I'm a half millionaire

[corn18]

No other place I can brag about this, so I will put it here. In 2012, my net worth was $6,884. Today, I just went over the half million dollar net worth hurdle. If I stay on track, I will be a millionaire in 4 years. Wow. Now I just have to resist buying a Tesla or something stupid like that.

I know I say this a lot, but all of this is thanks solely to the help I got here on SA. Thank you again and again and again. Maybe I can buy everyone a cold beverage of their choice anytime you are near Cincinnati.

Now back to your regularly scheduled saving.

Tom

[Blessed]

Congratulations!!!!!!

[Like2Plan]

Wow! In 3 years and in a (quasi) down market to boot! Congrats to you on all your hard work. Stay the course. Keep up the good work.

[snafu]

Kudos to you for paying attention to your money. You've made gigantic gigantic changes in how you think about money and you've done the hard work of making a plan and following through.

[FLA]

that is wonderful! and isn't it nice to have a place to speak of your accomplishment without having to worry about judgment or bragging? Keep it up!!!

[MonkeyMama]

Congrats!

Maybe I can buy everyone a cold beverage of their choice anytime you are near Cincinnati.

I will take you up on this. {I have family there}.

[disneysteve]

That's great! What a big turn around. Keep up the great work.

[feh]

Congratulations Tom. It's been fun watching you progress from spender to saver!

[bjl584]

Congrats!

Can you provide some details on how you were able to build wealth so quickly?

[corn18]

Congrats!

Can you provide some details on how you were able to build wealth so quickly?

I simply followed the basic premise I learned here and from reading The Millionaire Next Door: live below your means. Nothing new for all the veterans here on SA, but I had taken living beyond my means to ludicrous levels. I had a lot of debt and was spending ridiculous amounts of money each month. But I had 2 things going for me that allowed me to fix this quickly:

1. I had a lot of means
2. I was living waaaayyyy above any minimum level of expenses (had a lot of room to cut without sacrificing anything meaningful)

So here's what I did:

I started by selling stuff (all of these had loans on them):

BMW Z4M
Horse trailer
Travel trailer

Then I paid off all debt except the house:

MDX
Altima
Tundra
Jeep
Credit Cards

Then I started slashing monthly expenses:

Sold the horse
Many other smaller things that all added up to thousands of dollars a year

At the end of all of this, I went from spending all of my salary, bonuses and pension (and then some) to just spending my salary. I now save all of my bonuses and pension. After taxes, that means I am saving about $160,000 a year.

The level of stupid I was operating at is very embarrassing for me. I feel very blessed that I was able to find a job after I retired from the Navy that allowed me to fix this. I feel very fortunate to have found the support to make it happen. I am also much happier now. I don't miss any of that stuff and to be fair, I do not live frugal life. Life is good.

Tom

[FLA]

I feel very blessed that I was able to find a job after I retired from the Navy that allowed me to fix this. I feel very fortunate to have found the support to make it happen. I am also much happier now. I don't miss any of that stuff and to be fair, I do not live frugal life. Life is good.

Tom

wow, you did all this after a military career? "Life is good", you hit human lotto. Enjoy!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Awesome job turning things around.

[Eagle]

Way to go Tom! Wow that's awesome!

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Congrats!

Just goes to show you, here in America, if you put your mind to it you can do anything!

[Singuy]

Excellent JOB!!@!#

Man I didn't expect all your expenses to tally upwards of 160k/year on just a few cars and a horse