[USER]

I’m 42 years old. I’ve invested $430,000 from my paycheck since I was 22, and by investing as much as I can, I’ve built a portfolio of about $760,000.

The plan is to continue for another 10 years, and I hope to get to $1.5 million by the time I’m 52 – maybe then I can retire.

If there are people here who are doing better, I’d really like to hear their advice and experiences.

For those who are just starting out – I’m happy to share my thoughts and experiences on my journey, and hope it helps you guys further.

[Jule]

I was able to get to $1.5M by 45 through aggressive investing and maximizing mostly the 401k. Roth IRA did not get started until 41 years old and HSA around the same time.

Around 40 I also slowly started the mega backdoor Roth through my 401k until I was able to max that as well.

Unfortunately, I am now in a job that doesn’t allow for it.

My taxable brokerage is mainly just RSUs from work.

[Martin]

It depends on how much you start with in your portfolio because really your money should double every 7 years and it doesn’t look like that happen

[Luciano]

You have done well but in 10 years you will likely need more than 1.5m and who knows how your life will change in those 10 years.

All I can say is keep saving and don’t worry about the dollar amount yet.

When you get closer that’s when you really need to look at your situation.

[Spag]

I’m 41, total portfolio is 1.75mil (and a paid off ppor). I had plans to keep going for a few more years till I got to 2.5mil then fire! A few weeks ago a spanner was thrown in that plan.

I got made redundant and instead of diving back in I’ve decided to take some time off up to 12 months but realistically if I was sensible I could pretty much never go back.

I’m now going to take a bit of an in between road more like coast or flamingo fire.

I’ve already reaped the rewards of saving and investing and have decided to cash in a little of that freedom now for a break and a chance to test drive a sabbatical, I’ve realized that I’m probably way to young yet to really retire so this will hopefully ultimately be a good thing.

You’ve already done so well and come so far, try to enjoy the journey and be open to deviations on the road

[Luna]

I started working in 2007, fresh out of college without a penny to my name. The early years of my career, I made 40-50k.

I invested what I could in 401k (regular and Roth) and used company match, rented a room to save on housing expense.

I saved up cash to purchase a place of my own, I live in a HCOL area so it still wasn’t possible.

After I was let go from a temporary job, I took the time to learn and understand the stock market. I rolled over my 401k + used the cash to invest in the market.

Today I’m at $1.7mil (not including spouse) and working in a job I love at a great company. I don’t plan to retire any time soon because I love my work.

Travel was my biggest passion and expense back then and it still is today. Luckily, my company provides a lot of time off for me to take vacations and enjoy it with my family.

My lifestyle hasn’t changed too much other than a few luxury purchases here and there to keep it fun and keeps me motivated to win in life.

What’s been true for me in life so far is the understanding that nothing I learn in life will be useless.

I followed my passion and curiosity and trust that all the learnings and experiences I collect will matter later.

The silver lining to losing the job was that it led me to learn another subject which since then have been rewarding personally and financially.

[Siena]

I’m a few years older than you but have done something similar and reached a plateau comparable to your target.

One piece of actionable advice I might offer is to automatically put all of your salary adjustments right into the market via DCA.

I’d recommend that you do the same with any increases in net income associated with hitting tax caps.

You can’t miss what you never had.

[Alicia]

To define “better” it would be helpful to know things like your income, cost of living, savings rate, investment choices, and any other factors that may influence the current value of your portfolio.

I’m 36 and have $257k in retirement accounts and no debt besides my mortgage.

I made $30-$60k between the ages of 22 and 33, and only three years ago started to make $182k per year.

I’ve been paying daycare for the past five years and combined my husband and I have about $115k put aside for our kiddos including brokerage accounts and 529s.

My husband (51) has another $560k in retirement accounts and we’re for the first time maximizing our HSA to take advantage of the triple tax deduction this year.

We don’t plan to retire early – we both really like our jobs.

That said, we don’t spend beyond our means and are prioritizing financial freedom along with building memories with our soon to be four kids because we can’t predict the future.

Investment wise – we tend to invest in S&P 500 mutual funds with a few other funds in our portfolios.

We invest 16-20% of our incomes each year and will up that when we no longer have to pay $15k – $45k a year in daycare costs (we have one in daycare now, and another on the way).

So, by the time I’m 42 (in 5 years) I suspect I’ll have $500k in retirement funds and my husband should have roughly $680k.

We also have an emergency fund that’s almost 9 months worth of expenses.

I’m not sure if that’s better or not but it works for us.

[Author]

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