Share your net worth progression

BogleMelon · Post by **BogleMelon** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 5:05 pm

Came to USA at 2012 with about just $5K! (Thanks to the exchange rates), almost ran out of money at the end of that year. Found a job at 2013 and life started to be reasonable. At 2015 I started tracking my net worth:

Miriam2 · Post by **Miriam2** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 5:23 pm

BogleMelon wrote:At 2015 I started tracking my net worth

BogleMelon - what do you use for your neat graph to plot your net worth?

BogleMelon · Post by **BogleMelon** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 5:35 pm

Miriam2 wrote:
BogleMelon wrote:At 2015 I started tracking my net worth
BogleMelon - what do you use for your neat graph to plot your net worth?

YNAB 4 (classic). It is mainly a zero-based budgeting software and methodology (that I find it awesome and incomparable). Reports too -as you see- are cool.
I have tried Mint from Jan 2015 to July 2015, but was mediocre compared to YNAB 4

Disclaimer: I do not work for the company or make any commissions, I really do love this classic tool (but not the new version thought!)

Miriam2 · Post by **Miriam2** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 5:52 pm

BogleMelon wrote:YNAB 4 (classic). It is mainly a zero-based budgeting software and methodology (that I find it awesome and incomparable). Reports too -as you see- are cool.
I have tried Mint from Jan 2015 to July 2015, but was mediocre compared to YNAB 4
Disclaimer: I do not work for the company or make any commissions, I really do love this classic tool (but not the new version thought!)

Thanks! What does "zero-based" mean?

BogleMelon · Post by **BogleMelon** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 6:04 pm

Miriam2 wrote:
BogleMelon wrote:YNAB 4 (classic). It is mainly a zero-based budgeting software and methodology (that I find it awesome and incomparable). Reports too -as you see- are cool.
I have tried Mint from Jan 2015 to July 2015, but was mediocre compared to YNAB 4
Disclaimer: I do not work for the company or make any commissions, I really do love this classic tool (but not the new version thought!)
Thanks! What does "zero-based" mean?

Simply it is budgeting all the money you have on hand now till no more money is available to budget. When you get paid again, you budget that money in categories (all of it) according to your priorities. If you over spend in a category, you have to reduce another category by the same amount you overspent to recover the overspent category.
Imagine that all your money is in cash, and every single category of your budget is an envelope. Now you are going to distribute that money in the envelopes. You can make an envelope for "New car" or "Emergency". an envelope for vacation, another for gas and so on. If the gas envelope is empty and you need to buy some gas, that is fine, you take the money from -say- your "New car" envelope.
That way you can always trust and spend from your categories balance, not your bank balance. You will no longer under the illusion of "I have high balance in the bank, let's spend some" because you have earmarked every dollar with a specific job.
Feel free to PM for more question. I just don't want that we hack the thread, but I'd love to speak more about that methodology as it was a life changer for me

Miriam2 · Post by **Miriam2** » Sat Jun 10, 2017 6:52 pm

BogleMelon wrote:
Miriam2 wrote:
BogleMelon wrote:YNAB 4 (classic). It is mainly a zero-based budgeting software and methodology (that I find it awesome and incomparable). Reports too -as you see- are cool.
I have tried Mint from Jan 2015 to July 2015, but was mediocre compared to YNAB 4
Disclaimer: I do not work for the company or make any commissions, I really do love this classic tool (but not the new version thought!)
Thanks! What does "zero-based" mean?
Simply it is budgeting all the money you have on hand now till no more money is available to budget. When you get paid again, you budget that money in categories (all of it) according to your priorities. If you over spend in a category, you have to reduce another category by the same amount you overspent to recover the overspent category.
Imagine that all your money is in cash, and every single category of your budget is an envelope. Now you are going to distribute that money in the envelopes. You can make an envelope for "New car" or "Emergency". an envelope for vacation, another for gas and so on. If the gas envelope is empty and you need to buy some gas, that is fine, you take the money from -say- your "New car" envelope.
That way you can always trust and spend from your categories balance, not your bank balance. You will no longer under the illusion of "I have high balance in the bank, let's spend some" because you have earmarked every dollar with a specific job.
Feel free to PM for more question. I just don't want that we hack the thread, but I'd love to speak more about that methodology as it was a life changer for me

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation!

Yes, I agree, a good topic for a thread. Keeps us on target

bungalow10 · Post by **bungalow10** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:21 am

deleted, formatting issues

bungalow10 · Post by **bungalow10** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:28 am

Year Net worth Growth Milestone
Dec-05 121,793 Got married, age 27
Dec-06 220,286 81%
Dec-07 229,021 4% First child
Dec-08 188,179 -18%
Dec-09 249,517 33% Second child
Dec-10 347,330 39%
Dec-11 410,369 18%
Dec-12 475,834 16%
Dec-13 621,829 31% Third child
Dec-14 698,713 12% DH becomes SAHD
Dec-15 720,665 3%
Dec-16 982,484 36%

Mid-2017 1,154,000 Age 38

We seemed on paper to stall out the year DH decided to become a SAHD, but I want to call out that we spent a lot of money on home repairs in that time (the home we had to sell recently - looking back they were not good expenditures) AND his transition to being at home has allowed me to have good career growth these last few years.

TomatoTomahto · Post by **TomatoTomahto** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:05 am

bungalow10 wrote:We seemed on paper to stall out the year DH decided to become a SAHD, but I want to call out that we spent a lot of money on home repairs in that time (the home we had to sell recently - looking back they were not good expenditures) AND his transition to being at home has allowed me to have good career growth these last few years.

We are roughly a decade and a half past our decision that I would be a SAHD. At the time, our incomes were roughly equal. DW's career growth has been wonderful. My initially "missed" income was soon swamped by DW's income created by the freedom to "go for it" without worrying that the kids were being shortchanged. It was a great choice for our family.

Being a SAHD was kind of lonely 16 years ago, but is now mainstream.

txranger · Post by **txranger** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:31 am

2008: -50k accounting for med school debt.
2017: 2.9 mln. 40 yo. Blood money tho. Been painful to earn every cent. Certainly don't feel rich. Don't think I ever will.
Hoping to go to half time work in 10 yrs.
Dunno when I can fully retire. Or if I really want to.
At what number can one stop worrying about $?
I never had much growing up so I don't think my mindset would ever change....

emp2b3 · Post by **emp2b3** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 6:47 pm

txranger wrote:2008: -50k accounting for med school debt.
2017: 2.9 mln. 40 yo. Blood money tho. Been painful to earn every cent. Certainly don't feel rich. Don't think I ever will.
Hoping to go to half time work in 10 yrs.
Dunno when I can fully retire. Or if I really want to.
At what number can one stop worrying about $?
I never had much growing up so I don't think my mindset would ever change....

Why do you feel like you need to continue working at all? Let alone wait for ten years to go part time? It is of course a personal decision, but maybe checking out some of the posts on http://www.physicianonfire.com that reference cutting back to part time or considering early retirement would be helpful to you.

As a physician I am assuming you are mostly trading your clinical time for money. You reference it being "blood money"; as I'm sure you know burnout is common in the field and can completely ruin your quality of life.

If you have set goals and are already reaching (or surpassing) them then perhaps you need to give yourself permission to back off a bit or take a break. Life is so much more than our work, even if we enjoy it. I am a strong believer in the concept of "enough".

Good luck to you!

sambb · Post by **sambb** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 7:22 pm

txranger wrote:2008: -50k accounting for med school debt.
2017: 2.9 mln. 40 yo. Blood money tho. Been painful to earn every cent. Certainly don't feel rich. Don't think I ever will.
Hoping to go to half time work in 10 yrs.
Dunno when I can fully retire. Or if I really want to.
At what number can one stop worrying about $?
I never had much growing up so I don't think my mindset would ever change....

Very hard for MDs to go part time in most fields, from what i understand.
Patients need care 7 days a week, so hard to take time off in a good practice...
Best wishes and thanks to you and all doctors for all the work you do to keep us alive - you deserve way more than what you are paid

GMan82 · Post by **GMan82** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 7:30 pm

Anesthesiologist and Intensive Care physician here, now approaching 2 years out of training.

Sept 2015 = NEGATIVE $185,000 was my ENW
June 2017 = Just hit the POSITIVE $100k ENW ... kinda proud. Liability is still student loans, but I've been maxing the backdoor Roth, 403B plan, saving for an eventual downpayment when student loans are done and paid, and also contributing a bunch to a taxable account with 2 vanguard index funds and soon to be SCV ETF.

Feels good.

AmericaFirst · Post by **AmericaFirst** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 7:39 pm

2001: $10,000
2002: $25,000
2003: $50,000
2004: $80,000
2005: $130,000
2006: $200,000
2007: $280,000
2008: $350,000
2009: $300,000
2010: $350,000
2011: $425,000
2012: $515,000
2013: $600,000
2014: $685,000
2015: $725,000
11/8/2016: $800,000
June 2017: $940,000

Notes: Mommy and Daddy did not pay for education, house down payment, wedding, etc. Always only 1 income with average wage around $75,000; Does not include real estate value (it's an expense, not an asset).

LFKB · Post by **LFKB** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:17 pm

LFKB wrote:Our net worth progressed something like this. Primarily through saving and some modest investment gains. We really only invested a large percentage of my net worth slowly over the last 15 months.

22: $100k
23: $200k
24: $400k
25: $620k
26: $850k
27 (current): $1.15M

I first posted in this thread almost exactly 3 years ago and since then we have grown from $1.15M to $2.8M net worth. I hadn't realized we had made such quick progress so it was nice to check in on this thread when I saw it back on the first page.

arthurdawg · Post by **arthurdawg** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:05 pm

emp2b3 wrote:
txranger wrote:2008: -50k accounting for med school debt.
2017: 2.9 mln. 40 yo. Blood money tho. Been painful to earn every cent. Certainly don't feel rich. Don't think I ever will.
Hoping to go to half time work in 10 yrs.
Dunno when I can fully retire. Or if I really want to.
At what number can one stop worrying about $?
I never had much growing up so I don't think my mindset would ever change....
Why do you feel like you need to continue working at all? Let alone wait for ten years to go part time? It is of course a personal decision, but maybe checking out some of the posts on http://www.physicianonfire.com that reference cutting back to part time or considering early retirement would be helpful to you.

As a physician I am assuming you are mostly trading your clinical time for money. You reference it being "blood money"; as I'm sure you know burnout is common in the field and can completely ruin your quality of life.

If you have set goals and are already reaching (or surpassing) them then perhaps you need to give yourself permission to back off a bit or take a break. Life is so much more than our work, even if we enjoy it. I am a strong believer in the concept of "enough".

Good luck to you!

It can be very difficult to cut back as a physician... for many reasons. I've paid off all of my debts and have a nest egg that would easily work for retirement at 43 and would love to cut back by 30%... Several problems - 1) Group just doesn't support it, we have one guy worth 25 million who is in his 70s and constantly griping about how much harder we all need to work! 2) Hard to get others to understand why you are stepping back in our community... they all want patients seen asap and 3) overhead starts to kill you fairly quickly.

emp2b3 · Post by **emp2b3** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:27 pm

I understand that it can be tough to cut back within a specific group. My current one doesn't have a part-time option or the ability to cut back on nights or weekends. I am envious of the specialties and groups that allow one to "buy out" of such responsibilities.
But even though I love my job I would prefer to spend more traveling the world and spending time with friends and family. Once we have closer to what we would consider "enough" (which is nowhere close to the 5 million that seemed to be a common answer on a White Coat Investor forum discussion) I will try to convince the group to change, find a group that is more flexible, work locums, volunteer at the medical school etc.

There is a current thread (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=218872&newpost=3404097) on this forum about regretting stepping away from work and retiring early. Almost no one does. As someone else put it, I like my job but it is still near the bottom of the list of things I would choose to do with my free time!

I support those physicians that choose to work until past normal retirement age because is their joy and passion, but I feel sorry for the ones that feel that they "have" to work for whatever reason when that is probably not true. The post above referenced having almost 3 million dollars at 40 years old. Even with a 3% withdrawal rate that is almost 100k per year for perpetuity with no need for disability insurance, retirement savings, and potentially even a mortgage payment. Maybe txranger wants to leave a large inheritance or give generously to others but the post made it seem like he or she couldn't even slow down to part time work for another 10 years. That is just absolutely crazy, especially when we think about the lives that most of our patients lead.

Detroittl · Post by **Detroittl** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:09 pm

2004 -5k ... 55k income
2007 zero ... 60k
2009 zero found Dave Ramsey ...55k
2010 30k ...80k
2013 55k bought house...80k
2015 65k found bogleheads...140k
2016 100k ...135k
2017 (June) 247k ...120k

Attribute growth to: (in order of impact)

Finding bogleheads and maxing out tax advantaged space
Income growth
Cutting out fees and simplifying portfolio
Figuring out my number for FIRE and being intentional about spending, saving and investing
Buying home
Market growth

Detroittl · Post by **Detroittl** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:18 pm

Ps helped a friend and a relative who consistently carried negative net worth for a decade each making low six figures, guided them a bit and bought them boglehead guide to investing, shared if you can pdf etc and 2 years later one is at 200k net worth and the other 60k after being negative just a few years ago

thanks bogleheads!

Finance-MD · Post by **Finance-MD** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:34 pm

GMan82 wrote:Anesthesiologist and Intensive Care physician here, now approaching 2 years out of training.

Sept 2015 = NEGATIVE $185,000 was my ENW
June 2017 = Just hit the POSITIVE $100k ENW ... kinda proud. Liability is still student loans, but I've been maxing the backdoor Roth, 403B plan, saving for an eventual downpayment when student loans are done and paid, and also contributing a bunch to a taxable account with 2 vanguard index funds and soon to be SCV ETF.

Feels good.

Congrats!
you're on the same timeline as DW and I... looks like we're on the same path!
we took a couple months off to travel after finishing training at end of June 2015...

Combined net worth (cash + portfolio + real estate*, rounded to nearest 5k)
9/14/15: -455k (day before first paycheck; NW nadir)
12/31/15: -375k
3/31/16: -310k
6/30/16: -230k
9/30/16: -130k
12/31/16: +0! (hit $0 on last paycheck

)
6/11/17: +325k +225k

we had been doing NW calculations monthly until we hit $0; that was huge... decided to switch to quarterly at that point as work got much busier... and got bogged down in taxes in 3/2017 so didn't get to do a Q1 calculation. Today was the first time I've put it all together since last year... with some recent mid-year bonuses, was surprised how big it got

*used conservative estimates (lowest of tax value, recent appraisal, and real estate CMA)

EDIT1: Recently bought an investment property and included the house but not the mortgage in original estimate

-

sanfran2015 · Post by **sanfran2015** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:39 am

Finance-MD wrote:
GMan82 wrote:Anesthesiologist and Intensive Care physician here, now approaching 2 years out of training.

Sept 2015 = NEGATIVE $185,000 was my ENW
June 2017 = Just hit the POSITIVE $100k ENW ... kinda proud. Liability is still student loans, but I've been maxing the backdoor Roth, 403B plan, saving for an eventual downpayment when student loans are done and paid, and also contributing a bunch to a taxable account with 2 vanguard index funds and soon to be SCV ETF.

Feels good.
Congrats!
you're on the same timeline as DW and I... looks like we're on the same path!
we took a couple months off to travel after finishing training at end of June 2015...

Combined net worth (cash + portfolio + real estate*, rounded to nearest 5k)
9/14/15: -455k (day before first paycheck; NW nadir)
12/31/15: -375k
3/31/16: -310k
6/30/16: -230k
9/30/16: -130k
12/31/16: +0! (hit $0 on last paycheck )
6/11/17: +325k

we had been doing NW calculations monthly until we hit $0; that was huge... decided to switch to quarterly at that point as work got much busier... and got bogged down in taxes in 3/2017 so didn't get to do a Q1 calculation. Today was the first time I've put it all together since last year... with some recent mid-year bonuses, was surprised how big it got

*used conservative estimates (lowest of tax value, recent appraisal, and real estate CMA)

WOW. You are adding 325k in 6 months? Is this via contributions or via market returns?

jharkin · Post by **jharkin** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 6:25 am

We'll here is another non millionaire data point.

I got my first full post -college time job in 1999, but back then I didn't know anything about smart investing or BH. Lots of school debt and not making much (40s) but at least I thought to put 10% in the 401k (all expensive active funds). My wife didnt really know anything about personal finance when I met her so getting married was a reset (net worth reset)... Then we had another reset when the kids where born and my wife stayed home (income reset), we still have not completely replaced that lost income with my raises.

*If* my wife goes back to work full time in the next couple years now that kids are in primary school I can see this trend accelerating and us getting back on the BH train heading toward the 2 comma club by our late 40s. If not than I think we are going to continue to struggle along with modest increases where we increase savings as we eliminate debts (Live in a HCOL area and household income still has not retired from loss of wife' salary 6 years ago)

I have actual records going back to 2005....

(January data)
2005 - $40k
2006 - $65k
2007 - $90k
2008 - $110k
(got married, add 50% income due to spouse, first year combined income passes 100k, helped pay off spouse debt)
2009 - $92k
(bought house)
2010 - $191k
(had twins, spouse becomes SAHM, income drops 40%, had to buy a larger car)
2011 - $225k
2012 - $230k
2013 - $335k
2014 - $395k
(first year my solo income passed $150k, took a hit to replace an 11 year old car)
2015 - $430k
2016 - $470k
2017 - $510k
(took another hit to replace another 10 year old car)

LFKB · Post by **LFKB** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:04 am

Full update for the two of us below

2008: graduated college - maybe $40k
2009: $100k
2010: $200k
2011: $400k
2012: $620k
2013: $850k
2014: $1.15M
2015: $1.6M
2016: $2.1M
2017: $2.8M

cusetownusa · Post by **cusetownusa** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:50 am

Notes: Parents did not pay for education, house down payment, wedding, etc. Graduated College 2002 and married 2010. I didn't keep track of NW until I opened a mint account in 2011 and even then I may not have had all the info stored. I also include a conservative calculation/value of a Pension assuming that worked stopped today and started receiving the pension payment at 55...its currently valued at approximately $100,000.

2002: ($40,000) (started off with student loans and a new car

)
2003: Long
2004: Slow
2005: Climb
2006: into
2007: positive
2008: territory and
2009: fuzzy
2010: record keeping
2011: $78,000
2012: $148,000
2013: $337,000
2014: $441,000
2015: $580,000
2016: $723,000
June 2017: $993,000

552BB · Post by **552BB** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:35 am

Good morning BH,

Just finished reading through this thread.

I will just add to all the boglehead community, a great congratulations to all.

This thread shows, through your graphs, charted net worth through thick and thin, your comments and posts, that the tenents of John Bogle have worked beautifully over the long run.

And this web address helps many that are lost in the financial jungle we call 'the noise'. People come to bogleheads to find a reprieve, or some may say salvation from the financail jungle.

They find truth.

Warren Buffett was right!!!!!

If there is ever a statue made for the one person who has done more for the masses than any in the financial world;

it should be a statue of Jonh C. Bogle.

rashad3000 · Post by **rashad3000** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:45 am

In our situation, kids are BY FAR the biggest liability (financially speaking) that has kept us from a much higher net worth. We have 3. We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more. If you have your boy and girl and are content with 2, STOP! LOLOL

Anyway, we are slowly headed towards a very nice retirement. House stupidity and car stupidity have really screwed us many times in the past.

Finance-MD · Post by **Finance-MD** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 1:31 pm

sanfran2015 wrote: WOW. You are adding 325k in 6 months? Is this via contributions or via market returns?

see Edit1 above
My personal capital account doesn't include all of our holdings, so it's usually lagging by a good amount. However, it was off by a lot more than usual this time... looked at the numbers this morning and found the omission (a $100k mortgage).

method: LBOM and spend money on investments rather than liabilities:
- savings rate > 60% monthly (usually 70-80%)
- max out 401k/403b/457
- buy/hold rentals
- recent small house flip
- AirBnB'ing our house to pay the mortgage (hustling)
- one 9-year-old paid off car
- other car <$200/month lease, paid for by employer (mileage)

very little of NW change has been portfolio gain but rather our jobs and real estate/AirBnB. YTD gain has been >90% of our W-2 income. Hoping to get it >100%.

we still enjoy our life, enjoy traveling, and spend money on things important to us

InvestorNewb · Post by **InvestorNewb** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 1:41 pm

rashad3000 wrote:We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more.

That is on the high side considering the following quote:

The average cost of raising a child born in 2013 up until age 18 for a middle-income family in the U.S. is approximately $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the latest annual “Cost of Raising A Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The estimate is 1.8 percent higher than the previous year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 88179.html

Eagle · Post by **Eagle** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:32 pm

December 2004 - $5,000 *I graduated college no debt and paid cash for 1st car
December 2005 - $15,000
December 2006 - $20,000
December 2007 - $28,000 *Sold 1st car for cash, bought 2nd vehicle on a loan
December 2008 - $26,000
December 2009 - $22,500 *I finished MBA with no debt
December 2010 - $29,000 *Year we got married
December 2011 - $117,000 *I got current job with Fortune 500 company, Paid off 2nd vehicle, wife became SAHM
December 2012 - $189,000 *We bought 3rd vehicle cash, 1st child born
December 2013 - $226,000 *We bought house and put 20% down, salary increase by 18% overnight
December 2014 - $247,000 *Wife graduated college, 2nd child born
December 2015 - $268,000
December 2016 - $284,000 *Promotion at work, salary has increased by 48% since starting this job, we are very thankful!
June 2017 - $320,000 *Baby #3 on the way; I’m 35 and DW is 34

rashad3000 · Post by **rashad3000** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:55 pm

InvestorNewb wrote:
rashad3000 wrote:We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more.
That is on the high side considering the following quote:
The average cost of raising a child born in 2013 up until age 18 for a middle-income family in the U.S. is approximately $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the latest annual “Cost of Raising A Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The estimate is 1.8 percent higher than the previous year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 88179.html

Not when your wife takes off some time after having the baby.

stoptothink · Post by **stoptothink** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:56 pm

InvestorNewb wrote:
rashad3000 wrote:We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more.
That is on the high side considering the following quote:
The average cost of raising a child born in 2013 up until age 18 for a middle-income family in the U.S. is approximately $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the latest annual “Cost of Raising A Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The estimate is 1.8 percent higher than the previous year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 88179.html

Yeah, geez. Unless this child has serious health concerns, that is a lot. Even with our 5yr old in full-time daycare since she was one, she's probably cost us half that.

triceratop · Post by **triceratop** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:24 pm

I thought I would check in, despite the modest progression in comparison to the heavy hitters. My income has been about $36,000 since late 2014 and I started tracking in mid-2015; I recall being at $8,000 net worth in June 2014 around when I began investing.

BW1985 · Post by **BW1985** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:17 pm

LFKB wrote:Full update for the two of us below

2008: graduated college - maybe $40k
2009: $100k
2010: $200k
2011: $400k
2012: $620k
2013: $850k
2014: $1.15M
2015: $1.6M
2016: $2.1M
2017: $2.8M

How did you do that?? What's your income?

SeaToTheBay · Post by **SeaToTheBay** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:33 pm

2006: 47k. Graduated college, bought condo 50/50 with parents (bad timing, good location - still have it and renting out). Had saved all money from birthdays, Christmas, etc. since I was 5, mutual fund since 10, usually $300/mo from HS/college side jobs into a Roth IRA. My parents set me up well with regards to a saving mindset!

2007: 81k (age 23, first full year of employment, four-figure college debt due to parents' help, working during college, and low in-state tuition)
2008: 89k (I remember 2008 I saved 39k and lost 40k in investments... like pouring water into a strainer

)
2009: 109k
2010: 164k
2011: 157k (started full-time MBA)
2012: 72k
mid-2013: 56k (graduated MBA along with now-wife, started work again, 110k in student loans

)
2013: 95k
2014: 161k
2015: 270k single / 432k married

2016: 657k married (bought townhouse in HCOL area)
mid-2017: 837k, should finish paying off student loans next month - $21k left

We are now accumulating much faster than we were before. Jobs are paying better (+50% since graduating MBA), investments doing well, RE doing well, student loans almost done, cars paid off. We are very fortunate, especially with wife getting a full ride to undergrad and MBA. Would be a lot more difficult if our student loan debt was doubled.

sandramjet · Post by **sandramjet** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:51 pm

stoptothink wrote:
InvestorNewb wrote:
rashad3000 wrote:We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more.
That is on the high side considering the following quote:
The average cost of raising a child born in 2013 up until age 18 for a middle-income family in the U.S. is approximately $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the latest annual “Cost of Raising A Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The estimate is 1.8 percent higher than the previous year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 88179.html
Yeah, geez. Unless this child has serious health concerns, that is a lot. Even with our 5yr old in full-time daycare since she was one, she's probably cost us half that.

All it takes to run up a lot is to have some birth complications... have a friend whose child was premature ... 180k in expenses before the child even came home!

BW1985 · Post by **BW1985** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 4:49 pm

sandramjet wrote:
stoptothink wrote:
InvestorNewb wrote:
rashad3000 wrote:We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more.
That is on the high side considering the following quote:
The average cost of raising a child born in 2013 up until age 18 for a middle-income family in the U.S. is approximately $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the latest annual “Cost of Raising A Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The estimate is 1.8 percent higher than the previous year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 88179.html
Yeah, geez. Unless this child has serious health concerns, that is a lot. Even with our 5yr old in full-time daycare since she was one, she's probably cost us half that.
All it takes to run up a lot is to have some birth complications... have a friend whose child was premature ... 180k in expenses before the child even came home!

No health insurance?

cwademba · Post by **cwademba** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:42 am

My wife and I married in 2008 and had a lot of debt from student loans to cars. In 2010, I finally decided to look at our debt and was horrified to find we had a negative net worth of almost 300k. We graduated from college in 2005-2012 (Undergrad & Grad) and decided in 2011 that it was time to start paying off debt and building a future. Once the snowball starting (Dave Ramsey), our net worth grew and so did our happiness in life. We currently have very little debt (House & land) and it is amazing to keep up with our net worth yearly and watch it increase. My wife and I both invest in Roth's, 401k, and both have pensions that are included in our net worth. With my projections, we should have a net worth in excess of 1 million by the time we are 40 years old (3 years away).

Net Worth Salary
2010 - -293k 96k
2011- -229k 116k
2012 165k 124k NOTE: We begin Dave Ramsey plan and sold anything that kept us from our goal, truck/car/boat(s), real estate
2013 200k 130k
2014 318k 135k
2015 438k 140k
2016 580k 146k
2017 Projected +700k 155k

an_asker · Post by **an_asker** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:10 am

TomatoTomahto wrote:
bungalow10 wrote:We seemed on paper to stall out the year DH decided to become a SAHD, but I want to call out that we spent a lot of money on home repairs in that time (the home we had to sell recently - looking back they were not good expenditures) AND his transition to being at home has allowed me to have good career growth these last few years.
We are roughly a decade and a half past our decision that I would be a SAHD. At the time, our incomes were roughly equal. DW's career growth has been wonderful. My initially "missed" income was soon swamped by DW's income created by the freedom to "go for it" without worrying that the kids were being shortchanged. It was a great choice for our family.

Being a SAHD was kind of lonely 16 years ago, but is now mainstream.

I am curious about your two examples. Did either of these lady professionals feel that they would've been paid more had they been men?

What all have the corresponding two SAHDs done to ease the pressure off your wives? Or, on a flip note, what do the lady professionals do at home other than their jobs?

stoptothink · Post by **stoptothink** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:12 am

BW1985 wrote:
sandramjet wrote:
stoptothink wrote:
InvestorNewb wrote:
rashad3000 wrote:We've estimated that the last one probably cost us an extra $90,000 - $100,000 total since was born in 2012. Maybe a little more.
That is on the high side considering the following quote:
The average cost of raising a child born in 2013 up until age 18 for a middle-income family in the U.S. is approximately $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the latest annual “Cost of Raising A Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The estimate is 1.8 percent higher than the previous year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/1 ... 88179.html
Yeah, geez. Unless this child has serious health concerns, that is a lot. Even with our 5yr old in full-time daycare since she was one, she's probably cost us half that.
All it takes to run up a lot is to have some birth complications... have a friend whose child was premature ... 180k in expenses before the child even came home!
No health insurance?

As I said, "serious health concerns". As a father of 2, one thing my wife and I have definitely noticed that, for the most part, they cost how much you want them to. You can't get around certain costs, but I am often shocked how much parents spend on IMO unnecessary gadgets, clothes, activities, and act like those things are absolutely required to raise a healthy child.

TomatoTomahto · Post by **TomatoTomahto** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:25 am

an_asker wrote:
TomatoTomahto wrote:
bungalow10 wrote:We seemed on paper to stall out the year DH decided to become a SAHD, but I want to call out that we spent a lot of money on home repairs in that time (the home we had to sell recently - looking back they were not good expenditures) AND his transition to being at home has allowed me to have good career growth these last few years.
We are roughly a decade and a half past our decision that I would be a SAHD. At the time, our incomes were roughly equal. DW's career growth has been wonderful. My initially "missed" income was soon swamped by DW's income created by the freedom to "go for it" without worrying that the kids were being shortchanged. It was a great choice for our family.

Being a SAHD was kind of lonely 16 years ago, but is now mainstream.
I am curious about your two examples. Did either of these lady professionals feel that they would've been paid more had they been men?

What all have the corresponding two SAHDs done to ease the pressure off your wives? Or, on a flip note, what do the lady professionals do at home other than their jobs?

My wife would have made much more earlier in her career if she had been a man. She makes more than some would consider reasonable, and we're not complaining, but it's clear that losing a decade or two of advancement holds you back forever. My wife is unlikely to say this out loud, even to me, because she's just not a whiner by nature. She has been confronted by the most audacious sexism, especially 20 years ago, but much less so today. There are quite a few people, over the years, who deserved a bop on the nose, but neither of us is violent.

I try to be a good listener, which means that she can unload without having to "catch me up" on who's who at work, what she's up to, etc. The fact that I was in a similar field, often with the very same people she deals with, helps. I am her fiercest supporter, and we often discuss strategy, both political and technical.

What does she do at home? When the kids were around (they're in college now), she spent a fair amount of time with them (and me also). She spends time with our pets, watches TV with me, goes for a run, etc. She doesn't shop for groceries or household needs, and I do most of the errands (pharmacy, making appointments for cars and kids, etc.).

an_asker · Post by **an_asker** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:48 am

TomatoTomahto wrote:
an_asker wrote:
TomatoTomahto wrote:[...]We are roughly a decade and a half past our decision that I would be a SAHD. At the time, our incomes were roughly equal. DW's career growth has been wonderful. My initially "missed" income was soon swamped by DW's income created by the freedom to "go for it" without worrying that the kids were being shortchanged. It was a great choice for our family.

Being a SAHD was kind of lonely 16 years ago, but is now mainstream.
I am curious about your two examples. Did either of these lady professionals feel that they would've been paid more had they been men?

What all have the corresponding two SAHDs done to ease the pressure off your wives? Or, on a flip note, what do the lady professionals do at home other than their jobs?
My wife would have made much more earlier in her career if she had been a man. She makes more than some would consider reasonable, and we're not complaining, but it's clear that losing a decade or two of advancement holds you back forever. My wife is unlikely to say this out loud, even to me, because she's just not a whiner by nature. She has been confronted by the most audacious sexism, especially 20 years ago, but much less so today. There are quite a few people, over the years, who deserved a bop on the nose, but neither of us is violent.

I try to be a good listener, which means that she can unload without having to "catch me up" on who's who at work, what she's up to, etc. The fact that I was in a similar field, often with the very same people she deals with, helps. I am her fiercest supporter, and we often discuss strategy, both political and technical.

What does she do at home? When the kids were around (they're in college now), she spent a fair amount of time with them (and me also). She spends time with our pets, watches TV with me, goes for a run, etc. She doesn't shop for groceries or household needs, and I do most of the errands (pharmacy, making appointments for cars and kids, etc.).

Thanks for the detailed answers.

Here's what I was trying to get to - if she were making less than a man would for the same position, wouldn't it be more reason for her to be a SAHM and for you to duke it out in the workplace?

Also, with respect to the home front, I was trying to see if your wife made an abrupt shift - in the sense that, once you became the SAHD, did a lot of her responsibilities become yours or did she still end up doing most of what she was always doing? In other words, maybe she didn't shop for groceries and household needs even when you were working (this is just an example of where I was going)?

Re: not being mainstream 15 years ago vs. now ... is it because the gender wage gap is narrowing, or is it just that more men have realized that they would rather be not in the work place?

TomatoTomahto · Post by **TomatoTomahto** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:04 pm

Here's what I was trying to get to - if she were making less than a man would for the same position, wouldn't it be more reason for her to be a SAHM and for you to duke it out in the workplace?
I guess if money were the only consideration, but then why wouldn't we both work? For that matter, why have kids, since clearly they're a financial drag? In our case, my wife was more ambitious than I was. She operated much better at high levels. The only advantage I had over her was that I was a better coder, but, in the overall scheme of things, so what?

Also, with respect to the home front, I was trying to see if your wife made an abrupt shift - in the sense that, once you became the SAHD, did a lot of her responsibilities become yours or did she still end up doing most of what she was always doing? In other words, maybe she didn't shop for groceries and household needs even when you were working (this is just an example of where I was going)?
Before I became a SAHD, we were roughly 50/50 around the house. After, it became maybe 90/10.

Re: not being mainstream 15 years ago vs. now ... is it because the gender wage gap is narrowing, or is it just that more men have realized that they would rather be not in the work place?
I wasn't completely delighted in the workplace, but I missed it when I left. Otoh, I was glad to have a chance to raise my kids, something that I hadn't had as much time to do with my children from my first marriage. No need for false modesty here: I am an exceptionally good father. I got great satisfaction from being a father, and I really enjoyed watching my wife grow.

I am curious; would you have asked the questions if the genders were reversed?

InvestorNewb · Post by **InvestorNewb** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 3:01 pm

Here are the amounts that I recall with a little story for each:

Age 22 - $30,000
I graduated university with $30k in savings. I was ahead of most of my peers because my parents paid for my schooling and I did not have to go into debt. After graduating, I spent the next few years working on my business that was already generating a small income of about $1k per month.

Age 26 - $100,000
My efforts proved to be valuable and the business saw an uphill trend in profit. I moved out of my parent's home late at age 26 with this amount saved. My mom was going to start charging my brother and I for rent (and rightfully so). We decided it was time to move out and we each got our own apartment.

Age 30 - $500,000
Between the ages of 26-30 my business had strong growth and I saved almost all of the profits. I was able to save the profits because I've been working a separate 9-5 job since the age of 24 to cover my expenses. I also use my day job as safety net in case the business goes to $0. The business began to see a downhill trend starting at age 30. At age 30, I also discovered this forum and invested most of my net worth into US stocks to compensate for the decline in active business income.

Age 33 - $900,000
By age 33, my account grew to $900k mostly due to the bull market and strong USD. I also save about 15k per year from my day job and put that into the market as well. I love saving and look forward to making contributions in my tax free/deferred accounts every year.

Age 34 (current) - $1,065,000
From the previous entry, the updated balance is mostly due to the continued bull market. I'm also working on revamping my business to make it profitable again. This isn't easy when I work 40 hours per week at my day job, but I'm squeezing time in on weekends to make it happen.

Post by **LadyGeek** » Wed Jun 14, 2017 3:23 pm

An off-topic post was removed. Discussions regarding salary inequality in the workplace due to gender are off-topic.

Please stay on-topic.

LFKB · Post by **LFKB** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 5:10 pm

BW1985 wrote:
LFKB wrote:Full update for the two of us below

2008: graduated college - maybe $40k
2009: $100k
2010: $200k
2011: $400k
2012: $620k
2013: $850k
2014: $1.15M
2015: $1.6M
2016: $2.1M
2017: $2.8M
How did you do that?? What's your income?

Income is high and saved a bunch but also invested $100k in a single stock that is worth about $175k now about six months later. My other individual investments which are Google, Amazon, Nvidia and Whole Foods have all done very well. Index funds have gone up as well.

travellight · Post by **travellight** » Fri Jun 16, 2017 11:17 pm

investingdad wrote:
Bacchus01 wrote:
Bacchus01 wrote:Just the last few years or so of good records measured at year end, or YTD for 2015

2006 $425
2007 $500
2008 $345
2009 $592
2010 $796
2011 $918
2012 $1,129
2013 $1,435
2014 $1,622
2015 $1,861 (projected $2M+ by end of year)

Actually, back in late 2007/early 2008 I had a bunch of stock options vest and the total was closer to $1M at the time. In fact, I think it was slightly over that. By mid-2009 they were worthless. By the end of 2009 some things had recovered, but in the end I think I lost 90% of the value of the options by not selling them in late 2007 like I should have. We expect to pass $2M by the end of the year. Over a roughly 10 year period total net worth went up 5X. If that happens in the next 10, we'll definitely be retired. That is the plan.
Update. Did not hit $2M at end of 2015. Hit it mid 2016 and now in Feb 2017 sit at $2.3M at 43 yo.
Wow. You and I are the same age and our tracks are nearly identical.

Nice! Not bad for being Gen X slackers.

Gen X is now 43?! Boy, that makes me feel old.

NomadicExpat · Post by **NomadicExpat** » Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:41 am

LFKB wrote:
BW1985 wrote:
LFKB wrote:Full update for the two of us below

2008: graduated college - maybe $40k
2009: $100k
2010: $200k
2011: $400k
2012: $620k
2013: $850k
2014: $1.15M
2015: $1.6M
2016: $2.1M
2017: $2.8M
How did you do that?? What's your income?
Income is high and saved a bunch but also invested $100k in a single stock that is worth about $175k now about six months later. My other individual investments which are Google, Amazon, Nvidia and Whole Foods have all done very well. Index funds have gone up as well.

Well done @LFKB. Gutsy call to invest 5% of portfolio in a single company. Which stock is up 75% in 6 months?

ps. Golic to Wall Street

herpfinance · Post by **herpfinance** » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:20 am

I'm still very much at the beginning of my journey, but here are a couple of milestones:

$100k September 2014
$150k July 2016

$195k today.

I'm in my early 30's.

BigLaw Survivor · Post by **BigLaw Survivor** » Sat Jun 17, 2017 12:12 pm

I've been trying to see if I could trace my way back on this but it's proving to be too complicated. The one thing I do know is that, even though I graduated from law school 30 years ago and started work right away in BigLaw, I wasn't in a position to open a brokerage account outside of retirement accounts until 2009. Before then, I made sure that I fully maxed out all tax-free retirement contributions available to me from DAY ONE, but did nothing else. I had four kids and live in a high cost area. I also made the mistake of investing in two vacation properties in the mid 2000s and put very little down on either -- but lost big money on both.

I opened my brokerage account in 2009, 8 years ago, with $57k. My nickname for the account was "Escape," because that's exactly what the account was for -- escaping from BigLaw. I contributed $735k over the next 6 years while I was still working, and another $150k last week after selling a residential rental. The account today is worth $1.455 million.

On January 1, 2006, when I was 45, my 401K was valued at $626k. I probably had $200k in home equity. Combined they were my only assets. As of today, my retirement accounts are worth $2.812 million, and my home equity is around $900k. I also have $140k in cash.

So my rough calculation is that from 2006, when I was 45, until today, just short of age 56, my net worth has increased from $826k to $5.3 million. It's worth noting that in one of those years, 2008, my 401k dropped a whopping 44 percent -- from $903k to $541k -- but I held steady and recovered.

LFKB · Post by **LFKB** » Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:07 pm

NomadicExpat wrote:
LFKB wrote:
BW1985 wrote:
LFKB wrote:Full update for the two of us below

2008: graduated college - maybe $40k
2009: $100k
2010: $200k
2011: $400k
2012: $620k
2013: $850k
2014: $1.15M
2015: $1.6M
2016: $2.1M
2017: $2.8M
How did you do that?? What's your income?
Income is high and saved a bunch but also invested $100k in a single stock that is worth about $175k now about six months later. My other individual investments which are Google, Amazon, Nvidia and Whole Foods have all done very well. Index funds have gone up as well.
Well done @LFKB. Gutsy call to invest 5% of portfolio in a single company. Which stock is up 75% in 6 months?

ps. Golic to Wall Street

You tMB?

Can't mention the stock because it could lead to some personal info being revealed, which is why I only mention the other ones.