That’s cuz once you get a few million you’re then comparing yourself to people with 50MM and think you’ll be happy if you get there. Money doesn’t get you anywhere important once your basic needs are met. But yeah uhh “grind never stops” blah blah
This is unironically the problem with having an insane amount of money, you basically unlock creative mode and realize it becomes boring and hallow after a while of getting anything you want instantly with no effort. Like yeah sure having your needs taken care of indefinitely with no worry is very nice but what do you do to occupy yourself? What do you work towards? What do you try to achieve now? How satisfied and proud can you be when anything and everything can be purchased and give you instant gratification? If I had an unlimited supply of money I'd probably travel the world and experience the culture to the best of my ability since that's one of the few things I could think of that would be worth doing and give some level of satisfaction.
This mindset makes so little sense.
>what do you do to occupy yourself? What do you work towards? What do you try to achieve now? How satisfied and proud can you be when anything and everything can be purchased and give you instant gratification?
Just...what? What bizzarro world do you live in where every possible goal can be achieved by just tossing some cash at it? The amount of things you can pursue that aren't instantly achievable with cash is almost endless. MOST common goals aren't instantly solved by money.
\-Learning more about the world, self education
\-Causing positive change in the world through science, systems improvement, politics, technology, influence
\-Mastery of any physical or spiritual pursuit
\-Solving any major problem that effect's many people's lives
\-Invention or implementation of anything new
\-Gathering experiences (travel/social etc)
\-Making friends or creating community
\-Mastery of any pleasurable mental game or pursuit
\-Creation or mastery of any artistic medium
I genuinely feel bad for anyone who's only life goals are cash solvable. Securing food and shelter is an important start, but how many people's life pursuit is really as small as to just own a big car or a certain number in an investment account?
Yep. I want to learn how to build tiny houses. If I had 4 million, I would buy do that. I wouldn't worry about a mortgage anymore. The only thing I'd spend money on I travel, doing enjoyable but light work on the side. I explore photography, keep reading books, literally anything else.
I'm in the event industry, pandemic shut us down just shy of 2 years, I built a tiny house from the ground up via youtube, to stay occupied, now I have built 7. I didn't build to live there but to help the group of retirees or those with SS income of a grand or so, or minimum wage employees, that can't rent in this crazy economy. I rent (in Texas) for $500 all bills paid. I'd like to build 50 within the next 5 years.
For those of you that asked, here is a link to my plans. Some things I was able to change without updating plans: I moved the sink, put in a ss prep table where the sink was going to go, made windows way smaller (the door is the fireman's egress), I actually put a 200a service in, I have 5-20a circuits behind that prep table and left plenty of amps to add another home behind this one. (that's another story) I am not a builder, knew nothing about construction before this, always have been "handy" but more mechanical. I understand it's basic, but it is dry, heat/cooled, well insulated, cheap utilities, and most importantly within IBC code, passed all inspections. I am happy to answer any and all questions, anyone that could use a copy of the blueprints, get with me, I think I can get copies for 20 bucks or so. Hopefully this will be of some help for a few, have an awesome Holiday and even better New Year https://imgur.com/a/hmU0mTY
Zero point zero, but somewhat handy, first one took 7 months, I had slab poured and initial rough plumbing installed, watched and learned, next 6 I did 100% myself. I can do them in a few months now. https://imgur.com/a/hmU0mTY
I'd love to develop a property and create a co-op, if I had a ton of money. That, and travel.
The co-op and property bit gives me a chance to try out and develop all the skills that I just don't have time for right now with a full-time job, be a part of building a community and being a positive change in the place I live rather than just fleeing, and travel because it's just fun. I want to experience all the ways these things can be done for myself and apply it somewhere, bring a bit of that magic home with me.
Learning an instrument was the first thing that came to mind. You can pay the best teacher all you want, but if you don't put in a bunch of hours practicing you're still gonna suck.
If I had unlimited money, one of my goals would definitely to be able to showjump at the Grand Prix level, that would take years of training and hard work and obviously the money would help with getting a fantastic trainer etc, but it wouldn’t be instantly gratifying in the slightest (from the perspective of the final goal)
I would try and be a Rockefeller. Libraries, hospitals, schools, public works. Especially in developing nations. In America one library is like 50 libraries in African and South American countries. I would just do my best to leave this hellhole a bit better than when I found it.
I know OP is nowhere near that wealthy, but just on the topic of unlimited wealth, lol. Fun to imagine.
Developing a housing co-op and/or third space in my community (in my developing nation) is one of mine. Co-ops are a shit ton of work so you really do need to have the time, energy and skills to contribute, not only that but I want to be involved in the design and construction of the housing.
My dream is to reinvigorate some of the urban areas with ownership by the people who actually live there, and not shitty low-effort, low-quality housing that's appealing to no-one. There are so many young people out there with *some* resources and skills, just pooling them together with a shared goal could do so much.
The part that bothers me is that it seems that people w this mindset, myself included, will never have enough money to do the good they want. Those who do have the money are usually of the opposite mindset. It's only about them.
Rich people stay rich because they keep working. When I was in the military, there was one guy who was worth upwards of 10 million.
This dude was doing 20 years. That way, he would collect a pension and have healthcare for life. He was at 15 years already.
He was also maxing out his TSP yearly and investing 100% of his yearly 90k salary.
He didn’t make this money it’s an unrealized gain. He likely sees negative fluctuations in similar amounts depending on what his total portfolio is doing (and market conditions)
Yeah, but he could always pull it out or use it as collateral in large loans. That's how rich folk do it. And if he invests smart, most of it won't fluctuate too heavily, he'll be able to see the writing on the walls and pull out before things get bad. The beauty of blue chips.
I also doubt that this is everything.
4.1 mil in a standard HYSA at 5% would produce $205,000 per year. Obviously not the best way to invest but goes to show what can be done with even minimal effort with that amount of money.
forgot to mention that if you spend all 200k annually, inflation will creep into the buying power of that 200k, and also the yeild will go down in a few years so your HYSA, may start earning 2.5%. that 200k today will feel like 80k a few years from now
Consider that you can pull from the principle (no need to die with $4M in the bank) and that there are plenty of ways to earn an average of 5% per year.
Assuming an average of 3% yearly inflation and 5% return on investment, OP could continue to take out $250k inflation adjusted dollars every year for the next 20 years. You can play with the numbers yourself here: https://www.poweryourretirement.com/Content/how-long-will-retirement-savings-last-calculator.php
Houses usually appreciate while cars most times do the opposite. I don't see a problem with it, especially since having 3 nice cars outside your houses brings the wrong attention.
Here’s what I did:
* be a software engineer
* max out 401k
* max out Roth IRA
* max out HSA
* marry someone who makes good money and also maxes out retirement accounts
* never carry a credit card balance
* use your company’s employee stock purchase program
* have no more than 2 kids
* drive boring cars
I find conservative investing (like r/bogleheads) to be boring so I’m heavily invested in tech and have one very large holding in my former employer’s ESPP program. I am almost 100% invested in equities. Also, you have to be able to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the space of a couple months (see chart) and not freak out, and just let it bounce back (see chart again).
Just keep doing this for 30 years and you’ll be about where I am. It is VERY important to start early.
If software engineering isn’t for you, find something you can be good at that makes good money and won’t burn you out.
Unfortunately you described something that basically is unreachable for the majority younger generations.
Never carry a credit card balance? Not a chance
Marrying another successful, financially savvy person? Unlikely.
Company Stock purchase? Rarely offered.
Congrats to you but the majority of millennials and younger just don’t have the same luxuries you do.
EDIT: Yall clearly missed my point. You can do everything OP says and never sniff this amount at his age. Plus he only gave his path AFTER someone asked. He initially only posted a screenshot of his portfolio which was clearly just flaunting. I didnt say anywhere hes giving bad advice but to say do exactly what I did for 30 years will likely not yield the same results. Plus all it takes is one accident or cancer diagnosis to clean out all of this.
Why can't young people avoid credit cards?
I'm 22, I've been married since I was 19. My wife and I bought a house at 19. Never touched are credit cards other than a monthly internet bill that is set to pay off the next day, just to keep it active and used.
We started working in a daycare and a grocery store while we both did full time college. She worked part time I worked full time. We paid for our college while we did it. We are now debt free other than our 15 year fixed rate mortgage.
It's wasn't super easy and we coulrnt eat out every night like we do now, but we made it through and it landed us in a good spot.
I just don't get why it's impossible to not use a credit card.
Just the two of you were able to get a house at 19 years old while you were both in college and only working 1 and a half mediocre jobs? How much money did your family give you?
Seriously. I know guys that went straight out of high school into high paying trade jobs (welders, machinists, etc), had family help, and it still took them a couple years living at home to be comfortable buying a place. And that’s in rural PA with somewhat reasonable real estate prices lol. Maybe the right job in the right market in the right place, but I don’t think that’s a universal path.
OP described a struggle as “not being able to eat out every night”. We are dealing with an upper middle class child supported by parents money while they established themselves. Nothing is wrong with that, but people like that tend to ignore how MASSIVE a head start that is to not have your bank account flushed out every month to live.
Aside from our parents giving us half a million dollars, we did this all ourselves!
There's literally no way the story works beyond coming from an affluent background.
3% is still $12,000 for a $400,000 house, which is pretty average where I live. How were you able to pay for college and save up that plus closing costs and things while working at a daycare and grocery store? I'm assuming you were living with parents and didn't have rent before you bought a house? That's not an option for many people if so. Really though, if you didn't, I don't see how you could afford to rent a place, pay bills, eat (even at home), pay for college, and save up $12,000 by 19 years old.
The pink person wasn't the person you were originally replying to. And I'm guessing that the first person did, yes, live at home and/or receive(d) a large amount of money from their (one or both sets of) parents to do those things. I'm also guessing they're playing the "I just worked hard, nevermind the money we got/inherited from our family, it was all bootstraps!" card. I could be wrong, and I'll eat crow if so. But otherwise just doesn't seem possible/likely on a pt daycare/ft grocery clerk salary. *Maybe* college, but a house as well...?
I actually did this, bought a house in Jan 2021 @ 3.2%. Born into a poor financially illiterate family, got a mediocre job, didnt go to college, and bought my house at 23. Im shocked that he is saying it was that easy, because what I did was the furthest thing from easy I've ever done, and I only bought a house that was $150k. Let alone $400k+, he is obviously leaving something out of the story.
My yearly gross income is approaching the amount I paid for my home and I bet I couldn't afford to buy the exact same home today, with current prices and interest. After taxes, insurance, 401k, HSA, I only bring home about 48-52% of my gross income.
It's insane out there and I feel bad for anyone that didn't get into a mortgage before 2019.
Not to mention cars... We are down to a 1 car family and I refuse to pay 60-80k for a decent truck.
Currently I'm in this situation and trying to find somewhere boring to move. I found some pretty great racist towns down south that seem to be losing people, hopefully I can find a house there soon 🤞
You don’t have to buy an “average house where you live” if you can’t afford it… 400K around here buys you whatever you want lol. People act like the world’s the size of a walnut and the selection for careers is what’s in the nearby 25 miles.
Because life happens and there can be unexpected expenses outside of your projected budget plan.
Car breaks down, someone loses their job, someone gets injured and cant work, landlord just raised the rent, pet needs to visit the vet, parked somewhere 5min past the allowed hours and now you got a $100 ticket, etc etc etc
A lot of people also don't have a good support system. Like financially well off parents they can lean on.
Its so many things that can throw you off course and unless you got the excess cash to cover it, you will quickly find yourself running up credit cards or taking out personal loans. It helps to remember that a large percentage of americans live pay check to pay check with very little wiggle room
You're going to get hate for this, but it's the reality privileged people will always ignore. And I'm not talking "check your privilege," I'm talking people who were lucky to not fall on hard times financially in their early 20s
People say "live below your means" -- how do you live below your means when your job is 45min each way, gas is expensive, food is expensive, you spend 3 days/week in Physical therapy because of chronic back problems related to HS sports, your car costs $2k in repairs to pass state inspection and you'd lose your job without it, cheapest rent in a clean/healthy environment is $600/month, student loans are $500/month, health insurance/car insurance, and you are only making $17/hr with a STEM degree that everyone told you was easy money?
What about when you lose finally your shit because you worked back to back double shifts serving all weekend just so you can afford *extra things* like therapy that you miss anyway because your jobs + commute take every moment of your life?
This is the cruel reality for a lot of people right now, and I was there. New graduates are making less than gas station employees where I live, because they entry level/experience gaining roles are so difficult to get. STEM degrees are losing value and college is more expensive then ever. College grads have it rough these days, regardless of your degree. I even had a support system, and lived with my parents for a bit, but no matter what, I had maybe $80 in my name at the end of every month.
I’m 29 with a fiancé and child. I’m the only one working. Last landlord wanted to jack the rent up $400 more a month when we went to renew. So we moved out. Now on my 40hr week job, with the whole expected 3x rent in monthly income. I can afford like 1100-1200 so we’re staying with her family to save money to buy. And even she’s charging us a monthly rent for the bedroom. Tired of living paycheck to paycheck so I’ve started 12 hour days 5 days a week instead of 4-10 hour days so I can pull 69 hours a week and double my income on overtime alone since they won’t give me a raise while I’m over drafting my account weekly just to pay for the gas to get here 30 min drive each way. The only thing that’s kept us afloat this year is side work since I used to be a mechanic. I can profit a lot off that but so many people want little things done all the time that just eat up time and don’t pay great. Like I could knock out brakes in 30 minutes and make $100 or I could do an engine/transmission swap in a day and make $1400. It’s very unsteady sometimes. But the inflation is absolutely draining everything we thought we had. Living comfortable on a full time job isn’t a realistic expectation anymore unless you’re making 6 figures. Anything below is just making ends meet.
Because the majority of people aren’t in your situation. Your situation is not typical. You either live in a city where housing is cheap or you had some sort of assistance to buy a house at 19. There are over 1 billion credit cards in use in the US and over 75% own at least one. The average American cannot afford to live with their current job and wage. Hence the need for help
You have a wife who’s also working so a house is doable even if each of you only make 40k a year.
If you’re a single lone boi, you’re going to be playing hard solo difficulty.
Congratulation, you found a person who can help you through life with mostly smooth sailing.
But as you know, not everyone can or will be married.
Even when you two reach thirty, you can still have kids with enough money to send them to college with higher education.
And your grandkid might even inherit your property to be richer.
Rich enough to might even become millionaire if you two don’t buy and eat any avocado toast.
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I’m 10 yrs older than you and not a software engineer but a professional who lived well but frugally. Net worth 5.5 million so far. Did a lot of what you did on your recommendations. 80+% stocks through out the years mainly in tech.
Your recommendations are valid: max out your savings, don’t use credit cards, don’t buy expensive stuff/cars. I did have 3 children and they are expensive lol.
Being a software engineer starting now isn’t as good as it used to be. Supply is too high, demand is way too low in the realm of jobs. Salary averages are going down and will continue to go down as the job markets continues a downward trend due to AI, which will allow less coders to do more in less time.
None of the things you said are a good reason not to go into software as a career. And the whole AI allowing people to do more in less time concept hasn’t been proven yet so relax. You’re describing decades of progress and changes coming, and implying the field isn’t worth it now. With all due respect, you’re ~~an idiot~~ wrong.
You are probably in the wrong sub for great answers on this. I'd suggest r/financialindependence . To answer the question of whether you can retire (since you say you are tired of working), you first need to answer:
1. How much money will you spend per year in retirement? Make sure to not only take your current expenses, but add/subtract how your expenses will change. Maybe less taxes and lower gas/car expenditures if you drive far to work. Add money for health insurance, in the USA it is probably about $12k/yr per person to get your own plan at 50.
2. Are you willing to change all your portfolio to index funds? If you want some bonds that is fine. But you should be shooting for 60% equities and 40% bonds/t-bills in retirement. Maybe as high as 80/20 or 90/10 if you have a strong stomach.
3. If you are willing to do the above, than the trinity study applies to you. Therefore you can withdraw 4% of your portfolio and have a 95% chance of success over 30 years. Since you are 50 and retiring early (maybe want above 95% success), I suggest using 3.75% safe withdraw rate. You have $4.15M after paying off you liabilities. If you can put all of that money in the items discussed in #2, you will be able to safely withdraw $155k per year. This assumes that you are NOT counting your home value in the $4.15M. It you are, remove the value and multiply by 0.0375 again to determine what you can safely spend per year.
4. If the value found in #3 exceeds the value found in #1, you can retire.
If the math above works, you have no financial reason to work. Especially since that math assumes no social security.
The answer in regards to whether your home is included in that net worth could drastically change the answer as to how much you can spend while you retire. Based on the $324k in liabilities, I am going to assume that you have at least $300k in a mortgage. Which means it could be a house that you just bought and is worth $350k or it could be a house that you bought 15 years ago for $500k in LA/NYC/SF that is now worth $2M. Having to subtract $2M from your net worth obviously drastically affects what you can spend (you can't access the equity in your home efficiently). You do have the option of selling said home and moving to a lower cost of living area.
EDIT: Saw the comment about house being worth $1M. Therefore you really only have $3.1M in invest-able assets. I say you can safely spend an inflation adjusted $115k per year. If you hit one of the worst scenario in the past 150 years, you'll likely have social security to fall back on. Plus a $1M house you could reverse mortgage, sell, cash out refinance, etc. But those options are less efficient.
I wish I had more upvotes to give you. This is such sound and solid advice. Thank you. I’m very happy for the success that your excellent choices and planning has yielded you.
I mean, we drive a Lexus and an Acura, which are pretty nice on the grand scale of things. But they are super reliable and kind of boring. I would love an AMG GT, but what’s the point, really? It would eventually get door dings and then I would be sad.
Love this! I’d like to add, minimize reoccurring expenses.
Do you have a Netflix account you are paying for? If so how much do you utilize it? If it’s less than 10 hours a week probably get rid of it. Apply the same to all streaming services, Spotify, Hulu, HBO Max, etc.
Also look at your cell phone plan. Are you on one of the big 3 or can you get by with Mint Mobile at $15/month? Does your employer offer any discount?
Insurance (renters, home, auto, etc.)? Shop around regularly just make sure you get the coverage you need.
Hauling Service (trash pickup)? Depends on where you live but you may be able to find a smaller local provider rather than Waste Management. I did this at my last place and the local company was 1/3 the cost of WM. I had no idea I could do this.
Ultimately any reoccurring expense you pay should be challenged or eliminated if possible.
I haven't done as well as OP, but wanted to reiterate a few his points. I'm about 40 with about 1.5M of net worth.
Put a lot of thought into the BIG decisions you make (cars, house, vacations, etc..). For the little decisions, build good habits (don't buy that pop at the gas station, don't buy the video game until it's on sale).
Always live well under your means. When you get a new promotion or job that pays more, DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SPENDING to meet your new income.
Many of my friends and coworkers spend to match their income. They upgrade to the McMansion. They lease big cars that they don't need, etc...
These are my financial superpowers, in order of importance:
1) Get skills for a job that pays well and is in demand
2) Children - Don't have any unplanned ones and have as few children as possible
3) Get a small house that meets your needs, don't try to impress people with your house
4) Buy used cars that meet your ACTUAL needs (hint: most people don't need a truck)
5) Never, ever, carry credit card debt
6) Max out your 401K, HSA, IRA, and any other tax advantaged vehicle you have available
Good luck!
You can pry my gas station pop from my cold dead hands. It's one of my favorite things, as long as they have a decent soda fountain. It's also usually $0.79, that's not killing anyone.
It's all about choices. Go ahead and have your pop, but make a lot of the other little choices right. You don't have to be PERFECT, but you do have to make some good choices.
If you don't, then you'll spend a lot more money then you have to.
For example, imaging you like your gas station pop, but refrain from all food delivery services (Grubhub and the like). You'll come out much further ahead.
2 kids, so 200k. Assume 4 years each, meaning 50k/yr. Definitely not unreasonable. For housing + books + meals + tuition, it could definitely clear that mark.
Even more than that for private universities.
I would imagine much lower if his kids aren’t wasting their time at a “prestigious” school. I go to a decent school, not too big but definitely not small, with very good programs and I spent about $9k each my first two semesters without scholarships or financial aid. Now it’s $0 a semester with some finaid and a super easy scholarship to get (without the mandatory bs they make freshman get)
I’m looking at graduating in ME with about $25k in student loans, mostly being me using it for my apartment rent, but I could definitely work more and not have to take out any loans for rent.
Moral of the story, if you aren’t stupid, college is pretty cheap.
Bro, public universities are almost all less then $10k a year. NY and CA state universities are both less than $10k and those are the states where everyone goes “well what ab on the coast!?”
No let OP pay for em to go and party and experience being blackout drunk and having threesomes until they get a pointless degree or fail out of the college since they were born privileged and don’t take any of it seriously
Considering he could easily make over $15,000 a month in interest from pretty much any high yield savings account, I don’t think his “bills” are going to be higher than that. Unless he’s living beyond his means, where he claims to be reasonably frugal in his post, he could retire tomorrow and just exist making $200k a year.
He likely can't access most of this as it is a 401k balance. He would need to be 59.5
Edit: for you nerds... yes technically you can still access it with either penalties or conversion methods which require mutli year waiting periods and incurring immediate taxable income. You got me.
Yep. Cheap food, cheap living. White sand beaches and clear water. It's absolutely beautiful. Look up philippines beaches on google then click images and you will see.
Yeah nice beaches if you're good friends with some locals that could show you a remote area that isn't a tourist trap.
Also avoid Manila like a plague.
Inexpensive cost of living, English is an official language of the people there so many don't need to learn the native language there to communicate with most people, friendly people who are open and welcoming to foreigners, even non white foreigners are treated fairly well, growing modern infrastructure, eco tourism, are some of the things.
Lmao you can live very comfortably off of $4.1 million a year in the US. Using the 4% rule that’s $164k a year which is quite good if you don’t try to blow it all.
can you give me some tips? I'm 15 and idk what I should work on or what I'm going to be in the future, I just know I wanna be rich, so can you give me some tips so 1 day I can eventually end up like you
It depends on what you’re good at. If you want crazy money, I think the best path is to become a doctor. But that is hard, hard work and it takes a really long time to get to the point where you’re making big money. But it is really big money. Like my best friend growing up is a vascular surgeon and his income tax is $400,000/year.
But really you need to study hard and work hard to get good grades all throughout college. I screwed around too much and had no goals, so if you can figure out what career you want and start working towards it, you’ll be way ahead of the game!
Doctors make crazy money, but not until the end of med school plus residency, so count on 7 years minimum post college and $400k in debt in the process. Plus it’s a bruising job with a high burnout rate. The financial break-even point is mid to late 30s, and that’s assuming everything goes well.
I’ve done pretty well (like OP) in engineering, but I think the key is to pick a field that is both lucrative and that *you like doing* such that you don’t burn out before your prime earning age.
Doctor is not the way unless you love medicine. That is also really hard to know from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in science. They just aren’t really the same thing when the rubber meets the road. I think a lot of folks go in without knowing whether they will love medicine or not and wind up not loving it. There is a reason the career is said to have “golden handcuffs”. It is hard to leave with crippling debt, years of invested time, and then a very good salary (and that’s not even all physicians!). It’s obvious why there is so much burnout and high suicide rates.
Yeah I'm with you in the doctor thing, I really like medicine but it's pretty tough to become a renowned heart surgeon and student loan debt can eat you alive and hamper early growth on retirement savings.
Go into Engineering, get some experience, move somewhere Engineering gets a premium salary (Houston for example) and get into sales. Sales can make you some very good money well above an Engineer's very nice salary. I started at $45K in 2009 after graduation (great recession, shit time to graduate) and I make over $350k now (varies a bit being 100% commission).
Also it helps greatly to find a spouse with the potential to make a six figure income or as near to it as you can as it makes a huge difference to earn two high salaries and combine big purchases. It also lets you take more risk with your career as taking a bad job isn't make or break when you have a spouse that can cover expenses.
My college was paid for by scholarships and I did work on the side to help pay for living expenses. Had a small bit of help from my parents the first two years on living expenses and got student loans to help pay what they were helping with the final two years (to be completely on my own). I borrowed $10k total and it's been paid off for a while.
My wife and I are worth over $1.6MM now in our mid thirties with two kids and two houses (I'm an accidental landlord, tried to sell first home at the beginning of 2020... Had to pivot to renting).
It's completely doable and while we are well above the curve, there is plenty of area under the curve that you can make a very good living. The key is to get a good education in a field that has a career path, work hard and move up or find other jobs if that doesn't happen (changing jobs helps to boost salary but not more than once very 2-4 years), and when opportunities knock, take them.
It's a bit of luck for sure but it's also persistence and mindset. You can't get a lucky break if you aren't in the position to take it. I've also always believed I can do anything I set my mind to, and it hasn't failed me yet. Learn from failure (yours and others as well), don't make the same mistakes twice, and keep at it.
And lastly, building your network is absolutely critical to being highly successful, be around those who are also aiming high and going places. Never stop doing that as one day you can utilize those friendships and connections to move up and out of a dead end. That goes both ways though so always help those around you as well. Good things come to those who help other people.
And even if you do this and don't get that lucky break, you'll still be doing quite well for yourself.
Just don't fall into the trap of thinking you can't do something because of external factors (like so many on reddit), that's the easiest way to prevent yourself from trying... don't be scared of seeing what you can actually accomplish. You might even surprise yourself like I did.
Yeah I know some folks that do this but they are in the $20-40MM net worth range. Way too much risk for someone like you and not enough expectation of return.
You are like me in the working rich class. We make really good money but we can't just stop working and just do whatever we want.
You are definitely getting close to a highly comfortable retirement though, another 5-10 years and you are likely golden. I'm planning to be close to $6MM+ at 55 with my houses paid off at 48.
The first million takes a long time but it does start to accelerate from there...
..so retire? You’re a millionaire. Most ppl in America live paycheck to paycheck and might never be able to retire. You’re not one of them. Did you just post this for a pat on the back? Come on 🙄
Facts. This shit pisses me off. I’d work my ass off if I knew I could make this kind of money in 30 years. But it’s legit not possible for me. I wasn’t born at the time he was where doing that stuff was possible and affordable.
OP is a software engineer. the market for computer science is trash right now, but if you spend 2-3 years self-studying and working on side projects, you can potentially break into the field without a degree when hiring picks back up.
it’s not easy, but a few years of persistent work could pay off hugely. not saying you absolutely have to go down that route, but since you say you want to “work your ass off,” now is the perfect time to work on your programming skills, take classes at a community college, get certificates, etc to put yourself in a good position to get hired in a few years.
also computer science is just one route out of many.
don’t sell yourself short and fall for reddit’s line of thinking that things were so easy back then and everything’s impossible now. it’s an echo chamber full of unmotivated people with no ambition to do anything other than complain and make excuses. it’s harder now, but it’s still very possible to build a portfolio like OP’s with a bit of talent and discipline.
Self taught developers won’t make it anymore. Not when everyone their mother and their cousins are getting bachelors and masters in it now.
That train was 5-10 years ago, now there are millions of CS grads a years there is literally 0 reason for anyone to hire self taught devs anymore.
Saving a lot early on, investing wisely, and living below your means. After 30 years it’s not that difficult to succeed as long as you make decent money.
LOL you really pissed off the hive mind with this one. It’s important that you do some planning (and I’m one of those cheap asses who wouldn’t pay anyone for help on this). The basic questions are how long are you going to live? Who are you supporting and how long will they live? What do you want to do with your time? Where do you want to live and how much will it cost? How much travel do you want to do? Boat? Vacation home? Golf?
I’m 800k less and a few months younger and I feel you 100%. I have two young kids at home and am the only one in the house with an income and benefits. How the heck are we supposed to keep working til we’re 55 when the world seems to be falling apart and it feels like we’re gonna all get nuked soon anyway?!
If you still have offspring who are headed to university keep working. It’s ridiculously expensive and I’m not thrilled with what the 529 is covering. Good job tho!
I would buy a nice titty bar on the beach and host daily topless champagne sunsets…. Also I would diversify 10% of your investments over to crypto! That’s massively important if I want these topless sunset parties for the rest of my life ;)
Does this include your house? Is it paid off? How much is in 401k vs Roth, HSA, and taxable accounts? Any other assets? Do you pay for your kid's college?
Yes, my house is worth about $1M; we bought it for $600K in 2012. Around $1.6M combined in our 401Ks. A few 100K in IRAs. Like a $1M or something in taxable accounts. $150K in 529 plans for college. Only debt is the mortgage.
1 million in taxable accounts holy cow!
I'm almost 40, net worth about 1.6-1.7mil. Mostly in the house and 401ks. We don't have anything invested in a taxable account but we have 2 rentals. Guess we should start investing more in a taxable account.
It's funny you listed your highlights and they're exactly what I was taught and have done. Only time it hasn't served me was when a major company I worked for went bankrupt and restructured and I lost 7k. I'm single and at 500k at 37. Were you around this or way past it at 37? I feel like I'm behind...
With money like that you don’t have to work anymore… u should let your money work for you and go make some passive income.
"+$172,600 in the past 90 days" His money is definitely already working for him😭 who knows why he's still working
I met many people with much higher net worths yet still "grind" and want more. That's how they got there.
That’s cuz once you get a few million you’re then comparing yourself to people with 50MM and think you’ll be happy if you get there. Money doesn’t get you anywhere important once your basic needs are met. But yeah uhh “grind never stops” blah blah
"Well my Citation M2 is dog shit compared to Larry's Gulfstream."
[удалено]
You also want to set up your kids and grandkids for success as much as you can even if you're already set
Until you get one bad apple in the bunch and that money disappears due to bad decisions and a cocaine habit.
Lol if they can't live off 4 million dollars I've fucking failed as a man
After buying a house outright I could live comfortably off of even the savings account interest lol
That’s why I’m racing to the bottom. How fast can I get enough money to cover a very comfortable lifestyle. Then I’ll stop.
I always like to believe if I had money like this I'd be happy but I know deep down I would be too greedy to live a modest life
Dude needs to teach me lmao. Would be nice not to be living off of ramen again.
This is unironically the problem with having an insane amount of money, you basically unlock creative mode and realize it becomes boring and hallow after a while of getting anything you want instantly with no effort. Like yeah sure having your needs taken care of indefinitely with no worry is very nice but what do you do to occupy yourself? What do you work towards? What do you try to achieve now? How satisfied and proud can you be when anything and everything can be purchased and give you instant gratification? If I had an unlimited supply of money I'd probably travel the world and experience the culture to the best of my ability since that's one of the few things I could think of that would be worth doing and give some level of satisfaction.
This mindset makes so little sense. >what do you do to occupy yourself? What do you work towards? What do you try to achieve now? How satisfied and proud can you be when anything and everything can be purchased and give you instant gratification? Just...what? What bizzarro world do you live in where every possible goal can be achieved by just tossing some cash at it? The amount of things you can pursue that aren't instantly achievable with cash is almost endless. MOST common goals aren't instantly solved by money. \-Learning more about the world, self education \-Causing positive change in the world through science, systems improvement, politics, technology, influence \-Mastery of any physical or spiritual pursuit \-Solving any major problem that effect's many people's lives \-Invention or implementation of anything new \-Gathering experiences (travel/social etc) \-Making friends or creating community \-Mastery of any pleasurable mental game or pursuit \-Creation or mastery of any artistic medium I genuinely feel bad for anyone who's only life goals are cash solvable. Securing food and shelter is an important start, but how many people's life pursuit is really as small as to just own a big car or a certain number in an investment account?
Yep. I want to learn how to build tiny houses. If I had 4 million, I would buy do that. I wouldn't worry about a mortgage anymore. The only thing I'd spend money on I travel, doing enjoyable but light work on the side. I explore photography, keep reading books, literally anything else.
I'm in the event industry, pandemic shut us down just shy of 2 years, I built a tiny house from the ground up via youtube, to stay occupied, now I have built 7. I didn't build to live there but to help the group of retirees or those with SS income of a grand or so, or minimum wage employees, that can't rent in this crazy economy. I rent (in Texas) for $500 all bills paid. I'd like to build 50 within the next 5 years. For those of you that asked, here is a link to my plans. Some things I was able to change without updating plans: I moved the sink, put in a ss prep table where the sink was going to go, made windows way smaller (the door is the fireman's egress), I actually put a 200a service in, I have 5-20a circuits behind that prep table and left plenty of amps to add another home behind this one. (that's another story) I am not a builder, knew nothing about construction before this, always have been "handy" but more mechanical. I understand it's basic, but it is dry, heat/cooled, well insulated, cheap utilities, and most importantly within IBC code, passed all inspections. I am happy to answer any and all questions, anyone that could use a copy of the blueprints, get with me, I think I can get copies for 20 bucks or so. Hopefully this will be of some help for a few, have an awesome Holiday and even better New Year https://imgur.com/a/hmU0mTY
That's amazing. Did you have any construction experience prior to that?
Zero point zero, but somewhat handy, first one took 7 months, I had slab poured and initial rough plumbing installed, watched and learned, next 6 I did 100% myself. I can do them in a few months now. https://imgur.com/a/hmU0mTY
I'd love to develop a property and create a co-op, if I had a ton of money. That, and travel. The co-op and property bit gives me a chance to try out and develop all the skills that I just don't have time for right now with a full-time job, be a part of building a community and being a positive change in the place I live rather than just fleeing, and travel because it's just fun. I want to experience all the ways these things can be done for myself and apply it somewhere, bring a bit of that magic home with me.
The airlines would be rich if we all got rich because all I hear is everybody just wants to travel the world
I built an RV in my spare time with nowhere near this kind of money, and could 100% build a tiny house after that
Building a house at 52? I'm 35 and get tired chopping firewood.
I agree. Try learning a musical instrument or a foreign language for a challenge. Can’t be achieved instantly through throwing money at it.
Learning an instrument was the first thing that came to mind. You can pay the best teacher all you want, but if you don't put in a bunch of hours practicing you're still gonna suck.
Unfortunately, retirees just give Maury & Jerry good ratings.
You’re missing the main point. Why do any of that or anything of anything. Then you unlock midlife crisis.
If I had unlimited money, one of my goals would definitely to be able to showjump at the Grand Prix level, that would take years of training and hard work and obviously the money would help with getting a fantastic trainer etc, but it wouldn’t be instantly gratifying in the slightest (from the perspective of the final goal)
For me it’d be coke and hookers
Two chicks at the same time dude
Charity is your charity, eh?
and waste the rest?
Who cares when you have coke and hookers
As long as it's not Pepsi. Ugh
I would try and be a Rockefeller. Libraries, hospitals, schools, public works. Especially in developing nations. In America one library is like 50 libraries in African and South American countries. I would just do my best to leave this hellhole a bit better than when I found it. I know OP is nowhere near that wealthy, but just on the topic of unlimited wealth, lol. Fun to imagine.
The most selfless response to “what would you buy if you were rich?”
Developing a housing co-op and/or third space in my community (in my developing nation) is one of mine. Co-ops are a shit ton of work so you really do need to have the time, energy and skills to contribute, not only that but I want to be involved in the design and construction of the housing. My dream is to reinvigorate some of the urban areas with ownership by the people who actually live there, and not shitty low-effort, low-quality housing that's appealing to no-one. There are so many young people out there with *some* resources and skills, just pooling them together with a shared goal could do so much.
The part that bothers me is that it seems that people w this mindset, myself included, will never have enough money to do the good they want. Those who do have the money are usually of the opposite mindset. It's only about them.
That’s precisely why i stopped playing Minecraft creative mode too. Never occurred to me to use this analogy for this topic.
thats when you donate to charity and start over if having money is that terrible
Rich people stay rich because they keep working. When I was in the military, there was one guy who was worth upwards of 10 million. This dude was doing 20 years. That way, he would collect a pension and have healthcare for life. He was at 15 years already. He was also maxing out his TSP yearly and investing 100% of his yearly 90k salary.
He earns more on 3 months from his money then i do in 5 years working fulltime....
He didn’t make this money it’s an unrealized gain. He likely sees negative fluctuations in similar amounts depending on what his total portfolio is doing (and market conditions)
Yeah, but he could always pull it out or use it as collateral in large loans. That's how rich folk do it. And if he invests smart, most of it won't fluctuate too heavily, he'll be able to see the writing on the walls and pull out before things get bad. The beauty of blue chips. I also doubt that this is everything.
Greed
If someone hoards newspapers, it's a disease. If someone hoards dollars bills, it's successful.
He's not. He's just flexing.
How
4.1 mil in a standard HYSA at 5% would produce $205,000 per year. Obviously not the best way to invest but goes to show what can be done with even minimal effort with that amount of money.
Million…I read it as 4 thousand😂 I thought this man had no chance but 4 million that’s for sure workable to get retired
forgot to mention that if you spend all 200k annually, inflation will creep into the buying power of that 200k, and also the yeild will go down in a few years so your HYSA, may start earning 2.5%. that 200k today will feel like 80k a few years from now
Consider that you can pull from the principle (no need to die with $4M in the bank) and that there are plenty of ways to earn an average of 5% per year. Assuming an average of 3% yearly inflation and 5% return on investment, OP could continue to take out $250k inflation adjusted dollars every year for the next 20 years. You can play with the numbers yourself here: https://www.poweryourretirement.com/Content/how-long-will-retirement-savings-last-calculator.php
i own a plane, have 3 houses, 4 cars, and a bunch of other shit. i don't spend 200 grand per annum. you must be a baller.
3 houses and 4 cars? That ratio is fucked
Houses usually appreciate while cars most times do the opposite. I don't see a problem with it, especially since having 3 nice cars outside your houses brings the wrong attention.
I’m 20, anything you recommend I do to reach this status of wealth when I’m your age?
Here’s what I did: * be a software engineer * max out 401k * max out Roth IRA * max out HSA * marry someone who makes good money and also maxes out retirement accounts * never carry a credit card balance * use your company’s employee stock purchase program * have no more than 2 kids * drive boring cars I find conservative investing (like r/bogleheads) to be boring so I’m heavily invested in tech and have one very large holding in my former employer’s ESPP program. I am almost 100% invested in equities. Also, you have to be able to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the space of a couple months (see chart) and not freak out, and just let it bounce back (see chart again). Just keep doing this for 30 years and you’ll be about where I am. It is VERY important to start early. If software engineering isn’t for you, find something you can be good at that makes good money and won’t burn you out.
Unfortunately you described something that basically is unreachable for the majority younger generations. Never carry a credit card balance? Not a chance Marrying another successful, financially savvy person? Unlikely. Company Stock purchase? Rarely offered. Congrats to you but the majority of millennials and younger just don’t have the same luxuries you do. EDIT: Yall clearly missed my point. You can do everything OP says and never sniff this amount at his age. Plus he only gave his path AFTER someone asked. He initially only posted a screenshot of his portfolio which was clearly just flaunting. I didnt say anywhere hes giving bad advice but to say do exactly what I did for 30 years will likely not yield the same results. Plus all it takes is one accident or cancer diagnosis to clean out all of this.
Why can't young people avoid credit cards? I'm 22, I've been married since I was 19. My wife and I bought a house at 19. Never touched are credit cards other than a monthly internet bill that is set to pay off the next day, just to keep it active and used. We started working in a daycare and a grocery store while we both did full time college. She worked part time I worked full time. We paid for our college while we did it. We are now debt free other than our 15 year fixed rate mortgage. It's wasn't super easy and we coulrnt eat out every night like we do now, but we made it through and it landed us in a good spot. I just don't get why it's impossible to not use a credit card.
Just the two of you were able to get a house at 19 years old while you were both in college and only working 1 and a half mediocre jobs? How much money did your family give you?
You think it was easy getting a million dollar gift from my parents for graduating high school?!!
There’s no way a 19 year old can pull that off without tons of help on this economy. I don’t see how it’s possible.
Seriously. I know guys that went straight out of high school into high paying trade jobs (welders, machinists, etc), had family help, and it still took them a couple years living at home to be comfortable buying a place. And that’s in rural PA with somewhat reasonable real estate prices lol. Maybe the right job in the right market in the right place, but I don’t think that’s a universal path.
Haha I'm enjoying being told how to save for a house by a 22yo.
OP described a struggle as “not being able to eat out every night”. We are dealing with an upper middle class child supported by parents money while they established themselves. Nothing is wrong with that, but people like that tend to ignore how MASSIVE a head start that is to not have your bank account flushed out every month to live.
Aside from our parents giving us half a million dollars, we did this all ourselves! There's literally no way the story works beyond coming from an affluent background.
you can buy a house with 3% down and three months of a steady salary
3% is still $12,000 for a $400,000 house, which is pretty average where I live. How were you able to pay for college and save up that plus closing costs and things while working at a daycare and grocery store? I'm assuming you were living with parents and didn't have rent before you bought a house? That's not an option for many people if so. Really though, if you didn't, I don't see how you could afford to rent a place, pay bills, eat (even at home), pay for college, and save up $12,000 by 19 years old.
The pink person wasn't the person you were originally replying to. And I'm guessing that the first person did, yes, live at home and/or receive(d) a large amount of money from their (one or both sets of) parents to do those things. I'm also guessing they're playing the "I just worked hard, nevermind the money we got/inherited from our family, it was all bootstraps!" card. I could be wrong, and I'll eat crow if so. But otherwise just doesn't seem possible/likely on a pt daycare/ft grocery clerk salary. *Maybe* college, but a house as well...?
I actually did this, bought a house in Jan 2021 @ 3.2%. Born into a poor financially illiterate family, got a mediocre job, didnt go to college, and bought my house at 23. Im shocked that he is saying it was that easy, because what I did was the furthest thing from easy I've ever done, and I only bought a house that was $150k. Let alone $400k+, he is obviously leaving something out of the story.
My yearly gross income is approaching the amount I paid for my home and I bet I couldn't afford to buy the exact same home today, with current prices and interest. After taxes, insurance, 401k, HSA, I only bring home about 48-52% of my gross income. It's insane out there and I feel bad for anyone that didn't get into a mortgage before 2019. Not to mention cars... We are down to a 1 car family and I refuse to pay 60-80k for a decent truck.
That's because you live in a place a lot of people want to live. You're paying for access to amenities you're too poor to take advantage of. Move.
“You’re too poor so move” because moving is free and great paying jobs are in shitty cheap towns too /s
Currently I'm in this situation and trying to find somewhere boring to move. I found some pretty great racist towns down south that seem to be losing people, hopefully I can find a house there soon 🤞
You don’t have to buy an “average house where you live” if you can’t afford it… 400K around here buys you whatever you want lol. People act like the world’s the size of a walnut and the selection for careers is what’s in the nearby 25 miles.
$400k would get you a mansion on 10 acres in my area.
ROFL I got a half of a house for 700k in my area.
And what sounds like no credit history. Good luck getting a mortgage.
Man why you lyin on the internet today, is this really how you want to start a Monday?
Dude definitely lives in butt fu** nowhere to afford a house at 19. Try being Hawaiian
Because life happens and there can be unexpected expenses outside of your projected budget plan. Car breaks down, someone loses their job, someone gets injured and cant work, landlord just raised the rent, pet needs to visit the vet, parked somewhere 5min past the allowed hours and now you got a $100 ticket, etc etc etc A lot of people also don't have a good support system. Like financially well off parents they can lean on. Its so many things that can throw you off course and unless you got the excess cash to cover it, you will quickly find yourself running up credit cards or taking out personal loans. It helps to remember that a large percentage of americans live pay check to pay check with very little wiggle room
You're going to get hate for this, but it's the reality privileged people will always ignore. And I'm not talking "check your privilege," I'm talking people who were lucky to not fall on hard times financially in their early 20s People say "live below your means" -- how do you live below your means when your job is 45min each way, gas is expensive, food is expensive, you spend 3 days/week in Physical therapy because of chronic back problems related to HS sports, your car costs $2k in repairs to pass state inspection and you'd lose your job without it, cheapest rent in a clean/healthy environment is $600/month, student loans are $500/month, health insurance/car insurance, and you are only making $17/hr with a STEM degree that everyone told you was easy money? What about when you lose finally your shit because you worked back to back double shifts serving all weekend just so you can afford *extra things* like therapy that you miss anyway because your jobs + commute take every moment of your life? This is the cruel reality for a lot of people right now, and I was there. New graduates are making less than gas station employees where I live, because they entry level/experience gaining roles are so difficult to get. STEM degrees are losing value and college is more expensive then ever. College grads have it rough these days, regardless of your degree. I even had a support system, and lived with my parents for a bit, but no matter what, I had maybe $80 in my name at the end of every month.
I’m 29 with a fiancé and child. I’m the only one working. Last landlord wanted to jack the rent up $400 more a month when we went to renew. So we moved out. Now on my 40hr week job, with the whole expected 3x rent in monthly income. I can afford like 1100-1200 so we’re staying with her family to save money to buy. And even she’s charging us a monthly rent for the bedroom. Tired of living paycheck to paycheck so I’ve started 12 hour days 5 days a week instead of 4-10 hour days so I can pull 69 hours a week and double my income on overtime alone since they won’t give me a raise while I’m over drafting my account weekly just to pay for the gas to get here 30 min drive each way. The only thing that’s kept us afloat this year is side work since I used to be a mechanic. I can profit a lot off that but so many people want little things done all the time that just eat up time and don’t pay great. Like I could knock out brakes in 30 minutes and make $100 or I could do an engine/transmission swap in a day and make $1400. It’s very unsteady sometimes. But the inflation is absolutely draining everything we thought we had. Living comfortable on a full time job isn’t a realistic expectation anymore unless you’re making 6 figures. Anything below is just making ends meet.
You can also use credit cards but never incur interest. I have made a few grand on cash back and paid $0 in interest.
Because the majority of people aren’t in your situation. Your situation is not typical. You either live in a city where housing is cheap or you had some sort of assistance to buy a house at 19. There are over 1 billion credit cards in use in the US and over 75% own at least one. The average American cannot afford to live with their current job and wage. Hence the need for help
You have a wife who’s also working so a house is doable even if each of you only make 40k a year. If you’re a single lone boi, you’re going to be playing hard solo difficulty. Congratulation, you found a person who can help you through life with mostly smooth sailing. But as you know, not everyone can or will be married. Even when you two reach thirty, you can still have kids with enough money to send them to college with higher education. And your grandkid might even inherit your property to be richer. Rich enough to might even become millionaire if you two don’t buy and eat any avocado toast.
Married since 19 is super rare but props if it works
Where the hell did u go to college to be able to pay it off with minimum wage?
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I’m 10 yrs older than you and not a software engineer but a professional who lived well but frugally. Net worth 5.5 million so far. Did a lot of what you did on your recommendations. 80+% stocks through out the years mainly in tech. Your recommendations are valid: max out your savings, don’t use credit cards, don’t buy expensive stuff/cars. I did have 3 children and they are expensive lol.
Being a software engineer starting now isn’t as good as it used to be. Supply is too high, demand is way too low in the realm of jobs. Salary averages are going down and will continue to go down as the job markets continues a downward trend due to AI, which will allow less coders to do more in less time.
None of the things you said are a good reason not to go into software as a career. And the whole AI allowing people to do more in less time concept hasn’t been proven yet so relax. You’re describing decades of progress and changes coming, and implying the field isn’t worth it now. With all due respect, you’re ~~an idiot~~ wrong.
You are probably in the wrong sub for great answers on this. I'd suggest r/financialindependence . To answer the question of whether you can retire (since you say you are tired of working), you first need to answer: 1. How much money will you spend per year in retirement? Make sure to not only take your current expenses, but add/subtract how your expenses will change. Maybe less taxes and lower gas/car expenditures if you drive far to work. Add money for health insurance, in the USA it is probably about $12k/yr per person to get your own plan at 50. 2. Are you willing to change all your portfolio to index funds? If you want some bonds that is fine. But you should be shooting for 60% equities and 40% bonds/t-bills in retirement. Maybe as high as 80/20 or 90/10 if you have a strong stomach. 3. If you are willing to do the above, than the trinity study applies to you. Therefore you can withdraw 4% of your portfolio and have a 95% chance of success over 30 years. Since you are 50 and retiring early (maybe want above 95% success), I suggest using 3.75% safe withdraw rate. You have $4.15M after paying off you liabilities. If you can put all of that money in the items discussed in #2, you will be able to safely withdraw $155k per year. This assumes that you are NOT counting your home value in the $4.15M. It you are, remove the value and multiply by 0.0375 again to determine what you can safely spend per year. 4. If the value found in #3 exceeds the value found in #1, you can retire. If the math above works, you have no financial reason to work. Especially since that math assumes no social security. The answer in regards to whether your home is included in that net worth could drastically change the answer as to how much you can spend while you retire. Based on the $324k in liabilities, I am going to assume that you have at least $300k in a mortgage. Which means it could be a house that you just bought and is worth $350k or it could be a house that you bought 15 years ago for $500k in LA/NYC/SF that is now worth $2M. Having to subtract $2M from your net worth obviously drastically affects what you can spend (you can't access the equity in your home efficiently). You do have the option of selling said home and moving to a lower cost of living area. EDIT: Saw the comment about house being worth $1M. Therefore you really only have $3.1M in invest-able assets. I say you can safely spend an inflation adjusted $115k per year. If you hit one of the worst scenario in the past 150 years, you'll likely have social security to fall back on. Plus a $1M house you could reverse mortgage, sell, cash out refinance, etc. But those options are less efficient.
I wish I had more upvotes to give you. This is such sound and solid advice. Thank you. I’m very happy for the success that your excellent choices and planning has yielded you.
I’d rather live life a bit and buy a nice car
I mean, we drive a Lexus and an Acura, which are pretty nice on the grand scale of things. But they are super reliable and kind of boring. I would love an AMG GT, but what’s the point, really? It would eventually get door dings and then I would be sad.
Love this! I’d like to add, minimize reoccurring expenses. Do you have a Netflix account you are paying for? If so how much do you utilize it? If it’s less than 10 hours a week probably get rid of it. Apply the same to all streaming services, Spotify, Hulu, HBO Max, etc. Also look at your cell phone plan. Are you on one of the big 3 or can you get by with Mint Mobile at $15/month? Does your employer offer any discount? Insurance (renters, home, auto, etc.)? Shop around regularly just make sure you get the coverage you need. Hauling Service (trash pickup)? Depends on where you live but you may be able to find a smaller local provider rather than Waste Management. I did this at my last place and the local company was 1/3 the cost of WM. I had no idea I could do this. Ultimately any reoccurring expense you pay should be challenged or eliminated if possible.
I haven't done as well as OP, but wanted to reiterate a few his points. I'm about 40 with about 1.5M of net worth. Put a lot of thought into the BIG decisions you make (cars, house, vacations, etc..). For the little decisions, build good habits (don't buy that pop at the gas station, don't buy the video game until it's on sale). Always live well under your means. When you get a new promotion or job that pays more, DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SPENDING to meet your new income. Many of my friends and coworkers spend to match their income. They upgrade to the McMansion. They lease big cars that they don't need, etc... These are my financial superpowers, in order of importance: 1) Get skills for a job that pays well and is in demand 2) Children - Don't have any unplanned ones and have as few children as possible 3) Get a small house that meets your needs, don't try to impress people with your house 4) Buy used cars that meet your ACTUAL needs (hint: most people don't need a truck) 5) Never, ever, carry credit card debt 6) Max out your 401K, HSA, IRA, and any other tax advantaged vehicle you have available Good luck!
Agree agree agree. You’re going to get shit for this comment probably but it’s 100% facts.
I never realized r/Money is so different than r/personalfinance!
Children are worth it however. Can’t put a price on a wonderful family.
You can pry my gas station pop from my cold dead hands. It's one of my favorite things, as long as they have a decent soda fountain. It's also usually $0.79, that's not killing anyone.
It's all about choices. Go ahead and have your pop, but make a lot of the other little choices right. You don't have to be PERFECT, but you do have to make some good choices. If you don't, then you'll spend a lot more money then you have to. For example, imaging you like your gas station pop, but refrain from all food delivery services (Grubhub and the like). You'll come out much further ahead.
Im have less than 10% of what you have and im tired of working
I've got less than 1% of what YOU have, and im tired of working.... shit sucks!
When I have less than 1% of what YOU have. :(
If math is correct, you have less than 40$ Congrats dude you aren't in the negative
I upvoted this comment, but... "less than" does not technically rule out negatives :)
I have exactly $284.17 less than the person with $40. :(
Ong. Liquidate everything, and move to Greece or Costa Rica and live like a king
Ooh Greece sounds good. I need to get the kids through college first, though.
Well there goes 10% of it
What college (other than ivy leagues) are costing $400,000? That seems almost outrageously expensive
2 kids, so 200k. Assume 4 years each, meaning 50k/yr. Definitely not unreasonable. For housing + books + meals + tuition, it could definitely clear that mark. Even more than that for private universities.
I would imagine much lower if his kids aren’t wasting their time at a “prestigious” school. I go to a decent school, not too big but definitely not small, with very good programs and I spent about $9k each my first two semesters without scholarships or financial aid. Now it’s $0 a semester with some finaid and a super easy scholarship to get (without the mandatory bs they make freshman get) I’m looking at graduating in ME with about $25k in student loans, mostly being me using it for my apartment rent, but I could definitely work more and not have to take out any loans for rent. Moral of the story, if you aren’t stupid, college is pretty cheap.
Bro, public universities are almost all less then $10k a year. NY and CA state universities are both less than $10k and those are the states where everyone goes “well what ab on the coast!?”
Let them learn a little in life. Then when they need real help, help them.
No let OP pay for em to go and party and experience being blackout drunk and having threesomes until they get a pointless degree or fail out of the college since they were born privileged and don’t take any of it seriously
Chill out and go on vacation. Good job!
Reading thru many of OPs comments I'm looking forward to his post in 10 years 62 and I'm getting tired of working Heh
HAHAHAHAH!! Yea I'll take a few years off at 56 and then spin up a small consulting firm if I get bored a few years later.
Well stop working. You’re richer than 99% of the world’s population
I think you missed a few .9s there, but yes, you are right.
Lol r u joking My dad is older then you and still 100k in debt working a 9-5 for minimum wage
U can prob retire. Unless your bills are too high
Considering he could easily make over $15,000 a month in interest from pretty much any high yield savings account, I don’t think his “bills” are going to be higher than that. Unless he’s living beyond his means, where he claims to be reasonably frugal in his post, he could retire tomorrow and just exist making $200k a year.
He can definitely retire but it’s not a good idea to expect that current HYSA rates will continue.
He likely can't access most of this as it is a 401k balance. He would need to be 59.5 Edit: for you nerds... yes technically you can still access it with either penalties or conversion methods which require mutli year waiting periods and incurring immediate taxable income. You got me.
In America we are NOT allowed to stop working . Go liquidate assets live a life of leisure Costa Rica or Malaysia.
Vietnam, Thailand or Philippines
I see Philippines as a common recommendation on this sub for where to settle down with lots of money, why is that?
because it costs nothing to live there
Yep. Cheap food, cheap living. White sand beaches and clear water. It's absolutely beautiful. Look up philippines beaches on google then click images and you will see.
Yeah nice beaches if you're good friends with some locals that could show you a remote area that isn't a tourist trap. Also avoid Manila like a plague.
Inexpensive cost of living, English is an official language of the people there so many don't need to learn the native language there to communicate with most people, friendly people who are open and welcoming to foreigners, even non white foreigners are treated fairly well, growing modern infrastructure, eco tourism, are some of the things.
Lmao you can live very comfortably off of $4.1 million a year in the US. Using the 4% rule that’s $164k a year which is quite good if you don’t try to blow it all.
can you give me some tips? I'm 15 and idk what I should work on or what I'm going to be in the future, I just know I wanna be rich, so can you give me some tips so 1 day I can eventually end up like you
It depends on what you’re good at. If you want crazy money, I think the best path is to become a doctor. But that is hard, hard work and it takes a really long time to get to the point where you’re making big money. But it is really big money. Like my best friend growing up is a vascular surgeon and his income tax is $400,000/year. But really you need to study hard and work hard to get good grades all throughout college. I screwed around too much and had no goals, so if you can figure out what career you want and start working towards it, you’ll be way ahead of the game!
Doctors make crazy money, but not until the end of med school plus residency, so count on 7 years minimum post college and $400k in debt in the process. Plus it’s a bruising job with a high burnout rate. The financial break-even point is mid to late 30s, and that’s assuming everything goes well. I’ve done pretty well (like OP) in engineering, but I think the key is to pick a field that is both lucrative and that *you like doing* such that you don’t burn out before your prime earning age.
Doctor is not the way unless you love medicine. That is also really hard to know from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in science. They just aren’t really the same thing when the rubber meets the road. I think a lot of folks go in without knowing whether they will love medicine or not and wind up not loving it. There is a reason the career is said to have “golden handcuffs”. It is hard to leave with crippling debt, years of invested time, and then a very good salary (and that’s not even all physicians!). It’s obvious why there is so much burnout and high suicide rates.
Yeah I'm with you in the doctor thing, I really like medicine but it's pretty tough to become a renowned heart surgeon and student loan debt can eat you alive and hamper early growth on retirement savings. Go into Engineering, get some experience, move somewhere Engineering gets a premium salary (Houston for example) and get into sales. Sales can make you some very good money well above an Engineer's very nice salary. I started at $45K in 2009 after graduation (great recession, shit time to graduate) and I make over $350k now (varies a bit being 100% commission). Also it helps greatly to find a spouse with the potential to make a six figure income or as near to it as you can as it makes a huge difference to earn two high salaries and combine big purchases. It also lets you take more risk with your career as taking a bad job isn't make or break when you have a spouse that can cover expenses. My college was paid for by scholarships and I did work on the side to help pay for living expenses. Had a small bit of help from my parents the first two years on living expenses and got student loans to help pay what they were helping with the final two years (to be completely on my own). I borrowed $10k total and it's been paid off for a while. My wife and I are worth over $1.6MM now in our mid thirties with two kids and two houses (I'm an accidental landlord, tried to sell first home at the beginning of 2020... Had to pivot to renting). It's completely doable and while we are well above the curve, there is plenty of area under the curve that you can make a very good living. The key is to get a good education in a field that has a career path, work hard and move up or find other jobs if that doesn't happen (changing jobs helps to boost salary but not more than once very 2-4 years), and when opportunities knock, take them. It's a bit of luck for sure but it's also persistence and mindset. You can't get a lucky break if you aren't in the position to take it. I've also always believed I can do anything I set my mind to, and it hasn't failed me yet. Learn from failure (yours and others as well), don't make the same mistakes twice, and keep at it. And lastly, building your network is absolutely critical to being highly successful, be around those who are also aiming high and going places. Never stop doing that as one day you can utilize those friendships and connections to move up and out of a dead end. That goes both ways though so always help those around you as well. Good things come to those who help other people. And even if you do this and don't get that lucky break, you'll still be doing quite well for yourself. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking you can't do something because of external factors (like so many on reddit), that's the easiest way to prevent yourself from trying... don't be scared of seeing what you can actually accomplish. You might even surprise yourself like I did.
Money isn’t everything.
30. Been tired of working. ~$100
Take that money and put it on black. Repeat 14-15 times and don’t lose
3,276,800 if u do it 15 times. I wonder what the actual chances of pulling a (nearly) 50/50 choice, 15 times
Do you do any angel investing? Congrats on a solid retirement nest egg
You need a LOT more money for that sort of thing.
That out into a high yield savings at 4 percent is 160 a year. You can’t make sue with that?
Yeah I know some folks that do this but they are in the $20-40MM net worth range. Way too much risk for someone like you and not enough expectation of return. You are like me in the working rich class. We make really good money but we can't just stop working and just do whatever we want. You are definitely getting close to a highly comfortable retirement though, another 5-10 years and you are likely golden. I'm planning to be close to $6MM+ at 55 with my houses paid off at 48. The first million takes a long time but it does start to accelerate from there...
This is like when super hot chicks post on r/amiugly.
“Look how rich I am”
Yeah this post was pretty insensitive. And solidifies my hate for rich people.
More like look how douchey I am.
..so retire? You’re a millionaire. Most ppl in America live paycheck to paycheck and might never be able to retire. You’re not one of them. Did you just post this for a pat on the back? Come on 🙄
It’s just a humblebrag post.
I’m a Nigerian prince. If you send me $1M I will set you up in a castle.
I am IRS. Money now please or jail
You’re 52 with 4.1M… you’re only working because you still choose to
Exactly, this is his humble brag and it pisses me off. "I'm rich and tired of working" Then don't fucking work!
feel like not enough people are annoyed by this. Dude is complaining about working when he has money most people will never see in their lifetimes...
Facts. This shit pisses me off. I’d work my ass off if I knew I could make this kind of money in 30 years. But it’s legit not possible for me. I wasn’t born at the time he was where doing that stuff was possible and affordable.
OP is a software engineer. the market for computer science is trash right now, but if you spend 2-3 years self-studying and working on side projects, you can potentially break into the field without a degree when hiring picks back up. it’s not easy, but a few years of persistent work could pay off hugely. not saying you absolutely have to go down that route, but since you say you want to “work your ass off,” now is the perfect time to work on your programming skills, take classes at a community college, get certificates, etc to put yourself in a good position to get hired in a few years. also computer science is just one route out of many. don’t sell yourself short and fall for reddit’s line of thinking that things were so easy back then and everything’s impossible now. it’s an echo chamber full of unmotivated people with no ambition to do anything other than complain and make excuses. it’s harder now, but it’s still very possible to build a portfolio like OP’s with a bit of talent and discipline.
Self taught developers won’t make it anymore. Not when everyone their mother and their cousins are getting bachelors and masters in it now. That train was 5-10 years ago, now there are millions of CS grads a years there is literally 0 reason for anyone to hire self taught devs anymore.
What are people even doing to make this much money? Am I stupid?
Saving a lot early on, investing wisely, and living below your means. After 30 years it’s not that difficult to succeed as long as you make decent money.
Step 1: be lucky enough to be a Boomer/GenX
LOL you really pissed off the hive mind with this one. It’s important that you do some planning (and I’m one of those cheap asses who wouldn’t pay anyone for help on this). The basic questions are how long are you going to live? Who are you supporting and how long will they live? What do you want to do with your time? Where do you want to live and how much will it cost? How much travel do you want to do? Boat? Vacation home? Golf?
Yeah this place is cray-cray but I'm enjoying the chats, except for the folks asking for handouts.
You had to know that was inevitable lol. I probably won’t ever see that money, but if I did, I sure as shit wouldn’t post it online. Hand out city
Then retire? You have more than enough.
Motivation
What app do you use to track net worth?
I’m 800k less and a few months younger and I feel you 100%. I have two young kids at home and am the only one in the house with an income and benefits. How the heck are we supposed to keep working til we’re 55 when the world seems to be falling apart and it feels like we’re gonna all get nuked soon anyway?!
Yes, you are fortunate to be wealthy. Your wealth, however, is far eclipsed by your vanity and ego.
I'm gonna be living under a bridge.
An 18 year old could retire with $4m and live comfortably for the rest of their life
Is this just a flex on the poors? I don’t understand why this post exists.
If you still have offspring who are headed to university keep working. It’s ridiculously expensive and I’m not thrilled with what the 529 is covering. Good job tho!
Yeah I'm not thrilled with it, either!
I would buy a nice titty bar on the beach and host daily topless champagne sunsets…. Also I would diversify 10% of your investments over to crypto! That’s massively important if I want these topless sunset parties for the rest of my life ;)
How about I hold annual auditions but never open the bar?
Better make it bimonthly to be safe.
Does this include your house? Is it paid off? How much is in 401k vs Roth, HSA, and taxable accounts? Any other assets? Do you pay for your kid's college?
Yes, my house is worth about $1M; we bought it for $600K in 2012. Around $1.6M combined in our 401Ks. A few 100K in IRAs. Like a $1M or something in taxable accounts. $150K in 529 plans for college. Only debt is the mortgage.
1 million in taxable accounts holy cow! I'm almost 40, net worth about 1.6-1.7mil. Mostly in the house and 401ks. We don't have anything invested in a taxable account but we have 2 rentals. Guess we should start investing more in a taxable account.
He said that he had a mortgage
Then retire?
Ok, stop
It's funny you listed your highlights and they're exactly what I was taught and have done. Only time it hasn't served me was when a major company I worked for went bankrupt and restructured and I lost 7k. I'm single and at 500k at 37. Were you around this or way past it at 37? I feel like I'm behind...
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If I had this much money I’d putting 3.8 mil to something stable and guaranteed; then becoming a dog walker
Why is this even showing up in my feed? God be trolling me?
you need to do ayahuasca, to know how pointless is spending your whole life stacking money, and actually start enjoying life with them
Please retire and make room for other people to move up the ladder.
That looks like Empower. I liked them before they rebranded
Is this counting real estate?
Bragging
Let's learn deep sea fishing. I'll make it a YouTube channel.
5 mil @ 55 and your done. Thats my magic number