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What is stopping you from going independent?
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"post_content": "At what point did you consider yourself “well off” financially?",
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This year when i bought a new car and a house on the same day. The house was planned for, the car was unexpected. This was the year that despite all of the terrible things going on in the world that i finally felt financially secure. From here on out i dont need to worry about what i do next, or finding a new career, or worrying about job security, or getting a raise or good bonus. Or about the amount if savings i have.
My metric was not checking my account balance every day, or panicking when the stock market moved dramatically, or saying no to delivery just to avoid the fee despite the fact that going outside could kill me.
Two years ago we bought our dream home, we got two luxury cars, and I got a motorcycle for fun.
I remember a couple of weeks after we moved that I was lounging by our pool, that I realized I don't need anything more in life so we can now focus on accumulating as much money as we can as fast as we can to retire.
Currently we are on track to retire at 52 with monthly income of $12K, but in 1-2 promotions we can probably retire at 50 with $18K/mo (mix of stocks, bonds, and RE).
At that point the plan is to rent our current home and live for a few months out the year in different places across the world.
M1 we have a silly dream of living every year in a different place including some expensive ones like London, Paris, Hawaii, Tokyo etc.
52 is when we become empty nesters, hence the timeframe
Chief
When I stopped looking at prices when shopping at Whole Foods.
Same 430k HHI. I do shop at Whole Foods but avoid some crazy 15 dollar cheese. It’s not that bad and it’s usually 700 dollar a month groceries for family of 4
Rising Star
Honestly I'm more than content making 65k and providing for my wife. That's all with saving for retirement, paying student loans, car loans, and having a nice amount left over. We also have 6 months of living expenses in an emergency fund. That stability, even if we can't make too many frivolous purchases, gives us to feeling of being "well off" as opposed to our other friends in the town.
For reference, the median household income is 35k for our town. So we are ~50% more than median household income
EY2 nice work with 6 month cushion!
When you can go out to dinner / drinks and not have to worry about the budget or trade offs you have to make to allow yourself to enjoy it.
That being said, still cringe when my wife and I go for dinner at a local place and spend ~$100. Did I extract enough value out of the experience to justify it 🤷🏼♂️
This. If I want it, I buy it.
When I made more than my parents did at the top of their earning my first year consulting out of college
Came from a household of 3 maids and came to America to become someone’s maid.
I’ll let you know when I get there
When my wife (she does all the budgeting/bills) asked me what we should with the remaining ~$10K (after expenses) every month.
I recently got a six figure raise last year when I started at AWS and my stock has gone up over 200k in less than a year. AWS is the anti consulting job. Focus on results of customers adopting cloud services not people services. I pinch myself and smile every day leaving the Big 4 behind.
When everything was on autopay and I didn't sweat about my bills at all and knew I'd have some left over each month
I think a number is just a number. I have +/- $10 million in net worth diversified across equities, real estate, cash and retirement funds. I also have zero debt — no mortgages, student loans or car payments. TBH, I felt more financially secure when I had $20 in fu money and a $5 bill in my pocket made me feel rich.
When I was able to buy my mother a home.
Rising Star
C9, I thought about it, and almost made it both ways, but realized the way I was writing it it was too much him/her etc., so I had to pick one. Wasn’t assuming male for anything more than convenience, but yeah, in sum, it crossed my mind I wouldn’t know
SM4, I was sticking up for A7 also. I agree it’s great what A7 did. I was just blatantly admitting to my jealousy at having that be a possibility. Idt snarky
Pro
When I was able to ask for an extra McChicken at the drive through
Guessing, you’re already there? Lol
When I married up
Jealous
I will consider myself well off when I start using “summer” as a verb instead of a noun
Rising Star
Yaaassss
Honestly when my girlfriend and I began making about 200k combined in NYC we felt solid. Didn’t have to budget too hard at that point while still saving. However, I know that 200k doesn’t cut it for a family in NYC so we’re still gunning.
A8 100%, including my family growing up. We had way less in fact. But I wanna give my future kids the best.
When you’re about to quit and there no need to look for another job
When we could afford $12,000/week vacation houses and not flinch.
The same reason some people choose to spend $$ on anything. It is what I prioritize and willingness to pay.
Rising Star
Now. 150K no rent/mortgage, kids, debt, or overpriced bars.
I'll be where you're at in about 25 years, looking forward to it!
When I did not have to think twice about adding guacamole cost in my chipotle bowl
To me, being well off is when you have a net worth of $5M+, $120k+ passive take home income, essential annual expenses are less than 50% of your income, and $0 in debt. When you’re at that point, you’re net worth can only go up. You will have time to travel the world, enough money to be very generous, pay for your kids college and buy brand new i8 or Tesla in cash. Etc
Rising Star
Well off, to me, is really only when you have net worth of at least a hundred mil, 5 mil passive income
Never have, kind of giving up hope I ever will. Been paycheck to paycheck for 10 years. For ref - 32, HCOL area, 2 kids, household income 90k.
Feel free to DM I was just in the job search and I landed 4 offers as of today.
When household net worth crossed $1M
Rising Star
PL1, if real estate equity only is included (as it should be) then that is still a helluva lot. That’s 10x the median Americans net worth.
This post made me reflect and feel really grateful. I grew up dirt poor and constantly stressed about money for my first few months out of college. After a few months on my $80K/yr salary in NYC budgeting and sometimes only spending $800 / month outside of bills (lol I know I’m nuts and ate a lot of slow cooked lentils and canned veggies) I was there.
Of course I still get anxious but I know I’ll never go back to that fear I used to have as a kid and in college. We are very lucky. ❤️ also guys have a good emergency fund.
Chief
+1 about the emergency fund