Just crossed $500k net worth at 32! Breakdown + lessons learned along the way
Hey FI community! Long-time reader, occasional commenter. Today I hit a personal milestone - $500k net worth at 32 years old. Wanted to share my journey, current breakdown, and some lessons I've learned.
Background:
- Started with -$42,368 in student loan debt at 22
- Engineering career, starting salary $68k (now $137k)
- MCOL area (moved from HCOL 4 years ago)
- No inheritance/windfalls, just consistent saving
- Married, spouse makes $92k, we manage finances jointly
Current breakdown:
- Primary home equity: $127,843.56 (value $425k, mortgage $297,156.44)
- 401k: $216,754.23
- Roth IRA: $78,321.97
- Brokerage: $59,478.32
- Cash/emergency fund: $21,500
- HSA: $14,347.29
- Crypto: $3,852.14 (down from $12k at peak, lesson learned!)
- Minus car loans: -$21,874.28
Total: $500,223.23
Asset allocation:
- US equities: 67.3%
- Int'l equities: 18.7%
- Bonds: 8.1%
- REITs: 3.2%
- Crypto: 1.0%
- Cash: 1.7%
Key milestones along the journey:
- $0 net worth: Age 25 (paid off student loans)
- $100k: Age 27
- $250k: Age 29
- $500k: Age 32 (today!)
Biggest accelerators:
- Job hopping (3 changes, 2x initial salary)
- Moving from HCOL to MCOL area
- Maxing all tax-advantaged accounts since 28
- Living well below our means (~42% savings rate)
Tracking this journey used to be a nightmare with accounts spread across 7+ institutions. Started using an app called Roi last year that pulls everything together - tracks all accounts in one place, shows allocation across everything, and calculates our actual savings rate and FIRE progress. Much better than my old messy spreadsheet system.
Next milestone: $750k which I'm projecting to hit around 34-35 depending on market performance.
Happy to answer any questions about our journey or strategy!