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2026 Financial Check-in

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  • 2026 Financial Check-in

    Maybe it's just me ... but I prefer to do semi-annual check-in's on our finances. I've tallied up all of our accounts, and the verdict is in ---- 2026 has been a wild ride .... but for those with the stomach to hang on, it's been outrageously positive (at least in financial markets). The S&P 500 is up +10% YTD, +21% YOY ... and everyone's least favorite pain point (oil/gas prices) have at least settled, though the price at the pump remains stubbornly elevated as those markets accordion-recover. Hopefully everyone's investment accounts have at least gotten to ride the same wave of growth .... and let's hope that it at least mostly hangs on without too much new chaos. (hey, I can dream)

    My semi-annual review:
    - Total Net Worth: just shy of $2.8M (just $2k short!)
    - Total YTD growth: $206k, +8% .... YOY growth: $400k, +16.5%
    - Retirement accounts: again, just shy of $1.5M
    - Real Estate: $375k -- two homes, both rented, but only ~$1k/mo positive cashflow ... no personal home right now, since we're still living in Japan. I wanted to sell our rental property in OKC, but the current renters & our realtor convinced me to wait another year --- the renters are finishing med school in the next year, and our realtor said the market isn't very strong in the area right now with the still-high interest rates & long ADOMs at 30-45 days.
    - RELPs: still $500k between the two of them, though I've been receiving about $5k/qtr from income distributions.
    - 529s & UTMAs: $178k (one of each, per child)
    - Cash: $59k
    - Debt: Zero!
    - Annual Income: ~$185k, holding steady through the last 2-3 years.

    Notable changes:
    - I got fired! Medical disqualification, and my boss's boss wouldn't let me stay in my command job, so now my family is getting ready to move from northern to central Japan (outside of Tokyo) to start flying a desk for a living. The disqualification also eliminates $1k/mo in aviation incentive pay, which sucks ALOT. I'm now a professional penguin -- got wings, don't fly.
    - On the upside, I'll become eligible for military retirement in 2 years ... Haven't decided yet what we'll decide to do, but for now I'll stick it out & see what happens next. Once I cross into eligibility, once I 'hit the button,' we'll have a roughly $8.5k/mo steady income with DW & my pensions alone ... excluding rentals, jobs, or other income. So we're undeniably sitting pretty, and I'm perfectly good with having the flexibility to do literally whatever we want with the second half of our "working years" ... whether one/both of us actually has a job or not. I still haven't decided what I want to do when I grow up.
    - My wife is pregnant with #4 (2nd baby girl), due in early December. My wife is thrilled ............. I'm not. I'll just leave it at that.
    - Otherwise, it's just been EXTREMELY busy. Still working through cleaning up a variety of the medical issues, but it's finally steadying out. Hopefully once we're settled after our move (ETA ~15 July), I can get the last couple surgeries I need & I'll be able to get back to a normal life.

    Okay everybody ... if you'd like to join in with a check-up, fire away. Otherwise, I'm just chatting into the void, and that's okay too. This is just my habit pattern that keeps me involved & aware, but prevents me from neurotically checking the markets every day. Happy Independence Day everyone!!

  • #2
    Total net worth: $1.7M
    Real Estate: $604K. 3 Homes. Primary Residence, Vacation Cabin, Short Term Rental Property
    Debt: $198K, all mortgage debt (primary residence and rental property)
    Cash: approximately $30K
    Household Income: $200K

    Points of Interest:
    We are currently searching for a second short term rental in the same general area as the first. Still in the early phases of this. The market is tough right now. Besides that, just keeping busy with work and preparing to do some renovation projects.

    Brian

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    • #3
      kork13 I know you've mentioned your RELP investment before, but am I reading correctly that you're only getting 4% returns on that huge investment? Is there more upside to come later?

      My numbers:

      NW: $1.3M
      401k: $266k (up 11% YTD!!, 23% YoY)
      Roth: $92k (up 8% YTD, 21% YoY)
      Brokerage: $6k (down $152 YTD, up 1% YoY) This is barely worth mentioning as it was my play money with individual stock picks and its done terrible. Its being wholly carried by by 9 shares of BRKb. The rest are losing but I haven't sold anything.
      SDIRA: $260k (up $12k YTD)
      Cash: $131k (heavy right now as I just had a loan repaid this month - will likely lend it one more time before using to pay off my lowest balance rental mortgage)
      W2 Income: $132k incl bonus
      Rental Income: $3500
      Debt: $440,000 These are all mortgages for rentals and primary and will look very different next year as I'll be paying off one (balance $65k), selling one (netting approx $100k and removing $100k in debt), and selling the primary (netting approx $150k and clearing $150k in mortgage debt). This will leave me with one mortgage on a 15 year at 3% with a balance of around $110k.

      We're planning to retire next year and I spent a good amount of time last month getting organized financially and making sure the plan is fail proof. Feeling really good about where we're sitting. Come a long way since I joined here 15 years ago

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by riverwed070707 View Post
        kork13 I know you've mentioned your RELP investment before, but am I reading correctly that you're only getting 4% returns on that huge investment? Is there more upside to come later?:
        Only one of the two RELPs is currently throwing off income -- 7% of $250k. (double-checking my math, it's actually closer to $4500/qtr). But yes, there's significant upside expected on both, ultimately aiming to return 2x-3x over ~5 years.

        They have differing strategies & distribution schedules:
        - RELP #1 ("Falcon"): $250k, aiming for an all-in IRR around 25-28% over 3-4 years. Primarily housing subdivision land development & construction, with some self-storage & LTR/STR properties (primary source of the current income).
        - RELP #2 "Nomad"): $250k, aiming for an all-in IRR around 20-24% over 3-5 years (with a funding capital cash-out), plus a planned 10+ yrs holding period under operations for ongoing income. It's not yet distributing yet because only half of its properties are operational ... but once they're all operating & stabilized cash-flow-positive (probably sometime in 2027), I should start to see some distributions there.

        If/when I have the free investment cash available, I intend to continue adding to this RELP portfolio.
        Last edited by kork13; 07-02-2026, 05:36 PM.

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        • #5
          Kork, FWIW “penguin status” was the best thing to happen to my husband and was a great one year transition out of the military. I know you’re in a more advanced stage of career than he was at the time but it was much better work life balance than being in the fleet!

          Financial Check-In:

          • Net Worth: > $2M
          • W2 Annual Income: $275k + TBD

          Life Updates:

          We have a lot of them! Since having our daughter last year, we unexpectedly decided to move back to the West Coast to be closer to family. We’re optimizing for life instead of financial wealth accumulation. It has been a crazy ride but I’m so grateful to be back “home” and to raise our daughter here.

          • Sold our NY home. The house went on the market literally 3 weeks postpartum and was not at all planned. I look back in awe and bewilderment of my past self.
          • I moved back to CA with our daughter and solo parented from October - April while working full time at a demanding job and navigating 2 moves. To date, this has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
          • My husband quit his high paying Wall Street job in April and is taking some time off before figuring out what’s next. He may or may not go back to Finance.
          • We purchased a new home in April and have done moderate renovations since then.

          We’d planned on sticking it out a few more years in New York to continue growing our wealth but we cashed in our chips a little bit early. We’ll see how things pan out because this move does not come without financial risk but grateful for the life we’re building!

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