You thought I would never blog again, didn’t you? Hilariously, I thought I missed just one plan update, but turns out I haven’t done a plan update for nearly a YEAR! WOWZA.
Okay, so quick recap of the past two updates that I should have done so we can all pretend I’m a good blogger and you’ve been following along the whole way (we’re also going to pretend it’s not almost time for a Q2 update):
Q3 2023: Our investments were at $816,000 and our mortgage was at $259,000.
Q4 2023: Our investments were at $947,000 and our mortgage was at $255,000.
So now… drumroll please… here are our Q1 2024 numbers: Investments at $1,060,211!!!!! (Our investments have gone down since these numbers at the end of March, but we’re still above $1 million.) Our mortgage is at $250,000 which is a nice round number as well (but again, our mortgage rate is 2.125%…. that’s right, I shall repeat that for you 2.125%, so we’re not paying any extra).
We’re Millionaires!
I’ve read so many blog journeys of people on their path to becoming millionaires and the majority have said something along the lines of “it was just another day. A non-event. Nothing has changed drastically.” You know what? THEY LIED. I know that with our current spending a million dollars does not make us financially independent, but there’s something about millionaire status that has fundamentally changed my attitude.
It’s akin to that time I had a dream I was shirtless but times a million (get it? because we’re millionaires now). “I’m a millionaire” has sort of become a mantra of its own that has made me more bold. I’ve been more outspoken at work when people do dumb things, chanting to myself “If I got let go, it’s okay, I’m a millionaire.” Again, we’re not financially independent yet, so maybe that milestone will be the non-event since my brain is already sort of acting like we are.
For your visual pleasure, here’s a two-second not-at-all-fancy Google Sheets chart of our journey to millionaire status:
Now, when you stack our chart up with the graphs of a bunch of other millionaires, you see that very same exponential kick at the end.
I had concluded when analyzing those graphs that once you hit $500k, it’s completely possible to hit $1 million in four years. And IT’S TRUE! We crossed the $500k mark in April 2021 and the millionaire mark in March 2024, so it took us just THREE YEARS!
Reasons we were able to hit millionaire status so fast:
- High income
- Dual income
- Dual, high income
- Low mortgage rate (have you heard about my 2.125% mortgage rate yet?)
Honestly, luck on timing and high income is what got us here today. You can see in our chart the significant spike when I went back to work full time in December 2019. Mr. T and I collectively make just over $200k, so we’re in the unrelatable category to so many. And that’s the single biggest factor in making it to millionaire status for us. Because, if you’ll recall, we’ve spent the last four years buying a house, paying nearly $200k to add an addition to said house, while also saying yes to so many expensive things. We also just bought a hot tub!
So What Now?
Well, we had announced we were quitting in May 2025, but then we learned how much college costs and now sequence of returns risk seems to be against us. We’re entering the most expensive 12 years of our lives with three possible college students and our mortgage wrapping up in 2036. So for now, we’re crafting the life we want now and letting our investments continue to plug along. We’ll see where we’re actually at a year from now, but I highly doubt we’ll be totally ready to pull the plug on steady income.
Alice
Congratulations! Nice to see an update from you! I agree hitting $1 million just made me feel giddy inside for awhile. It gave me confidence. It re-assured me. I did not stop working though either, but I felt more empowered at work than before. It just was a great safety net to have moving through life. Great job!
MaggieBanks
Awww. Thanks. I know I’m bad at updating these days. Glad I’m not alone on the confidence boost a million gives you! I mean, it’s A MILLION DOLLARS!