End of a decade! Where did you start and where are you now?

[Valvore]

Where were you, what were you doing and what was your financial situation in 2010?

Where are you, what are you doing and what is your financial situation now?

[Valvore]

In, 2010 I was living in Southern California sharing a bedroom with my mom and sister. I graduated high school, headed to college and just signed onto my first student loans. This is when my networth started to go negative.

Now I own a home, work a 9-5 but am planning a sabbatical and have a ~300K net worth. What a difference 10 years makes!

[SwordGuy]

We had just paid off house in 10 years after an 8 year push to clear out all our debt.   We went from $205k in debt to $0.    We were maxing out our 401Ks (with no clue about what we were actually investing in) and, other than being more frugal than our peers (a not particularly hard thing to do), we were muddling along like regular well off middle class Americans.

Two years later, in 2012, I ran across MMM and binge-read it.   Convinced my darling wife that the MMM techniques were the way to a prosperous retirement and we started making the changes we needed to.    Gobs more detail in our journal from that point onwards.   

[SotI]

Let me think:
10 years ago, I was living at the same place but mortgaged. Same corporation, different job. Single, financially ok as in secure cashflow, some EF, but no massive savings (maybe 50k).

Now, same place, but mortgage paid off in 2017. 3 different jobs within the same corp since (different departments). Married. Working on my retirement plan, found MMM in 2018, making progress (but still only roughly one third on my way towards my target stash for retirement).
My aim is to retire happily within this next decade).
We'll see if in 2029 or before.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

In 2010, we had small kids (3 & 4), and were saving in our 401Ks, but our childcare costs were pretty much consuming any other overage. We were not spending more than we were making, but we weren't doing a tremendous job of saving either (minus the 401Ks). Our net worth was $620k. We now have a net worth of just over $4M. There's been a lot in between that, of course. We moved to the Bay Area for HCOL jobs & now have a HCOL house. We are both making more than double what we made before. Our goal is to pay off half of our HCOL mortgage in under 3.5 years from the time we've purchased it. We would never have been that focused ten years ago. We've given up the monthly yard service, biweekly cleaning, & my husband almost entirely maintains the cars himself.

Aside from the financial side, we are also just more aligned & relaxed at this phase. Parenting teens vs small kids has given us back a lot of energy, not to mention the sleep. While their are plenty of optimizations we can build into our current lives, I'm happy with where we are now, and am very impressed with our progress over the last decade. Our marriage is also better, which I credit also to more sleep/less demanding parenting, and also some maturity on both sides about how to handle challenges & conflict.

[texxan1]

Oh my.... have to think about this one..

In Sept 2008, our world was destroyed   Hurricane Ike had destroyed our home and took all we owned with it pretty much... Luckly for me, my company (mega oil) came to our rescue... Gave us an apartment for a year (paid for) and a nice stipend to help us get going... On this date, in 2009 we were in the middle of rebuilding our waterfront home in a fabulous little community south of houston..

In 2009, i started listening to dave ramsey alot on the podcasts he had... This started the ball rolling.  and now, 10 years later at 47 (48 next year) i am close to FIRE.

So if you want honest numbers, in 2009 I had an income of 90k a year, wife lost her job as hurricane destroyed her work.... and we had maybe 20k to our name.... with a brand new building loan for 201k......   So needless to say, we had lots of debt and more was going out to rebuild out lives than was coming in.

Fast forward 10 years.... I have over 2 million liquid investments, a paid for 500k home, a few boats, a new truck and soon.... a new bride.

All because something sparked my interest to NEVER NEVER again be in the situation where my company saved my ass from a hurricane.. if it was not for O&G megacorp and them taking care of us at the time....Im sure we would have not made it.... Taught us a valuable lesson..... and ive worked hard ever since

So happy that i am in the situation that i am in now...

[rdaneel0]

In 2010 I moved from Austin to New York and worked in the service industry (lots of jobs and apartments) and then eventually in a low-paying office job, which I worked up to a well-paying office job (where I discovered MMM while interneting).

I think my net worth was around $10k in 2010, and my husband had just decided to go back to school, so he was in school and working full-time and I was also working full-time (we paid his tuition as he went). Oh and we were long distance for 2 years, so that was a thing too, haha.

Fast forward 10 years after a new degree, lots of raises for him and a new industry for me and...yeah, life is about a thousand times easier now. We're closing out 2019 with a net worth around $161k (probably a little more) for a gain of $45k this year alone...which is more than we made combined, gross, in 2010.

It's been an awesome decade! :) Looking forward to the twenties.

[achvfi]

10 years ago I was a student, probably had $50 to my name and -50k in student and other debts.
I was single, travelling from one gig to next across the country. East coast, west coast and now settled in Midwest.

Growing up poor, I somehow developed aversion to debt. As soon as I started making decent money I focused on paying off debts and after that saving money.

If I remember correct, I came across MMM and his zero-to-retirement article in 2016. I put into practice various ideas from this forum, which ramped up wealth accumulation to another level.
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/

Now I have family with kids and put down roots near SO's family. We have a home. 
I started accumulating assets around 2014 and I am approaching 600K in networth. Most of it accumulated in last 5 years.

Thank you all that have contributed to this forum.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Oh god, I've gone backwards, really. It's been a pretty trying 10 years. I guess I know more now???

[Dicey]

Ten years ago, I was single, and striving for FIRE, before it was really called that. Went on a super frugal trip to Hawaii. Met with up a friend who had moved there. Went hiking with some of her new friends. New friend had worked for TIA-CREF, didn't like some things about the job and decided to FIRE. She was the first person I'd met IRL who thought the way I did, but actually had solid financial training. Our hike was very inspirational and motivating.

Later that year, my sister gave a kidney to her husband and I was their advocate. It was strange to spend Thanksgiving trying to sleep in an upright hospital chair and eating in the hospital cafeteria. It gave me plenty of time to think.

Ten years later, I am unexpectedly and very happily married for the first, and hopefully only, time. I've been both married and FIRE for seven wonderful years. Life is amazing. It was worth the crazy journey.

[parkette]

Wow, amazing to think back on the last 10 years!

I moved to Australia on a work exchange in November ‘09 and met my now-husband on New Year’s Eve six weeks later. Within a year we were engaged and my exchange program had me moving back and forth between Canada and Aus a couple of times. In the fall of 2011 he moved to Canada and we’ve been together, both of us having fun moving between countries since then.

I would estimate I had a liquid net worth of ~$0 when we met, if not slightly negative. However, it was a government job so I had a defined benefit pension, in the long term probably would have been fine if I was able to work until 60 and focussed on saving.

My partner got me thinking about real estate and how relatively cheap it was. By the time my exchange finished we had purchased a little 2-bedroom downtown home. We’ve since purchased 5 homes, sold 1 and eyeing another purchase. Last month we hit $1m net worth.

I found MMM in early 2013 and have become a bit obsessed since then. My partner is decidedly less frugal but supports my financial planning. We’re happy being able to take regular breaks from work and eventually leaving our 9-5’s for our own projects, most likely real estate.

Outside of all of that, we now have 5-year old twins, are back living in Australia but planning a more permanent (indefinite) move back to Canada in July so the boys can start school there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[11ducks]

In 2010 I was a single mother with a 5 year old, and just completing college while working as a receptionist. I was maybe $20k in student loan debt, and we lived below the poverty line.

Now I have a great 15 year old, my dream job in academia, and a personal NW of more than $250k. I have wonderful friends and family, a high level of personal fitness, and hobbies I love. I'm on track for a solid retirement. It isn't perfect, but I'm so, so proud of the life I've made for us.

[RWD]

Start of 2010 our house we had bought in 2008 had lost $54k in value (Zillow estimate) which kept our net worth in the red (-$30K). In addition to our $188k mortgage I also still had $34k in student loans. My salary had recently been cut 10% (flat cut across the company due to the recession) and my wife was still in grad school making barely enough to cover half our expenses.

Today we have a net worth of ~$850k and our total debt is much less with significantly lower interest rates. My salary is nearly double and my wife has a tenure-track professor position. Quite a stark contrast.

[Uturn]

Oh boy, Jan 2010 was a crazy month.  40 years old and a year out of a divorce.  I wasn't tracking NW, but I would guess about -$100k.  Paid off my truck.  I refi'ed the house out of an 80/20 variable to 30 fixed.  Between the truck payment gone and lower mortgage, I could now afford to finance that Mustang.  Treat yo self!  Had about $20k in an old 401k from a previous job, but wasn't contributing because the market is just gambling. 

I was working for a government contractor and had spent 3 months in Afghanistan in 09.  I enjoyed it and decided to go all in and get a year contract over there.  $250k tax free would pay off the house.  I applied, got the offer, but was then turned down because I was diagnosed with diabetes during the physical.  My boss found out I had applied for the other position and saw it as betrayal, even though it was with the same company, and he fired me the next day.

Present day.  I don't like to throw my numbers out in public, but I could lean or barista FIRE.  My investments earned a whole Mustang's worth in interest this year.  That's how you treat yo self!  I still did some dumb things in those 10 years, like not being in the market from 2010 to 2015 and making double mortgage payments instead.  No, I don't want you to run those numbers for me.  Oh, I also bought $8k in silver in early 2013.  Hush, it will come back!

[BTDretire]

10 years ago, our net worth was about $900k (I had stopped including our home by then) working a lot of hours, but most of them very easy hours.
Today we are a little over $2.1M and retired over a year. I don't miss working!
I hope in 3 years both my kids will be done with college and off our dole.

[Zikoris]

Our net worth would have been somewhere around zero - my partner was still in school and I was working at either a shitty warehouse or a shitty collection agency (can't remember which, but definitely one of those two). Now we're around $460,000 net worth, and have been to about 30 countries in that time as well.

[Weisass]

Wow. Ten years ago I was newly married, and we were striving to pay off my student loans. We had 90k in assets to our name and 32k in debt left to pay.

Today we have a mortgage, four kiddos, and over 600k in assets, no debt aside from our mortgage. We’ve gained quite a bit in ten years, and are feeling awfully blessed.

[Mr. Green]

Oh this is a fun one. I was 26 years old as 2010 rang in. We were heavily involved in an Amway business team. We had just started CrossFit and were soon to be in the best shape of our lives. I had not yet injured my left knee. I was getting ready to start a new job and early retirement was still quite a few years away, so far that it was only something that I knew we'd one day achieve. The stock market, credit market, and real estate market were all in the shitter and we we're saving ridiculous amounts of cash with the idea that we may be able to use it to score a deal on something. Our net worth was positive but I was not yet really tracking things well so I don't know what it was exactly.

Now both my wife and I are retired, thanks in no small part to finding Mr. Money Mustache and the associated ER forums and bloggers. Our net worth went from some small number, maybe 200k, to ~1.9 million. Our ownership of property went from 1 to 5 and now back down to 2 in the next week or so. We bought a house for my Dad to live in, which provided the first real stability he'd had in almost 20 years. And that stability gave me the confidence to know I could leave my golden handcuffs job and not wonder if he would continue being a significant financial burden and source of emotional stress for my wife and I. We relocated out of state, away from both our families, which is something neither of us would have imagined. We now live in a household with 5 other people, also something we never would have imagined, but something we wouldn't change. Being retired, I also got to spend significant quality time with my Dad over these last few years before he unexpected died in September. With the exception of a miscarriage and my knee injury (pretty big negatives though) this decade has been really good to us.

Edit: forgot the where are we now part

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Damn, I really need to make the next decade far more productive, after reading all these stories.

[2sk22]

This was an amazing decade for me since my niche in the software business (machine learning) suddenly became the hottest area. In contrast, in 2009, I came within a hair of being laid off. I finally quit my megacorp job earlier this year and am now working in a tech startup trying to help a really good group of people get their business off the ground. Needless to say, financially, this has been a good ten years.

[Vashy]

In 2010, I started a business with a "friend" (turned out not to be one - large amounts of legal fees proved that, but they bought my freedom from that particular horror show). Seriously had a go at turning writing into a solid side hustle with a view to making money from it rather than just playing at it. Was working my first finance job and loved it (was laid off with the whole department 12 months later, but the golden handshake was very nice). I'd just bought a house a year before or so. Net worth might have been around £18-25k (equity in the house and what I had in my pension).

Now, my net worth is in the £380ks, house will soon be paid off. The side hustle is still a side hustle and brings in a few hundred a month. Mostly, I'm happier and more balanced, a lot better at choosing friends and have a lot more skills.

[happy]

2010: more debt than savings. Didn't know anything about FIRE.
2019: retired
:)

[Imma]

End of 2009 I was an unemployed, seriously ill fulltime undergrad student. I had some savings from jobs I had during highschool and I didn't have student loans (back then students received a small stipend from the government). The economy was in a terrible state and my parents had invested some of my savings in bad funds.

I would quit fulltime education in June of 2010 when I finally found a fulltime job. I switched to parttime college and would spend the first half of decade struggling in shitty jobs, taking classes whenever I had money and ending up in hospital every now and then.

My life turned around when I met my s/o and we eventually bought a cheap house. For the first time in my life I had some stability. Because the house was cheaper than renting I was able to switch to a parttime job which in turn greatly improved my health. I'm working a well paid job now and went back for a Master's degree. Life is much better than I could have ever imagined 10 years ago.

[Fomerly known as something]

In 2010, I was paying on 3 mortgages, my current residence, an unplanned rental property (my previous residence in another state) and a vacation property I owned with my parents.  Thankfully I had bought all 3 places well within my means and could afford them while still maxing out retirement accounts but there wasn't much extra saving. 

Now I got rid of both extra properties neither was a good rental.  Moved long distance 2 more times until I got to where I actually want to live, just have one modest mortgage that I deliberately took out so I could invest more than I ever expected I'd have in a brokerage account. (I hit half a million in that account with the recent surge.)  I still max out my retirement accounts and now an HSA yearly but can also afford to take some pretty awesome things like international vacations while I'm at it.   

[Fomerly known as something]

In 2010, I was paying on 3 mortgages, my current residence, an unplanned rental property (my previous residence in another state) and a vacation property I owned with my parents.  Thankfully I had bought all 3 places well within my means and could afford them while still maxing out retirement accounts but there wasn't much extra saving. 

Now I got rid of both extra properties neither was a good rental.  Moved long distance 2 more times until I got to where I actually want to live, just have one modest mortgage that I deliberately took out so I could invest more than I ever expected I'd have in a brokerage account. (I hit half a million in that account with the recent surge.)  I still max out my retirement accounts and now an HSA yearly but can also afford some pretty awesome things like international vacations while I'm at it.

[Wanttobehome]

10 years ago I was married for 25 years , with two children at home, lots of savings. partner left with all the savings I got the house (with mortgage) and two kids to bring up.
Two promotions within the same company. mortgage paid off, savings and pension on track to retire at 55 years,as I had planned when married.
I supported  both children through university and they have good jobs and homes of their own.
I have traveled further in the past 10 years than those previously, seeing Mexico, Thailand, Europe and North Africa.
I know I do not want further promotion, as this would negatively affect my health.
I am happier, I know when I will be free from work, I know what I enjoy.


 

[SquashingDebt]

10 years ago I was a year into grad school and totally clueless about money.  Generally carried about $5k in credit card debt and had probably almost $100k in student loans between the ones I took out and the ones my parents took out on my behalf.

Several years later, my financial transformation started.  First I clued in to the fact that I was spending slightly more than I earned each month.  I started tracking my spending and spending less.  I got my credit card debt paid off after awhile, then finished paying off my car, then started helping slowly pay down my mom's loans she took out to pay for my college.

Things really kicked into gear when I started job searching for my post-PhD job and vaguely wondered what a 401k was because I'd need to be evaluating benefits as part of any job offers I got. A few days of internet searching landed me on MMM's blog and I haven't looked back since.

In 2015, I got that post grad school job and my income went from $29k to $70k.  I had solidly adopted MMM principles by then, so only increased my spending by a few thousand a year (mostly an annual vacation with my mom - totally worth the money).

From 2015 to now, I paid off the remaining $85k in student debt and now have a net worth that's going to hit $150k soon.  I've advocated for myself to get a few raises and am saving 50% of my income.

[kanga1622]

I don’t track net worth but we started 2010 with a 2.5 year old mortgage and pregnant with our first child. Now we have zero debt (house paid off last summer), 2 kids, added IRAs, and increased 403b balances.

We managed to deal with water in our basement 3 or 4 times during this decade. That was a big expense to remodel and water proof. Adding kids changed our budget quite a bit and came with lots of one time expenses.

All in all, we managed to come out ahead and make progress at a much greater rate than most families in our age bracket. Not great probably by FIRE standards but fantastic compared to the “average.”

[ender]

Just graduated undergrad and starting grad school.

Such a difference a decade makes!

[Metalcat]

10 years ago I was finishing my first semester of my doctorate and trying to plan a wedding to my ex fiance.

I spent the entire Christmas break stressed out of my mind thinking "OMG what have I done to my fucking life?"

[We be free if we try]

In 2010 purchased a small home in VHCOL, 2 kids in elementary school, maybe $800k NW - home equity was 2/3 of that, so we could afford the mortgage (had accumulated it from previous condo equity). Lived within our means but not saving much, except through increasing real estate value - however, I’ve managed to only work part-time, mostly for myself, throughout the kid-raising years. Financially literate but not a huge priority. Started reading MMM about 1 year ago.

2019: same house, may be getting divorced, first year of college paid, (hopefully) 7 more to go. About $1.7m NW as a couple, still about 2/3 in home equity, mostly accumulated through coasting. Hope to sell home in next 2 years, and continue with, effectively, a coast-fire situation of PT self-employment. 2 likely inheritances make this feel less absurdly risky than it otherwise might.

We’ve been lucky, so far, and am grateful for that. Very grateful to have been able to drop off / pick kids up from school for most of their lives, make dinner, etc.

[Le Poisson]

Fun Game...

10 yrs ago, I was wrapping up a career in consulting and moving into municipal government. I thought I was rich and powerful We had a small boat (25 ft) at the local yacht club, drove a convertible on my hour-long commute, and carried a negative net worth. Our property was 1.25 acres north of Toronto and we drove everywhere for everything. We had high incomes, but lived week-to-week while paying for all the toys.

Today, I work for local government, live 2 km from the office and try to bike to work as much as I can. In the past 10 yrs I've gained a kid, any my relationship with my wife has matured a lot. Once again, I have a fancy car (just bought it after years of small and cheap vehicles) but no boat and no yacht club. We've bought 2 rental homes built up savings, and now have a NW teetering around $900K.

[Greystache]

10 years ago, I was 50 years old, working 40-50 hrs a week at Megacorp. In the previous year and a half we had seen our net worth drop by half a million dollars. I was paying college tuition for two kids and paying a mortgage. I never sold any investments and kept buying stocks and bonds. By 2015, The kids where out of school, the mortgage was paid off and my wife and I retired at age 55.  We have now been happily retired for 5 years and our net worth is slightly higher now than when we retired.

[Panly]

2009  ended with no liquid assets, as we had just ended a long sabbatical and had finished building our future retirement home (without mortgage).

Now we have what we had back then, plus a decent stache,
plus 2 more children.

Retiring should happen towards the middle of next decade, if all goes well.

[Bucksandreds]

January 2010- Net worth Negative $220,000 in student loans mostly at 6.8% interest.

December 2019 - Positive $500,000 net worth

I dont' live mustachian and make less than many on here.

My advice. ( Pay off debt, buy a home in a good neighborhood, invest as much as you can in tax advantaged accounts) Blow the rest on Travel and experiences.

[SpareChange]

2010 was the year I went back to school (again) for what would be my current career. I was living in my parents RV. Had about $50k of debt. About 9k of that was cc debt, with the rest being graduate student loans. No assets. No money to take advantage of the young bull market. Ugh...not cool. Now, no debt, NW about $380k, and just downshifted to PT. 

[SpareChange]

In Sept 2008, our world was destroyed   Hurricane Ike had destroyed our home and took all we owned with it pretty much... Luckly for me, my company (mega oil) came to our rescue... Gave us an apartment for a year (paid for) and a nice stipend to help us get going... On this date, in 2009 we were in the middle of rebuilding our waterfront home in a fabulous little community south of houston..

Small world. I was living in a 3rd floor apt in downtown Galveston when Ike came through. When we were allowed back on the island weeks later, I came home to a completely intact apt. Flood waters made it to about 6ft high inside the 1st floor though. A month earlier, I had been living in a first floor apt...

[Valvore]

Great stories. I love seeing the radical increases in net worth.

[Sailor Sam]

2010 - Lieutenant Junior Grade, Officer-In-Charge of a 87” cutter, serving illegally under DADT.


2020 - Lieutenant Commander, Executive Officer of a Big Ass MamaJamma. DATD dead. DOMA dead. Give a shit, mostly dead.

Networth went from ~$50,000 to $700,000. The take away is the death of DADT as the rule of law. Suck it, motherfuckers.

[dblaace]

Not much has changed for me. My son graduated college and moved out leaving me empty nested.
Net worth $295k-$915k and OMY!

[BTDretire]

10 years ago I was finishing my first semester of my doctorate and trying to plan a wedding to my ex fiance.

I spent the entire Christmas break stressed out of my mind thinking "OMG what have I done to my fucking life?"

 There's more to this story, you probably already told it, but I didn't see it.
ex fiance- did you stress over the break and then break off the marriage?
Or is it none of my business.

[londonbanker]

Nice thread topic!

The past 10 years have been some of the most amazing years of my life. I feel blessed. It’s been such a transformative time too; I guess you call it maturing!

10 years ago, I was single, living the life as a bachelor on £80k salary with around the same in networth (some of which in the form of fast toys), travelling the world 365days a year, on company’s money: living in lovely hotels and eating out on the corporate card... what else could you want in yours late 20s!! I had never heard of MMM at the time, nor would I have really cared anyway, as I felt the future was going to be bright and nothing less than spectacular... who doesn’t feel invincible in their 30s.

That same year, on the night of my 30th birthday, I met a fabulous woman in Paris that I started dating a few weeks later and who would then become my wife.
We then went on to have our first child a couple of years later, which was a wake up call to both of us, a signal that we had to transition to adulthood and started to save and invest for both their and our future.
This also coincided with the time we got new jobs (much higher paying), bought a house in central London at the start of a boom and discovered MMM in 2014.
We then had our second child in 2015 and have enjoyed wonderful life as a family, still living somehow “frugally” despite our income, saving and investing over 65% of our income.

In hindsight my bigger achievements are not financials, although it afford us an undeniable peace of mind and allowed me to focus on what really matters such as family, happiness and bettering myself. But given it’s a financially prone community here are the numbers... over the past 10 years, our income has grown 6-7 folds and our NW has grown from < £100k to almost £2.4m (over $3m in USD at yesterday FX).

[ysette9]

Similarly, this last decade has been a wild and amazing ride for me. A little over a decade ago I was single with a net worth that had just touched $100k. Now I am married with three little kids and our invested net worth is just north of $2.3M, our FI goal.

Seeing it typed out like that makes it seem that much more remarkable how far we have come.

[Travis]

December 2009 - son wasn't quite born yet, commanded a company of 85 soldiers, and getting ready for another year of war.  Bought a truck I didn't need, and bought a house that was far too big. Net worth around $150k, mostly cash.

December 2019 - still in the Army, contemplating retirement in a few years. Net worth $1.2MM.

[sabanist]

10 years ago I was earning about 60% of what I'm earning now.  Had about 50000 in savings.  30000 debt

Now I'm over half a million.  No debt.  1 rental property netting me about 5000 per year, both kids college paid for

[asauer]

10 years ago we still had 5 digit consumer debt, debt from adopting our two children and, new expenses with those two children.  Then learned about FIRE and proceeded to pay off all debt including the house plus advance nicely in our careers.  Now have 850k in assets (not including house).  If all continues as is I’ll be FIRED in w years with DH to follow in 5!

[ysette9]

10 years ago we still had 5 digit consumer debt, debt from adopting our two children and, new expenses with those two children.  Then learned about FIRE and proceeded to pay off all debt including the house plus advance nicely in our careers.  Now have 850k in assets (not including house).  If all continues as is I’ll be FIRED in w years with DH to follow in 5!

I’m curious now how many years is w. Or is this an algebra problem where I need to solve for w? :)

[Matte]

2010, 2 years out of college, just getting out of debt and saving for a wedding.  2020 net worth over 1.1 million.  Same house, but two kids in it, same employer.

[Freedomin5]

In 2010, I was married and completing my internship year during my final year of grad school. Net household income of ~$31k and a net worth of around $50k. Other than a few mutual funds my parents helped me purchase, we had no investments. The following year we took overseas jobs and our net income dropped to ~$20k.

Today, our net income is ~$180k, we have one kid, and we just reached our lean FI number. We have one investment property with a paid off mortgage and are in position to purchase 2-3 more. It’s pretty amazing that we achieved this even with DH and I working part time for 8 of those 10 years and DH taking a year-long sabbatical to be a SAHD to our kid.

We’ve been incredibly blessed.

[YellowCat]

I just ran through this thought experiment last night with my husband and it's amazing how much has happened in the last ten years! Back in Jan 2010 I was in undergrad and had just gotten together with my now-husband. I wasn't really tracking at the time but we probably had a combined NW of $20k at most. Honestly it was probably closer to ~$10k. In 2013 we both finished graduate school and started working full time. Thanks to parents & grant funding we were lucky enough to not have any school debt. In 2014 we got married and I discovered MMM while surfing the web at my first real job. It blew my mind and allowed me to see what amazing things we could do with our engineering salaries beyond just buying stuff we didn't need. 

Now I'm 8 months pregnant with our first child, we have a comfortable & affordable home, two jobs that we generally enjoy, and a household income ~4X more than we made in graduate school (when we felt so rich!) We've been investing in the market since 2009 and our NW has grown like mad, to ~$1.03 Mio. We're still stashing money like crazy. We're not sure yet if we will retire early but we want to have the option. My goal was always to have flexibility so if someone wants to stop working to take care of kid(s), pursue a less lucrative job opportunity, etc. it's something we can handle without hyperventilating about the lost income. It's been an incredible 10 years and I can hardly wait to see what the next 10 have in store for us!