My main goal* was to build an investment and cash portfolio of $1,120,000* ($1,000,000 to retire on and $120,000 to pay off the house) in 1500 days**, starting from 1/1/2013 and ending in February of 2017. I made my goal in 2016, my 1500 Days are over, and I’ve left my job. In the interest of openness, I’ll continue to share my numbers.
Call Me Cacafuego
When I can’t think of a good title, I start googling. For this post, I wanted a word to go with compound (I’m a sucker for alliteration), so I googled:
cool words that start with c
And wouldn’t you know it, cacafuego came up! It means this:
A blustering, swaggering boaster
When I publish a good performance update, sometimes a reader will accuse me of bragging. I’m not sure I understand their complaint. I’ve never claimed that I’m any kind of savant. I’m just obsessed with tech and got lucky with some stocks. Also, do these accusers notice that I also publish updates when the portfolio performs like shit? I don’t know and don’t care. But, for those who think I’m bragging, you now have a new way to insult me:
Mr. 1500, you’re just a big, stupid cacafuego!
-Angry Reader
I admit that I like the word because it resonates with my deeply juvenile, 7th grade level of humor. According to Mental Floss:
It literally means “fire-pooper” in Spanish.
At least you can’t tell me that you never learn anything from 1500 Days…
Compounding Cacafuego
In April, our net worth breached the $4,000,000 mark for the first time ever.
Compound interest is amazing to ponder, but a little difficult to process. It seems too good to be true. And to experience it in real life is surreal.
Here is how it’s worked out for us:
The First $1,000,000
- Date: 11/26/2014
- Age: 40
- Accumulation time: ~6,174 days (17 years of work, from a starting point of -$60,000 [university debt and credit cards])
$2,000,000
- Date: 11/29/2019
- Age: 45
- Accumulation time: 1,828 days (5 years, 3 days)
$3,000,000
- Date: 8/21/2020
- Age: 46
- Accumulation time: 266 days
$4,000,000
- Date: 4/15/2021
- Age: 47
- Accumulation time: 237 days
The first $1,000,000 took 17 years (over 6,000 days) of full-time work, flipping homes, and living an unsatisfying life.
The last $1,000,000 took 237 days. During this time, I took some trips, built some stuff around the house, and waited out COVID.
Working for money is a suboptimal situation:
- Your work could disappear. Hello Enron!
- Life may throw you a curveball and you don’t have time or capability to work.
- Maybe your work sucks.
- Maybe you’d just rather spend your days with your children or learning a language or learning piano or playing tennis or just being outside. I’m quite partial to the last one.
Money working for you is much better. Do what you want (you can still work too!) while all of those invested dollars are plugging away. You’re on the beach while your dollars are reproducing through either dividend reinvestment and/or share appreciation.
It’s liberating and amazing. I’m so thankful.
Note: My experience with compound interest is accelerated. My obsession with tech stocks served me well. It may take longer for you, but the important thing is that if you give it time, it will happen.
April Appreciation
April was another great month. Our net worth started at $3,826,009 and ended at $4,042,234 for a gain of $216,225:
Again. before you call me cacafuego (I know you want to), remember that the investments are the stars of this show. I just put my money to work and the investments are doing the heavy lifting.
2021 (as of 4/30/2021)
- Days elapsed: 120
- Net worth gains: $512,488
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 3041
- Net worth gains: $3,306,191
One More Thing
All of this money stuff is fun to think about, but the real goal is to enjoy life. If you’re so obsessed with winning the money game that you forget to enjoy life, you’ve lost. I know this from experience. If I had to do it over again, I would have gone slower. Hell, I might of actually still been working.
No matter where you are on your journey, don’t forget to appreciate each day.
More 1500 Days!!!
You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:
Mile High FI podcast:
Also here:
- EconoMe: Hey look, I’m speaking at EconoMe later this year!
- Facebook: Facebook group and page
- YouTube: My channel is mostly devoted to home improvement, but I have some other material coming up soon too.
- Instagram: Pretty pictures of dinosaurs, sunsets, and nail guns!
- Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
- Coworking space: On the surface, MMM HQ is a coworking space. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that we’re really building community. The members of MMM HQ are some of the finest people I know.
Other resources I like:
- Camp FIs are amazingly fun! I hope to attend Rocky Mountain and Joshua Tree this year. See you there?
- Need to learn how to invest? The Simple Path to Wealth is all you need.
- New to FIRE? Need some FIREy guidance? Check out Fiology and the accompanying workbook!
*My goal wasn’t to have $1,120,000 at the end of 1500 days, but at any time before the day count was up. Why? It all goes back to the 4% Rule. Remember that our little friend, Mr. 4%, is nothing more than the most conservative safe withdrawal rate. Since my investment portfolio now sits at $1,550,000, I can spend about $62,000 in my first year of retirement.
**My original goal was $1,000,000 and no debt, I later raised the goal by $120,000 to $1,120,000 because I will have debt in the form of a mortgage and I firmly believe in not paying it off (LOOK at the MONEY I’m MAKING!). My compromise was to have enough money put away to cover the mortgage at the time of retirement.
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*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
You rock!
I don’t know about that, but I’ll take it!
we put out performance updates too with “just the facts” like joe friday says. here is what we own and these are the results. my favorite haters are the ones who just know that anyone else who does well is all due to luck because they’re doing it differently without a lot of jargon.
well done on another good year…so far. i really enjoy the new cacafuego word. i’m running around work shouting it to anyone who will listen like i am beavis all hopped up on candy and root beer.
freddy smidlap recently posted…May 2021 Stock Scorecard: Smidlap +3.0% , $QQQ +5.8%, $VTSAX +11.9%
Thanks Freddy!
I think the haters mostly have issues with themselves. As the saying goes, hurt people hurt people. While I don’t appreciate their rude comments, I feel sorry for them.
Beavis all hopped up on candy and root beer! Hilarious!!!
Cacafuego is a cool word starting with C, thanks for the new cool word of the day. Your performance is really eye opening to the power of getting your money to work for you.
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”
― Albert Einstein
Having lived almost a year in Spain now, the word cacafuego never came up, however I like it so I will try to insert it in the local culture ? . I promise you will get the credit!
Awesome update!
Cosmin! Nice to hear from you! How is Spain treating you?
Up and to the right…as they say. But with quite the slope! Congrats.
Hope you guys are doing well and enjoying some amount of travel. I’m sitting here on the line (40 minutes and counting…) with the IRS because they have the “intent to seize (levy) your property or rights to property”. That’s a fun love note! And yet they deposited the check 5 days before this notice was apparently sent… IRS, you make no sense. What’s the opposite of cacafuego? Cacahielo?
After this long call, it’ll be a few more hours on hold with American Airlines to book a route I apparently have to do by phone. Strange. But! The good news is that it’ll be out to Flagstaff and back from Phoenix. Gotta come catch your part of the world!
Chris@TTL recently posted…Our First Flights in a Year (and Our May ’21 Budget Update)
I just for the same letter from the IRS and my circumstance is almost the same! Did you get a good answer?
Up and to the right indeed. And the pace will eventually accelerate. We have had a year of million dollar gains, but before I buy the dirt farm, I’ll bet we have a million dollar month. Compound interest is good. The life that it buys you is better.
Not sure I can call you Carl ever again. Cacafuego it is;)
Would you call this month… the quadruple double comma club month?
I would have thought that cacafuego was a Spanish word and surprised it actually has an English definition. You really learn someone from every 1500 days post.
David @ Filled With Money recently posted…The Seven Deadly Money Sins to Never Commit
Wow! Congratulations on another net worth milestone and thanks for introducing me to a new word 🙂
No More Weekdays recently posted…A ridiculously detailed examination of our family’s spending habits
Thanks!
The jump from 2 mil to 3 mil and 3 mil to 4 mil happened so quickly. Truly shows the power of compounding.
Alex recently posted…May 2021 Dividend Income Report
OK, your new nickname is now Cacafuego!
Seriously though, dropping that bomb at the end about still working?!? What would you have rather done with your money instead of buying financial independence?
More fancy cars? A higher maintenance wife?
It’s tough for me to imagine being back at work. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
Mr. Tako recently posted…May 2021 Dividend Income And Expenses
I would never go back to work either! Just thinking about it makes me shudder and cringe!
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome… Congratulations on the new milestone.
This blog is one of my favorites and I’ve been following for years. I’m on a similar path but a few years behind you. I love the honesty and simplicity. Keep it rolling…
Rory, thanks so much for the kind comment! Stop by and say “Hi!” next time you’re in Colorado!
This post is very inspiring and that net worth vs. days graph is impressive! Cacafuego sounds like a compliment to me!
Mr. RTTS recently posted…Don’t Make These 8 Credit Card Mistakes
The graph is surreal. At this point in my life, reality is surreal!
Huge congrats! That graph is amazing to look at. While I’m no where near those numbers, when I zoom in on my graph it’s starting to look the same. It’s very encouraging.
Well said. I was laid-off about 5 years ago and have been doing my side hustle ever since. I’ve never made a big salary but the amazing thing is my portfolio has over doubled since then. Compounding does work! I agree that you have to be careful obsessing too much about getting to FI etc. While its a good thing in many ways, you can end up missing out on some important things along the way.
It sounds like your life may have turned out better because of the lay-off? Not having to answer to anyone but yourself is a powerful thing!
Love that compound interest! Congrats on another great milestone!!
Thanks!
Congrats and greetings from … Warsaw, Poland 🙂
Yes, Cacafuego aka Carl 🙂 is known also in central Europe 🙂
I love your sense of humor and dinosaurs ofcourse 🙂
Your numbers are great but the more important is that you are independent.
I am on my FIRE path and probably in next few years I will decide to retire so your blog is really nice inspiration for me. And it is shoowing me that it is really posssible 🙂
Thank you
Hello Warsaw! I’m headed over to your side of the pond one year from now! I’ll be in mostly Germany, but really would like to visit Poland some day.
Thank you for the kind comments, much appreciated.
Even though I’ve been done with work since April of 2017, this all feels a little strange and too good to be true. Life is goo!
Ha! I am learning here about FIRE but also new english phrases 🙂
“on the other side of the pond” – saving that in my memory 🙂
If you decide to visit Poland just let me know. I will show you Warsaw and say a little about RE market 🙂 Having passive incomes every quarter on month is great but imagine building “follow the sun” model and receiving some money before the breakfast :):):)
Awesome Carl! Inspiring!
I had just enough Spanish education 25 years ago, and enough of it stuck, that I did a triple-take reading the blog title. Nice find! And congratulations on cranking the net worth to further nutty highs!
Haha, I probably had the same amount of Spanish. And I remember about 3% of it. Oof!
I echo all the above but have a different question: can you chart out what could happen if this compounding rate continues for the next 10 years? And what do you think you would do with that money at that time?
Hmmm, I’d probably double my net worth about every 3 years.. So if that happened, the old net worth would be over $30,000,000. However, this is highly unlikely. We’ve had exceptional returns lately and some of my gains have come from fortunate timing (doing a cash out refi on my home when COVID had wiped out the market and investing the money).
I probably will have that kind of money some day though, just not that soon. The only thing I’d buy is a nice property in the mountains to serve as a gathering place for my friends.
Cacafuego!!! You seem to have missed your personal evolution from FARTFIRE to POOPFIRE. The Barristas and Coasters have nothing on you!
I still must say, sharing is not bragging. the general public does not build the right habits, do the right things and end up blaming government and employers for their problems. we, as people, need to share this information, how we did it, what the strategies are – how to withdraw correctly, how to deal with insurance….
please keep sharing and educating – if we can change a few lives for the better, then we are doing good.
Steve
Congrats on achieving FATFire, man ! Any immediate special plans or lifestyle changes considering that new status ? What are you gonna do with all that money ? cheers
Do you feel richer? I’m always wondering as to whether one can spend some of the net worth or is it all part of the initial 4% volatility ? I should be able to rebase off the high, but if it feels easy, I get uneasy…
Congrats you Crazy Compounding Cacafuego! This is like the new reddit FI slang when you announce independence…
Congratulations Cacafuego!
I’ll take it, thanks!
It’s true that the first $1M takes the longest and each $1M thereafter comes fast and faster. Impressive to see the back to back $1M gains in less than a year each.
I still remember year ago meeting up with you and Michael in San Diego for lunch and so much growth and change has happened in such a short period of time.
Happy to see you continue doing well and living life on your terms.
Onward & Upward!
Dom
Dom, you’re totally right! My NW was probably around $1,000,000 then. Money works in funny and incredible ways. Life is good.
I love that you broke through the ever-evasive $4M ceiling on tax day. Now the question is, when will you break through $5M, 6, 12 or 18 months?
All the Best!
No clue, but if I don’t have a Tesla by the time I break through $5,000,000, I’m gonna be a little angry!
Well done and congrats.
I have followed you for quite a while and reading your posts really motivated. Not sure about what all this Cacafuego about.
I’m 46 and happy to announce I reached my fat fire goal for a developing country or some developed countries. Now tempted to shoot for where I live currently and it’s great here however one of the top 10 in terms of cost of living and work doesn’t suck that bad.
Congrats on fatFIREing, even if it isn’t where you want to be. The nice thing is that the money gang up with her close friend compound interest and put you over the goal in no time!