Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're 52 and 54 with a NW of over $10M saved all on our own (no family money). Not rich by any means but we do have a high HHI. We've saved aggressively since we started working and don't spend a ton.

What do you mean you’re not rich?!

I think people say these sorts of things because it gives them comfort that they’re still humble people and true to their roots. Any objective person would say they’re rich. These people just can’t bear the thought of it because to them, when they were growing up, rich people were cheats or dishonest in some way.

We have taken in an average of $200k/year since we graduated college in 1998. Obviously less at first, then more. We are now age 50/50 and have a NW of $9M with $8.2M in investments and $800k in our home. So, we have earned $5.2 million and grown it above that while living decently well. How did we do it?

one child
budgeted every dollar
did not move multiple times
one teacher, one corporate so we avoided most child care
did not develop a culture of spending

I do find spending money to be a challenge so I'm working to exercise my spending muscle. I have no interest in being the richest person in the graveyard. I find after a lifetime of being frugal, it's what I enjoy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 3M by age 55 is like going to high school and getting straight As. How many kids do you know graduated with a 4.0? Not many right? But it wasn't rocket science. Some kids just studied while others didn't.

I think this is a really good analogy!

It’s not a good analogy, more often that not getting rich is a function of timing and luck rather than working hard, it’s just a plain hard fact. For example, you are able to get that high paying job for which there were 300 applicants, sure you were qualified but so were at least 30 others but you lucked out and now you can earn and save. Anyone of us who doesn’t credit luck with our success is being disingenuous. Even Jamie Dimon recognized it as a huge factor in his success ( His Harvard commencement address).

To become truly rich, which is beyond $10m by my definition, you have to have luck and, in most cases, work ethic, perseverance, some intelligence, and risk-taking. The wealthiest people I know did not get straight As, go to Ivy, then work in big law or consulting. They started businesses, worked 24/7, and got lucky.

We're not talking about being truly rich or wealthy. We're talking about what it takes to have 3M at age 55, which is roughly 30 years of working. If you save 20K a year over the course of 30 years, and you earn 10% of interest each year, you will have 3.3M in your account. And doing this is the equivalent of getting straight As every single year.

This is us. DW 51/ DH 50. NW about 5.6 M. 4.6 is almost entirely retirement accounts. And the rest is in our home which we will have paid off when eldest child reaches college. Had six figure grad school debt which I paid off at 47 bc had to pay for childcare and fund retirement and buy home. Bought new car for first time at 47 after paying off loans— all cash. I will have a fed pension as well so plan to retire as soon as possible. We maxed out early on and had kids pretty late.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the real question is what percentage of these people got here actually on their own. Meaning their parents or other family member didn't pay for their college, didn't give annual gifts, didn't buy them a car, didn't inherit. I bet it is just a handful.

You want to see people whose parents weren't able to contribute a single cent to them post-18? At this point, just ask for people who were grew up in an orphanage.

+1

Most people posting on DCUM had their parents help some with college, as should be expected if you are MC+. Even my own LMC parents "helped" some with college. I paid as much as them plus took the Fed loans (came out with ~$12K for my 5 years of undergrad---2 degrees) But they "helped"

I don't think that's true.

I do. My parents paid for my undergrad. DH's parents didn't help him, but they were poor enough that he got a full ride between need, sports, and merit aid. If think if your income is high enough to disqualify your kids' from need-based aid, then you have an obligation to fund their college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the real question is what percentage of these people got here actually on their own. Meaning their parents or other family member didn't pay for their college, didn't give annual gifts, didn't buy them a car, didn't inherit. I bet it is just a handful.

You want to see people whose parents weren't able to contribute a single cent to them post-18? At this point, just ask for people who were grew up in an orphanage.

+1

Most people posting on DCUM had their parents help some with college, as should be expected if you are MC+. Even my own LMC parents "helped" some with college. I paid as much as them plus took the Fed loans (came out with ~$12K for my 5 years of undergrad---2 degrees) But they "helped"

I don't think that's true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 3M by age 55 is like going to high school and getting straight As. How many kids do you know graduated with a 4.0? Not many right? But it wasn't rocket science. Some kids just studied while others didn't.

I think this is a really good analogy!

It’s not a good analogy, more often that not getting rich is a function of timing and luck rather than working hard, it’s just a plain hard fact. For example, you are able to get that high paying job for which there were 300 applicants, sure you were qualified but so were at least 30 others but you lucked out and now you can earn and save. Anyone of us who doesn’t credit luck with our success is being disingenuous. Even Jamie Dimon recognized it as a huge factor in his success ( His Harvard commencement address).

To become truly rich, which is beyond $10m by my definition, you have to have luck and, in most cases, work ethic, perseverance, some intelligence, and risk-taking. The wealthiest people I know did not get straight As, go to Ivy, then work in big law or consulting. They started businesses, worked 24/7, and got lucky.

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the real question is what percentage of these people got here actually on their own. Meaning their parents or other family member didn't pay for their college, didn't give annual gifts, didn't buy them a car, didn't inherit. I bet it is just a handful.

My parents paid for college but I paid 100% of graduate school through loans and scholarships. I got an MBA from a top school and went into consulting after school. I earn 7 figures but also work pretty long hours and travel several times a month. It's not a life everyone wants although I do have decent flexibility at this point.

At this point I am more comfortable spending money, but it wasn't until I had saved a LOT that I was willing to do that. Obviously I fully paid for college, grad school and a wedding for my kids.

I’m pretty sure my dad has about 3mil give or take and he’s mid 60’s. He lives very humbly

Anonymous wrote:If you have 5-10M net worth and are in your 50’s. Can you describe how you got there? Just curious. And only if it’s self made. No parent money to start you off.

We're on the lower end of your range, but we got there by buying a small home more than 20 years ago. The kids shared a room. We paid down the mortgage aggressively so we were paying off principal from the beginning. We paid off our house about 10 years ago. It's one of the smaller houses in the neighborhood but we make it work.

We send our kids to public schools. We buy a car with cash and drive it for at least 10 years. We shop at Target, Costco, and Amazon. We don't care about designer clothes or fancy jewelry. We take one nicer vacation every other year. Other vacations are just to see family. We didn't start the nicer vacations until the kids were at least tweens so they could appreciate it. We eat out or do take out no more than once or twice a month. We cook at home and bring bag lunches. We don't go to Starbucks.

There are a lot of ways you can save money if you try.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I assume a lot of that wealth is concentrated in major cities, including DC.
We have about 20M, depending on market fluctuations, but never earned more than 150K a year in household income. If we could do it, I assume many others can.

Please explain to me how this is possible. With 150k HHI, after taxes and living expenses for a couple without kids (and most people have kids), how are you investing more than 40k (at the high end) a year? With kids and associated expenses, in including college, saving 40k a year would be almost impossible on your salary. If you are mid 50s and have done than for even 30 years, how does that turn into $20m? The math does not seem to work.

My husband bought Apple stock when he was a young adult, before we met. It took a looong time to take off, but now constitutes the bulk of our portfolio. I bought Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet, Tesla (before Elon went off the deep end), Nvidia. They've done very well too. We were poor and could only invest very little, otherwise we'd have much more than 20M now, PP! You don't seem to grasp Apple's valuation over the years.

DP. While that’s all well and good, your first post said “if we can do it, anyone can.” Sounds like your DH got very lucky with Apple. It could have easily gone the other way.

PP you replied to. There is a part of luck in all the outcomes we experience, PPs.

My husband will tell you that because he worked with Apple computers, he knew it was a superior product, and with Steve Jobs and his knack for sales and design, it was bound to work out. He did his research and decided to invest. I think it was part technological knowledge, part business acumen, part luck. All your own achievements, so-called, have also had their portion of chance encounters, right-time-right-place elements. I have a special interest in high tech, and didn't pick my stocks blindly either.

I hope you're open-minded enough to recognize this. The people who just shrug off others' stock market successes and tell themselves it was luck just seem jealous, to be honest.

Hello visionary couple,
In which stock should I put all of my money today to replicate your success.
I'm willing to pay you to reveal that magic stock.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in our are late 40s in Tech, live in Texas. Asian immigrants who paid for their for masters with loans. NW $5M+

For us the key was to save atleast 30% of income, consistently. have high income. Suffered a couple of job losses, but got right back in the job search.

We dabbled in individual stocks, but lost big time. Index funds have served as well, almost all of our money is now in index funds, except primary home.

Bought only one home. Great school district, but smaller not updated home. Our fixed costs are low compared to HHI, kids are in public school.

Plan to retire in 6-7 years. Home stretch, so hoping we continue to retain our jobs.

That’s nice but the cost of living in TX is different that the DMV which is what the post is about. FWIW we have a similar story (our vehicles are old, one now qualifies for antique plates!), but have $2M with 2 kids.

Yes of course, the COL is different. Put truly, our companies adjust our salaries based on the COL. None of the RSU grants really took off. I was always mid paid employee in my salary band for Texas location. DH changed jobs every 2-3 years and have worked many 18 hr day to progress in his career. We are lucky for sure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 3M by age 55 is like going to high school and getting straight As. How many kids do you know graduated with a 4.0? Not many right? But it wasn't rocket science. Some kids just studied while others didn't.

I think this is a really good analogy!

It’s not a good analogy, more often that not getting rich is a function of timing and luck rather than working hard, it’s just a plain hard fact. For example, you are able to get that high paying job for which there were 300 applicants, sure you were qualified but so were at least 30 others but you lucked out and now you can earn and save. Anyone of us who doesn’t credit luck with our success is being disingenuous. Even Jamie Dimon recognized it as a huge factor in his success ( His Harvard commencement address).

I guess I don't think it requires working all that hard, or at least not in the way DCUM talks about (aka making a huge salary at a top job). I think it's more about discipline and habits, which is also what leads many people to straight A's. You don't get to have or do everything you want all the time. You sometimes choose to stay home to study or plan for studying in advance.

To save and invest, you need to choose to consume less, especially at the beginning so you can get compounding started. I'm not 55 yet and not quite at this level yet, but so many people I know upgraded cars in their 20's because they "had to" for some reason. Then same for houses. People don't need 99% of what they say they need. 55 is 30+ years after college graduation, and those little sacrifices can add up to a lot, especially if you're a couple.

I also meant to respond to your idea is timing. I know you weren't referring strictly to timing markets, but time in the market beats timing the market and really does make a huge difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 3M by age 55 is like going to high school and getting straight As. How many kids do you know graduated with a 4.0? Not many right? But it wasn't rocket science. Some kids just studied while others didn't.

I think this is a really good analogy!

It’s not a good analogy, more often that not getting rich is a function of timing and luck rather than working hard, it’s just a plain hard fact. For example, you are able to get that high paying job for which there were 300 applicants, sure you were qualified but so were at least 30 others but you lucked out and now you can earn and save. Anyone of us who doesn’t credit luck with our success is being disingenuous. Even Jamie Dimon recognized it as a huge factor in his success ( His Harvard commencement address).

I guess I don't think it requires working all that hard, or at least not in the way DCUM talks about (aka making a huge salary at a top job). I think it's more about discipline and habits, which is also what leads many people to straight A's. You don't get to have or do everything you want all the time. You sometimes choose to stay home to study or plan for studying in advance.

To save and invest, you need to choose to consume less, especially at the beginning so you can get compounding started. I'm not 55 yet and not quite at this level yet, but so many people I know upgraded cars in their 20's because they "had to" for some reason. Then same for houses. People don't need 99% of what they say they need. 55 is 30+ years after college graduation, and those little sacrifices can add up to a lot, especially if you're a couple.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 3M by age 55 is like going to high school and getting straight As. How many kids do you know graduated with a 4.0? Not many right? But it wasn't rocket science. Some kids just studied while others didn't.

I think this is a really good analogy!

It’s not a good analogy, more often that not getting rich is a function of timing and luck rather than working hard, it’s just a plain hard fact. For example, you are able to get that high paying job for which there were 300 applicants, sure you were qualified but so were at least 30 others but you lucked out and now you can earn and save. Anyone of us who doesn’t credit luck with our success is being disingenuous. Even Jamie Dimon recognized it as a huge factor in his success ( His Harvard commencement address).