Broke 200K in taxable assets

[FireLane]

I discovered MMM a year and change ago. One of the first things I did was move a pile of money that had been sitting in a cash account into Vanguard. Since then, I've been adding to that total as fast as I could. Thanks to the market's gains this month, my Vanguard account just passed $200,000 for the first time!

I know I shouldn't be happy that the market is going up. I should hope it stays flat, or even better down, so that I can buy stock as cheap as possible. Even so, it's a good feeling to see my NW rising. It makes me feel that there's a tangible payoff to this frugality stuff. And I bet the next 100K will come sooner.

[TheViking]

Nice work! What's your goal?

[FireLane]

$1.25M should be enough to declare myself FI, but I'd like to get to $1.5M.

I also have about $400K in my 401(k), but that money doesn't feel as "real" to me, if that makes any sense. It came out of my paycheck before I ever saw it. This feels more like money I could touch.

[johnny847]

Congrats!

So when you say $1.5M is your goal, and you have $400k in your 401k but it doesn't feel real to you, does your 401k money count towards the $1.5M?

[FireLane]

Yeah, I definitely count 401(k) money toward my FIRE goal. I know that after I retire, I can take money out of that account using a Roth ladder or a 72t distribution.