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.
Summertime is busy time! The girls are out of school and we’ve been making the most of the freedom.
Freedom means hiking:
Freedom means hanging out with old friends:
Freedom means harassing the local insect population with my camera:
Freedom means travel (Ah, to see the ocean again!!!):
Freedom means museums:
What I haven’t been doing is paying attention to this blog.
When I quit work back in 2017, I was so worried about being bored. Now, I have enough activity in mind to keep me busy for decades. I’ll run out of life far before I run out of ideas and projects. But it’s all good. Life is positively peachy. Sorry blog for neglecting you.
May
May was a down month; only the second this year. They can’t all be zingers. Our net worth started the month at $4,042,234 and ended at $3,937,772 for a loss of $104,462:
The only way to play the investing game is long-term, so monthly farts don’t phase me in the slightest.
2021 (as of 5/31/2021)
- Days elapsed: 151
- Net worth gains: $408,026
Since the Start (1/1/2013)
- Days elapsed: 3072
- Net worth gains: $3,201,729
Community
My favorite part of the FI world is the community. I’m an enthusiastic introvert (EI), but even EIs need people-time. Now that the world is back open, we’ve been hosting friends at our pool almost daily.
The shabby pool has done two amazing things:
- It got us a big discount on the house. No one in Colorado wants a pool.
- It has made our yard a great place to hang out.
Regarding the second point, the adults talk while the kids float around on unicorns and dinosaurs.
And it’s fun to have interesting people to talk to. During a recent afternoon after I brought up the topic of machine learning, a friend reached into her bag and gave me a TensorFlow sticker (she worked at Google).
Life is a lot more fun when you have interesting people to share it with.
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 know you’ve saved enough for early retirement when a $100,000+ drop doesn’t phase you at all.
I never understood the people that say they don’t want to pursue FIRE because they worry they’d be bored. There are literally hundreds of things I want to do, see, and learn that would take more than a lifetime. Cheers to another great month in July.
Mrs. Richfrugallife recently posted…THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY: BOOK REVIEW & LESSONS LEARNED
I could not agree more, chasing FIRE is often viewed as ludicrous in the mainstream. Instead, is it not crazier that the average person doesn’t save for the ability to pursue their own dreams rather than that of their bosses?
Yep.
Warning, snark alert!: Only boring people get bored!
May update in July = living the lazy dream! A pool sounds to me like a boat or a Porsche: really cool to borrow for a day or two. You are a good friend to shoulder that expense. Looks like you’ve made it a fantastic, comfortable retreat from the rest of the world. And I’m sure folks bring the fancy beer when they come by!
We had some relatively unplanned expenses over the last month — a new roof, and on Monday a new car. We splurged a few grand extra on a VW Golf over a Kia Soul so we could get down and boogie a bit rather than meander around in an appliance. Like you said, thinking long-term, that’s not even one day’s fluctuation of our net worth… well worthwhile if it lasts fifteen years like the last car. And it’s easier to park than a McLaren.
The pool has been a fun surprise. As long as you keep the chemicals in check, it doesn’t require much work. I spend 30 minutes a week maintaining it.
Love this –>> “We splurged a few grand extra on a VW Golf over a Kia Soul so we could get down and boogie a bit…” GTI?
We were looking for the closest feel we could get to my wife’s deeply beloved 2005 Mazda 6i. It had nice taut handling for a midsize car, and the 155HP engine delivered torque neatly through the whole RPM range. Current Mazdas have crap visibility so they were out, but the Golf’s little 1.4 turbo pushes it around in much the same way. GTI would’ve been TOO much fun and the interior only comes in black…. we got what feels like the last beige Golf on the eastern seaboard.
You’ve lost my annual salary in a single month without batting an eye. This is where I aspire to be.
Mr. RTTS recently posted…5 Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making a Purchase
It may happen sooner than you think. It certainly did for me. I still remember back 20 years when I’d get excited when my portfolio moved $100 in a day.
The deck and pool looks great! Glad you are enjoying the summer.
Financial Freedom Countdown recently posted…Should I Buy Stocks Now? 6 Factors To Consider
Thanks!
May may have been a six figure down month but I bet June was a six figure up month 😉
David @ Filled With Money recently posted…Gut Feeling is What Matters the Most in Life
Yes, oh yes it was. More than made up for May. But, it doesn’t matter either for long-term mindset. However, I’ll happily take it!
Being able to spend all the time you want with good friends and family, and being able to be present in the moment (without the distraction of thinking about work) = Priceless
This. BOOM!
Interesting about the pool. Is it too cold to swim most of the time or what’s the reasoning? In South Africa most homes seem to have a pool but I guess kids use it 6 months of the year,so couldn’t imagine not having one =)
We have a 4 month swim season which isn’t bad. I’m not sure why they’re not a thing here.
Probably because people need to pay a lot to clean it or something? High labour costs in the US? Otherwise I can only imagine its that it could be damaged in cold snow weather, whereas we don’t get freezing weather..
Who knows..
Anyway, I like pools and it’s one of the best things about homes to me =)
Anecdotally, I’ve also heard that people don’t like them because they worry about small children / general liability. I know where I live (Northeast US) they must be fully fenced, and even then there’s concern about potential accidents.
Your yard looks better all the time. Nice work!
Thanks! Just wait until you see the fancy storage building and hot-tub platform! I’m only getting started…
This is what the FIRE life is all about right here!
I love to see how much your net worth has grown since early retirement. Shows just how the 4% rule works, especially in a Bull market. Amazing!
Yeah, the numbers are surreal! It will take a break someday, but it won’t matter…