Net worth hit $900K last week!  

The value of our home had stagnated for quite a while.  People are strongly favoring smaller homes.  But...  a house on the street behind ours just sold for $570K, or about +$70K more than I have our home valued at.  That seems to have knocked things loose from a very long stagnation.

For now, just going to hope to end the year with $900K+ net worth, and will leave our home valuation as is.  If some more homes sell in that range, I might bump things up to $950K (when I increase home value by $50K).  Probably a 2021 adjustment.

If I ever had a timeline goal for hitting $1 mil, I don't remember what it might have been.  But I'd say that age 45 is shaping up to be a realistic goal.  

I also came across some financial projections that I made a while ago.

In 2011 I did a 10-year financial projection.  I don't remember why, but I made two financial projections.  One of them presumed that we stopped saving.  I think I was just fascinated by the power of compounding.  Probably that, and just planning for a worst case scenario.

2021 projection (with savings): $800,000 Net Worth

2021 projection (stop saving) $470,000 Net Worth

In either scenario, we'd be in good shape. 

In 2014 I revised my projection.  It was a 2022 Projection, updated for my goal to have $500K in retirement by age 45.  I'd say that was an aggressive goal, but the stock market has humored us.

2022 projection (with savings): $880,000 Net Worth**

2022 projection (stop saving) $625,000 Net Worth

**I made a note on this projection that we would need to keep a $100K mortgage to meet the $500K retirement goal.  For now, retirement savings is the bigger financial priority.

The 2022 projection is fairly spot on.  Getting close on the retirement #s, but not quite there yet.  We've been able to exceed the 2022 net worth projection (in 2020) due to home values exceeding my conservative estimate.

I decided to do a new 10-year projection, out of curiosity:

2030 projection (with savings): $1.5 Mil Net Worth

2030 projection (stop saving) $1.2 Mil Net Worth

I just went with a more conservative investment return, and the first thing that popped out was $1 mil (retirement), which is my 'financial independence' goal.  What is fascinating about that was I think I kind of just didn't want to know, as we face college years and drawing down some assets.  In the end, current retirement contributions and a fairly conservative investment return should get us there.  The $1.5 mil figure above did include spending down assets for college.  It presumed that I just did the minimum 5% for 401K match and that we maxed out our IRAs ($12K per year).  That works out to about 22% of our income going to retirement; I personally do count employer match in our retirement contribution %.

$1.5 Mil projection = $1 Mil in retirement + $100K cash/investments + paid-for home (after downsize).

This was a reminder to really sit down and do the big picture math when we make those final college decisions.  It's probably a necessary step in making those decisions.  Is just not something I had done to this point.

I think mostly we already kind of know these things.  (But... doing the math is a still an important exercise).  I expect this is why I've been thinking that MH is probably going to just retire if his job is killed by the pandemic.  Is nothing we have discussed, but it just feels like it's time.  It's not like he would turn down an opportunity or a good full-time job.  But...  I just don't think we are really going to see the point of looking for another job. I should mention that I did not include MH's income in any of these projections.  It's more than just the stock market, the extra income has also helped us meet some more aggressive financial goals.