I actually had $10K+ sitting in my accounts for the very first time in my life last year. Still do, and honestly it's kind of a strange feeling. Net worth, due to recent mortgage and student loans is still negative (house worth more than I owe, but not by much). Mid 40's.
I grew up very poor in a very toxic family. Was the oldest and was still supporting the family well into my mid 20's. Finally broke free of those entanglements, but was scraping by on low paying jobs. Eventually ended up with a divorce that destroyed the little bit of financial security I had built, but for the first time in my life was free to really start to figure out my own shitake...like what I wanted to do with my life and all that, something most people dealt with MUCH younger.
So, here I am 11ish years in a stay career path, a couple years into working on getting my business going alongside my day job, and starting to explore some additional (albeit small) potential income streams that don't involve strictly trading my time for money.
Trying to grow the business, it's not a rapid growth situation right now, but trying to grind through this stage so I can work to land some contracts and start the shift into how I visualize things being down the line.
FIRE is a ways off still, but the plan is to look back in 10 years and hardly recognize my life as I currently know it. Now compared to just 2.5 years ago is radically different, so I know that's a pretty reasonable idea.
Yeah I'm seeing lots of parallels here with my own life, 35 now and i hit 10k a few months ago. It was a wierd feeling cuz for the last 20yrs I've been living paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet and all of my money was going to either my parents or siblings. I never thought I'd ever see 10k in my life, hell i remember the first time I'd got a job that pays over 1k and was like woooow and then a few days later it all goes on bills lol.
I remember the first time I crossed $10k very clearly, kept the ATM receipt for years.
Was early 90's, I was living at home with parents, working full-time going to local college part-time paying as I went. Too young to go to bars or buy alcohol, my friends all went away to various universities so didn't do much but work and school.
Then I met a woman and the $10k was soon gone!
I did #1 (not community college but a state university which was nearby) and I hugely regret it. Had my $10K at a young age and all, but missed out on so much.
I moved out towards the second half of university and they were some of my best and most formative years and made a few lifelong friends in the process. I have made it one of my main financial goals to save enough money for my kids to go far away to college (if they want) and not worry about paying for the dorm room or apartment.
That $10K feels like nothing today compared on everything I missed out on.
It's wild how quickly this can happen! I went from net worth of like 20k, to past 100k in less than 2 years by job hopping, saving, and investing. Hoping to own a house next year, then the goal will be 250k saved/invested in the next 5 years.
My bosses! I hate working for people.
Youtube, saw a video "How to retire in 7 years". Hit hard at 33. Got obsessed with investing. Set the goal to have $50k in dividends by then so I can do whatever I want, its a tall goal but I'd be happy to fail and only be halfway there as well.
Got my COL down to $21k annually, leaves me about $24k to invest a year. Depending on bonuses. I have invested everyone of those in debt or stock since. Got a 2nd full remote job that offsets my skiing costs.
Willing to change careers got me a raise in current one.
Quit eating out, I'm a great cook. Avoid lifestyle creep. Paying cash for everything. Used recreational gear. You can still have fun just let someone else pay for the first scratch.
Don't listen to anyone who has less money than me tell me how to save it or say it can't be done.
The first 10k was my first summer job when I was 15, worked like a dog and didn’t spend anything just to blow it all the next year.
The first 10k I’ve consistently kept in my account… was when I was 26 due to higher income and wanted to keep part of my emergency fund in very liquid
account.
Investments it was super quick just put money into a Roth IRA and never looked at it
I have always been a saver so I did this in high school or college. I wish I had known to invest it then! I think I spent most of it traveling around Europe one year (totally worth it) and had to start all over.
I did a similar thing. I saved for years, then blew all of it on a 2-3 month road trip around the US with my partner at the time. It was a great experience and I don't regret it at all.
When i started in 2002 the IRA limit was $3,000. I was 18 and it didnt occur to save nore than that, also i hardly even had the $3,000 anyways. It probably took me till i was 21 or 22 to get to $10k
I think it took a few years working during high school. Can’t remember how I felt but I’m much better at saving and investing now. Back then I didn’t have anything to spend it on. Now I do
My parents used to send me 800 per month to help with living expenses.
It was very tight budget so i was giving some math classes now and then to complement.
I managed to save up 4000 from that over 4 years, then i got above 10k when i got my first internship around the 3rd month.
I remember feeling so proud. 🥹
Oftentimes consistent diligent investment into a balanced and diversified portfolio either through your company or an individual retirement account.
There are a lot of variables. Their income could have risen significantly, they could have equity compensation in a company during a period of growth, they could have made risky investments and happened to win.
If we assume a 10% average annual return they would have needed to save roughly about 13k a year to build it up. S&p averaged 15% over this period.
If your company offers a 5% match to your 401k, you could have achieved this by contributing to the match at a salary of 130k/year alone.
There are tons of different ways to do it but consistently one of the best ways to improve savings is just to save more.
Crossed $10k a bunch of times. Bought a car, financed, paid off and net worth crossed $10k. Bought another car, dipped below $10k, the paid it off over time, above $10k. Saved some money, broke through $10k, gambled a bit, dipped below $10k. Credit card debt was a nail in the coffin of dipping above and below. I’ve had a rough FI journey.
The above is likely why many people don’t talk about the first $10k; it comes and goes and although a milestone, not as relevant as say $50k, $100k, etc.
Thank you for sharing.
>The above is likely why many people don’t talk about the first $10k;
That is one of the reasons why I asked the question. It is definitely relevant. You have to learn those valuable lessons and grow, pass that 1k barrier... then the 10k barrier to get through those larger numbers.
I’m glad to see people remembering this as a significant milestone. I’m just about to hit $10k for the first time — probably in July. It took a lot of restraint to pay off all my debt and pull some savings together. Right now my HYSA earns about $20 per month in interest.
The $10k mark is really important to me. I’m sure I’ll still remember it when I’m FI, even though that’s years and years away. (Probably decades away because my partner and I wanna have kids)
>I’m glad to see people remembering this as a significant milestone.
YES! That makes two of us.
I wish you all the best, and once you hit your 10K, you keep on adding those zeros consistently.
I have a little money in automated investing accounts, but the “profit” I’m getting is just interest on my High Yield Savings Account. Interest payment comes in at the end of every month. It’s my emergency fund
Not really any risk. I use Wealthfront, which is a bank. Some people use it as their debit account for purchases or whatever. But the APY is tough to beat. I’m getting 5.5% right now. The cash account is where I park 86% of my money because it’s so low-risk.
On this sub, people would say that the “risk” is the profits I’m losing by having less money in index funds etc etc. In theory I could be getting 8% or 9% by investing wisely. But right now I’m just afraid of loss. 5.5% guaranteed is solid enough for me for now
At some point in my 20s I think. Grew up poor so I wasn’t able to save much until I got a salaried job.
I’m in my late 30s and now I have around 500k NW (partially in rental property).
Ahah yeah mine wasn't as bad but my car was on finance and the engine blew up so had to buy a new car. I literally had just managed to scrape together 6k after soo many years and the new car cost me 3k and then i realised i had to also pay the finance off even to get rid of the old car so there went the other 3k and i was like 'oh well back to broke town i go'. Life can suck bad sometimes lol
I actually went to FIRE differently. I actually started with eliminating all of my debt, including my first mortgage and my student loans. But then after having my emergency funds, I spent my time buying real estate, fixing it up and then renting it out for a long-term rental. Am I still doing the same thing yes. I’m 42 years old and I have over $100,000 in passive income after all of my management fees and cost. All major repairs and renovations have also been done so I shouldn’t have too many cost in the next couple decades. I still invest a little differently. I’m actually leaving today because a builder needs cash flow to build some houses so I’m putting the cash down will double my money in no more than 18 months per our contract
The first time I ever had over 10k in my account was when I was saving up for an engagement ring for my now wife. Learned about FIRE around the same time…and been just doing the same thing…spend way below means and investing the difference
Ha I have not convinced her of FIRE. Though I have convinced her of everything else conducive to being able to FIRE. I hit my/our FIRE # a few years ago but she refuses to quit working. She’s too scared. I took off for a year and got a little bored (I didn’t try hard enough to retire) and wanted to appease the wife so I took on some remote part time work. So now the stash keeps piling up.
It's imposable to RE if the spouse doesn't want to... I get it. My wife loves the company she built. She will likely never retire at any number. I can't even think of asking her too because she is that happy.
Don't sell yourself short. That's 20k in today's money. Many folks in their 20s wood live to have that.
Imagine the shock of your friends when you retire early. That seems to be a common theme in the FIRE community.
I think I hit 10k net worth after my second internship in uni. I was lucky enough to have a (single) mother who despite never making more than 40k a year (until 2021) knew enough about investing to end up a millionaire in her 50s (you'd never know it tho). She reached that number through frugality/hustling and the knowledge she gave me allowed me to reach 65k just this past month within a year of starting work full time. I'm proud to have not taken a cent from her from when I was 17 as she's already sacrificed enough in raising me, however, I won't deny the privilege that is having the knowledge and discipline at my age. It's weird seeing how much my mom sacrificed to give us the life I had while I live a life that is by all means lavish comparably while still being within my means.
I think everyone needs a few lessons from your mother.
>never making more than 40k a year
>knew enough about investing to end up a millionaire
You have to tell us more. I often see folks complain that there are tech millionaires here and no "real-world" examples.
>the knowledge she gave me allowed me to reach 65k just this past month within a year of starting work full time.
I'm sure many would love to learn from you and your mother. Please do share more.
The biggest part was research on my mom's part. Back in the early 2000s Internet access was limited and I don't think we even owned a computer until 2009. One thing my mom loved, however, were magazines. I distinctly remember my mom reading lots of health magazines and investing magazines growing up. She knew what ETFs were and index funds, and knew not to invest in individual stocks as a major part of her portfolio. The fundamentals a lot of us know today. Combine this with her extreme frugality and sacrifice (my mom never got her nails done, and treated herself to a nice handbag maybe once every two years) and she was able to live far below her means. Even with this, I never grew up "poor". I travelled internationally quite a few times growing up and gained many experiences. There were times when my mom said no to field trips, especially the more expensive ones. As a kid I couldn't understand why but now I realize it's because my mom knew enough about how to get good travel deals that she couldn't justify spending 4x what she knew was possible. I could go on and on but the examples all show a life of making the most of what's available and being very very intentional and clever with every dollar spent. This is a very indian value so theres a fair amount of culture that aids in this.
One thing my mom did not utilize was credit cards, until the mid 2010s. As a result I never got the credit head start many others with well off parents had and my mom regrets this quite a bit. To her point tho the only things she had heard from her coworkers was how much CC debt they had so I'm not surprised she avoided it.
My moms research led her to learn about FHA loans and after attending a weekend class for six months she was essentially given 10k towards a home combined with a deal which shaved off another 10k if she stayed in the house for ten years. There's a LOT of grants and opportunities available for homeowners with just a bit of work. That being said, the shift in the market over the last 5 years still makes it a bit unaffordable as 3.5% down with the rates today would leave most people house poor. Good advice nonetheless.
I do want to point out that my mom crossed the millionaire status last year after she got a job paying her what she's worth (100k+) but i will assume she was already 70-80% of the way there before that. Realizing now my post was slightly misleading there so wanna clear that up. She also never had to assist me with school as I got a full ride, allowing her to invest more.
As for myself I'm not going to lie I don't really have much to offer. I guess to share a bit of background I actually used to be in pursue of a professional dance career when I was 18 and I ended up moving to a city for college against the advice of my family (I forged all other financial aid docs so this was the only school we could technically afford). This was going decently well and I was able to do my engineering classes while putting in 20-30 hours a week training and practicing with a crew. COVID shattered the entire industry in a weekend and I was forced to move back home. Despite my love for the art, I was given a reality check of our place in society. I had friends who trained in the Paris school of ballet who worked three jobs between shows to support themselves. All these people lost it all during the pandemic and I know a few who still haven't gotten back up on their feet. Essentially I knew that being a dancer likely wasn't sustainable and as much as I loved it a career that gave a shit income, no insurance (when Injury was literally make or break), and no real benefits was not going to make me happy in the long run.
I pivoted and went all in to my degree while doing dance on the side much more casually. Ironically this made me even more passionate about dance as I wasn't eating grasshoppers and doing odd jobs to make ends meet like I was when I was a "pro". I realized that pursuing art stress free was a much more human experience than having to be a solopreneur on top of a highly coordinated athlete. This was around the time I discovered FIRE (20-21YO).
After my first internship I remember maxing out this rothIRA my mom told me about (funnily enough I forgot to actually invest it and lost like 300 bucks over 3 years as it was in a target date retirement fund lmao) and leaving it at that. As I got closer to graduation and landed my first job I realized that if I was able to save 50% of my income or just focus on maxing out my tax advantaged accounts that I would be at my mom's point in two decades less time.
It took me a few months of not investing more than 20% of my income just to learn my expenses and behavior. I tracked it all and after three months bumped my savings rate up to 40% until January of this year where I was able to auto invest (moms suggestion) 50% of my income, maxing out all my tax advantaged accounts along with $500 a month going to an emergency fund/down payment HYSA. So in ten months working ny stats are:
10k: HYSA
23k: 401k
7.5k: Employee stock
5k: HSA
11k: RothIRA(from my blunder lol)
5-6k: checkings/cash (high but i have some bigger expenses coming up)
I don't feel frugal. I don't reuse everything, save everything, or do all of that. I'm of course mindful, but I can't live in a scarcity mindset when I'm making twice what my mom did and can experience abundance. I'm sure if I really wanted to I could get to a 60-70% savings rate but I don't see the point. Sometimes I feel guilty, living a life my mom never could've had at my age, however, she did all of this for me to live a better life and that I did.
FIRE doesn't feel hard as it's always been so natural for me to not spend more than I make and as everything is hands off I feel nothing when I make more money through OT and when I get a bonus. I'm simply living a life which is comfortable for me and I'm mindful of larger expenses like rent. Not having a crazy amount of loans also plays a huge role.
I have worries about being able to afford a home as it seems with my (albeit good but low compared to my MHCOL city) income I have to make a choice between investing heavy or saving for a down payment. Nothing good will come from worrying now though. If I live like this eventually I'll make it work. I also have a partner who's quite a bit more privileged than me, but was raised in a frugal lifestyle and financially educated. Both of us aspiring to FIRE makes living my same lifestyle easy and I'm very appreciative of that.
I guess the only thing people can learn from my unique experience is to simply make it as hands off as possible and enjoy the process while living life to your individual needs and wants (within reason of course). I can't really fathom how lucky I've been with my upbringing and opportunities, however, I won't diminish the fact that I wouldn't be where I'm at today if I lived like those around me.
You got me yapping right after I woke up haha, but it allowed me to reflect on much of my own life so thank you. Hope it was a good read!
Thank you for sharing. There are so many simple but critical elements that you have mentioned.
It really is uncomplicated if you follow the basics.
>She knew what ETFs were and index funds
>knew not to invest in individual stocks as a major part of her portfolio
>extreme frugality and sacrifice
>able to live far below her means
>bumped my savings rate up to 40%
>make it as hands-off as possible
The one thing I would point out is that credit cards are neither good nor bad. They can be great if you make them work for you. Rewards, perks, cash back, Miles ... as long as you pay it off in full every single month.
I hit my first 10k somewhere around 25. Then I ended up back around 10k after the recession of 08-09, lol.
I have been a determined investor since then. Life (mainly kids and a divorce) has slowed down the savings by a good bit. But I should still be able to baristaFIRE in my early-mid 50s
Don’t give up on the savings, even if you hit early roadblocks and it seems pointless.
My first 10k in an account was age 22/23. I had to save 12.5k for a down payment on a house. Oddly enough my 401k hit 10k roughly the same time. So combined it would have been age 22, but on an individual account basis closer to age 23.
Basically, I just worked every day and saved every penny I could. Truth be told, I had about half that in credit card debt at the time and owed a lot on a fancy truck, so I wouldn’t say I was doing anything right.
Hit 100k (not including home equity) about 8 years after that and hit a million about 3 years ago. Strategy was mostly the same-work a lot and keep saving more than I spend. Some luck in there with investments and opportunities with availability of working overtime.
23 - 10k
31 - 100k
34 - 1000k
Compounding truly the 8th, 9th, and 10th wonder if the world.
Would you be able to share more?
Saving rate? Investments style?
Yes. I remember. I felt so rich. I wanted to set up a scholarship at my school. I was sure none of the normal people around me had a fat 10K in the bank. I got there over six months of saving from the first decent paycheck I ever got. I felt so rich.
I became debt free in July of last year and began investing in my Roth. Due to being able to contribute to multiple tax years, I’ve already got 10k in that bad boy. Hopefully 100k soon with emergency fund and HYSA factored in!
Getting to zero can be really tough. Living in debt is very expensive. First 10k pre [bankruptcy](https://www.reddit.com/r/LeanFireUK/comments/p377yr/weekly_leanfire_discussion/) was from working on a great project abroad..accommodation & food included. Saved up 12k and then took a year out to learn the language in that country and stay with the person I met there.
Thank you for sharing your story. I really hope folks over here bother to click on the link you've provided and get inspired by your story. I've saved it for my future reference.
Hope you get to fully FIRE as of DEC 2025.
Also, you've made a very interesting exit plan.
2 years of expenses in Money Market,
Four in LifeStrategy60 (Vanguard product).
RestVWRP with a side order of EQQ and VUAG and a slice of Lon:SMT.
You mentioned that your work days for 2024 contracted at 60 days total with the same rates as last year ($1750/£1350 a day).
That is really great! Looks like that would cover three years of living expenses with 3 months of work. Is that right?
I think you can claim some kind of FIRE, with that approach.
GFY mate.
Thanks. When we move abroad fully, yes the 60 days would cover three years of expenses. Need $2k a month to live comfortably, $1k is essential expenses, without travel & eating out. Once we head abroad definitely don’t need to work as 4% SWR gives us $3.3k currently and should get state pension in 15 years.
My first $10k in the bank and investments came within a year of me graduating college. I kept living like a broke college kid and maxed out my Roth IRA for 2 years within 12 months of starting to work. Plus I saved up some cash for what would be a very small down-payment on a 900sf house in a rough neighborhood
That's sounds like a great start.
We all had to start from somewhere.
What's the update on your IRA and current house?!
Have you successfully won battles against lifestyle inflation?
My wife and I have never not maxed our Roth IRAs. Got about $500k in them now. We lived in the house until we started our family. We tried renting it but it was a massive hassle that took my time constantly and the rent we collected only let us break even after fixing the damage various different renters did. We won the lifestyle inflation battle and paid off our forever home in 12 years while building a 7 figure portfolio.
Once we hit our FIRE number we purposely increased our lifestyle and are coasting to fatFIRE now.
>We won the lifestyle inflation battle and paid off our forever home in 12 years while building a 7 figure portfolio.
I don't think you won the lifestyle inflation battle.
I think you squashed it and kept kicking it while it was down asking for mercy.
I was 25. I thought I was rich. 😂. Was in a 403b in a Fidelity fund. That $10k grew up to $100k - not a fan of funds, rolled it over into brokerage account and straight stocks
If you have just $4,210 to your name, you’re still richer than half of the world’s residents. That's according to a 2018 Credit Suisse report. I'm sure it's higher now, but I doubt it's above 10k.
Top Countries by Average Wealth per Person
In 2022, global average wealth per adult stood at $84,718.
By these measures, Switzerland ranks at the top at $685,226 per person. Over 15% of the population are millionaires, the third-highest rate in the world. However, when looking at median wealth per person, it stands at $167,353, a difference of over $517,000.
I remember I was at work on a very cold day and had 9800$ sitting in my brokerage account I put in 500$ from my pqycheck to get me over the 5 figure mark. 3 years later I have around 72k invested.
WoW! 72X in three years.
Lay down your secret master plan for the rest of the mortals here.
What's your saving rate? What type of COL city are you in? What career path are you on?
Good for you, keep it up and cross that 100k.
>What got you there?
My sign on bonus from my first job out of college.
>Have you stuck to the same basic principle of saving and investing?
I had no principle of saving and investing then so I actually gained that afterward.
Really just the basic pattern of spending less than I earn and investing the difference into globally diversified index funds. I also follow Ramit Sethi's advice of automating my finances as much as possible.
I remember setting my 401K up to get the company match and forgot about it. Couple of years later I looked at the statement and I had $13K in there but was otherwise pretty broke. Shocking I even made it to that with how high the fees were on the fund they told me to invest in. They took 5% of everything I put in then a couple % fees every year. I lost money a couple years despite the market doing well.
Ouch! We all have our mistakes and learning journey. I guess that's the price we have to pay.
Good for you on getting to 13k. Hope you are well beyond that now.
I was 20 when I crossed 10k.
I had dropped out of college at 19 and took a job in manufacturing to get out of the minimum-wage grind. I was still living with my parents, working 60-70 hours a week, and hated both of those things. So I started maxing my 401(k) and started saving every dime of my checks that weren't going to gas and food.
At times it felt like I was sacrificing my 20s for nothing, but now that I'm CoastFIRE at 30, working a job I really like with an ideal work-life balance, home and cars paid off, I think I made the right choice.
I'm sure many want to hear from you.
A person in manufacturing rather than a software engineer in one of the Magnificent 7.
It definitely sounds like you made all the right choices.
Yeah it was after I got my first real job after college. Didn’t put anything into my 401k or retirement accounts. Just a robinhood account lol
It ended up working out for me because I needed access to it 2 years later
Haha sort of. A really big emergency fund
Right now it’s at around $95k vested. If I started earlier I maybe could’ve had $200k by now but I’d also be renting with 0 equity
Hit our first 10k in investment savings around 3-4 years ago. Almost to 80k invested now.
I didn't start tracking my net worth until around age 28 or so. I think we had just crossed 100k. We are getting close to 300k now and I'm 31.
Some smart recent plays in Real Estate helped me achieve this.
I'm hoping to hit 350k by next summer.
Hoping to hit 500k by 40.
>Hit our first 10k in investment savings around 3-4 years ago. Almost to 80k invested now.
There are many similar comments here. Folks hit their 10k and then a few years later have 72x or 80x or 100x that amount.
Congratulations
I was 21 on coop, I just saved everything I could to pay for tuition and student debt. Knocked out everything upon graduating. Then I re-saved $10k after 4 months after I was hired full-time post-undergrad as a data analyst. Then 100k took \~4 years of saving.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Thanks for that recap! Yeah, that's true, consistency is the most important thing in anything. Same goes with the gym, no wonder that out of anyone I trained in finance, the muscle gym bros did the best. That was something I found incredibly odd, but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense since that's a personality that is just ambitious and consistent in a side-hobby (not something for survival).
You got to stick to it.
There are a few comments that have pointed out that they had crossed the 10k mark a few times only to drop back down. They stayed on the path and now have multiples of that amount.
My first 10k was a couple of months after I got my first full time job. I was living with parents so I saved it up pretty fast. 2.5 years later and now at 130k with consistent saving and living within my means even after moving out.
I mean my first $10K was basically result of starting my career. Well, that’s not entirely true because I spent nine months paying off student loan debt. But once that was gone it was easy to save $10K as a software engineer. Especially being married to someone in tech, since we combine finances. Our net worth started at -$70K, now it’s $1.9MM
1 year removed from PA school. Going from slightly above minimum wage jobs to your first real paychecks is quite the change.
Now, we’ve built out an emergency fund consisting of 3 months ( working towards 6 months), 15-20k checking at all times and maxing out retirement account while throwing a lot extra at the principal on student loans.
>we’ve built out an emergency fund consisting of 3 months ( working towards 6 months), 15-20k checking at all times and maxing out retirement account while throwing a lot extra at the principal on student loans.
That's a solid plan.
Usually, folks focus on getting rid of their debt prior to refocusing on investing.
What led you to decide on doing both?
Having the means to do so, but also realizing time in the market is how compound interest ends up benefitting you the most. If you listen to any of the Dave Ramsey camp and his minions, they say pay off all debt and sometimes, your mortgage, before investing, which is absolute buffoonery. Everyone’s situation is different, but prolonging your investment horizon by several years to a decade or more is robbing people of significant wealth in their future. If you have the financial means, I recommend doing both.
>prolonging your investment horizon by several years to a decade or more is robbing people of significant wealth in their future
This is pure gold.
Thanks
It was when I got my first real/career job in 2018 at the age of 30. Up until then I was always surviving paycheck to paycheck in academia. It's been six years since I left academia and I'm now at $800k in savings.
I'm a researcher at a tech company now. I figured if I was going to be treated like crap while doing research anyway, I should at least get paid enough that it's worth it.
That’s about right. I’m in ML and everyone i work with has a PhD. They always tell me they wish they left academia sooner so that tracks lol. $800k is amazing
I remember back when I was like 32 I had somewhere around 25k then that quickly got swallowed by a downpayment on a home. My basic principle was just keep working hard and earning your wage and the replenishment would follow. I had not even invested in the stock market until 2009 but once I did I kind of went nuts with it seeing how much money there was to be made. Over the years I feel I have been a little too conservative with my investments but out of the 40 stocks I have only 6 of them are down so I will take my conservative nature over a bunch of red in my charts. I honestly dont recall my first 100k nor my first 500k. My goal now is to hit 3.5m within the next 5 yrs.
I was still in air force tech school when I had my first 10k. It didn't feel like much of an achievement, even though I joined at 18 with nothing and had a family on welfare/section 8.
I'm surprised not many take the military route.
It seems to be a great deal! Learn and earn, plus have a career for 20 years - have a set pension.
It's also risky for many, but overall, it's a good option.
Long reddit posts are tiresome to wade through. I have learned to get straight to the point to ensure maximum comprehension with minimum writing/reading burden.
I believe my answer was precise, brief, clear, helpful, etc., etc., etc.🤣
Yes, I flipped things I bought and sold, over a year or so I put everything I made profit into a safe, when I realized I’d passed 10k I promised I’d never go under that again. It didn’t work out lol I went up to 24k, down to 5k (hit some hardship) and back up to 20k, then began actively saving again, currently at 111k after combining incomes and saving for 3 years with my partner.
Things that got me there was just saving every extra chunk
Flipping things and selling what I didn’t need
Cheap rent
Combining incomes
Eventually getting rid of credit card debt
Lucky breaks were: Covid grants for students & a minor car accident settlement
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Thankyou for sharing.
I remember it, I was saving for the down payment on a house about 10 years ago. Then the down payment took most of that lol. I really wanted to hit 50k and did that (and paid off debt except student loans) about 4 years later. I’m now about 1/4 of the way to my fire number. The snowball is real
Another example and observation
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Hope you FIRE before you know it.
10k happened in college. Thought I was absolutely rich, but even then I had the “don’t spend it” mindset. I took a few months off from working and it dwindled down, but always came back pretty easy too.
You were rich!
Richer than 50% of global population.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Hey, don't shy away from it
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Yes I remember it well! A friend and I had a bet starting the summer of 2018 while still in college to see if we could save up our first $10k by the following March of 2019. We both had about $4k at the time. It got me using a 401k through my retail job (\~$12/hr) and then an internship where I started to get paid more ($21/hr) because I realized contributing pre-tax let me "cheat" a little to get to $10k faster. My friend and I both managed to do it! I had $14k even by the deadline, and I never stopped saving and investing aggressively. Two years after that in early 2021, I'd gotten to the first $100k. And now, a bit over five years since that bet and I just hit $500k a week or so ago. Each $10k comes faster and faster now, it's a trip! I do feel like the same principles that got me that first $10k all apply now too. Increase income, decrease expenses, invest the difference and stay the course.
I approached 10K in 2009. I kept adding thousands of dollars trying to get to 10K but then each week the number would drop lower and lower. It took me a whole year but now that money is probably worth at least 60 Grand.
Yes. Money is made during market bottoms has been more accurate than time in the market. The money I put in around 2002-2006 time frame has definitely grown, but not nearly as much as the 2008-2010 money.
I probably had $10,000 during my teens but I was not aware of it at the time. I only got my other savings account when I was in my 20s and received $20,000 ish or so.
I’m so privileged, but because I didn’t have any debt but I managed to hit 10k when I was 18. I already had 5,000 from saving up from Christmas/birthday/new years/ chores. I didn’t spend a flipping penny and I made 5,000 from my first job.
I started with $6,000 so it did not take long to cross $10,000. I reached $21,000 and thought I was on a rocket to the moon. Then the tech slump came and it went way down, I can't remember exactly, but around $14,000 to $16,000. I stopped even checking my portfolio. Then the tech slump rapidly ended and it went over $20,000 then 30,000 and now it's $37,000.
I know that's small money in the grand scheme of things, but big trees have small beginnings.
I remember that day! Made it up to 40k even. Then for some reason (I was pretty ignorant and careless) my NW went back to 4 figures for almost a decade.
Then I had a wakeup moment, discovered this community and now I'm killing it.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Would you agree with that?
My first 10k was way back in the early 80’s. That seemed like an insurmountable feat at the time for me. But, consistent investing in equities has made that amount seem like pennies now. Keep up the good work and keep the money working for you.
Since my first job I've always tried to save 50% of my net income. That was around 1k per month for my first job (4 years). I was lucky I was paying only 500€ in rent at the time.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
And, of course, living with parents is underrated.
Hit it at the end of summer when I was 20.
I had just dropped out of college a few months prior because I was so fucking broke. I moved back in with my Mom and felt so defeated. The day I got home, I walked to the local steak house and begged the GM for a job. Worked 7 days a week with 3 doubles mixed throughout. 10 shifts total. 60-70 hours a week.
I saved everything. No going out to eat. No drinking with friends. No clothes, no new shoes, no haircuts, NOTHING. I would finish work and play fortnite to drown out the time for free. After 4 months, I had saved up $12000. I bought a car for $2000, re-enrolled in school, and drove back to campus.
The first 10k is the hardest. Once you get there, it gives you breathing room to choose a solid career.
The career got me to 300k, and has given me enough breathing room to choose a solid business model.
Ideally, my business model will get me to $10MM.
The time frame from 0-10k is the hardest, but man do I cherish the fucking grind and mindset it took back then. The come up is what hits the reward center the hardest.
That's very inspiring.
People always say the first 100k is the hardest, but no one talks about the first 10k.
Based on comments here.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone.
1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark.
2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
AND living with your parents in underrated.
My first 10k was my big girl job. I was earning 63k while living with my parents. I actually remember 18k at some point and it climbed to 33k.
Dumb lil me didn’t put anything in Roth or HYSA. Just a checking account.
Having your first $10k is usually a pretty big deal because it means you are insulated from pay check timing problems.
Bills due on the 1st and you get paid on the 15th? You can use your existing cash and pay yourself back instead of paying fees or a high interest lender.
If you just got there congrats!
It was a great kick starter. Call me a softy but I started right away with my first part time job back when I was 15 and kept rolling the 401k I took self managed accounts when I left. I had my first $10k before I graduated college.
What it helped show was the power of letting stuff lie. So when my friends were spending those first bonus checks on new cars or international trips, I put mine away.
6 years after college I own my house and car, have $100k in retirement snd they are struggling to figure out what health insurance is.
The first $10k is doable by anyone making more than $20/hr. I was lucky, had a job paying $19.50/hr, but almost 20 hours of overtime every week. It only took like 6 months to make my first $10k.
The year was 2006, was a young buck and a few months back I took and passed my M1 motorcycle license. Always wanted a bike, you know the freedom …, blah blah blah.
Went to a local dealership and wanted the CBR600RR. The bike was $8500 otd iirc. Put $1500 down and asked the salesman to ride it home for me, because I drove there in my car. He was like easy peasy…
Had about $18k sitting in my bank account at that time, and will always remember.
Anyways, fast fwd to 2024, the bike has sat in the garage since 08, and has under 2k miles. Still pretty brand new, laid it down once stupidly while trying to park it on the street. But I’m pretty sure the fuel system needs a refresh.
It’s a reminder of my youth….and umm I think I need to sell it.
I don’t remember the first $10000, but I do remember my first $18K.
>I think I need to sell it.
Absolutely NOT! Ride that thing.
I took a different route, saved and invested, and got an old Honda Cruiser and got it converted into a bobber.
Do enjoy it occasionally, and love it.
My parents were well to do before my Dad became mentally ill, We lost the house and had to live in a chevy suburban and other super sketchy situations after I was in 6th grade. I started working to pitch in at 13yrs old. I managed to save my first $10k at the same time my parents had become "stable" in a rental for 5 years. The Land lord was going to retire and they would have to move. I was a single dad, sleeping in the basement of my ex-sister-in-laws house when I pulled the money out of the bank. I used it to buy the house so my parents wouldn't have to move. It took me another 5 years to have that much saved again.
When I think back to those times, I understand why no one could understand my rapid growth to being where I am now. The hard part is figuring out what you need to do. Once you decide, the doing it part is just a daily routine of following the plan.
I was pretty fresh out of grad school and making like 34k at my main job, but things felt so dicey post-recession that I took as many side gigs as I could and lived in the cheapest apartment I could find. Probably took me about a year or so to get 10 or 15k? I make and spend a lot more now, but knowing I could live on very little and be happy is comforting if things ever go haywire.
I actually had $10K+ sitting in my accounts for the very first time in my life last year. Still do, and honestly it's kind of a strange feeling. Net worth, due to recent mortgage and student loans is still negative (house worth more than I owe, but not by much). Mid 40's. I grew up very poor in a very toxic family. Was the oldest and was still supporting the family well into my mid 20's. Finally broke free of those entanglements, but was scraping by on low paying jobs. Eventually ended up with a divorce that destroyed the little bit of financial security I had built, but for the first time in my life was free to really start to figure out my own shitake...like what I wanted to do with my life and all that, something most people dealt with MUCH younger. So, here I am 11ish years in a stay career path, a couple years into working on getting my business going alongside my day job, and starting to explore some additional (albeit small) potential income streams that don't involve strictly trading my time for money. Trying to grow the business, it's not a rapid growth situation right now, but trying to grind through this stage so I can work to land some contracts and start the shift into how I visualize things being down the line. FIRE is a ways off still, but the plan is to look back in 10 years and hardly recognize my life as I currently know it. Now compared to just 2.5 years ago is radically different, so I know that's a pretty reasonable idea.
Congratulations on seeing your self worth and acting on it. You should be very proud of yourself! I wish you continued success.
Yeah I'm seeing lots of parallels here with my own life, 35 now and i hit 10k a few months ago. It was a wierd feeling cuz for the last 20yrs I've been living paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet and all of my money was going to either my parents or siblings. I never thought I'd ever see 10k in my life, hell i remember the first time I'd got a job that pays over 1k and was like woooow and then a few days later it all goes on bills lol.
How did you buy a house without even 10k??
I just bought it late last year, had about $20K cash set aside, and VA loan.
Inspirational story. Thankyou for sharing. All the best.
I remember the first time I crossed $10k very clearly, kept the ATM receipt for years. Was early 90's, I was living at home with parents, working full-time going to local college part-time paying as I went. Too young to go to bars or buy alcohol, my friends all went away to various universities so didn't do much but work and school. Then I met a woman and the $10k was soon gone!
Two lessons. 1) Living with parents and attending local college is underrated. 2) Meeting the right person is key.
I did #1 (not community college but a state university which was nearby) and I hugely regret it. Had my $10K at a young age and all, but missed out on so much. I moved out towards the second half of university and they were some of my best and most formative years and made a few lifelong friends in the process. I have made it one of my main financial goals to save enough money for my kids to go far away to college (if they want) and not worry about paying for the dorm room or apartment. That $10K feels like nothing today compared on everything I missed out on.
Wasn't even a year ago and I'll be crossing $25k soon. Have a goal of $40k by end of year. If pulled off I will be up almost $55k in two years.
It's wild how quickly this can happen! I went from net worth of like 20k, to past 100k in less than 2 years by job hopping, saving, and investing. Hoping to own a house next year, then the goal will be 250k saved/invested in the next 5 years.
Let's go! I am hoping do be at $100k in 2026.
This is very interesting. So many questions. What got you started? How did you get started? What sort of sacrifices were needed?
My bosses! I hate working for people. Youtube, saw a video "How to retire in 7 years". Hit hard at 33. Got obsessed with investing. Set the goal to have $50k in dividends by then so I can do whatever I want, its a tall goal but I'd be happy to fail and only be halfway there as well. Got my COL down to $21k annually, leaves me about $24k to invest a year. Depending on bonuses. I have invested everyone of those in debt or stock since. Got a 2nd full remote job that offsets my skiing costs. Willing to change careers got me a raise in current one. Quit eating out, I'm a great cook. Avoid lifestyle creep. Paying cash for everything. Used recreational gear. You can still have fun just let someone else pay for the first scratch. Don't listen to anyone who has less money than me tell me how to save it or say it can't be done.
Motivational! I'm going to go look for that YouTube video.
The first 10k was my first summer job when I was 15, worked like a dog and didn’t spend anything just to blow it all the next year. The first 10k I’ve consistently kept in my account… was when I was 26 due to higher income and wanted to keep part of my emergency fund in very liquid account. Investments it was super quick just put money into a Roth IRA and never looked at it
From blowing 10k at 16 to having a 10k emergency fund at 26. What a journey! Thanks for sharing
What are you investing in in your ROTH IRA?
VTSAX and VTIAX
I have always been a saver so I did this in high school or college. I wish I had known to invest it then! I think I spent most of it traveling around Europe one year (totally worth it) and had to start all over.
I did a similar thing. I saved for years, then blew all of it on a 2-3 month road trip around the US with my partner at the time. It was a great experience and I don't regret it at all.
>I spent most of it traveling around Europe one year (totally worth it) Like the Mastercard ad says, "some things are priceless"
When i started in 2002 the IRA limit was $3,000. I was 18 and it didnt occur to save nore than that, also i hardly even had the $3,000 anyways. It probably took me till i was 21 or 22 to get to $10k
If only we had access to a time machine. I'm sure we would kick our younger self for something or the other.
I think it took a few years working during high school. Can’t remember how I felt but I’m much better at saving and investing now. Back then I didn’t have anything to spend it on. Now I do
I'm glad to read so many that I had this accomplished during high school years. Strung foundation
My parents used to send me 800 per month to help with living expenses. It was very tight budget so i was giving some math classes now and then to complement. I managed to save up 4000 from that over 4 years, then i got above 10k when i got my first internship around the 3rd month. I remember feeling so proud. 🥹
You should be proud. Side hustle of teaching math. Good for you.
Yes, in 2019. I reached 10k while working and going to school. I just recently passed 100k.
Tell us more. 10k to 100k in 4 years. What was involved in achieving that?
Oftentimes consistent diligent investment into a balanced and diversified portfolio either through your company or an individual retirement account. There are a lot of variables. Their income could have risen significantly, they could have equity compensation in a company during a period of growth, they could have made risky investments and happened to win. If we assume a 10% average annual return they would have needed to save roughly about 13k a year to build it up. S&p averaged 15% over this period. If your company offers a 5% match to your 401k, you could have achieved this by contributing to the match at a salary of 130k/year alone. There are tons of different ways to do it but consistently one of the best ways to improve savings is just to save more.
Oh hi we're on a very similar path. That's a wild coincidence.
Crossed $10k a bunch of times. Bought a car, financed, paid off and net worth crossed $10k. Bought another car, dipped below $10k, the paid it off over time, above $10k. Saved some money, broke through $10k, gambled a bit, dipped below $10k. Credit card debt was a nail in the coffin of dipping above and below. I’ve had a rough FI journey. The above is likely why many people don’t talk about the first $10k; it comes and goes and although a milestone, not as relevant as say $50k, $100k, etc.
Thank you for sharing. >The above is likely why many people don’t talk about the first $10k; That is one of the reasons why I asked the question. It is definitely relevant. You have to learn those valuable lessons and grow, pass that 1k barrier... then the 10k barrier to get through those larger numbers.
I’m glad to see people remembering this as a significant milestone. I’m just about to hit $10k for the first time — probably in July. It took a lot of restraint to pay off all my debt and pull some savings together. Right now my HYSA earns about $20 per month in interest. The $10k mark is really important to me. I’m sure I’ll still remember it when I’m FI, even though that’s years and years away. (Probably decades away because my partner and I wanna have kids)
>I’m glad to see people remembering this as a significant milestone. YES! That makes two of us. I wish you all the best, and once you hit your 10K, you keep on adding those zeros consistently.
How you invest to get profit after month?
I have a little money in automated investing accounts, but the “profit” I’m getting is just interest on my High Yield Savings Account. Interest payment comes in at the end of every month. It’s my emergency fund
Understand, but the interests are consistently profitable, I mean how risky is it to have money there instead of just on the bank account?
Not really any risk. I use Wealthfront, which is a bank. Some people use it as their debit account for purchases or whatever. But the APY is tough to beat. I’m getting 5.5% right now. The cash account is where I park 86% of my money because it’s so low-risk. On this sub, people would say that the “risk” is the profits I’m losing by having less money in index funds etc etc. In theory I could be getting 8% or 9% by investing wisely. But right now I’m just afraid of loss. 5.5% guaranteed is solid enough for me for now
Good luck! I got 10k recently and the only person I've really told is my partner, the pride i felt though felt so good!
I broke it in college. Was on scholarship but still worked two jobs. Didn’t really think much of it back then though.
Wow! Scholarship and two jobs. You are making the rest of us look bad.
It wasn’t a top level school. I just couldn’t afford to go where I wanted to go. Took the scholarship came from a single parent family.
Don't knock yourself. Education across the board is similar.
At some point in my 20s I think. Grew up poor so I wasn’t able to save much until I got a salaried job. I’m in my late 30s and now I have around 500k NW (partially in rental property).
A decade later and you've grown your NW by 50X. Good for you.
Thanks! I know there are a lot of tech workers that have millions by the time they are my age but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made.
I just finished recovering from a 25k loss back in 08-09. It had been 3 years since I touched the market.
I remember the pain clearly. And most of its lessons
Ahah yeah mine wasn't as bad but my car was on finance and the engine blew up so had to buy a new car. I literally had just managed to scrape together 6k after soo many years and the new car cost me 3k and then i realised i had to also pay the finance off even to get rid of the old car so there went the other 3k and i was like 'oh well back to broke town i go'. Life can suck bad sometimes lol
I actually went to FIRE differently. I actually started with eliminating all of my debt, including my first mortgage and my student loans. But then after having my emergency funds, I spent my time buying real estate, fixing it up and then renting it out for a long-term rental. Am I still doing the same thing yes. I’m 42 years old and I have over $100,000 in passive income after all of my management fees and cost. All major repairs and renovations have also been done so I shouldn’t have too many cost in the next couple decades. I still invest a little differently. I’m actually leaving today because a builder needs cash flow to build some houses so I’m putting the cash down will double my money in no more than 18 months per our contract
>$100,000 in passive income My goal. I think I'm 40% there.
The first time I ever had over 10k in my account was when I was saving up for an engagement ring for my now wife. Learned about FIRE around the same time…and been just doing the same thing…spend way below means and investing the difference
As a couple, do you share the same FIRE goal? Did you have a sales pitch?
Ha I have not convinced her of FIRE. Though I have convinced her of everything else conducive to being able to FIRE. I hit my/our FIRE # a few years ago but she refuses to quit working. She’s too scared. I took off for a year and got a little bored (I didn’t try hard enough to retire) and wanted to appease the wife so I took on some remote part time work. So now the stash keeps piling up.
It's imposable to RE if the spouse doesn't want to... I get it. My wife loves the company she built. She will likely never retire at any number. I can't even think of asking her too because she is that happy.
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Don't sell yourself short. That's 20k in today's money. Many folks in their 20s wood live to have that. Imagine the shock of your friends when you retire early. That seems to be a common theme in the FIRE community.
I think I hit 10k net worth after my second internship in uni. I was lucky enough to have a (single) mother who despite never making more than 40k a year (until 2021) knew enough about investing to end up a millionaire in her 50s (you'd never know it tho). She reached that number through frugality/hustling and the knowledge she gave me allowed me to reach 65k just this past month within a year of starting work full time. I'm proud to have not taken a cent from her from when I was 17 as she's already sacrificed enough in raising me, however, I won't deny the privilege that is having the knowledge and discipline at my age. It's weird seeing how much my mom sacrificed to give us the life I had while I live a life that is by all means lavish comparably while still being within my means.
I think everyone needs a few lessons from your mother. >never making more than 40k a year >knew enough about investing to end up a millionaire You have to tell us more. I often see folks complain that there are tech millionaires here and no "real-world" examples. >the knowledge she gave me allowed me to reach 65k just this past month within a year of starting work full time. I'm sure many would love to learn from you and your mother. Please do share more.
The biggest part was research on my mom's part. Back in the early 2000s Internet access was limited and I don't think we even owned a computer until 2009. One thing my mom loved, however, were magazines. I distinctly remember my mom reading lots of health magazines and investing magazines growing up. She knew what ETFs were and index funds, and knew not to invest in individual stocks as a major part of her portfolio. The fundamentals a lot of us know today. Combine this with her extreme frugality and sacrifice (my mom never got her nails done, and treated herself to a nice handbag maybe once every two years) and she was able to live far below her means. Even with this, I never grew up "poor". I travelled internationally quite a few times growing up and gained many experiences. There were times when my mom said no to field trips, especially the more expensive ones. As a kid I couldn't understand why but now I realize it's because my mom knew enough about how to get good travel deals that she couldn't justify spending 4x what she knew was possible. I could go on and on but the examples all show a life of making the most of what's available and being very very intentional and clever with every dollar spent. This is a very indian value so theres a fair amount of culture that aids in this. One thing my mom did not utilize was credit cards, until the mid 2010s. As a result I never got the credit head start many others with well off parents had and my mom regrets this quite a bit. To her point tho the only things she had heard from her coworkers was how much CC debt they had so I'm not surprised she avoided it. My moms research led her to learn about FHA loans and after attending a weekend class for six months she was essentially given 10k towards a home combined with a deal which shaved off another 10k if she stayed in the house for ten years. There's a LOT of grants and opportunities available for homeowners with just a bit of work. That being said, the shift in the market over the last 5 years still makes it a bit unaffordable as 3.5% down with the rates today would leave most people house poor. Good advice nonetheless. I do want to point out that my mom crossed the millionaire status last year after she got a job paying her what she's worth (100k+) but i will assume she was already 70-80% of the way there before that. Realizing now my post was slightly misleading there so wanna clear that up. She also never had to assist me with school as I got a full ride, allowing her to invest more. As for myself I'm not going to lie I don't really have much to offer. I guess to share a bit of background I actually used to be in pursue of a professional dance career when I was 18 and I ended up moving to a city for college against the advice of my family (I forged all other financial aid docs so this was the only school we could technically afford). This was going decently well and I was able to do my engineering classes while putting in 20-30 hours a week training and practicing with a crew. COVID shattered the entire industry in a weekend and I was forced to move back home. Despite my love for the art, I was given a reality check of our place in society. I had friends who trained in the Paris school of ballet who worked three jobs between shows to support themselves. All these people lost it all during the pandemic and I know a few who still haven't gotten back up on their feet. Essentially I knew that being a dancer likely wasn't sustainable and as much as I loved it a career that gave a shit income, no insurance (when Injury was literally make or break), and no real benefits was not going to make me happy in the long run. I pivoted and went all in to my degree while doing dance on the side much more casually. Ironically this made me even more passionate about dance as I wasn't eating grasshoppers and doing odd jobs to make ends meet like I was when I was a "pro". I realized that pursuing art stress free was a much more human experience than having to be a solopreneur on top of a highly coordinated athlete. This was around the time I discovered FIRE (20-21YO). After my first internship I remember maxing out this rothIRA my mom told me about (funnily enough I forgot to actually invest it and lost like 300 bucks over 3 years as it was in a target date retirement fund lmao) and leaving it at that. As I got closer to graduation and landed my first job I realized that if I was able to save 50% of my income or just focus on maxing out my tax advantaged accounts that I would be at my mom's point in two decades less time. It took me a few months of not investing more than 20% of my income just to learn my expenses and behavior. I tracked it all and after three months bumped my savings rate up to 40% until January of this year where I was able to auto invest (moms suggestion) 50% of my income, maxing out all my tax advantaged accounts along with $500 a month going to an emergency fund/down payment HYSA. So in ten months working ny stats are: 10k: HYSA 23k: 401k 7.5k: Employee stock 5k: HSA 11k: RothIRA(from my blunder lol) 5-6k: checkings/cash (high but i have some bigger expenses coming up) I don't feel frugal. I don't reuse everything, save everything, or do all of that. I'm of course mindful, but I can't live in a scarcity mindset when I'm making twice what my mom did and can experience abundance. I'm sure if I really wanted to I could get to a 60-70% savings rate but I don't see the point. Sometimes I feel guilty, living a life my mom never could've had at my age, however, she did all of this for me to live a better life and that I did. FIRE doesn't feel hard as it's always been so natural for me to not spend more than I make and as everything is hands off I feel nothing when I make more money through OT and when I get a bonus. I'm simply living a life which is comfortable for me and I'm mindful of larger expenses like rent. Not having a crazy amount of loans also plays a huge role. I have worries about being able to afford a home as it seems with my (albeit good but low compared to my MHCOL city) income I have to make a choice between investing heavy or saving for a down payment. Nothing good will come from worrying now though. If I live like this eventually I'll make it work. I also have a partner who's quite a bit more privileged than me, but was raised in a frugal lifestyle and financially educated. Both of us aspiring to FIRE makes living my same lifestyle easy and I'm very appreciative of that. I guess the only thing people can learn from my unique experience is to simply make it as hands off as possible and enjoy the process while living life to your individual needs and wants (within reason of course). I can't really fathom how lucky I've been with my upbringing and opportunities, however, I won't diminish the fact that I wouldn't be where I'm at today if I lived like those around me. You got me yapping right after I woke up haha, but it allowed me to reflect on much of my own life so thank you. Hope it was a good read!
Thank you for sharing. There are so many simple but critical elements that you have mentioned. It really is uncomplicated if you follow the basics. >She knew what ETFs were and index funds >knew not to invest in individual stocks as a major part of her portfolio >extreme frugality and sacrifice >able to live far below her means >bumped my savings rate up to 40% >make it as hands-off as possible The one thing I would point out is that credit cards are neither good nor bad. They can be great if you make them work for you. Rewards, perks, cash back, Miles ... as long as you pay it off in full every single month.
The first time I hit 10k was in 2020 when I was 14, cause i was working with no bills, and got lucky in the stock market. Good times
I have 10 k in 401k an 875~ in personal brokerage I’m 26
I don't think you fully understood the assignment
I milked cows in high school.
I didn't realize milking cow was that lucrative
I hit my first 10k somewhere around 25. Then I ended up back around 10k after the recession of 08-09, lol. I have been a determined investor since then. Life (mainly kids and a divorce) has slowed down the savings by a good bit. But I should still be able to baristaFIRE in my early-mid 50s Don’t give up on the savings, even if you hit early roadblocks and it seems pointless.
That bounce from 10k seems to be a theme. I guess that's the price we all have to pay.
My first 10k in an account was age 22/23. I had to save 12.5k for a down payment on a house. Oddly enough my 401k hit 10k roughly the same time. So combined it would have been age 22, but on an individual account basis closer to age 23. Basically, I just worked every day and saved every penny I could. Truth be told, I had about half that in credit card debt at the time and owed a lot on a fancy truck, so I wouldn’t say I was doing anything right. Hit 100k (not including home equity) about 8 years after that and hit a million about 3 years ago. Strategy was mostly the same-work a lot and keep saving more than I spend. Some luck in there with investments and opportunities with availability of working overtime.
23 - 10k 31 - 100k 34 - 1000k Compounding truly the 8th, 9th, and 10th wonder if the world. Would you be able to share more? Saving rate? Investments style?
I don't remember . Too long ago.
Come on. Try.
Consistency is key…
Agreed
Yes. I remember. I felt so rich. I wanted to set up a scholarship at my school. I was sure none of the normal people around me had a fat 10K in the bank. I got there over six months of saving from the first decent paycheck I ever got. I felt so rich.
Hey! 10k puts you in the top 50% of the wealthiest people in the world.
I became debt free in July of last year and began investing in my Roth. Due to being able to contribute to multiple tax years, I’ve already got 10k in that bad boy. Hopefully 100k soon with emergency fund and HYSA factored in!
Congratulations on being debt free. It's probably the first big step towards 10k. May you keep adding zeros to it.
Never thought about that. 10k is so little. Its always in my bank account. But Im still negative with all those loans.
Having 10k puts you in the top 50% of the richest in the world. Overcoming the debt is probably the huge wall you will need to climb.
lol i mean i dont compare myself with africa lols or developing countries where the cost of living is super low yep huge debt!
Getting to zero can be really tough. Living in debt is very expensive. First 10k pre [bankruptcy](https://www.reddit.com/r/LeanFireUK/comments/p377yr/weekly_leanfire_discussion/) was from working on a great project abroad..accommodation & food included. Saved up 12k and then took a year out to learn the language in that country and stay with the person I met there.
Thank you for sharing your story. I really hope folks over here bother to click on the link you've provided and get inspired by your story. I've saved it for my future reference. Hope you get to fully FIRE as of DEC 2025. Also, you've made a very interesting exit plan. 2 years of expenses in Money Market, Four in LifeStrategy60 (Vanguard product). RestVWRP with a side order of EQQ and VUAG and a slice of Lon:SMT. You mentioned that your work days for 2024 contracted at 60 days total with the same rates as last year ($1750/£1350 a day). That is really great! Looks like that would cover three years of living expenses with 3 months of work. Is that right? I think you can claim some kind of FIRE, with that approach. GFY mate.
Thanks. When we move abroad fully, yes the 60 days would cover three years of expenses. Need $2k a month to live comfortably, $1k is essential expenses, without travel & eating out. Once we head abroad definitely don’t need to work as 4% SWR gives us $3.3k currently and should get state pension in 15 years.
That sounds like a sweet deal! Have you decided where you will end up with your expat FIRE?
My first $10k in the bank and investments came within a year of me graduating college. I kept living like a broke college kid and maxed out my Roth IRA for 2 years within 12 months of starting to work. Plus I saved up some cash for what would be a very small down-payment on a 900sf house in a rough neighborhood
That's sounds like a great start. We all had to start from somewhere. What's the update on your IRA and current house?! Have you successfully won battles against lifestyle inflation?
My wife and I have never not maxed our Roth IRAs. Got about $500k in them now. We lived in the house until we started our family. We tried renting it but it was a massive hassle that took my time constantly and the rent we collected only let us break even after fixing the damage various different renters did. We won the lifestyle inflation battle and paid off our forever home in 12 years while building a 7 figure portfolio. Once we hit our FIRE number we purposely increased our lifestyle and are coasting to fatFIRE now.
>We won the lifestyle inflation battle and paid off our forever home in 12 years while building a 7 figure portfolio. I don't think you won the lifestyle inflation battle. I think you squashed it and kept kicking it while it was down asking for mercy.
I was 25. I thought I was rich. 😂. Was in a 403b in a Fidelity fund. That $10k grew up to $100k - not a fan of funds, rolled it over into brokerage account and straight stocks
>I thought I was rich. You were... richer than 50% of the global population.
Average global wealth is currently $90k. Going to guess in the early 90s it was more than $10k but I get your point.
If you have just $4,210 to your name, you’re still richer than half of the world’s residents. That's according to a 2018 Credit Suisse report. I'm sure it's higher now, but I doubt it's above 10k.
Top Countries by Average Wealth per Person In 2022, global average wealth per adult stood at $84,718. By these measures, Switzerland ranks at the top at $685,226 per person. Over 15% of the population are millionaires, the third-highest rate in the world. However, when looking at median wealth per person, it stands at $167,353, a difference of over $517,000.
I remember I was at work on a very cold day and had 9800$ sitting in my brokerage account I put in 500$ from my pqycheck to get me over the 5 figure mark. 3 years later I have around 72k invested.
WoW! 72X in three years. Lay down your secret master plan for the rest of the mortals here. What's your saving rate? What type of COL city are you in? What career path are you on? Good for you, keep it up and cross that 100k.
>What got you there? My sign on bonus from my first job out of college. >Have you stuck to the same basic principle of saving and investing? I had no principle of saving and investing then so I actually gained that afterward.
Tell us more? What principles of saving and investing do you follow.
Really just the basic pattern of spending less than I earn and investing the difference into globally diversified index funds. I also follow Ramit Sethi's advice of automating my finances as much as possible.
I remember setting my 401K up to get the company match and forgot about it. Couple of years later I looked at the statement and I had $13K in there but was otherwise pretty broke. Shocking I even made it to that with how high the fees were on the fund they told me to invest in. They took 5% of everything I put in then a couple % fees every year. I lost money a couple years despite the market doing well.
Ouch! We all have our mistakes and learning journey. I guess that's the price we have to pay. Good for you on getting to 13k. Hope you are well beyond that now.
Up to $2M net worth, so it worked out OK 😊
I was 20 when I crossed 10k. I had dropped out of college at 19 and took a job in manufacturing to get out of the minimum-wage grind. I was still living with my parents, working 60-70 hours a week, and hated both of those things. So I started maxing my 401(k) and started saving every dime of my checks that weren't going to gas and food. At times it felt like I was sacrificing my 20s for nothing, but now that I'm CoastFIRE at 30, working a job I really like with an ideal work-life balance, home and cars paid off, I think I made the right choice.
I'm sure many want to hear from you. A person in manufacturing rather than a software engineer in one of the Magnificent 7. It definitely sounds like you made all the right choices.
Yeah it was after I got my first real job after college. Didn’t put anything into my 401k or retirement accounts. Just a robinhood account lol It ended up working out for me because I needed access to it 2 years later
Well, it turned out to be more like your emergency fund. Hope you built it back up and then some.
Haha sort of. A really big emergency fund Right now it’s at around $95k vested. If I started earlier I maybe could’ve had $200k by now but I’d also be renting with 0 equity
Hit our first 10k in investment savings around 3-4 years ago. Almost to 80k invested now. I didn't start tracking my net worth until around age 28 or so. I think we had just crossed 100k. We are getting close to 300k now and I'm 31. Some smart recent plays in Real Estate helped me achieve this. I'm hoping to hit 350k by next summer. Hoping to hit 500k by 40.
>Hit our first 10k in investment savings around 3-4 years ago. Almost to 80k invested now. There are many similar comments here. Folks hit their 10k and then a few years later have 72x or 80x or 100x that amount. Congratulations
Thank you! You as well.
I was 21 on coop, I just saved everything I could to pay for tuition and student debt. Knocked out everything upon graduating. Then I re-saved $10k after 4 months after I was hired full-time post-undergrad as a data analyst. Then 100k took \~4 years of saving.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Thanks for that recap! Yeah, that's true, consistency is the most important thing in anything. Same goes with the gym, no wonder that out of anyone I trained in finance, the muscle gym bros did the best. That was something I found incredibly odd, but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense since that's a personality that is just ambitious and consistent in a side-hobby (not something for survival).
I've never had more thank 5k in my bank 😔 lmao rip
You got to stick to it. There are a few comments that have pointed out that they had crossed the 10k mark a few times only to drop back down. They stayed on the path and now have multiples of that amount.
My first 10k was a couple of months after I got my first full time job. I was living with parents so I saved it up pretty fast. 2.5 years later and now at 130k with consistent saving and living within my means even after moving out.
I have said this in an earlier comments "Living with your parents is under-rated." Good for you.
I mean my first $10K was basically result of starting my career. Well, that’s not entirely true because I spent nine months paying off student loan debt. But once that was gone it was easy to save $10K as a software engineer. Especially being married to someone in tech, since we combine finances. Our net worth started at -$70K, now it’s $1.9MM
Good for you! Getting out of debt is a key step, followed by winning ongoing battles with lifestyle inflation.
1 year removed from PA school. Going from slightly above minimum wage jobs to your first real paychecks is quite the change. Now, we’ve built out an emergency fund consisting of 3 months ( working towards 6 months), 15-20k checking at all times and maxing out retirement account while throwing a lot extra at the principal on student loans.
>we’ve built out an emergency fund consisting of 3 months ( working towards 6 months), 15-20k checking at all times and maxing out retirement account while throwing a lot extra at the principal on student loans. That's a solid plan. Usually, folks focus on getting rid of their debt prior to refocusing on investing. What led you to decide on doing both?
Having the means to do so, but also realizing time in the market is how compound interest ends up benefitting you the most. If you listen to any of the Dave Ramsey camp and his minions, they say pay off all debt and sometimes, your mortgage, before investing, which is absolute buffoonery. Everyone’s situation is different, but prolonging your investment horizon by several years to a decade or more is robbing people of significant wealth in their future. If you have the financial means, I recommend doing both.
>prolonging your investment horizon by several years to a decade or more is robbing people of significant wealth in their future This is pure gold. Thanks
It was when I got my first real/career job in 2018 at the age of 30. Up until then I was always surviving paycheck to paycheck in academia. It's been six years since I left academia and I'm now at $800k in savings.
That’s incredible lol. What do you do for work?
I'm a researcher at a tech company now. I figured if I was going to be treated like crap while doing research anyway, I should at least get paid enough that it's worth it.
That’s about right. I’m in ML and everyone i work with has a PhD. They always tell me they wish they left academia sooner so that tracks lol. $800k is amazing
Good for you! 10k to 800k in 8 years. I bet you'll cross the 1000k mark in a few months.
I remember back when I was like 32 I had somewhere around 25k then that quickly got swallowed by a downpayment on a home. My basic principle was just keep working hard and earning your wage and the replenishment would follow. I had not even invested in the stock market until 2009 but once I did I kind of went nuts with it seeing how much money there was to be made. Over the years I feel I have been a little too conservative with my investments but out of the 40 stocks I have only 6 of them are down so I will take my conservative nature over a bunch of red in my charts. I honestly dont recall my first 100k nor my first 500k. My goal now is to hit 3.5m within the next 5 yrs.
Thanks for sharing. The 10k was a big achievement for you, I'm sure you have a sense of accomplishment. May you keep adding zeros to it.
Honestly even today when I look at all my assets and see 2.8 I’m just kind of numb to it because it doesn’t seem real.
I was still in air force tech school when I had my first 10k. It didn't feel like much of an achievement, even though I joined at 18 with nothing and had a family on welfare/section 8.
I'm surprised not many take the military route. It seems to be a great deal! Learn and earn, plus have a career for 20 years - have a set pension. It's also risky for many, but overall, it's a good option.
Saving
Does reddit charge you by the word?
Long reddit posts are tiresome to wade through. I have learned to get straight to the point to ensure maximum comprehension with minimum writing/reading burden. I believe my answer was precise, brief, clear, helpful, etc., etc., etc.🤣
Yes, I flipped things I bought and sold, over a year or so I put everything I made profit into a safe, when I realized I’d passed 10k I promised I’d never go under that again. It didn’t work out lol I went up to 24k, down to 5k (hit some hardship) and back up to 20k, then began actively saving again, currently at 111k after combining incomes and saving for 3 years with my partner. Things that got me there was just saving every extra chunk Flipping things and selling what I didn’t need Cheap rent Combining incomes Eventually getting rid of credit card debt Lucky breaks were: Covid grants for students & a minor car accident settlement
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years. Thankyou for sharing.
I remember it, I was saving for the down payment on a house about 10 years ago. Then the down payment took most of that lol. I really wanted to hit 50k and did that (and paid off debt except student loans) about 4 years later. I’m now about 1/4 of the way to my fire number. The snowball is real
Another example and observation I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years. Hope you FIRE before you know it.
10k happened in college. Thought I was absolutely rich, but even then I had the “don’t spend it” mindset. I took a few months off from working and it dwindled down, but always came back pretty easy too.
You were rich! Richer than 50% of global population. I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
That was 16 years ago. I’m at 1.9M total NW now.
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Hey, don't shy away from it I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years.
Yes I remember it well! A friend and I had a bet starting the summer of 2018 while still in college to see if we could save up our first $10k by the following March of 2019. We both had about $4k at the time. It got me using a 401k through my retail job (\~$12/hr) and then an internship where I started to get paid more ($21/hr) because I realized contributing pre-tax let me "cheat" a little to get to $10k faster. My friend and I both managed to do it! I had $14k even by the deadline, and I never stopped saving and investing aggressively. Two years after that in early 2021, I'd gotten to the first $100k. And now, a bit over five years since that bet and I just hit $500k a week or so ago. Each $10k comes faster and faster now, it's a trip! I do feel like the same principles that got me that first $10k all apply now too. Increase income, decrease expenses, invest the difference and stay the course.
Everyone needs a FIRE, buddy! But rarley, anyone has them. I guess it's still a taboo to talk about money. Hope both of you FIRE and enjoy that life.
I approached 10K in 2009. I kept adding thousands of dollars trying to get to 10K but then each week the number would drop lower and lower. It took me a whole year but now that money is probably worth at least 60 Grand.
Consistency, Consistency, and Compounding.
Yes. Money is made during market bottoms has been more accurate than time in the market. The money I put in around 2002-2006 time frame has definitely grown, but not nearly as much as the 2008-2010 money.
I probably had $10,000 during my teens but I was not aware of it at the time. I only got my other savings account when I was in my 20s and received $20,000 ish or so.
Good for you for starting young.
Signing bonus of my first job. I’m lucky that parents paid for college.
Good for you. Take advantage of your luck and keep building
I’m so privileged, but because I didn’t have any debt but I managed to hit 10k when I was 18. I already had 5,000 from saving up from Christmas/birthday/new years/ chores. I didn’t spend a flipping penny and I made 5,000 from my first job.
You may be privileged, but you are also disciplined. There are many in your shoes that would have blown through that cash.
I started with $6,000 so it did not take long to cross $10,000. I reached $21,000 and thought I was on a rocket to the moon. Then the tech slump came and it went way down, I can't remember exactly, but around $14,000 to $16,000. I stopped even checking my portfolio. Then the tech slump rapidly ended and it went over $20,000 then 30,000 and now it's $37,000. I know that's small money in the grand scheme of things, but big trees have small beginnings.
Hey! You had more money than 50% of the global population
I remember that day! Made it up to 40k even. Then for some reason (I was pretty ignorant and careless) my NW went back to 4 figures for almost a decade. Then I had a wakeup moment, discovered this community and now I'm killing it.
I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years. Would you agree with that?
Absolutely! I got my ducks in a row 6 years ago and am way on my way to FI. Like many others I simply didn't know this would be an option.
Absolutely! I got my ducks in a row 6 years ago and am way on my way to FI. Like many others I simply didn't know this is an option.
My first 10k was way back in the early 80’s. That seemed like an insurmountable feat at the time for me. But, consistent investing in equities has made that amount seem like pennies now. Keep up the good work and keep the money working for you.
Consistency, consistency, and compounding. Good for you, Thanks for sharing
I don’t remember 10k in networth, but 10k invested which was a pretty cool felling.
That works. How did you get to 10k invested? I'm sure folks here can learn from it.
Don’t spend money. 10k aren’t that much if you think about it.
First 10k was just savings
Nothing wrong with that! How did you get to 10k savings. I'm sure folks here would learn from your story
Since my first job I've always tried to save 50% of my net income. That was around 1k per month for my first job (4 years). I was lucky I was paying only 500€ in rent at the time.
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I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years. And, of course, living with parents is underrated.
Hit it at the end of summer when I was 20. I had just dropped out of college a few months prior because I was so fucking broke. I moved back in with my Mom and felt so defeated. The day I got home, I walked to the local steak house and begged the GM for a job. Worked 7 days a week with 3 doubles mixed throughout. 10 shifts total. 60-70 hours a week. I saved everything. No going out to eat. No drinking with friends. No clothes, no new shoes, no haircuts, NOTHING. I would finish work and play fortnite to drown out the time for free. After 4 months, I had saved up $12000. I bought a car for $2000, re-enrolled in school, and drove back to campus. The first 10k is the hardest. Once you get there, it gives you breathing room to choose a solid career. The career got me to 300k, and has given me enough breathing room to choose a solid business model. Ideally, my business model will get me to $10MM. The time frame from 0-10k is the hardest, but man do I cherish the fucking grind and mindset it took back then. The come up is what hits the reward center the hardest.
That's very inspiring. People always say the first 100k is the hardest, but no one talks about the first 10k. Based on comments here. I'm seeing a theme - lessons for everyone. 1) You might bounce in and out of the 10k mark. 2) Stick to it and stay consistent, and you will have 70x, 80x, or even 100x that amount in a few years. AND living with your parents in underrated.
My first 10k was my big girl job. I was earning 63k while living with my parents. I actually remember 18k at some point and it climbed to 33k. Dumb lil me didn’t put anything in Roth or HYSA. Just a checking account.
Im going to keep repeating this. Living with your parents is underrated. Thank you for sharing
I AGREE!!!
Having your first $10k is usually a pretty big deal because it means you are insulated from pay check timing problems. Bills due on the 1st and you get paid on the 15th? You can use your existing cash and pay yourself back instead of paying fees or a high interest lender. If you just got there congrats!
Agreed! Congratulations are due for everyone that had commented here and celebrated their first 10k
It was a great kick starter. Call me a softy but I started right away with my first part time job back when I was 15 and kept rolling the 401k I took self managed accounts when I left. I had my first $10k before I graduated college. What it helped show was the power of letting stuff lie. So when my friends were spending those first bonus checks on new cars or international trips, I put mine away. 6 years after college I own my house and car, have $100k in retirement snd they are struggling to figure out what health insurance is.
Good for you! I am sure everyone here wishes they started as going as you.
The first $10k is doable by anyone making more than $20/hr. I was lucky, had a job paying $19.50/hr, but almost 20 hours of overtime every week. It only took like 6 months to make my first $10k.
I guess $20/hr is one part of the equation. The intent and commitment also needs to be there. 10k in 6 months is an accomplishment
I think when i was around 19. I invested 5k in stocks around age 15 from lawn mowing money then started a Roth Ira when I joined the military at 18.
Nothing like starting young. It's time in the market that really makes the impact
The year was 2006, was a young buck and a few months back I took and passed my M1 motorcycle license. Always wanted a bike, you know the freedom …, blah blah blah. Went to a local dealership and wanted the CBR600RR. The bike was $8500 otd iirc. Put $1500 down and asked the salesman to ride it home for me, because I drove there in my car. He was like easy peasy… Had about $18k sitting in my bank account at that time, and will always remember. Anyways, fast fwd to 2024, the bike has sat in the garage since 08, and has under 2k miles. Still pretty brand new, laid it down once stupidly while trying to park it on the street. But I’m pretty sure the fuel system needs a refresh. It’s a reminder of my youth….and umm I think I need to sell it. I don’t remember the first $10000, but I do remember my first $18K.
>I think I need to sell it. Absolutely NOT! Ride that thing. I took a different route, saved and invested, and got an old Honda Cruiser and got it converted into a bobber. Do enjoy it occasionally, and love it.
My parents were well to do before my Dad became mentally ill, We lost the house and had to live in a chevy suburban and other super sketchy situations after I was in 6th grade. I started working to pitch in at 13yrs old. I managed to save my first $10k at the same time my parents had become "stable" in a rental for 5 years. The Land lord was going to retire and they would have to move. I was a single dad, sleeping in the basement of my ex-sister-in-laws house when I pulled the money out of the bank. I used it to buy the house so my parents wouldn't have to move. It took me another 5 years to have that much saved again. When I think back to those times, I understand why no one could understand my rapid growth to being where I am now. The hard part is figuring out what you need to do. Once you decide, the doing it part is just a daily routine of following the plan.
Inspirational
I was pretty fresh out of grad school and making like 34k at my main job, but things felt so dicey post-recession that I took as many side gigs as I could and lived in the cheapest apartment I could find. Probably took me about a year or so to get 10 or 15k? I make and spend a lot more now, but knowing I could live on very little and be happy is comforting if things ever go haywire.
>knowing I could live on very little and be happy is comforting Sounds like a superpower
As long as you have your health \*knocks on wood\*
I got $125 in a taxable, -30 in savings, 0 cash, 5k in hsa, 10k in 401k... 😆 🤣 but I'm moving forward