomplishment. We lost a dog, family members, finished two graduate degrees, paid off $25k in student loans, bought a new car, went down to one income, and refinanced to a conventional instead of jumbo mortgage.

Financially I can't believe we've done so much either. It seems like autopilot saving and investing.

Estimated Net Worth not including Home Equity

Total $63,580.06 $337,825.86

I cringe we should be doing more for college, but it seems like everything else has priority like retirement, cars, etc. How Have you changed?

[bjl584]

I also joined in 2006, around the same time as you. Since joining I have, sold 4 old cars, bought 3 newer ones, went to school and graduated with an MBA, got a part time job, sold a house, lost my grandfather, paid down a significant amount of debt, and quadrupled my net worth.

[kork13]

LAL, I was thinking about starting this exact same thread. haha "great minds..." right?

Well, I started on here at the beginning of 2008. I was a senior in college, so it probably goes without saying that ALOT has changed. In the last 5 years, I've moved 3 times, traveled (literally) around the world, gotten halfway through a masters degree, and established myself on a good career path.

Financially, once again, huge changes. In '08, I probably had $3k-$5k in savings, a $30k loan waiting for me to start repaying upon graduation, plus about $8k remaining on a car loan. Sooooo.... for a nice round number, we'll say I was sitting at a net worth of about -$42,000? Fast forward, I've now got $8k remaining on the loan (will be paid off next summer), no other debt, and $160k between retirement, investments, and savings. Nearly $200k of net gain in 5 years? Not bad...

Honestly, being a part of these forums has been great for me. Almost everything I know about money I've learned from you all. My parents taught me that I need to be smart about money, but SA taught me how. Plus, I've really come to enjoy discussing both financial and other topics on here, and most especially, giving advice to anyone else who happens to swing through with questions.

And as LAL said, you really do form impressions of everybody here... I think it would be funny to actually meet one of you and realize how totally wrong I my mental depiction is... hahaha

I wonder what the next 5 years hold...?

[thekid]

Also a 2006er, although I've been less constant in my posting.

2006 was the year in which i changed jobs, but really the year where i decided on my adult life. i had been working for a large law firm up til then and didn't want to stay long term, and i had to decide whether to continue practicing inhouse (i wanted a more balanced life) or change fields completely (which was an out of town move). I ended up going inhouse. That decision stabilized my life.

Since, we bought a house (2008), got married (2009) and had a child (2010). We're thinking seriously of another (2013). Financially, 2006 is also the year I started budgeting (was warry of financial consequences of potential moves). This lead me to take much more active control of my finances. Since, we have paid off the mortgage (2011), bought new cars cash (last year) and with those two things out of the way, we are now entering an aggressive savings phase. Our net worth has about doubled from 2006, to somewhere around $600k right now. We're 33 and 34, so I like the outlook going forward.

I think we are now entering another "rethinking phase" with the mortgage paid off and the savings rate going forward. We're looking at business opportunities and for the first time we're looking at retirement not as some distant concept, but like something that's not all that far away. Mostly, thought, this is family time. Feels really stable and I really enjoy it.

[woodie96]

The wife and I finally got motivated around the time I joined here, so since 2008 we have come a very long way and have learned soooo much from all of you.
Since starting we have sold one car and bought the wife a newer used car..Refinanced the house to a 20 year loan vice 30....Improved our 401K and mutual funds that are separate from the work 401K.
Now to get rid of the pendulum kids that keep coming back.....LOL....

[snshijuptr]

Not too much changed for us since I joined Feb 2010. DH & I both got our Masters. I've been doing the same job, but DH changed jobs. Our Net Worth has skyrocketed from $4K to $65K, but we had just finished paying off our car loan when I joined. Part of that was establishing our 6 month EF and saving to pay cash for our next car. I moved through several types of budgets, and thanks to this forum settled on a Needs/Wants/Savings budget.

We've actually just been in prep mode for the past 2 years. Te next 2 years will see our new baby, a new car for me, me graduating my PhD, us moving and probably buying a house, and possibly preparation for a second baby.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Joined April 2006.

Changes? Let's see....

Refinanced house. Decided to keep 1 year+ of cash savings. Thus also became something of a bank & CU rate chaser. Spouse retired from full time work with pension, now works part-time. Began accelerating payments on mortgage. Sent son off to college; now he's working on PhD. Shortly after joining here and being alerted to much better rewards credit cards, changed as many purchases as possible to CC. Purchased a used car and used truck. Lost a parent. Acquired more than double the garden space, increasing our home-grown foods and fresh flowers. Reassessed insurance needs, lowering vehicle coverage, raising house coverage. Went from employer-employee shared expense on health insurance to 100% self-paid. Sold boat. Lost 27% on-paper value of house. Currently earned income decreased by 77.8% (excludes pension). Lost eligibility to contribute to 403-b.

[disneysteve]

I also thought about a similar thread.

Not a whole lot has changed for us. Still married. Same jobs. Same cars. Same house. Same kid. We're in that mid part of life where things tend to be stable if all goes well.

Of course, financially things progress in a good way. I'm at work so don't have numbers in front of me but I can look them up later. But we've continued to put 5K into each ROTH every year, $300/month in the 529, $500/month in the taxable account earmarked for retirement, 50% of DW's salary into her 401k (about another 5K/year) and assorted other savings. We did refi a year ago November and are prepaying that so hoping to have the house paid off in 7-8 years but that will depend on college costs. I may stop prepaying to cover education expenses.

Other than that, I can't think of any major life-altering changes in the past 6 years offhand, unless you count getting iPhones and an iPad .

[Like2Plan]

When I started this board 5years ago, I was preparing for retirment in 5 years....

I have recently retired.... and I've finally signed up for cable.

[MonkeyMama]

I am cutting and pasting a little:

"Not a whole lot has changed for us. Still married. Same jobs. Same cars. Same house. Same kids."

Yup, we are pretty boring.

Of course, the past 6 years have not been our best times. I lost some work retirement benefits (they were huge) and be both had cancer scares and surgery (no cancer - but the medical bills will be on the high side for the rest of our life - endless MRIs and all that jazz).

Our true net worth has gone up about 30%. Honestly, I am surprised that much. I Can take out the house and feel more warm and fuzzy about it, but the truth is if we sold all our assets in 2006 and sold them today, we've only gained about $50,000. Thank you real estate! Non-house assets have doubled, so I guess that is something.

All of the above said, I think we are just getting to a really good place. I am just wary to be too optimistic with the economy. We still have 20% equity on home, still have no other debt, hit six figures in retirement a bit ago (so are starting to actually get some compounding working for us), maxing out retirement plans, just refied to 4% which means pretty rapid payoff on our home (just keeping old payments - which are very reasonable), etc. So I feel like we have turned a good corner. Just depends if we can stay out of the hospital this year!!

[dawnwes]

I did not join this board in 2006, but we did start changing our spending habits right around that time.

We moved from the West Coast to the East Coast that year. We had both been working full time and I stopped working when we moved.

Since 2006:

We have gone to a 15 year mortgage on our home
Paid off our car
Paid off our student loan
Fully funded our emergency fund
Have sinking funds going for things like another car, college for the kids, etc...

[terces]

We've come along well too since joining in 2008 and I contribute alot to this board for inspiring me. At that time I felt like we were doing okay but not pulling ahead with savings and retirement.

Since then paid, off 2 cars, fully funded emergency fund, doubled the amount in our retirement accounts and I got my BA with no student loans to repay. This past year I was happy to realize I just about maxed out my 401k contribution and fully funded our roths for 2011. First time ever. While dh will have two pensions when he retires in 15 years, it feels good that we were able to do this along with paying a good portion of eldest college.

[Wink]

I usually lurk but found this really interesting in way of a review mechanism. In the past 5 years I sold a house and bought another one. I have a fully funded EF, am aggressively paying down my mortgage (15 year, 4.25%) should be paid in full in 5 years. My car is a 2009 and is paid in full. I have zero CC debt. I am a bit behind where I would like to be in retirement savings but I am fully funding my ROTH and 403B and it's growing nicely. I am 51, divorced, no kids, and my mom (85 years old) lives with me. I have a stable full time job that I love and also teach on-line classes as a part-time job. I have worked really hard to accomplish this after my divorce.

I learned a LOT here about budgeting, investing, and being responsible with my money. I love all the tips on ways to cut spending. This is a great thread!

[feh]

Next month I will have been here for 5 years.

Primary change in finances during that time was buying a different house. In fact, I think that may have been why I joined; our previous house was paid off and I was wondering if we should take out a mortgage for the difference in price or pay for the new house by selling investments.

That was very serendipitous for us - cashed out the money for the house from taxable accounts in August 2007, which was the high-water mark for the markets. Got really lucky. Put most of that back into the market in May of 2009, when the market was still pretty low. Sold high and bought low pretty much by accident.

Recent milestones: net worth hit $1.5M this week, and retirement funds (about 50% of which are in taxable accounts) hit 7 figures for the first time last month.

My son will graduate high school in 2018, at which time (if things go as planned), I should be able to enter semi-retirement.

[GREENBACK]

Since joining in '08 I've paid off two cars, a truck and a boat. I am debt free as of now except mortgage (intentionally). I'm on track to be able to retire in 6 yrs. but may work longer. I've refied my mortgage and have learned a great deal about how to make my money work for me. Basically, my attitude about my finances has been my biggest change.