Who wants to be a millionaire

[pancake syrup]

My goal is to be a millionaire...anyone else with me? Not by age 80 but by age 40. What are your opinions/advice on reaching that goal given my current stats?

Age - 33
Single but looking to be married within a year
Income - $68,000
Mortgage - Owe $108,000
Other debts - $0
Total Net Worth - $285,000
- Equity in Home - $85,000
- Emergency Fund/Cash - $21,000
- Retirement - $175,000 or so

[JoeP]

My goal is to be a millionaire...anyone else with me? Not by age 80 but by age 40. What are your opinions/advice on reaching that goal given my current stats?

Age - 33
Single but looking to be married within a year
Income - $68,000
Mortgage - Owe $108,000
Other debts - $0
Total Net Worth - $285,000
- Equity in Home - $85,000
- Emergency Fund/Cash - $21,000
- Retirement - $175,000 or so

I highlighted a big variable!

Good to have a goal. I'd continue avoiding debt (again, marriage can make you incur old debt and newer debt) and think long term. Taking undue risks at 7 years from your age goal can prove costly. How long until your house is paid off?

[disneysteve]

My goal is to be a millionaire...anyone else with me? Not by age 80 but by age 40. What are your opinions/advice on reaching that goal given my current stats?

Age - 33
Single but looking to be married within a year
Income - $68,000
Mortgage - Owe $108,000
Other debts - $0
Total Net Worth - $285,000
- Equity in Home - $85,000
- Emergency Fund/Cash - $21,000
- Retirement - $175,000 or so

I think going from a net worth of 285K to $1 million in 7 years on a 68K income isn't very realistic. If you saved 100% of your gross income (impossible of course but just to play) and your portfolio earned 7% annually, in 7 years you'd have $1,076,000.

Since you can't save 100% of income, let's say you can save 20%. That would put you at about 587K in 7 years. Certainly not bad but not $1 million either.

Now since you plan to be married within a year, that could change the answer to the question. How much does your partner earn? Does she (I'm assuming you are male) have any debt? What does her portfolio look like now?

[pancake syrup]

I highlighted a big variable!

Good to have a goal. I'd continue avoiding debt (again, marriage can make you incur old debt and newer debt) and think long term. Taking undue risks at 7 years from your age goal can prove costly. How long until your house is paid off?

I just bought the house in January 2013. It's a 15 year loan and I am currently paying $100 extra per month.

The marriage is a big variable! She has about $20,000 in debt that I would pay off once married and use whatever income she has as bonus money to pay off the house early and live off of my income. There is no telling how much she will make. She wants to pursue her doctorate which would only bring an extra $14,000 per yr for three years but it's a free ride so she would have no extra debt in getting her doctorate. After that, she would probably teach some college classes but not full time and be a mom.

[pancake syrup]

I think going from a net worth of 285K to $1 million in 7 years on a 68K income isn't very realistic. If you saved 100% of your gross income (impossible of course but just to play) and your portfolio earned 7% annually, in 7 years you'd have $1,076,000.

Since you can't save 100% of income, let's say you can save 20%. That would put you at about 587K in 7 years. Certainly not bad but not $1 million either.

Now since you plan to be married within a year, that could change the answer to the question. How much does your partner earn? Does she (I'm assuming you are male) have any debt? What does her portfolio look like now?

Thanks for the math. The variable is using whatever income she may have to go towards paying off the house. It is an unknown variable. She could make $0(stay at home mom), $14,000 or $45,000..just depends but I'm not going to press her..I want her to be happy whether I reach $1MM at 40 or not.

[phantom]

Do you have any sort of plan for reaching your goal? Unless you have a pretty good plan, I think being a millionaire by age 40 is likely beyond your reach. Exactly how difficult such a goal is depends largely on your definition of millionaire though. Do you want a million in assets, a million in net worth, a million in assets not counting your house, or something else? It's your goal, so you can define it however you like. But, your ability to do it is going to depend on your definition.

Like JoeP said, who you marry and what that person brings to you marriage will be a huge factor. But, assuming for a moment, you want a million in net worth and are just going to ignore whatever liabilities or assets your spouse adds, you'd have to add more than $100,000/year to what you have now. Obviously, as long as you only make $68,000/year, you can't do that by just saving like crazy. You would need to do some combination of increasing your income, finding some stellar investments, and saving like crazy.

[jpg7n16]

My goal is to be a millionaire...anyone else with me? Not by age 80 but by age 40.

And why would being a millionaire be important to you?

[disneysteve]

And why would being a millionaire be important to you?

Being a millionaire isn't particularly important to me. Being a multi-millionaire is important however because that's what it will take for us to be able to retire. As per the recent net worth thread, I'm already over $800,000 so well on our way to a million within the next few years but that is far below what we'll need to retire. A million dollars doesn't buy what it used to.

[bjl584]

I'm sure that I will be a millionaire sooner rather than later, but as Steve said it won't be enough.

I figure $2.5 to $3 million, and I can give my 2 week notice at work.

[MonkeyMama]

Based on the information you have given us, it will be virtually impossible to become a millionaire by age 40.

I am not sure I agree with this assessment. If you aren't planning to earn any additional income, then sure, maybe impossible. There are certainly many things you can do to increase income and lower expenses.

As others have mentioned, you of course need a plan.

Have you read the Mr/ Money Mustache blog? Just google it - if you have not heard of it you will find it interesting.

[snafu]

The information you offer leads me to believe you will be lowering net worth not increasing it. If you've your emergency fund totally cash it suggest you are not a risk taker which could be one way to reach the millionaire status you desire. Present day faculty are not paid the value of their educational credentials that other careers receive. You've doubled down Fiance asset since she has $ 22K SL and you plan she will be a SAHM.

What are you currently holding in your retirement plan? What is your risk tolerance? Could you sleep at night with Mutual Funds investing primarily in emerging countries, tech and medical? There is potential as a ten bagger there but huge risk too.

[NetSkyBlue]

That's an interesting blog, thanks for posting MonkeyMama. I'd never heard of that one.

[MonkeyMama]

That's an interesting blog, thanks for posting MonkeyMama. I'd never heard of that one.

Then apparently I have not been talking it up enough.

[mrpaseo]

My goal is to be a millionaire...anyone else with me? Not by age 80 but by age 40. What are your opinions/advice on reaching that goal given my current stats?

Age - 33
Single but looking to be married within a year
Income - $68,000
Mortgage - Owe $108,000
Other debts - $0
Total Net Worth - $285,000
- Equity in Home - $85,000
- Emergency Fund/Cash - $21,000
- Retirement - $175,000 or so

Hmmmm....

Given the variables of age, goal age, and Retirement current balance, you would have to save $6,255 per month earning an average of 7.5% to meet your $1M goal.

That's $75,060 per year just in investments.

Do you have excel? If you do I can e-mail you a workbook that I put together to figure out how long it would take to make a million. The input you will need is starting balance, Monthly planned savings, the APR% that you are planning on making, your retirement age, and your current age.

I like to use the workbook to do "What if" scenarios such as, "What if I saved $250 a month", "What if I save $350 a month". It's fun to see the numbers and figure out a way to meet your goals.

Let me know.

[disneysteve]

There are also various "millionaire calculators" online.

Here's one.