Net Worth private poll

[bos]

I'm not sure if the pog collection is gonna pay off in the long run.

YES IT WILL. You wait.

Funny enough, I have a buddy whose kids buy/sell pokemon cards. They have spreadsheets and charts they have made and also watch prices fluctuate on some web deal. They trade them like stocks, its crazy, but I tip my cap to them for having that drive.

 

[cydsho]

18 years is a long time so I'd hope everyone that originally responded are in a much more positive place. I think 18 years ago I was negative or just barely positive. Well near the top now but if you play your cards right and have some luck that's the difference between late 30s to your 50s.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

I must have answered this in 2012 when it was resurrected then. Certainly negative then as I was a freshman at ISU.

That student loan is about to be paid off in a couple months (refinanced a couple times and paid the minimum since the rate was so dang low and secretly hoping there would've been some student loan relief) so I won't have any debt/loans and with 11 years of working in big tech, my net worth is doing just fine.

 

[bos]

I must have answered this in 2012 when it was resurrected then. Certainly negative then as I was a freshman at ISU.

That student loan is about to be paid off in a couple months (refinanced a couple times and paid the minimum since the rate was so dang low and secretly hoping there would've been some student loan relief) so I won't have any debt/loans and with 11 years of working in big tech, my net worth is doing just fine.

That last student loan payment was so freeing. What a weight lifted.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

That last student loan payment was so freeing. What a weight lifted.

Honestly could've paid it off years ago. But the stock market was just making (a lot) more money for me than the rate was low.

But it will be nice to have that money to do stuff with. I think I may either add another rung to my emergency fund CD ladder or maybe start to create a future house down payment ladder, though was always planning on just selling some stock for when that time comes.

 

[AgronAlum]

I'm not sure if the pog collection is gonna pay off in the long run.

Shoulda went Beanie Babies. Mine are worth millions.

 

[JEFF420]

Honestly could've paid it off years ago. But the stock market was just making (a lot) more money for me than the rate was low.

But it will be nice to have that money to do stuff with. I think I may either add another rung to my emergency fund CD ladder or maybe start to create a future house down payment ladder, though was always planning on just selling some stock for when that time comes.

married and kids yet?

 

[brianhos]

That last student loan payment was so freeing. What a weight lifted.

Wait till you write that last check for your house, it feels even better. Of course then your spouse will buy a new house and it starts all over again.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

The current idea that you need $2 to $2.5 million to retire is a myth that most Americans are not going to come close to reaching. It also depends totally on where you live. If you house is paid off, little to no other debt, you should be able to live fine on around 4 to 5 grand a month per person. The biggest trap for many retirees is inflation, their income is fixed while their expenses increase because of the purchasing power of the dollar goes down as they age. So $1000 dollars today, will be worth around $700 dollars in a decade, which most retirees do not account for.

 

[bos]

Wait till you write that last check for your house, it feels even better. Of course then your spouse will buy a new house and it starts all over again.

I cant wait. Trying to get that done by 50/51. Lucky for me, my wife likes old houses which we have and likes to fix them up which we do. Ill take that over a new house for now.

 

[ClonesFTW]

Where would Dave Ramsey be?

Yelling at me for earning rewards points on my CC all year instead of pre-paying with cash at the gas station.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

married and kids yet?

Love isn’t real

 

[bos]

Yelling at me for earning rewards points on my CC all year instead of pre-paying paying with cash at the gas station.

He's not really yelling at you. He's yelling at those who dont know how to handle it the way you do. I do the same, I run everything through my credit card and get cash back. Pay off the cc right away with cash I have and then take the rewards cash and invest it. DR gets a lot of flack, but his theory is still sound. There seem to be way more people who need to hear than dont. Which is scary.

 

[JEFF420]

Love isn’t real

email me.

 

[matclone]

He's not really yelling at you. He's yelling at those who dont know how to handle it the way you do. I do the same, I run everything through my credit card and get cash back. Pay off the cc right away with cash I have and then take the rewards cash and invest it. DR gets a lot of flack, but his theory is still sound. There seem to be way more people who need to hear than dont. Which is scary.

I don't agree with everything Ramsey recommends (e.g., the snowball) but his main theme--get out of debt and stay out of debt--is right on and doesn't get enough exposure.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

email me. View attachment 167839

That movie had so much potential. Fell flat and super predictable at the end.

 

[JP4CY]

I cant wait. Trying to get that done by 50/51. Lucky for me, my wife likes old houses which we have and likes to fix them up which we do. Ill take that over a new house for now.

We paid ours off right at 40 and are trying to hold to the "wait until we're empty nesters" before figuring out what we want for a older/retirement house.

 

[KennyPratt42]

The current idea that you need $2 to $2.5 million to retire is a myth that most Americans are not going to come close to reaching. It also depends totally on where you live. If you house is paid off, little to no other debt, you should be able to live fine on around 4 to 5 grand a month per person. The biggest trap for many retirees is inflation, their income is fixed while their expenses increase because of the purchasing power of the dollar goes down as they age. So $1000 dollars today, will be worth around $700 dollars in a decade, which most retirees do not account for.

How is a couple getting $8,000 to $10,000 per month in retirement income without having $2,000,000+ in retirement investments? If you're taking out 4% per year, to allow a little room for growth to combat inflation and dips in the market, that combined with social security gets you to around that $8k-10k/month number post tax (if your retirement investments are in a Roth account it could be a little under that $2m number).

 

[CYdTracked]

Just an observation from over the years but it amazes me just how much in debt some people will go with their homes. I've only owned 2 homes and I would classify both as being very modest homes. Bought my 1st home a little over a year after graduating college as I hated the idea of throwing money away on rent when it could be going into equity. Was fortunate enough to be able to afford that, it was nothing special, a 1950's ranch home with a 1 car garage. Sold that home 5 years after I got married and moved into a bigger home in a school district that we wanted to raise kids in but didn't buy in one of the higher priced neighborhoods or buy a home bigger than we really needed. Refinanced in Dec 2020 when the rates were about as low as they have ever been and went from a 30 year we were 6 years into to a 15 year term at 2.25% which is even more reason why I have no desire to move any time soon. Can see the light at the end of the tunnel to pay that off hopefully in 5 years or so then take what we've been paying on mortgage payments and put that away to do some renovations/updates we'd eventually like to do.

One thing I have learned over the years is if you do have to borrow money for things concentrate on paying off the higher interest/lower balance ones first then start stacking the money you paid on those towards your longer term debts next and you'll be amazed how quickly you will knock those balances down. I think some people fall into the trap of "oh I just paid my car off, I now have X amount of money available to buy something with" instead of staying in the habit of you already have budgeted that portion towards debt reduction so add that to your monthly mortgage payment instead and start chipping away on that balance and watch the years it will take you to pay it off quickly go down.

I'm going to turn 47 this year, been saying that I would like to think about at least a partial retirement at age 60 as I've already worked 23 years in the corporate world and really don't want to keep doing that into my late 60's if I can avoid it. If that means finding a job with less hours and stress at 60 to hold me over till 65 that would be fine, but I would love nothing more than to retire completely around that age if I can make it happen as both my kids will hopefully be out of college by then.

 

[twincyties]

Paying off your mortgage early is probably one of the worst things you can do if you are trying to build wealth assuming you're earning a greater percent of return on investments that you're paying on interest with your mortgage.

We were fortunate enough (like many) to refinance at a sub-3% interest rate back during COVID. We could start to pay our mortgage off much more aggressively, but it makes zero sense to do so when average rate on return in the market over time has been much greater than 3%. Add in the tax deductions for mortgage interest and you're even further ahead.

I've worked in mortgage for most of my career and you would not believe the number of peope taking out large mortgages who could write a check for the house they're buying 5-10x over. It's exactly for this reason.