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Earlier this year my wife and I paid off both of our cars about 2 years early, which freed up a ton of cash per month that we've been dumping into an emergency fund. It felt great to have paid-off cars, and made me not want to ever have a car payment again. About a month ago, my wife was hit by a guy who ran off but was eventually caught, but going through the cops and his insurance has been quite a process. We've actually used the time to try out being a 1-car family, which I always thought was a nice idea but not really possible for us. It's actually gone so well that I think we'll continue being a 1-car family even after the accident is dealt with. Since paying off our cars, we've built up our emergency fund to about 4 months worth of expenses, and it feels so freeing to have that cushion in case anything ever happened to our jobs. I think the best thing we did to our budget was to cut to the bare minimums while paying off credit card debt a few years ago, then only having our lifestyle increase enough to not make us stressed out about each budget line. We're at a point where we spend a little more than is necessary on things like food, but still keep it far under where we used to be before we had a budget at all. Because of this, we actually stick to the budget and don't hate doing it, but still make progress towards our financial goals.
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Jul 10, 2012 12:24
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 15:24 |
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My wife and I just paid off the last of our student loans, which means we are now completely, 100% debt free! Feels good man.
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Mar 16, 2013 23:28
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Recent market gains and consistent roth maxing and 401k contributions means that we've hit $100k in our retirement accounts at age 30/31. It's nice to hit these milestones, since when we started retirement savings almost exactly 5 years ago, $100k seemed like such a long way off. I'd like to increase our retirement savings rate in the nearish future, but we've been trying to balance retirement with paying off student loans, car loans, credit card debt, personal loans, and saving for a house, so we're good with where we're at. Everything's pretty much on autopilot nowadays, but I like to see the progress over time and compare it to where we were before to see the fruits of our labor.
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Apr 27, 2015 03:02
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My wife and I just hit $500k net worth, which caused me to go back and look at the dates of previous net worth milestones: ??/2010 - $0 11/2013 - $100k 03/2016 - $200k 02/2018 - $300k 08/2020 - $400k 03/2021 - $500k This milestone caused me to tell my wife the story of how before we were married, I distinctly remember her showing me her budget for herself because she had 2 jobs and had to make sure to be able to pay her rent. I had never made a budget and I just sort of spent whatever I had (and more, on credit card), but it was a wake up call that I should actually make a budget and get my poo poo together. She said she vaguely remembers that time period, but didn't realize that she sparked my interest in personal finance. This turning point led to us paying off credit card debt, paying off student loans, paying off car loans, and starting retirement accounts and emergency funds. It's also crazy how the milestones accelerate. I always knew that it did, but sometimes it's cool to take a step back and see it in action.
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Mar 13, 2021 16:42
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