Race from 100 to 250k

[dandypandys]

Do you guys have the same calculation of rate of return on your accounts that i have on my Transamerica account?

Mine is  0.27% so far for the year, pretty crappy,

Hmm my international (vtiax) is up 0.78% ytd but US (vtsax) is up 1.38%. What are you invested in? Also, that's the insurance outfit isn't it? My cousin works for them I think and makes good money, but the corollary is the investment type products he sells make less money for his clients.

Yeah it is the 403b, the fees are low, unless their are hidden ones - i did change a lot of things around last month and the month before that might be it. Now i am VSTAX 60% and a couple of other low cost index Van funds to emulate the 3-fund portfolio. Yeah it must be just because i only sorted out my situation recently.. i look forward to a better innings in the future :)

[Mazzinator]

So happy to finally join you all. It took us 23 months to graduate from the $100k thread...hope to get to $250k in 18-24 months!!

Does not include real estate.

5/3/16 - $100,825

[FIreDrill]

So happy to finally join you all. It took us 23 months to graduate from the $100k thread...hope to get to $250k in 18-24 months!!

Does not include real estate.

5/3/16 - $100,825

Congrats and welcome!

150k in 18 months would be a pretty awesome accomplishment.  Good luck!

Sent from my klte using Tapatalk

[onlykelsey]

I'm going to join this thread. I was in the 250 - 500K race based on my net worth, but the fluctuations are driving me mad and obscuring actual growth and debt paydown that I control.

So!  I'm 29, own my little condo in NYC (~600K, owe ~360K on my mortgage), finished with my undergrad, law and grad school loans two years ago, and below is my current net worth info (minus house).

Assets
401(K): $90,280
Roth IRA: $23,475
Taxable Brokerage: $40,379
Savings: $5,644 (this does not include checking or some earmarked savings)
Total = $159,778

Liabilities

401(K) loan: ($19,047) (I'm not in a huge rush to pay it off, have 13 months left in my payment plan)
HELOC: ($36,557) (at ~3.25%, this is largely purchase money debt, plus another ~5K that my husband "borrowed" to pay for his share of our wedding, but I'm going to call it plain old debt here.  I'm not in a huge rush to pay it off.)
CC: ($133)
Total = $55,737

Net worth = $104,041

My goal for the year is to get to about $160,000, which I think is doable given the principal I'll pay off and amount I'll invest with my year-end bonus.

[Mazzinator]

So happy to finally join you all. It took us 23 months to graduate from the $100k thread...hope to get to $250k in 18-24 months!!

Does not include real estate.

5/3/16 - $100,825

Congrats and welcome!

150k in 18 months would be a pretty awesome accomplishment.  Good luck!

Sent from my klte using Tapatalk

It is a stretch goal. We're moving in a month, which will make saving quite easy. But then we'll move again ~ summer 2017, which is a big unknown. Could slow things down a tad or a whole lot. (My husband is active duty army)

[FIreDrill]

So happy to finally join you all. It took us 23 months to graduate from the $100k thread...hope to get to $250k in 18-24 months!!

Does not include real estate.

5/3/16 - $100,825

Congrats and welcome!

150k in 18 months would be a pretty awesome accomplishment.  Good luck!

Sent from my klte using Tapatalk

It is a stretch goal. We're moving in a month, which will make saving quite easy. But then we'll move again ~ summer 2017, which is a big unknown. Could slow things down a tad or a whole lot. (My husband is active duty army)

Always good to have stretch goals :)

I thought it would take us several years to go from 100 to 250 but we are closing in after only 17 months.  Got about 25k to go so probably another 5 months depending on what the market does.

I really do think the first 100 is significantly harder than 100 to 250.  By the time we hit 100 our monthly spending and saving was fairly set.  We've been going on autopilot ever sense.

Good luck with the move!

Sent from my klte using Tapatalk

[SpareChange]

So happy to finally join you all. It took us 23 months to graduate from the $100k thread...hope to get to $250k in 18-24 months!!

Does not include real estate.

5/3/16 - $100,825

Alright, another grad! Congrats!

[SpareChange]

I really do think the first 100 is significantly harder than 100 to 250.  By the time we hit 100 our monthly spending and saving was fairly set.  We've been going on autopilot ever sense.

I hope so, and I think I'm starting to feel the same way. Just passed 100k in Feb, and everything financially related is very...efficient at this point.

[BBub]

The first $100k is the hardest.  Accumulation gets easier & happens much faster after that.  Getting to $100k often entails buying a house, getting on a career path, possibly marrying, buying a car, having a kid, etc.  Once you're past the big financial hurdles, stashing is on autopilot & the pace picks up.

Just try to avoid the waiting place, enjoy life & don't let the numbers stress you out.  You really won't feel much different with $100k or 200, 300, 400k on the balance sheet.  The numbers swirling around in your brain will just be bigger.  That's it.  At least that's been the case for me.

[Uncle Scrooge]

Jan 1, 2015:     $125,000
Feb 1, 2015:     $129,700
March 1,2015:  $134,400
April 1,2015:     $147,700
May 1,2015:     $153,000
June 1,2015:    $155,600
July 1,2015:     $141,600
August 1,2015 $145,700
Sept 1, 2015   $145,240
Oct 1, 2015     $144,10   
Nov 1,2015     $157,000
December 1,2015 $157,600
January 1, 2016: $160,400
February 1,2016: $160,200
March 1,2016: $170,300
April 1,2016: $177,900
May 1,2016: $181,000

[ender]

The first $100k is the hardest.  Accumulation gets easier & happens much faster after that.  Getting to $100k often entails buying a house, getting on a career path, possibly marrying, buying a car, having a kid, etc.  Once you're past the big financial hurdles, stashing is on autopilot & the pace picks up.

Just try to avoid the waiting place, enjoy life & don't let the numbers stress you out.  You really won't feel much different with $100k or 200, 300, 400k on the balance sheet.  The numbers swirling around in your brain will just be bigger.  That's it.  At least that's been the case for me.

If you think about it, saving 30k a year means that it only takes 5 years to go from 100k to 250k.

I agree on autopilot. Right now our only real decisions are "save for house" or "save for retirement" or "give money away" in terms of decisions. Rough...

[Apples]

Hi Guys! I look forward to joining you next month - I was about $300 shy of the mark at the end of March :-)

I thought I'd bring something to the party, so here's a spreadsheet you we can populate if we wish:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z8OcegKpbeNJoqSI0nzoBuypFKqDD7BT2SS60oFEeCw/edit?usp=sharing

*All data entry on the "Data Entry" tab. "The Big Board" tab will auto-populate based on these data.

*EDIT* Opened up access to anyone with the link, had it on private at first

Can someone pretty please sticky this to the front page/first post page of this thread?  It always takes me forever to find it.

[runrunruneateateat]

If there's room for another, count me in! I just crossed the $100,000 mark last month. It should take me a while because I don't have a huge salary but I love my job so I'm happy doing it for now.

I've noticed that the markets affect my savings way more than how much I save each month. For instance, between April and May I saved $1,538 but my net worth still decreased. Hopefully this forum will help me stay on track. Thanks, everyone, for sharing your progress!

January 2016 $89,998
February 2016 $89,602
March 2016 ? (Didn't check)
April 2016 $104,073
May 2016 $103,790

[tarheeldan]

If there's room for another, count me in! I just crossed the $100,000 mark last month.

Welcome!

Some of us are tracking our progress here, if you wish: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z8OcegKpbeNJoqSI0nzoBuypFKqDD7BT2SS60oFEeCw/edit?usp=sharing

[tarheeldan]

Barely made it to be able to post here, but to me it's a milestone that I've worked towards for years (since grad school).

January 2016$77,986
February 2016$78,974
March 2016$89,757
April 2016        $97,781
May 2016        $100,428

Congratulations!

[SAfAmBrit]

I'm in, I am currently at $219,713. I am including the house and am using personal capital to track. I hope to reach $250,000 by 10/2016 all going well!

3/25 - $219,713
4/30 - $229,057
5/29 - $243,638

Very good month but not for paying off the mortgage - my Roth is happy though. I think I should hit the goal by the end of July, 3 months ahead of target.

[SeattleStache]

Retirement only, does not include real estate or emergency savings:
January 2015: $98,619
February 2015: $102,414
March 2015: $104,001
April 2015: $106,458
May 2015: $106,866
June 2015: $107,133
July 2015: $107,090
August 2015: $102,260
September 2015: $103,731
October 2015: $106,389
November 2015: $107,314
December 2015: $105,826
January 2016: $101,235
February 2016: $101,464
March 2016: $117,072
April 2016: 120,517
May 2016: $122,419

Total NW including real estate and cash savings: $202,367.

[PFHC]

Aug 2015: $133,000
Sept 2015: $147,097
Oct 2015: $153,200
Nov 2015: $155,986
Dec 2015: $154,299
Jan 2016: $156,663
Feb 2016: $158,332
Mar 2016 $182,654
Apr 2016: $186,898

May 2016: $197,500 + $18,000 pension

[screwit]

I'd really like to join in, if I may. Net worth, not including the house and mortgage or checking accounts

    May 2016: 172,565€

Our FIRE aim is 1.6MM€, so we have a hell of a long way to go.

[codemonkey]

Investment Accounts only.

January 2015:   $77,300
July 2015:         $115,800
January 2016:   $124,100
February 2016: $127,500
March 2016:     $141,700
April 2016:        $152,300
Finally crossed the $150k line!  The rest of this year should be rather slow going as we front loaded our investments as much as possible this year.
May 2016:    $157,000

We are only contributing about 400 a week since we front loaded our investments this year.  The rest is market gains.
June 2016:   $160,200

[2Birds1Stone]

Jan 1 2016 - $141,000
May 1 2016 - $172,000

June 1 2016 ~$210,000

[JJ-]

I suppose I'll join in... It's crazy how week to week or month to month things seem so small, but crazy how things over years can add up. No house, just cash, investments, and SL's. Have been putting away ~$4k month or so.

Dec 2014   $101k
Jan 2015   $102k
Feb 2015   $116k
Mar 2015   $117k
Apr 2015   $117k
May 2015   $121k
Jun 2015   $120k
Jul 2015    $126k
Aug 2015  $123k
Sep 2015   $125k
Oct 2015   $139k
Nov 2015   $146k
Dec 2015   $147k
Jan 2016   $141k
Feb 2016   $149k
Mar 2016   $164k
Apr 2016   $172k

May 2016  $178k

I have no idea how this is going up so much each month. As of January, we just started maxing out the 401k's and saving cash for a down payment.

[styl1]

How does this work?  You come back and edit your post with an update?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[turketron]

April 2015: $98k
May 2015: $111k
June 2015: $112k
July 2015: $113k
Aug 2015: $113k
Sept 2015: $116k
Nov 1 2015: $120,330.91
Dec 1 2015: $138,810.56

Jan 1 2016: $141,251.00
Feb 1 2016: $135,573.00
Mar 4 2016: $138,331.39
Apr 1 2016: $146,788.37
May 1 2016: $149,149.52
Jun 1 2016: $161,205.21

[PFHC]

How does this work?  You come back and edit your post with an update?

It works however you'd like it to. Some of us like to post by quoting our old post so as to keep a running tally. But, it's not necessary. If you edit your old post, then it will stay buried and we won't be able to track your progress. I would not suggest you do it that way.

[ender]

Going to buy a house, so our number is going to drop some. Might be in this race a bit longer.

I think I'll add our home as an asset for the price we paid minus about 6% to account for realtor fees if we sold, but that's going to drop us about $10-15k depending on what our total closing costs end up being.

[aneel]

Joining in the fun! We just crossed the $100k mark last month in our investment accounts.

June 1, 2016: $102k

[dandypandys]

2015
Jan 1st: 98,437.97
Feb 1st: $96,898.03
Mar 1st: $103,345.54
Apr 1st: $103,819.64
May 1st $105,766.12
Jun 1st $106,565.54
Jul 1st: $105,252.33
Aug 1st: $106,267.37
Sept 1st: $99,122.12
Oct 1st: $99,291.91
Nov 1st: $105,204.00
Dec 1st : $107,535.51

2016
Jan 1st:$104,592.84
Feb 1st: $99,467.66
March 1st:$101, 189.11
April 1st: $107,119.81
May 1st: $107,369.22 
June 1st: $110,836.03  my contributions went up this month - so doing 10%-- it kinds hurts!
[/quote]

[Guava]

April 2016: $129,352
May 2016: $136,277

So surprised at the jump this month!

[onlykelsey]

May 31 vs April 30:

Assets
401(K): $90,280 $95,832
Roth IRA: $23,475 $23,994
Taxable Brokerage: $40,379 $43,970
Savings: $5,644 $4,435 (tapped this for a mortgage payment since my paycheck was too small after 401(K) deduction)
Total = $159,778 $168,231

Liabilities

401(K) loan: ($19,047) ($17,830)
HELOC: ($36,557) ($35,900)
CC: ($133) ($740) (maternity suits!  That's a thing!)
Total = $55,737 ($54,470)

Net worth = $104,041 $113,761  Up nearly 10K this month, which is great.

[TrMama]

I'm joining in. I've been falling victim to the siren call of lifestyle inflation lately. We thought we'd be getting a windfall, but now it looks like we need to keep waiting. I need some motivation to stay the course in the meantime.

1/7/2016: $119,563

Counting my liquid investments only. Not including home equity (we're not moving so it's moot), the kids RESPs or any of DH's assets.

[Teacherstache]

January 2015 = $138,250
August 2015 = $162,400
November 2015 = $173,500
December 2015 = $178,800
January 2016 = $191,200
February 2016 = $196,400
March 2016 = $200,800

I didn't update for April. I guess I forgot. It has been a busy couple of months.

May 2016 = $212,100

[SpareChange]

March:  $109,021.70
April:    $115,969.24
May:     $120,397.76

Higher expenses in May...insurance premiums coming due mainly. Also got overcharged on my apt utilities, and declined some extra work to take time off for family/friends. Still, I'll take it :). 

[Tris Prior]

I'm jumping in! My numbers as of June 1:

401k: 78,286.66
Roth: 38,000 (and change; I don't have the statement on me right now but it was just a hair over $38k)
Emergency fund: 8,374.24

Total: 124,660.90

[tarheeldan]

4/30 - $229,057
5/29 - $243,638

Very good month but not for paying off the mortgage - my Roth is happy though. I think I should hit the goal by the end of July, 3 months ahead of target.

Nice!

[tarheeldan]

Always awesome to see everyone's progress!

I had a pretty good month, up 7.43% or $7,533.04 to $108,869.54. Soft target for the end of the year is $130k.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z8OcegKpbeNJoqSI0nzoBuypFKqDD7BT2SS60oFEeCw/edit?usp=sharing

[Uncle Scrooge]

Not really sure how my NW went up this month considering I just spent 7k on some home improvement projects. But hey, I'll take it!

Jan 1, 2015:     $125,000
Feb 1, 2015:     $129,700
March 1,2015:  $134,400
April 1,2015:     $147,700
May 1,2015:     $153,000
June 1,2015:    $155,600
July 1,2015:     $141,600
August 1,2015 $145,700
Sept 1, 2015   $145,240
Oct 1, 2015     $144,10   
Nov 1,2015     $157,000
December 1,2015 $157,600
January 1, 2016: $160,400
February 1,2016: $160,200
March 1,2016: $170,300
April 1,2016: $177,900
May 1,2016: $181,000
June 1,2016: $181,730

[ohyonghao]

This month I got approved for a Self Employment Assistance program, essentially I stay on Unemployment but no longer have to look for work while I start my own business.  We'll see how this goes, and if anyone is looking for someone to do a website or anything else software/computer related, PM me :-D

This months numbers:
May 2015:  $100,323.89
June 2015: $106,433.29
July 2015: $114,450.69
August 2015: $118,018.27
September 2015: $121,664.35
October 2015: $132,652.87
November 2015: $138,272.53
December 2015: $144,824.70
January 2016: $149,731.88
February 2016: $159,138.30
March 2016: $172,089.61
April 2016: $177,924.11
May 2016: $182,266.37

Our house is about to catch up with the market, so our days of 4k+ improvement may be coming towards an end.  This month we have two tenants renting our spare rooms which will help greatly.

[Prairie Gal]

   Cash & Investments
   
Sep 1, 2015   100,370
Oct 1, 2015   101,552
Nov 1, 2015   105,260
Dec 1, 2015   107,316
Jan 1, 2016   108,641
Feb 1, 2016   107,917
Mar 1, 2016   112,893
Apr 1, 2016   115,730
May 1, 2016   116,517
Jun 1, 2016   117,387

* does not include paid off house

[Mazzinator]

So happy to finally join you all. It took us 23 months to graduate from the $100k thread...hope to get to $250k in 18-24 months!!

Does not include real estate.

5/3/16 - $100,825

6/3/16 - $104,923

[Enough]

Slow and Steady

Jan-15    $103,510
Feb-15    $104,580
Mar-15    $113,223
Apr-15    $118,072
May-15    $122,214
Jun-15    $124,279
Jul-15    $126,969

Guessing that I'll hit it March 2018.

Aug-15    $121,517
Sep-15    $119,105
Oct-15    $130,210
   

Nov-15   $139,276
Dec-15   $142,945
Jan-16   $142,996
Feb-16   $145,610
Mar-16   $161,315
Apr-16   $161,141
May-16   $181,902


New estimate is Dec 2017 (rather than March 2018)

[Apples]

Nov. 1 2015:  $101,701.11 --- gain of $8,228.48
Dec 1 2015:  $106,488.64 --- gain of $4,787.53
Jan. 1 2016:  $107,709.77 --- gain of $1,221.14
Feb. 1 2016:  $106,318.40 --- loss of $1,402.91

Mar. 1 2016:  $108,550.55 --- gain of $2,232.15
Apr. 1 2016:  $115,724.63 --- gain of $7,174.08  woohoo market swing up!
May 1 2016:  $119,946.35 --- gain of $4,221.72

At this rate, we will have less of a net worth increase this year than we did last year.  We are saving slightly more than last year.  I've been forgetting to post on here the last few months-I need to get better about that!

June 1 2016:  $125,160.93 --- gain of $5,214.58

[BarbeRiche]

[mrteacher]

4/1: $100,869
5/1: $104,268
6/1: $107,087

Firmly into the $100,000 range, now. My goals for 9/1 were: $110,000 as a 'easy' goal, $115,000 as a 'reasonable' goal, and $120,00 as a 'stretch' goal. At this pace, I should come really close to my 'reasonable' goal of $115,000, and with a little extra side hustling combined with some nice market gains, I could make a run at $120,000!

9/1/2015 is when I started tracking NW (and I started following MMM in earnest last summer) and I was at $77,000...so cool to see that sort of increase!

[runrunruneateateat]

Thanks for the welcome, Tarheeldan! I'm happy to report some progress:

January 2016 $89,998
February 2016 $89,602
March 2016 ? (Didn't check)
April 2016 $104,073
May 2016 $103,790

June 2016 $107,546

My big goal is $120,000 by December 31, 2016. I'm hoping two small raises, in September and October, will help me get there. I also started walking to work rather than taking the subway, which is helping me put away an extra ~$100/month into my retirement account.

[ender]

I think we'll hit the end goal for a few days before our down payment check will clear (closing July 1, normally do end of month calculation for net worth).

How are you folks valuing your home? I'm tempted to put the value as an asset worth (purchase price) * (0.94) to account for the likely realtor commission when selling. Or leave it as the actual cost we paid for it, but that seems like cheating.

[onlykelsey]

How are you folks valuing your home? I'm tempted to put the value as an asset worth (purchase price) * (0.94) to account for the likely realtor commission when selling. Or leave it as the actual cost we paid for it, but that seems like cheating.

I'm not valuing my house in this thread, but in the 250 - 500 thread, I've been using zillow's zestimate (except when it sometimes goes crazy for a few weeks and ups my net worth by 50K).

[Guava]

How are you folks valuing your home? I'm tempted to put the value as an asset worth (purchase price) * (0.94) to account for the likely realtor commission when selling. Or leave it as the actual cost we paid for it, but that seems like cheating.

I leave mine as purchase price, which happened to be near the bottom of the market here. It is worth at least 50k more than I value it, but I never plan to sell it so I don't see much point in adjusting the value every month. I do adjust the values of investment properties about once a year though.

[ender]

How are you folks valuing your home? I'm tempted to put the value as an asset worth (purchase price) * (0.94) to account for the likely realtor commission when selling. Or leave it as the actual cost we paid for it, but that seems like cheating.

I'm not valuing my house in this thread, but in the 250 - 500 thread, I've been using zillow's zestimate (except when it sometimes goes crazy for a few weeks and ups my net worth by 50K).

This is what I'm worried about. Zillow's guesstimate is also about $40k lower than we paid for it currently, though that has jumped around a bunch...

Maybe I'll just stick purchase price there and update it every year never update it.

[Money Badger]

Hi all!   I've been MIA for a few months but am proud to say "the kid is back"!   Just paid off the auto loan i focused (er, obsessed) on the past few months and stached 5k in the investment account for this challenge to get back over $101k.    And on 7/1, will put the free cash flow of the former auto loan towards the mortgage payoff club...    I feel so "less dirty" now without that stupid auto debt...  ;-)