Race from $2M to $4M...and Beyond!

[Dicey]

My wife recently had a dental emergency which was fully covered but when she was at the dentists, they discovered that a previous dentist had not installed crowns properly. Consequently, the crowns have to be reinstalled. However, dental insurance won't cover this since new crowns are permitted only every five years. We can easily afford to pay for the new crowns of course and then deal with insurance at leisure. Not everyone has this luxury.

What do they say is wrong with the crowns? I'd be tempted to get a second opinion. I'd also contact the insurance company to see if they will cover anything, especially if the previous dentist was in-network.

[pecunia]

And stuff like this is an example of American exceptionalism.

We have the most expensive healthcare money can buy! Just think, it wasn't so long back that health insurance topped out at $1M, oh and no coverage for pre-existing conditions..

Yeh, I guess we have creeping Socialism for medicine.  Oddly enough, I don't think it's creeping fast enough.

[SwordGuy]

My wife recently had a dental emergency which was fully covered but when she was at the dentists, they discovered that a previous dentist had not installed crowns properly. Consequently, the crowns have to be reinstalled. However, dental insurance won't cover this since new crowns are permitted only every five years. We can easily afford to pay for the new crowns of course and then deal with insurance at leisure. Not everyone has this luxury.

What do they say is wrong with the crowns? I'd be tempted to get a second opinion. I'd also contact the insurance company to see if they will over anything, especially if the previous dentist was in-network.

I would be tempted to tell the insurance company to reclaim the money they paid for the shoddy work from the last dentist.

[4tify]

There are very few ways we could end up poor or back in the middle class at our amount of wealth, $3.1 million.

We don't owe anyone anything other than the last month's credit cards and an occasional tradesman doing a repair or renovation.   

Our FIRE income is generally higher than our expenses.

We have a diverse set of assets:  farmland in one state, rental properties in another, social security benefits, and a diverse set of stocks and bonds in index funds.

A horrible, lingering illness is the single most likely way it could happen.  If our nation was at all reasonable and had a national health service that problem would simply vanish.   Given that medical bills are the single biggest reason for bankruptcy in the US...

Dementia and becoming victims of elder-abuse fraud would be another.

A complete collapse of our nation.

Having the alt-right fascists take over and having to flee the country plus having our possessions confiscated for having been outspoken opponents of their world view.   I'm sure there's more than one nazi rat-bastard I've interacted with on social media who would put my name on "the list".

That's pretty much it.

That's why I defined my situation as "solidly rich".

All these quotes could have come straight from my brain SwordGuy.   The health care fear us what keeps me working my soul stealing job.  That fear should not even be possible for someone with over 3 million in net worth.

Honestly, if $3.1million with no debt can't handle the medical bills, then the paltry few hundred thousand I would be adding to the pile are unlikely to make much difference either.   

I have (fortunately) never seen anyone go bankrupt from medical care. Isn't that what insurance is for? At what NW is a person finally free of that fear?

My dad died of brain cancer in 2007.  Medical bills were over $2 million.  Fortunately he had insurance.  Had he not, he would have died of the medical bills even if he had beaten the cancer.

Sorry for your loss. Do you know what his out of pocket expenses were for that $2M in bills?

[2sk22]

My wife recently had a dental emergency which was fully covered but when she was at the dentists, they discovered that a previous dentist had not installed crowns properly. Consequently, the crowns have to be reinstalled. However, dental insurance won't cover this since new crowns are permitted only every five years. We can easily afford to pay for the new crowns of course and then deal with insurance at leisure. Not everyone has this luxury.

What do they say is wrong with the crowns? I'd be tempted to get a second opinion. I'd also contact the insurance company to see if they will over anything, especially if the previous dentist was in-network.

I would be tempted to tell the insurance company to reclaim the money they paid for the shoddy work from the last dentist.

@SwordGuy and @Dicey - we absolutely plan to go after the earlier dentist but it will take time. The point I wanted to make was that even when there is an obvious mistake, getting it fixed takes resources. I feel better for having a buffer for dealing with such situations.

[Fixed formatting]

[Finntastic]

Jan 2021 - 1.19m$
Feb 2021 - 1.23m$
Mar 2021 - 1.28m$
Apr 2021 - 1.35m$
May 2021 - 2.65m$
June 2021 - 2.61m$
July 2021 - 2.62m$ *

* Sold one property and started renovating another, gold up a little bit, crypto's up, invested a bit more money into ETF so that mid month I had exactly the same amount in ETF as I had in crypto's, but since then crypto's have increased and ETF is still the same hence the difference in the %.

August: planning to buy some more gold and keep on renovating the property which hopefully would be done by the end of the year, going to cost about 70k$ and hoping to rent it out January latest.

721 days to Fire.

[pecunia]

Jan 2021 - 1.19m$
Feb 2021 - 1.23m$
Mar 2021 - 1.28m$
Apr 2021 - 1.35m$
May 2021 - 2.65m$
June 2021 - 2.61m$
July 2021 - 2.62m$ *

* Sold one property and started renovating another, gold up a little bit, crypto's up, invested a bit more money into ETF so that mid month I had exactly the same amount in ETF as I had in crypto's, but since then crypto's have increased and ETF is still the same hence the difference in the %.

August: planning to buy some more gold and keep on renovating the property which hopefully would be done by the end of the year, going to cost about 70k$ and hoping to rent it out January latest.

721 days to Fire.

Wow!  You must have the SISU thing working for you!

[MishMash]

Also, boats don't seem to depreciate as quickly as cars. 

Maybe if you're comparing to a Maserati or AMG.  Sold my boat bought new all in for about $16k after 4 years for $8k.

We've done pretty good with boat value.  We bought a 23 foot ski boat for $24K, kept it 12 years and sold for $12K.  We bought a 32 foot party barge/pontoon for $25K and 4 years later sold for $28K (recession buy).   Had a 24 foot offshore fishing boat bought for $12,500 and sold for $10,500.   Currently have an 18 foot center console, paid 10K in 2005, still worth $7500.  What eats you up is maintence.   As everyone knows, BOAT means break out another thousand.

Oh yea, took delivery of our 28 ft in March.  So far the Minn Kota has died twice, lost an anchor and chain this past weekend (current was RIPPING, so couldn’t dive to retrieve), spent about 3k on engine maintenance, plus all the stuff needed after purchasing said boat for 165k.

I did NOT want a boat, but it was the husbands dream, and he’s tolerated my FIRE stashing for eons so once we moved to FL, we compromised and he got it.  Mostly COVID restrictions wore me down lol.  It’s not a cheap hobby by any means, but DH is 3 years out from Military retirement (he hits his 20 in a week woot! So health care and pension are secured).  And we are sitting at about 2.5 after paying cash for the boat, not including his pension of about 6k a month by the time he retires. 

[Finntastic]

Jan 2021 - 1.19m$
Feb 2021 - 1.23m$
Mar 2021 - 1.28m$
Apr 2021 - 1.35m$
May 2021 - 2.65m$
June 2021 - 2.61m$
July 2021 - 2.62m$ *

* Sold one property and started renovating another, gold up a little bit, crypto's up, invested a bit more money into ETF so that mid month I had exactly the same amount in ETF as I had in crypto's, but since then crypto's have increased and ETF is still the same hence the difference in the %.

August: planning to buy some more gold and keep on renovating the property which hopefully would be done by the end of the year, going to cost about 70k$ and hoping to rent it out January latest.

721 days to Fire.

Wow!  You must have the SISU thing working for you!

SISU is always in me =D

[trashtalk]

We had a nice household finance meeting today and it looks like we are closer to the end than the beginning of this race.

The last five years have been good to us and we’re up about a million over that period of time, which is nice. We probably need to up our cash reserves but equities and real estate are rock solid.

[Fomerly known as something]

Mmm, bit coin scammer in the morning.

In other news, I got in a huge argument with my boss (who thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to ask me to spend 9 of the last 17 days before I move in another state) which ended with me saying fuck you, I’m taking leave for the rest of the day you can write me up AWOL, oh and I’m not going on the trip.  I just can’t even.

[pecunia]

Mmm, bit coin scammer in the morning.

In other news, I got in a huge argument with my boss (who thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to ask me to spend 9 of the last 17 days before I move in another state) which ended with me saying fuck you, I’m taking leave for the rest of the day you can write me up AWOL, oh and I’m not going on the trip.  I just can’t even.

Just sayin' - Don't burn your bridges.  I've been down that road and it became a rocky one.

[Wile E. Coyote]

We had a nice household finance meeting today and it looks like we are closer to the end than the beginning of this race.

The last five years have been good to us and we’re up about a million over that period of time, which is nice. We probably need to up our cash reserves but equities and real estate are rock solid.

Congrats, @trashtalk!  Well done!

[soccerluvof4]

Boats this year like anything have been nuts. Plenty of people on our Lake Sold mostly their second boats they had for a few years and in the worse case broke even. I have notice like houses on the lake that have gone up of late the selling is slowing and more stuff is hitting the market. I have a Fishing boat which is our second boat I dont need anymore and last year I would of got double I am trying to get for it now. I dropped it 500$ and didnt get a call. Crazy how fast things can swing. But to the point of Boat ownership as someone else said when you live on water its like having another car and so easy to just walk down to the dock/pier get out and go. I look back to towing around and barely using years ago it would of been much cheaper to rent but not when living on the water as we use at least 4xs a week.

[Dancin'Dog]

Boats this year like anything have been nuts. Plenty of people on our Lake Sold mostly their second boats they had for a few years and in the worse case broke even. I have notice like houses on the lake that have gone up of late the selling is slowing and more stuff is hitting the market. I have a Fishing boat which is our second boat I dont need anymore and last year I would of got double I am trying to get for it now. I dropped it 500$ and didnt get a call. Crazy how fast things can swing. But to the point of Boat ownership as someone else said when you live on water its like having another car and so easy to just walk down to the dock/pier get out and go. I look back to towing around and barely using years ago it would of been much cheaper to rent but not when living on the water as we use at least 4xs a week.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of giving a group of DD's fellow Summer interns an afternoon on the water.  It was the first time we've loaded the boat to its maximum capacity of 12 passengers.  It was a rare treat for most of them.  I pulled a few of them around on the tube & then we spent a bit of time swimming, floating, & drinking.  It really felt good being able to share the good life, that we tend to take for granted, with a group of young people that had never spent time on a boat. 


We maximized the "smiles per gallon" that day.  :)

[soccerluvof4]

Boats this year like anything have been nuts. Plenty of people on our Lake Sold mostly their second boats they had for a few years and in the worse case broke even. I have notice like houses on the lake that have gone up of late the selling is slowing and more stuff is hitting the market. I have a Fishing boat which is our second boat I dont need anymore and last year I would of got double I am trying to get for it now. I dropped it 500$ and didnt get a call. Crazy how fast things can swing. But to the point of Boat ownership as someone else said when you live on water its like having another car and so easy to just walk down to the dock/pier get out and go. I look back to towing around and barely using years ago it would of been much cheaper to rent but not when living on the water as we use at least 4xs a week.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of giving a group of DD's fellow Summer interns an afternoon on the water.  It was the first time we've loaded the boat to its maximum capacity of 12 passengers.  It was a rare treat for most of them.  I pulled a few of them around on the tube & then we spent a bit of time swimming, floating, & drinking.  It really felt good being able to share the good life, that we tend to take for granted, with a group of young people that had never spent time on a boat. 


We maximized the "smiles per gallon" that day.  :)

Sounds like a good time. Similar but different we have a camp on our lake that has been there forever for Boys Club and Girls Club and some how the Masons are involved. Anyhow I volunteered last week to pull on our tube 8-10 year olds for an hour and a half and then then 11-12's. They are mostly intercity kids and to see their smiles made my week. There wasn't one kid that didn't have a blast. And to your point its great to be able to share that with kids and help make great memories for/with them.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

That is super cool, @soccerluvof4 ! Sounds like a great experience for you & the kids.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Not sure if I should be in this thread or not, but here I am.:)

I added up my taxable and retirement accounts, Daughter's 529, and two rental properties today and just squeaked over $2M ($2,000,888 to be precise).  Not sure it will last, but I did want to at least mark the milestone.  People seem to be using only LNW, which I guess would exclude the 529 and rental properties?  I haven't included any equity in my company as that is too speculative at this point.  I doubt that I will ever get to $4M, but I suppose stretch goals never hurt anyone. :-D

It looks like I get to stick around here for a bit longer after all.  We sold the rental properties (YAY!).  Adding up our net cash, taxable and retirement accounts, and our Daughter's 529, we are right at $2.4M.  This doesn't include the equity in our home, which would put is well over $3M!!  It still doesn't include any equity in my company, but maybe someday!  It's hard to believe, but this is what my excel sheet tells me, so it must be right!

[Fomerly known as something]

Mmm, bit coin scammer in the morning.

In other news, I got in a huge argument with my boss (who thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to ask me to spend 9 of the last 17 days before I move in another state) which ended with me saying fuck you, I’m taking leave for the rest of the day you can write me up AWOL, oh and I’m not going on the trip.  I just can’t even.

We had a decent talk the day after.  I got a letter of reprimand but no trip.  So all and all a win.  Maybe we both grow from it because while I was wrong on the fuck you he wasn’t right in his ask.

[Car Jack]

Whenever I'm asked to do something at work that I'm not willing to do, I say "yes, no problem" and then I just don't do it.  I'll highlight some other project I'm working on, giving "way more than needed" updates and results.  Every time, the original "thing" they wanted me to do simply is forgotten.  Too many "make work" projects going around.  They forget them because they're of zero value.

[arcturus]

Not sure if I should be in this thread or not, but here I am.:)

I added up my taxable and retirement accounts, Daughter's 529, and two rental properties today and just squeaked over $2M ($2,000,888 to be precise).  Not sure it will last, but I did want to at least mark the milestone.  People seem to be using only LNW, which I guess would exclude the 529 and rental properties?  I haven't included any equity in my company as that is too speculative at this point.  I doubt that I will ever get to $4M, but I suppose stretch goals never hurt anyone. :-D

It looks like I get to stick around here for a bit longer after all.  We sold the rental properties (YAY!).  Adding up our net cash, taxable and retirement accounts, and our Daughter's 529, we are right at $2.4M.  This doesn't include the equity in our home, which would put is well over $3M!!  It still doesn't include any equity in my company, but maybe someday!  It's hard to believe, but this is what my excel sheet tells me, so it must be right!

I'd say you're here to stay!  That gives you some wiggle room for market decline....and you're still above $2M.  That is, unless you think your daughter's college expenses will be $300K+.   Sadly, that is possible I guess....

Progress painfully slow right now for me.  I guess I just need to keep my head down and keep trying to squirrel away a few bucks here and there.

[jeroly]

Not sure if I should be in this thread or not, but here I am.:)

I added up my taxable and retirement accounts, Daughter's 529, and two rental properties today and just squeaked over $2M ($2,000,888 to be precise).  Not sure it will last, but I did want to at least mark the milestone.  People seem to be using only LNW, which I guess would exclude the 529 and rental properties?  I haven't included any equity in my company as that is too speculative at this point.  I doubt that I will ever get to $4M, but I suppose stretch goals never hurt anyone. :-D

It looks like I get to stick around here for a bit longer after all.  We sold the rental properties (YAY!).  Adding up our net cash, taxable and retirement accounts, and our Daughter's 529, we are right at $2.4M.  This doesn't include the equity in our home, which would put is well over $3M!!  It still doesn't include any equity in my company, but maybe someday!  It's hard to believe, but this is what my excel sheet tells me, so it must be right!

I'd say you're here to stay!  That gives you some wiggle room for market decline....and you're still above $2M.  That is, unless you think your daughter's college expenses will be $300K+.   Sadly, that is possible I guess....

Progress painfully slow right now for me.  I guess I just need to keep my head down and keep trying to squirrel away a few bucks here and there.

With recent market gains, I just graduated from the $1-2M thread.

End of year stats:
2010 - ($188,257)
2011 - ($159,240)
2012 - $75,812
2013 - $82,600
2014 - $190,525
2015 - $593,948
2016 - $619,152
2017 - $961,556
2018 - $966,365
2019 - $1,288,725
2020 - $1,616,389
2021 (YTD) - $2,003,017

I never imagined hitting $2M so quickly.  8.5 years ago, I was celebrating a zero net worth!

Welcome @ShadowRegent !   I'm also relatively new to this group.  Our recent growth rates are similar, although you are doing better than me in 2021YTD....

Invested Assets (in thousands)
2019 - $1,473
2020 - $1,849
YTD2021 - $2,185

Your invested assets went up by 50% in two years and that's painfully slow? Bless your heart.

[arcturus]

ha - understood @jeroly !   I meant over the past 2-3 months its been slow.  And, to your point, I think many (including me) have been spoiled by the market performance over the past 15-16 months and it becomes the expectation.

[ysette9]

We have stopped tracking things so closely now that we are sharing at the finish line fort husband. He plans on calling it quits at the end of this year. When we do add it up it always seems to be another “oh my god” moment. The power of compounding is truly spectacular to behold. Then again, he is still earning $ so maybe everything will change once we are deaccumulating.

Speaking of spending money, we bought a house and then have started some renovations. That is a very efficient way to blow a bunch of cash if you have too much sitting around. Round II will be a full kitchen remodel on a timeline I hope to be soon because cooking in the current one is grim. And we need insulation. And maybe a new set of windows. And we want to build a detached garage. Hah

I connected our new mortgage and the house value into personal capital the other day and it spat out $3.9M. This includes 2 529 accounts of about $120k combined that we don’t include in our net worth, but still.
WOW

[Dicey]

"It will be great" indeed!

[Exflyboy]

I hate to be a "Debby Downer" but despite the market rise I actually lost money on Friday as my bond funds actually dropped quite a bit.

As losses hurt more than the feel good one gets from gains then I assume you can all feel sorry for me..;)

[arcturus]

Yes, I need to stop tracking things so closely, I know.  My "contributions" are also concentrated in the first 6 months of the year, so in the second half those slow down considerably and I rely more on the market to continue to make gains.  However, I'm still within line of sight of my year end goals, just obviously would like to do (much) better.   

Sorry @Exflyboy , I understand.  And its been a rough year for my bond funds as well.  I did lighten my allocation there quite a bit earlier this year, so I've not been quite as exposed, but those that I am in -- YTD -- seem to have lost most/all of the gains that they had accumulated over the previous 12 months or so.

[ysette9]

I hate to be a "Debby Downer" but despite the market rise I actually lost money on Friday as my bond funds actually dropped quite a bit.

As losses hurt more than the feel good one gets from gains then I assume you can all feel sorry for me..;)

I really feel for you.

I sold a big chunk of bonds about two months ago to fund a down payment. Lucky timing on my part.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We are firmly in the 6s, but I'm expecting that to change come spring. We will owe the IRS a nice chunk from the sale of our vacation house + our standard large sum, and the state of California. That said, our work stock has been doing incredibly well, which has created quite an increase in our equity. It's making it harder to commit to an end date. I'll know more by the EOY, as that's when I'll see my upcoming stock vest schedule. At this point, we're optimizing around the edges.

Our youngest starts high school next week, which is another big milestone. We've committed to staying here until he's done with high school. We may opt to stay longer, but that's our commitment, and it's interesting to start this next phase, with two kids in high school. We have our financial timeline roughly grouped:
-MBM FIREs
-Kids done with K-12, husband can technically tap into 401k, should he choose
-Kids in college
-My husband FIREs
-MBM can tap into 401K
-Social security, if that's still a thing

[Much Fishing to Do]

We have stopped tracking things so closely now that we are sharing at the finish line fort husband. He plans on calling it quits at the end of this year. When we do add it up it always seems to be another “oh my god” moment. The power of compounding is truly spectacular to behold. Then again, he is still earning $ so maybe everything will change once we are deaccumulating.

Speaking of spending money, we bought a house and then have started some renovations. That is a very efficient way to blow a bunch of cash if you have too much sitting around. Round II will be a full kitchen remodel on a timeline I hope to be soon because cooking in the current one is grim. And we need insulation. And maybe a new set of windows. And we want to build a detached garage. Hah

I connected our new mortgage and the house value into personal capital the other day and it spat out $3.9M. This includes 2 529 accounts of about $120k combined that we don’t include in our net worth, but still.
WOW

Heh, yeah, we're at about the same NW and I've found home renovations is one of the few ways we can take a hit to the NW that can be frequent and large enough to be noticeable if we chose it to be.  New cars are expensive but I frankly don't think of buying the next one for ten years cause I guess its just a point A to point B thing for me..., vacationing can be expensive but we don't see the big deal re: first class so can be kept cheap enough..., vacation home would be expensive but there's no way I want another house to take care of, one's enough, so I'll just rent.... same re: a boat, I'd rather just rent one than have to worry about it.... I like good beer and a fun pub, which is very cheap compared to liking good wine and 5 star restaurants.....  Just about everything else disappears in the daily market moves to the extent the other purchases just don't seem to matter.  I guess we could just start buying way to much stuff every month, but heck, where would I put it?

[Fomerly known as something]

We have stopped tracking things so closely now that we are sharing at the finish line fort husband. He plans on calling it quits at the end of this year. When we do add it up it always seems to be another “oh my god” moment. The power of compounding is truly spectacular to behold. Then again, he is still earning $ so maybe everything will change once we are deaccumulating.

Speaking of spending money, we bought a house and then have started some renovations. That is a very efficient way to blow a bunch of cash if you have too much sitting around. Round II will be a full kitchen remodel on a timeline I hope to be soon because cooking in the current one is grim. And we need insulation. And maybe a new set of windows. And we want to build a detached garage. Hah

I connected our new mortgage and the house value into personal capital the other day and it spat out $3.9M. This includes 2 529 accounts of about $120k combined that we don’t include in our net worth, but still.
WOW

Heh, yeah, we're at about the same NW and I've found home renovations is one of the few ways we can take a hit to the NW that can be frequent and large enough to be noticeable if we chose it to be.  New cars are expensive but I frankly don't think of buying the next one for ten years cause I guess its just a point A to point B thing for me..., vacationing can be expensive but we don't see the big deal re: first class so can be kept cheap enough..., vacation home would be expensive but there's no way I want another house to take care of, one's enough, so I'll just rent.... same re: a boat, I'd rather just rent one than have to worry about it.... I like good beer and a fun pub, which is very cheap compared to liking good wine and 5 star restaurants.....  Just about everything else disappears in the daily market moves to the extent the other purchases just don't seem to matter.  I guess we could just start buying way to much stuff every month, but heck, where would I put it?

Yes because a bigger house for the stuff is just more space to clean and maintain.  Although I like wine and have been exploring more expensive vintages.

[Bird In Hand]

As of close of the markets yesterday, we joined this race for the first time with an aggregate balance of $2.005M across all our savings/retirement/investment accounts.  TNW including home equity is somewhere a little north of $2.4M.

Still holding the line at $2.029M LNW after a couple weeks.  I know we're likely to dip below $2M from time to time, but for now it's fun to see our balances staying (just) above that threshold.

The RE market has been pretty strong here as of late, and SmartZip now estimates our paid-off house at $472k.  Probably unrealistic, but I like how it makes our TNW +/- $2.5M.

LNW was flirting with $2.2M for what seemed like months.  We finally crossed that threshold sometime in the past couple weeks and have stayed there since.  With similar market performance for the rest of the year we could be knocking on the door of $2.5M by end of year, or about $3M TNW.   100k/year @ 4% SWR.  That's nuts.

We crossed $2.3M today.  I don't know why it seemed like such a long time to go from 2.2 to 2.3.  It was only two months.

[Dicey]

As of close of the markets yesterday, we joined this race for the first time with an aggregate balance of $2.005M across all our savings/retirement/investment accounts.  TNW including home equity is somewhere a little north of $2.4M.

Still holding the line at $2.029M LNW after a couple weeks.  I know we're likely to dip below $2M from time to time, but for now it's fun to see our balances staying (just) above that threshold.

The RE market has been pretty strong here as of late, and SmartZip now estimates our paid-off house at $472k.  Probably unrealistic, but I like how it makes our TNW +/- $2.5M.

LNW was flirting with $2.2M for what seemed like months.  We finally crossed that threshold sometime in the past couple weeks and have stayed there since.  With similar market performance for the rest of the year we could be knocking on the door of $2.5M by end of year, or about $3M TNW.   100k/year @ 4% SWR.  That's nuts.

We crossed $2.3M today.  I don't know why it seemed like such a long time to go from 2.2 to 2.3.  It was only two months.

MPP for sure. Congratulations!

[Bird In Hand]

We crossed $2.3M today.  I don't know why it seemed like such a long time to go from 2.2 to 2.3.  It was only two months.

MPP for sure. Congratulations!

Thank you!  And yes, definitely a MPP.  "What, our investment gains were only twice as much as our salaries this year???"

[Exflyboy]

Congrats but forgive my ignorance.. What the heck is a MPP?

[deborah]

Mustashian people problem

[Fomerly known as something]

I’m back to early stalking the market, at least on my 401k, I’m very close to the double comma club for that account alone.

[markbike528CBX]

Congrats but forgive my ignorance.. What the heck is a MPP?

Mustashian Mustachian People Problem

Examples at:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/mustachian-people-problems-(just-for-fun)/

[MishMash]

So today is a day of double celebration.  We hit 2.5m in net worth (despite buying a boat this year) AND the husband has officially hit his 20 year mark in the military! He’s going to do a couple more years since he just promoted so he can retire in grade (for about an extra 1k a month for life) but the pension and healthcare are now officially secured, and with it a pretty fat FIRE.

[Exflyboy]

So today is a day of double celebration.  We hit 2.5m in net worth (despite buying a boat this year) AND the husband has officially hit his 20 year mark in the military! He’s going to do a couple more years since he just promoted so he can retire in grade (for about an extra 1k a month for life) but the pension and healthcare are now officially secured, and with it a pretty fat FIRE.

Pension and HC plus $2.5M.. I think you're golden..:)

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I like coming back to this thread to hear the excitement and enthusiasm of newly minted multi-millionaires.  For me, at least, the next millions were just a matter of putting in time, which also meant I was getting older.  From the 2nd million forward, it’s all a trade off.  IMHO there is no higher FI than being young and having ER money…. It’s still a high to have ER money at 50, but the amount could be lower and be just as satisfying.

[Exflyboy]

I like coming back to this thread to hear the excitement and enthusiasm of newly minted multi-millionaires.  For me, at least, the next millions were just a matter of putting in time, which also meant I was getting older.  From the 2nd million forward, it’s all a trade off.  IMHO there is no higher FI than being young and having ER money…. It’s still a high to have ER money at 50, but the amount could be lower and be just as satisfying.

Yup after FI one is simply exchanging time for money. With a sufficiently low WR time is still consumed while the size of the stash will continue to increase.

Sadly we can't exchange money for time and most of us have no idea how long we have to spend it.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

I like coming back to this thread to hear the excitement and enthusiasm of newly minted multi-millionaires.  For me, at least, the next millions were just a matter of putting in time, which also meant I was getting older.  From the 2nd million forward, it’s all a trade off.  IMHO there is no higher FI than being young and having ER money…. It’s still a high to have ER money at 50, but the amount could be lower and be just as satisfying.

Yup after FI one is simply exchanging time for money. With a sufficiently low WR time is still consumed while the size of the stash will continue to increase.

Sadly we can't exchange money for time and most of us have no idea how long we have to spend it.

On the flip side though, I’m on a cruise with younger folks that probably can’t imagine’FI-ER’ and very old folks (80+), yet here we are able to comfortably afford this at 47…. It’s a great experience, but could easily afford doing something similar next year.  I just hope Covid doesn’t shut it all down for good…. :(

[arcturus]

I’m back to early stalking the market, at least on my 401k, I’m very close to the double comma club for that account alone.

I've decided I'm waiting until end of September to do my next *official* check of the accounts.  It does seem like we've been in a bit of a lull in the market lately, maybe its just my perception.  But congrats on nearing that milestone!  Sounds like my 401k is slightly behind your balance, but I'm getting within ~5% of two commas on mine as well.   With some market gains, and some company contributions, I've got line of sight to that milestone possibly by end of year.

[Bateaux]

I haven't set down with pen and paper, or yuck, a spreadsheet yet.  But, I need to write out a budget.  It's one of those things we've never needed to do with fairly high income.  We just invested a bunch and spent the rest.  Our finances are a jumbled mess.  I do have some mortgage debt on the Florida house 160K.  Main problem is what to do with the Louisiana property.  It's paid off, but our two 20 something kids need housing.  They both work and the youngest will be married soon.  We're fixing our rental house up for him right now.  Eventually he wants our Louisiana house and the oldest gets the rental house.  For simplicity let's value our home at 200K and the rental at 100K.  I'm undecided whether we rent to them or gift.  The oldest son doesn't make a lot of money and has some medical issues.  So we were thinking of gifting him the rental at 100K value and selling our home to the youngest at 100K.  We're retirement fund rich (3M) and cash poor maybe 50K.  I know Border42 would be pissed, but I really want that mortgage paid off.  It would take all our cash though.  I plan to pull 10K a month starting July 2023.  That's a lot of money per month.  I'm just have a hell of a time predicting our future expenses in this period of inflation.  I'm almost sure we've over saved, but the time is closing in.

[arcturus]

I haven't set down with pen and paper, or yuck, a spreadsheet yet.  But, I need to write out a budget.  It's one of those things we've never needed to do with fairly high income.  We just invested a bunch and spent the rest.  Our finances are a jumbled mess.  I do have some mortgage debt on the Florida house 160K.  Main problem is what to do with the Louisiana property.  It's paid off, but our two 20 something kids need housing.  They both work and the youngest will be married soon.  We're fixing our rental house up for him right now.  Eventually he wants our Louisiana house and the oldest gets the rental house.  For simplicity let's value our home at 200K and the rental at 100K.  I'm undecided whether we rent to them or gift.  The oldest son doesn't make a lot of money and has some medical issues.  So we were thinking of gifting him the rental at 100K value and selling our home to the youngest at 100K.  We're retirement fund rich (3M) and cash poor maybe 50K.  I know Border42 would be pissed, but I really want that mortgage paid off.  It would take all our cash though.  I plan to pull 10K a month starting July 2023.  That's a lot of money per month.  I'm just have a hell of a time predicting our future expenses in this period of inflation.  I'm almost sure we've over saved, but the time is closing in.

Hello @Bateaux - everyone has unique circumstances and so please take this only as a third party view of the scenario you are describing....with only a 10% understanding of the situation, I am sure.   My thought is, you are being extremely generous in this scenario.   I understand your older son has some challenges and so help there may be needed as you have suggested.  With regard to your younger son.  What about selling him your property for $160K and then applying that money to you FL residence?   Still incredibly generous -- you would be effectively giving your son $40K in immediate equity -- and it pays off your FL mortgage.   I would think that a $160K mortgage could be supported by an income of $30-35K relatively easily, assuming no other debt.   And getting a $40K boost from you would be huge for your youngest.

My upper 20s son just purchased a home and I basically provided no financial assistance.  He has many years ahead of him to accumulate assets and I do not.  We have provided for our children (I am guessing you are similar to me) quite well for 20+ years of their lives (better than we had it, huh?).  I'm still shelling out for college/grad school for 2 others, but my goal is that -- when they are out -- I am basically done in most material financial respects (ok, I'm sure I will give in to things like weddings, etc) and then the focus is on providing for ourselves.

Two other thoughts:  (1) In my spreadsheet models, I have assumed a reduction in discretionary expenses as we age, and in the extreme negative scenraios, we could simply manage our expenses down to fit the available cash flow at that time....otherwise, I'd drive myself nuts building on sequential layers of safety margin into my models and I'd never pull the trigger; and (2) I've raised this before and continue to consider and approach where there is a second source of liquidity besides your invested assets (e.g., a untapped home equity loan for simplicity) and when the market is significantly down, you draw on that alternative source of liquidity rather than selling assets that are in correction mode.   This second thought I will admit that I have not fully baked, but it seems like a fantastic way to manage things so that you keep you funds invested during downturns in the market (which tend to be abbreviated -- 6-18 months) and only pull them out when they are at "fair" value.   It seems to me like that's a way to help improve your odds of your money lasting.

Thanks for reading and @Bateaux I say again that my hat is off to you as you are quite generous with your adult children -- I'm now going to make another margarita!

[Bateaux]

I haven't set down with pen and paper, or yuck, a spreadsheet yet.  But, I need to write out a budget.  It's one of those things we've never needed to do with fairly high income.  We just invested a bunch and spent the rest.  Our finances are a jumbled mess.  I do have some mortgage debt on the Florida house 160K.  Main problem is what to do with the Louisiana property.  It's paid off, but our two 20 something kids need housing.  They both work and the youngest will be married soon.  We're fixing our rental house up for him right now.  Eventually he wants our Louisiana house and the oldest gets the rental house.  For simplicity let's value our home at 200K and the rental at 100K.  I'm undecided whether we rent to them or gift.  The oldest son doesn't make a lot of money and has some medical issues.  So we were thinking of gifting him the rental at 100K value and selling our home to the youngest at 100K.  We're retirement fund rich (3M) and cash poor maybe 50K.  I know Border42 would be pissed, but I really want that mortgage paid off.  It would take all our cash though.  I plan to pull 10K a month starting July 2023.  That's a lot of money per month.  I'm just have a hell of a time predicting our future expenses in this period of inflation.  I'm almost sure we've over saved, but the time is closing in.

Hello @Bateaux - everyone has unique circumstances and so please take this only as a third party view of the scenario you are describing....with only a 10% understanding of the situation, I am sure.   My thought is, you are being extremely generous in this scenario.   I understand your older son has some challenges and so help there may be needed as you have suggested.  With regard to your younger son.  What about selling him your property for $160K and then applying that money to you FL residence?   Still incredibly generous -- you would be effectively giving your son $40K in immediate equity -- and it pays off your FL mortgage.   I would think that a $160K mortgage could be supported by an income of $30-35K relatively easily, assuming no other debt.   And getting a $40K boost from you would be huge for your youngest.

My upper 20s son just purchased a home and I basically provided no financial assistance.  He has many years ahead of him to accumulate assets and I do not.  We have provided for our children (I am guessing you are similar to me) quite well for 20+ years of their lives (better than we had it, huh?).  I'm still shelling out for college/grad school for 2 others, but my goal is that -- when they are out -- I am basically done in most material financial respects (ok, I'm sure I will give in to things like weddings, etc) and then the focus is on providing for ourselves.

Two other thoughts:  (1) In my spreadsheet models, I have assumed a reduction in discretionary expenses as we age, and in the extreme negative scenraios, we could simply manage our expenses down to fit the available cash flow at that time....otherwise, I'd drive myself nuts building on sequential layers of safety margin into my models and I'd never pull the trigger; and (2) I've raised this before and continue to consider and approach where there is a second source of liquidity besides your invested assets (e.g., a untapped home equity loan for simplicity) and when the market is significantly down, you draw on that alternative source of liquidity rather than selling assets that are in correction mode.   This second thought I will admit that I have not fully baked, but it seems like a fantastic way to manage things so that you keep you funds invested during downturns in the market (which tend to be abbreviated -- 6-18 months) and only pull them out when they are at "fair" value.   It seems to me like that's a way to help improve your odds of your money lasting.

Thanks for reading and @Bateaux I say again that my hat is off to you as you are quite generous with your adult children -- I'm now going to make another margarita!

Thoroughly appreciate the input.  The younger child has a much higher income, soon to be in the 6 figures.  The older son has a decent job just not good enough to afford the lifestyle we've provided.

[MishMash]

So today is a day of double celebration.  We hit 2.5m in net worth (despite buying a boat this year) AND the husband has officially hit his 20 year mark in the military! He’s going to do a couple more years since he just promoted so he can retire in grade (for about an extra 1k a month for life) but the pension and healthcare are now officially secured, and with it a pretty fat FIRE.

Pension and HC plus $2.5M.. I think you're golden..:)

For sure, most of his coworkers joke about him retiring then returning the next day as a contractor like a majority of folks in his office do.  He gets some strange looks when he says pigs chance in hell, I’m OUT. 

[arcturus]

I haven't set down with pen and paper, or yuck, a spreadsheet yet.  But, I need to write out a budget.  It's one of those things we've never needed to do with fairly high income.  We just invested a bunch and spent the rest.  Our finances are a jumbled mess.  I do have some mortgage debt on the Florida house 160K.  Main problem is what to do with the Louisiana property.  It's paid off, but our two 20 something kids need housing.  They both work and the youngest will be married soon.  We're fixing our rental house up for him right now.  Eventually he wants our Louisiana house and the oldest gets the rental house.  For simplicity let's value our home at 200K and the rental at 100K.  I'm undecided whether we rent to them or gift.  The oldest son doesn't make a lot of money and has some medical issues.  So we were thinking of gifting him the rental at 100K value and selling our home to the youngest at 100K.  We're retirement fund rich (3M) and cash poor maybe 50K.  I know Border42 would be pissed, but I really want that mortgage paid off.  It would take all our cash though.  I plan to pull 10K a month starting July 2023.  That's a lot of money per month.  I'm just have a hell of a time predicting our future expenses in this period of inflation.  I'm almost sure we've over saved, but the time is closing in.

Hello @Bateaux - everyone has unique circumstances and so please take this only as a third party view of the scenario you are describing....with only a 10% understanding of the situation, I am sure.   My thought is, you are being extremely generous in this scenario.   I understand your older son has some challenges and so help there may be needed as you have suggested.  With regard to your younger son.  What about selling him your property for $160K and then applying that money to you FL residence?   Still incredibly generous -- you would be effectively giving your son $40K in immediate equity -- and it pays off your FL mortgage.   I would think that a $160K mortgage could be supported by an income of $30-35K relatively easily, assuming no other debt.   And getting a $40K boost from you would be huge for your youngest.

My upper 20s son just purchased a home and I basically provided no financial assistance.  He has many years ahead of him to accumulate assets and I do not.  We have provided for our children (I am guessing you are similar to me) quite well for 20+ years of their lives (better than we had it, huh?).  I'm still shelling out for college/grad school for 2 others, but my goal is that -- when they are out -- I am basically done in most material financial respects (ok, I'm sure I will give in to things like weddings, etc) and then the focus is on providing for ourselves.

Two other thoughts:  (1) In my spreadsheet models, I have assumed a reduction in discretionary expenses as we age, and in the extreme negative scenraios, we could simply manage our expenses down to fit the available cash flow at that time....otherwise, I'd drive myself nuts building on sequential layers of safety margin into my models and I'd never pull the trigger; and (2) I've raised this before and continue to consider and approach where there is a second source of liquidity besides your invested assets (e.g., a untapped home equity loan for simplicity) and when the market is significantly down, you draw on that alternative source of liquidity rather than selling assets that are in correction mode.   This second thought I will admit that I have not fully baked, but it seems like a fantastic way to manage things so that you keep you funds invested during downturns in the market (which tend to be abbreviated -- 6-18 months) and only pull them out when they are at "fair" value.   It seems to me like that's a way to help improve your odds of your money lasting.

Thanks for reading and @Bateaux I say again that my hat is off to you as you are quite generous with your adult children -- I'm now going to make another margarita!

Thoroughly appreciate the input.  The younger child has a much higher income, soon to be in the 6 figures.  The older son has a decent job just not good enough to afford the lifestyle we've provided.

I'm guessing your younger son would understand that his older sibling has different needs that mandate a different level of assistance from you.

In some ways, I have a similar situation where I have one son who has his undergraduate degree, but his brother was not at all happy with his undergraduate experience/degree/etc/etc.  So his brother decided he would need to pursue a graduate degree in order to be in a field that was going to be of interest to him.  So I have continued to support (though certainly not fully) my younger son while he pursues his graduate degree.  I recall wondering whether this would create some tension between them as my older son is aware that there is some form of ongoing assistance....but it has not come up as an issue at all.  He has a genuine desire for his brother to be happy, whatever that means for him.  And that has completely overcome any "look what you're doing for him" perspective from him.   Maybe he's just an awesome brother, but I would think you would have a similar situation on your hands should, should you decide to "ration" your assistance according to need.

Glad to hear that it sounds like you've set both up for success and happiness.  Its up to them to realize it, but it sounds like the foundation is there for both of yours, as it is for my two sons (assuming I get the youngest out of grad school <<insert fingers crossed emoji here>>).  My daughter still has a couple years left on her undergrad, but things look very promising there.

And btw, I do not consider $50K of cash to be "cash poor."  My available non-invested cash ebbs and flows with paychecks, etc., but I don't keep more than $10-20K in true cash at any time.   If I had a sudden unplanned cash need, I would either liquidate part of a long-term investment or, if that cannot be done for some reason (or if I don't want to),  I would borrow against an untapped line of credit (mine is secured by my investments themselves, not by my home).  As they say, its easy to borrow money when you don't actually need it!  Keep that in mind!

[billsfan1_2000]

So gang - what would you do?  Age 57, in great health, great family, $4.3M total net worth, with no major future expenses (such as college - all done with that!) on the horizon. 

I had planned to hang up the laptop back on March 1 - however the allure of work from home ended up getting me - so now am nearing the half way point of my latest "OMY".  Meantime I am really, REALLY losing interest in life at Mega Corp.  The stupid meetings, the dumb projects and the endless Powerpoints.......so exhausting.  Sooo - the dilemma - if I resign as of Sep 1 I walk away from 2022 bonus, some shares vesting as of next Feb, after tax cash compensation and 401k match between then and now that amounts to $170k all in.  I look at that statistic daily and it keeps me from writing the resignation e-mail.   Which brings me to my question - am I being silly tying myself to that "addition" to our NW?  I hate so say this but I find myself "wishing away" 6 months of life just to get to March 1......

Any thoughts???

Much love!