Keeping finances on track
After two years, we are $235,000 wealthier than when I left my job. Around $120,000 of that net worth boost came from Mrs. Root of Good’s salary since she continued working even after we reached financial independence (more on that decision below).The other $100,000+ of net worth growth came from investment gains in excess of our annual spending. In other words, even if Mrs. RoG didn’t work at all these past two years, we would still be $100,000 richer today than when I quit working. That’s the true test of how well our early retirement financial plan worked these past two years.
As I write this, we just suffered through one of the worst weeks in recent stock market history. Our net worth dropped almost $100,000 over the past two weeks. Are we worried? Not yet. I don’t think we will run out of money in early retirement, so these fluctuations, while volatile, aren’t that scary.
via Celebrating Two Years of Early Retirement | Root of Good.
2 Comments
MrFireStation · August 31, 2015 at 7:37 pm
I just found your blog and this post. Great to see that you are doing so well two years after early retirement. We are seven months from taking the plunge – just before turning 50 years old. We feel good about the size of our nest egg, but it would be great to find ourselves in your situation in a couple years. What was the primary driver of the $100K benefit – better investment returns or lower than expected spending?
TFF Consulting · September 15, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Unfortunately that was not my story, but a quote from the article at Root Of Good. Check them out, great stuff.