Author Topic: Realized we have > 1 year's worth of expenses in our retirement accounts!  (Read 2268 times)

jps

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 256
Hey all,

I'm still pretty new here and 24 years old. Starting reading all of MMM at the end of last year and have been making some lifestyle adjustments with DW (like cutting restaurant budget, riding the bus to work instead of carpooling, insourcing home repairs, etc). So, all of this is pretty new to me.

However, last night we realized we have almost $40K in our retirement accounts, which is more than a year's worth of expenses for us. I hadn't thought about our savings yet in terms of how many years it will last us, so it was a shock to realize that our minimal saving efforts up to this point in life could cover us for an entire year.

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Only 24x expenses to go!

YttriumNitrate

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1836
  • Location: Northwest Indiana
Well done ... and the first year of expenses is the hardest one to get!

Valvore

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 137
  • Age: 31
  • Location: Tempe, AZ
  • Formerly known as FireryFIRE
Re: Realized we have > 1 year's worth of expenses in our retirement accounts!
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2019, 02:53:06 PM »
24 with 40K in retirement? Wow! That's wonderful. Keep it up. You'll be FIRE in no time.

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Realized we have > 1 year's worth of expenses in our retirement accounts!
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2019, 06:51:29 AM »
Great job! your learning and gaining knowledge. I would think the more you get into it each year will add up faster for your goal number.

happyuk

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 89
  • Age: 55
  • Location: UK
    • Software and IT recipes
Re: Realized we have > 1 year's worth of expenses in our retirement accounts!
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2019, 11:55:10 AM »
Hey all,

I'm still pretty new here and 24 years old. Starting reading all of MMM at the end of last year and have been making some lifestyle adjustments with DW (like cutting restaurant budget, riding the bus to work instead of carpooling, insourcing home repairs, etc). So, all of this is pretty new to me.

However, last night we realized we have almost $40K in our retirement accounts, which is more than a year's worth of expenses for us. I hadn't thought about our savings yet in terms of how many years it will last us, so it was a shock to realize that our minimal saving efforts up to this point in life could cover us for an entire year.

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Only 24x expenses to go!

Very well done.  I wish I could have achieved that when I was 24.  I wasted time pissing around in dead-end jobs for YEARS, and am steadily making up for lost youth in terms of finances, career goals etc.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2019, 11:56:41 AM by happyuk »

jps

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 256
Re: Realized we have > 1 year's worth of expenses in our retirement accounts!
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2019, 12:09:20 PM »
Thanks, everyone!

Very well done.  I wish I could have achieved that when I was 24.  I wasted time pissing around in dead-end jobs for YEARS, and am steadily making up for lost youth in terms of finances, career goals etc.

I feel very fortunate to have heard about the importance of financial literacy right as I was finishing at university.

Someone showed me a version of the Ben & Arthur chart about the importance of starting investing young, so we have been contributing to our company 401k's and maxing our IRA's each year since graduation. I don't expect to be earning an average of 12% as Dave Ramsey espouses, but I am hopeful about a long investing career! There really is no match for the compound interest over huge lengths of time.