This milestone feels weird to me and I’m not sure why. In January of this year I quickly hit $250,000 net worth thanks to a crazy market, which then entered a correction. It’s taken a few months to get back to where I was now. After adding in my latest paychecks and the market being up 3% we have arrived here. Continue reading “$275,000 Net Worth”
Category: Net Worth Update
A Minimum Wage Employee By My Side
I just realized that my passive income from investments (assuming an average 7% market return) has now surpassed what a minimum wage employee would make working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. WOWZA! At the beginning of 2018 I had $237,000, which would generate $16,590 at 7% while a minimum wage employee would receive $15,080. That’s wild!
I have an invisible minimum wage employee working hella hard while I sleep, away from my day job, which I think is a very cool idea. I’ve touched on this phenomenon in a previous post, but she was just a teenager working part time after school then. Now she’s a full-timer. This just got serious!
Now we should probably working on raising that minimum wage (Washington did recently) so the average isn’t so low!
Halfway to Retirement!
As part of my many retirement charts I’ve created one that shows visually how much I’ve saved in $10,000 increments. The market is already going gangbusters in 2018 (though who knows how long it will last) and as a result without any paycheck I have more than $250,000. Originally I was just excited to fill in another bubble on my visual net worth sheet and enthralled by the fun of thinking about having “a quarter of a million,” but I just realized something: $250,000 is half of what I need to retire. I’m halfway there! That’s crazy! And based on the magic of compound interest my money will keep working for me and start earning money faster than I can. It looks like I’m halfway to retirement money-wise and less than halfway in regards to time: 2 years and 11 months to go!
2017 State of the Union
This year I had more than just monetary goals. They were:
- Max my 401K ($18,000)
- Max a Roth IRA ($5,500)
- Overall invest $54,500 for a savings rate of 75%
- Have a net worth of $200,000
- Decrease my spending from $22,491.86 to $18,000
- Lose 28 lbs by eating low-carb/high-fat and have a normal BMI for the first time without starving myself
- Determine when I can retire based on my current salary and savings rate
$200,000 Net Worth = 2017 Goal Complete!
I feel like I say this every time, but time is flying and money is piling up. I know this gravy train will temporarily come to an end with the next recession, but for now I am LOVING it! Seeing my money compound so fast is still crazy to me. It’s been 8 months since I hit $150,000 while in Thailand on my 10,000 day of life and here we are with 33% more. Just stupid. This has been caused by the high stock market as well as my salary being higher than I anticipated because of bonuses and investing more as a result. My goal for the end of 2017 was to have a net worth of $200,000 and we’re already there with 3 months to spare. I thought this was going to happen on my birthday in 2 days when I receive my paycheck, but instead the market has been on a rampage and I’ve reached my year end goal with 3 paychecks and approximately $22,000 left to invest this year. Just madness. We’ll see how I feel if stocks crash before the end of the year :), but for now I’m floating on a cloud. It’s time to set a new goal.
Retirement Inevitability
[The Matrix has a quote for every occasion]
An article I read this morning made me realize something: early retirement is inevitable. I currently have almost a $200,000 net worth (so close!). I could stop saving now, not touch my money and let it grow. If I did that then based on historical averages I would have enough money to retire at 43 years old. That’s 12 years before my mom and 19 years before the earliest social security payout options without me adding another penny to my accounts. I could suddenly quintuple my lifestyle, live like that for the next 15 years and still retire earlier than I could have ever imagined. That’s INSANE! I might start thinking of all the money I invest from this moment as money that’s buying back my time between 32 and 43 years of age. I’m slowly rolling back the clock. I like that visual. Even if I do nothing I will get there. And fast. Let’s do this!
Over $175,000 Net Worth
I feel like we were just here celebrating $150,000 net worth. It was only 3 months ago. Money is compounding stupid fast it seems. As of today I have $177,746 in net worth thanks to my last paycheck and the stock market hitting a new all time high. $175,000 seemed impossible when I started seriously saving and investing 3 years ago. I kind of can’t believe it. Going from leaving college with $5,000 to my name to now doesn’t even seem real. Having 25% or 1/4 of my retirement net worth goal at the beginning of the year and now having 33% or 1/3 is crazy. I feel incredibly grateful that I was able to learn the power of saving and investing early and can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will bring. My goal for the end of 2017 is to have $200,000 in net worth. If the market holds steady that seems doable. I’m half way to my goal of investing $60,000 this year and simply investing the rest will push me past that $200,000 goal. That number also doesn’t feel real. Oh well: Let’s do this.
10,000th Day and $150,000 Net Worth
While I was on vacation in Thailand I hit my 10,000th day of being alive. That went quickly! The market was also at an all time high and I hit $150,000 in net worth. WOAH. I expected that to happen when I got my next paycheck in March, but the rampaging market made it happen sooner. I started the year 2 months ago with $137,000 and we’re already at $150K with only 1 paycheck under my belt. I almost can’t believe it and I know it won’t last: the market will drop, maybe this month, maybe this year, maybe in a few years – I have no idea, but it will and I will see myself lose maybe half of my savings. Watching it grow in this current market and feeling that satisfaction will hopefully get me through that darker time. But in the meantime I will celebrate :). This was my first vacation where I had no job stress to think about. I even deleted my work email from my phone. I believe I am 1500 days (or less) from retirement and living life on my own terms. Bring it!