so at 44 did you retire or just decide to do something different?

ea1060 said:

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To the comment above about not being able to be a millionaire by working for someone else, that is simply not true. I work in the oil industry and all of my old bosses/coworkers have retired as multi-millionaires with generous pensions and 401k balances. I'm almost halfway there at 32 years old. Also, tell that to folks who work at the big tech companies who make huge salaries and stock options right out of school.

It may be pretty difficult to achieve HIGH net worth status at 10MM+ by working for a corporation, but I think 3-5MM is pretty doable as long as you live below your means and work for companies with generous bonuses and pensions/retirement.

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I worked for oil companies for the first 20 years of my career, mainly international locations. I made good money on the international scene because of bonuses and tax benefits. Working international is the only way to go if you can swing it. I really started making real money when I started a consulting business and building it over the next 17 years. I made more money in those 17 years than I would have ever made in 50 years working for a company. Many companies these days no longer have pension plans and when I was working for 4 oil companies they were bought out 3-4 times during those 20 years and I worked for my first oil company for 10 years. That is 3 companies in 10 years that were bought out and I worked for one of them for 5 years. The severance packages were good but still there was always big changes. Never stayed with any of the buyers. Took the cash and ran. I do have a few pensions from two of these companies but that was in the old days when they had pensions and remember pensions do not have COLAs. I also have SS starting in a year (early). You guys keep working and putting cash in this ponzi scheme so you can help pay for my benefits.

Having 1-2 million put away by 60 years ain't gong to get it if that is 10 or more years away. A million ain't what it use to be and is getting worth less each year. It depends on the life style you want during your working years and what you want in your retirement years. There is a balance that you have to decide. A minimum of $5 million in todays $ by the time you are 60 is my idea of a comfortable retirement and be able to do what you want when you want and that still has to mainly be invested in stocks during your retirement years.

FrioAg 00 said:

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... income well over 7 digits ... Today I pay 35% of gross income to taxes ...

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how do you make well over 1mil and stay out of the 39.6% tax bracket

OasisMan said:

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FrioAg 00 said:

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... income well over 7 digits ... Today I pay 35% of gross income to taxes ...

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how do you make well over 1mil and stay out of the 39.6% tax bracket

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$45,000.00
Hell..I see 10 figures ( counting the $,. and all the zeros !! 7 figures can get food stamps !!

Yeah, I would contribute up to the point they won't match any additional contributions. The instant return on investment is going to way out pace student loan debt repayment.

yeah i have been debating that

i was doing it more for the tax-sheltering but that is definitely not set in stone

Effective total tax rate, not marginal tax rate.

I'd have to look back at tax tables but for a married couple I believe you don't kick over into the 39.6% rate until 300-400k or so, so it rises towards it but never gets there.

I also have a few benefit options like Deferred Comp plans, 457b and 457f, which help a lot

Do have some nice wroteoffs like a farm, a joint business, etc, but of course AMT is also the suck.

Wife is an Aggie said:

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I built a model I play around with for my own situation but thought I would post what i would consider to be a very reasonable scenario here and see what people think.

Married couple at age 30 have $100K invested in retirement accounts. They make combined $150K/yr and annually contribute $30K per year to retirement accounts. Early stages of career so incomes are expected to continue to rise for a while longer. They plan to increase that contribution by $2K per year until they reach $60K annual contribution - then hold that constant going forward. Assume 6% return over the entire investing timeframe.

Age 30: $100K
Age 35: $324K
Age 40: $681K
Age 50: $2M
Age 55: $3M
Age 60: $4.3M
Age 65: $6.1M

Bump that to 7% return:

Age 30: $100K
Age 35: $334K
Age 40: $720K
Age 50: $2.2M
Age 55: $3.4M
Age 60: $5.1M
Age 65: $7.6M

Of course, if this couple were more aggressive with savings they could invest a lot more and faster and these numbers go up a lot more. Add in a couple windfalls or inheritance and pretty easy to see how someone could amass a very nice portfolio while working only 40-50 hrs a week for the man.

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Do you mind sharing? I'd love to plug in some numbers and see where it goes

AgsMyDude said:

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Wife is an Aggie said:

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I built a model I play around with for my own situation but thought I would post what i would consider to be a very reasonable scenario here and see what people think.

Married couple at age 30 have $100K invested in retirement accounts. They make combined $150K/yr and annually contribute $30K per year to retirement accounts. Early stages of career so incomes are expected to continue to rise for a while longer. They plan to increase that contribution by $2K per year until they reach $60K annual contribution - then hold that constant going forward. Assume 6% return over the entire investing timeframe.

Age 30: $100K
Age 35: $324K
Age 40: $681K
Age 50: $2M
Age 55: $3M
Age 60: $4.3M
Age 65: $6.1M

Bump that to 7% return:

Age 30: $100K
Age 35: $334K
Age 40: $720K
Age 50: $2.2M
Age 55: $3.4M
Age 60: $5.1M
Age 65: $7.6M

Of course, if this couple were more aggressive with savings they could invest a lot more and faster and these numbers go up a lot more. Add in a couple windfalls or inheritance and pretty easy to see how someone could amass a very nice portfolio while working only 40-50 hrs a week for the man.

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Do you mind sharing? I'd love to plug in some numbers and see where it goes

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Now do it with kids and 5-7 years of daycare at $25k a year and college for 5-7 years at $40k a year and see how that effects the contribution amount to retirement!

It's nice to see those big numbers and dream, but that is clearly for the couple who are dinks for life, or very high earners.

Edit: We are at $150k hh income, but with 25k in daycare, we are not saving near that much. It will be drastically reduced in two years and go away completely by 4 years. But we've paid in about $75k since 1/2015. It will be $120k or so by the time youngest is in full time school.

That is worth probably a million in 25 years had it been invested.

62strat said:

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AgsMyDude said:

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Wife is an Aggie said:

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I built a model I play around with for my own situation but thought I would post what i would consider to be a very reasonable scenario here and see what people think.

Married couple at age 30 have $100K invested in retirement accounts. They make combined $150K/yr and annually contribute $30K per year to retirement accounts. Early stages of career so incomes are expected to continue to rise for a while longer. They plan to increase that contribution by $2K per year until they reach $60K annual contribution - then hold that constant going forward. Assume 6% return over the entire investing timeframe.

Age 30: $100K
Age 35: $324K
Age 40: $681K
Age 50: $2M
Age 55: $3M
Age 60: $4.3M
Age 65: $6.1M

Bump that to 7% return:

Age 30: $100K
Age 35: $334K
Age 40: $720K
Age 50: $2.2M
Age 55: $3.4M
Age 60: $5.1M
Age 65: $7.6M

Of course, if this couple were more aggressive with savings they could invest a lot more and faster and these numbers go up a lot more. Add in a couple windfalls or inheritance and pretty easy to see how someone could amass a very nice portfolio while working only 40-50 hrs a week for the man.

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Do you mind sharing? I'd love to plug in some numbers and see where it goes

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Now do it with kids and 5-7 years of daycare at $25k a year and college for 5-7 years at $40k a year and see how that effects the contribution amount to retirement!

It's nice to see those big numbers and dream, but that is clearly for the next couple who are dinks for life, or very high earners.

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I planed to do it with 2 kids...

Don't do it my way, had a startup gig with options that popped big. However we maxed out 401k's, and even though we have bought some new cars, always paid cash, and keep them a long time.

I wouldn't trade my kids' private school for anything, but have one more kid to pay for next year and I think it's cost me roughly $160k over the past 7-8 years and I can't think about how that would have also helped the personal worth if I didn't care about those dudes so much.

If you honestly take full advantage of your 401k and be smart about your expenses, being a millionaire is doable for everyone.

My updated goal is 8M. I think it's possible without a massive setback like 2008.

Ok - updated due to plans for setback.

5-6M.

SuperBlammo said:

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A million ain't what it used to be with inflation and low interest rates. You can retire on about a million but I'm shooting for 3. If you want to spend like a rich man, you need about $10m. At 3% annual, that's $300k per year which would cover the cost of a nice house, car county club and plenty of travel.

3m is easily achievable in 25 years if marry someone frugal and have a plan.

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It's crazy. We take in more than $300k now, so that doesn't seem like a lot in 30+ years. But, with house paid for and kids out of the house, along with not needing to save the income, need to compare differently. I'm guessing expenses are about 60% even with a similar lifestyle removing those things.

Some of the problems in retirement:
Decent house- $2k/ month for taxes and insurance AFTER you own it.

Taxes- $20-50k/ year depending on how income is structured.

$45-75k in taxes, pseudo taxes before you get any disposable income. Haven't mentioned health care-Medicare and supplements parts A thru Z

Can you tell your story of how you hit 1M at 31?

Profession / income / savings rate

DeLaHonta said:

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sockerton said:

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After each milestone I find it means nothing...kind of sad lol.

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This is the truth. I'm your same age, and I thought I'd be gettting more excited when I met monetary milestones, but it really is just chasing an ever-increasing number. Once you hit one goal, you just immediately look towards the next one. Saving is obviously important, but you can't take money with you when you're dead.

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A year younger and feel the opposite - at least for now. Our FIRE number is well defined. Each milestone is a step closer to owning my time.

We're also expecting our first this year. Not excitement, but appreciation of our brokerage accounts right now. It's allowed us to be relatively stress free and made all options available to us.

I got into the wrong field of engineering.

Both Petroleum I presume?

Good job on the huge early head start

SoupNazi2001 said:

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RangerRick9211 said:

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DeLaHonta said:

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sockerton said:

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After each milestone I find it means nothing...kind of sad lol.

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This is the truth. I'm your same age, and I thought I'd be gettting more excited when I met monetary milestones, but it really is just chasing an ever-increasing number. Once you hit one goal, you just immediately look towards the next one. Saving is obviously important, but you can't take money with you when you're dead.

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A year younger and feel the opposite - at least for now. Our FIRE number is well defined. Each milestone is a step closer to owning my time.

We're also expecting our first this year. Not excitement, but appreciation of our brokerage accounts right now. It's allowed us to be relatively stress free and made all options available to us.

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Prediction- Many of your goals and way of thinking will change a few years after having a kid.

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care to elaborate?

I have small kids and I am not sure how my goals and way of thinking has changed. Maybe I've missed something.

IslandAg76 said:

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Some of the problems in retirement:
Decent house- $2k/ month for taxes and insurance AFTER you own it.

Taxes- $20-50k/ year depending on how income is structured.

$45-75k in taxes, pseudo taxes before you get any disposable income. Haven't mentioned health care-Medicare and supplements parts A thru Z

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If you are paying $24K in property taxes you are living in the wrong place in retirement. If I had my place in Dallas, Houston, or some other high property tax county I may be paying $35K a year but where I live now it is more like $11k a year. Don't plan on living in a high property tax area when retired. I have several friends that are retired in the Woodlands and I always ask why stay in an ultra high tax area. When I get on medicare in 2-1/2 years it will be 1/2 the cost of what I am paying now for private insurance if things remain the same, but I am sure the cost will escalate. Medical is the biggest unknown in retirement planning.

Quote:

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If you are paying $24K in property taxes you are living in the wrong place in retiremen

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$2k/month in Taxes AND Insurance

How about a bump before the holidays. Good reading for someone to catch up on.

I've hit pretty much all of my monetary goals.. It was an empty feeling and I hated to loose the challenge when I hit them. I've been setting bigger business goals and pushing my limits there which is more fulfilling.

I had a new baby a few years ago and being a father a 2nd time around when I was planning the whole empty next thing has changed my prospective on what I want out of life!