Might be a millionaire this year

[corn18]

Don't really have anyone I can share this with except my wife, so I thought I would share it with SA. Bonus was better than expected this year and if I save it all (which I plan to do), I should hit $1M net worth by the end of the year. At the end of 2012, I had a net worth of $0. Life is good.

[disneysteve]

That's awesome, Tom. What a huge change in a short time. Keep us posted.

[StormRichards]

That is awesome Tom, and totally understand wanting to share it with someone. That is why I created the retirement milestones reached thread. You feel good about the accomplishment and just want to get it off your chest.

I honestly have no idea when our net worth crossed over $0, but I know it was much longer than 5 years ago. Truly fabulous job you have done.

If I include our home in the calculation, we might cross that threshold this year as well. That is based on a 7% return. When that day comes, I will of course keep it quiet offline but will be doing a happy dance on here.

[corn18]

I think it's very cool that the book The Millionaire Next Door is what got me started on all this. Along with SA.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like right now had I saved 10% of my income my whole career vs getting into massive debt. Might run the math to see where I could be now. I could be retired. Oh well.

[corn18]

Well, I did the math. Had I saved 10% of my gross income for all of those years and made 7% on that every year, I should have $850k in savings at the end of 2017. At the end of 2017, I will have $856k in savings. No harm, no foul, right? Heck, what I put into savings in 2016 alone made up for the first 20 years of not saving at all.

It was interesting to see that I made $16k in 1989, my first full year out of college. That is $36k in today's dollars. I thought we were rich. If I could find a way to live on $36k / year now, I could retire today.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Congratulations! Amazing work. In the simulations did you consider if you could retire with $850k and pension?

[tripods68]

That's great Tom. Congratulations!

I know what you mean looking back, had we only follow Dave Ramsey 12 years ago, instead of 3 years ago we would probably retired already. I would say, our regrets would be not realizing our mistakes early on our marriage and not learning from it to do something about it. Only after we reach a level of maturity admission that we finally woke up to do something about it. That's Life!

[Olivia1]

congrats. Must be an awesome feeling, esp that it was done only over 5 years.

[msomnipotent]

I think it's very cool that the book The Millionaire Next Door is what got me started on all this. Along with SA.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like right now had I saved 10% of my income my whole career vs getting into massive debt. Might run the math to see where I could be now. I could be retired. Oh well.

Well, I was going to say not to add it up because you will just lose sleep over it, but it looks like you are ok. We had over $600,000 before our little financial disaster and I'm sure we would have over $1mil by now. Every time I think about it, I want to punch my husband in the face.

[corn18]

UPDATE

Just found out my bonus will be bigger than I thought, so I will be a millionaire by the end of this month. Holy cow.

[disneysteve]

UPDATE

Just found out my bonus will be bigger than I thought, so I will be a millionaire by the end of this month. Holy cow.

Excellent!

I'm curious how much of that net worth is your home.

[corn18]

Excellent!

I'm curious how much of that net worth is your home.

Because of stupid loan practices, it's only $55,000 of my net worth. That's with a conservative estimate of $485,000 home value. I keep debating whether to pay it down, but at a 2.2% effective interest rate, I keep putting more and more into retirement vs. mortgage.

[disneysteve]

Because of stupid loan practices, it's only $55,000 of my net worth. That's with a conservative estimate of $485,000 home value. I keep debating whether to pay it down, but at a 2.2% effective interest rate, I keep putting more and more into retirement vs. mortgage.

Great. So the home is almost none of the NW. So you actually will be a millionaire in terms of liquid (or more liquid than your home) assets. To me, that means more than a $1 million NW when half of it is tied up in the house.

I agree with not paying it down. I'm in the same boat. About a 3% effective rate here. Makes a lot more sense to direct the money elsewhere.

[Mouse]

UPDATE

Just found out my bonus will be bigger than I thought, so I will be a millionaire by the end of this month. Holy cow.

this is awesome! congrats! this just motivated me a lot. I have quite a few years before I get to that point (being only 25 right now in the training process of my career. but dang, I can only imagine the feeling you have at that milestone.

I just ordered the audio CD of the millionaire next door. Ill be listening to that on my 45 minute commute every day to and from training

[snafu]

Well done! You've worked very hard to turn your financial boat load of debt around to your current position. I recall several major discussions as SA participants tried to change your viewpoint. I wish Millionaire Next Door or Automatic Millionaire was required reading for every graduate.

Congratulations on your anticipated bonus. Sounds like employer is recognizing your value to the organization and rewarding your effort.

I wonder if I'll be flamed for suggesting ...'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up' [Marie Kondo] as there are financial ramifications which result from examining personal purchasing patterns and how you, spouse and family [if applicable] use space.