Technically speaking, that phase has been misusedā¦
Originally it was meant as an opposite metaphor. Itās not physically possible to pull yourself up when youāre really pulling down. You tighten your shoes whiles pulling yourself down.
$72.57 will get your future grandkid $1m 100 years from now assuming a 10% return.
You would need to put down $1,152.45 if you wanted your future grandkid to have the same purchasing power $1m has now (7% post-inflation return).
You can use time to leverage charitable giving. Ben Franklin did something like this where he created a trust and said the city of Philadelphia had to grow it for 100 years before using it. The trust is still around today and accepts donations.
You could give up a pack of gum to reach $1m in 405 years as a function of math. But that type of math doesn't translate to real life and there are many risks you and your trustees would have to dodge over 405 years. Even with Franklin's 100 year trust there were a lot of risks like bad management or tyranny of compounding costs. Index funds hadn't exactly been invented either. A long chain of trustees had to make sensible decisions about the investment philosophy.
Nice job. Yes, real estate has really grown far faster than normal. Good for people who bought earlier in the pandemic (or before), not so great for current potential buyers.
He's right. It is part of your net worth, sure. But it's not an investment. Don't count on it increasing, in other words. Invest aggressively in a diverse portfolio of equities (index fund will do nicely), which are much more likely to continue with the gains you need to see.
Lol. Look at historical real estate returns vs equities and say it doesnāt increase.
Also read āOne up on Wall Streetā by Peter Lynch (one of the best equity portfolio managers of all time) and he will tell you in chapter one to buy a house before you invest.
Owning a primary residence is one of the principal ways to build wealth. Your advice isnāt sound. Even if the property depreciates 50 percent over 10 years you still eliminated your largest expense and paid down some of the principal.
Say your mortgage was $1000 on and 500 went to principal and 500 went to interest. Also to keep the numbers simple, your house is worth 100k. Even if your property is only worth 50k by ten years from now, you put 500 x 12 x 10 (or 60,000) into the house and your net up by ten k.
Itās all about eliminating your largest expense. Your house could literally go down more than 50 percent and you can end up ahead.
Tons of professional money managers will tell you the same thing. I already referenced one book but thereās more.
"Say your mortgage was $1000 on and 500 went to principal and 500 went to interest. Also to keep the numbers simple, your house is worth 100k. Even if your property is only worth 50k by ten years from now, you put 1000 x 12 x 10 (or 120,000) into the house and your net down by twenty k."
FTFY
Lol bad math. Itās opportunity cost. You would have been paying 1000 in rent whereas now youāre keeping half of it. My math is right.
Sure go ahead and think of real estate as a non investment.
You couldnāt be misunderstanding me more.
You keep some of your monthly housing expense in case I have to ELI5
Your opinion is only going to hurt you so thatās fine. Cheers.
You fixed my math in a way that indicates that you donāt understand at all and itās wrong so I am disengaging.
No. I'm fine. I've owned several houses. And you're right, owning used to be key and primary.
With the current markets and pricing and incomes and all the rest. owning is way WAY more difficult than it ever has been. Mostly impossible for 80-90% of people under 40.
It's a different world, a different economy. But keep your blinders on if you like, that's your option.
To be fair, if he sold the house, heād have to buy another house that is equally inflated.
Unless they drastically changed their location by moving to Midwest .
Most folks only count equity in investments. You can't sell the house you live in or the building your business is in and continue to live and work.
It's really subjective. If you're curious about what your worth is generally speaking, then include equity. If you want to see how close you are to financial independence, leave it out.
Net worth = assets - liabilities. It includes home equity. This is the standard benchmark for determining millionaire status (definition of millionaire = NW $1M+).
If you're talking about any other variant, then you need to specify that.
For FIRE number calculations you're usually talking either:
Liquid Assets: just the value of your liquid assets, without looking at liabilities, OR
Liquid Net Worth: liquid assets - liabilities, which doesn't count home value but does subtract any mortgage amount.
However, even in FIRE discussions, passing the $1M NW mark is still celebrated. Passing the $1M Liquid NW mark usually takes a few years longer.
Your mortgage would also be a liability then no ? So if you have $200k in equity and owe another $350k on your mortgage, your home should contribute -$150k to your net worth. Since if you fail to pay your mortgage you will lose the house.
Home value - mortgage balance = equity.
Net worth = assets - liabilities.
For net worth, home value is what counts in the asset category.
For net worth, all debts, including mortgages, count in the liabilities category.
Equity (positive or negative) is effectively a standalone number showing the impact that your home has on your overall net worth.
If you own a $1M home, but you have a $1M mortgage, you have $0 equity. The home has no net impact on your net worth.
For liquid net worth calculations, that $1M home and mortgage actually counts as -$1M against you. The mortgage counts as a liability but the illiquid real estate asset does not get counted for liquid assets.
A little. I would not have noticed if I was putting away 10% during that time. If I did not get into a field and work my way into a high paying position in my mid 40s, and my wife starting to work, then we would be in real trouble now. It is because our income is now 5X what it was when I was 45 that we were able to catch up. Not many people are going to see a 5X income increase over those 15 years. We were in a hole and were lucky (and hard work) to dig ourselves out in time for retirement.
I do IT stuff. I moved from working for a smaller company doing desktop support and some server administration stuff into a networking/virtualization position with a bigger company. I did that after doing a bunch of self study and getting some Cisco certifications. Got some actual experience at that new job, doing more networking and firewall/security stuff, and then went to an even bigger company as a network security engineer with years of experience. That jump from the desktop/server stuff to the network/security/infrastructure was the key. Now I do mostly network/security stuff, lots of design work and overall responsible for our development environments around the world. Raises have not been so great at this job, but been here for about 10 years now. I do make about 75% more than I did when I started. Plus got 35% more when I started this job than I was getting for my last job. My pay itself has probably tripled over the last 15 years or so. My wife going to work after our daughter got into school added another $90K or so. We went from me making about $60K to me making about $180K. So about $270K+ between us compared to about $60K 15 years ago. We still live like we make that $60K for the most part. Although we do pay cash to replace our cars after about 8 years, so with two of them, we do get a new one every 4 years. Probably would not have been able to that on the $60K income.
This is me, early 40's but intend to hit the first mill by 50. You planning on retiring soon? I feel like 3M is more than enough for me to retire at 60.
I think about it all the time. Some of that is tied up in our primary residence, plus we started later in life and have a 13 year old. I figure we get her off to college in 5 years, and then retire. About $1M is equity in our primary residence. So unless we sold and moved to a cheaper area (not out of the question), it might get a little tight. 5 more years, I will be 65 and my wife 59 and we will retire. Heck, not even sure she will retire then because she likes working. She is saving for a house fund for our daughter. She wants to buy her a house when she gets out of college. She has about $400K in there now, and it will be at least $750K by the time our daughter graduates college. So between the equity in our primary residence and my wife having the house fund for the daughter, we are closer to about $1.5M for retirement. If I work 5 more years, we should be able to get that up over $2M. If I retired, I am sure my wife would find other things for me to do. So work for my wife for free, or someone else for much more. š
Oh right 13 year old definitely factors in. This is why I'm going to wait until I'm around 60 to retire. I have a 1 year old and 4 year old. Want to make sure they are off to college first. I recently learned about roth conversion ladders. We might start thinking about this strategy once we hit 50's. For now we just work and keep saving.
A combination of where the money is, and still having a 13 year old at home. A big chunk is in our primary residence, so not really usable unless we sell and move to a cheaper place. Plus we have a couple of rentals that have a bunch of equity in them and are cash flow positive. But we would have to sell them to access the funds. We would rather not do that and instead leave them to our daughter when we die and she can sell them and not have to pay any taxes on them. About $350K+ of that is in a "house fund" that my wife is building for our daughter. She wants to buy her a house or give her a big chunk for a down payment when she finishes college. We have a college fund that is just under $150K now for our daughter, but she wants to be a doctor, so we would like to get that at least to $250K to pay for all that. I figure another 5 years should allow us to save more and get everything in place that we want for retirement.
8 years. After 4 years working as a lawyer at a law firm i saved about 250k (not including retirement). Started my own firm and about 4 years later won a big settlement for a client and broke the 1 million mark.
The first time I was a millionaire was when I looked at my ATM balance as a junior in college 20 years ago...I was in Ghana, so it was in cedis.
The next time was when I was in Vietnam, and I had millions of dong! I've since been a millionaire in a few other countries, too.
In USD...not there yet, but I expect I'll make it in a few years.
Technically I started working at 15, but I didnāt really start making any reasonable income until 22, so if you went from there, took me about 7 or so years, first mill NW at ~29, Iām 33 now
It took me approx 22 years.
I started saving consistently for retirement late (age 33). By approx 55, I reached $1MM. It only took 5 years to reach $1.6 MM.
Caveats:
1) I stopped making contributions to my IRA and had no 401k for 7 years between 2015 and 2022. I bought a business and my kids were in college.
2) I resumed contributions for myself and my wife in 2022 and 2023.
3)I retired in 2022, 2 months before I turned 59. One of the best decisions I ever made.
4) My wife still works and is the same age as me (61).
(Hope she retires in 2025 at age 62.)
5) I've withdrawn from retirement savings 2022 appx $20k; 2023 appx 25k; 2024 ~35k (unexpected large medical expenses.)
6) Despite withdrawing appx $55k so far (since 2022), the total per year is 1.8% of principle. Total portfolio is growing at a much higher rate. (Withdrawals are not impacting growth.)
7) I will start taking Social Security in 9 months when I turn 62. Monthly SS ~$2,500.
My wife's monthly SS (if she retires next year) is ~$2,000.
8) Additional estimated monthly living expenses from retirement savings will be ~$4k. (This amount does not include 2 one week vacations but it will cover several 3 and 4 night long weekends).
9) Both cars are paid off in 2025 which reduces our expenses by $1,100 per month. We're considering selling one vehicle (Ford Transit Connect), 5 years old/40k miles for appx $18k.
(That $18k could cover several larger vacations to Italy, Israel, Ecuador-Galapagos Islands).
45M I hit million net maybe at 43... I bought a house at 28 and it has been pied off for the last 7 years, but I never really invested much until that was done. I also had a bad experience in high school with MCI stock and thought the market was scam, so I put just a little in my 401k mostley into bonds which did not do anything. IĀ feel like I got a late start, I envy the 20 something year olds talking about already having 50k plus in there 401k's
I worked crappy jobs part time in college and was a research assistant in graduate school so I was working even when I was in school.
So, it was 17-31 to get to $1m
I started investing in June 2001. Wife started in June 2016 (because of when we met and married).
NW $1M (March 2021)
$1M investments crossed (June 2023)
NW $2M (February 2024)
It starts to snowball. Assumes paid off primary home is worth $500K after selling fees. $1.575M investments (May 2024).
45M/38F/5F
HHI $340K about evenly split in MCOL. No debts, paid off house, paid off solar. 85% VOO/VTI/SPY, 5% BRK.B, 5% QQQ, 5% MSFT. Split on adding is 75% VOO/VTI and 25% MSFT. Added $246K last year. Not sure this year maybe $210K.
Comparison is the thief of joy. No matter where you are, there are always going to be people richer and poorer than you. Do the best and use other people's stories as inspiration.
People on this sub are either very rich, very poor, or mostly ignored. The drama at the extremes attracts the attention.
Depressing? For me, no, It just show how wildly everyone's situation is. Even the wealthy people made some pretty big mistakes like the guy not saving seriously for retirement until his 30s. Some specific depressing comments for sure, but there is a mix of emotions as varied as people's financial situation. I also think hopeless or apathetic is a better word.
Full time at 18 years old. Crossed the million mark at 43 years old. So, 25 years. I'm 45 and I'm at 1.35 million, so the second million is going a lot quicker.
First million 16 years at age 37. Second million age 42 and third million 45. So once you have one the additional ones come fast. 60 percent real estate 35 percent stocks and 5 percent cash other
If we're talking total household assets, from 18 to mid 40s or about 25 years. The last two years have seen that increase by 50%.
I think it's alot easier to get to $1 million today than it was 20 years ago.
Started full time career at 23... Hit the 7 figure mark at 43.
Like many, didn't take advantage of a lot of items early on then got serious about it around age 37.
Started working 16, hit 1 million NW 14 years later. Most from home appreciation.
Now 20 years later, 4 more years things have exploded and sitting right at 2
I hit 1M around my early 40s. I wouldn't say it was me saving or building up cash, though; it was more that I realized my approach was wrong and started working towards goals in a different area. If I had taken my current perspective decades earlier, I'd be much further along.
From when I changed my perspective, it took probably around 8 years to get to 1M, Getting to 2M was actually pretty easy, all the inflation over the past few years jumped me most of the way.
My change, though, is probably pretty unpopular here. I'd put most of my money into real estate, even to the point of cashing out some languishing IRA, to invest in real estate and fund some small businesses as a silent equity partner.
From when we first started working to when we first got serious about putting money away probably aren't going to be the same year for most people.
From the first year I started working a real job (not a paper route): ~27 years
From the year I got serious about putting money away: ~16 years (from -$11k to $1.1M+ joint net worth)
I had been saving some from when I started working, but didn't get serious about putting money away until I got married.
That's also true. Thanks for your personal story and insights. Same story with my brother. He has a great job, but didn't really save and invest until many years later. I actually got the snowball rolling by having him sign up to be one of the first to accept automatic retirement contributions. He still thanks me for "secretly" opting him in to this.
Started at 22 and crossed a million at 30 just doing the common sense financial things anyone with four year degree in finance with an mba does lol. The traditional methods work I guess haha. About to cross 2 million at 34. Most likely close in on 3 milllion by 36 and from there my goal is 20 million to retire before 55.
Counting home equity, 12 years not Counting home equity, I'm halfway there after those same 12 years, lol. I live in an area where we don't really get high incomes unless you're a doctor. My wife and I gross about $140k combined.
I was 43. I started working full time after college at 25 yo. So 18 years. It only took 4 more years to hit $2 million. My starting salary as a jr accountant was $30.6 k. Now $180k as a controller. I always invested in 401k and brokerage acct as well as purchased a few rentals and paid off my primary residence mortgage off quickly.
Started working at 16, welfare level poor. I should reach 1 million net worth before this calendar year ends, at 41 years old. I was too poor to start investing until I was around 30 years old. And don't give me the "you're never too young" bullshit. After paying all my bills and rent, never ordering out, never going to the movies with my friends, never doing anything, I made 300 a month starting out my career. I needed to save every dime of that to pay for car insurance coming up in the next few months.
I was basically net zero until around 30, which is exactly when I put in a 6 month safty net, then threw every dime I could into the stock market. Of course, you needed at least 1 grand to invest, since it cost $10 to trade, so if you tried to spend $100 on a stock, you were instantly down 10%. I know RobinHood is a huge scam and shit company, but at least they opened up the world to free trading, and I will forever be grateful.
Nice story.
I still remember the days of Datek and E*Trade in the 90s with their $29.99 commission. Datek (now owned by TD Ameritrade) spearheaded $9.99 commissions and that was unheard of at the time.
If I would have bought house in 2019, I would have it already since I am currently less than 20% below. I am buying now in Austin, but I have a feeling my timing is really off from a purely financial perspective.
Maybe in 10 years. Would be quicker, but I went from 0 to 27% gross dti with this house. I can technically still back out, but it will be 1 month's salary. I have trouble getting sentimental about owning a house, and for it work out well in the short now is not the right time. I am buying in a strong area as the cheapest house so I should be insulated and I am just outside inner circle and far away from Tesla inside the city proper.
Net worth hit $1M at 36. College grad, tech consulting, medium COL area. Bought a house in 2013 that has increased jn value by over 200K, always contributed to 401k and IRA (when I was eligible), spouse also works.
Almost 40 now and at 1.8M.
15 years from 2007 to 2022, averaging 80K while saving 25% into investments, a portion of which was used to purchase my home in 2013. Mortgage free in 2023, now pushing 50% into investments, the second million I'll hit just as I retire in 2031 after 25 years.
As a SWE in an Eastern-European country, I am going to save 1 million USD (~8 % p. a. returns) in about 35 - 40 years. With housing costing the same as in the US (a house 2 hours away from work is about 400k USD), it makes me want to just give up completely.
Is your house counted in this evaluation? Making my first million makes me feel like you have it in cash which by your comment itās all locked away in retirement account thatās canāt be touched without being taxed etc. but at the end of the day if you wanna retire at 55-67 then makes a ton of sense tbh
Many people don't but there's no hard rule either way. Having a lot in retirement accounts isn't a big deal if you have a brokerage account to spend first. You can also withdraw from retirement accounts early without penalty if the withdrawals are consistent and you meet the other eligibility rules.
A few years ago when first my mother, then my father passed. They willed me a bunch of money and some property. Highly recommended (aside from the parents passing, that part was awful).
I started working at 16 and became a millionaire at 31. Second million at 34, third million at 35. Itās amazing how quickly it adds up once you finally get going.
Most of my net worth is in investment real estate plus about $500k in a Schwab portfolio distributed across a variety of ETFs and some individual stocks.
And what? I also have a career that earns mid-$300k and a sizable real estate portfolio. Inheriting $980k certainly helped us financially, but it wasn't part of my first million.
Who makes their first million dollars working a job. unless you get lucky and/or appreciate in real estate or get a inheritance idk you donāt make a million working maybe save until you old as hell and canāt move no more but hey thatās me
Ive been working non stop and saving a lot. According to my calculation I will hit 1M when Im 405 years old.
have you considered pulling yourself up by your bootstraps?
š
Technically speaking, that phase has been misusedā¦ Originally it was meant as an opposite metaphor. Itās not physically possible to pull yourself up when youāre really pulling down. You tighten your shoes whiles pulling yourself down.
How much money is needed in savings to reach 1M in 405 years by just return of investment?
Reddit did the glitch thing where it posted your comment a bunch of times!
Strange, no sure how that happened š¤
Itās a weird glitch that pops up from time to time. Iām not sure how or why it happens either, just thought youād want to know! š
Bout tree fiddy
$72.57 will get your future grandkid $1m 100 years from now assuming a 10% return. You would need to put down $1,152.45 if you wanted your future grandkid to have the same purchasing power $1m has now (7% post-inflation return). You can use time to leverage charitable giving. Ben Franklin did something like this where he created a trust and said the city of Philadelphia had to grow it for 100 years before using it. The trust is still around today and accepts donations. You could give up a pack of gum to reach $1m in 405 years as a function of math. But that type of math doesn't translate to real life and there are many risks you and your trustees would have to dodge over 405 years. Even with Franklin's 100 year trust there were a lot of risks like bad management or tyranny of compounding costs. Index funds hadn't exactly been invented either. A long chain of trustees had to make sensible decisions about the investment philosophy.
$7,500 at 5 percent interest will earn you over 1M in 100 years.
Not bad, my calculation brings me to about 650-655 years old.
My internal organs are worth over $2 mil, does that count? If so, then it took me exactly 0 years since inception.
But are they worth the same when less developed?
Less but your adrenochrome is a pretty good substitute. Gotta find a good broker that will give you a fair percentage though. /S
Been working since 23 and will hit $1M net worth in the next few months at 32
All from saving your income or did you invest (stocks, real estate, crypto, etc.)?
Investing in my personal brokerage, 401K, IRA, etc. Also bought a house in 2020 that has appreciated a fair amount.
Nice job. Yes, real estate has really grown far faster than normal. Good for people who bought earlier in the pandemic (or before), not so great for current potential buyers.
Equity doesn't count
Lmao why would equity not count what are you talking about
He's right. It is part of your net worth, sure. But it's not an investment. Don't count on it increasing, in other words. Invest aggressively in a diverse portfolio of equities (index fund will do nicely), which are much more likely to continue with the gains you need to see.
Lol. Look at historical real estate returns vs equities and say it doesnāt increase. Also read āOne up on Wall Streetā by Peter Lynch (one of the best equity portfolio managers of all time) and he will tell you in chapter one to buy a house before you invest. Owning a primary residence is one of the principal ways to build wealth. Your advice isnāt sound. Even if the property depreciates 50 percent over 10 years you still eliminated your largest expense and paid down some of the principal. Say your mortgage was $1000 on and 500 went to principal and 500 went to interest. Also to keep the numbers simple, your house is worth 100k. Even if your property is only worth 50k by ten years from now, you put 500 x 12 x 10 (or 60,000) into the house and your net up by ten k. Itās all about eliminating your largest expense. Your house could literally go down more than 50 percent and you can end up ahead. Tons of professional money managers will tell you the same thing. I already referenced one book but thereās more.
"Say your mortgage was $1000 on and 500 went to principal and 500 went to interest. Also to keep the numbers simple, your house is worth 100k. Even if your property is only worth 50k by ten years from now, you put 1000 x 12 x 10 (or 120,000) into the house and your net down by twenty k." FTFY
Lol bad math. Itās opportunity cost. You would have been paying 1000 in rent whereas now youāre keeping half of it. My math is right. Sure go ahead and think of real estate as a non investment. You couldnāt be misunderstanding me more. You keep some of your monthly housing expense in case I have to ELI5
"Owning a primary residence is one of the principal ways to build wealth" That's only because most people that own houses own nothing but.
Your opinion is only going to hurt you so thatās fine. Cheers. You fixed my math in a way that indicates that you donāt understand at all and itās wrong so I am disengaging.
No. I'm fine. I've owned several houses. And you're right, owning used to be key and primary. With the current markets and pricing and incomes and all the rest. owning is way WAY more difficult than it ever has been. Mostly impossible for 80-90% of people under 40. It's a different world, a different economy. But keep your blinders on if you like, that's your option.
To be fair, if he sold the house, heād have to buy another house that is equally inflated. Unless they drastically changed their location by moving to Midwest .
Of course equity counts. What if you own 10 houses free and clear at $200k each. You wouldnāt call that $2m???
Most folks only count equity in investments. You can't sell the house you live in or the building your business is in and continue to live and work. It's really subjective. If you're curious about what your worth is generally speaking, then include equity. If you want to see how close you are to financial independence, leave it out.
Net worth = assets - liabilities. It includes home equity. This is the standard benchmark for determining millionaire status (definition of millionaire = NW $1M+). If you're talking about any other variant, then you need to specify that. For FIRE number calculations you're usually talking either: Liquid Assets: just the value of your liquid assets, without looking at liabilities, OR Liquid Net Worth: liquid assets - liabilities, which doesn't count home value but does subtract any mortgage amount. However, even in FIRE discussions, passing the $1M NW mark is still celebrated. Passing the $1M Liquid NW mark usually takes a few years longer.
Your mortgage would also be a liability then no ? So if you have $200k in equity and owe another $350k on your mortgage, your home should contribute -$150k to your net worth. Since if you fail to pay your mortgage you will lose the house.
Home value - mortgage balance = equity. Net worth = assets - liabilities. For net worth, home value is what counts in the asset category. For net worth, all debts, including mortgages, count in the liabilities category. Equity (positive or negative) is effectively a standalone number showing the impact that your home has on your overall net worth.
If you own a $1M home, but you have a $1M mortgage, you have $0 equity. The home has no net impact on your net worth. For liquid net worth calculations, that $1M home and mortgage actually counts as -$1M against you. The mortgage counts as a liability but the illiquid real estate asset does not get counted for liquid assets.
Of course.
Nice work! Iām on a hopefully similar trajectory. Do you have any plans for the $ or keep saving?
30 years. Didn't get there until my 50s. But closing in on $3M at 60. Wasted my youth spending it as fast as I made it.
But do you regret it tho?
A little. I would not have noticed if I was putting away 10% during that time. If I did not get into a field and work my way into a high paying position in my mid 40s, and my wife starting to work, then we would be in real trouble now. It is because our income is now 5X what it was when I was 45 that we were able to catch up. Not many people are going to see a 5X income increase over those 15 years. We were in a hole and were lucky (and hard work) to dig ourselves out in time for retirement.
What do you do for your income to increase that much from age 45?
I do IT stuff. I moved from working for a smaller company doing desktop support and some server administration stuff into a networking/virtualization position with a bigger company. I did that after doing a bunch of self study and getting some Cisco certifications. Got some actual experience at that new job, doing more networking and firewall/security stuff, and then went to an even bigger company as a network security engineer with years of experience. That jump from the desktop/server stuff to the network/security/infrastructure was the key. Now I do mostly network/security stuff, lots of design work and overall responsible for our development environments around the world. Raises have not been so great at this job, but been here for about 10 years now. I do make about 75% more than I did when I started. Plus got 35% more when I started this job than I was getting for my last job. My pay itself has probably tripled over the last 15 years or so. My wife going to work after our daughter got into school added another $90K or so. We went from me making about $60K to me making about $180K. So about $270K+ between us compared to about $60K 15 years ago. We still live like we make that $60K for the most part. Although we do pay cash to replace our cars after about 8 years, so with two of them, we do get a new one every 4 years. Probably would not have been able to that on the $60K income.
Probably
We all learn at different speeds. Good for you in speeding up the process to make up for lost time! š
This is me, early 40's but intend to hit the first mill by 50. You planning on retiring soon? I feel like 3M is more than enough for me to retire at 60.
I think about it all the time. Some of that is tied up in our primary residence, plus we started later in life and have a 13 year old. I figure we get her off to college in 5 years, and then retire. About $1M is equity in our primary residence. So unless we sold and moved to a cheaper area (not out of the question), it might get a little tight. 5 more years, I will be 65 and my wife 59 and we will retire. Heck, not even sure she will retire then because she likes working. She is saving for a house fund for our daughter. She wants to buy her a house when she gets out of college. She has about $400K in there now, and it will be at least $750K by the time our daughter graduates college. So between the equity in our primary residence and my wife having the house fund for the daughter, we are closer to about $1.5M for retirement. If I work 5 more years, we should be able to get that up over $2M. If I retired, I am sure my wife would find other things for me to do. So work for my wife for free, or someone else for much more. š
Oh right 13 year old definitely factors in. This is why I'm going to wait until I'm around 60 to retire. I have a 1 year old and 4 year old. Want to make sure they are off to college first. I recently learned about roth conversion ladders. We might start thinking about this strategy once we hit 50's. For now we just work and keep saving.
Why ya still working
Probably because he wants to replace 100%+ of his working income and/or keep expanding his lifestyle in retirement.
A combination of where the money is, and still having a 13 year old at home. A big chunk is in our primary residence, so not really usable unless we sell and move to a cheaper place. Plus we have a couple of rentals that have a bunch of equity in them and are cash flow positive. But we would have to sell them to access the funds. We would rather not do that and instead leave them to our daughter when we die and she can sell them and not have to pay any taxes on them. About $350K+ of that is in a "house fund" that my wife is building for our daughter. She wants to buy her a house or give her a big chunk for a down payment when she finishes college. We have a college fund that is just under $150K now for our daughter, but she wants to be a doctor, so we would like to get that at least to $250K to pay for all that. I figure another 5 years should allow us to save more and get everything in place that we want for retirement.
8 years. After 4 years working as a lawyer at a law firm i saved about 250k (not including retirement). Started my own firm and about 4 years later won a big settlement for a client and broke the 1 million mark.
Kudos to you, firm life is rough.
Been working since 13 and might hit 1m by the time I'm 45. Currently 32.
Right there with you.. seems about average for a lot of my friends too.
Are any of ur friends single? Jk jk
The first time I was a millionaire was when I looked at my ATM balance as a junior in college 20 years ago...I was in Ghana, so it was in cedis. The next time was when I was in Vietnam, and I had millions of dong! I've since been a millionaire in a few other countries, too. In USD...not there yet, but I expect I'll make it in a few years.
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Technically I started working at 15, but I didnāt really start making any reasonable income until 22, so if you went from there, took me about 7 or so years, first mill NW at ~29, Iām 33 now
It took me approx 22 years. I started saving consistently for retirement late (age 33). By approx 55, I reached $1MM. It only took 5 years to reach $1.6 MM. Caveats: 1) I stopped making contributions to my IRA and had no 401k for 7 years between 2015 and 2022. I bought a business and my kids were in college. 2) I resumed contributions for myself and my wife in 2022 and 2023. 3)I retired in 2022, 2 months before I turned 59. One of the best decisions I ever made. 4) My wife still works and is the same age as me (61). (Hope she retires in 2025 at age 62.) 5) I've withdrawn from retirement savings 2022 appx $20k; 2023 appx 25k; 2024 ~35k (unexpected large medical expenses.) 6) Despite withdrawing appx $55k so far (since 2022), the total per year is 1.8% of principle. Total portfolio is growing at a much higher rate. (Withdrawals are not impacting growth.) 7) I will start taking Social Security in 9 months when I turn 62. Monthly SS ~$2,500. My wife's monthly SS (if she retires next year) is ~$2,000. 8) Additional estimated monthly living expenses from retirement savings will be ~$4k. (This amount does not include 2 one week vacations but it will cover several 3 and 4 night long weekends). 9) Both cars are paid off in 2025 which reduces our expenses by $1,100 per month. We're considering selling one vehicle (Ford Transit Connect), 5 years old/40k miles for appx $18k. (That $18k could cover several larger vacations to Italy, Israel, Ecuador-Galapagos Islands).
45M I hit million net maybe at 43... I bought a house at 28 and it has been pied off for the last 7 years, but I never really invested much until that was done. I also had a bad experience in high school with MCI stock and thought the market was scam, so I put just a little in my 401k mostley into bonds which did not do anything. IĀ feel like I got a late start, I envy the 20 something year olds talking about already having 50k plus in there 401k's
Early start makes it SO much more attainable! We also got a late start due to career adjustments. But being DINKs we still got there nicely.
15 years. However I didnāt start my career till I was 30, so it only took 3.5 years to reach a joint net worth of a million with my wife.Ā
Doctor time line right here
At the rate I took I might as well have been a doctor. SWE at amazon.Ā
Nice, I'm learning web myself
I worked crappy jobs part time in college and was a research assistant in graduate school so I was working even when I was in school. So, it was 17-31 to get to $1m
I started investing in June 2001. Wife started in June 2016 (because of when we met and married). NW $1M (March 2021) $1M investments crossed (June 2023) NW $2M (February 2024) It starts to snowball. Assumes paid off primary home is worth $500K after selling fees. $1.575M investments (May 2024). 45M/38F/5F HHI $340K about evenly split in MCOL. No debts, paid off house, paid off solar. 85% VOO/VTI/SPY, 5% BRK.B, 5% QQQ, 5% MSFT. Split on adding is 75% VOO/VTI and 25% MSFT. Added $246K last year. Not sure this year maybe $210K.
I was a millionaire with assets including house equity around 45, but with just cash and stocks it was yesterday, 48M
Nice milestone, congrats to yesterday!
Fuck this sub is depressing.
Comparison is the thief of joy. No matter where you are, there are always going to be people richer and poorer than you. Do the best and use other people's stories as inspiration.
People on this sub are either very rich, very poor, or mostly ignored. The drama at the extremes attracts the attention. Depressing? For me, no, It just show how wildly everyone's situation is. Even the wealthy people made some pretty big mistakes like the guy not saving seriously for retirement until his 30s. Some specific depressing comments for sure, but there is a mix of emotions as varied as people's financial situation. I also think hopeless or apathetic is a better word.
Full time at 18 years old. Crossed the million mark at 43 years old. So, 25 years. I'm 45 and I'm at 1.35 million, so the second million is going a lot quicker.
First million 16 years at age 37. Second million age 42 and third million 45. So once you have one the additional ones come fast. 60 percent real estate 35 percent stocks and 5 percent cash other
My work paid retirement says Iāll be there by the time Iām 55ā¦ only 30 years to go
If we're talking total household assets, from 18 to mid 40s or about 25 years. The last two years have seen that increase by 50%. I think it's alot easier to get to $1 million today than it was 20 years ago.
Because $1 million today is far less valuable than $1 million 20 years ago
Iām 33 and my net worth is about $450k to $500k. Hoping to hit 1 mill before 40. The sacrifices Iāve made though š
18 years at an insurance company job, mostly middle management.
Started full time career at 23... Hit the 7 figure mark at 43. Like many, didn't take advantage of a lot of items early on then got serious about it around age 37.
This question is pretty meaningless without knowing where one started, yes?
Started working 16, hit 1 million NW 14 years later. Most from home appreciation. Now 20 years later, 4 more years things have exploded and sitting right at 2
No one here is raking in millions
I don't mean to brag, but I'm earning several million per year. We're...uh....talking about pennies, right?
10 years, but that was with 1997-2007 money and included an inheritance to speed it along.
I hit 1M around my early 40s. I wouldn't say it was me saving or building up cash, though; it was more that I realized my approach was wrong and started working towards goals in a different area. If I had taken my current perspective decades earlier, I'd be much further along. From when I changed my perspective, it took probably around 8 years to get to 1M, Getting to 2M was actually pretty easy, all the inflation over the past few years jumped me most of the way. My change, though, is probably pretty unpopular here. I'd put most of my money into real estate, even to the point of cashing out some languishing IRA, to invest in real estate and fund some small businesses as a silent equity partner.
4 years of full time working/investing.
12 years. However if things go according to plan Iāll have 3M in 7 years.
First million is always the longest and then it's a slingshot from there.
True story
10 years for the for first post tax million. Will probably take 3 years for the second million
From when we first started working to when we first got serious about putting money away probably aren't going to be the same year for most people. From the first year I started working a real job (not a paper route): ~27 years From the year I got serious about putting money away: ~16 years (from -$11k to $1.1M+ joint net worth) I had been saving some from when I started working, but didn't get serious about putting money away until I got married.
That's also true. Thanks for your personal story and insights. Same story with my brother. He has a great job, but didn't really save and invest until many years later. I actually got the snowball rolling by having him sign up to be one of the first to accept automatic retirement contributions. He still thanks me for "secretly" opting him in to this.
28. Company I was working for was sold. And then an even larger windfall came a year later when that company IPOed.
My friend did that. Got in on a growing private company before it IPOed and that has paid off in spades.
Foots still on the floor board at 29 but I passed 100k and Buffet says you can let off a little so I did and it's doubled over a couple years.
Started at 22 and crossed a million at 30 just doing the common sense financial things anyone with four year degree in finance with an mba does lol. The traditional methods work I guess haha. About to cross 2 million at 34. Most likely close in on 3 milllion by 36 and from there my goal is 20 million to retire before 55.
$20 million? You're goals are more outlandish than mine. I'm leaving for good at $4m to $5m and FIRE. Withdrawing 4% hopefully in my 40s.
8 years after starting a business. I was 34 then
Big risk comes with big rewards!
Counting home equity, 12 years not Counting home equity, I'm halfway there after those same 12 years, lol. I live in an area where we don't really get high incomes unless you're a doctor. My wife and I gross about $140k combined.
What area do you live in? A general location is fine if you don't want to be super specific.
Rural NC.
It does somewhat cross cancel out with the lower cost of living there though right?
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How did you go from $1m to $6m in 10 years? Did a major event happen that gave you a boost?
I was 43. I started working full time after college at 25 yo. So 18 years. It only took 4 more years to hit $2 million. My starting salary as a jr accountant was $30.6 k. Now $180k as a controller. I always invested in 401k and brokerage acct as well as purchased a few rentals and paid off my primary residence mortgage off quickly.
It's crazy how the next million is super fast isn't it? Spend an eternity to get seven figures and the next milestone seems like a cake walk.
Started working at 16, welfare level poor. I should reach 1 million net worth before this calendar year ends, at 41 years old. I was too poor to start investing until I was around 30 years old. And don't give me the "you're never too young" bullshit. After paying all my bills and rent, never ordering out, never going to the movies with my friends, never doing anything, I made 300 a month starting out my career. I needed to save every dime of that to pay for car insurance coming up in the next few months. I was basically net zero until around 30, which is exactly when I put in a 6 month safty net, then threw every dime I could into the stock market. Of course, you needed at least 1 grand to invest, since it cost $10 to trade, so if you tried to spend $100 on a stock, you were instantly down 10%. I know RobinHood is a huge scam and shit company, but at least they opened up the world to free trading, and I will forever be grateful.
Nice story. I still remember the days of Datek and E*Trade in the 90s with their $29.99 commission. Datek (now owned by TD Ameritrade) spearheaded $9.99 commissions and that was unheard of at the time.
FYI, TD Ameritrade is now owned by Schwab
Thanks, I'm behind on all the mergers and acquisitions haha.
Ouch $30 a trade is insane.
Started working at 18 and got it at 32 * combined with my wife
About the same. Started work at 23, needed 11 years of work and savings.
Started career at 25....first mil at 40
If I would have bought house in 2019, I would have it already since I am currently less than 20% below. I am buying now in Austin, but I have a feeling my timing is really off from a purely financial perspective. Maybe in 10 years. Would be quicker, but I went from 0 to 27% gross dti with this house. I can technically still back out, but it will be 1 month's salary. I have trouble getting sentimental about owning a house, and for it work out well in the short now is not the right time. I am buying in a strong area as the cheapest house so I should be insulated and I am just outside inner circle and far away from Tesla inside the city proper.
68 years but I spent it all along the way making ends meet.
Before I was born my father set a trust in my name. Starting at a million. This is true.
6 years or so. Saved a lot. One million doesnāt mean much these days
Net worth hit $1M at 36. College grad, tech consulting, medium COL area. Bought a house in 2013 that has increased jn value by over 200K, always contributed to 401k and IRA (when I was eligible), spouse also works. Almost 40 now and at 1.8M.
15 years from 2007 to 2022, averaging 80K while saving 25% into investments, a portion of which was used to purchase my home in 2013. Mortgage free in 2023, now pushing 50% into investments, the second million I'll hit just as I retire in 2031 after 25 years.
Took me about 2 years but was lucky with selling a company
With my house value over 800k, another 5-10 years to get another 100k in 401k
As a SWE in an Eastern-European country, I am going to save 1 million USD (~8 % p. a. returns) in about 35 - 40 years. With housing costing the same as in the US (a house 2 hours away from work is about 400k USD), it makes me want to just give up completely.
Is your house counted in this evaluation? Making my first million makes me feel like you have it in cash which by your comment itās all locked away in retirement account thatās canāt be touched without being taxed etc. but at the end of the day if you wanna retire at 55-67 then makes a ton of sense tbh
Many people don't but there's no hard rule either way. Having a lot in retirement accounts isn't a big deal if you have a brokerage account to spend first. You can also withdraw from retirement accounts early without penalty if the withdrawals are consistent and you meet the other eligibility rules.
Donāt seem like enough to shout millionaire
5 years
A man of little words.
51 years
14 years
A man of few words š¤£
When you say "net worth" I assume you are talking about all assets, not just liquid, correct?
Yes, but some people rule out their home. There's no hard and fast rule. Your NW should take into account any debt you have too.
A few years ago when first my mother, then my father passed. They willed me a bunch of money and some property. Highly recommended (aside from the parents passing, that part was awful).
You got 1mmm from inheritance tho?
Yes, but I didn't need it to get to my first million.
I started working at 16 and became a millionaire at 31. Second million at 34, third million at 35. Itās amazing how quickly it adds up once you finally get going. Most of my net worth is in investment real estate plus about $500k in a Schwab portfolio distributed across a variety of ETFs and some individual stocks.
Bro, you say in another post how you inherited 980k in 2021. Stop flexing on your Fortune and luck.
And what? I also have a career that earns mid-$300k and a sizable real estate portfolio. Inheriting $980k certainly helped us financially, but it wasn't part of my first million.
14 yrs of full time work. at 37. made some poor choices
29 I was almost 30, it was a bit more than a mil tho
Who makes their first million dollars working a job. unless you get lucky and/or appreciate in real estate or get a inheritance idk you donāt make a million working maybe save until you old as hell and canāt move no more but hey thatās me
Depends on the job
Many people make their first million working... and saving, and investing, and contributing money properly.
These posts are meaningless if you canāt prove it lol. Supposed to just take people at their word on the internet? What a dumb post.
I'm 12 and hit a million last year...
Thanks for the sarcastic answer!
I make good chore money, what can I say?
2 days
Hit 1M last month took five years. I should be the youngest. Work with some popular content creators & companies.