While I don't check my balances every day, I have noticed my retirement funds slowly creeping towards the $500,000 mark. Even though the market went down today, adding my 2015 Roth IRA deposit of $5,500 put my balance today at $501,500+ which means I finally crossed that threshold.
Not an accomplishment I'll be sharing among friends and family, so thought I'd come here to celebrate!
And I know it's just a number, that likely will fall back below it again soon (possibly tomorrow), but it's nice to look back at my old spreadsheets, where it says in 1997 I deposited my first money into retirement: $4,000 into an IRA and $1,186 into an 401(k) and that $5,186 of deposits had turned into $5,294 by year-end. (Yes - there was a waiting period to be able to get into the 401k)
Fast forward 17-18 years and those habits (and an IRA conversions/rollovers) have turned that balance into the $501,500 I have today ($324K in Rollover IRA, $107K in Roth IRA, and $70K in 401(k) at current employer).
