Celebrations Thread

[couponvan]

I passed the Washington state professional engineering exam for which I studied 4 months.  I am so happy to have it done with!

That is impressive!

[couponvan]

Couponvan:  maybe you need to come to KC to get our meet-up finally figured out.  LOL.

Too funny.  Here's my advice, and I don't know if it really works or I was just lucky. Assign yourself as the "host" - set a date well in advance, pick a place and time near public transportation, and DON'T change anything - no matter how many people comment they cannot make it or your venue isn't what they would do.  (I had never seen where we met up in person, and it probably wasn't the most mustachian bar, but I knew I could find it and it was likely to still be in business.) Encourage anyone that balks to plan a future date and be the host if they cannot make the current one.  That's how we got an August meeting on the calendar already! I'd say if there is at least 1 other person showing up you are still good. :-) I went expecting maybe 4-5 people.

Ok, I've gotta go find that August date! I had a good time :)

As for my little celebration, I bought a new to me GPS device off Ebay, and it arrived today. So it's currently updating (free lifetime map updates), and then once I have a free hour I'll take my stupid smartphone and my old dumb phone in and move back to the dumb phone. All problems have an implemented solution or a known solution for the future, and I'm very happy to cut my cell phone bill in half (if not more).

You know - i wonder whether more people might go back to less smart phones paired with a tablet. The need for data plans is much less now that so many places have wifi. Maps and the camera are the ones I use the most.

[Joggernot]

I passed the Washington state professional engineering exam for which I studied 4 months.  I am so happy to have it done with!

Nicely done!  What is your discipline?  Electrical, Civil, ?

[v8rx7guy]

I passed the Washington state professional engineering exam for which I studied 4 months.  I am so happy to have it done with!

Nicely done!  What is your discipline?  Electrical, Civil, ?

Mechanical.  I took the Machine Design & Materials for my PM depth exam.  The test was 8 hours long, it took 7 weeks to grade and all the letter says is, "Pass"... talk about anti-climactic!  I am hoping this results in a raise... I am now qualified to be an "Engineer III" at my company which is a pretty decent bump in pay.

[Joggernot]

I'm pleased you have a chance for recognition and a raise.  I got nothing for my California PE in Quality.  No demand for it there and at that time.

[EcoCanuck]

Reviewed the ol finances and ran the numbers and saw that we've managed to triple our networth (savings) in the last year. There are some major changes happening this coming year but we should be able to double what we have this coming year. After that it won't look so good but here's to a few amazing years and being grateful for what we're able to achieve! :)

[TravelJunkyQC]

Just received word that I'll be getting a company cell-phone (with my personal number, so they'll pay 100% of my phone needs as of now), as well as a partial funding for my MBA (that I'll be doing part time while working). Oh, and a 10% raise. That was the best part. This, the same week that my 401k-equivalent contribution + employer matching kicks in. So, pretty sweet all around.

[seathink]

Paid rent, my student loan, and a $1077 credit card payment, and I still have over a thousand dollars in my bank account!!!

[Check2400]

When I moved into my wife's place, we combined our insurance and I rented out my house.  The numbers on my mortgage just seemed to be too high.

I went in today to get a breakdown of what is going on, and they never removed the escrow draw for my first insurance company.  So I'll be getting a 1500 check and a reduction in my rental mortgage of around $80 a month!

[onlykelsey]

I'm getting a raise, and will be bringing in an extra ~7K post-tax in the back half of this year.

When I moved into my wife's place, we combined our insurance and I rented out my house.  The numbers on my mortgage just seemed to be too high.

I went in today to get a breakdown of what is going on, and they never removed the escrow draw for my first insurance company.  So I'll be getting a 1500 check and a reduction in my rental mortgage of around $80 a month!

Nice!

[TravelJunkyQC]

Just inched over the 100k-line in invested assets. Yay! Realized while manually depositing an amount in my account today that I'll have maxed out all my tax-advantaged accounts by the end of this year (and if my condo sells, sooner than that).

Time to go shopping... for the proper taxable investment vehicle.

[fidreamer]

I just applied for a jobshare position which means going from 5 days a week to 2.5 days a week.  Things have been getting tiresome at work.  The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back was a recent contentious meeting after which I wheeled my chair over to my phone and called HR.  My co-workers were stunned.  ; )

[Bicycle_B]

Happy dancing today. One of my goals this year was to increase my income by putting myself out there and actually selling some of the art I make. It's been a struggle to feel like I'm ready and I'm horrible at self promotion, but I've really been trying and it is finally starting to pay off. I made close to $1000 this month! And even though I know this month was an anomaly and opportunities like the one I had won't always work out this way, it was a huge boost to my confidence 😀

The point of FI is to be happy, free...confident.  By expanding your world, you're achieving the goal long before you reach mere FI.  Great stuff!!!!!

[Zaga]

I just looked at my graph, every month so far in 2016 we have saved more than we spent, and June is on track for the same!

The previous 3 years we only managed to do that 5 total months, so this is quite the improvement!

[onlykelsey]

My base comp bumped up, should take home an unexpected 7K this year post-taxes.

[PARedbeard]

Car payment is done! The only debt left in my life is a low-interest mortgage!

[BeautifulDay]

Car payment is done! The only debt left in my life is a low-interest mortgage!

Way to go PAR! That is my major goal. I'm right behind you.

[Mongoose]

Debt free except for the house (with some savings this time so it will "take")!

[erae]

Investments broke 200k this morning. While the progress in $$ is great, the fact that we projected we'd hit this milestone around mid-year is in some ways more reassuring as we build trust in our own projections.

[TravelJunkyQC]

I had a goal for myself of having 100k in non-real-estate investments by the time I hit 30. I've just surpassed it and have 3 more months to add to it. If my condo sells in the meantime, I could maybe even hit 150k!

[couponvan]

Debt free except for the house (with some savings this time so it will "take")!

Woo hoo!

[sun and sand]

Finished furnishing my renovated beach house and was hesitant to rent out but knew I needed to in order to cover taxes and utilities. In the 3 months since it has been online, it has over 54k in bookings.  I am glad that there will be money left over to invest after all utilities are paid. I get excited every time the rental company sends me a new booking.  Even better---the $ is in USD.   Extra $ will be converted to CAD.

[DeskJockey2028]

Just figured out my net worth for the first time in years - and I'm at $232k. That's one big part of putting us on track to my wife retiring at 58 and my retiring at 59. In a few months, if things continue as they are, I should cross $100k in my 403(b) too.  Yay!

[LawMustache]

As I had nobody to share this with (my brother is kinda mustachian but he's way behind so I don't want to downgrade his efforts) : At the time I'll cash in the rents of July (tomorrow), my GF (27) and I (27) will reach a pretty nice combined net worth of 100k :D.

Lots of happiness as we set out our FIRE plans a year ago. Still a lot of work to do on the frugality side, but we are slowly getting there!!

Cheers to all the achievements mentioned on this thread!

[Cookie78]

I just maxed my TFSA! First time ever, and I had a lot of catching up to do.

Now, to work on RRSP. Should be able to max that in 3-4 months. :)

[Pooperman]

Under contract for a house!

[Slinky]

Reaching new highs in my retirement portfolio and opening up the possibility to hit 6 figures before the end of the year. If not, it'll be early next year. Either way, I'm looking forward to hitting that milestone!

[NinetyFour]

For the first time, my:

cash + investments hit $450K

total assets hit $800K

and Net Worth hit $600K

Woo Hoo!!!  :)  :)  :)

[onehair]

My net worth when I started tracking it here was $20536 and some small change.  Today it is $26097 according to the Excel pie chart.

[ghsebldr]

  Just paid off our first Hawaii trip for this coming fall. 100% points gained with my new Venture card. Received card March 22nd. Booked trip early June and had the points to pay for the Hawaiian Air with upgraded seats and the Airbnb condo on the 21st floor of the Illikai.
  Gotta love those double points on everything. Pretty sure the $95 fee starting in the second year has been paid for by now too.
  Some of my vendors aren't thrilled with my new payment scheme but they won't be near us on the beach anyway.

[golfreak12]

  Just paid off our first Hawaii trip for this coming fall. 100% points gained with my new Venture card. Received card March 22nd. Booked trip early June and had the points to pay for the Hawaiian Air with upgraded seats and the Airbnb condo on the 21st floor of the Illikai.
  Gotta love those double points on everything. Pretty sure the $95 fee starting in the second year has been paid for by now too.
  Some of my vendors aren't thrilled with my new payment scheme but they won't be near us on the beach anyway.

Nice. We will be cerebrating our 5th year anniversary and we will also be going to our first Hawaii trip.
Mine will mostly be paid for. Will use points for our plane tickets.
I have 2 free nights from my Hyatt CC and my wife also has 2 free nights. Thats 4 nights and we will only be paying for 2 or 3 nights depending on how long we will go for.

[torbisen]

Well, i am not a fully mustachian yet, and will eventually not be for some years, BUT i got through my accounts today and was really suprised. I am still using way to much money to sustain that lifestyle with only assets and dividends off them. But i got to this conclusion:  Today i am actually just 81000$ away from being out of debt. With out of debt i mean i have a big house which cost around 470000$, i have an rental apartment which costs around 300.000$ and pays around 1000$ net income a month after tax, and i also have one car, a tesla, which has a 5 year service deal and runs on almost free electricity. Off cource a real mustachian would have sold it right away as it is gonna loose its rest value of approx 53000$ in the next 8 years, but it runs pretty cheap, insuring for 714$ a year and electricity in norway are really cheap in addition to all the free superchargers. i really bought it because i think it pollutes less than a gasoline one. Me and my wife will be debt free in only 18months if we kept our self to using 6000$ of our income a month and saving 4200$ which will be the rest. If we cut down to 4700$ of spending monthly we will go debt free in 12 months instead, which would not be that difficult.
The thing is that i have kids 7 and 9 years old, and they really like their surroundings, school and house / big garden.  I realize that if me and my wife were alone, we could have sold it all in two years and started to just go around the world living cheap places, but i will not take my kids out of their school with all their friends and so. I also enjoy my work very much as a rescue helicopter pilot, but it really have some backsides. i am away from family 120days a year, and it is increasing a little bit also. But if i quit, i will not get it back, so i am still staying in there. But all in all i feel good off, and that i could choose to go fully Mustachian in a really short time if i would like to. I use all the basic tricks and know how to do it, but its a balancing act beeing 4 people in the family and all and agree on how far we are gonna take it. Bicycling to work is my big contribution to stay with one care, cycling 60miles to work today ;-). Then i stay for a week and cycle back. Just feeling happy today, and in conroll. LOVE the website ;-)

[Investmenthunting]

I made my final car payment today. I'm officially debt free. I'm pretty happy with the results. I paid off a 60-month loan in 25-months.

[arebelspy]

I'm officially debt free.

Woo!

[TravelJunkyQC]

Surpassed the 125k networth mark a few days ago! Yay!

[Archivist]

I got a promotion and a $15k raise this week! That is a third of my previous income, so definitely a big change for me.

[torbisen]

Just found out ( i am not counting my money everyday or month, just acting a little mustachian and hoping for the best, checking now and then) That my family is only 80000$ off of beeing debt free. Means that our 470.000$ House  350.000$ Rental apartment and 54000$ Tesla actually is fully ours in just 18month keeping up the savingrate ;-). Thats a good start.

[couponvan]

Just found out ( i am not counting my money everyday or month, just acting a little mustachian and hoping for the best, checking now and then) That my family is only 80000$ off of beeing debt free. Means that our 470.000$ House  350.000$ Rental apartment and 54000$ Tesla actually is fully ours in just 18month keeping up the savingrate ;-). Thats a good start.

I say troll...but I will bite....SELL THE TESLA. $80K-54K= $26K.  Buy a used Prius or Chevy Volt if you want to save the world on electricity. Be done in 4-6 months and have another year of your life back. 

[torbisen]

I pretty much got rid of everything else i had. An extra car, motorcycle and so. Tesla is the only electrical vehicle so far that can house the whole family with equipment and also the supercharger network works so seamless, while the other small cars have to search for one charger here and one there, different payment methodes and connectors . But last i love that car so much. In Norway it is actually "half price" because no taxes whatsoever, (we pay the same for an volkswagen passat as a Tesla here......)so all other cars are taxed to death( more tax i addition to car baseline price than the actual baseline price ) here. Of course i can buy a used one and save, but for now its staying. I know for sure it would cut of the time even more and its not saving the world either, but i actually enjoy it so much every single time i drive it ;.). I said not yet a fully mustachian ;-). I did not find my first post here, so i made two for beeing a Troll. Trolls are actually Norwegian, so that suits fine since i am from Norway.

[aetherie]

I did not find my first post here, so i made two for beeing a Troll. Trolls are actually Norwegian, so that suits fine since i am from Norway.

I like you. You can stay.

[marty998]

The old net asset ticker just clocked $800,000 for me yesterday... woohoo!

Tax refund, 5 fortnightly pay periods and annual bonus coming in the next 2 months should send it up towards $825,000 by the end of September.

[mustachepungoeshere]

The old net asset ticker just clocked $800,000 for me yesterday... woohoo!

Tax refund, 5 fortnightly pay periods and annual bonus coming in the next 2 months should send it up towards $825,000 by the end of September.
[/quote

Awesome, awesome achievement!

How the hell are you single? :P

[couponvan]

I did not find my first post here, so i made two for beeing a Troll. Trolls are actually Norwegian, so that suits fine since i am from Norway.

I like you. You can stay.

Agreed. You will take punches for that car along the way though!

In all fairness, DH just received his framed "Thank you for purchasing a Tesla" not from Mr. Musk....He's $1K down on the new cheaper version coming out next year.

Celebration thread comment....Annual bonus of posted in my checking account this morning!! Promptly sent in a mortgage payment and am heading off to pay the insurance bills ahead. Extra cash in our house equals extra spending, so I try to move it out quickly.

[torbisen]

I know there are cheaper cars, but in Norway the tax cut on it is so good, that it makes the price half of what it should have been with the same taxes as the other gasoline car. It gives me a mega grin every time i drive it, and we as a family are doing more car based vacations and trips now than flights before, so we save a little on that. Charging is also riddicilously cheap here in comparison to rest of Europe and US, so we dont even recognise on the bill that we have this car :-). It has also held its value very good, because the new ones are up about 30% due to the dollar versus the Norwegian Krone after I bought mine. If I sell now I might get 500000,- kroner while i bought it for 560000,-  thats 2,5 years ago and 50000km :). Excuses Excuses excuses of course ;-).

[kylemoney]

DW and I just hit our yearly net income goal after this past Friday's paycheck and it's only August. woop!

[marty998]

DW and I just hit our yearly net income goal after this past Friday's paycheck and it's only August. woop!

Sounds like you need a bigger and better goal :)

[BeautifulDay]

Assets hit $100k.  (Only counting accounts, no physical assets sine we don't have a house or other large physical assets)

[Inaya]

Assets hit $100k.  (Only counting accounts, no physical assets sine we don't have a house or other large physical assets)

Congrats! Hoping to join the 100 Club by the end of the year myself.

[Slinky]

Assets hit $100k.  (Only counting accounts, no physical assets sine we don't have a house or other large physical assets)

Congrats! Hoping to join the 100 Club by the end of the year myself.

Me too! I'm looking at my retirement accounts and the total just crossed the $90k mark as of this morning's contribution.

[Samba82]

Biked in the rain and snow for the first time today.  It wasn't planned, but I didn't care.  It was about 32-34F, so hovering right above freezing, and a little breezy.

I stopped at a store and still had the helmet on, and some guy says, "Did you ride a bike today?  That's your bike out there?"

Me: "Yes sir."
Guy: "Are you crazy?"
Me: "No, I'm just a badass."

It actually got a few laughs from a few passers by.  :-)

This is _epic_.

I just cleared my last non-mortgage debt this month and started my next step, which is to build an income replacement fund to cover six months' income.

This is after a major personal finance wake-up call in October 2015, when I discovered MMM (and through MMM, YNAB and Dave Ramsey). Fortunately I wasn't in too deep to make a quick turnaround, and I'm way better off now than this time last year.