One of the few things that are long-lived at PFBlog is the $1M goal stated in the tag line.
When I started PFBlog in 2003, my intention is to use the blog to track my progress to become a millionaire by the age of 40. It doesn't take long for me to realize that we can claim a seven-figure asset much earlier with diligent savings and financial planning. Therefore, in 2005, I changed the goal to break the million-dollar mark by 36.
Now you may say one million dollars is no longer enough to support a comfortable retirement, but it is still an attractive milestone, isn't it?
So after a long hiatus in my blogging activity, a quick snapshot assessment of where we are:
To start off, we still ended the year with just over $800,000 in assets. In a few months, I'll turn 33, so we still have about three years to add the final 200 grand to our coffer.
In these uncertain times, we will still count on the one time-tested rule of getting financial prosperity: savings. Assuming my job is still safe -- a good call considering that companies will always need capable (although high-paying) controllers to cut cost in this environment -- that's an almost guaranteed $100+k annual savings after paying all bills and taxes.
So if we play it safe by converting all our portfolio to cash, we will almost certainly top $1M in two years. In fact, if we try this plain-vanilla way at the end of 2007 (when we had close to $900k in assets), we would be a millionaire by now.
No cries over spilled milk, but the question of the day: should I play it safe or should I take risks?
