Author Topic: Celebrations Thread  (Read 1648209 times)

SunshineGirl

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 768
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #450 on: January 03, 2014, 08:59:58 AM »
Nice job, captainawesome!

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #451 on: January 03, 2014, 10:58:43 AM »
Nice!  You may be up for a promotion to majorawesome soon.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

bateloomer

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 20
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #452 on: January 03, 2014, 11:53:11 AM »
Congratulations, three excellent things to celebrate.

Mine is purchasing a second hand Prius ( due to the demolition of my SUV) is saving me at least $250 a month on petrol compared to the old gas guzzler.

I hope you love your Prius as much as I love mine!
\

That's how much I save in gas now too.  I spent $1500 on gas to drive 20k last year.
Yes - buy a Hybrid used!
 

MMMdude

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 322
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #453 on: January 05, 2014, 02:34:24 PM »
So in updating my year end net worth calcs, I realize that with the value of my paid off home I am now a millionaire.  Doesn't really do much for me - perhaps makes me abit depressed as I am only half way there.  I don't think I will consider ER until I have $2mil net worth which would be about $400k in home and rest in investments.  I think many on here are unrealistic about what they may need...especially when it is a virtual lock that we will go through another 2008 meltdown at some point.  For those planning on retiring with 600, 700k etc, how can you possibly survive losing 40% of such a portfolio?

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #454 on: January 05, 2014, 03:12:57 PM »
So in updating my year end net worth calcs, I realize that with the value of my paid off home I am now a millionaire.  Doesn't really do much for me - perhaps makes me abit depressed as I am only half way there.  I don't think I will consider ER until I have $2mil net worth which would be about $400k in home and rest in investments.  I think many on here are unrealistic about what they may need...especially when it is a virtual lock that we will go through another 2008 meltdown at some point.  For those planning on retiring with 600, 700k etc, how can you possibly survive losing 40% of such a portfolio?

That's a discussion for another thread.

Congrats on joining the 7-figure club!  :)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Able was I ERE

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 158
  • Location: Austria
    • FIREhub.eu
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #455 on: January 06, 2014, 04:38:29 AM »
Requested a pay cut / hours reduction at my day job (to 80%/4 days a week), but still plan to have a savings rate of >50%.

limeandpepper

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4569
  • Location: Australasia
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #456 on: January 06, 2014, 07:23:45 AM »
A bit late to mention this, but I reached my net worth goal for last year. Wasn't sure if I was going to make it with the market fluctuations towards the end of the year, but I did, hurrah! Now to tackle my next net worth goal before I quit my job for my sabbatical later this year.

jjquantz

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 47
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #457 on: January 14, 2014, 12:10:48 PM »
Requested a pay cut / hours reduction at my day job (to 80%/4 days a week), but still plan to have a savings rate of >50%.

Similar situation here.  Thanks to having sufficient resources at hand, I have asked to reduce my status in the office to 60%/3 days a week over the next 3 months.  Even better, my wife was the one who urged this after I updated her on our financial status.

rocksinmyhead

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1489
  • Location: Oklahoma
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #458 on: January 15, 2014, 09:15:25 AM »
Holy shit! I don't know how this milestone passed without me noticing, since I have been waiting a long time, but I finally crossed over into positive net worth!!! About $4400, actually. I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!! (And I love having this forum to share that excitement, haha.) Now I just have $32,700 of student loans left to pay off... hopefully I can do that by the end of 2014!

NinetyFour

  • CMTO 2023 Attendees
  • Walrus Stache
  • *
  • Posts: 6875
  • Age: 62
  • Location: Southwestern US
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #459 on: January 15, 2014, 09:18:15 AM »
Yay for you, oscarsmom!!  Nice job!  Good luck killing that student loan debt!!

gazzamatic

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 17
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #460 on: January 15, 2014, 01:51:24 PM »

Way to go oscarsmom, that's a very significant milestone!

sol

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8433
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Pacific Northwest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #461 on: January 16, 2014, 06:07:19 PM »
I've officially gone two weeks without starting the car. Been going bike only to work! Now the only issue is that my car seems to have a slow drain on the battery, its now dead and I need to find time to jump it with the wife's car. :D

I know I'm over a month late on this comment, but I think having your car battery die from lack of use is a significant milestone.  When that first happened to my car, it was like a little light bulb went off over my head.  You mean I could turn that useless hunk of metal into thousands of dollars, and not have to worry about driving it periodically just to keep the tires from getting lopsided? 

Sold it the next month, pocketed the money and never looked back.  I lived carless for about a year until I got married and I've never felt so free. 

If you drive less than once a week and live in a major city, you can almost assuredly save money on transport by getting a zipcar membership and paying for occasional bus rides or even taxis.  Ditch that boat anchor.

fat bruce lee

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 9
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #462 on: January 16, 2014, 07:33:59 PM »
Found MMM in April of last year.  My net worth increased by by 34%, but more importantly hit my goal of sacking away 66% of my pay for the year.  Also eliminated all my debt within 2 months of discovering the site.

FunkyStickman

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 525
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Louisiana
    • Living Outside the Box
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #463 on: January 16, 2014, 07:49:58 PM »
I've been looking for a bike for my wife recently... found a $550 electric bike at Sam's, marked down cause it was a floor model... for $125.

Even if she doesn't want it, I can flip it for twice the money without blinking. Unbelievable.

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #464 on: January 18, 2014, 08:42:31 AM »
I'm pretty excited about some of the things I've put into action since finding MMM a few weeks ago:

Switched from Verizon to Republic - $45/month savings
Will be dumping my gym membership $18/month savings
Shopped new car insurance $25ish/month savings

Signed up for Mint and put the app on my phone.  On track to stay well below the $400 food budget I set for January, while it looks like I spent more like $700+ in December.  Have only spent $21 eating out this month.

Will have my credit card, which was at $3500 last month, paid in full next week.  Well ahead of when the 0% APR expires.  About half of the payoff is from an unexpected bonus at work, but the old me would have used at least part of it to splurge on STUFF instead of addressing the debt.

Looked at how to game my other credit cards and picked up a card with 5% cash back on gas and groceries for first 6 months.  Will probably get the Sapphire card with the $400 bonus and use it to pay for our planned landscaping project (repay the balance immediately, of course).  Figured out a better way to use the rewards on my Discover Card, which I do not carry a balance on, but take advantage of the rotating 5% rewards categories (e.g. $45 in cash back is good for a $50 Lowe's gift card; I'd been squandering over 10% of the rewards by using them as credit on my Amazon purchases).

Increased my TSP withholding from 5% to 10%.  Just happens that the stock market pushed it into the 6-figure range in the last month or so too, which is so nice to see, if way late to the party.

Sold about $800 worth of crap on Amazon, Ebay and Craigslist, and finally filed the papers to get the miniscule retirement payout my mother left me.  Paid for my Craigslist weight set out of that, and on the lookout for a rowing machine, but being strict about paying for it only with "found" money, not my paycheck.

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #465 on: January 18, 2014, 09:27:50 AM »
That's an awesome list of changes, way to go horsepoor!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #466 on: January 18, 2014, 11:06:24 AM »
Biggest accomplishments thus far is finding this blog and figuring out how to log on!! Now have to figure out how to use these boards so I can fly around a bit. I Started from the beginning of the blog and have read a couple months already. Good Stuff!

Victorious Secret

  • Guest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #467 on: January 18, 2014, 11:52:19 AM »
I got my student loans 100% paid off.  Such a relief to finally be out of debt!  I definitely couldn't have done it so fast without this awesome blog and forum.  Time for some home brews to celebrate :-)

sol

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8433
  • Age: 47
  • Location: Pacific Northwest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #468 on: January 18, 2014, 03:23:51 PM »
Reading the 4% thread just made me realize that (according to our household year-end accounting) our assets should now cover all of our living expenses, except for our housing costs.

One way of looking at this milestone: we're FI if we move into a van!

Another way:  from here on out, we only have to work long enough to buy a house.

My preferred way:  we're like halfway there, assuming the market doesn't crash.  Which it will.  So maybe less than halfway.  Maybe better to just not think about it too much just yet.

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #469 on: January 22, 2014, 01:33:02 PM »
In the last week +/- I have read from the beginning to almost a full year so much to go. I felt comfortable with our financial position to stop our 3 Term life insurance polices, cut my cable bill in half (going to wean of a bit then hatchet off the rest) and my Home insurance policy is up so doing some more shopping on that before the February 5th due date. Anyhow have shaved off $216.50 a month so far and expecting from comments of Insurance agents to save 200-500$ on Homeowners/Auto/toy/bundle.

We have along ways to go with more savings as opposed to increased income worries as we have two paid for homes, toys etc... I already sold a couple of snowmobiles to help pay for a must do renovation to our Master Bathroom without touching Savings/Investments. Decided to sell my cabin in the woods since 4 hours away and I only get there now once a year and its paid for so invest money in something that makes me money since will be at least 10 years before I could enjoy it again at its full capacity with 4 kids in sports.

So monies saved, monies earned and a lot of solid decisions made!

Keep getting rid of the waste to not have to worry about so much clutter!

NinetyFour

  • CMTO 2023 Attendees
  • Walrus Stache
  • *
  • Posts: 6875
  • Age: 62
  • Location: Southwestern US
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #470 on: January 22, 2014, 03:54:39 PM »
Wow--those are some really important changes!  Congrats!

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #471 on: January 24, 2014, 02:20:34 PM »
Well the results are in from all my Home Owners Insurance policies and I saved 550$ annually but this is on 2 homes , one of which We are going to sell since its paid for and we only get up to it once or twice a year. Rather take the loss now since I know it will be 10 years before I could appreciate it the way i once did. Once i sell it between property taxes, maintenance etc.. I will save at least 10k a year so i will quickly make back any loss i take and at a very minimum put 325k back to work for myself.

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #472 on: January 30, 2014, 12:53:22 PM »
Saving another 175$ a month as i cancelled the families membership to the gym. We have an eliptical ,weights and bike at home so no need. Also raised my 401k from 6% contribution to 8%.

jordanread

  • Guest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #473 on: January 30, 2014, 04:43:04 PM »
Just introduced myself in that thread, and made it clear that I suck because some major room for improvements are based on crappy decisions I continue to make on a daily basis.
However, things are going well, just not as well as they could be if I was a better person :-).
My little milestones:
  • Got motivated enough to quit my current job, and got a new one more in line with Market Rates...82% increase in income
  • Got a 401(k) for the first time. No employer contribution, but I'm vesting 10%
  • Stock Options in my new company ($2500)
  • Convinced GF to cancel Comcast, and increase internet speed, reducing cost by 40% (can't convince her to fully cut the cord, but I have a plan for that)
They are little, but I'm glad I found this thread, since I have a tendency to focus on what to do next, and minimize what I've done, even if it's awesome...so thanks for this.

Mortgage Free Mike

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 129
  • Age: 39
    • Save on Almost Everything
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #474 on: February 06, 2014, 08:56:03 AM »
A few things to celebrate! I've blogged about these as well:

- Saved $87/year on my auto insurance by taking a defensive driving course. The discount will last for 3 years.

- Saved $75/month by dumping Verizon for Republic Wireless. So far, I'm loving my Moto X phone and I don't miss my iPhone one bit.

- Saved $20/month on internet just by asking AT&T's loyalty department if they could help me out.



Murph

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
  • Age: 36
  • Location: Cape Cod, MA
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #475 on: February 06, 2014, 01:38:21 PM »
Warning: Mustachians will cringe while reading this.

Today is my last day at a job that I've been commuting to for the last 7 months. It was 84 miles each way in moderate to heavy traffic and I did it 3 days a week. I worked from home the other two. My new job is a mere 5 miles away.

Here is what the switch is costing me:
  • $10k per year in salary + $5k bonus
  • Stock options of $20k estimated after-tax value that would have been realized sometime in 2015

Here is what the switch is saving me:
  • My sanity and stress levels
  • 48 hours of my life per month (2 hours each way * 24 trips per month)
  • 2,016 miles on my car per month (84 mi * 24 trips per month)
  • 67 gallons of gas per month (84 mi / 30 mpg * 24 trips per month)
  • $240.53 in gas costs per month (67 gal * $3.59 per gal)

Though I may regret the financial consequences in the near future, I am truly happy knowing that the horrible commute is no longer part of my life. I can be a lot more productive when I'm not spending 48 hours per month in a car.

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #476 on: February 06, 2014, 02:19:17 PM »
Congrats Murph!  That's awesome.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

train_writer

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 203
  • Location: Brussels
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #477 on: February 07, 2014, 08:25:30 AM »
Several goals accomplished that will save me money and time:

- Getting my driving license means I save money on lessons (Europe..) and will save money at work, because using the business cars comes with food allowance (crazy, because I used to use transit which did not include that allowance)

- 250 euros raise! Which means I will have my goal of FU-money saved up & invested in April*.

*5 years of expenses for the 2 of us

- The garden delivered carrots and beetroots in this warm winter :D

nicknageli

  • Guest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #478 on: February 07, 2014, 08:29:51 AM »
- 250 euros raise! Which means I will have my goal of FU-money saved up & invested in April*.

*5 years of expenses for the 2 of us

"FU-money" 

Jomar

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 63
  • Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #479 on: February 07, 2014, 11:29:03 AM »
I started reading MMM November 11 of 2013. Prior to that I ate out for lunch at least 3 times a work week, often every work day. Since then, I haven't eaten out a single time. Not once. I figured out that I've had 57 work days since then. If I had eaten out only two thirds of those days (a conservative estimate), I'd have spent around $300 on meals! My packed lunches likely come in at a cost of $1 to $1.50. So it's maybe cost me $50 to replace $300 of meals. And I feel so much healthier for it!

windawake

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 435
  • Age: 35
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #480 on: February 07, 2014, 01:07:58 PM »
I just did my taxes today and found out I'll have a nice $1,800 return coming my way! It'll be put towards a down payment or opening my first Vanguard account, pretty excited!

SCBMMM

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #481 on: February 09, 2014, 04:01:53 PM »
New to this site and love this thread..
happy because....
getting rid of the dumb cable once and for all last week.. land line that I never used gone as well..(company pays for cell phone so no phone bill at all!)

have about two more months to go on house then done with the mortgage....  pretty much debt free after that.. wow.. feels strange to say that..


SunshineGirl

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 768
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #482 on: February 10, 2014, 08:51:35 AM »
New to this site and love this thread..
happy because....
getting rid of the dumb cable once and for all last week.. land line that I never used gone as well..(company pays for cell phone so no phone bill at all!)

have about two more months to go on house then done with the mortgage....  pretty much debt free after that.. wow.. feels strange to say that..

EXCITING!!

skyst3alth

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #483 on: February 14, 2014, 08:30:40 AM »
Opened my first taxable account this morning, felt really good.

This time last year I was $30k in debt between CC's, car loan and student loans and was only saving 6% in my 401k at work spending the rest on god knows what.

Squashed all that debt (still have one student loan - $4,900 but at 1.75% so i'll hang onto it for now).  Emergency fund is fully funded, 401k is set to be fully funded, just maxed my Roth IRA for the year, opened a HSA account through work, and i'm still finding tons of money to throw into taxable accounts.  Looks like i'm now saving ~65% of my income and it really wasn't even that hard. 

Goal is $100k net worth by the end of the year and looks to be totally doable.

Life is lookin' real good.  Thanks MMM!
« Last Edit: February 14, 2014, 10:34:19 AM by skyst3alth »

rocksinmyhead

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1489
  • Location: Oklahoma
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #484 on: February 14, 2014, 09:23:26 AM »
today we got our merit raises and bonuses for the year. mine was more than expected (but then again I try to keep my expectations super low for these things) and I'm SO excited about what I'm going to be able to do with it... I'll be able to pay off 3 student loans ASAP with the bonus (which will mean I'm only dealing with one servicer instead of 3... yesssssss), and I'm hoping with the raise and improvements in Mustachianism I'll be able to pay off the last 2 by year end, even though this year I'm also maxing my 401k for the first time (thanks to advice from this forum). AHH SO EXCITED!!!! :)

horsepoor

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3497
  • Location: At the Barn
  • That old chestnut.
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #485 on: February 14, 2014, 10:29:37 AM »
Small compared to the above, but I just got my first earnings statement after bumping my TSP contribution from 7% to 10%.  Take-home pay only dropped by about $90, which I'll barely notice.  I really don't need to contribute more than 7 to 10% when factoring in my pension, so now I can focus on firing up the taxable accounts.

nicknageli

  • Guest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #486 on: February 14, 2014, 10:50:19 AM »
Looks like i'm now saving ~65% of my income and it really wasn't even that hard. 

Goal is $100k net worth by the end of the year and looks to be totally doable.

Life is lookin' real good.  Thanks MMM!

Very cool. 

RMD

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 159
  • Location: Overland Park, KS
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #487 on: February 17, 2014, 07:51:54 PM »
Back on the bring my lunch wagon.  I never used to buy lunch and around 4 years ago started bringing occasionally...well, that got out of hand fast!  This month I have brought lunch every day and am very pleased!  (Also lost a couple pounds!)

Ran some numbers this morning and retirement and investment accounts now total (a touch) more that $250,000. Surprise! 

DaKini

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 415
  • Location: Germany, Munich area
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #488 on: February 18, 2014, 02:12:50 AM »
Congratulations everybody before me!

I am proud that i now can announce a "mini" milestone myself.
Yesterday my wife showed up behind me sitting at our computer while i just finished typing in our current bills and receipts.
That gave me the opportunity to show her some overall picture reports (some nice graphs etc) and was able to concisely show her our results of the past 8 months where is started tracking expenses and optimizing our fincancial life.

I was quite impressed myself as i did not evaluate this "bigger picture" for quite a while.
  • We were able to save 50% income the last few months despite my wife staying at home with the kids and despite we had some unusual expenses (a new car seat for our son for example that was needed to meet law requirements)
  • We constantly and consistently dropped our average monthly expenses about 800-1000€ per month (holy s+++t! that equals about 10k additional savings per year!)
  • We will most probably cross our 100k € NW milestone (in "active financial assets", so car etc. is excluded) in april or march this year (whooohow, that is just ONE or TWO paychecks away!!!)

The most exciting and important two insights where, however:
  • It was all accomplished by "small baby steps" (saving some monthly 10€ there and here, avoiding some restaurants visits, bringing food to work, do more fresh cooking instead of convinience food, optimising spending in minor points, nothing big at all when viewed isolated).
  • It did not hurt at all, we were both dazzled that we have cut back so much spending without any noticeable loss of life quality.

Holy cow, im quite impressed and very euphoric! What big difference such small steps yould yield... Its really impressing to see such changes in only 8 months time!

happy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 9286
  • Location: NSW Australia
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #489 on: February 18, 2014, 04:41:10 AM »
Well done DaKini, thats awesome. Amazing what results are achieved with a bit of positive attitude and action! And you realise that just by changing a few habits, in quite a gentle fashion, what a big difference it makes.

When I started within a few months of gentle change, I was at 50% savings, and another 6 or 7 months down the track I realised I could cut my  part -time work hours further, by 28%, and semi-retire and still save 50%.

My reason for celebrating is that I just invoked FU money for the first time in my 55 years. I'd organised 5 weeks long service leave and at the last minute one of the big bosses didn't approve it and I had a choice, either come back to work or take leave without pay. Pretty quickly I decided the time off was more important, and even though I am now 5 weeks with no income, I can manage, and even thrive. So I politely said LWOP please, but in my head it was "Yeah, I've got FU money,  and I am so using it".    Of course I still have expenses, so there will be a cost, but since my financial house was in order I knew exactly what I could do and how to do it.  I also have been thinking about interval working.. thats tricky in my job, so this gave me the chance to try it out, since I will still have the leave for another time.

Silvie

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 212
  • Age: 38
  • Location: the Netherlands
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #490 on: February 18, 2014, 01:47:55 PM »
My 2 milestones are:

I doubled my income. I moved to Spain for a temporary job, a full-time position. Before, I was a freelancer in Holland and I'm trying to keep freelancing here in Spain.

Because of this, I was able to pay off 2,000 euros of a 20,000 personal loan from my dad. 10% in only 5 weeks since I moved to Spain! My savings rate is much higher now too. I didn't calculate it yet, but it's at least 60%, as I divide my salary from my full-time jobs equally between paying off my debt and savings, and do the same for a large amount of my freelance income, after I've paid for housing, utilities, etc.

jordanread

  • Guest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #491 on: February 20, 2014, 10:18:33 AM »
I think this post gave a handlebar...however, posting to mention that my number of posts went up kind of seems weird, but I'm doing it anyway. 100 posts!!

Elaine

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 465
  • Age: 36
  • Location: NYC
    • Small Things Good
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #492 on: February 20, 2014, 10:53:09 AM »
I hit just over 30k net worth this month!

ichangedmyname

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 418
    • Luxe Frugality
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #493 on: February 23, 2014, 12:58:51 PM »
This time last year I had zero savings and no investments. Right now my investments (401k, IRA and stocks) are at $7500. I like watching it go up each month especially since I just started automatic investing this year.

sheepstache

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2417
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #494 on: February 23, 2014, 07:14:37 PM »
Requested a pay cut / hours reduction at my day job (to 80%/4 days a week), but still plan to have a savings rate of >50%.

Can never get over how much I like guy's username.



My first taxable account, which I started at the end of 2012, is now Admiral shares!

FiveSigmas

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 597
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #495 on: February 23, 2014, 11:01:27 PM »
My first taxable account, which I started at the end of 2012, is now Admiral shares!

And I always get a kick out of your Avatar. It's particularly fitting for this post. Yusss!

Zaga

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2903
  • Age: 44
  • Location: North of Pittsburgh, PA
    • A Wall of Hats
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #496 on: February 27, 2014, 06:08:54 PM »
Today we reached $200K in retirement accounts.  $100K was reached in January of 2012, so that's just 2 years and 1 month to double, wow!

nicknageli

  • Guest
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #497 on: February 27, 2014, 07:30:06 PM »
Today we reached $200K in retirement accounts.  $100K was reached in January of 2012, so that's just 2 years and 1 month to double, wow!


Stackfault

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 20
  • Location: North Carolina
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #498 on: February 27, 2014, 08:55:29 PM »
I remember how hard it was to save that first $10,000 in my 20's.   It seemed like it took forever.   Twenty years later, I've reached two milestones this month: $1.8 million net worth and $1.5 million investable (difference being the paid-off house).

I think it's like growing a tree: not much to see on a monthly basis but over time...wow!

Stick with it Mustachians! 

JuSp02

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 60
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #499 on: February 28, 2014, 09:46:21 PM »
We hit two major milestones this month!! We reached $100,000 in assets (only counting cash, retirement accounts, and mutual/index funds). At the same time, we finally broke into the negative five figures for our net worth (our student loans are ridiculous). We're still a long ways from zero net worth, but we're getting there.