How much has your Net Worth increased since starting MMM?

[Freedomin5]

We are up 6.4 times our starting net worth since we found MMM.

[frugalnacho]

May-14   $132.7
...
Apr-19   $505.5
May-19   $518.2

Dec-19     $590.3

Jun-20     $634.8

My networth shot up $68k in the last month, and $125k in the last 2 months.  Of course it also shit the bed and lost $100k in the previous 2 months before that, so mostly just getting that all back.  Some pretty wild swings.

Oct-21    $862k.  Was over $900k the previous couple of months, and I expect it back into the 900's when I update in 6 days.  Next stop $1M!

Jan-22    $902k   not quite at a million, but heading there.

[PVD_Kev]

I went from net worth in 2016 of about $435k to about $890k today. Not bad.  Could be better but I like to see the progress!

[CTEC_Stache]

I have been reading MMM blog posts for about two years but have only been on the forum since early 2021. I started tracking my NW in late 2019 at the age of 28; early in 2020 I added my wife's NW information (we got married June of 2019 and I didn't really have any access before this point). My assets included have become more thorough over the time so the early tracking information I have is a bit off and skewed. For example, from late 2019 through Jan of 2020 I used contributed dollars only for my pension value. I have since changed my equation to be the worth of my pension at age 55 if I were to leave my position today (age 31); that is just one example of how I have reconfigured my NW calculations to be more precise. That being said I don't have a lot of data point, not even a full year with my new calculation method.

Anyway, sorry for the long winded explanation, my yearly change from Feb 2021 - Today (1/12/2022):

Feb 2021 - ~$281k home equity included (~$214k home equity excluded)
Jan 2022 - ~$366k home equity included (~$237k home equity excluded)

My wife transitioned to be a SAHM to our first born in Jan 2021 (turning 1 next month). Transitioning to a single income meant a significant drop in salary ($60k) but I will be starting a new job in July ($73k). Hope to really get the ball rolling in 2022 / 2023!

[PVD_Kev]

People are damn inspiring on here!  So, for posterity I did my best estimate of NW since discovering MMM in 2015.  The fact that I can actually go back and reliably track this information is itself a testament to the good ideas from MMM.

FWIW, I've been doing this as a recently (2014) divorced dad of two who had the kinds of expenses that no one preparing for FIRE would advise (child support, new home, less control over kids expenses, etc).  DO NOT RECOMMEND!

Also note, I do not include the $500,000 we saved (in 529 funds) for college, since it's the kids money and we are now withdrawing from it for college tuition. Lastly, also note that I did get re-married and that she brought $40k (that's it...her first husband bankrupted them!).

July 2016:   $247,000
July 2017:   $319,000
July 2018:   $356,000
July 2019:   $432,000
July 2020:   $477,000?

Now that divorce-based expenses end in July 2020 I hope to get to $1m by 2025, or sooner.

@PVD_Kev: Your kids have "$500,000" in 529s? For two kids? Is that a typo?

It is not. It is grandparent money, mostly, that appreciated like mad since we started the funds 18 years ago. I am hoping to work with the kid's mom on a split of those assets that is fair to everyone.

[iris lily]

We just completed our net worth statement, a snapshot we do once a year as of the last day of 2021. We are over another M threshold, so yay! We are old and the
Benjamins have been working for us for quite some time.

It is a relief, and really a cause for celebration, because we have been throwing shit tons of cash at a house renovation. Even with all of that cash “disappearing” (the house will not not have a market value anywhere near what we have in it) our asset sheet is still way up.

Way to go, Uncle Joe Biden! Keeping that Trump market going strong!

[cool7hand]

We more than doubled our money in fewer than 6 years.

[iris lily]

I stumbled upon MMM in 2012.

After dropping out of college in 2004 and again in 2006, I was taking a third stab at it. I was working nights and going to school during the day. I had recently read a book that had really spoken to me, and I was Googling around to see if others had been affected by it in the same way I had been. It just so happens, MMM dedicated a post to it in late 2011 (https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/02/what-is-stoicism-and-how-can-it-turn-your-life-to-solid-gold/).

I spent that 8-hour shift reading every single post that existed up to that point. I went home in the morning and told my girlfriend that I spent a surreal night delving into a blog whose meditations had a voice so eerily familiar that I was convinced I had somehow written the posts myself in some alternate reality for me to stumble upon in this one. I have frequented this community of the positive, supportive, likeminded ever since.

2012 Net Worth: ~$1000
2021 New Worth: >$1m

It is mind-blowing to me that with discipline (natural for me as I am boring as hell and don't crave material things and am largely a Luddite) and some luck (great advocates and people that trusted me with jobs that normally go to people related to the CEO), a normal dude from a shit town with no connections like me can go from $0 to FI in 8 years.

I wish we could “like”posts here. I would  “like” upvote this so much!

[okisok]

I started in mid-2017 with a NW of (1,916). As in a negative net worth. I still owed money on my car that outweighed my meager savings.

Then I started reading MMM and other frugal/FIRE authors.

As of today, my NW is $118,526.

Paid off the car six months early.
Finally sold the house I was renting out at a loss bc of a job transfer.
Moved into an apartment with a roommate where I could walk to work and most errands.
Cancelled Netflix, home internet, and did a one-year clothing fast.
Got on medication for mental health issues.
Regular no-spend months.
Saved aggressively.
Started sinking funds for recurring or irregular expenses.
Bought a house in my current city that has increased in value almost 10% since I bought it.
Rinse, repeat, all while making a salary low enough to quality for health insurance subsidies.

[Naomi]

I wasn't really keeping track of our net worth until the last few years. This is the earliest net worth I have written down:
oct 2015 - 52,100 (investments) - 21,480 (debt) =$30,620
feb 2022 - 475,553 (investments) - 208,000 (debt) = $267,534

[Midwest_Handlebar]

$226k in 2014 to $1,750k today. We were much more focused on saving every dollar in the beginning than we are now. The past 3 years of net worth gains were more than what we made from our salaries before taxes. Incredible what can be accomplished in less than a decade. Close to the finish line now, trading in my w2 job for full time real estate investor.

[TheCatWhisperer]

This website has helped me more than I could ever imagine. Found MMM in 2014. 8 years later, my net worth is 20x what it was and technically I've hit lean FIRE. Gonna keep on this gravy train a few more years before hanging it up completely.

Nothing compares to the peace of mind knowing that you have enough. It's crazy to me that more people don't follow this way of life.

[DeniseNJ]

This website has helped me more than I could ever imagine. Found MMM in 2014. 8 years later, my net worth is 20x what it was and technically I've hit lean FIRE. Gonna keep on this gravy train a few more years before hanging it up completely.

Nothing compares to the peace of mind knowing that you have enough. It's crazy to me that more people don't follow this way of life.

I KNOW!  When I first found MMM, all I could think was, "What? This is possible?  How did I not know this before?" Now I spread the word as much as possible. We spent 20 yrs living hand to mouth.  The last 5 with MMM has changed everything.

[LibrarIan]

I started following this blog in late 2014 or so, but I started tracking my net worth in 2015. On 1/1/15, it was $55k, so I'm guessing that in 2014 when I started my journey it was somewhere in the upper $40k range.

I just crossed $200k the other day.

~$450k now.

[ExShredder89]

Found MMM around 2013-2014 when I was trying to decide whether to pay off my student loans before moving out. Basic question but we all start somewhere :).

For convenience I'm going with my YNAB history:

July 2014: $2,252.50
February 2022: $472,655.52

Not as jawdropping as some of the financial transformations on here, but my Vanguard account alone holds over a decade of expenses, assuming I kept everything at my current level and didn't do the slightest bit of work.

[Turtle]

Found MMM around 2013-2014 when I was trying to decide whether to pay off my student loans before moving out. Basic question but we all start somewhere :).

For convenience I'm going with my YNAB history:

July 2014: $2,252.50
February 2022: $472,655.52

Not as jawdropping as some of the financial transformations on here, but my Vanguard account alone holds over a decade of expenses, assuming I kept everything at my current level and didn't do the slightest bit of work.

You're up over 200% in less than 10 years.  I'd say that is jawdropping.

[catorbe]

Found MMM around 2013-2014 when I was trying to decide whether to pay off my student loans before moving out. Basic question but we all start somewhere :).

For convenience I'm going with my YNAB history:

July 2014: $2,252.50
February 2022: $472,655.52

Not as jawdropping as some of the financial transformations on here, but my Vanguard account alone holds over a decade of expenses, assuming I kept everything at my current level and didn't do the slightest bit of work.

You're up over 200% in less than 10 years.  I'd say that is jawdropping.

Being up 200% of his original July 2014 number is only $6,757.5 total (2252.5 + (2252.5*2)). I think the jawdropping figure you were going for is 200x his original number (2252.50 * 200) which is absolutely amazing!

[oneday]

Found MMM 2015.
Dec 2015 NW: $96.5K
Dec 2021 NW: $505.3K

+$408.8K or an average of +$68.3K per year

+423% or 70% per year???? Mindblowing!

[Turtle]

Found MMM around 2013-2014 when I was trying to decide whether to pay off my student loans before moving out. Basic question but we all start somewhere :).

For convenience I'm going with my YNAB history:

July 2014: $2,252.50
February 2022: $472,655.52

Not as jawdropping as some of the financial transformations on here, but my Vanguard account alone holds over a decade of expenses, assuming I kept everything at my current level and didn't do the slightest bit of work.

You're up over 200% in less than 10 years.  I'd say that is jawdropping.

Being up 200% of his original July 2014 number is only $6,757.5 total (2252.5 + (2252.5*2)). I think the jawdropping figure you were going for is 200x his original number (2252.50 * 200) which is absolutely amazing!

Thanks for catching that.  Misplaced the decimal. 

[evanc]

Since 2017, increased net worth by ~500%. It's amazing how much you can save once you're debt free.

[Money Badger]

Another 2014 MMMoneylorian foundling here...   $1.1M net add with very detailed records.  More than doubled my net worth of beskar.  '

But like Mando, it hasn't been pleasant to acquire.   And I constantly wonder how I can continue to acquire it without getting my butt kicked by the bad guys all the time.  ;-)

[Money Badger]

I stumbled upon MMM in 2012.

After dropping out of college in 2004 and again in 2006, I was taking a third stab at it. I was working nights and going to school during the day. I had recently read a book that had really spoken to me, and I was Googling around to see if others had been affected by it in the same way I had been. It just so happens, MMM dedicated a post to it in late 2011 (https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/02/what-is-stoicism-and-how-can-it-turn-your-life-to-solid-gold/).

I spent that 8-hour shift reading every single post that existed up to that point. I went home in the morning and told my girlfriend that I spent a surreal night delving into a blog whose meditations had a voice so eerily familiar that I was convinced I had somehow written the posts myself in some alternate reality for me to stumble upon in this one. I have frequented this community of the positive, supportive, likeminded ever since.

2012 Net Worth: ~$1000
2021 New Worth: >$1m

It is mind-blowing to me that with discipline (natural for me as I am boring as hell and don't crave material things and am largely a Luddite) and some luck (great advocates and people that trusted me with jobs that normally go to people related to the CEO), a normal dude from a shit town with no connections like me can go from $0 to FI in 8 years.

I wish we could “like”posts here. I would  “like” upvote this so much!

+This a million!

[littlelykke]

Found MMM when I was still in college. 2016 is when I started working and we bought our house too. I can't find my NW from 2016 (it was below 10k anyway), but I did find this post from december 2017:
"On another note. Just found out, that our net worth is 22.000 euros :) Yeay! Time to slowly climb towards that 100,000.
At this rate we'll be there in July 2024."

A lot has changed since december 2017. Bought a new house in 2018 and spend an entire year remodeling. The house market took of like crazy since we moved (so a lot of the increase in NW is thanks to that). We got a baby, so I work 1 day less every week, but we still have the added cost of day care.

But, tl;dr:
December 2017: 22.000 euros
May 2022: 139k

So, we exceeded our goal of 100k in 2024 by 2 years! If the house market wouldn't have been this crazy, it would've been 75k.

[Unique User]

In 2011 DH and I both landed stable corporate jobs and after years of living on lower incomes saved 50% without thinking about it.  Had $500k end of 2011 when I first started to track due to some very lucky happenings.  Kept going, then found MMM end of 2013.  I was hooked that other people besides me didn't think living on half your income was weird.  Went back and forth about retirement, finally decided on July 2020, but ended up pulling the trigger Dec 2020 at $2.3M, way over where we expected to be. 

[Jules Anne]

In 2016 I was in debt by $55,550. Today I have 250K in investments.

[poetdereves]

I registered on the forums in 2014 (longer ago than I thought).

2014: -$100k
2022: $200k

After I first registered I probably didn't come back for nearly five years. The biggest part of that NW increase happened in the past two years because of some major income increases, so I am excited for what the next ten could bring!

[midweststache]

In 7 years (2015-2022, which is how long my budget tracking accounts for - probably found the forum in 2013?) we've gone from -3K to $485K (inclusive of home equity).

This while living in a mid-to-high COL city, a few years of me working PT and/or at NPO levels of income, two home purchases and a home sale, and two children in daycare (a monthly budget line that, for the last three years, has been higher than our mortgage).

Our eldest starts public school this fall, so I'm excited to shift those daycare payments to maxing out my 403B. We're in our forever home (or our until-the-kids-graduate-HS home) at a sub-3% mortgage rate, and we're on track to demolish the rest of DH's student loans by December 2023 at the very latest (our only non-mortgage debt).

All that to say, in the years when life costs are often some of the absolute highest, we've still managed to grow our NW by almost half a million dollars without feeling like we're sacrificing experiences or depriving ourselves or our children of those things that make our lives meaningful. Thanks to the whole forum for guidance on both the nuts and bolts of money math and also more general advice and examples of living your best Mustachian life!

[charis]

In 7 years (2015-2022, which is how long my budget tracking accounts for - probably found the forum in 2013?) we've gone from -3K to $485K (inclusive of home equity).

This while living in a mid-to-high COL city, a few years of me working PT and/or at NPO levels of income, two home purchases and a home sale, and two children in daycare (a monthly budget line that, for the last three years, has been higher than our mortgage).

Our eldest starts public school this fall, so I'm excited to shift those daycare payments to maxing out my 403B. We're in our forever home (or our until-the-kids-graduate-HS home) at a sub-3% mortgage rate, and we're on track to demolish the rest of DH's student loans by December 2023 at the very latest (our only non-mortgage debt).

All that to say, in the years when life costs are often some of the absolute highest, we've still managed to grow our NW by almost half a million dollars without feeling like we're sacrificing experiences or depriving ourselves or our children of those things that make our lives meaningful. Thanks to the whole forum for guidance on both the nuts and bolts of money math and also more general advice and examples of living your best Mustachian life!

Congratulations. We also have sub 3% mortgage on a starter home that isn't.  I feel you on the last paragraph. It's been interesting to watch my peer group trade up on houses, cars, private school during this time.  They occasionally try to commiserate about money frustrations and I do nod along to avoid any weirdness because I know they assume we are poor or we wouldn't be living like this. But occasionally I want to blurt out, no I don't understand your issue because I have a 1m+ net worth and save 60% of our income.  Let's talk about how you're bleeding $$ because of your super bloated lifestyle that you have blindly created for yourself.

But I would never. Mainly because I don't want this info known to anyone, but also because it's rude 😆

[Michael in ABQ]

Registered just over 5 years ago in mid-2017. I found an old spreadsheet where I'd been tracking debts and net worth and our net worth was about $67k. We became 100% debt free in early 2017 (thanks Dave Ramsey, prior to MMM) so I was already on my way. I probably found the blog in late 2016 or early 2017 when our net worth was closer to $50k

It's a bit harder to calculate today because we've got a lot of our net worth tied up in a business, we purchased last year, plus a bit in another side business I started back in 2017. The side business is winding down and between cash in the business bank account and remaining inventory we should be able to walk away with about $8-10k. The equity from our main business is probably $50-75k but until our tax return is filed and our CPA provides some updates on adjusting assets, goodwill, etc. I'm not 100% confident in the current equity number on our balance sheet.

2017 - $67k
2022 - $147k (excluding main business equity)
2022 - $200-225k? (Including main business equity)

Either way about 3x our net worth in 5 years for an annual increase of around 40-45%. Now that our retirement investments are over the $100k mark, the additional contributions aren't making as much difference as the growth (and those contributions have slowed while we focus on growing the business). A deployment to a combat zone in 2019-2020 definitely provided a big bump - especially since I was able to put $20-30k of tax-free combat pay into a Roth account. Tax free going in, tax free coming out in a few decades.

[JAYSLOL]

2015 - Found MMM - $10k nw
2022 - current day - $170k nw

Increased by 17x since finding, although only started at $10k, but it definitely made a huge difference

[LightStache]

I think I first started reading in 2013, when I started tracking NW. -$74K.

Didn't get too serious about it until the end of 2016. I was 31 and exited my second disappointing career. NW $16K.

Luckily I had really stretched to buy real estate in 2011 and 2014. All that leverage wasn't Mustachian, but combined with a six-figure salary, it's helped propel my NW to $657K today.

I anticipate FIREing in 2027, which means my accumulation phase will be either 11 or 14 years, depending on where I mark the start line.

[jinga nation]

2009: NW = -$95k. 145k mortgage.
2022: NW = $3M. No mortgage.

[2Birds1Stone]

2009: NW = -$95k. 145k mortgage.
2022: NW = $3M. No mortgage.

Damn homie, you FI AF =D

[2Birds1Stone]

These bragging threads are fun.

Discovered MMM in November of 2014.

  $75,000 - Net Worth 11/1/2014
$327,000 - Net Worth 9/26/2017

+$252,000 in just under 3 years

My income has also gone up from $49k in 2014 to ~$120k in 2017

Just under 5 years later, sitting at $950k.......this shit works.

[jinga nation]

These bragging threads are fun.

Discovered MMM in November of 2014.

  $75,000 - Net Worth 11/1/2014
$327,000 - Net Worth 9/26/2017

+$252,000 in just under 3 years

My income has also gone up from $49k in 2014 to ~$120k in 2017

Just under 5 years later, sitting at $950k.......this shit works.

Fo shizzle, my FIREbro! (bolded for emphasis)

[jinga nation]

2009: NW = -$95k. 145k mortgage.
2022: NW = $3M. No mortgage.

Damn homie, you FI AF =D

Yeah, but 55-60% is in real estate.
I would FI, but a fun ABCD job in tech with a good company provides an excellent work-life balance. Plan is FIRE when youngest finishes school in 10 years.
ABCD = Always Be Collecting Daily

[2Birds1Stone]

That's awesome @jinga nation, another 10 years at a job + RE doing it's thing is going to result in some insane wealth.

I need to pick your brain more about RE when we get down there in November. Hope you're still riding :)

[jinga nation]

That's awesome @jinga nation, another 10 years at a job + RE doing it's thing is going to result in some insane wealth.

I need to pick your brain more about RE when we get down there in November. Hope you're still riding :)

Yes, hit me up. I've moved to Odessa, Starkey Ranch trails are almost rideable from home. So is Suncoast Trail.

[lifeisshort123]

Just found it a little while ago - maybe a month.  Made big changes, but now have unexpected major home repair.  Think we will end the first month of this journey in the red.

[Abe]

We started at around $50k in 2015 and now have ~$1m. (Maybe $1.3 if you count the house equity, which we don't). Almost all just from investing into index funds at 90/10 split between stocks/bonds. Nothing particularly clever, just making a lot of money now and saving most of it instead of buying fancy nonsense.

[Allie]

I joined the forum in 2012.  We had already done the Dave Ramsey debt snowball and we were making plans for the future.

2012:  362k
2022:  2.9m

Income is high now and we streamlined everything and it’s just been growing and growing!  I’m so pleased we trusted in the math and the process - both for the Dave Ramsey debt pay down and the MMM saving.

[BeautifulDay]

Started in 2016.

Our net worth has increased 16x our starting amount. Not bad for 6.5 years.

This year we plan to go from a 30% saving s rate to 50% rate which should significantly reduce the years we will have to work before getting to semi retirement.

[Yanisimo]

Discovered MMM a few months into my first full-time career related job and a month after graduating with a Master's of Accountancy degree.
2018 NW: $  10,000
2022 NW: $280,000

Just a few months prior to finding MMM, my boss advised me to save at least 3% in my SIMPLE IRA. I thought that was a ludicrous amount of money to save. He showed me a calculator that said if I saved 3% and the company matched it - plus some other details I no longer remember - then I could retire at 65 with $1 million. That blew me away. Then I thought...what if I save a little more than 3%? I found MMM shortly thereafter.

[oneday]

Found MMM 2015.
Dec 2015 NW: $96.5K
Dec 2021 NW: $505.3K

+$408.8K or an average of +$68.3K per year

+423% or 70% per year???? Mindblowing!

Updating to see how this down year changes the yearly averages.

Found MMM 2015.
Dec 2015 NW: $96.5K
Dec 2022 NW: $480.1K

+$383.6K or an average of +$54.8K per year

+398% or 57% per year

Still outstanding.

[Dicey]

Found MMM 2015.
Dec 2015 NW: $96.5K
Dec 2021 NW: $505.3K

+$408.8K or an average of +$68.3K per year

+423% or 70% per year???? Mindblowing!

Updating to see how this down year changes the yearly averages.

Found MMM 2015.
Dec 2015 NW: $96.5K
Dec 2022 NW: $480.1K

+$383.6K or an average of +$54.8K per year

+398% or 57% per year

Still outstanding.

Nice job!

[pdxvandal]

In July 2013 I reported my NW was about $430,000.

NW today is about $1.75M (it was slightly higher a year ago), so about 4 times the amount in a 10-year span.

Never had a six-figure job until this week. Hope stock-market returns are better in 2023 and 2024. Nice work you veteran MMMers!

[GuyinTexas]

April 2012 NW: -$45,159 (yeah that was badddddddd)
Jan 2023 NW: $173,006

So my net worth is up $218k since discovering MMM. Would be higher if I didn't splurge on some things last year and the market didn't tank last year. I had a moment after losing some friends, family, almost turning 40, and realizing I don't want to buy a house with the current prices / interest rates. $280k for a 1962 starter home that needs a good $20k-$30k in work to make it nice and $19k/yr between mortgage interest and taxes (not including principal, maintenance or insurance). No thank you I'll keep my $1134/mo 1br apartment...  I guess owing $17k on a car at 3.9% I've owned less than 3 mos. is better than owing $50k. Not mustachian by any stretch. Still plan to pay it off in 2023 through triple monthly payments.

Working on getting a new job / promotion but currently on a $110k/yr base salary plus potential bonus.

[Turtle]

I recently found some a copy of a tracking file from 2011-2012, so I can give a reasonably accurate summary.

Found ERE pretty close to when Jakob started - stash increased about 200% from then to when I found MMM through the ERE blog.  ERE wasn't practical for me with young kids but I liked how he thought and it was interesting reading even if I wasn't going to be so extreme.   MMM is more my speed.

Comparing my end of year numbers from 2011 to now, it's an increase of 592%, between growth and additional contributions.  As other folks have said, it would be considerably more had we not had such a down year in the markets. 

Different way of looking at it -- when I found ERE my LNW was almost 1x my salary.  When I found MMM, my LNW was over 2x my salary with some mediocre pay increases.  Found a much better job in 2013 after taking a mini sabbatical of sorts, but was way too busy to read any blogs - just kept putting money into the 401k.  I'm now making 2.5x what I was making at that 2008 job but my stash has increased by a much bigger percentage, even with the latest downturn. 

[BiggerFishToFI]

2017 (age 30): $125,000
2023 (age 36): $1,264,764

10X in 6 years!

[stacheasaurus]

2015 (age 23): -$35,000
2022 (age 30): $475,000

~500k in 7 years!