The first million is the hardest?

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Medlabscientist
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The first million is the hardest?

Post by Medlabscientist »

I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Soon2BXProgrammer »

i noticed things start moving faster when my investment returns in a year started to outstrip my contributions.

if you save 5k a year (and have 100K), your investment returns start to matter a lot more then your contributions.
if you save 50k a year (and have 100K), your contributions still matter the most.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by H-Town »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
Using the rule of 72, if you're getting an average of 8% return per year on equity, it'll take 9 years for the original money to double. So it's roughly about 10-12 years when you start seeing that compounding effect. To speed up the time:

1) The more you contribute up front, the faster you get compounding effect, i.e. time in the market.
2) The more you contribute during a market crash, the faster you get there, i.e. let's pray for a big crash and don't sell/just buy during the crash.
3) Be patient and don't be greedy. If you don't look at your balances every other day, you'll don't find it taking too long.
Time is the ultimate currency.
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bligh
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by bligh »

Compounding starts to work straight away. It is just that, in the beginning, it is producing numbers that are too small for you to notice or get excited about. It also is a gradual increase, not a single point at which it becomes noticeable. In other words, it becomes more and more noticeable over time.
Market returns also factor into this.

Having said all that, when your portfolio is about 10x your annual contributions to your portfolio you will simply not be able to ignore those market returns. Once it gets past 20x your annual contributions, your portfolio will take on a life of its own and all you are doing is giving it a helping hand.

As an example. Let's say you are contribution $20K / year towards your portfolio.
@200K the market on its own could give you $20K or fall by $20K. That is equal to what you are putting in.
@400K the market is going to be the one driving your returns. Your $20K is still significant, but it is the whims of the market that will be in charge from this point forward.

So it is more of a function of portfolio size in comparison to annual contribution.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by mhc »

I really notice things during an extended bull market.
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Miriam2
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Miriam2 »

Medlabscientist wrote: I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
Some advice from Charlie Munger - https://www.fourpillarfreedom.com/charl ... -is-a-btch
At an old Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting in the late 1990's, a young man asked Charlie Munger for his best advice on creating wealth. The young man complained that he was having a hard time getting started and that his net worth wasn't increasing as fast as he would like. This is when Charlie Munger uttered a quote that quickly became famous within the finance industry:

"The first $100,000 is a b*tch, but you gotta do it."

I couldn't find the exact words he used to follow up this statement, but it was something like:

"I don't care what you have to do - if it means walking everywhere and not eating anything that wasn't purchased with a coupon, find a way to get your hands on $100,000. After that, you can ease off the gas a little bit."
This article then explains why the first million is the hardest and how your wealth increases thereafter - which is where you, the mad scientist, are now!

:D :moneybag
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by oldzey »

$250,000 is the new $100,000. :sharebeer

Thanks for sharing the Charlie Munger link, Miriam2!
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by samsoes »

I worked with a guy once who said he was working on his second million. He said the first million was too hard, so he gave up on it and decided to work on his second million instead.

Food for thought. :mrgreen:
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by retiredjg »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns?
Only when the market is going up. :happy When the market is going down, you are not going to see a lot of "compounding".

But yes...sort of. When your portfolio is small, the portfolio growth you see is from the contributions you make every year. You hardly see the market returns because they are dwarfed by the contributions.

Later on, that switches and your contributions are just tiny compared to the whole and if the market is going up, your growth will be much more visible than your contributions.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by FOGU »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
I noticed a faster growth rate in the first year after I fired the Merrill Lynch and Northwestern Mutual pricks who were bleeding me dry.

In other words, make sure you have no ticks feeding off of you.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Independent George »

I reached $100k around 2007, so for me, it was the second time I hit $100k that felt the hardest. In hindsight, it really didn't take long, but nevertheless it was a rough time all around.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by AlphaLess »

thangngo wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 11:13 am i.e. let's pray for a big crash and don't sell/just buy during the crash.
Amen to that! I wake up every day asking the market gods for a nice big fat crash. The bigger, the better!
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by H-Town »

samsoes wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:04 pm I worked with a guy once who said he was working on his second million. He said the first million was too hard, so he gave up on it and decided to work on his second million instead.

Food for thought. :mrgreen:
LOL I like his thinking.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by whodidntante »

The compounding might make it easier. There could also be a gut wrenching drawdown. But then you should be happy, because it would be worse with more money.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Ron Scott »

By the time I had my first million a million was hardly a million.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by am »

Ron Scott wrote: Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:36 pm By the time I had my first million a million was hardly a million.
A million is a ton of money in assets- 91% networth (not counting house). Only on bogleheads is a million not too much. Most Americans will never come close to this. A million, paid off house, And ss will provide a nice retirement in most parts of the US.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by arcticpineapplecorp. »

Read this post from June 2017 (similar to the question you're asking):

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=220159&hilit=kitces#p3392529

It's good advice, but I may be biased.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by kirisch2 »

What the first million gives you is the freedom to take some risks, often leading to more returns (and thus the 2nd million) in the long run.

I mean doing things like pursuing a potential new job with higher pay, even if it less safe your current one.
Or purchasing real estate, which may lose value when the market shifts.

In these examples, there's a high possibility of a long-term higher net worth, but these have risks that you may not take if you don't have the safety of an already decent net worth.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by willthrill81 »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
Mathematically, the first million is certainly the 'hardest' (i.e. the longest) to obtain.

Discounting the impact of added contributions, at a 5% return, it would take 47.19 years for $100k to grow to $1 million.

At that same 5% return, it would only take 14.21 years for $1 million to grow to $2 million.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by H-Town »

willthrill81 wrote: Sat Aug 25, 2018 3:42 pm
Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
Mathematically, the first million is certainly the 'hardest' (i.e. the longest) to obtain.

Discounting the impact of added contributions, at a 5% return, it would take 47.19 years for $100k to grow to $1 million.

At that same 5% return, it would only take 14.21 years for $1 million to grow to $2 million.
Yep, because the logarithmic scale from 100k to $1 million is much bigger than $1 million to $2 million. For another 47.19 years, $1 million would become $10 million, with same 5% return.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by jclear »

When your investments go down more in a day than you make in a year, you’ll know things are starting to snowball. Nevertheless you trudge through the ice to get to work, because you still don’t have enough to quit. Makes one understand why some people have 50/50 portfolios.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Helo80 »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
Sure...
if you have $10 million in an S&P500 index fund, and the fund returns 10% for the year.... there you go. I would say 99% of BHs never earn $1 million in a single year at their W2 job.
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ved
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by ved »

AlphaLess wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 9:57 pm
thangngo wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 11:13 am i.e. let's pray for a big crash and don't sell/just buy during the crash.
Amen to that! I wake up every day asking the market gods for a nice big fat crash. The bigger, the better!
Just hope that the market gods don't answer your prayers around the time you retire.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by staythecourse »

ved wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:23 am
AlphaLess wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 9:57 pm
thangngo wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 11:13 am i.e. let's pray for a big crash and don't sell/just buy during the crash.
Amen to that! I wake up every day asking the market gods for a nice big fat crash. The bigger, the better!
Just hope that the market gods don't answer your prayers around the time you retire.
Forget about near retirement. The fallacy of most folks is their overconfidence in the stability of their jobs. As I have said before unless you are a doctor, governmental employee, or tenured teacher EVERYONE else is a potential victim of getting laid off when (not if) the next market crash happens.

To the OP, I have passed the 7 digit marker several times and personally found it difficult EACH time. I will say though the larger your portfolio balance the more your portfolio going up or down becomes aligned to the markets then how much you invest each month.

Good luck.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Kuota Rider »

It took me 14 years to reach $1,000,000; then it too 4 years to reach $1,500,000.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Sandtrap »

Congratulations!
100k is a tough milestone to achieve. :sharebeer
IMHO every dollar is the hardest no matter at what baseline. It's just a matter of viewpoint.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by AlphaLess »

ved wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:23 am
AlphaLess wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 9:57 pm
thangngo wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 11:13 am i.e. let's pray for a big crash and don't sell/just buy during the crash.
Amen to that! I wake up every day asking the market gods for a nice big fat crash. The bigger, the better!
Just hope that the market gods don't answer your prayers around the time you retire.
I am asking for it NOW, as I don't want it to be happen around the time I retire.
Ideally, I want the market gods to deliver a nice fat crash around 5 year before I retire.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by AlphaLess »

Sandtrap wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:25 am Congratulations!
100k is a tough milestone to achieve. :sharebeer
IMHO every dollar is the hardest no matter at what baseline. It's just a matter of viewpoint.
j
I think the hardest thing is to establish a system and stick to it.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Sandtrap »

AlphaLess wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:53 am
Sandtrap wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:25 am Congratulations!
100k is a tough milestone to achieve. :sharebeer
IMHO every dollar is the hardest no matter at what baseline. It's just a matter of viewpoint.
j
I think the hardest thing is to establish a system and stick to it.
+1
Until it becomes second nature. A habit.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by TravelforFun »

It took me 33 years and 7 years to reach the first and second million, respectively, and I don't include my paid off home value in those numbers. We're a family of five with a single income so it can be done.

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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by villars »

I have found a small downside to having accumulated a significant amount. When market gyrations dwarf your contributions it is harder to maintain the discipline to save.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by TravelforFun »

villars wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 5:48 pm I have found a small downside to having accumulated a significant amount. When market gyrations dwarf your contributions it is harder to maintain the discipline to save.
Market gyrations wouldn't affect your contribution if it's set on auto.

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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Jefferson »

It’s not just returns. It gets faster later if (when) you’re making (and saving) more money.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by CyclingDuo »

staythecourse wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:41 amForget about near retirement. The fallacy of most folks is their overconfidence in the stability of their jobs. As I have said before unless you are a doctor, governmental employee, or tenured teacher EVERYONE else is a potential victim of getting laid off when (not if) the next market crash happens.
Having been part of a about a dozen tenured "teachers" recently laid off at a college/university, I can lay claim to the fallacy of such a thing as stability in academia that appears in the underlined sentence. :annoyed
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

CyclingDuo wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:11 pm
staythecourse wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:41 amForget about near retirement. The fallacy of most folks is their overconfidence in the stability of their jobs. As I have said before unless you are a doctor, governmental employee, or tenured teacher EVERYONE else is a potential victim of getting laid off when (not if) the next market crash happens.
Having been part of a about a dozen tenured "teachers" recently laid off at a college/university, I can lay claim to the fallacy of such a thing as stability in academia that appears in the underlined sentence. :annoyed
My town laid off 15 employees in a cost cutting move, times are tough even in government.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by CyclingDuo »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:19 pm
CyclingDuo wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:11 pm
staythecourse wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:41 amForget about near retirement. The fallacy of most folks is their overconfidence in the stability of their jobs. As I have said before unless you are a doctor, governmental employee, or tenured teacher EVERYONE else is a potential victim of getting laid off when (not if) the next market crash happens.
Having been part of a about a dozen tenured "teachers" recently laid off at a college/university, I can lay claim to the fallacy of such a thing as stability in academia that appears in the underlined sentence. :annoyed
My town laid off 15 employees in a cost cutting move, times are tough even in government.
There you go. That leaves doctors until we hear otherwise. :beer
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by Leemiller »

A family member who is a specialist doctor was laid off a few years ago. They even lay off federal government workers.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by willthrill81 »

Leemiller wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:29 pm A family member who is a specialist doctor was laid off a few years ago. They even lay off federal government workers.
I suspect he won't have much trouble getting another job.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by willthrill81 »

CyclingDuo wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:11 pm
staythecourse wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:41 amForget about near retirement. The fallacy of most folks is their overconfidence in the stability of their jobs. As I have said before unless you are a doctor, governmental employee, or tenured teacher EVERYONE else is a potential victim of getting laid off when (not if) the next market crash happens.
Having been part of a about a dozen tenured "teachers" recently laid off at a college/university, I can lay claim to the fallacy of such a thing as stability in academia that appears in the underlined sentence. :annoyed
I don't know where this perception came from, but many believe that tenured professors have completely guaranteed employment and all have pensions. I too have seen tenure professors laid off or fired. And I don't personally know any who still have a traditional pension. :?
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by CurlyDave »

Lost of good comments on the first part being the hardest.

Now let me tell you what made it easier for me.

When I worked at megacorp and was starting in investing I was part of an informal investing club. Two other like-minded people and myself would sit together in the cafeteria and discuss investing once or twice a week. There were a couple other hangers-on who would join us once in a a while, but the three of us were the mainstays of the group.

The real problem was that low cost index fund investing is B-O-R-I-N-G, so we all set aside a small amount of "fun money" and would talk about what to do with that, have little competitions in who could get the best returns, shared stories, and talked about financial news.

In the course of a few years we all enjoyed great success and had significant portfolios...
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by staythecourse »

CyclingDuo wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:11 pm
staythecourse wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:41 amForget about near retirement. The fallacy of most folks is their overconfidence in the stability of their jobs. As I have said before unless you are a doctor, governmental employee, or tenured teacher EVERYONE else is a potential victim of getting laid off when (not if) the next market crash happens.
Having been part of a about a dozen tenured "teachers" recently laid off at a college/university, I can lay claim to the fallacy of such a thing as stability in academia that appears in the underlined sentence. :annoyed
Thanks for the correction. So this makes the list even smaller. I wouldn't be surprised going forward this becomes more common as the pension liabilities increase.

Good luck.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by MikeG62 »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
Yup. Not only compounding, but (at that level of assets) you will in all likelihood be earning more money each year as you move forward in your career (so you will be saving more each year). So the combined impact of both things makea a big impact.

In my experience each additional million dollars was easier to achieve than the prior one. Once you have a sizable amount, the compounding effect swamps the impact of what you can save annually.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by ryman554 »

retiredjg wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:06 pm
Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns?
Only when the market is going up. :happy When the market is going down, you are not going to see a lot of "compounding".

But yes...sort of. When your portfolio is small, the portfolio growth you see is from the contributions you make every year. You hardly see the market returns because they are dwarfed by the contributions.

Later on, that switches and your contributions are just tiny compared to the whole and if the market is going up, your growth will be much more visible than your contributions.
I'm at the point where, if the markets are going up (2017!), I'm making money hand over fist and it feels really good. If the markets are going down (Jan/Feb, 2018), I'm treading water due to contributions and it feels kinda "meh". To put it into context, I think even in 2008 I was just about treading water because my total investments were low relative to my contributions. At least that's what I tell myself these days.

I can't wait until I can't even tread water when it goes down because I've stashed so much away.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by AnalogKid22 »

CurlyDave wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:22 am The real problem was that low cost index fund investing is B-O-R-I-N-G, so we all set aside a small amount of "fun money" and would talk about what to do with that, have little competitions in who could get the best returns, shared stories, and talked about financial news.
So true. Index funds are for long-term,"stable" investing to gradually build and maintain wealth. Unless you already have millions to invest or a very high income, where you might see significant gains, or losses, from small changes in the market, indexing is not a get-rich-quick method. The media has been hyping up index investing the last few years as if it's a silver bullet to becoming rich. Finding those investments on the brink of a major run-up requires a lot of research or tips you gain through your network. I've come across a few missed opportunities through friends who day trade as a hobby - I failed to follow through, out of fear to take the risks, and, unfortunately, missed out on some serious gains - One stock I could have bought at 105 is now over 800...but, my steady contributions to my index investments, in addition to a long bull market, of course, have accumulated quite nicely over the years.
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by sco »

samsoes wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:04 pm I worked with a guy once who said he was working on his second million. He said the first million was too hard, so he gave up on it and decided to work on his second million instead.

Food for thought. :mrgreen:
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by dkturner »

I remember a quote, from a member of the Bronfman family I believe: “Making $100 grow to $200 is hard work, making $100 million grow to $200 million is inevitable”
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Re: The first million is the hardest?

Post by marti038 »

Medlabscientist wrote: Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:49 am I just recently passed my first 100K in liquid assets.

Does it start getting faster at some point due to compounding returns? When will I start to really notice this thing rolling?
It took my wife and I almost 4 years to get to $100k in retirement savings (we started in 2007). Last year (2017) I noticed our returns (interest) were almost equal to my annual salary (about $1000 short). It was the first "WOW" moment I had and it made me want to go back a decade and pat myself on the back. It's kind of a good feeling having a 3rd "person" working full time simply to put money into your retirement accounts.

We're just a few thousand short of $500k in retirement savings now.

Keep up the good work and one day it'll hit you what a machine you've built.
“Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly saved all you can, then give all you can.” - John Wesley
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