What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

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JimRVO
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by JimRVO »

Excellent saver in both taxable and tax deferred, though taxable was chock full of actively managed funds, with an advisor and expense ratios to go along with it.

Nowadays, 20 years later, I do it myself with everything in low-cost index funds. I do credit the advisor, whom I started working with shortly after college with setting me on a path of saving and investing. Eventually my portfolio got to the point where it was to expensive w/respect to the value provided.
Jacobi
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Jacobi »

I'm going to turn 30 with about $100k net worth. I thought I was doing decently, although compared with a lot of the posters on this thread, I feel less ahead than I did ;)
bradinsky
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by bradinsky »

OP,
They didn’t exist, because we barely had enough to get by. No complaints though because I hear that creates character. It wasn’t until I was in my 40’s that I started with investment accounts. We’ve done okay since then.

Brad
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MrBobcat
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by MrBobcat »

Not a whole lot. IIRC we had about $22k saved for retirement when we were 32. I put in 10%/year for the rest of the decade which amounted to $3.5k-$4k/year.
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9mm
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by 9mm »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:24 am
9mm wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:39 pm
Frugalbear wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:09 pm What did your pretax and post tax accounts look like in your 30's?

Did you feel like you were ahead of the game or behind the 8 ball?
In general having 2X to 3X your annual income invested by age 30 is pretty good. If you’re above that you are probably a high income earner or good saver. If you are below that you probably have some catching up to do.

I am in my early 30s and have $900,000 invested, but I make quite a bit and invest over half my income every year. It’s not about comparing yourself to others, it’s about setting a plan and sticking to it.
2-3x by 40 is the track most should shoot for. humblebrag haha
To be honest, it's not that hard if you're able to have any sort of stead job or career. Let's say you start out making $40k/year at age 22 and you save 20% of your income each year (not even including match, etc.), you'll have about $65k by age 30 with no raises and no growth on the investments. Not everyone can get a good job out of school, but saving just 15-25% of your income and some decent returns will equate to 2X-3X by age 30... That's obviously unusual for most people, but it's bare minimum for a Boglehead who's serious somewhat about their money. I haven't made a lot of money until the last 4-5 years but I've always invested 50% of my income by not buying new cars and fancy things and focusing on experiences instead of possessions. Now I'm almost a millionaire and have no debt.
Don’t overbuy on housing. Invest half your income in TSM index funds. You will be financially independent in 10 to 20 years.
Ron
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Ron »

Frugalbear wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:10 am<snip...> I'm interested in knowing how you are doing now with such a late start?
Better than we ever expected 😎 ...

As it has been stated, it's not how you start, but how you finish that counts.

- Ron
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GerryL
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by GerryL »

In my 30s? Ha.
I started my 30s going to college on the GI bill. Then worked at low pay teaching English in Japan. By the time I hit my 40th birthday, I was back in the US in a "serious" job and was able to start an IRA, which at that time was a max of $2000/year. I knew nothing about investing. When I had enough, I put the IRA into a CD. I was into my 40s when I put the IRA into a mutual fund and started getting jobs that offered a 401k.

What my "accounts" looked like in my 30s was NO DEBT. My early nomadic lifestyle and inability for single women at that time to get credit, helped keep me from sinking into that hole.
Suntan1
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Suntan1 »

I was nowhere near the eight ball, in fact I was not even in the same room :shock: ! At 35, married with 3 kids. Two houses I can barely afford and 750K in mortgage debts. Three years later, my family was busy running away/evacuating from a massive fire.

Taxable account none existent. I did fund both our IRA/TSP accounts as much as I can. Finally cleaned up my finances at 40 after evacuating for the second time when another more massive fire hit the county :annoyed :oops: !
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Frugalbear
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Frugalbear »

This all has been eye opening. Yes, I understand that personal finance is personal, but it doesn't take away the wonder.

Also I've only been investing for 6 years and really haven't seen compounding work it's magic...so I have/had some uncertainty. Thank you everyone who shared their story.
rixer
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by rixer »

I didn't have an account in my 30's.
JD2775
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by JD2775 »

Suntan1 wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 12:21 pm I was nowhere near the eight ball, in fact I was not even in the same room :shock: ! At 35, married with 3 kids. Two houses I can barely afford and 750K in mortgage debts. Three years later, my family was busy running away/evacuating from a massive fire.

Taxable account none existent. I did fund both our IRA/TSP accounts as much as I can. Finally cleaned up my finances at 40 after evacuating for the second time when another more massive fire hit the county :annoyed :oops: !
Taking a wild guess here.....northern California?
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BrooklynInvest
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by BrooklynInvest »

When I was 30 my account balance had a lot of zeros. In fact ALL of the numbers were zeros...
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firebirdparts
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by firebirdparts »

Frugalbear wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:14 pm
Also I've only been investing for 6 years and really haven't seen compounding work it's magic.
Username checks out. If you're a bear you won't.
This time is the same
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Frugalbear
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Frugalbear »

firebirdparts wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:51 pm
Frugalbear wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:14 pm
Also I've only been investing for 6 years and really haven't seen compounding work it's magic.
Username checks out. If you're a bear you won't.
HA! I got a kick out of that one! :sharebeer
manatee2005
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by manatee2005 »

Frugalbear wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:09 pm What did your pretax and post tax accounts look like in your 30's?

Did you feel like you were ahead of the game or behind the 8 ball?
I had my first kid at 25 so you can imagine how my accounts were in my 30s :happy
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inittowinit
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by inittowinit »

At age 30 my net worth is ~3x my annual income. About 10% is in cash, and the rest is invested in equities in various tax-advantaged accounts.
t00sl0w
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by t00sl0w »

31 now, work for the gov in the IT field. Have for 11yrs now, have a pension and thus thought there was no reason to save more....i didnt even know what the 457 was i had access to, partially because they never really told us and the name, "deferred comp" sounded like some kind of savings account or something.

Around 27/28 i wisened up and realized that, though i had a pension, it was nowhere near 100% of my salary and that wouldnt be enough. So i started to look and see if we had any options before going to a brokerage firm or something and thats when i learned what the 457 was and thats when the regret started to sink in, in regards to all the missed years of investing i had.

Regardless, i started at 10% of my salary and have upped it to 20% now...I've started to see the effects of compounding after 3-4 or so years though i have yet to hit 1x salary....getting closer though.
I own a home, enjoy cars and other hobbies that eat money, have kids, we enjoy traveling, etc. my wife makes good money and also has a retirement so all in all, im not really worried, just going to keep upping the % i put in until im uncomfortable.
I know on my current path im not going to be worth multiple millions when i retire, but im ok with that.
bo105954027
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by bo105954027 »

Frugalbear wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:03 am
bo105954027 wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 11:36 pm I asked the same question several years ago:

viewtopic.php?t=194305

A popular topic indeed.:D
Thanks for directing me to your popular thread! A lot of what im looking for is on there.

Im interested in knowing what your situation looks like now...care to share?
Income close to double. Savings plus retirement exceeded 200k. I know I'm not a gifted guy. I can only achieve a linear increase in salary. I've learnt to be satisfied with my slow progress and enjoy what I have. :D
Time in market beats timing the market.
Suntan1
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Suntan1 »

JD2775 wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:34 pm
Suntan1 wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 12:21 pm I was nowhere near the eight ball, in fact I was not even in the same room :shock: ! At 35, married with 3 kids. Two houses I can barely afford and 750K in mortgage debts. Three years later, my family was busy running away/evacuating from a massive fire.

Taxable account none existent. I did fund both our IRA/TSP accounts as much as I can. Finally cleaned up my finances at 40 after evacuating for the second time when another more massive fire hit the county :annoyed :oops: !
Taking a wild guess here.....northern California?
SoCal. 2003/2005 fires.
Retired 01Jan2015 so everything turned out well:D
davebeers
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by davebeers »

At 30 I had about 40k in tax deferrred and 2 young kids. Now at 36 With 3 kids and we’re 60/40 investment/tax deferred with around 500k. Aggressive saving and compound interest in a rising market. Only a few years income in the 6 figure club. Play the long game
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ethan_imagine
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by ethan_imagine »

I've been learning a great deal from the community. Would like to contribute my data point. I am 30-yr old.

401k: 85k
Roth IRA: 19k
HSA: 12k
Cash: 24k
Taxable: 125k
Total: 265k
No debts. Credit card balance is already accounted for (subtracted) in the above numbers.

My salary is below average in the tech industry. However, I've been investing approx. 40% of after-tax earning annually. Saving is not my highest priority at this point of my life. Still, I'm happy with where I stand financially.
Last edited by ethan_imagine on Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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StevieG72
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by StevieG72 »

Very lean, was not living paycheck to paycheck, but did not have much savings.
Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.
Dottie57
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Dottie57 »

MNGopher wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:29 pm Mine were nonexistent until my later 30's. Any extra income in my early 30's went towards paying down my mortgage, because at that time I only had terrible high priced annuity products in my employer plan.
At age 31 My employer stArted a 401k plan. I started at 6 %. And in 4 yrs was at 15%. 40 I had 115k in 401k and savings account had 10k.

Fyi, the 401k offered all of 3 funds: stock (regional co), a bond fund and stable value fund. Nothing else. Very different time back then.
truenorth418
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by truenorth418 »

I had a Merrill Lynch IRA account filled with a bunch of high load mutual funds. My "financial advisor" (salesperson) had a cow when I raided it for a down payment on my first house. Shortly thereafter, I decided to DIY and opened a Charles Schwab brokerage account. This was during the dot.com boom so it was filled with technology funds and random stocks. I didn't know what I was doing.
rascott
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by rascott »

@ 30....had maybe $100k net worth.... maybe $50k in retirement. Economy was terrible, I had done enough 401k savings to get employer matches..... but not much beyond that. Was focused on real estate investing at the time. That worked out well, but likely would have ended up in same spot of I'd had just maxed out retirement accounts and had a lot more free time.

By end of 30s.... was comfortably in 2 comma club.... combining RE equity and equities. Used ultra low cost index funds right from the start.
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FrugalInvestor
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by FrugalInvestor »

Small to non-existent. I didn't begin to build any substantial wealth until my 40s. I was definitely behind the game at that point in my life but didn't realize it. I ended up retiring early.
Have a plan, stay the course and simplify. Then ignore the noise!
Ed 2
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Ed 2 »

Frugalbear wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:09 pm What did your pretax and post tax accounts look like in your 30's?

Did you feel like you were ahead of the game or behind the 8 ball?
Almost same as now but way less amount or course. Minimum cash money market just to pay my bills. Rest in total stock market index funds domestic and international. Putted money into indexes as soon as had a chance.
"The fund industry doesn't have a lot of heroes, but he (Bogle) is one of them," Russ Kinnel
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zincTwo
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by zincTwo »

Frugalbear wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:09 pm What did your pretax and post tax accounts look like in your 30's?

Did you feel like you were ahead of the game or behind the 8 ball?
That was 25 years ago. Sure, I wish I knew what I know now... but fortunately, I don't think I screwed it up that bad.
  • a healthy % in my corporate stock (which is now my DAF source for charitable contributions, and now only 7% of my overall portfolio), and dropping.
  • A mixture of these two mutual funds in my Fidelity 401K: FBALX (Fidelity Balanced 67/33, ER=0.53), and FDGRX (Fidelity Growth SP500-ish, ER=0.83)
    I dabbled about 20% in misc. company stock (Catepillar, GE, J&J, SaraLee, and others that turned into penny stocks :( ). Some did great, others not. Looking back, I just averaged the market return.
In hindsight, I could have done a lot worse. Fortunately, I've seen the light - and have some international, and other factors/classes to diversify across small and value as well -- though I don't have any in the above MF positions - now only indexes.
sharp1aarohead
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by sharp1aarohead »

I am 37 and feel like I'm behind where I want to be but still on pace to retire in 14 years...it's all relative the way I see it. I chose real estate as my vehicle for building wealth when I hit 31 (at which point my net worth was approximately 0 dollars). Now I have 300,000 in equity that kicks off 30,000 a year in returns and I'm now focusing on my mutual funds. This year I will put over 30,000 into my retirement account that is currently only valued at around 70,000. The following year, I should be able to put around 50,000 in. So while I feel like my current value is low, I also like where my contributions are now and I'm pleased with the passive income I've created.
rascott
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by rascott »

sharp1aarohead wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2020 11:40 pm I am 37 and feel like I'm behind where I want to be but still on pace to retire in 14 years...it's all relative the way I see it. I chose real estate as my vehicle for building wealth when I hit 31 (at which point my net worth was approximately 0 dollars). Now I have 300,000 in equity that kicks off 30,000 a year in returns and I'm now focusing on my mutual funds. This year I will put over 30,000 into my retirement account that is currently only valued at around 70,000. The following year, I should be able to put around 50,000 in. So while I feel like my current value is low, I also like where my contributions are now and I'm pleased with the passive income I've created.
Passive RE income is a great wealth building tool and also a great cash flow benefit. It took me 15 years to really see the compounding benefit, but once you get on the right side of it, mailbox money is pretty nice.
jsapiandante
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by jsapiandante »

I’m 38 now but didn’t start investing until I was 31 since I had to pay off $120k+ in student loans and had a very active social life in my 20s that resulted in lots of unnecessary spending. At that time I had a few thousand in my checking and had about 20k in savings. It wasn’t until I met my wife when I turned 30 that I started tracking my expenses while supporting her as she was trying to get her pharmacy license. Fast forward to today and we are at 13 years worth of expenses saved (17 years if you include home equity).

We felt really behind when we first started but thanks to her high income once she was licensed and my practice growing, our savings rate is at about 65% the past 5 years and that has helped catapult our portfolio (especially during this bull run). Hopefully a few more years of this and we will be financially independent by age 40.
Johm221122
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Johm221122 »

At 28 I invested $500,so at 30 I probably had $2,000. But in m 30's I found index funds and Bogleheads and by 40 I had 7 times my yearly salary. I turned 30 in 2000 which was the lost decade, so this was impressive
Wanderingwheelz
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Wanderingwheelz »

It’ll be your 40s where the magic starts to happen because it takes 15 years of saving and contributing to tax deferred accounts to where you start to feel the benefits of compounding. I’m almost 50 and the last 10 years have been when my net worth went way up due to higher wages as well as growth on what I’d managed to save. Right now a regular day in the market (3 Fund Portfolio 67/33) moves my net worth as much as I earned when I was 30.

The trick isn’t a secret. Earn and save/invest. If you really follow the Bogleheads way of doing things most any couple who remains fully employed and fully invested (not cash hoarding) and is careful with their spending through their 30s and 40s should be looking at a $1.5MM to $3MM net worth by 50.

We GenX folks have seen some hefty drawdowns but we are still in good shape if we keep plowing forward despite the volatility.
Being wrong compounds forever.
scrabbler1
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by scrabbler1 »

At age 30, I had about $60k, evenly split between my 401k and my taxable account. But the seeds were in place for my wealth to increase a lot in my 30s. I had recently refinanced the mortgage on my co-op apartment, greatly lowering my monthly payment. I got promoted at my job which gave me a good pay raise, one of 2 promotions I would receive in my early 30s. The stock market began to take off (this was the mid-1990s).

A few years into my 30s, my company began its ESOP program and the stock price exploded (mostly in my 40s, but most of the shares I accumulated were in my 30s). I also paid off the mortgage at 35. These items helped me grow my portfolio by a factor of 7.5 by the time I turned 40 and put early retirement well onto my radar.
Faith20879
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Faith20879 »

celia wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 11:22 pm What accounts? LOL. :oops:
Yeah, remembered all my friends in your shoes.

I was luckier, single (for the next 20years) and salary growing exponentially.

My 401k was filled with natural resources, science & technology, new horizon, China, and all kinds of growth.
Taxable was filled with the same stuff, all 5-stars funds (by Morningstar in 1year, 5year and 10year).

I thought I'd done my research and had the all star lineup. I thought I was set. How wrong I was.
523HRR
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by 523HRR »

Took mega corp job right out of college. Soon transitioned to 100% travel for ~5 years. No residence, no car, virtually no expenses. Used brother’s address in TX, so no state income tax. Hit liquid net worth >$1 million by 30.
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dogagility
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by dogagility »

My accounts looked insignificant to me. Was more concerned with raising our family and wondering how we were going to pay for college expenses. We prioritized saving for the college expenses, while maintaining some retirement contributions.

Hoping to retire (pre-60) in a couple of years; kids will graduate debt free... so it all worked out in the end.
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pamplemousse
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by pamplemousse »

currently age 34, DH same age. current net worth (not including house) is slightly above 2x our combined salary
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pokebowl
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by pokebowl »

Frugalbear wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:09 pm What did your pretax and post tax accounts look like in your 30's?

Did you feel like you were ahead of the game or behind the 8 ball?
Age: Early 30s

I am ahead of the game, mostly due to early savings and investments and my working career which has been high risk but high reward. Been maxing out all available retirement space since my 20s and held taxable holdings even earlier. I expect to hit FIRE by 38, market and career permitting. :beer
Wings5
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Re: What did your accounts look like in your 30's?

Post by Wings5 »

Spent my early 30s staring at my accounts somewhat frequently. A few years later the accounts provide some peace of mind, but I wish I'd spent more time outside with the kids earlier on.

We spend less than average for our income and invest more than average. I wouldn't get too wrapped up in dollar amounts. Different strokes for different folks.
“Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.” - Morgan Housel
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