My FI Milestone Tracker

[Vitai Slade]

Today I reached a milestone that I'm very proud of and I figured that it was an opportune time to create a thread that I can go back to year after year and add to my progress... hopefully inspiring new members and (future) new members to the community. I started tracking my net worth every Monday, Wednesday, Friday in mid-November 2012. I've kept track of my contributions to my retirement accounts over those years and this year I even added an extra graph to my charts to start tracking my total net income and total expenses each month, plotted on the same chart as a 4% yearly withdrawal rate (divided by 12) so that I have yet another visual of my progress. When my expenses line and 4% line intersect, YAY financial independence!

Anyway, I hit my first big milestone today, $50k in net worth. When I started this journey tracking my progress, I began at just over $13k. I had a big hit around April 2013 when I purchased my house (and furniture, and washer/dryer, etc.), but other than that, it has been a VERY steady UP. I'm really proud of myself for being able to accomplish this so quickly. I know that for a lot of you, 37k in sixteen months is a meager amount, but it's certainly a start to what I hope will be greater and greater of a jump each year due to compounding. My next big goal is $100k. I don't know when I'll hit it, but I know I'm on the right track!

[Cheddar Stacker]

I'd say that's worth celebrating, so nice work! As long as that arrow is pointed up you're doing something right.

Try not to compare yourself to others numerically, use percentages. You've increased your net worth 285% in 15 months. Doesn't that sound much better? While my numbers are bigger, your percentage increase kicks my ass!

Very impressive Vitai. Keep it up.

[burly]

Good idea!

I personally just hit POSITIVE NET WORTH today! woohoo! So I think I will start tracking too.. Probably once a week tho... Any particular reason you are doing MWF?

[MrCash]

This is awesome!  I like how you were able to continue your strong upward trend even after buying your house.

I'm currently working toward $50k, so this is an inspiration for me!

[arebelspy]

Congrats!  That's awesome progress, especially with buying a house in the middle of it.  :)

I personally just hit POSITIVE NET WORTH today! woohoo! So I think I will start tracking too.. Probably once a week tho... Any particular reason you are doing MWF?

Congrats on your positive net worth!

I only track NW once a month.  Probably will track it once a year when FIRE'd.

3x a week sounds intense to me!

No rule on how often to track it - do whatever makes you happy.  :)

[Vitai Slade]

I'd say that's worth celebrating, so nice work! As long as that arrow is pointed up you're doing something right.

Try not to compare yourself to others numerically, use percentages. You've increased your net worth 285% in 15 months. Doesn't that sound much better? While my numbers are bigger, your percentage increase kicks my ass!

Very impressive Vitai. Keep it up.

When you look at it that way, it does sound a lot bigger. I've TRIPLED my net worth in a year and a half! :p Given that my starting number wasn't exactly that big though, I don't really see it as QUITE as impressive as it sounds, but still nice! Now if I could continue tripling it... now THAT would be a feat. =D

Good idea!

I personally just hit POSITIVE NET WORTH today! woohoo! So I think I will start tracking too.. Probably once a week tho... Any particular reason you are doing MWF?

Congrats to you! I'd say definitely do it! It's very very rewarding and helps keep me motivated as hell and analyzing practically EVERY purchase cause I know it'll move that needle down. As for the MWF thing, I did that only because when I started, I wanted to start seeing my progress right away... and more often. Once a week wasn't good enough for me. I wanting to create those graphs quickly and in order to do that, I needed lots of data that I didn't have yet. Honestly, I keep it up because it's fun to do it. I look forward to updating those numbers. I'm sure that eventually I'll drop to weekly, but for now, I enjoy doing it!

[Vitai Slade]

This is awesome!  I like how you were able to continue your strong upward trend even after buying your house.

I'm currently working toward $50k, so this is an inspiration for me!

Yeah, I didn't want my house to affect that upward trend. When I bought my house, I wanted it to positively affect my net worth, not be a drag on it. So I got a 15 year fixed rate at 2.875% on a $124,900 brand new house (so no repairs for a LONG time and it has a warranty!) After calculating EVERYTHING, even electricity costs and internet, etc. (my apartment came with internet included and an electricity allowance), I'm still only paying around $100 more per month to live in this huge house all by myself as opposed to that itty bitty apartment that I had to squeeze into VERY uncomfortably. If I end up getting a roommate, I could potentially spend much less than I would have on rent, and if I get two roommates, I'd MAKE money off the house and free rent. :p But it's all about the flexibility.

[thepokercab]

Congrats!  I am also about to hit 50K in networth and it feels great.  I came in here as part of the "Washington Post class" so to speak, and had a net worth of 0.  Its amazing what can happen in just 1 year.   

[MrCash]

This is awesome!  I like how you were able to continue your strong upward trend even after buying your house.

I'm currently working toward $50k, so this is an inspiration for me!

Yeah, I didn't want my house to affect that upward trend. When I bought my house, I wanted it to positively affect my net worth, not be a drag on it. So I got a 15 year fixed rate at 2.875% on a $124,900 brand new house (so no repairs for a LONG time and it has a warranty!) After calculating EVERYTHING, even electricity costs and internet, etc. (my apartment came with internet included and an electricity allowance), I'm still only paying around $100 more per month to live in this huge house all by myself as opposed to that itty bitty apartment that I had to squeeze into VERY uncomfortably. If I end up getting a roommate, I could potentially spend much less than I would have on rent, and if I get two roommates, I'd MAKE money off the house and free rent. :p But it's all about the flexibility.

That's pretty crazy.  How did you get a 2.875% rate?  Also, what kind of down payment were you able to do?

[Vitai Slade]

That's pretty crazy.  How did you get a 2.875% rate?  Also, what kind of down payment were you able to do?

I just happened to buy at just about precisely the bottom of the market. Pretty lucky on my part. Almost got a 2.75% rate. I also bought a 15 year mortgage, not 30, so that helped by about half a point. I only put down about 10% but pmi isn't THAT bad and it'll be gone in a year or two.

[Vitai Slade]

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted here! I suppose I should update! Savings are still going strong, though not as strong as they used to. I cut back on hardcore saving because I felt like a drone going to/from work and not enjoying life at all. However, even cutting back on saving, I'd say my savings rate is still a solid 25%-30%. I hit my 100k milestone back in July 2015! Now after my tax refund and a slight bump in the market, I've jumped to about 117k. I suppose my next really big milestone is 200k.

When is this thing supposed to start making those big compounding jumps? I still feel like I'm grinding.

Oh, and arebelspy, I'm also down to tracking it only once a month now. ;)

[arebelspy]

Making steady progress.  Well done.  :)

[FrugalFan]

Looks great! I love the graphs! Where does one buy a new house for that price?!

[Vitai Slade]

Looks great! I love the graphs! Where does one buy a new house for that price?!

Jacksonville, Florida.