A decade on Bogleheads!

[berg]

Tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of my first post on Bogleheads! I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone on this forum who has taken the time to help me secure a better future for my family. I made so many better decisions, with much more confidence thanks to all of you! My wife calls you my money friends on the internet. I can't thank you all enough!

And to those of you newer to the community, I remember seeing these massive numbers from people older than me ten years ago and thinking, how will we ever get there? I'm here to say with time and work you can! Nothing is guaranteed and I have been lucky to have career progress with stock do well as part of my compensation. But the core of our portfolio is Boglehgeads and has risen slow and steady by staying the course.

Our net worth has gone from about $290k in my first post to now north of $3 million! We've bought a new home, had job changes and have had two kids and you have helped me navigate it all!

My first post was about navigating the backdoor Roth for the first time, now our Roths have $155k and $100k in them.

And while you have helped me with many issues from taxes, mortgages, stock sales and much more. My favorite post of all time (and I think the one that got the most replies with 170!) still is from four years ago when I asked if we should buy the minivan my wife wanted despite her having an older CR-V with only 79k miles on it and you all told me to stop being so cheap and make my wife happy! It was a great decision, besides my wife's happiness, we love our van!

Cheers to all of you and this wonderful community. As I approach my 40th birthday, hope to spend many more decades with all of you!

[Normchad]

Congratulations on your anniversary and all your success!

I agree that this is the best online community there is. Many thanks to all the posters and the moderators that keep it that way.

[steadyosmosis]

Tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of my first post on Bogleheads! I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone on this forum who has taken the time to help me secure a better future for my family. I made so many better decisions, with much more confidence thanks to all of you! My wife calls you my money friends on the internet. I can't thank you all enough!
...

I was just lurking back in 2013, reading so many of the historical postings.
Truly amazing the amount of knowledge available on this forum!
'Thank you' to all contributors and moderators.

[Kendall]

I moved berg's thread to the Bogleheads Community subforum, as there is no actionable question, just an expression of gratitude.

Congratulations, berg, and so glad you are part of the community!
Moderator Kendall

[Stinky]

Tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of my first post on Bogleheads! I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone on this forum who has taken the time to help me secure a better future for my family. I made so many better decisions, with much more confidence thanks to all of you! My wife calls you my money friends on the internet. I can't thank you all enough!

And to those of you newer to the community, I remember seeing these massive numbers from people older than me ten years ago and thinking, how will we ever get there? I'm here to say with time and work you can! Nothing is guaranteed and I have been lucky to have career progress with stock do well as part of my compensation. But the core of our portfolio is Boglehgeads and has risen slow and steady by staying the course.

Our net worth has gone from about $290k in my first post to now north of $3 million! We've bought a new home, had job changes and have had two kids and you have helped me navigate it all!

My first post was about navigating the backdoor Roth for the first time, now our Roths have $155k and $100k in them.

And while you have helped me with many issues from taxes, mortgages, stock sales and much more. My favorite post of all time (and I think the one that got the most replies with 170!) still is from four years ago when I asked if we should buy the minivan my wife wanted despite her having an older CR-V with only 79k miles on it and you all told me to stop being so cheap and make my wife happy! It was a great decision, besides my wife's happiness, we love our van!

Cheers to all of you and this wonderful community. As I approach my 40th birthday, hope to spend many more decades with all of you!

Going from $290k to $3 million of net worth in 10 years - that's just awesome. Congratulations!

Hope that you keep reading and contributing to the Forum for many years to come.

[Pinotage]

Congratulations and awesome work!

Love these time capsule posts

[SchruteB&B]

Congrats! That’s a nice NW to have at 40.

[bog007]

Winning.

[Wannaretireearly]

Well done. I just wish more of my best friends could chart this path. Leading a horse to water…

[blimp]

Our net worth has gone from about $290k in my first post to now north of $3 million!

Very impressive.

I did some calculations. The S&P 500 returned 9.718% in the last 10 years (nominal), so even if you had the entire $290K invested, you would still have to invest north of $10,000 monthly to get to 3 Million in 10 years. Obviously your net worth may have appreciated in other ways (home value growth, business, etc), but it shows how difficult it is to get to $3 million in 10 years.

An absolutely incredible achievement.

[Sandtrap]

j

[student]

Congratulations......

[j9j]

That’s awesome. What minivan did you wind up with? Maybe a follow-up posts how you achieved 3 million in ten years

[dan7800]

About 2 years for me. It has taken a while, but my tax bill alone has gone down about 8-10k/yr. Being a BH works!

[Taylor Larimore]

Berg:

Every Boglehead appreciates a post of "gratitude."

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." -- Cynthia Ozick

Thank you and best wishes.
Taylor

Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom: In his book "John Bogle on Investing," Mr. Bogle wrote: "Dedicated to all of the human beings who have meant so much to me -- and especially those "Bogleheads" of the internet, that dedicated and loyal cadre of Vanguard Diehards who give me strength to carry on my mission."

[nedsaid]

It is good to hear success stories from people who found that the principles taught us by John Bogle really do work.

[dokeeffe]

I joined the Vanguard Diehards forum at Morningstar back in 1998 a few months after it started. This is still the best place for investment and personal finance information on the Internet.

[260chrisb]

Tomorrow marks the ten year anniversary of my first post on Bogleheads! I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone on this forum who has taken the time to help me secure a better future for my family. I made so many better decisions, with much more confidence thanks to all of you! My wife calls you my money friends on the internet. I can't thank you all enough!

And to those of you newer to the community, I remember seeing these massive numbers from people older than me ten years ago and thinking, how will we ever get there? I'm here to say with time and work you can! Nothing is guaranteed and I have been lucky to have career progress with stock do well as part of my compensation. But the core of our portfolio is Boglehgeads and has risen slow and steady by staying the course.

Our net worth has gone from about $290k in my first post to now north of $3 million! We've bought a new home, had job changes and have had two kids and you have helped me navigate it all!

My first post was about navigating the backdoor Roth for the first time, now our Roths have $155k and $100k in them.

And while you have helped me with many issues from taxes, mortgages, stock sales and much more. My favorite post of all time (and I think the one that got the most replies with 170!) still is from four years ago when I asked if we should buy the minivan my wife wanted despite her having an older CR-V with only 79k miles on it and you all told me to stop being so cheap and make my wife happy! It was a great decision, besides my wife's happiness, we love our van!

Cheers to all of you and this wonderful community. As I approach my 40th birthday, hope to spend many more decades with all of you!

Going from $290k to $3 million of net worth in 10 years - that's just awesome. Congratulations!

Hope that you keep reading and contributing to the Forum for many years to come.

I was thinking the same thing!! Congrats and well done. Going from 290K to 3m in just ten years is extraordinary. Ever considered starting an investment forum???

[berg]

That’s awesome. What minivan did you wind up with? Maybe a follow-up posts how you achieved 3 million in ten years

We ended up with the Honda Odyssey, although now that we have taken up skiing in earnest as a family, we are eyeing the Siena with its AWD when we replace it!

No magic formula for getting to $3M, but I do love the phrase luck is preparedness meets opportunity. We have:

• max our retirement accounts

• invested in career growth that has led to income growth (our on target earnings then were about $211k, now we are about $380k

• lucked out with our home purchases (2011 and 2017), which helped us grow equity (~around $700k and wishing I had a larger loan these days with our low interest mortage at 2.5%, through LenderFi, which I discovered on Bogleheads)

• Fortunate with two jobs back-to-back that had large stock payouts and Boglehead encouragement to diversify (though I could have listened better here!)

I was thinking the same thing!! Congrats and well done. Going from 290K to 3m in just ten years is extraordinary. Ever considered starting an investment forum???

Haha, nothing but a three fund portfolio (and company stock I diversify into the three fund!)


Couldn't have done it without all of you! Thank you!!

[celia]

My first post was about navigating the backdoor Roth for the first time, now our Roths have $155k and $100k in them.

Going from $290k to $3 million of net worth in 10 years - that's just awesome. Congratulations!

In all fairness, you appeared to have a high income 10 years ago when you started such that you had to do a Backdoor Roth. Not everyone can grow the rest of their portfolio so fast since they don’t have the “extra” income that you have.

[tennisplyr]

Congrats! I joined the forum almost 10 years ago and am grateful to all those who have shared their knowledge, experiences and opinions. I try to contribute to those topics where I think I can help.

[6bquick]

My first post was about navigating the backdoor Roth for the first time, now our Roths have $155k and $100k in them.

Going from $290k to $3 million of net worth in 10 years - that's just awesome. Congratulations!

In all fairness, you appeared to have a high income 10 years ago when you started such that you had to do a Backdoor Roth. Not everyone can grow the rest of their portfolio so fast since they don’t have the “extra” income that you have.

did this really need to be said? sheesh.


Congrats, OP. Heckuva good accomplishment.

[homebuyer6426]

I share your sentiments and am also glad of what I've learned here. It is definitely a great resource toward improving one's life. Cheers.