2017...how well did you do?

[Snave]

We finished 2016 with 1,060,000 and finished 2017 at 1,248,000 in our retirement, taxable accounts and kids college. We paid an additional 30K on our home on top of our regular mortgage payments in 2017 as well as we are trying to pay our home off early. We did have to get a new car and a loan for 20K as my wife's car was closing in on 200K miles and as a 10 year-old Suburban got horrendous gas mileage. We are most excited to have college for our 11 year-old and 8 year-old basically funded. We added about 30K into those accounts and we shouldn't have to add anymore to those to have school mostly covered.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Retirement
1/1/17 $626k
12/31/17 $790k ; $164k change
contribution $29k (401k and IRA), so close I should contribute to the $11k to our IRAs

Taxable Account
1/1/17 $435k
12/31/17 $294k + $250k equity, $109k change

NW change $263k

[rennigade]

We had a great year like everyone else.

$636,943.73 - 1/1/2017
$808,339.14 - 12/31/2017

Increase of $171,395.41 combined

My accounts were up 20% for the year.

For the first time my gains were more than my salary. Straight growth was around $81,000. Growth with contributions was around $110,000.

[breathemusic]

Retirement:

Start of year: $157,558
End of year: $215,373

Definitely a great year compared to my average rate of return that I plug into a spreadsheet to forecast out into the future.

For relevance, I'm 31 (well, 32 in a few weeks).

On the down-side, cash savings took a big hit since partner and I bought a house, so between blowing cash on the down payment, upgrades to the home, unexpectedly having to replace the roof (holy **** that was $17K!) and taking on a mortgage that has a current remaining balance of $593.4K... I definitely didn't "make" money this year.

But I'm still pleased as punch with where my finances are at since retirement savings is a whole different thing than an installment loan that I'm comfortably able to make payments on within my income.

[srblanco7]

Total for retirement accounts, investments, and 529 plans:

12/31/16 $2,068,000
12/30/2017 $2,538,000

an increase of $470,000 (22.7%)

Of the increase, approximately $110,000 of that was contributions and the remainder was growth of investments.

A really nice year

[disneysteve]

blowing cash on the down payment

I know what you meant, but buying a house certainly isn't "blowing" cash. You just exchanged liquid cash for equity. It's not like you lost that money (as opposed to the roof money which is gone).

[bennkar]

You can add me to that group. 2016 was about 85% of my salary. This year should come in around 110%. I'll know more when I get my final numbers.

Well I worked up the final numbers. Backing out savings, my investments grew to 117% of my gross salary. And since I live on about 25% of the gross (the rest goes to savings and taxes) well... that is a lot of money to me at least.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Well I worked up the final numbers. Backing out savings, my investments grew to 117% of my gross salary. And since I live on about 25% of the gross (the rest goes to savings and taxes) well... that is a lot of money to me at least.

That basically means you just save more year of living expenses.

[bennkar]

Well I worked up the final numbers. Backing out savings, my investments grew to 117% of my gross salary. And since I live on about 25% of the gross (the rest goes to savings and taxes) well... that is a lot of money to me at least.

Just re-read what I wrote and I didn't write it well. I should have said investments grew the equivalent of 117% of my gross salary. My overall total is now about 34 times my expenses. Five years ago I had less than 10 times expenses - what a ride.

[disneysteve]

My overall total is now about 34 times my expenses.

That's fantastic! I don't recall how old you are but the typical advice is that once your nest egg is 25x expenses, you are set to retire. What's your plan going forward?

[bennkar]

That's fantastic! I don't recall how old you are but the typical advice is that once your nest egg is 25x expenses, you are set to retire. What's your plan going forward?

The answer is complicated, but basically the plan is to keep working for now. I'm about your age (I think - 55) but my girlfriend can't move in until she retires next year so no real reason to retire yet. Once she does we'll have to see what our expenses are going forward and maybe I will need a little more money than I have now. I also need money to fix up my house and replace my car. After I have that money I will be getting near the retirement age where I can get a pension right away so I will hanging on at that point.

Basically the max for me is 5 years because once the pension is good to go (in 5 years) I will have nothing more to work for. The real issue is trying to make the next 5 years enjoyable so I can make it to the day I can walk out with pension in hand. Leaving before then will be a major hit financially. After that not so much.

[disneysteve]

The answer is complicated, but basically the plan is to keep working for now.

That sounds great! It must feel good to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not there yet. I'm 53 and expect that I've still got about 9-10 years to go. But that is subject to change. My income jumped in the past 6 months. Our daughter graduates college in May. As long as we keep our spending pretty stable, we should be able to get the mortgage and HELOC paid off and sock away more money over the coming years. Higher income and lower expenses could bring retirement closer.

[Gailete]

That sounds great! It must feel good to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not there yet. I'm 53 and expect that I've still got about 9-10 years to go. But that is subject to change. My income jumped in the past 6 months. Our daughter graduates college in May. As long as we keep our spending pretty stable, we should be able to get the mortgage and HELOC paid off and sock away more money over the coming years. Higher income and lower expenses could bring retirement closer.

Seeing these posts makes me wish I could lasso another 10 working years, to get us in better shape for retirement. I did a quick google check on the average amount some one 62 would have in retirement savings:

Mean retirement savings of families between 56 and 61: $163,577
Median retirement savings of families between 56 and 61: $17,000

Well I'm 62 not 61, but close enough. Definitely don't have the 'mean' amount but we are above the median amount! That is astounding. There are going to be a lot of folks living under bridges in a few years. I even have a tad more than the average SS check, so as bad as it looks for us, keeping our focus should help us get ahead of where we are now. I have no desire to live under a bridge.

[ndwilli6]

2017.

I’m 27…

Salary: $40,130.00 (1st job), $4,835.46 (part-time)
Rentals: $49,200.00 – minus mortgages $30,708.00


Started 2017 with $33,124.32 in saving + checking accounts, and around $7k in 401K

Ended 2017 with $73,600.00 in savings + checking’s account, and around $10k in 401k

In 2018 I hope to have around $162,000.00 in savings + checking’s account by December 2018, and around $15k in 401k.


HIGHLIGHTS: purchase 3 homes, paid off $5k credit card debt and ENTIRE CAR (close to $9k).

[ndwilli6]

Equity

I know what you meant, but buying a house certainly isn't "blowing" cash. You just exchanged liquid cash for equity. It's not like you lost that money (as opposed to the roof money which is gone).

Definitely agree Steve. I like cash--but love appreciation and equity more.