Author Topic: Race from $2M to $4M...and Beyond!  (Read 1270007 times)

honeyfill

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #750 on: March 20, 2019, 04:53:38 PM »
Still in the Club.  As a matter of fact , we have almost exactly the same net worth we had when we retired last July.  When the market dropped last fall, I started putting out feelers for some consulting work and fell into a job that pays 20% more than I was making before. And I will not have to be a manager. I get to be a regular engineer doing cool stuff.  I guess that makes me a retirement failure but it feels like a win to me!

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #751 on: March 20, 2019, 05:33:42 PM »
Still in the Club.  As a matter of fact , we have almost exactly the same net worth we had when we retired last July.  When the market dropped last fall, I started putting out feelers for some consulting work and fell into a job that pays 20% more than I was making before. And I will not have to be a manager. I get to be a regular engineer doing cool stuff.  I guess that makes me a retirement failure but it feels like a win to me!

Watch out for the IRP.. They are relentless.. Ask me how I know...;)

Dicey

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #752 on: March 20, 2019, 11:11:49 PM »
Still in the Club.  As a matter of fact , we have almost exactly the same net worth we had when we retired last July.  When the market dropped last fall, I started putting out feelers for some consulting work and fell into a job that pays 20% more than I was making before. And I will not have to be a manager. I get to be a regular engineer doing cool stuff.  I guess that makes me a retirement failure but it feels like a win to me!

Watch out for the IRP.. They are relentless.. Ask me how I know...;)
Well, maybe honeyfill won't turn out to be a repeat offender. There's a much higher level of enforcement for recidivists.

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #753 on: March 21, 2019, 12:05:29 AM »
Still in the Club.  As a matter of fact , we have almost exactly the same net worth we had when we retired last July.  When the market dropped last fall, I started putting out feelers for some consulting work and fell into a job that pays 20% more than I was making before. And I will not have to be a manager. I get to be a regular engineer doing cool stuff.  I guess that makes me a retirement failure but it feels like a win to me!

Watch out for the IRP.. They are relentless.. Ask me how I know...;)
Well, maybe honeyfill won't turn out to be a repeat offender. There's a much higher level of enforcement for recidivists.

Oh goody (says the masochist under his breath)...:)

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #754 on: March 21, 2019, 06:37:29 AM »
My husband sent me a text late last night that read: “2,001,175!!!”

We are in the club, folks.

Alrighty!



Congrats! thats awesome!

PhrugalPhan

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #755 on: March 21, 2019, 12:50:01 PM »
Attended a mid-career retirement seminar at work this week.  Figured I should as I am four years away from my pension.  Presenter confirmed what I have been saying for some time - if you have a decent pension you need to save as much as practical in Roth as taxes are only going to get worse once you retire.  I just went into the retirement online system and upped the Roth/Trad ratio again.  I am now putting in 90% of my money as Roth.  Also was told something new - I am supposed to be able to pick which bucket of money to withdraw from - it previously had to be proportional.  If this is true I won't need to setup IRA accounts to pull out money and roll into Roth.  Now I can just do in-plan rollovers to Roth for my conversions, and when I hit RMD time I will have full flexibility to pull out just the right money amounts from each bucket to easily hit my tax targets.  I am psyched.

This retirement thing is no longer some mystical thing out in the fog... its getting real.  And its looking better.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2019, 02:05:08 PM by PhrugalPhan »

Dicey

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #756 on: March 21, 2019, 01:03:28 PM »
My husband sent me a text late last night that read: “2,001,175!!!”

We are in the club, folks.
In my mind, you've been here for weeks, if not months. Glad you finally made the leap. Welcome, MMM Friend!

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #757 on: March 21, 2019, 01:17:19 PM »


@PhrugalPhan I think retirement looks pretty good to anyone with $2M+.. Especially those of us with pensions in addition.

I didn't know you could roll between traditional 401k and Roth 401k either.. Not sure it makes much difference as that is the same as rolling between your Trad 401k and a Roth IRA.. with a couple more steps no?
« Last Edit: March 21, 2019, 01:19:08 PM by Exflyboy »

wannabe-stache

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M
« Reply #758 on: March 21, 2019, 01:48:25 PM »
Don't mind me.  Still in my 40's and I'm being all winey pants about 2 million NW.  Facepunch, double facepunch.  It's all good. 

Actually had to meditate about buying a new leaf blower a few days ago.   It was  $150 at Lowes $165 with tax, found it for $125 at Amazon with no tax or shipping.  WTF!  I'm a dang millionaire, hell technically a multimillionaire on the lowest rung.  I'm debating a leaf blower purchase.   You people have ruined my life.

This is exactly what I am dealing with.  We are in Miami and post-Irma (and post-telling my landscaper he wasn't needed anymore), i realized i really need a rake and a leaf blower.  so i went online to find used items.  i didn't find MMM until 4 months ago, otherwise i would have trotted over to home depot and bought brand new stuff without even thinking about it.

with that, i am jumping into this thread.  DW and i are 34 and 37 respectively and due to high incomes and, despite our below average savings rates, we have $1.6M invested and $2.3M with the home equity.  if i had found MMM 3 years ago i have no doubt we would have way more than $1.6M invested...

nice update on this post from around 18 months ago...we are over $2.6M investments and $3.47M with home equity.  surely a crash is coming.

pecunia

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #759 on: March 21, 2019, 01:59:51 PM »

- SNIP -

This retirement thing is no long some mystical thing out in the fog... its getting real.  And its looking better.

Yah - Dow Jones is presently just a smidgeon under 26,000.  It is looking real. 

When I was a younger man in my twenties, I was completing a 60 mile bike ride one Saturday.  I was feeling pretty good about it.

I was on a long flat stretch of road in Minnesota.

There was this dot behind me.

I rode on and the dot became bigger.

The dot passed me in a blur.  It was another cyclist.

I caught up to him at a gas station.  It was a 57 year old retiree.  He had started 200 or so miles back in Fargo that morning.  He told me one of his dreams was to cycle to what he considered all 4 corners of the United States.  And he did.  He was heading back home to St. Paul.

I am approaching that time where I could maybe get into that kind of shape and maybe have a piece of the dream he had.

It is looking better.

PhrugalPhan

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #760 on: March 21, 2019, 02:01:38 PM »
@PhrugalPhan I think retirement looks pretty good to anyone with $2M+.. Especially those of us with pensions in addition.

I didn't know you could roll between traditional 401k and Roth 401k either.. Not sure it makes much difference as that is the same as rolling between your Trad 401k and a Roth IRA.. with a couple more steps no?
I'm in a 457 plan, but you are right, I am just able to avoid some extra steps and having a few less accounts with the ability to do in-plan rollovers.  Also in my case the funds available have low fees so I want to stay with them if I can, plus there is the issue of some states giving more legal protections to these type of retirement vehicles.  But with all of that, yes, I am just thrilled not having to go through the setup process and money transfers each year.

ysette9

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #761 on: March 21, 2019, 02:28:57 PM »
My husband sent me a text late last night that read: “2,001,175!!!”

We are in the club, folks.
In my mind, you've been here for weeks, if not months. Glad you finally made the leap. Welcome, MMM Friend!
Thanks!

I know there is the never-ending debate on whether to include home equity or not. Our nominal plan is to stay put so I don’t. And in any case we would need to live somewhere even if we did sell and move. However I can see a legit case for including home equity. I do keep 529 money completely out as I don’t really consider it “our” money but more money that we are stewards of on behalf of our littles.

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #762 on: March 22, 2019, 09:28:29 PM »
Well, this week could be bad news.  The Fed went full dove mode and the market couldn't get excited.  That is never a good sign.

But as I was thinking in my last post, if the Fed doesn't raise rates, then people don't pony up to buy bonds with a better yield.  The curve actually inverted this time, since there really wasn't a reason not to raise or favor raising, so we may be in no man's land for a while.  Trump may think he's a Nobel Prize worthy economist, but jamming the accelerator during a time when you should be rebuilding and laying the groundwork to fight a recession is an amateur flub.  Rewarding the rich (via tax cuts and low borrowing rates) for doing nothing doesn't even get us a tech/housing/etc. bubble!  It just makes the US economy weaker at a time when it has nothing but tailwinds.  Honestly, we could be kicking so much a$$ right now if we were enticing the best minds to live here by behaving like a Renaissance Enlightenment society and not the Dark Ages... 

Bateaux

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #763 on: March 22, 2019, 11:09:48 PM »

- SNIP -

This retirement thing is no long some mystical thing out in the fog... its getting real.  And its looking better.

Yah - Dow Jones is presently just a smidgeon under 26,000.  It is looking real. 

When I was a younger man in my twenties, I was completing a 60 mile bike ride one Saturday.  I was feeling pretty good about it.

I was on a long flat stretch of road in Minnesota.

There was this dot behind me.

I rode on and the dot became bigger.

The dot passed me in a blur.  It was another cyclist.

I caught up to him at a gas station.  It was a 57 year old retiree.  He had started 200 or so miles back in Fargo that morning.  He told me one of his dreams was to cycle to what he considered all 4 corners of the United States.  And he did.  He was heading back home to St. Paul.

I am approaching that time where I could maybe get into that kind of shape and maybe have a piece of the dream he had.

It is looking better.

I'm hoping to spend many days in the saddle soon.  The Tour Divide is high on my list.

Bateaux

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #764 on: March 22, 2019, 11:17:27 PM »
Well, this week could be bad news.  The Fed went full dove mode and the market couldn't get excited.  That is never a good sign.

But as I was thinking in my last post, if the Fed doesn't raise rates, then people don't pony up to buy bonds with a better yield.  The curve actually inverted this time, since there really wasn't a reason not to raise or favor raising, so we may be in no man's land for a while.  Trump may think he's a Nobel Prize worthy economist, but jamming the accelerator during a time when you should be rebuilding and laying the groundwork to fight a recession is an amateur flub.  Rewarding the rich (via tax cuts and low borrowing rates) for doing nothing doesn't even get us a tech/housing/etc. bubble!  It just makes the US economy weaker at a time when it has nothing but tailwinds.  Honestly, we could be kicking so much a$$ right now if we were enticing the best minds to live here by behaving like a Renaissance Enlightenment society and not the Dark Ages...

Well said.  That huge drop today could be a sign of more to come.  I could be kicked out of the 2MM club again.  We'll see how it settles.  If not for any other reason, I'm going for 2.5MM just because it aggregates me so much to dip below 2MM constantly.  I'd hate to FIRE and perpetually be bouncing back and forth across the 2MM line. 

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #765 on: March 22, 2019, 11:48:41 PM »
Well, this week could be bad news.  The Fed went full dove mode and the market couldn't get excited.  That is never a good sign.

But as I was thinking in my last post, if the Fed doesn't raise rates, then people don't pony up to buy bonds with a better yield.  The curve actually inverted this time, since there really wasn't a reason not to raise or favor raising, so we may be in no man's land for a while.  Trump may think he's a Nobel Prize worthy economist, but jamming the accelerator during a time when you should be rebuilding and laying the groundwork to fight a recession is an amateur flub.  Rewarding the rich (via tax cuts and low borrowing rates) for doing nothing doesn't even get us a tech/housing/etc. bubble!  It just makes the US economy weaker at a time when it has nothing but tailwinds.  Honestly, we could be kicking so much a$$ right now if we were enticing the best minds to live here by behaving like a Renaissance Enlightenment society and not the Dark Ages...

Well said.  That huge drop today could be a sign of more to come.  I could be kicked out of the 2MM club again.  We'll see how it settles.  If not for any other reason, I'm going for 2.5MM just because it aggregates me so much to dip below 2MM constantly.  I'd hate to FIRE and perpetually be bouncing back and forth across the 2MM line.

I know that would be awful!.. wait...:)

Bateaux

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #766 on: March 23, 2019, 04:12:07 AM »
Well, this week could be bad news.  The Fed went full dove mode and the market couldn't get excited.  That is never a good sign.

But as I was thinking in my last post, if the Fed doesn't raise rates, then people don't pony up to buy bonds with a better yield.  The curve actually inverted this time, since there really wasn't a reason not to raise or favor raising, so we may be in no man's land for a while.  Trump may think he's a Nobel Prize worthy economist, but jamming the accelerator during a time when you should be rebuilding and laying the groundwork to fight a recession is an amateur flub.  Rewarding the rich (via tax cuts and low borrowing rates) for doing nothing doesn't even get us a tech/housing/etc. bubble!  It just makes the US economy weaker at a time when it has nothing but tailwinds.  Honestly, we could be kicking so much a$$ right now if we were enticing the best minds to live here by behaving like a Renaissance Enlightenment society and not the Dark Ages...

Well said.  That huge drop today could be a sign of more to come.  I could be kicked out of the 2MM club again.  We'll see how it settles.  If not for any other reason, I'm going for 2.5MM just because it aggregates me so much to dip below 2MM constantly.  I'd hate to FIRE and perpetually be bouncing back and forth across the 2MM line.

I know that would be awful!.. wait...:)
Joyously still in.  Just updated only lost 20k.  Not even enough to buy a discount Tesla 3.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #767 on: March 23, 2019, 05:35:35 AM »
Well, this week could be bad news.  The Fed went full dove mode and the market couldn't get excited.  That is never a good sign.

But as I was thinking in my last post, if the Fed doesn't raise rates, then people don't pony up to buy bonds with a better yield.  The curve actually inverted this time, since there really wasn't a reason not to raise or favor raising, so we may be in no man's land for a while.  Trump may think he's a Nobel Prize worthy economist, but jamming the accelerator during a time when you should be rebuilding and laying the groundwork to fight a recession is an amateur flub.  Rewarding the rich (via tax cuts and low borrowing rates) for doing nothing doesn't even get us a tech/housing/etc. bubble!  It just makes the US economy weaker at a time when it has nothing but tailwinds.  Honestly, we could be kicking so much a$$ right now if we were enticing the best minds to live here by behaving like a Renaissance Enlightenment society and not the Dark Ages...

Well said.  That huge drop today could be a sign of more to come.  I could be kicked out of the 2MM club again.  We'll see how it settles.  If not for any other reason, I'm going for 2.5MM just because it aggregates me so much to dip below 2MM constantly.  I'd hate to FIRE and perpetually be bouncing back and forth across the 2MM line.

I know that would be awful!.. wait...:)
Joyously still in.  Just updated only lost 20k.  Not even enough to buy a discount Tesla 3.


My foot was lifted and ready to tap to a new high for the second time and NO knocked down over 24k.  Peaks and valleys! Market has made no sense in along time anyhow

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #768 on: March 23, 2019, 08:09:30 AM »
Same here.. I was $13k short of a new all time personal high.. and.. Now I'm not..

Going forward I predict more pain in the short term... But I am wrong at least 50% of the time..:)

Threshkin

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #769 on: March 23, 2019, 12:08:20 PM »
Friday was....painful.  Down $38K.

But I am still up from the last dip around March 10 so all is good.

pecunia

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #770 on: March 27, 2019, 05:15:33 AM »
I may be naive, but I see help wanted signs all over.  I get several unsolicited e-mails every week telling me of "opportunities."  It looks like there is work out there.  With people working, making and spending money, these seem to be good times.  Can I expect a high probability of the market bumping up a bit or at least staying where it is at?  Is a sea change coming with excess credit crashing us down again?

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #771 on: March 27, 2019, 05:38:53 AM »
I may be naive, but I see help wanted signs all over.  I get several unsolicited e-mails every week telling me of "opportunities."  It looks like there is work out there.  With people working, making and spending money, these seem to be good times.  Can I expect a high probability of the market bumping up a bit or at least staying where it is at?  Is a sea change coming with excess credit crashing us down again?


No one knows. Where I live I don't think there is a place that isn't hiring. Like you i get pounded with emails. There is so much commercial construction in our area I wonder where they are going to find all the workers. But anyone that wants a job can get one near us anyhow. The flipside is Personal credit card debt is much higher than it was before 2008, Fuel is on the rise I think like 50 cents near me in the last month or so and Banks are advertising minimum down payments again for mortgages. My guess if I had to make one is we stay in this range for awhile and up and down more on news.


In other news I got my taxes finally completed and am getting back just under 500$ so not to shabby. My state I owe and my fed I get back more than I owe in state.

@Bateaux  2.5M is a great number I personally like after hearing the Jcollins version of FU money https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eikbQPldhPY


Car Jack

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #772 on: March 27, 2019, 11:33:22 AM »
I may be naive, but I see help wanted signs all over.  I get several unsolicited e-mails every week telling me of "opportunities."  It looks like there is work out there.  With people working, making and spending money, these seem to be good times.  Can I expect a high probability of the market bumping up a bit or at least staying where it is at?  Is a sea change coming with excess credit crashing us down again?

But we're in trade wars with everyone.  Farmers are getting hammered with crop prices half what they were a year ago.  My company manufacturers all over the world and cannot determine what's touched by China and what's not, so we've assumed everything is and increased prices for all of our customers based on the likelihood that China tariffs will hit everything.  This has reduced sales.  US factory people are being cut as a result. 

On the bright side, people who had steady factory jobs at $25 an hour with benefits can now work at Taco Bell at $10 an hour with no benefits.  Making America Great Again.

pecunia

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #773 on: March 27, 2019, 07:23:11 PM »

- SNIP-

But we're in trade wars with everyone.  Farmers are getting hammered with crop prices half what they were a year ago.  My company manufacturers all over the world and cannot determine what's touched by China and what's not, so we've assumed everything is and increased prices for all of our customers based on the likelihood that China tariffs will hit everything.  This has reduced sales.  US factory people are being cut as a result. 

On the bright side, people who had steady factory jobs at $25 an hour with benefits can now work at Taco Bell at $10 an hour with no benefits.  Making America Great Again.

They say that is the difference between America and some of the other countries.  Your management is raising prices.  Other countries have the idea of increasing market share.  There will no longer be American cars sold only SUVs and trucks.  There will still be cars sold.  Someone has that share of the market and it is not American companies.  They went from all to none.  Some of the folks who made the cars will be making tacos.

Still times are good and I should be able to get out soon.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #774 on: March 28, 2019, 02:52:09 AM »

- SNIP-

But we're in trade wars with everyone.  Farmers are getting hammered with crop prices half what they were a year ago.  My company manufacturers all over the world and cannot determine what's touched by China and what's not, so we've assumed everything is and increased prices for all of our customers based on the likelihood that China tariffs will hit everything.  This has reduced sales.  US factory people are being cut as a result. 

On the bright side, people who had steady factory jobs at $25 an hour with benefits can now work at Taco Bell at $10 an hour with no benefits.  Making America Great Again.

They say that is the difference between America and some of the other countries.  Your management is raising prices.  Other countries have the idea of increasing market share.  There will no longer be American cars sold only SUVs and trucks.  There will still be cars sold.  Someone has that share of the market and it is not American companies.  They went from all to none.  Some of the folks who made the cars will be making tacos.

Still times are good and I should be able to get out soon.


I'm hoping were near an end on this whole China thing. Thats why it seems like the market is trading around the news on getting a deal done. It has been confusing to say the least but anytime we seem to be getting close to nailing things down the Market pops on it. I think its been more just knowing a resolution. Time will tell. Plenty of foreign companies have cut making cars as well. Seems that crossovers is just what people want all over. If fuel prices keep going up that will be the changer again. Thats what really seems to mess up the autos is the nearly 2$ swings in fuel prices. People have short memories and gas goes down bigger autos are sold and then gas goes up companies have to re-tool and boom. Thats why I went to all gas savers a few years back and am staying there. lessen learned.
Well we will see.

Also we do have several manufacturing plants going up by us. One is going to be done in 2020 and is hiring 30k workers and is working with the state colleges to try and get workers. Around here it doesnt take much to get a basic job for around 20$ an hour entry level and vs 10$ at the restaurants. Even the gas stations are paying 12$ or 13$ for third shift. Does feel like a house of cards though.

Staying optimistic. Though I have been preparing for a down turn It would be great to get another 2  years out of this because that would be 2 out of college and done with 2 to go!

Fingers crossed!

pecunia

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #775 on: March 28, 2019, 04:26:30 PM »




-SNIP-

Also we do have several manufacturing plants going up by us. One is going to be done in 2020 and is hiring 30k workers and is working with the state colleges to try and get workers. Around here it doesnt take much to get a basic job for around 20$ an hour entry level and vs 10$ at the restaurants. Even the gas stations are paying 12$ or 13$ for third shift. Does feel like a house of cards though.

Staying optimistic. Though I have been preparing for a down turn It would be great to get another 2  years out of this because that would be 2 out of college and done with 2 to go!

Fingers crossed!

That's great!  Thirty thousand workers in the Arctic Midwest.

Threshkin

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #776 on: March 28, 2019, 05:23:30 PM »
Residential and commercial construction is suffering slowdowns nationwide because they cannot hire enough workers.  Many companies are paying for training and sign on bonuses to get the workers they need.  These are not $10/hour jobs.

Manufacturing employment is surging in many areas as well.  These are not $10/hour jobs.

Will there be another recession? Of course.  When?  Who knows.  Tomorrow?  Unlikely.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #777 on: March 29, 2019, 03:53:11 AM »
Residential and commercial construction is suffering slowdowns nationwide because they cannot hire enough workers.  Many companies are paying for training and sign on bonuses to get the workers they need.  These are not $10/hour jobs.

Manufacturing employment is surging in many areas as well.  These are not $10/hour jobs.

Will there be another recession? Of course.  When?  Who knows.  Tomorrow?  Unlikely.




-SNIP-

Also we do have several manufacturing plants going up by us. One is going to be done in 2020 and is hiring 30k workers and is working with the state colleges to try and get workers. Around here it doesnt take much to get a basic job for around 20$ an hour entry level and vs 10$ at the restaurants. Even the gas stations are paying 12$ or 13$ for third shift. Does feel like a house of cards though.

Staying optimistic. Though I have been preparing for a down turn It would be great to get another 2  years out of this because that would be 2 out of college and done with 2 to go!

Fingers crossed!

That's great!  Thirty thousand workers in the Arctic Midwest.



I live in SE WI and the corridor between WI and Il (Chicago) is basically combining the two cities (Milwaukee and Chicago). Companies are building like Crazy on our side of the border to avoid Illinois taxes and with it is a construction boom. I am about an hour away of that corridor thankfully as we have tons of commercial and residential building going up by us as well. Alot of small to medium sized companies. But along that corridor they have already built a monster Amazon distribution Center. Then they started building another Amazon building about 10 miles further up the freeway. Uline just keeps building one building after another, Foxcon is building a huge plant and so on. so much going on its a mess with the freeway and all.

I have been wondering the last couple years how there going to fill all these jobs and you can see all the minimum wage jobs suffer from it as well. Like i mentioned you cant pass a building thats not hiring. Also makes you wonder if these businesses are just going to keep working to get smarter with technology to avoid hiring people.

Threshkin

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #778 on: March 29, 2019, 04:59:56 PM »




-SNIP-

Also we do have several manufacturing plants going up by us. One is going to be done in 2020 and is hiring 30k workers and is working with the state colleges to try and get workers. Around here it doesnt take much to get a basic job for around 20$ an hour entry level and vs 10$ at the restaurants. Even the gas stations are paying 12$ or 13$ for third shift. Does feel like a house of cards though.

Staying optimistic. Though I have been preparing for a down turn It would be great to get another 2  years out of this because that would be 2 out of college and done with 2 to go!

Fingers crossed!

That's great!  Thirty thousand workers in the Arctic Midwest.

.....And this is exactly why we need the electoral college.   

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #779 on: April 02, 2019, 09:55:37 AM »
As much as I love discussing politics on this forum (hahaha), back to the main theme. I check our net worth monthly, so here's where we stand at the end of March/beginning of April.


We're at $3.6M*. In an unexpected twist, our bay area primary residence is down slightly in value, while our Oregon coast vacation home is up slightly. The to offset each other. We are not quite at $1.5M in 401k values (currently at $1.39M), but I'm hoping to be there in a few months.

(*edited, because I caught an error in my tracker. I was moving money between accounts, and magically double counted it. I wish. This is a more explainable gain of $38k month over month.)
« Last Edit: April 02, 2019, 01:02:03 PM by MaybeBabyMustache »

honeyfill

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #780 on: April 02, 2019, 09:28:41 PM »
As much as I love discussing politics on this forum (hahaha), back to the main theme. I check our net worth monthly, so here's where we stand at the end of March/beginning of April.


We're at $3.6M*. In an unexpected twist, our bay area primary residence is down slightly in value, while our Oregon coast vacation home is up slightly. The to offset each other. We are not quite at $1.5M in 401k values (currently at $1.39M), but I'm hoping to be there in a few months.

(*edited, because I caught an error in my tracker. I was moving money between accounts, and magically double counted it. I wish. This is a more explainable gain of $38k month over month.)

Your situation  reminds me of my sister in Palo Alto. She is worth about 3.3M but 2M of that is in her paid off house.  She and her husband live quite comfortably on 4% of the 1.3M + about 60k in SS.
BUT whenever I tell her she could live a lot better by selling her condo and moving to a lcol, she just laughs and says she loves the weather in Palo Alto. 

DavidAnnArbor

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #781 on: April 02, 2019, 09:47:19 PM »
Once you get comfortable in your home and you've established roots in a community it's hard to pick up and leave it.

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #782 on: April 02, 2019, 10:57:57 PM »
As much as I love discussing politics on this forum (hahaha), back to the main theme. I check our net worth monthly, so here's where we stand at the end of March/beginning of April.


We're at $3.6M*. In an unexpected twist, our bay area primary residence is down slightly in value, while our Oregon coast vacation home is up slightly. The to offset each other. We are not quite at $1.5M in 401k values (currently at $1.39M), but I'm hoping to be there in a few months.

(*edited, because I caught an error in my tracker. I was moving money between accounts, and magically double counted it. I wish. This is a more explainable gain of $38k month over month.)

Your situation  reminds me of my sister in Palo Alto. She is worth about 3.3M but 2M of that is in her paid off house.  She and her husband live quite comfortably on 4% of the 1.3M + about 60k in SS.
BUT whenever I tell her she could live a lot better by selling her condo and moving to a lcol, she just laughs and says she loves the weather in Palo Alto.
In all fairness, Palo Alto is a gorgeous, wonderful town with lovely weather. I live near there and worked in PA for four years or so. Those years allowed me to really appreciate how awesome it is.
That said, I didn’t have kids back then. Many people move there for the schools but I’d be concerned about putting mine in that pressure cooker environment.
For retirement though? I’d stay put in her place as well.

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #783 on: April 03, 2019, 02:53:46 AM »
My cousin lives in Palo Alto. We were driving through the neighborhood of beautiful homes back to her house a few years ago, and my 8-year-old daughter said, “I want to live here!”

I replied, “Everyone wants to live here.”


itchyfeet

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #784 on: April 03, 2019, 03:44:22 AM »
We own a home in an expensive suburb of Sydney and our FIRE plan requires selling and moving to somewhere cheaper. We are finding the prospect of that a little difficult as we really like being so close to everything in Sydney so can really relate to the Pablo Alto analogy.

But the option of not selling probably comes with 5 more years work (puke), amd as we have lived overseas for nearly 5 years now I am sure our old home won’t be the same if we movedCertainly our circle of friends will be different if we returned as people have moved on with their lives over the past 5 years.

On a positive note, our personal Top is In. Finally.

 It’s been a long time since last September when we previously topped. During that time a declining Sydney property market has been offsetting all of our savings, and we have had to wait for our stocks to reach new highs. It great to be forging forward nice more.

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #785 on: April 03, 2019, 04:07:19 AM »
I’ve seen it happen time and again with people who sell and leave California, only to realize a few years later that they miss certain thing about their former home. The problem is that when you do that you are often locked out of ever coming back due to real estate inflation in HCOL areas with respect to everywhere else. We have thrown around the idea of moving to a cheaper location, but that plan always includes renting our current house out and renting on the other end for a while. I don’t want to make any moves that would be difficult to reverse, just in case.

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #786 on: April 03, 2019, 05:16:18 AM »
Two good things happened to me this week. 1) including our paid for house which I figure in 10% under value estimates we are further past the 3M mark than when we tiptoed past it at the markets peak. 2) Yesterday was my 4 year fire'd anniversary. So so far this shit is working! lol

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #787 on: April 03, 2019, 11:15:13 AM »
Two good things happened to me this week. 1) including our paid for house which I figure in 10% under value estimates we are further past the 3M mark than when we tiptoed past it at the markets peak. 2) Yesterday was my 4 year fire'd anniversary. So so far this shit is working! lol

What would be the minimum someone could retire in the "Arctic Midwest?"  Seems like you may have a lot of margin.  Could you make it on $30,000 per year?  ($30,000 X 25 = $750,000)

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #788 on: April 03, 2019, 12:11:14 PM »
I’ve seen it happen time and again with people who sell and leave California, only to realize a few years later that they miss certain thing about their former home. The problem is that when you do that you are often locked out of ever coming back due to real estate inflation in HCOL areas with respect to everywhere else. We have thrown around the idea of moving to a cheaper location, but that plan always includes renting our current house out and renting on the other end for a while. I don’t want to make any moves that would be difficult to reverse, just in case.

Exactly.. My friends in the Philippines admitted to me they have basically locked themselves out of the USA by earning just $20k/year for the last 7 years. Plenty of money to live there, but awfully hard to save enough money to come back here in retirement.

Thankfully its a pretty good place to live.

JoJoP

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #789 on: April 03, 2019, 04:48:12 PM »
I’ve seen it happen time and again with people who sell and leave California, only to realize a few years later that they miss certain thing about their former home. The problem is that when you do that you are often locked out of ever coming back due to real estate inflation in HCOL areas with respect to everywhere else. We have thrown around the idea of moving to a cheaper location, but that plan always includes renting our current house out and renting on the other end for a while. I don’t want to make any moves that would be difficult to reverse, just in case.

I like that plan Ysette9.  If you rent your house out, you can always come back. Keep your foot in the door.  We also live in a HCOL area, and I'm from the beach area, so I've seen the one way move to a lower COL area many times over the years. 

Last year DH and I were in a tiny town near Munich, and an American couple about our age pulled in on bicycles with pack gear.  Now, that's not the norm.  We started chatting, with the usual "Where are you from? (oh, I know someone from there...)" and "What are you doing here?".  They were quite interesting.   They were on a 2 week bicycle ride.  They lived in France.  They had sold everything they owned in the Midwest,  to live their dream of retiring in France.  They'd been in France about 2 years, and the panache and excitement had worn off.  The cultural differences were exhausting to them.  They wanted to go home, and there was nothing to go back to. They sold their house and all belongings, thinking that the France dream was their forever choice.   They were very unhappy.   I imagine that by now, they've gone home and figured out something, but we caught them just about the time that the reality was staring them straight on.    I hope they found a way to be happy.   

Sometime I fantasize about buying a vacation home and moving to Europe,  I've even talked to real estate companies in 3 EU countries.   Just to suss it out, mind you.  For a 250K Euro buy in, you can get EU citizenship in Greece.  I could easily get that for one of my rentals and keep everything else I own/other rental income intact.  But then reality sinks in... I ALREADY live in paradise.  I ALREADY have a fantastically amazing life.  I ALREADY travel as much as I want to.  A home like that would complicate my life beyond imagination.   I don't need to be worrying about pipes or roof leaks or burglaries in a home that's half way around the world.  What am I thinking?   It's just such a fun fantasy, that's all...
« Last Edit: April 03, 2019, 04:54:38 PM by JoJoP »

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #790 on: April 03, 2019, 05:35:39 PM »
I’ve seen it happen time and again with people who sell and leave California, only to realize a few years later that they miss certain thing about their former home. The problem is that when you do that you are often locked out of ever coming back due to real estate inflation in HCOL areas with respect to everywhere else. We have thrown around the idea of moving to a cheaper location, but that plan always includes renting our current house out and renting on the other end for a while. I don’t want to make any moves that would be difficult to reverse, just in case.

I like that plan Ysette9.  If you rent your house out, you can always come back. Keep your foot in the door.  We also live in a HCOL area, and I'm from the beach area, so I've seen the one way move to a lower COL area many times over the years. 

Last year DH and I were in a tiny town near Munich, and an American couple about our age pulled in on bicycles with pack gear.  Now, that's not the norm.  We started chatting, with the usual "Where are you from? (oh, I know someone from there...)" and "What are you doing here?".  They were quite interesting.   They were on a 2 week bicycle ride.  They lived in France.  They had sold everything they owned in the Midwest,  to live their dream of retiring in France.  They'd been in France about 2 years, and the panache and excitement had worn off.  The cultural differences were exhausting to them.  They wanted to go home, and there was nothing to go back to. They sold their house and all belongings, thinking that the France dream was their forever choice.   They were very unhappy.   I imagine that by now, they've gone home and figured out something, but we caught them just about the time that the reality was staring them straight on.    I hope they found a way to be happy.   

Sometime I fantasize about buying a vacation home and moving to Europe,  I've even talked to real estate companies in 3 EU countries.   Just to suss it out, mind you.  For a 250K Euro buy in, you can get EU citizenship in Greece.  I could easily get that for one of my rentals and keep everything else I own/other rental income intact.  But then reality sinks in... I ALREADY live in paradise.  I ALREADY have a fantastically amazing life.  I ALREADY travel as much as I want to.  A home like that would complicate my life beyond imagination.   I don't need to be worrying about pipes or roof leaks or burglaries in a home that's half way around the world.  What am I thinking?   It's just such a fun fantasy, that's all...

Yup I totally agree with you. I only have rental property because they are right outside my front door!

Having a vacation home even say 50 miles away would be a big no-no for me.. I guess you could pay a company to manage it for you but its still a bunch of hassle and risk.

ysette9

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #791 on: April 03, 2019, 07:06:59 PM »
Having lived in France for a year as an exchange student I can both attest to the really great parts of the country and culture and how tiring it can be over time to be constantly out of your element. It gets harder to adapt the older you get as well. That said, having backup EU citizenship and the ability to pick up and leave to someplace with universal healthcare is not to be taken lightly.

Exflyboy

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #792 on: April 03, 2019, 07:11:26 PM »
Having lived in France for a year as an exchange student I can both attest to the really great parts of the country and culture and how tiring it can be over time to be constantly out of your element. It gets harder to adapt the older you get as well. That said, having backup EU citizenship and the ability to pick up and leave to someplace with universal healthcare is not to be taken lightly.

If I could easily exchange my UK citizenship for EU I think I would right now..:)

Threshkin

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #793 on: April 03, 2019, 07:22:22 PM »
Having lived in France for a year as an exchange student I can both attest to the really great parts of the country and culture and how tiring it can be over time to be constantly out of your element. It gets harder to adapt the older you get as well. That said, having backup EU citizenship and the ability to pick up and leave to someplace with universal healthcare is not to be taken lightly.

My DW is an EU citizen (Germany) so we have access to both US and EU health care systems.  That said I have found it very difficult to get information on EU citizen relocation within the EU.  There is tons of info on US citizen moving to the EU but EU moving within EU information is much more sparse.

ysette9

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #794 on: April 03, 2019, 07:22:53 PM »
Having lived in France for a year as an exchange student I can both attest to the really great parts of the country and culture and how tiring it can be over time to be constantly out of your element. It gets harder to adapt the older you get as well. That said, having backup EU citizenship and the ability to pick up and leave to someplace with universal healthcare is not to be taken lightly.

If I could easily exchange my UK citizenship for EU I think I would right now..:)
I’m not going to knock UK citizenship, especially as I am overwhelmingly grateful that I just got my own! As much as a bummer Brexit is, the NHS is a damn sight better than the US disaster.

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #795 on: April 03, 2019, 08:20:38 PM »
Having lived in France for a year as an exchange student I can both attest to the really great parts of the country and culture and how tiring it can be over time to be constantly out of your element. It gets harder to adapt the older you get as well. That said, having backup EU citizenship and the ability to pick up and leave to someplace with universal healthcare is not to be taken lightly.

If I could easily exchange my UK citizenship for EU I think I would right now..:)
I’m not going to knock UK citizenship, especially as I am overwhelmingly grateful that I just got my own! As much as a bummer Brexit is, the NHS is a damn sight better than the US disaster.

Just about ANY country's HC is lot better than the US system.. As only the wealthy can afford it its becoming like a third world system!

JoJoP

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #796 on: April 03, 2019, 08:29:56 PM »


Just about ANY country's HC is lot better than the US system.. As only the wealthy can afford it its becoming like a third world system!

But wait... we are the wealthy and we can hardly afford it.   People postpone retirement or keep a job solely for health care benefits or to have the money to pay their insurance.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #797 on: April 04, 2019, 03:03:52 AM »
Two good things happened to me this week. 1) including our paid for house which I figure in 10% under value estimates we are further past the 3M mark than when we tiptoed past it at the markets peak. 2) Yesterday was my 4 year fire'd anniversary. So so far this shit is working! lol

What would be the minimum someone could retire in the "Arctic Midwest?"  Seems like you may have a lot of margin.  Could you make it on $30,000 per year?  ($30,000 X 25 = $750,000)


SE Wisconsin is where I live and there are quite a few people on MMM that live in WI. I am between Milw-Madison so I would say exactly where I live when its just the two of us 45-50k. But there are for sure areas you could do 30-35k.  I think when its all said and done if SS is still around in any form at 60k and SS we would be living a really good life. Most of our money is because of kids.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #798 on: April 04, 2019, 03:14:40 AM »


Just about ANY country's HC is lot better than the US system.. As only the wealthy can afford it its becoming like a third world system!

But wait... we are the wealthy and we can hardly afford it.   People postpone retirement or keep a job solely for health care benefits or to have the money to pay their insurance.


Having lived in France for a year as an exchange student I can both attest to the really great parts of the country and culture and how tiring it can be over time to be constantly out of your element. It gets harder to adapt the older you get as well. That said, having backup EU citizenship and the ability to pick up and leave to someplace with universal healthcare is not to be taken lightly.

If I could easily exchange my UK citizenship for EU I think I would right now..:)
I’m not going to knock UK citizenship, especially as I am overwhelmingly grateful that I just got my own! As much as a bummer Brexit is, the NHS is a damn sight better than the US disaster.

Just about ANY country's HC is lot better than the US system.. As only the wealthy can afford it its becoming like a third world system!



This is the part I just don't understand about this country. With all the HC systems around the world if you don't want to call it social medicine or whatever call it what you want but we need to get this right. I don't care what side of the aisle your on I feel both sides the people want this fixed. Its effecting everyone. The problem is like everything else in the country nobody wants the other side to get anything done right and to get something approved its done then half- assed. There has to be away to, to afford in a way that your just not paying for it with super high taxes. Even though it would be nice to never worry about it a lot of country s of late Like Finland and others seem to be struggling because of the cost. But geez there are so many models to look at and as the richest country in the world we should be able to get this done. But then you look at how many other programs are screwed up who knows.



ysette9

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Re: Race from $2M to $3M.....and beyond!
« Reply #799 on: April 04, 2019, 04:13:11 AM »
This is one of these issues where we can have our cake and eat it too. If you look at what rich countries spend as a % of GDP on healthcare, the US is an outlier in that we spend about twice what other countries to. That is for a broken system that leaves people bankrupt, doesn’t cover everyone, and doesn’t have better health outcomes. So if we could wave a magical wand and have a system like Canada or france or Finland or whatever, we could cover everyone better and save a bunch of money at the same time.

I agree that it is very frustrating that our politicians can’t seem to get this right. I think it isn’t quite correct to claim that both sides are digging in their heels and don’t want to allow the other side a win. Obama and his crowd tried long and hard to get the other side to talk and compromise and they refused. Trump and his crowd tried very hard to not include the other wide in their half-baked attempt at repeal-and-replace. I’d like to think that the Dems would come to the table and negotiate in good faith if a halfway reasonable proposal were put on the table; unfortunately we haven’t been able to test that yet.


***
For some reason the really great wiki article with tables of healthcare expenditures as a % of GDP are not easy to find on my phone right now. Here is a different source.

https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Health/Health-expenditure%2C-total/%25-of-GDP#-amount