Reply to Excited: I have 1.3 million in assets, not inc. real estate!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Besides being frugal and saving - how did you do it? What has your income been the last several years (i.e. how much have you needed to save of your income to achieve this)?  Very impressive.  Lots of property too!  Amazing.

Any advice?  What happens if you don't have renters for your properties?  How does it all work?[/quote]

I maxed out retirement every year since I was out of college:  401ks, iras, pension and profit sharing.  This never changed.

3 properties are vacation homes (no renters).  One (commercial) has been rented by the same company since before we bought the building.  We only own a sixth of the building.  The renters are a large(ish) solid company and just resigned another 10 year lease, the rent for which exceeds the mortgage.  Two properties (rentals) have rent that exceed the mortgage and all proceeds are used to pay down the mortgages (extra principal), after about a 5k cushion develops.  When vacant, the re rental us swift...but of course causes expenses.   The last rental was a great investment.  We owe 40k only and it rents for 2100/mo.  We pay off a ton monthly (double payments) early to pay this down.  All rentals as personally handled because a mgt company charges excessive fees.  With a 5k cushion for each propertgy, we have plenty extra if one needs money over another one  (I didn't include these funds in my 1.3 million.  I think of them more as company funds since we created a bus entity for the rentals...but they are ours, so the do,last could have been included too I guess.

My income for the last few zeros was zero...I was home with kids.  Before then it was 200k, of which 45k went off the top to retirement.  My income now will be quite low this year...as my youngest was at ho e still until sept.

Please don't discount being  frugal.  I have not paid a dollar for student loans, credit card interest, late fees to a bank, etc.  that counts.  I figure by using hand me downs or thrift store purchases, we save 1,000/yr for kids' items x 7 years is a big deal.  That means if I am at a thrift store and a cute shirt is 5.99...I won't get it.  It would have to be a dollar AND we would need it before I'd buy it.  I buy the kids' Xmas presents all year round at thrift stores making sure games are complete...sour Xmas may cost 100 total for kids' gifts and others may spend 400.  Over a kids'childhood that is close to 6k.  So again, those things majorly add up.[/quote]

It's very nice that you were thrifty, but I'm more curious on the income side of the equation.  B/C around here, your real costs will be housing, housing, and oh yeah, housing.  Maybe it could be private school, but that is just a proxy for buying cheaper housing and sending your kids to good school (in some cases).

Even if I saved every penny I earned since college, I would not have $1M.  I could have made serious money, but didn't make it a priority till too late b/c I really didn't understand how expensive just living was (I have simple tastes and where I grew up a nice house with a pool in an ok school district was $50k -- didn't really understand the cost of metropolitan areas until got married).  Always curious what people do that can be so lucrative you can stay home and return part-time, that is the dream.[/quote]

Yes, housing is exceedingly high...but we live in a moderate home in Oakton.  As I mentioned, I started saving when I was 11 (birthday money) and have been like that every since.  I worked as a kid (babysitting, helping someone in an office, etc.) and saved, saved, saved...just how I have always been.  If I got a check from my mother in law for mother's day ($100, let's say) which said "massage on me" in the memo line, I'd instead put it into a college 529.  As for my job, I'm an attorney by training, but I assist with conflict resolutions in the business setting.[/quote]

Sorry. Nothing to see here. Another attorney, seems to be the only path to affording to live in DC. How did you manage law school without student loans? Even state schools are quite expensive.   Husband is attorney too?[/quote]

H is not an atty.  He is an accountant.[/quote]

A government or contractor accountant?  Those guys good relatively easy money (know someone making $500k ) thanks to the "Accountant Jobs Stimulus", I mean, Sarbanes–Oxley Act

Talk to us when you 'nickel-and-dimed' your way to a million when you are actually living on a nickel, like a teacher or even civil servants who are capped by congress at $155k.  [/quote]

No, private sector.  But he has been at the same company a long, long time.[/quote]

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