I was waiting over the past few days to hit millionaire status. Our balances got within a few hundreds of dollars and would then quickly retreat away… so close! But finally we did it! We achieved had a millionaire status in net worth~*$500,000*~ last night. I was eager to tell Mrs MORE:
Mr MORE: Hey! Guess what.
Mrs MORE: What?
Mr: Today, we achieved half-a-millionaire status
Mrs: I don’t feel like a half-a-millionaire
Mr: … :/
What a debbie downer. Totally not the answer I was looking for or expecting. And in a weird way, I wasn’t as excited as I thought I would be either. I was making myself act more excited than I actually was. It was kind of a weird feeling given how long and how much mental capacity I devoted achieving this feat. I envisioned feeling a sense of accomplishment, relief and confidence. I felt about a fraction of those emotions. Why was that? Although $500K is a significant accomplishment, it’s probably because $500K is an arbitrary number. It may be because we’re in a historically long bull run that could come crashing down at any moment sending us back to $300K. It could be that as a child comes into our lives it throw our whole plan off significantly and stagnating at $500K. It could be because, like my wife, I don’t really feel like a half-a-millionaire either as we curtail out spending and shuttle significant amounts of income to 401ks, 403bs, etc. :/
I’ve seen it on other blogs as they hit these significant milestones. Others also have expressed the underwhelming emotions they experience. They state it feels like just another day as they reach $10K or $100K or $1 million. Nothing changes.
As you hit these milestones, take some time to pause and reflect on your awesome accomplishment. I know many of my friends, even those with significantly more income may not achieve $500K status any time soon (in some cases, they won’t ever achieve it).
Remember that you had to forgo the classy Mercedes it seemed like everyone was getting. That you wore your work shoes about a year longer than they should’ve been worn. You chose not to get the latest MacBook Pro. Bought the $10 wine instead of $40. And instead you socked $1,500 a month to max out that 401k. Or transferred $458.33 into your Roth account every month. Or shoved all of your credit card cash rewards into your savings to reach that magical emergency cushion number.
What ever sacrifice you made, you did it to make progress against something more important. Congratulate yourself! You’re far ahead of others who don’t have as much self-control. After all, your life isn’t significantly worse off than others, and it will most likely be significantly better off than others. So max out those accounts and set your milestones to pause and reflect and appreciate the journey to financial independence.
-Max OUT!