One million dollars! New update but not so new.....#109

[countrygirl2]

We had $1.3 M when hubs retired, down from that. Partly because we have gifted son at least $200k and we have spent on rent houses plus our house and on vehicles. I haven't figured it all yet, cash is down, but houses are up. Need to put pen to paper and see what our net worth is again.

[jerseygirl]

Interesting article on inflation and investments , stagflation as in 70s?

www.reuters.com/business/1970s-all-over-again-stagflation-debate-splits-wall-st-2021-10-27/

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 27, 2021 11:10:42 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Interesting article on inflation and investments , stagflation as in 70s?

www.reuters.com/business/1970s-all-over-again-stagflation-debate-splits-wall-st-2021-10-27/

Thanks for this. A lot to think about before quitting.

[Tiny]

"The surge in inflation is not proving to be transitory like the Fed and Biden administration have been telling us,” he said. “It's sticky and sustained when we're past peak growth. That's stagflation."

I wonder what the definition of transitory is... Inflation has only been high for less than a year - and it's "pandemic" effected year.

What happens in 7 or 8 months when all our retail stores are flooded with the Craptastic consumer goods that have been stuck in the supply chain backlog - and consumer's no longer want the Craptastic stuff (it will go on sale to move it out the door) OR there's so much Craptastic Stuff that consumers can shop around looking for the lowest price (stuff on sale to get it out the door)??

I'm not naive enough to think that prices will drop to all time lows or drop back to what they were before the pandemic - but I think prices will plateau rather than keep climbing.    

I'm basing this on the idea that there isn't a shortage of natural resources and hasn't been some catastrophe that has destroyed the place(s) where stuff is made. The shortages right now are due to inability to move stuff around OR due to a shortage in workers. I'm guessing as the pandemic wans - both of those bottlenecks will be resolved and the flow will happen again. And that is what makes the current inflation "transitory".

[Lizard Queen]

Oct 27, 2021 14:48:32 GMT -5 Tiny said:

"The surge in inflation is not proving to be transitory like the Fed and Biden administration have been telling us,” he said. “It's sticky and sustained when we're past peak growth. That's stagflation."

I wonder what the definition of transitory is... Inflation has only been high for less than a year - and it's "pandemic" effected year.

What happens in 7 or 8 months when all our retail stores are flooded with the Craptastic consumer goods that have been stuck in the supply chain backlog - and consumer's no longer want the Craptastic stuff (it will go on sale to move it out the door) OR there's so much Craptastic Stuff that consumers can shop around looking for the lowest price (stuff on sale to get it out the door)??

I'm not naive enough to think that prices will drop to all time lows or drop back to what they were before the pandemic - but I think prices will plateau rather than keep climbing.    

I'm basing this on the idea that there isn't a shortage of natural resources and hasn't been some catastrophe that has destroyed the place(s) where stuff is made. The shortages right now are due to inability to move stuff around OR due to a shortage in workers. I'm guessing as the pandemic wans - both of those bottlenecks will be resolved and the flow will happen again. And that is what makes the current inflation "transitory".

I hope you're right, but there's also the price of fuel skyrocketing. Natural gas has doubled (or more?). Now, my employer hedges a lot, but it will eventually catch up to us as well. Add in the price of transformers doubling, we will have to increase prices on our customers next year, including our industrial customers that use electricity to make stuff.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

What about wood? How are the fires affecting timber produces?


No idea if this is mostly public and residential or commercial forests burning.

[TheOtherMe]

Lumber prices have increased dramatically over the last couple of years.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Ruh Roh!

so again I hit a big milestone, get all excited, and the market softens up.....will see what happens by end of the week! still in the 2, club - so far!!

[minnesotapaintlady]

You inspired me to kick it up a notch.  My 401K maxed out with my last check and I was going to roll around in my "huge" paychecks for the rest of the year, but instead I went in and set the catch-up contribution to 15% of pay.   It didn't go through before this week's payroll, so I got one check with nothing taken out, but the last 4 should yield me at least another $1000 in 401K.  It will still seem like a raise, because my withholding was 50% before.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 28, 2021 9:11:05 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

You inspired me to kick it up a notch.  My 401K maxed out with my last check and I was going to roll around in my "huge" paychecks for the rest of the year, but instead I went in and set the catch-up contribution to 15% of pay.   It didn't go through before this week's payroll, so I got one check with nothing taken out, but the last 4 should yield me at least another $1000 in 401K.  It will still seem like a raise, because my withholding was 50% before.

Awesome! You’ve been such an example to me, happy I can have some positive influence on you too!

[Deleted]

Oct 28, 2021 18:55:25 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Oct 28, 2021 9:11:05 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

You inspired me to kick it up a notch.  My 401K maxed out with my last check and I was going to roll around in my "huge" paychecks for the rest of the year, but instead I went in and set the catch-up contribution to 15% of pay.   It didn't go through before this week's payroll, so I got one check with nothing taken out, but the last 4 should yield me at least another $1000 in 401K.  It will still seem like a raise, because my withholding was 50% before.

Awesome! You’ve been such an example to me, happy I can have some positive influence on you too!

That is one of the things I LOVE about this board, how we can inspire and influence each other in positive ways.

I’ve always taken little nuggets I learn from various posters, including you and minnesotapaintlady and found ways to improve my own life. 

I said it in a thread around here somewhere, that after my last thread on retirement, I went ahead and upped my savings another 5% of my gross. But, wherever I posted that I did that, I didn’t say that either this thread or your thread on a retirement checklist made me stop and do it RIGHT THEN. 

Rukh, you are an awesome example of an empowered woman. I know you feel in hindsight, that maybe you could’ve done some things differently, but most of us feel that way in hindsight. But if we try to do things even halfway right in life, we live and we learn.

Anyway, this particular thread caused me to do some thinking…… and I told Mister we need to have a “business meeting” Monday. I want to talk to him about retirement plans, and what we could accomplish if we work together with our money. We are in an unconventional situation because we aren’t married, and our finances are completely separate except for the joint savings account we have for the house. His income is much more than mine, his is 6 figures, mine is not. But mine is not paltry for the area we live in. I feel like with our combined incomes, we can make a lot of good things happen if we work together, for ourselves and what we could leave for our children and their children. When we talked about buying a house together, I insisted that since neither one of us had a lot of consumer debt, we buy a house that didn’t cost so much that we couldn’t survive on one income, preferably mine, since it’s the lowest. 

We pretty much did that… we can meet all of our obligations on just my salary if we had to, including financial support for his minor children. It wouldn’t be pretty, and we might have to eat a lot of the infamous bologna and crackers, but we could do it. 

So that means, there’s a lot of money left on the table that we could put to good use instead of blowing it. Right now, most of that money is “mine” because Mister pays child support and still does a lot of other stuff for his children, and he has a couple other small monthly expenses. A huge chunk of that will end next year.

Last night, we kinda talked about what I’d like to talk about in depth Monday. When I said how badly I want to retire ASAP, he said he could pay the household bills that I pay now (electricity, gas, water, cable and Internet) so I can put even more toward my retirement. But me being who I am, plus all my baggage from my Mom and NEVER wanting anyone to be able to say I’m the same kind of sheister she is, I don’t know how to feel about that. I insisted on paying those bills when we moved here, just because I feel like adults should “pay where they stay”.

Anyway, I didn’t even mean to get into all of that. I really just wanted to say that you are one of the posters here that help me believe that certain things are possible. I identify with the single Mom aspect of your life, and I’ve always admired how much of a go-getter you are and how you’ve made so many positive things happen, despite challenges.

I’m thrilled for you about your net worth. I hope you take a moment every once in a while to pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself on all that you have accomplished….. and that you look in the mirror sometimes and grin and say “you GO girl!”, because you’ve earned all of that.

[movingforward]

Without this board, my savings would probably be half the current value. I only wish I had found it sooner. I got a late start on saving, along with some bad advice early on regarding investments. I'm so thankful to have found YM. I was a lurker back when it was part of msn. I learned so much from just reading all the posts.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 29, 2021 17:27:49 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Oct 28, 2021 18:55:25 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Awesome! You’ve been such an example to me, happy I can have some positive influence on you too!

That is one of the things I LOVE about this board, how we can inspire and influence each other in positive ways.

I’ve always taken little nuggets I learn from various posters, including you and minnesotapaintlady and found ways to improve my own life. 

I said it in a thread around here somewhere, that after my last thread on retirement, I went ahead and upped my savings another 5% of my gross. But, wherever I posted that I did that, I didn’t say that either this thread or your thread on a retirement checklist made me stop and do it RIGHT THEN. 

Rukh, you are an awesome example of an empowered woman. I know you feel in hindsight, that maybe you could’ve done some things differently, but most of us feel that way in hindsight. But if we try to do things even halfway right in life, we live and we learn.

Anyway, this particular thread caused me to do some thinking…… and I told Mister we need to have a “business meeting” Monday. I want to talk to him about retirement plans, and what we could accomplish if we work together with our money. We are in an unconventional situation because we aren’t married, and our finances are completely separate except for the joint savings account we have for the house. His income is much more than mine, his is 6 figures, mine is not. But mine is not paltry for the area we live in. I feel like with our combined incomes, we can make a lot of good things happen if we work together, for ourselves and what we could leave for our children and their children. When we talked about buying a house together, I insisted that since neither one of us had a lot of consumer debt, we buy a house that didn’t cost so much that we couldn’t survive on one income, preferably mine, since it’s the lowest. 

We pretty much did that… we can meet all of our obligations on just my salary if we had to, including financial support for his minor children. It wouldn’t be pretty, and we might have to eat a lot of the infamous bologna and crackers, but we could do it. 

So that means, there’s a lot of money left on the table that we could put to good use instead of blowing it. Right now, most of that money is “mine” because Mister pays child support and still does a lot of other stuff for his children, and he has a couple other small monthly expenses. A huge chunk of that will end next year.

Last night, we kinda talked about what I’d like to talk about in depth Monday. When I said how badly I want to retire ASAP, he said he could pay the household bills that I pay now (electricity, gas, water, cable and Internet) so I can put even more toward my retirement. But me being who I am, plus all my baggage from my Mom and NEVER wanting anyone to be able to say I’m the same kind of sheister she is, I don’t know how to feel about that. I insisted on paying those bills when we moved here, just because I feel like adults should “pay where they stay”.

Anyway, I didn’t even mean to get into all of that. I really just wanted to say that you are one of the posters here that help me believe that certain things are possible. I identify with the single Mom aspect of your life, and I’ve always admired how much of a go-getter you are and how you’ve made so many positive things happen, despite challenges.

I’m thrilled for you about your net worth. I hope you take a moment every once in a while to pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself on all that you have accomplished….. and that you look in the mirror sometimes and grin and say “you GO girl!”, because you’ve earned all of that.

Thank you Pink! This means a lot to me. You are such an inspiration to me - your approach to life, the way you handle yourself, your openness to people. We can all learn so much if we are open to each other. 

For me, everything has happened so fast lately. Like I was jogging in quicksand for 20 years getting next to nowhere and suddenly I was out of the quagmire and sprinting down the path at top speed. Same effort. Very different results. and suddenly I look around and I'm in a whole different place. I feel disoriented and unsure. I need some time to process things. Looking forward to a weekend of reflection and planning. I was extremely checked out of work this week! barely paying attention.

[countrygirl2]

Well I surprised myself, assigning modest amounts to the rentals plus our house, we are ahead of where we were before we retired. Of course if housing decreases those gains could be wiped out. However, I kind of doubt it, nice housing here is lacking in the amount needed.

[countrygirl2]

I don't add in cars or any of that stuff and we have no liabilities, but I realize that it may go down if we don't sell the houses and we have a recession. But they are still worth money, so we are ok.

[bookkeeper]

I do my own taxes, so I like to update our net worth spreadsheet each year end.  I also need to update the "I'm dead" envelope for our sons.  I too, have learned and profited from the advice on this board.  DH started earning 6 figures right around when the market tanked in 2008.  We recognized this market dip was our opportunity.  We doubled down on 401k contributions and Roth contributions.  The time value of money and the recovery of the stock market worked in our favor.  We had financial goals and ended with more assets than we had planned going into early retirement.

I was fortunate that my parents were frugal and careful savers.  I also had a jr. high math teacher who explained the time value of money and how a person could have financial independence if they started saving. This board taught me to take the low interest loan for the house or car, and invest your money into something that you understand.

I have learned so much from all of your real life situations and stories.  Kind of like a soap opera where they sneak some education in!

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 31, 2021 13:02:36 GMT -5 bookkeeper said:

I do my own taxes, so I like to update our net worth spreadsheet each year end.  I also need to update the "I'm dead" envelope for our sons.  I too, have learned and profited from the advice on this board.  DH started earning 6 figures right around when the market tanked in 2008.  We recognized this market dip was our opportunity.  We doubled down on 401k contributions and Roth contributions.  The time value of money and the recovery of the stock market worked in our favor.  We had financial goals and ended with more assets than we had planned going into early retirement.

I was fortunate that my parents were frugal and careful savers.  I also had a jr. high math teacher who explained the time value of money and how a person could have financial independence if they started saving. This board taught me to take the low interest loan for the house or car, and invest your money into something that you understand.

I have learned so much from all of your real life situations and stories.  Kind of like a soap opera where they sneak some education in!

I agree! But I think we get a lot less of the soap opera stuff because there is a little too much of a pile on, I think. 

oh and also the posters who were IDed on the board and harrassed in real life. That was not good!

[Value Buy]

Oct 31, 2021 13:02:36 GMT -5 bookkeeper said:

I do my own taxes, so I like to update our net worth spreadsheet each year end.  I also need to update the "I'm dead" envelope for our sons.  I too, have learned and profited from the advice on this board.  DH started earning 6 figures right around when the market tanked in 2008.  We recognized this market dip was our opportunity.  We doubled down on 401k contributions and Roth contributions.  The time value of money and the recovery of the stock market worked in our favor.  We had financial goals and ended with more assets than we had planned going into early retirement.

I was fortunate that my parents were frugal and careful savers.  I also had a jr. high math teacher who explained the time value of money and how a person could have financial independence if they started saving. This board taught me to take the low interest loan for the house or car, and invest your money into something that you understand.

I have learned so much from all of your real life situations and stories.  Kind of like a soap opera where they sneak some education in!

For me it was my sophmore year in highschool. I had a study hall that drove me crazy..........could not handle it in a week, Went to the student counselor, asked what class can I get in. We talked and he asked how about a general math class. Already in geometry. I said anything is better than study hall.
Yep, general math...boring for me as I had already learned most of the math in JR High.
Half way through the semester we did a stock market portfolio session. He explained the stock market and the value of investing. He brought in the WST Journal and Standard's and Poors books (these books were handed out to everyone) from the local brokerage company listing all stocks trading on the NY stock exchange with quarterly, six month and year's performance statistics. After that, we had to pick a stock and follow it as a contest for four weeks. We only did a Monday update of a few minutes where we all stood in the contest. We learned the basics of  varying prices from day to day and what might happen. Back then a nickle a day in movement was considerable. Stock prices were quoted in 1/8ths of a dollar. Many kids were so unimpressed by this  A handful of us dug in, and to this day I think about this teacher doing more for me than any other teacher in giving me a life skill outside of regualr teaching requirements of our school system. I even got my dad interested in stock investing through this class. He was a steelworker and never had invested in stocks in his life until after this class.

[Value Buy]

Nov 1, 2021 6:10:29 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Oct 31, 2021 13:02:36 GMT -5 bookkeeper said:

I do my own taxes, so I like to update our net worth spreadsheet each year end.  I also need to update the "I'm dead" envelope for our sons.  I too, have learned and profited from the advice on this board.  DH started earning 6 figures right around when the market tanked in 2008.  We recognized this market dip was our opportunity.  We doubled down on 401k contributions and Roth contributions.  The time value of money and the recovery of the stock market worked in our favor.  We had financial goals and ended with more assets than we had planned going into early retirement.

I was fortunate that my parents were frugal and careful savers.  I also had a jr. high math teacher who explained the time value of money and how a person could have financial independence if they started saving. This board taught me to take the low interest loan for the house or car, and invest your money into something that you understand.

I have learned so much from all of your real life situations and stories.  Kind of like a soap opera where they sneak some education in!

For me it was my sophmore year in highschool. I had a study hall that drove me crazy..........could not handle it in a week, Went to the student counselor, asked what class can I get in. We talked and he asked how about a general math class. Already in geometry. I said anything is better than study hall.
Yep, general math...boring for me as I had already learned most of the math in JR High.
Half way through the semester we did a stock market portfolio session. He explained the stock market and the value of investing. He brought in the WST Journal and Standard's and Poors books (these books were handed out to everyone) from the local brokerage company listing all stocks trading on the NY stock exchange with quarterly, six month and year's performance statistics. After that, we had to pick a stock and follow it as a contest for four weeks. We only did a Monday update of a few minutes where we all stood in the contest. We learned the basics of  varying prices from day to day and what might happen. Back then a nickle a day in movement was considerable. Stock prices were quoted in 1/8ths of a dollar. Many kids were so unimpressed by this  A handful of us dug in, and to this day I think about this teacher doing more for me than any other teacher in giving me a life skill outside of regular teaching requirements of our school system. I even got my dad interested in stock investing through this class. He was a steelworker and never had invested in stocks in his life until after this class.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 25, 2021 16:41:04 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Feb 13, 2020 11:30:55 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Rukh O'Rorke net worth as of today!


$1,003,215.60

This is just incredible, less than 2 year later I am at liquid savings and investments of $2,035,768.97 at market close today - with yesterdays prices still on any ETFs, mutuals, etc.


I am up 30k from when I posted the goodies to the WR net worther thread, but I wanted to share with all yall too! I am over the moon!!

This has seemed soooo long to me! But looking at dates, it guess it really wasn't so very long. 


I finally crossed over into the 2 million net worth arena again for the first time since nearly this initial post in late 2021. With many individual stocks that can be volatile, even with steady and plump regular contributions, I still haen't recaptured my ATH, but the 2 million mark is one that I confess I have very sorely missed!

Net worth as of a few minutes ago: 2,018,052.57

It could fade away even by the close of trading today! but, I plan to bask in it while I can  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

lol markets closed at noon today! 

I can keep my ill gotten gains for at least 36 hours!

[haapai]

You are so Central Time. 

FWIW, I'm almost certain that my 401(k) balance topped $300K today.  I'll know for sure when my 401(k) administrator updates their site.  They usually do that the next day but I don't know how they'll handle the Fourth. 

This is the first time that I have been paying enough attention to notice a milestone number being reached.  I didn't notice $50K, $100K, $200K, or $250K. 

I'm both delighted and disturbed that my year-to-date gains are approximately seven times ytd contributions.  The gains are lovely, but I can't help but suspect that the game has switched from contributing as much as possible to putting off withdrawing for as long as possible. 

[haapai]

It's really uncomfortable realizing that your future and how comfortable it will be depends almost entirely on the returns on your investments.  Sure, there are a few things that you can do around the edges but those might have more to do with preparing yourself than anything else. 

On the other hand, I definitely understand my father a bit better now.  There was a period in the nineties, when he was in his sixties, before the internet was working like it does now, when he parked himself in front of the TV and followed the stock market crawler more closely than he had ever done before.  I didn't know what to make of it back then. 

[countrygirl2]

Right now we have close to a million in houses, we need to sell 3, I hope we can before housing goes nuts. I'm afraid after the election if someone gets in we could lose a ton. We have one on the market and will another soon. Might be a month before we can get the other one ready to sell. We are really low on liquid cash and spending like crazy getting ready for theis move. It's making me really nervous. But at least we have no debt.

[Opti]

Jul 18, 2024 22:08:04 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Right now we have close to a million in houses, we need to sell 3, I hope we can before housing goes nuts. I'm afraid after the election if someone gets in we could lose a ton. We have one on the market and will another soon. Might be a month before we can get the other one ready to sell. We are really low on liquid cash and spending like crazy getting ready for theis move. It's making me really nervous. But at least we have no debt.

I don't think you will taking housing losses no matter who wins. If Trump wins, he will browbeat the Fed into cutting interest rates whether it makes economic sense or not. All indicators are there that the time for interest rate cuts is coming, but its real unclear when. Apparently, the Fed hammer hasn't made enough poor folks destitute. 

[obelisk]

Jul 3, 2024 21:06:46 GMT -5 haapai said:

It's really uncomfortable realizing that your future and how comfortable it will be depends almost entirely on the returns on your investments.  Sure, there are a few things that you can do around the edges but those might have more to do with preparing yourself than anything else. 

On the other hand, I definitely understand my father a bit better now.  There was a period in the nineties, when he was in his sixties, before the internet was working like it does now, when he parked himself in front of the TV and followed the stock market crawler more closely than he had ever done before.  I didn't know what to make of it back then. 

I to this day still believe the market will perform well into the future.  Patience is a virtue that has served me very well into the fat tire territory.