The big bumps in my networth have always come at times when other aspects of my life are completely out of whack. I am probably spending about 90% of my waking life on work right now, and that’s still not enough, but I’m really seeing successful growth in my personal networth, which will be very helpful later when I have kids and want more flexibility in life. Every time it gets really hard, I have to stop, breathe, and remind myself that there is an endgame to all of this.
The level to conquer this year is passing over $400k in networth. With this being my first year aiming to save $100k, anything could happen. For the last four years I’ve saved (with investment growth and actual savings) $50k per year, so this $100k savings is a huge leap – made possible only by that previous savings and investments, plus growth in my own career.
While I’m a bit OCD about tracking my progress, it helps to see numbers hit month after month. It’s quite motivating to keep focused on the long-term picture.
I have a google spreadsheet where I’ve estimated were I should be bi-weekly for my networth throughout the year to keep on top of my progress. The stock market is always going to go up and down and up and down, so I won’t always be quite on track, but if I do notice that my progress isn’t where it should be, I’ll be extra frugal and invest more of my paycheck that month. If the market is performing well, I’ll usually pick a few individual stocks to invest in that have strong long-term prospects but haven’t done well in the short term. Usually I’ll just invest in index funds or wait until my portfolio is down a bit more and then buy more index funds. I like Vanguard because I can dollar cost average there for free, and I like Loyal3 to buy stocks because I can purchase them for free as well (I need to try out Robinhood too.) No more Sharebuilder investing, $7 trades for me!
Today, my “actual” networth (not including my carĀ butĀ including about $16k in private company stock that will likely be worthless in a year or two), is $322.6k, which is slightly over the goal for 3/15/2015 ($320.8k.) I’m pretty much right on track (always like to be trending slightly above target than under if possible.) There is still a long way left to $400k, of course ($77.4k to be exact) but it’s achievable if markets perform well. If I keep my job for the remainder of the year, I can realistically save $5k a month, or $45k for the rest of the year, which brings me to $367, $43k short of goal. It will take strong bonus income and investment growth to actually hit this number. Yet I’m at the least tracking to goal.
I’ll be satisfied if I end the year with $375k in networth, but am pushing myself to get to $400k. At $400k, if I can see 5% growth in 2016, that’s $20k of my $100k savings goal for the year taken care of – and if I see 10% growth, then that’s $40k of it, which would be a huge help.
I’m not sure how the next two years are going to play out – everything is so shaky and uncertain right now. I feel confident that I’ll be able to get to $350k networth this year (tracking towards my prior goal of $50k increase per year) but there’s a chance I could go well over that. I’ve just given myself $400k as a stretch goal to see how far I can, well, stretch to get there.
One thing is for certain – when I do have kids, there is no way in hell I would want to do a job like this. My current role is perfect for people who have no kids and no life. I’m ok with that for a year, or two, but then I’m going to figure out how to transition to a role that will likely pay a lot less and require a lot less hours – so I can finally find some form of work-life balance, or just overall life balance. Sigh, that would be nice.
“If markets perform well”– I would strongly consider also coming up with a plan if markets do not perform well. Even if that plan is “stay the course, ignore the temporary net worth drop” you should mentally be prepared for the possibility of not hitting your goals due to market performance. We’ve had a very strong bull market for 5+ years so there’s a decent chance of a (possibly sharp) correction soon.
Taylor Lee @ Engineer Cents recently posted..Putting Off HBO Now For Later + How Much You Spent On Clothes
Great job Joy. Realistically do you think you will pull back on your job when you reach the $500k mark? For some reason I think you will just grasp on to the next milestone ($750k by 38, etc). I don’t see you stopping chasing the money.
You write as though having a kid is some monumental achievement. It really isn’t that difficult, especially if you have a partner who is less ambitious than you and can help out. You can still work while raising a kid. Millions of people do it well every day.
Congrats on being on track. I have always believed that it is better to aim for the moon and miss, because you have still made it among the stars.
You ever thought about trying to earn money online with your blog?
Have you ever checked out Untemplater.com? Sydney just recently made the break from her corporate job of 10 years. For the past 5 years she has been freelancing and bringing in passive income from the blog. Until she finally had enough and made the break.
She just published a great article on starting, growing, and monetizing a blog.
Good Luck in hitting your stretch goal.
Cheers!
Gen Y Finance Guy recently posted..February 2015 – Detailed Financial Report #2
Hi,
After reading PF blogs for years, I finally started my own Net Worth Blog;
https://othalafehu.wordpress.com/
Please check it out any help/tips will be appreciated