• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Start Here
  • Our YouTube Channel
  • Mile High FI Podcast
  • About Me
  • I ♥ Longmont
    • Cowork In Longmont
    • Live In Longmont
  • Stuff We Like
    • Tesla In Ten Years
  • Best Credit Card Offers
  • Contact
    • Media
    • Guest Post

1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

1500 Days to Freedom
  • My Investments! (REAL TIME!)
  • Bucket List
    • Anti Bucket List
  • All Posts
  • Best Posts
  • Guest Post Policy
  • 10 Questions
  • Tesla In Ten Years

Ask the Readers: What is your financial goal?

September 9, 2013 by Mr. 1500 Days 22 Comments

Hi there, Mrs. 1500 again, wanting to know about your financial goals. Do you want to have $10 Million before you retire? Do you want to own a string of rental properties? Do you just want to be comfortable enough to buy everything you want? But first, let’s talk about last week’s question.

Last week I asked a question about minimum wage, and got a flurry of responses. There were arguments both for and against raising the minimum wage.

I know when I was a minimum wage earner, I was all for raising it, and the sky was the limit. But when I was a minimum wage earner, there were lots of other people just like me, looking for my same, unskilled job. I worked harder when I earned minimum wage than I did making 5 times as much. (Note, 5 times my minimum wage isn’t really all that much, considering when I did make minimum wage, it was less than half of what it currently is. Yes, I am that old.)

I think everyone SHOULD work for minimum wage at some point in their lives. It will teach you the value of a dollar (you have to work REALLY hard for that dollar) and show you that sometimes hard work isn’t rewarded. Minimum wage will also show you that it is not a living wage.

Yes, in today’s crappy job market, there are many people with college degrees who are working at minimum wage jobs. But let’s look at the degrees these people hold. Did they study useless things, such as Fashion Design? (That was my major.) Are they good employees? I worked at a company that kept bad employees on, just so they would continue to have that much money in their budget every year. My department could get by with only 4 people in my position, but they kept an extra person on, giving her busy work and wasting money. She was the first to go in the downsizing, and the we didn’t miss her at all.

Mr. 1500 is quite the accomplished computer programmer. He has worked very hard and taught himself many different programming languages on his own so he is in more of a demand. There was recently an ENORMOUS problem at his job, and he was concerned the entire project would be canceled. He posted his resume online, and within one hour, received more than 300 emails. Some of those were not jobs he wanted, as anyone who has posted a resume online can attest. He doesn’t want to move and he doesn’t want to work in sales. He was very specific about what he wanted, and there were at least 5 absolutely perfect jobs he could have had. Ultimately, he stayed with his company.

I have a cousin who was downsized. He doesn’t want to move from his very small town in central Illinois, and he doesn’t want to take less money than what he was making before. So he is on unemployment, and has been for quite some time. If that dried up, instead of being extended again and again, you can bet he would be working some less than top dollar job. Or he might be persuaded to move. There are a number of jobs he could get if he would move. He has a rather specialized skill, that is in little demand where he lives.

As a child, I moved around quite a bit. My dad has good skills, and moved his way up in several different companies. But we were transferred quite a bit, and every time a new opportunity arose, he would discuss it with my mother and then we would move. One company he worked for had a weird policy and he was let go because his boss was doing very bad things. This led to me moving twice in 6 months, and going to three different schools in second grade. Possibly not the best thing for me, but I used to be shy, and I am no longer.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What are your financial goals?

 

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

Thank you!! Please check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Filed Under: Ask the readers, Mrs1500 Tagged With: minimum wage

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Meg says

    September 9, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    Honestly, I have no idea what I’m going to want down the road. I just keep saving as much as I can, figuring that, worst case scenario, I’ll have a large pile of money to spend. If we can have kids, I’d love to be able to stay at home and raise them, and it would be nice to buy an apartment at some point, but I can also see that our future may turn out very differently. I can’t see a scenario when having a lot of savings would hurt, though, so why not?

    My husband is a software engineer, and last year when he was job hunting, he posted his resume on dice.com and was immediately inundated. I so should have worked harder in math class.
    Meg recently posted…Consumerism Thursday: The Incredible Shrinking Woman Drowns in BrisketMy Profile

    Reply
  2. Allie says

    September 9, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    First goal, pay off my student debt. That’s basically the only goal I’ve got my eyes on for now.

    But I guess, in vague terms, eventually I might like to have/adopt kids, and eventually I might like to stay home with them when they are very young, and eventually they probably might go to college, and eventually I’d FOR SURE like to retire comfortably.

    I worked for minimum wage 10 years ago at $5.50/hour, and it has gone up surprisingly little since then. We need a living wage, not a minimum wage.

    Reply
  3. Renee s says

    September 9, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    I am 25 and I want to be financially independent in 8 years 🙂

    Reply
  4. Retired By 40 says

    September 9, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    I am 22 and want to be debt-free (besides my mortgages) in 5 years. Then starts phase two: accumulate enough wealth the retire at 40. Not that I will quit my job when that happens. I love working – I am an accountant – but I want to have options. Read – Financial Independence, less stress, and I want to travel.

    Love it!
    Retired By 40 recently posted…We Have a Budget Leak!!!!!My Profile

    Reply
  5. Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies says

    September 9, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    Our big goal at the moment is to be basically FI by our 36th birthdays (a little more than 5 years out). But we’ve got lots of little goals along the way since that’s so far away.
    Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted…Does Your To Do List Define Your Life?My Profile

    Reply
  6. Scooze says

    September 9, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    I’m 45 and debt-free (except the condo which will be paid off when I’m 60). My goal is to continue saving for retirement at 20%+ annually.

    Reply
  7. Michelle says

    September 9, 2013 at 6:21 pm

    Our goal is to reach financial independence. We are doing good with this, and just a year ago I don’t think I could even imagine how far we have come!
    Michelle recently posted…A Wedding and $2,715 in Extra IncomeMy Profile

    Reply
  8. Done by Forty says

    September 9, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    Like others have noted, our big financial goal is to attain financial independence (by the time I am 40).
    Done by Forty recently posted…Budget Porn, Sexy September EditionMy Profile

    Reply
  9. Brad @ RichmondSavers.com says

    September 9, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    Like pretty much everyone else here, my short-term goal is complete financial independence. Since my wife will ultimately take 9 full years off to stay at home with our girls, this won’t be in the next 5 years, but I predict that 10 years from now it will certainly be a reality.

    My real time horizon is 100 years though. I know this might sound a little wacky, but I often think about my future great-grandchildren; I want them someday to look back on me as the person with the vision, wisdom and the discipline to make our family exceptionally wealthy.
    Brad @ RichmondSavers.com recently posted…Travel Hacking Update – September 2013My Profile

    Reply
  10. Ree Klein says

    September 9, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    I have been completely debt free (including a free and clear home) for the last four years. My long-term goal is to grow my existing assets to a value of $1.625 million so that I can withdraw at a rate of 4%/year. That will generate an annual income of $65k and not erode my principal.

    To do that, my assets must average growth of 9.25% per year for the next 10 years. Doable with a little luck!
    Ree Klein recently posted…Survey Sunday: Are You a Conscientious Saver of Stuff?My Profile

    Reply
  11. Rory says

    September 9, 2013 at 4:50 pm

    Our first goal was to get completely debt free. We’ve did that in August! Now, our goal is to save $750k, at which point we would be financially independent enough to literally not work.

    In reality, we will have our third child before we reach this mark. As such, our financial goals are to save as much as we possibly can before having one of us stay home full time. We figure if we can reach even $300k the second parent could work a reduced schedule, which will be necessary when once number 4 and 5 hopefully arrive.

    Reply
  12. James says

    September 10, 2013 at 1:49 am

    My goal is to have enough savings where with a safe withdrawl rate of 3 or 3.5 percent, I wouldn’t have to work if I didn’t want to. When I have kids, I want to be able to spend as much time with them as I can and have the opportunity to take the occasional slow-travel trip to explore other cultures.

    Reply
  13. Micro says

    September 10, 2013 at 12:15 am

    First goal is to get my student loans paid off. This will take me about 4 years since I am also putting money away for my later goal, which is to retire in my 40s.
    Micro recently posted…Do you keep easy quick meals on hand?My Profile

    Reply
  14. jill says

    September 10, 2013 at 11:40 am

    Right now my goal is to pay off student loans which my deadline is Dec 2014. I became credit free in June.

    Reply
  15. Lucas says

    September 10, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    Just hit our first Financial Security goal at 30 (could survive but not do most of what we want). So shooting for doubling potential retirement income by 35 to reach full FI, while building some more trade skills like construction, car repair, maybe get my real estate license, etc. . .

    Reply
  16. E.M. says

    September 10, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    My first financial goal is to get my student loans paid off. While paying them off, and especially after, I want to save up enough to retire early. Ideally I’d like to have about a million before that point, but I know I could live on less – I’m just a worrier and like to have all bases covered. I want to own a few rental properties, possibly renovate a house (like you guys!) with my dad, maybe flip it, or maybe live in it. I would really just like financial independence though – no debt, not chained to anything.
    E.M. recently posted…Student Loan Debt: Update #4My Profile

    Reply
  17. No Waste says

    September 10, 2013 at 4:38 pm

    Retire in 4,400 Days!

    And dunk a basketball!
    No Waste recently posted…Net WorThursday – August 2013My Profile

    Reply
  18. Tammy R says

    September 10, 2013 at 5:39 pm

    Mrs. 1500, I appreciate the various stories. My financial goals are to pay off our car, mortgage, invest and be financially free to work when we want and on what we want. Our conversations and planning sessions are going well, but we don’t have a specific date. I know we have done more in the past year than we thought possible in regards to paying off loans, decreasing bills and spending, and increasing savings and contributions. It’s been a great weight lifted and catapulted into the clouds. Hope you are doing great!
    Tammy R recently posted…Knowing When It’s Time to MoveMy Profile

    Reply
  19. Amanda @ Passionately Simple Life says

    September 11, 2013 at 10:57 am

    First is to pay off my student loans, but after that, there really isn’t much that I have planned for. Just being able to save makes me feel a lot more secure. However, it’s also important for me not to get too caught in saving and end up missing out on life. That’s why I love setting aside some fun money and thinking and planning what is it that I can do with it now instead of waiting for retirement.
    Amanda @ Passionately Simple Life recently posted…Sunday Thoughts and ReminiscesMy Profile

    Reply
  20. Retired By 40 says

    September 16, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    I want to have the ability to retire when I turn 40! (Obviously :-). This post made my Favorite Posts Roundup!
    http://retiredby40blog.com/2013/09/16/favorite-posts-roundup-3/
    Retired By 40 recently posted…Favorite Posts Roundup!My Profile

    Reply
  21. SavvyFinancialLatina says

    September 16, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    Our recent vacation has made us think more and more about moving. Which means we’re actually thinking about what we want to do or at least where we want to be in five years. It’s not a detailed plan, but it’s going to require us to save and invest 50% of our income. I think it’s doable. Especially if our income increases, which I’m hoping it does.
    SavvyFinancialLatina recently posted…Don’t Go Into Debt For CollegeMy Profile

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Favorite Posts Roundup! | Retired By 40! says:
    September 16, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    […] What Is Your Financial Goal? – 1500 Days to Freedom […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only (primary home excluded)
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**
1/1/22 (9 Yrs Later): $4,762,642
1/1/23 (10 Yrs Later): $3,112,821

2023: Investments only
1/1: $3,112,821

Overall
2023 investment gains: $0
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,526,778
Net worth***: $3,342,821

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental. We have since sold it.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $290,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

Featured in

Smiley face

Disclaimer

Investing is risky business. The information contained on this site is for informational purposes only. As with all matters financial, proceed with caution. Do your research and seek professional advice.

Get my annoying emails!

Join 1500 Days! (now 27% less annoying)

Subscribe to get great good pretty ok content by email.

Thanks so much! Check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

All Posts

Read all the posts ever published to 1500 Days of Freedom.

© 2023 1500 Days to Freedom · Privacy Policy · Contact