End of a decade! Where did you start and where are you now?

[RetirementDreaming]

2010:  The year I found MMM.  285K net worth, 42.7k of credit card debt.  Two kids (4 and 2 years old, 2 full-time working parents.  Lots of stress.

2020:  Retired Oct 2019.  1.9M net worth, no credit cred debt.  Same kids, same husband, husband to retire in 2020.  Less stress on everyone.

[obstinate]

Started out the decade with about 100k to my name, newly married, the whole world in front of me. Now we have two challenging but beautiful boys, I love my wife more than ever, and we've accumulated millions of dollars in savings -- enough to drop out of the rat race today if desired. I'm looking forward to what the next decade will bring. Hopefully an end to this cough I've had for the last week!!!

[jps]

2010:  The year I found MMM.  285K net worth, 42.7k of credit card debt.  Two kids (4 and 2 years old, 2 full-time working parents.  Lots of stress.

MMM started the blog in April 2011.

[Just Joe]

The “Great Recession” led to a dicey employment situation. I was too low on the pecking order to last much longer. Small engineering firm had laid off a handful of folks already. Started looking, found the job I have now. Was glad to leave engineering firm behind. Hindsight says I was prob safe and secure. For management talk was cheap so it was wise to never count on anything they said. Too many hrs for their modest salary. Next rung up the ladder represented a little more money and a lot more stress.

2010 – DW was working on her degrees. Still trying to make her career path work. I was situated finally. We had two kids and a comfortable home in a LCOL small town that was starting to grow.

We were financially treading water. Paycheck to paycheck. Tiny savings efforts. Debt. I was aware of DR. Along the way good friend casually mentioned MMM. Found Mint.com. Began self-studying. Finally seeing where the money was going opened our eyes.

DW had student loan debt from master’s degrees. We got serious and creative and a nice new BMW’s worth of consumer and student debt was gone in a couple of years. Read the forums here for inspiration and seeing the needle move on our financial plans was encouraging. Went from the wrong kind of compound interest to the right kind.

After a lot of hard work and several homeruns DW landed the kind of career path she wanted. She’s doing better than me and I am so proud of her.

2020 – We’re both happily still at the same jobs. We could both likely make more $$$ but at the expense of the comfortable life with two jobs that offer some flexibility where it matters. We still live in the same growing town. Its an easy place to live. We hop in the car occasionally and ride to the big city to attend live performance events or sporting events. We come back home and we are thankful we don’t have to cope with the big city on a regular basis.

Along the way: serious DW health problems that lasted over a year, miscarriage again (we’re done), house upgrade (we own two, other going away this spring), raising two teens today. One exiting (we are optimistic) a period of emotional crisis, the other still figuring out what they want to be when they grow up (uh, right now). We both need to lose lbs. Still optimizing in small ways. Still have our Honda daily driver from 20 years ago.

Along they way: I learned a lot about people and their motivations. Helped define some dysfunction we’ve witnessed close to us. Forum wisdom: ignorant people make poor choices all over. Yes Virginia, families can be messy. Move on. The forums provided a good dose of group counseling for which I’m thankful.

Went from -$60K to +$350K over this decade. Late bloomers so we’ll likely retire at ~60 yrs old.

[Dicey]

I'm kind of proud of myself.

Hopefully more than kind of...

As well you should be!

[Freedom2016]

2010: In January, I was newly dating a great guy. That eventful year would include running a marathon, getting married, and getting cancer (latter two almost on the same day). I wasn't tracking NW at the start of the year, but by the end of 2010 NW was in the low 6 figures.

A lot happened in the '10's: I underwent 5 surgeries over five years (re cancer); we had 2 kids; we moved from MA to CA and back to MA again; we bought 3 houses (and sold two); I left a toxic work situation; DH was a SAHP for 5 years.

In 2019 we spent our first Christmas in our forever home - a historic reproduction on 3 acres surrounded by woods. By then we had added over $1m to net worth since 2010.

The decade was good to us. Thanks for starting this thread.

[arebelspy]

At the beginning of 2010, we were net worth negative. We were living in a small condo and had purchased our first rental property about a year before. Both properties were underwater. We were in our early twenties and just 2 and 3 years into teaching careers, respectively.

At the beginning of 2020, we are in our mid-30s, have three kids, a house we like quite a bit, got to travel the world for three years, and have a net worth approaching 2MM. Oh, and we've been early retired for approximately half the decade (June 2015). So really, most the financial growth was the first half of the decade. Most the second half was traveling and growing the family.

We are very privileged.

[iris lily]

We are old.

In 2010 we were working jobs and had assets of $1.5m.

Now we are retired and have assets of around $2.2m, and of that about $1.8m in financial instruments. I don’t know the exact amount now because we haven’t finalized our asset snapshot for December 31, 2019.

We have been spending down assets for 5 years during our retirement.

If we would turn on all spigots of pension and Social Security income we would take in $83,000 annually which is approximately the amount we spend annually.

This is a good place to be.

[SwordGuy]

At the beginning of 2010, we were net worth negative. We were living in a small condo and had purchased our first rental property about a year before. Both properties were underwater. We were in our early twenties and just 2 and 3 years into teaching careers, respectively.

At the beginning of 2020, we are in our mid-30s, have three kids, a house we like quite a bit, got to travel the world for three years, and have a net worth approaching 2MM. Oh, and we've been early retired for approximately half the decade (June 2015). So really, most the financial growth was the first half of the decade. Most the second half was traveling and growing the family.

We are very privileged.

And thanks for sharing how you did it!   I learned a number of very useful things about real estate investing from you and that encouraged us to invest ourselves.    Cut years off our FIRE date!

[arebelspy]

That's awesome, really glad to hear that. :)

A few people have messaged me similar things. But how many thousands read the posts, and what small percent took action? Kudos to you for making it happen!

[sixwings]

About -30K NW, 1M now! Pretty pumped with all I achieved last decade. 10 years ago I was a broke college student working a full time job as a desk clerk at a hotel and doing full time classes. Life has certainly changed a lot.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Well, this thread has really driven home just how completely shit the last decade has been. I could possibly take comfort in the fact that I've managed to get out of it without too much damage, rather than just comparing myself to others here, but on the whole I just feel kind of crappy and stuck and lost. So.... I'm currently making a five year plan, with check points and task break downs and subtasks and all the rest of the stuff. And I've also started a journal to document good days, achievements, celebrations etc etc so that I can actually remember there was good stuff when the crappy-stuck-lost comes around again.

[arebelspy]

Well, this thread has really driven home just how completely shit the last decade has been. I could possibly take comfort in the fact that I've managed to get out of it without too much damage, rather than just comparing myself to others here, but on the whole I just feel kind of crappy and stuck and lost. So.... I'm currently making a five year plan, with check points and task break downs and subtasks and all the rest of the stuff. And I've also started a journal to document good days, achievements, celebrations etc etc so that I can actually remember there was good stuff when the crappy-stuck-lost comes around again.

Oh, there was plenty of bad stuff. There currently is, as well. But best to focus on the good when looking back, IMO.

And while our bads probably don't compare, and it's very relative, know you aren't alone. I'm sorry you had a rough decade. Here's to the next one being much, much better. :)

[clarkfan1979]

I was 30 years old and still had 1.5 years left of grad school. I had a net worth of around -5K. I owned a single family home near the University with about 50K worth of equity. However, I had around 55K of student loan debt.

I was dating a girl. She had a net worth of around -10K. She had around 15K of credit card debt, but had 5K in a 401K.

I married that girl in 2012. We now have a two year old son, a net worth of around 730K, despite only making around 85K/year over the past 8.5 years. Considering our income, I think we have made good progress.

[mspym]

End of 2009, I'd been living in a brand new country for just over 6 months, was hearts for eyes for a woman who ended up doing a real number on my head and my confidence, and had maybe $20k in the bank. I had however taken advantage of the exchange rate to pay off my student loan! I was also being paid more money for less work that any time in my previous working history.

Now, I'm married to the first actual Grown Up I've ever dated, we just hit $1.2M in collective net worth and we are 4-5 years away from FI. I feel so lucky and the money is the least of it.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Well, this thread has really driven home just how completely shit the last decade has been. I could possibly take comfort in the fact that I've managed to get out of it without too much damage, rather than just comparing myself to others here, but on the whole I just feel kind of crappy and stuck and lost. So.... I'm currently making a five year plan, with check points and task break downs and subtasks and all the rest of the stuff. And I've also started a journal to document good days, achievements, celebrations etc etc so that I can actually remember there was good stuff when the crappy-stuck-lost comes around again.

Oh, there was plenty of bad stuff. There currently is, as well. But best to focus on the good when looking back, IMO.

And while our bads probably don't compare, and it's very relative, know you aren't alone. I'm sorry you had a rough decade. Here's to the next one being much, much better. :)

Very kind words, thanks. You know how it is - you compare your behind the scenes with other people's best stagecraft! Anyway, onwards and upwards.

[Spitfire]

Found an old net worth calculation of mine from 12/31/09, in the decade I went from 8k invested (Brokerage, Roth IRA, 401k) to 525k invested. Single, from age 29-39, with income ranging from the 90's to just over 100k in that time period.

[engineerjourney]

2010: Was in the middle of getting a masters degree in engineering that I didn't necessarily need/want but since there were no jobs to be had when I graduated undergrad at the perfect time to hit the great recession it ended up being the best choice.  Paid for it through scholarship by staying at the same school and a kick-ass TA position that provided tuition and a stipend!  Had around $25K in student loans from undergrad that weren't accruing interest while in school so I left them alone while keeping almost the same amount in the bank to save for a house (obsessed with houses since age 13, now wished I had invested it!).  Had met my now DH a couple years before and we were renting a crappy apartment together while biking to school and working part-time jobs. It was one of the most fun years of my life and we barely owned anything! (Later found out he had $125K in student loans) so my net worth probably $0, his -$125K. 

2019: Married to DH, two kids, probably more coming.  Bought three houses, sold two in that timeframe and bought a dream home this year (still house obsessed).  Both of us have steady and pretty relaxed engineering jobs that allow for flexibility.  Joint net worth is now more than $700K with only mortgage debt.  Found MMM in 2014 and make lots of financial mistakes before then but overall this decade was pretty good with lots of life milestones! Never thought I would be living where I am today so I am interested to see what happens in the next decade!

[marcus_aurelius]

I love this thread!

2010: I was 37, my wife was 35.
Net worth: ~$500K
~240K in retirement savings (IRA, 401K)
260K in cash (we were saving like crazy to buy our house in VHCOL SF bay area. We used $240K as a 25% down payment in 2011)
No investments outside of retirement, but no loans either.

Today: I’m 46, wife is 44.
Net worth: ~$3.7M
Retirement savings (IRA, 401K): $1,140K
Stocks: $810K (mostly in index funds, but I also invested heavily into Apple, NFLX, MSFT, Google, Amazon starting in 2013)
Home equity: $1.4M (current value $1.9M minus remaining mortgage balance $380K)
REITs: $165K
Cash: $115K

Looking back, I can’t believe these numbers. Einstein was right — compound interest is a powerful force!

This was all due to a combination of (mostly) luck and (some) smart thinking. Both of us got substantial raises at work and although we spent more, we still continued to save over 50% of our salaries. This blog taught me that I had way too much cash, and I moved ~130K into stocks last June.

We’ve a couple of teenagers heading off to college in a few years. I’m not stressing out about tuition. I’ve been exposing them to investing in equities and they know better than spending $100K per year at a private school.

Excited to see what the next decade brings. I feel cautiously optimistic and count my blessings every day.

[BigLumox]

2010- (-400k)
2020- 900K

[triple7stash]

Love the thread.  Very motivating to see what can be accomplished in a decade.

2010: ~$3k net worth / 18 years old

Went off to college and graduated in 2015 debt free (worked throughout college).  Landed first "career" job in government in September 2016.  Making ~$35k salary.

2020: ~45k net worth

Still working for the government with a ~$65k salary.

[EliteZags]

2010: finishing a masters which I milked for way longer than it should've taken to avoid entering the real world, started first engineering job at bottom rung of payscale in HCOL Newport Beach, ~$40K student loan debt

2020: approaching $500K, with taking over a full year off after a buyout/layoff in 2018, spent the year really just partying(economically) 4-5nights a week while NW rose ~15% in that period

a few things that would've gotten me a lot further:
-paid off (low interest) student loan debt way too quickly (~2yrs?) missing out on a lot of great market action
-took way to many years to start consistently maxing 401K and Roth
-allocation could have been better with my horizon/risk tolerance, too much in target date funds (excess international exposure, ER), put a lot into Vanguard Wellington/Wellesley which have been useless. Been slowly transitioning everything towards more VTSAX/VIGAX/Fidelity Total Market Index

[therethere]

Holy crap this was eye opening and actually helped bring some positivity in this last couple weeks I've been having.

I wasn't even tracking my net worth 10 years ago. Mid 2007 I was just getting my head wrapped around the student loan and car loan mess we got ourselves into.

1/2010: (-145k) NW - 25 years old.  I had just been forced out of my first "career" job due to performance Dec 2009. I actually had to beg them to let me stay on from Sept to Dec since I had zero savings and an obscene amount of loans. This was a very down time in my life. I don't have net worth numbers, but my spreadsheet says we had ~170k in loans, no cash savings, and 25k in 401k's. So let's say -145k NW
--In between events: 2.5 straight years of unemployment for me (I worked for $10 an hour after a year to minimize loan deferment), eloped for the tax refund and to get healthcare, a move across the country, found a job at a 35k paycut from my first job, 1 layoff with 8 months off for DH.

1/2015: +140k NW - I found MMM in early 2014. 2015 was when we paid off all our private, high interest loans and changed from aggressively paying loans to contributing to a brokerage account. Very awesome time in our life. We were on a good money and job path and had a great sense of community in our city.
--In between events: another layoff for DH and some lapses in contracting added up to around a year off of work total and a paycut. Started job with no 401k. Started traveling internationally 1x/year and loosening up the budget overall.

1/2020: +803k NW 35 years old - Just hit our number in retirement accounts to meet our 60YO retirement requirement. Renting a subpar rental but feel priced out of our city from paying down loans and saving instead of buying a home during a huge surge in home prices. At a crossroads in taking a sabbatical or forging on. Long since burned out due to boredom.


I'm surprisingly at another big down time in my life. It's partially anxiety due to having money and not letting myself do anything with it. Along with some other stuff.  It's funny. I was happiest when I was around 0-150k NW. Just shows that money =/= happiness. I also thought we'd take a sabbatical when we hit somewhere between 500-600k. But I'm afraid of having to spend down the money that came so fast and having to look for a job again (all our jobs took 6+ months of looking to get).

Things I could have done better... If I had taken a risk and bought a house around 2014 instead of saving, we'd be FI by now....