Increase to NW for 2016 thus far is higher than my gross pay.

[MVal]

Dig this...So I just checked my Personal Capital and I've grown across all accounts about $1000 more than what I've grossed so far this year in salary! How is this possible? I looked and all of my contributions between 401K, HSA and savings add up to a little over $12K. That means the rest has come from employer matching, profit sharing and just interest. 

This is just incredible to me. I'm only in year two of 'staching and I'm already blown away by how powerful this is. I'm still pushing to break $100K, so I can only imagine how fast I'll grow once I hit six figures in NW.

It's really going to work. Holy crap.

[SwordGuy]

Pretty awesome, isn't it.  It's really amazing to see this stuff **really working**.

Our net worth went up 125% of our gross salary last year and that's assuming the stock we owned did not go up even $1 in total value.   That's from new savings and new equity. 

We bought 2 rentals for 1/2 or less after-repair-value (ARV) and fixed them up. Total costs averaged 60% of ARV, so our net worth went up by 40% of the value of both houses.  That was just $10,000 shy of my wife's gross salary.

Plus, using the same house buying skills we learned on our rentals we bought a new house for ourselves at 69% of appraised value.   The extra equity was $1,000 shy of my gross salary. 

The rest came from maxing out our 401ks and buying additional Vanguard stock.

I won't be able to pull off another year like that for awhile (if ever).   

Hmmm.  Maybe I should say that in regards to total dollar value increased.  Once we retire, fixing up a rental would give us a higher percentage since our income would be so much lower.

[MVal]

So maybe I spoke a little too soon...I didn't take into account my HSA bank wasn't communicating properly when I first added it to Personal Capital and so there was a $3250 jump in my NW in February that was actually money added in 2015. But still, my 401K has grown by $4233 on top of the $12K that's been added between me and my employer so far this year.  Grossing $22,500 and being over $18K ahead in NW in a little over half a year isn't too shabby, I don't think.

[Dicey]

I still get paper statements because I don't want to look at my balances too often. I love it when I open my statement to discover that my accounts have "grossed" more that month than I did in my pre-FIREdays. Better still, because while I'm not drawing down yet, I'm not adding to them either. Awesome feeling.

BTW, when I know the market's down, I just don't open the statements. Denial has its uses.

[MVal]

I still get paper statements because I don't want to look at my balances too often. I love it when I open my statement to discover that my accounts have "grossed" more that month than I did in my pre-FIREdays. Better still, because while I'm not drawing down yet, I'm not adding to them either. Awesome feeling.

BTW, when I know the market's down, I just don't open the statements. Denial has its uses.

Oh yes...I psychotically check it online daily and too often let bad market days get me in a funk. But when I see how much money I'm passively gaining, it just makes my day. I keep thinking about how once my funds hit $100K, they'll autogenerate around $7,000 a year without me doing anything and that makes me happy.

[forummm]

Congrats!

[arebelspy]

Dig this...So I just checked my Personal Capital and I've grown across all accounts about $1000 more than what I've grossed so far this year in salary! How is this possible? I looked and all of my contributions between 401K, HSA and savings add up to a little over $12K. That means the rest has come from employer matching, profit sharing and just interest. 

This is just incredible to me. I'm only in year two of 'staching and I'm already blown away by how powerful this is. I'm still pushing to break $100K, so I can only imagine how fast I'll grow once I hit six figures in NW.

It's really going to work. Holy crap.

Yup!  And if you continue to grow your net worth more than your gross salary, eventually you'll hit the point where your net worth is higher than ALL the money you've ever earned!  (I.e. you've saved 100% of what you've made, and more, and lived solely off the earnings of that money).  :)

See the links in this post: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/the-ratio/msg1136518/#msg1136518

[MVal]

Dig this...So I just checked my Personal Capital and I've grown across all accounts about $1000 more than what I've grossed so far this year in salary! How is this possible? I looked and all of my contributions between 401K, HSA and savings add up to a little over $12K. That means the rest has come from employer matching, profit sharing and just interest. 

This is just incredible to me. I'm only in year two of 'staching and I'm already blown away by how powerful this is. I'm still pushing to break $100K, so I can only imagine how fast I'll grow once I hit six figures in NW.

It's really going to work. Holy crap.

Yup!  And if you continue to grow your net worth more than your gross salary, eventually you'll hit the point where your net worth is higher than ALL the money you've ever earned!  (I.e. you've saved 100% of what you've made, and more, and lived solely off the earnings of that money).  :)

See the links in this post: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/the-ratio/msg1136518/#msg1136518

Wow, I can't wait for that to happen! I just checked my SSA.gov page and it looks like my current NW is about 27% of my lifetime earnings right now. Next year, if things go right, I could be closer to 40%. Crazy!  I checked out your post you linked to and I like how you noted NW often continues to go up post-FIRE...now if that isn't peace of mind, I don't what is!

[arebelspy]

Wow, I can't wait for that to happen! I just checked my SSA.gov page and it looks like my current NW is about 27% of my lifetime earnings right now. Next year, if things go right, I could be closer to 40%. Crazy!  I checked out your post you linked to and I like how you noted NW often continues to go up post-FIRE...now if that isn't peace of mind, I don't what is!

Yup, if you follow the 4% rule, the vast majority of the time your net worth increases, even as you take out living expenses.  And, of course, you aren't earning any more (in terms of earned income), so even if you don't hit that number before FIRE (though you probably will), you should it it at some point!  :)