Net worth = $0 by January 2014. And its going to be amazing!
10 years. I've posted in this thread for 10 years. This site is amazing. Thinking back on where I was when I started on this journey is surreal. I was two years out of college and really disillusioned at the prospect of doing this job thing for another 40+ years. Then I saw a post about MMM on news.ycombinator.com in 2012 and was immediately hooked. The naysayers on that site just didn't understand it but I did. I saw a way out of the dreary boredom of office work.
My wife and I kept plowing money into our student loans and then when those started to dry out, we just kept flooding money into retirement accounts. Within 2 years we had a net worth of $0. At 8 years the nest egg was big enough to cover at least rent and health insurance for the rest of my life, so I left the tech industry in 2020 and started a business teaching whitewater kayaking. I was out. 8 years. That's what it took. 8 years with a long term net worth goal.
Since then the market went up (I was a millionaire for a month in 2021!) and down but the freedom and resiliency I've learned here makes it not a big deal. I'll just keep being happy doing something that brings me joy and not stuck in a rat race.
Thanks MMM and the community! The system works. Good luck to all of you still working towards your goals!
Jan 2014: Actual: $13k NW, $99k non-mortgage debt
Jan 2015: Actual: $101k NW, $69k debt
Jan 2016: Actual: $218k NW, $58k debt
Jan 2017: Actual: $311k NW, $47k debt
Jan 2018: Actual: $408k NW, $40k debt
Jan 2019: Actual: $425k NW, $0k debt!!!
Jan 2020: Actual: $625k NW
Jan 2021: Actual: $773k NW
Jan 2022: Actual: $1,010k NW (yay covid bull market)
Jan 2023: Actual: $876k NW (back to normal)
Jan 2024: Goal: $950k NW
And that's 11 years on this site now:
Jan 2014: Actual: $13k NW, $99k non-mortgage debt
Jan 2015: Actual: $101k NW, $69k debt
Jan 2016: Actual: $218k NW, $58k debt
Jan 2017: Actual: $311k NW, $47k debt
Jan 2018: Actual: $408k NW, $40k debt
Jan 2019: Actual: $425k NW, $0k debt!!!
Jan 2020: Actual: $625k NW
Jan 2021: Actual: $773k NW
Jan 2022: Actual: $1,010k NW (yay covid bull market)
Jan 2023: Actual: $876k NW (back to normal)
Jan 2024: Goal: $950k NW Actual: $1,007k on the 1st, 996k today
So I'm ahead of the goal, but inflation is also up a lot over the past few years, whatever. I think honestly that I'm not going to bother with long term net-worth goals anymore. I'm effectively retired, I work part time for myself outside, I take a lot of "professional" trainings I really enjoy, do a lot of trips (multiple weeks in Alaska and Mexico last year), and I work with a non-profit I like. And I don't need to worry about paying rent or feeding myself or paying for health insurance. Life is pretty good and it doesn't matter if my net worth goes up anymore or not.
So I'll probably still check in with this thread going forward just because I've been here a while and it's fun to look back. But I won't be setting net worth goals anymore. Good luck to everyone else on here at meeting your goals, you'll get there! Just don't forget to be ready to make new life goals after you reach the net worth goals.