Bogleheads.org

Thank you for recommendations! I think I am going to stick with San Diego.

I never am disappointed and want to keep exploring how I can build a part time in San Diego part time in Colorado lifestyle going forward.

Glockenspiel wrote: ↑Mon Mar 13, 2023 12:57 pm Me - Civil Engineer with a 4-person team under me, 15 years experience = $138k + 10% target bonus
Spouse - Family Nurse Practitioner working ~0.7 FTE = $105k annually
Royalties for oil extracted from land owned =about $180k annually

Total household income = about $425k annually

How did you get the royalties?

Hello, We are expecting our second child this October 2023 and are hoping to overlap some maternity/paternity leave and spend some time together as a growing family. Targeting a month and would like to get out of Colorado from around mid January to mid February to somewhere warmer. Thinking of either Scottsdale or San Diego as we are going to road trip it out (no airplane with 2 little ones). Any pro snowbirds out there with recommendations on a good way to do this? This is still far out 2024 but looking to plan it now so we commit and make it happen. Some Questions: -Best time to book? -Best way to get a good price for a minimum month stay, potentially off apps like Airbnb to save owner and us fees? -Locations in desert of AZ or around San...

2.4

All debt is mortgage debt ranging from 3%-3.6%

Would go higher if it was to finance a great rental property or business.

Cheez-It Guy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:23 pm

broncocountry25 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:22 pm

Cheez-It Guy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:04 pm

broncocountry25 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:53 pm Wrote a check to myself and my wife that we would hit $600,000 at 30.

I don't understand. You wrote a check?

Haha, yes. To motivate myself for a goal I put in writing.

It worked!

I'm glad it worked, but I'm still very confused on the mechanics. How much was the check written for, and what did you do with it?

I think you might be overthinking it?

I took an actual check and wrote it out to myself and my wife for $600,000 and stashed it (For Fun).

Something to keep us motivated, we wrote 30th birthdays in the memo line.

It wasn't a situation were we went and cashed an actual check.

At 30 we had reached a networth of more then a million.

Cheez-It Guy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:04 pm

broncocountry25 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:53 pm Wrote a check to myself and my wife that we would hit $600,000 at 30.

I don't understand. You wrote a check?

Haha, yes. To motivate myself for a goal I put in writing.

It worked!

Wrote a check to myself and my wife that we would hit $600,000 at 30.

Really don't know why I picked that amount. We ended up hitting $1M at 30. That was 2020 before kids.

Now I invest aggressively for my kids futures, to be able to start more businesses, and to hopefully help out family down the road.

A friend mine, who is not a BH, read some of this thread and said- and I quote: " I am calling BS on this thread. Most of those responding are exaggerating their amount of wealth." I tried to explain to him that the folks here are atypical of the majority, live below their means, successful, and financially driven. He doesn't' believe me or what the responders here have stated. I think most people dream of having a $1M+ net worth, but they never take the steps to achieve the goal. Most of our friends make pretty good money, but somehow manage to live paycheck to paycheck. We don't talk about finances much with our friends, but I've heard enough general comments to know that investing in the stock market is not important to them. ...

I commend you for taking action at 48. It seem to me like the older someone is if they have never invested they begin to never even try, so great job on that! I am on the younger side so for me it was once my portfolio got some critical mass and realizing I had the timeline for it to grow. I think in buckets for investing. So at this point my wife and I will have an above average retirement with a high level of success. That is really the only time I felt more excited. I do not think it was a dollar amount (I do have a 7 figure investment portfolio now though if it helps). Now I do not feel the pressure that I must remain in any career path or situation, I still need to earn income but I do not get as stressed about day to day as I once did.

I am curious to get a sample size of Bogleheads in 2023. If anyone wants to contribute please answer the following. [snip] Just curious... how do you plan to use this information to inform your own decisions, that is, how is this personally actionable? We have people here with a wide range of careers, incomes, family circumstances (married/single, kids or not, etc.), cost of living (New York or San Francisco vs. Podunk), lifestyle expectations, etc.). Many of the responses so far don't include such information, so it's hard to compare them with one's own situation. It seems to me that if you want help in deciding how to set your financial goals for retirement, you ought to give that sort of information about yourself, so as to encourage pe...

mcw wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:29 am 52 years old

$10,000,000 target

59, when my youngest son is targeted to graduate college

I think you are the high watermark!

Seems like the range of BH's goals is anywhere from $1-$10M, with most falling under $5M.

I am curious to get a sample size of Bogleheads in 2023. If anyone wants to contribute please answer the following. How old are you today? What is your portfolio target size for retirement in PV dollars? What age are you targeting full retirement? ------------------------------------------------------- I am curious where the BH crowd stands. For me it is the below: How old are you today? 32 Current portfolio value? What is your portfolio target size for retirement in PV dollars? $5,000,000 What age are you targeting full retirement? 60 :sharebeer Would recommend adding one more line to the template . Me: Current age: late 30s Current portfolio: ~$1.3m Target portfolio (PV): ~$1.5m Age to stop corporate America: late 30s Added

I am going to front load and then aggressively save each month in my daughters fund (she will be 2 in June).

We are hoping to have another child that we can transfer to if she doesn't need. Now with the tax updates you can move $35k to Roth for your kid (pretty amazing) if you don't use it all.

Also if my kids decide to have kids I would want to help them with college costs, so I could use any additional left over and move it into grandkids names.

I think it is a pretty nice bucket. Just make sure to save for yourself first.

Exodus wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:09 pm Posting now so that when I look back I'll have a good laugh.

How old are you today? 33
What is your portfolio target size for retirement in PV dollars? $2.5M
What age are you targeting full retirement? 55

-Exodus

See you in 22 years!

Normchad wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:03 pm My plan has always been to have 4M at age 65. I came up with that plan in 1992.

I’m sticking to that plan.

I’m currently 53.

You are getting close!

I am curious to get a sample size of Bogleheads in 2023.

If anyone wants to contribute please answer the following.

How old are you today?
Portfolio Value Today
What is your portfolio target size for retirement in PV dollars?
What age are you targeting full retirement?
-------------------------------------------------------
I am curious where the BH crowd stands.

For me it is the below:

How old are you today? 32
Portfolio Value Today? $1,075,000
What is your portfolio target size for retirement in PV dollars? $5,000,000
What age are you targeting full retirement? 60

Edited by request to add current portfolio.

Everyone has to do what they are comfortable with.

I think its important to be invested in what you understand and trust. That sounds like the townhouse for your parents.

I am doing the same general thing. Diverting money from traditional retirement accounts to pull forward expenses I will have before 60. We did a great job hammering the retirement accounts in our 20's. Still do Roth IRA's (backdoor), matching 401K amount, HSA. Now in our 30's I want to front load 529(s) and load up taxable more. My goal is to have college funds and large taxable to retire in early 50's when kids go to college. I don't know anyone personally who retired earlier then 60 when they don't have the money in accounts like taxable/real estate/etc. I am avoiding the OMY trap in my 50's that I know I would do. We will own a family house until then, at that point I see selling that and buying a condo cash for whatever the equity is wo...

There is a lot of planning on this forum and different people with various scenarios they are planning for.

For those who are retired now.

What was something you feared that could potentially happen in retirement that did or did not happen?

Some more information, I didn't do a great job on my original post. The reason for 5 years is because that is when my dad would move to the state I am currently living in. He is out of state and waiting for his last kid to graduate high school. Wants his other son to be able to finish school with same friend group. So the agreed upon time frame is 5 years, which I feel like is long enough to take him up on the offer. The house is really nice and we have the opportunity to live in something we would not have experienced at this point in our life. We would be able to start our daughter in a good elementary school while we are in that house and then keep her there with school of choice as our current house is in the same school district. My da...

Hello BHs, Myself and my family bought a home in Oct 2021 with a yard and more space to continue expanding (have one daughter hoping to add another kid in next year or two). We now find ourselves in a unique situation where we have been offered to live in my dads "retirement home" and only pay utilities and $500/month for "rent" for 5 years. This is a pretty generous offer since our current PITI is $3K a month plus utilities. It has really messed with me though because we worked so hard and made sure we could easily afford our current house and we like it. The house we would be living is about 3x the cost of our current house, in other words I would not be able to afford this house currently otherwise. We are going to ta...

We have lowered ours to company match + Roth IRAs

Personal choice for us, not saving for a home, saving for early retirement. Want to have money outside of tax advantaged to be more comfortable to ACTUALLY retire early.

Not do OMY as so many do and then over save and get less out of my money. Also want confidence to potentially start a business, take gap years, etc.

I am observing my parents and seeing how they are doing much less in 60+ retirement then what I envision. I think they just don't care to get out of their daily routine, I don't see this changing as they age.

I think a lot of people on this forum will die with many extra dollars to hand down to kids.

It doesn't feel different because the people in your bubble are also high income. My spouse and I do really well in comparison to all of my family (siblings, parents, cousins, etc), and I don't feel wealthy until we have a family get-together and all they do is complain about money, jobs, and how expensive things are. Meanwhile, my spouse and I don't care about prices and buy what we want as long as it's a good value. I've also found that earning good money hasn't "changed" anything for me other than less money stress, more responsibility, less personal time, and the realization that we'll likely be able to comfortably retire by the time we reach our early 50s. I received about a $40,000 raise at work within the last month. It wa...

I was told by somebody in my MBA class that your life doesn’t change until 25 mil/year income. That’s when you can afford private jets and yachts and that’s when your life really changes. I accepted my fate of upper middle class so I don’t pine for those. The work to start a successful business to get to that level is not worth it to me. I would hope that life would change at $25M/YR haha! I think you missed the point. The point is that even if you make $20 mil a year, it's not enough for private jets and yachts. So you have a long ways to go to really change your life (including most of us on this forum). So instead of pining for some lifestyle we will only see on Instagram (yachts, private jets, vacation homes in Swiss Alps), be happy wi...

I enjoy having a diversified Boglehead portfolio. I also enjoy having diversification in rentals. My rentals have been amazing investments but that is one small sample in an area that has appreciated and that has growing rents. I have been able to secure long term financing on rentals at 3.6% and have a property manager for both that reduces the time I spend thinking about them. Personal residence is another thing all together. We love our house and it has appreciated locked in 3% financing. I don't believe its an investment, its a hedge on our cost of living in an expensive area, and it matches our needs at this time in our lives. I also like grilling a fat steak in my backyard and walking the park with my family. I actually love my home, ...

Starbase wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 1:50 am I was told by somebody in my MBA class that your life doesn’t change until 25 mil/year income. That’s when you can afford private jets and yachts and that’s when your life really changes.
I accepted my fate of upper middle class so I don’t pine for those.
The work to start a successful business to get to that level is not worth it to me.

I would hope that life would change at $25M/YR haha!

You’re doing well. Don’t be despondent. I’ve found at roughly double your liquid net worth (20X expenses), things begin to look like cruise control (I’m mid 40s). I.e. not much to screw up/improve. Discretionary expenses have started to creep up, but expect to reduce as kids get thru grade school and I can use college funds! Keep on truckin’. It’s a marathon not a sprint (I keep telling myself….) Makes sense, I am in the messy middle right now. I will carry on and I know that it will look good in a decade. The OP and responses are totally resonating with me. Definitely a marathon vs a sprint...but being frank, if you get too focused on this stuff, it is really just a long slog. One foot in front of the other, staying the course, for a long...

keith6014 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 8:20 am op,
Have you though about k-12 schooling (private vs public)?

The plan as of now will be public. Have to admit I am a new parent and don't know what I don't know so this could potentially change. I was a product of public school and turned out ok.

For those with kids living in a HCOL area... Do you feel short of a massive windfall you are "locked in" to your lifestyle until your kids leave the house? We started saving early and earn a good amount each year but now that we are starting a family I do not feel like our life is that much different then others. I guess I thought (maybe being naïve) that at a certain income/networth life would start to feel different. In reality it doesn't, it feels almost exactly the same but with more responsibility. All this to say that I think I have realized that unless I start my own successful business I will really live the same lifestyle for the next couple decades if I want to save as aggressively going forward as I did the last decade...

My 2 cents: if you can grow your income a bit more I think you may start to feel a bit different as others have said. Over past 4 years (thanks to company change and promotions) I’ve gone from earning 275k in 2018 to 500k in 2021 (2022 still yet to be determined as bonus will be set in January, but should likely be at least flat to last year), single earner household in NYC. My annual savings have been 100k+ for the last 3-4 years (though I have to say I feel a bit shamed by this forum given the savings numbers I see from others with lesser income). Regardless, the big jump first to high 300s and then mid 400s really changed my perspective on sweating some of the expenses and splurges that we’ve decided to allow ourselves (luxury car + gar...

You’re doing well. Don’t be despondent. I’ve found at roughly double your liquid net worth (20X expenses), things begin to look like cruise control (I’m mid 40s). I.e. not much to screw up/improve. Discretionary expenses have started to creep up, but expect to reduce as kids get thru grade school and I can use college funds! Keep on truckin’. It’s a marathon not a sprint (I keep telling myself….) Makes sense, I am in the messy middle right now. I will carry on and I know that it will look good in a decade. The OP and responses are totally resonating with me. Definitely a marathon vs a sprint...but being frank, if you get too focused on this stuff, it is really just a long slog. One foot in front of the other, staying the course, for a long...

broncocountry25, I would say, I am in your shoes. When I did projected net worth at 50, I realized I need to shake this feeling and focus on living happier and healthy life. I calculated what I will be worth and if I continued as I am doing until age 50. The net worth number looked awesome. But that also means, being cautious with money as I am now. Saving as much as I can. It felt like a slog. Then I made the calculation for what if I saved 50K less. Still pretty good and will lead a comfortable life with kids launched. Then I did the math for if one spouse stopped working today, I would still be on my way to lean to regular-ish fire. That's when it hit me, it is much more of waiting game. Any misfortune on one of our job losses, a health...

Did you start feeling different about money at a certain age or income? I am losing sight of the point of saving so much at this point and am looking for perspective. Age has nothing to do with it. It's a combination of how close to your target FI number you are relative to income. The income HAS to be high to some extent unless you are close to or at retirement because you need a lot of disposable income to spend on lifestyle. That's money leftover after all savings goals are met. I'd consider 300k high, but not very high income in a HCOLA. I may even only call it "high-ish" income. I think in an HCOLA, 400k is high income, which works out to two high earning professionals. I'd say you need >600k to be very high income. Grossly,...

For those with kids living in a HCOL area... Do you feel short of a massive windfall you are "locked in" to your lifestyle until your kids leave the house? 1) You are doing incredibly well. It is important to start there--nearly anyone in the world would trade places with you financially. It may not feel that way but you are crushing it and deserve to feel secure and psyched about where you are. Congrats! 2) As one who is 17 years ahead of you and with some similar characteristics--2 kids, HCOL, good income, savings rates, long term BH discipline--I can understand the feeling. You are probably in a better place than you think on a day to day basis. 3) Of course you could move to a LCOL, downsize housing costs, move your kids to a...

For me the change has not been age or income based but rather when my yearly saving amount started to have less and less significance on projections to my retirement number. When I started noticing that saving more or less didn't really change the final year I could achieve FI it gave me more confidence to spend a little more in areas I traditionally avoided (vehicle, vacations, ect). Still consider myself tilted towards super saver but feels good to see the behavioral changes start taking effect. That makes a ton of sense and I think that maybe part of this for me is just being at a point where I have a base. For so many years the only option was save as much as possible and sacrifice for the future. Can I ask if you are trying to retire ...

carne_asada wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:28 pm The major change happened as we progressed from about 400K HHI to 600K HHI in the span of 2- or 3 years thanks to some promotions and career changes as well as buying our forever home. Expenses haven't really gone up and we were on track for early retirement even at 400K. I've stopped penny pinching and deal hunting. Now if I need something- I just buy it. We are even considering some splurge 5 figure vacations that we would have never considered in the past. An extra 20-30K every so often is not really going to move the needle for us anymore.

That is a great bump in income! A bigger income does really help with not stressing the extra purchases like a family vacation. Congrats on your trajectory.

Wannaretireearly wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:09 pm You’re doing well. Don’t be despondent.

I’ve found at roughly double your liquid net worth (20X expenses), things begin to look like cruise control (I’m mid 40s). I.e. not much to screw up/improve. Discretionary expenses have started to creep up, but expect to reduce as kids get thru grade school and I can use college funds!

Keep on truckin’. It’s a marathon not a sprint (I keep telling myself….)

Makes sense, I am in the messy middle right now.

I will carry on and I know that it will look good in a decade.

CletusCaddy wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:07 pm OP my wife and I are just a few years ahead of you. 37 years old with $2.4M NW and $700k HHI.

Here are the spendy things I don’t worry about anymore:

1. Vacations at $500 per plane ticket and $700 per night hotels.
2. $70k luxury cars
3. Private school $40k per kid per year (haven’t actually pulled the trigger on this but wouldn’t faze me if we did)
4. Mid-five figures in charity per year

We plan on retiring at 45 at the latest. Not sacrificing much to enjoy life until then

A few years and a lot of income! That is fantastic, congrats on your success.

OP, 1) What is the price of your house? 2) What is your current annual expense? 3) What is your current annual savings/investment? 4) What is your portfolio size in terms of current annual expense? 5X? 10X? Until and unless you are financially independent, why should you feel any different than others? You have a higher income and higher expenses. If you are facing long term unemployment or under employment, you would be in the same level of trouble like others. We all have problems. "Do you feel short of a massive windfall you are "locked in" to your lifestyle until your kids leave the house? " I don't. I spend less on my housing expense. Hence, I have more money to spend on everything else. I save 1 year of expense ev...

For me the change has not been age or income based but rather when my yearly saving amount started to have less and less significance on projections to my retirement number. When I started noticing that saving more or less didn't really change the final year I could achieve FI it gave me more confidence to spend a little more in areas I traditionally avoided (vehicle, vacations, ect). Still consider myself tilted towards super saver but feels good to see the behavioral changes start taking effect. That makes a ton of sense and I think that maybe part of this for me is just being at a point where I have a base. For so many years the only option was save as much as possible and sacrifice for the future. Can I ask if you are trying to retire ...

For those with kids living in a HCOL area... Do you feel short of a massive windfall you are "locked in" to your lifestyle until your kids leave the house? We started saving early and earn a good amount each year but now that we are starting a family I do not feel like our life is that much different then others. The biggest differences from our family to others is as long as we work hard we have good health care, can take a nice vacation each year, and possibly retire a little early. Our income topped $300K this year and net worth hit $1,300,000 and we turn 33 next year. Statistically that puts us in the 99 percentile for networth from the DQYDJ calculator, 98th percentile for income (for our age). I guess I thought (maybe being ...

Only take money/life advice from those whos lives you would want to emulate.

KlangFool wrote: ↑Fri Dec 16, 2022 7:00 am OP,

My older brother worked full-time with a megacorp. At the same time, he started 3 companies and sold 2. What do you call that?

KlangFool

Intelligent, and that is what my wife and I are currently doing.

I feel like Bogleheads has been great for the growing NW to a million and diligent savings from a W-2 but find myself drifting into more business focused forums and that is what I continue to pursue.

Are there any polls that show the break out of employees vs. business owners on Bogleheads?

Seems like the majority are working a W-2 and increase their earnings under a big corporation. Then invest that money back into a total stock index in those companies that are paying everyone.

Would love to get a sample size of what everyone does to make their active income.

40% Real Estate & 20% of my equity portfolio being in small cap value moves the needle for me.

In your opinion what is the best 911 right now to hold its value, I want to own one down the road so I have been paying more attention. Wrong time for me right now 32 with $1.3 networth and focused more on building wealth then spending it. 991.1 GTS with a manual trans. Last of the naturally aspirated non-GT car engines in the most desirable trim. GT3s are great for value retention but the market is still way too hot, think it has more room to deflate. You really have to do your research and drive the different generations to see for yourself what appeals to you. Would highly recommend going to the Porsche experience center in LA or Atlanta and doing at least one of the experiences. I was 32 with a net worth nowhere near $1M when I bought ...

I'm a "car guy" and mostly buy cars that have strong resale value and highly desirable models/options. My approach is probably much different than most BH. IMO, it's "cheaper" to buy an expensive car with great resale than it is to buy a lower priced car that loses value, is a money pit with repairs, etc. To me, it isn't the price of the car, it's the difference between what I'm buying it for and what I'm able to sell it for when it's time to move on (which is pretty frequent as I get bored easily and always looking for the next best thing. Car people know what I'm talking about.) Yes, there is always the risk that something expensive will break if out of warranty, but that is part of the game. Has only happened to me o...

Wow!

This is the fastest I have ever had this amount of comments come in. Very helpful thank you!

For those that would be willing to share can you add your income and networth for perspective?

What is your plan for owning/leasing cars? The auto market has been bizarre with covid/inflation. While getting started in my 20's my wife and I drove less expensive cars. She was leasing right out of school and I convinced her to buy an affordable car with cash when the lease ended. She always has had the nicer car and since I am the one always pushing our finances I have always driven the cheapest car. We now have a great RX 350 that we use for long trips and when our family is driving around on the weekend. I drive a 2008 Chevy Truck with 65,000 miles that we acquired from one of our grandpas. The truck is clean and works just fine but we live a city life 90% of the time and I have been thinking of switching to a car. Private party value...

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:39 am

broncocountry25 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 9:51 pm Broke $1,300,000 fought through the year and didn't sell anything while continuing to invest.

Congratulations .

Thank You!