2014 turned out better than expected!

[firedup]

I reached fire this year. Woohoo!

Great thread. Enjoyed reading all the milestones.

[Grid]

3.) I found Satan! Great guy, got a bad rap back in the day. He's gonna teach me how to play the guitar.

He's pretty rad.

[Daisy]

4. Did the most grueling physical activity to date in my life. Cycled 330 miles in 7 days on a beautiful trip in the fall. I felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Damn!  330/7 = approx. 47mi/day.

Well, not to toot my own horn too much, but we had two 60 mile days back to back. And these were on gravel like trails with heavy-ish hybrid rental bikes. On rainy days it was a little muddy. Our leader told us a 60 mile day was equivalent to a 100 mile on a road bike.

I certainly was not ready for that type of exertion, so it was pure adrenaline and my will to complete the whole thing that got me through it.

My father is a positive thinker (totally unlike the rest of his family...he's a fluke in his family) and his positive words echoed throughout our upbringing kept me going. "I can and I will", "persistence, persistence, persistence", etc. He's a great man...of course I came back home and gave him a big hug for giving us this positive perspective in life.

[homehandymum]

2014 has been a massive year, with two major unexpected things in it.  These are both ultimately good things, but it always takes me a while for my brain to catch up with big changes of direction :)  It will be good for me to list it all out as thankfulness items, not "wow, did that really happen?!" items.

1.  We're having another baby!

2.  We bought a huge house! (which we could afford because of mustachian living - I vaguely feel like I'm not doing it 'right' because it is a really big house, but on the other hand, I LOVE it, and our mortgage, while being the biggest we have ever had ourselves, is still smaller than that of many of our friends.)

3.  We had 2014 pegged as being a 'year of austerity', to help get the kids on board with not having spendy art classes etc, in a big push to pay off our mortgage (interest rates are about 5.5% here).  Had we kept our too-small house, we'd have been completely freehold and debt free by the middle of 2015.  As it is, the 'year of austerity' has re-set our kids' expectations going forward, and we expect to be able to make significant inroads in our new mortgage next year.  So that was a good thing, too.

[Anatidae V]

I'm very happy with our list:
1. Got a kitten, an adorable little rescue who's snoozing on my feet right now
2. Got off the project at work that had driven me nuts
3. Got engaged to my SO! This was pretty much a year- long effort.
4. He finished his last exam for his bachelor's degree, just waiting on the result
5. Ended the year with a higher net worth than we started! Survived a second year relying on me as the primary income earner.

[DCUrbanMM]

1.  Planned on saving 55%.  We're actually on pace for about 62 - 65%. 
2.  Lost 30 pounds. 
3.  Reduced a lot of stress by changing my attitude/expectations toward work.  Surpisingly, I've had better-than-ever evaluations. 

[Ryan90UK]

Been a great year!
1) Graduated from uni (company paid)
2) found MMM
3) sold expensive car
4) will have cleared all debt by January 1st!
5) cycle to work every day

[thecornercat]

I'm so glad this thread exists. It made me realize that in all my stress, I haven't appreciated how many great things have happened this year.


--moved in with my wonderful partner
--sold (and published) my first poem
--sold my first book
--earned money freelance copy editing and proofreading
--discovered MMM and started tracking expenses
--formed some great new friendships


Since I'm back in grad school, and I'm not making much money beyond what I need to live on, I've been doing far better than I realized!

[Helvegen]

Been a mostly decent year.

1) Husband got a decent raise at the beginning of the year.
2) We had to move away from our gorgeous rental. Commute was too long.
3) However we found a bigger rental for $100 cheaper a month closer to my husband's job.
4) My brother got married and we all flew back to east to visit the family for the first time in three years.
5) We went on an Alaskan cruise with my family and some family friends. It was absolutely amazing.
6) I was offered a good opportunity to rejoin the workforce and took it up. We are basically banking all the money I am making and still living just on one paycheck.
7) I finally reached a normal BMI.
8) We were given a van for free.
9) I am finally making good progress on paying off my student debt.

[Apples]

We got married this year!  As of last weekend, we have been living together for 1 year, and married for 5 months-woohoo!  Best thing that could happen :)
2014 was the year of laying some groundwork.  My husband and I lived on a budget all year and found the areas that we need to make adjustments in.  In doing so, I learned he really needs a budget and strong boundaries on what to spend, b/c he will always spend $5 more than that, and I will just know that going forward.  We will never be one of those couples who just naturally saves a ton without a budget, though I was like that as a single person.
Our net worth increased by 50% which at least 40% of that is from savings and paying off student loans, which leads to...
We paid off 1 of 2 student loans this year!  If my husband keeps his current income of around $30k a year, we will pay off the last one October of 2015!

[PerpetualWanderlust]

- visited a few friends in 2 different continents (Europe & Australia) travel is my passion
- went from saving 40% to around 50% of my income
- opened up index funds
- cut commute time from 20 minutes driving to 10 minuted walking
- only bought new socks, new belt, and 3 new t-shirts for clothing expenses this year
- averaged 30 minutes a night on learning a new language

All in all, very happy of my first full year as a mustachian :)

[Adventine]

One more good thing that happened in 2014: after a few months of not talking to each other, I reconciled with a good friend with whom I had a serious argument. It feels really good to have that weight lifted off my shoulders. I didn't want to have to bring that ill will with me into the new year.

[Mississippi Mudstache]

Great thread. 2014 has been good to my family as well.

1) Received a larger-than-expected annual bonus in March, as well as several smaller, unexpected bonuses as well.  They added up to almost 15% of my salary (3-5% was typical in years past).
 
2) After several months of careful searching, I accepted a dream job, and in October, I moved my family from a crappy Mississippi town to a gorgeous island on the coast of Florida.

3) With my new job came a generous bonus (over 20% of annual pay), a modest salary increase (6%), and a better 401k match (3.6% better, to be exact).

4) Downsized our home from 1600+ sq.ft., 3 bed, 2 bath house to 800 sq.ft., 2 bed, 1 bath duplex. (We are a family of four: two kids, 3 years old and 18 months). This may not seem like an improvement to most folks, but we are loving it. We can see the ocean from our front porch, and we watch the sunrise every morning as I get ready for work. 

5) The kids started sleeping SO much better once we got them accustomed to sharing a bedroom. And we spend more time outdoors than ever before. It has been a tremedous improvement in lifestyle for us.

6) I traded my company-provided Ford F150, that I used to drive 30,000 miles a year, for a used Trek 750. We live 4 miles from my office, and I commute by bike every day. We are now a 1-car (2007 Prius) family.

7) Took some great vacations: A week on the coast of Maine in May, a week in North Carolina mountains in July, took off a week between jobs in October to explore our new island home, and we're looking forward to spending the next week with family in South Carolina and Georgia. I also got to visit Mt. Rainier during a business trip to Washington in November (it was awesome, but I wished my wife was there).

8) We hit a couple of financial landmarks this year. My spreadsheet told me that we should expect to end the year with a net worth just north of six figures. With all of the unexpected bonuses, we blew threw that by early October and we will end the year just north of 125k in liquid assets (barring a big drop). Hard to believe, considering that when I first added it up after discovering MMM in July 2013, we were under 40k. And this was all on a single-earner salary under 70k.

All in all, a great year. Still a few lingering issues. Mainly, we're trying to get our house in Mississippi sold. Our savings rate will be pretty unspectacular until we get it unloaded, but at least we have the room to pay the mortgage until it's gone.

[SouthernTransplant]

Really good idea for a thread.

1) Moved from the Midwest to a place in the South that we love (might have to change the user name...

2) Took a new job with a 15% raise, fewer hours, less stress, and shorter commute.

3) Had our first child!  We were able to pay the almost $7,000 out of pocket maximum from cash flow.

4) Wife transitioned to staying at home, while still keeping our 40% savings rate.

5) A number of small changes, including bringing lunch to work at least 4 out of every 5 days, selling 20+ items on Craigslist/Ebay for almost $1500, and starting to play the credit card reward game.

6) Paid Cash for a used car that I love.

7) Maxed out a Roth IRA, and changed 401(k) contributions to an amount that will max it next year.

Looking forward to 2015!

[Jon_Snow]

I posted earlier in the thread, but as the year comes to a close a bit more about my 2014.

1. As mentioned earlier, I ER'ed in September of 2014. This was THE biggie of the year.
2. I lost close to 50 pounds, and in general just became FITTER
3. NW eclipsed 2M early in 2014 (big factor in convincing me to ER)
4. touched a whale shark (largest fish in the world BTW) with my hand
5. spent a month in Mexico - my longest stint to date. Wonderful.
6. caught a yellowfin tuna, a dorado, and a wahoo on Mexico trip - all firsts for me.
7. learned how to stand-up paddleboard - still prefer kayaking though ;)

Probably missed a few things but, suffice it to say, 2014 was a banner year for yours truly. :)

[RunningWithScissors]

Loving this thread too - the wonky markets lately have distracted me from all the progress that's happened since January:

a) personal investments clicked over $400K in March and have grown since
b) hubby's investments clicked over $250K around the same time which is impressive considering he started from zero three years ago
c) hubby's business revenue is increasing leaps and bounds and he's putting all of the extra revenue into investments
d) starting a formal budget in January has helped control any spendypants tendencies towards food, eating out, and other non-essential treats
e) kids flew the nest and we've embraced our empty-nest lifestyle and reduced spending
f) made concrete plans including a timeline for FI/RE
g) overcame a major medical issue and have regained my health, if not my former fitness level

Life is good.

[Public Hermit]

-Cut Cable
-Switched to Ting
-Found this site through City-Data.
-Started getting quarterly bonuses at my job
-*Almost* Paid off student loans. Started off the year with $13,000. Now down to less than $2,000
-This is the first year I've had a positive net worth since 2008
-Kept up with physical fitness regimen. Got my first physical in 8 years and got a clean bill of health. Yay health insurance!
-Got braces(This is good and bad). The upside is that my teeth are so much more straight after only 11 months. Downside is the massive expense associated with this.

There's been a few negatives this year as well. I'd say I made par for the course. But then again, I'm a generally pessimistic person. I am working on this but it is difficult.

[Lian]

For a 3-year period prior to 2014, I thought I had lost almost everything – health, family, jobs, friends. Things have improved 100% in 2014.

     •   A good job - best work situation since 2008.
     •   Finally debt-free, and finally able to max out 401(k) and save a lot.
     •   Fully funded emergency savings.
     •   Realized I have enough saved so that basic living expenses can be covered indefinitely (in other words, FU money).  Feels great!
     •   Recent review showed that financial goals for the year were met and exceeded - feel confident about my financial future for the first time in years.
     •   Learning to meditate. Have gained some peace of mind.
     •   Realized that much of what I lost in the past few years were bad situations that needed to change. Sometimes personal loss or destruction pushes you into changes you really need to make but don'’t have the strength or understanding to accomplish without the push.
     •   Health news that was so devastating a couple of years ago doesn’t seem so bad now – I can adjust and still have a high quality of life.
     •   Will open a Roth IRA sometime in the next few days before 2015 (I’ve been procrastinating – where did the time go?).
     •   Had major maintenance and repairs done on my car which have been postponed for a long time.  It’s now good to go for at least another decade. Very relieved about it.

I could add more things to this list. I should probably make a list like this on a regular basis - I have become too used to looking over my shoulder for the next low blow. It did me good to review 2014 and give thanks for all the good things. Enjoy reading other posts about a good 2014.

[Capsu78]

-cut phone land line
-Wife successfully changed jobs within her company from Sales Management to Executive Management, all without seeing the comp plan until 4 months into the new job.  Sweated it out a bit as in April her YTD income was 50% lower than prior year.  Fortunately HR figured out a way to supplement her income to the "Ave of prior 3 years"...which were the highest income years of her career anyway.  Unexpected make up checks started rolling in unannounced, but we are back in balance again.
-I continue to shed clients and feel comfortable enough to not replace them...we think we can see FIRE from here for me and she loves her job.
-kids all live nearby (10 minutes away) and we get to spend major timeslots with the GC's as well as regular Sunday dinner.
- Collected a few more stamps in my passport that I didn't have and checked a couple boxes on  my bucket list
-Continued progress on paying off the mortgage, took on no debt and completed some major house improvements- new well pump, replaced garage floor and sidewalks and paid to have some yard improvements (beyond my skill level), paid all in cash.
Full health for everyone in the family; however reaching an age where several former schoolmates are facing serious medical issues- it is not lost on me how important good health is in any summery of my year in review.

On the downside, fewer business trips for me meant the end of a 4 year stint at Gold level airlines treatment- and it really takes some comfort out of air travel.  Fortunately my wife has made Executive Platinum, so travel with her can be very nice...even got kicked up to business class for a couple of overnight flights. 

[atromic]

2014 was a very good year.

1. Discovered MMM
2. Cut my monthly expenses by 50% (not including rent).
3. Got my Roth IRA out of the clutches of a company who was slowly bleeding away my principal with fees and opened up a Vanguard account.
4. Tripled my retirement savings.
5. Erased all my credit card debt
6. Went carless for several months before buying an awesome, reliable, practical car for a steal on Craigslist.

[londonbanker]

Great post

2014 was a great year for me too

- saw my baby daughter turn 1 and also witnessed her first steps at 14months old
- broke the $1m NW mark
- paid off 2of the 3 unsecured loans i had outstanding... Only 1 left and i will be left w the mortgage only
- managed to cut expenses and lifestyle to save 50% of our salaries
- found out my wife is pregnant again
- changed job, which is a lot more interesting but more stressful
- convinced the wife that we could retire in 2020 if we decided to... At least we'll be FI

[jexy103]

Great idea for a thread!

- First of all, I am thankful every day for my wonderful boyfriend, who moved in with me in 2014.
- This joining of resources also cut my monthly expenses by about 40%.
- About three weeks ago, we moved into a larger, quiter, nicer place that is closer to work... without increasing monthly expenses. :-)
- I now live about 1.5 miles from work and haven't driven to work for 6 days in a row! (3 days biked, 3 days walked.)
- I changed jobs from "just a job to pay the bills" to a career field that I'm interested in. (Same pay, but enjoy it a LOT more! And there's promotion potential, where I was about as high as I could get in my previous job.)
- Did some traveling- went skiing in the Rockies for the first time, went to a cousin's wedding, explored new places nearby.
- My brother and his girlfriend just got engaged today! :-)
- I'm on track to hit my 2014 net worth goal (though I missed my savings goal by about 3.5%- was shooting for 50%, so still very proud of myself!).
- Maxed out my 401(k) for the first time ever (this is my 3rd year of maxing my IRA).
- Opened my first taxable savings account in August, which is now over $20,000! :-o

So many great reasons to be thankful! :-)

[Chaplin]

1. Found MMM which helped put some structure around what I was already leaning towards.
2. Savings rate somewhere between 48 and 59% depending on how it's calculated.
3. Fifth consecutive year of lower electricity bill. This is not the budget item that needs the most work, but it's satisfying.
4. Started year thinking bonus at work wasn't possible, but it now looks like there will be one.
5. Set a target retirement date.
6. Ran the New York marathon and count it as an absolutely great experience.
7. Son continues to turn into a fine little human being.
8. Calculated that we could survive on either of our incomes, but that would push back any sort of retirement way into the future.
9. DW getting on board with retiring at the same time or sooner than me.
10. I've always been handy, but I'm tackling bigger and more satisfying projects now.

A few not so greats too:
1. Dislike for work keeps growing.
2. A bit too much alcohol (related to above item).
3. Too much car commuting (also related to item #1).

[Prepube]

• I've found Jesus.

Although I didn't find Jesus, I did have a "come to Jesus" moment.  The biggest accomplishment for the year was developing and refining the ER exit plan, and discovering I am ahead of schedule.

Congrats to the OP for all the brave things she did this year!  You are amazing, Adventine.

[2Birds1Stone]

Hmmm I like this thread idea.

2014 wasn't too shabby for me.

1) Discovered MMM
2) Increased savings rate to 50%
3) Started looking for higher paying career (Hopefully this comes to fruiting before the year is over)
4) Have a financial plan to reach FIRE by 40 years old
5) Finally hit the 6 figure net worth mark

I have to update my post, the career swap was a huge success!! Not only is it ~70% increase in pay but much more enjoyable work.

I have also started a spreadsheet to hold myself more accountable next year financially and started a journal here on this site =)

[Grid]

Hmmm I like this thread idea.

2014 wasn't too shabby for me.

1) Discovered MMM
2) Increased savings rate to 50%
3) Started looking for higher paying career (Hopefully this comes to fruiting before the year is over)
4) Have a financial plan to reach FIRE by 40 years old
5) Finally hit the 6 figure net worth mark

I have to update my post, the career swap was a huge success!! Not only is it ~70% increase in pay but much more enjoyable work.

I have also started a spreadsheet to hold myself more accountable next year financially and started a journal here on this site =)

Ooh, nice!  So if you were at x amount of pay, were spending .5x, but will now have 1.7x, your new savings rate should be more than 70%!  (1.7-.5)x/1.7 = approx. 71%.

[2Birds1Stone]

Ooh, nice!  So if you were at x amount of pay, were spending .5x, but will now have 1.7x, your new savings rate should be more than 70%!  (1.7-.5)x/1.7 = approx. 71%.

Haha in theory yes! However, I am going to enjoy some of that extra $$ in the "now" so to speak. The new budget will have me at 66% once I ramp up and the income stream is at the target level. Still shaving ~6 years off the FIRE number and indulging a little bit. 

[Grid]

Ooh, nice!  So if you were at x amount of pay, were spending .5x, but will now have 1.7x, your new savings rate should be more than 70%!  (1.7-.5)x/1.7 = approx. 71%.

Haha in theory yes! However, I am going to enjoy some of that extra $$ in the "now" so to speak. The new budget will have me at 66% once I ramp up and the income stream is at the target level. Still shaving ~6 years off the FIRE number and indulging a little bit.

I am looking for/will find a job in an entirely different field starting spring next year, and the pay increase from my first real job should be at least 100%.  We'll see how well I'll avoid lifestyle creep.   

It sounds like you won't be too bad if you already have a budget in place and are only dropping 5% from what an optimal no-change-in-spending would be. 

Edit:  It looks like you're killing 2 birds with 1 stone here.

[mnsaver]

This year has been up and down.

This time last year I was on unpaid medical leave due to depression and PTSD. I was completely nonfunctional and most therapy visits discussed if I needed to go inpatient. I went back to work mid Jan. Both my grandparents died this year. My Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died this fall.

Upside... the help helped and I'm better then ever. I can concentrate more and this has helped my work performance go from good to freakin' awesome. Multiple process improvements and awards. I had a rockin' good review and am being promoted to a different department when I get a big raise, shorter commute and the ability to work from home.

[powersuitrecall]

This was a big year for us. Although we had been doing a great job keeping costs down, we never really took a magnifying glass to it all.  I hope you will allow a little bit of self congratulations.  Here's what we did:

• We tracked all spending - Every cent is accounted for.
  
• We started planning meals - Our grocery/restaurant bill dropped by 30% !
  
• Our overall savings rate was 58%
  
• We stabilized our stash - Fired our FP, liquidated holdings (high MER funds/random stocks), and created a simple diverse portfolio of ETFs with a discount broker.  Best. Move. Ever.
  
• Created our first FIRE plan
  
• Finally, like many other posters here, I found this site - What a great community to learn and talk about FIRE!  Thank you MMM!
  

2015 is going to be even better! Yeah!

[LiseE]

Great year for us as well.  We ended 2013 having run out of heating oil three times because of late payments .. our finances were in shambles.  We ended  2014 with a surplus of 10K (never before seen in our bank accounts) despite having two salaries .. crazy right?

• Found MMM in April and aggressively started to budget to learn where all of our money was going
• Went from eating out several nights a week ($500 monthly eating out spending) to eating home 7 nights a week bringing our eating out spend to less than $50
• Starting in April we paid down our debt aggressively from 40K to just under 5K
• Started maxing out our 401K's
• Got our out of control grocery bill down but still working at it .. 2015 we will get it under control
• Started meal planning
• Cut the cable and got a roku 3
• Truly adopted a non-consumer centric way of life .. it pains me to spend and I love to see our stach grow!

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes in 2015!

[Adventine]

It's great to read so many people had a good 2014!

[Cookie78]

1) Discovered MMM
2) Figured out net worth and a plan to increase it faster
3) Calculated what I'm spending on things and where I can improve
4) New job back in my original field (which now allows me to bike or bus to work)
5) Started a blog and online business
6) Started fostering dogs
7) Started learning Spanish
8) New relationship

[Kwill]

It's nice to hear these positive thoughts. I have a lot to be thankful for, though I always manage to find something to worry about, too.

In 2014, I found MMM and finished reading through all the posts by early December. I switched to Republic Wireless and index funds. I've packed my lunch consistently since early fall, and I started riding my bike to work when sufficiently motivated and feeling positive about the weather--full switch to bike commuting will hopefully happen in 2015. I also became more conscious about my car travel and started combining trips and choosing local options more often. I started too late to max out my 403b, but I had HR put my entire paychecks from October, November and December in it to catch up as much as I could, spending down my bank account emergency fund instead. I've more than doubled my small retirement savings, and it's worked out alright because I'm spending a lot less than I used to.

Meanwhile my parents and siblings and I are in good health. My grandfather's wife, who was diagnosed with cancer in February, seems to be better now.

[Calvawt]

I pretty much doubled my savings rate, started my own early retirement blog, and started teaching personal finance classes to employees at my work (was previously just a credit score education class).  I also think my net worth is going to increase by $100k in 2014.  I also got an incredible deal on installing solar panels on my house. 

I'd say it was a good year.