We had an amazing 2016, and I wish to thank you all for it

[minimalistgamer]

In terms of health and finances, 2016 has been an absolutely amazing year. If 2017 is going to be anything like 2016, it will be fantastic. We are going to try and make sure we do things right from the get go.

We remain very grateful to this community for providing help whenever I had any questions. Your advice and insights were always helpful. I made a post a few days ago showing how my net worth has changed. I did some more analysis, and posted my findings here -

http://minimalistgamer.blogspot.com/2017/01/2016-financial-year-in-review.html

As you can see, we managed to save $22726.38 in liquid assets, and our investments did fairly well too.

All in all, 2016 has been a wonderful year. We remain hopeful for 2017.

Thank you and god bless you.

[MVal]

Here, here! This group has changed my life and I'm also incredibly thankful to everyone in the community for answering questions about finance that are so hard to get otherwise. The collective wisdom of this group is invaluable.

Thanks to MRM, I've spent the last two years saving more money than I ever thought possible. I went from adding $2,000 a year to my savings to more than $32,000 and changed my life goals of finding a full time job that satisfies me to being my own patron to fully fund a life that satisfies me. Before this group, I had no idea living without a full time job was even possible.

[Livingthedream55]

Ditto! Thanks to this community I think my retirement date is going to be six months earlier than originally planned. Happy New Year all!!

[Heckler]

It was our first mortgage free year, and thanks to you cheap bastards, we banked the difference (plus some) instead of buying a new Spinter RV we didn't need because we still work too much to enjoy it. Thanks!

[minimalistgamer]

I went from adding $2,000 a year to my savings to more than $32,000 and changed my life goals of finding a full time job that satisfies me to being my own patron to fully fund a life that satisfies me.

That's absolutely amazing! How did you manage to save so much?

I hoping I can accomplish something like it this year.

[CoreyTheMan]

Hey so I couldn't help but look at your numbers (fucking impressive man, I hope to be like you some day). Out of curiosity why do you keep so much of your net worth in liquid assets? ($161,365.71) like I see that you have over $98,000 in a CD

[minimalistgamer]

Hey so I couldn't help but look at your numbers (fucking impressive man, I hope to be like you some day). Out of curiosity why do you keep so much of your net worth in liquid assets? ($161,365.71) like I see that you have over $98,000 in a CD

Thank you sir. Few years ago this would have appeared impossible, but due to careful budgeting, help from the community, we managed to get here. I wish you all the best, I am sure you too will be able to achieve your goals if you focus on them.

As to why I have so much in liquid assets, its because of ignorance on investing when I started my journey towards building wealth. Let me elaborate.

My wealth building journey started in March 2011 when I my first job out of college (I still work for the same company). I did not have any knowledge of investing. I contributed minimum to my 401k, and for a while in between, I contributed 0% (if there was one thing I would change, it would be this).

I soon started learning about investing, and I realized that there is a lot of tax benefit to be had in contributing to 401k, and Roth IRA. Ever since then, I started contributing aggressively to my 401k, which currently stands at 22%, and I also maximize my Roth IRA contributions at the beginning of the year.

The CD I have, pays me 2.3%, which as CDs go, is not terrible, but there are bond funds out there that do better than this. So I would not recommend going this route at all. In fact, looking at the latest offerings for CDs from Bankrate.com, Snychrony Bank stands at the top with a miserable 1.85%.

I would recommend saving enough money in a savings account to cover 3-6 months of living expenses (or income if you want to be very conservative about it), and then investing the rest.

Good luck to you. Feel free to ask any questions you have.

[MVal]

I went from adding $2,000 a year to my savings to more than $32,000 and changed my life goals of finding a full time job that satisfies me to being my own patron to fully fund a life that satisfies me.

That's absolutely amazing! How did you manage to save so much?

I hoping I can accomplish something like it this year.

I have some unique circumstances in that about 3 years ago, I got a huge raise after my company was bought by a large corporation and I also can live very cheaply with a roommate who doesn't make me pay any of the utilities with my cheap rent. I am also single and child free and over the last couple of years I've trimmed spending by eliminating unnecessary purchasing, changing to a cheaper cell phone plan and other cut backs including expensive, weekly visits to an out of network therapist.

[minimalistgamer]

Thanks to learning about this community a few years back, and learning from the forum, I saved something like 40K in 2016... and I feel kind of Meh about it.  Vague disappointment. 

Maybe disappointment isn't so bad if it means you raised your expectations :)

We all have our own goals, but saving $40k is fantastic! Congratulations!

[Metric Mouse]

In terms of health and finances, 2016 has been an absolutely amazing year. If 2017 is going to be anything like 2016, it will be fantastic. We are going to try and make sure we do things right from the get go.

This is awesome. I hope it is even better than you imagine.

[MostlyBearded]

^^ this... great post infromsea. I too have had moments of disappointment when comparing to others on here. But when I reflect now, I have had the best year of my life both in terms of enjoying family life and also financially so it seems a bit silly to get down about it!

[minimalistgamer]

[quote author=infromsea link=topic=66374.msg1391618#msg1391618 I would agree with minimalistgamer, don't sweat what others are doing so much as long as you are meeting your goals.

It's easy to discount your own achievements in light of what others are accomplishing on this board but you have to rememberize (a word I made up and  use all the time) that you are dealing with the elite savers/cheap SOBs/extreme financial types around here.

[/quote]

Absolutely agree with you.

I think it is very important that we set our own goals. While it is perfectly normal to look for inspiration from stories of others, the goals should still be our own...

So yes, congratulations to everyone who is working hard to change their lives for the better.

[acroy]

Badass! congratulations!!

[marty998]

It's easy to discount your own achievements in light of what others are accomplishing on this board but you have to rememberize (a word I made up and  use all the time) that you are dealing with the elite savers/cheap SOBs/extreme financial types around here.

Actually I think there are very very few who you could call cheap SOBs here. It really is an exception rather than a rule.

Most are probably like me, happy to spend on quality products that are either good for your health, or robust enough to not need replacing on the usual consumer timescale. We optimise quantity as well so there is very little wastage.

If you can attack and optimise the big ones - income, housing, cars, childcare, then there's enough hacks listed on all parts of this board that everything else should be a cinch

[minimalistgamer]

Thanks for all the support folks. I appreciate it. I think we will be able to do a whole lot better in 2017 if we pay off the house. I am seriously contemplating it. Those $100000 in the bank aren't making me any happier or richer. I would rather pay off the house and have one less payment. I might even be able to save 100% of my income. I am going to sleep on it today and make a decision tomorrow.

[BrightFIRE]

I really like your year end percent change number. I'm going to copy that.

I decided to gamify our goals. We put the goals on a stick-on whiteboard on the wall, and I have written out things like "Pay off SL debt, Level 0", "6 months of living expenses, Level 1" and "1 year of living expenses, Level 2". I have little notes on my tracking sheet on my computer for the expected LEVEL UP dates. I also calculated at what time each work day I have earned another future day's worth of living expenses (2:12 p.m.). :)

Still trying to figure out the reasonable goal amount vs stretch goal amount, but it's all good. I hope to have saved about 74% of our net pay by the end of this year.

EDIT: Meant to add, you should look into breaking that CD. I broke a 3% 10 year CD last year for a paltry 3 months interest penalty. It was worth it - I used it toward paying off an 8.25% student loan.

[Metric Mouse]

Thanks for all the support folks. I appreciate it. I think we will be able to do a whole lot better in 2017 if we pay off the house. I am seriously contemplating it. Those $100000 in the bank aren't making me any happier or richer. I would rather pay off the house and have one less payment. I might even be able to save 100% of my income. I am going to sleep on it today and make a decision tomorrow.

A 100% savings rate would be very badass.

[minimalistgamer]

I paid it off today!! I think I can save 100% of my salary! We shall see. I am still trying to budget everything. I won't have to pay mortgage next month though! :)

[joonifloofeefloo]

What a happy thread! Love it!

And CONGRATS :)

I had gotten it together quite well pre-MMM (had been homeless, etc), but my money did transform even further after arriving here, so I always feel likewise.

[prognastat]

Congrats, last year was kind of a semi start towards MMM-ness and this year it has our full focus.

We raised our NW by around 50k last year which was many times more than the year before(part of this was also good investment returns, about 11% return without inflation calculated). I actually didn't manage to get my SO on board until just this month so last year's improvements were done mostly on my efforts to cut my spending and given that i was finally able to get my SO on board hopefully this year will see a similar improvement. My goal this year is to do even better and I am hoping by reducing spending even more and increasing savings, allocating my assets better and with good returns to have grown my stache closer to 100k than 50k this year. There are some one off expenses coming up this year that we didn't have last year so I might be too optimistic, but by setting the target high even if we fall short I['m hoping this year will be even better than last.

[Metric Mouse]

I paid it off today!! I think I can save 100% of my salary! We shall see. I am still trying to budget everything. I won't have to pay mortgage next month though! :)

That must feel amazing!

[TheAnonOne]

Awesome!

I don't see any references to overall savings rate, or salary?

Do you have plans to get your income up? With expenses so low you dang near can't go lower!

[minimalistgamer]

Awesome!

I don't see any references to overall savings rate, or salary?

Do you have plans to get your income up? With expenses so low you dang near can't go lower!

Thank you very much!

I have not calculated the savings rate at this point yet, because I am waiting for our W2s to come in so that I know exactly what I earned, and what I spent.

I got a $1500 raise at the beginning on this year, and I am maximizing my retirement accounts, but I am not actively trying to increase my salary. I probably should!

I will make a post about my savings rate once I have all the numbers in hand.

[Metric Mouse]

Sounds like you've got everything under control. Congrats on the raise!

[minimalistgamer]

Sounds like you've got everything under control. Congrats on the raise!

Thank you very much. I appreciate it! I am yet to receive my first paycheck this year, so I am not sure what my exact take home pay is going to be.