I hope everyone is having a good holiday season. I used to do a post like this once a year after being inspired by MMM's article "A brief history of the stash". It's one of my favorites and still keeps me motivated to this day to remind myself that I'm on the right track.
A little background about me. I'm a 29 year old single male serving in the US military and have been serving for just under 10 years now. For those not in the know, 10 years in is generally the half way point to the ever so sought after US military pension so it's an interesting time for me in my career. I started getting my financial act together around 2016 after I got tired of having a car payment. I initially followed Dave Ramsey's advice in saving up $1000 of "oh shit" money and basically threw everything else not designate for other bills at my car for about a year. At some point during that time of trying to pay off my mistake, I discovered MMM. I had just received an assignment to Europe and was really interested in MMM's unique money-saving and lifestyle advice, especially riding a bike.
I don't want to ramble on too much more about my history (I probably will) but I'll just give a brief summary of the last few years since I last posted. I had a bad taste in my mouth from my time working in the unit that I was with in Europe and opted to return to the US. Things were ok and my saving remained steady. Despite my income decreasing due to cost of living adjustments from the military, my actual cost of living also went down, so things balanced out relatively well. I went on a tax-free (other than payroll taxes), rent-free deployment for 6 months which allowed for a huge boost in my savings that year, making up for expenses that I had when I first moved back to the states (car and such). Despite my previous eagerness to return to the US, I quickly grew tired of my typical suburban US city that I was living in and started to really miss Europe. I've since been fortunate enough to be able to come back and am back to my more bike-friendly and just all around higher quality and better paying life. I also enjoy where I'm working more this time around.
Anyway, here's a quick rundown of my net worth over the years. Shout out to Mad Fientist's lab for keeping my numbers saved before I discovered Personal Capital. I'm not sure if they're all accurate but it's all I've got to go off of right now.
Nov 2017: $12,000
Jan 2019: $43,000
Jan 2020: $105,000
Oct 2020: $190,000
April 2022: $200,000
May 2023: $240,000
That brings us to basically the end of 2023. As of writing this, my net worth is sitting at $292,000. Things are generally going well. I achieved all of my previous promotion goals at work but I'm a little bit unsure how how hard I want to try to continue to promote. I enjoy the job I've always done and have grown a more broad understanding of things and thoroughly enjoy trying to improve processes and improve upon, if not eliminate inefficiencies as I see them (there's plenty of them in gov't work). I do feel a little bit like a spoiled child at times in my own head though, because I know that if I want to promote anymore, I will have to start pursuing college classes aggressively and I'm not sure that that's what I want to do because to be frank, it's time in my day that I can currently dedicate to literally anything else that I enjoy.
In regards to spending and saving, I do find myself taking my foot off of the gas pedal a bit. I still don't spend a lot, but I find myself spending a lot more on comfort than I did when I first started this journey. Things like nice clothes that are an upgrade in my opinion from my old wardrobe. I also expect to spend a bit more on vacations now that I'm back in Europe. All things that I'm ok with. I don't want it to sound all bad. I've maxed out my IRA and TSP (401K) pretty much every year since I think 2018. I'm seeing compound interest start to do its thing. My net worth grew around the same if not more than I made in salary this year.
All in all, I think things are coming together and FIRE is becoming more and more of a reality. I'm starting to see the military more and more as an option. While I do still enjoy what I do, I don't feel pressure to reach for imaginary brass rings to promote or to be anything but myself while I'm there. The pension and tricare is certainly something that keeps me going as well. The 4% rule is great but a cherry on top in the form of a pension and affordable healthcare in the US of all places is my safe space.
Any advice? Any criticism? I hope it was a decent read for you guys and that you all have a happy holiday season!
