The White Coat Investor recently wrote an article about the financial milestones one should celebrate. Reaching net worth zero is milestone #1 on his list of 14 worth celebrating. So yep, you read that right and I'm proud of it! I no longer have a negative net worth. It took me about 2 years out of residency to reach this: I finished residency in June 2015 with a net worth of negative $207K which included about $210K in student loans. I finished 2016 with a NW of – $92K. Now I am at $0! I still have student loans but my retirement accounts + cash savings now equal my student loans. I made a conscious decision to not delay retirement savings due to my extra late start to attending hood at age 38. I could not afford not to start building up my nest egg to pay off my student loan debt quickly. Here are some of the other milestones I have reached: # 5 – Retirement Portfolio of $100K I reached this earlier this year. It does feel good to see 6 figures in them. Especially when your student loan debt is still 6 figures. # 7 – Buy Your First New Car With Cash Sort of. When I moved back to NYC from California, my parents let me take over a lease which had 1.5 years left. That lease ended last December. M happened to have a car that he no longer needed for his work commute. He still owed about $10,000 on it. I paid it off and now I drive it to work. Win/win. To complicate things even further, M & I have just recently considered our finances combined. We work with a financial planner and we plan (and she guides us) as if we are married. So, from now on, I will discuss our combined finances. In that case, we have achieved: # 6 – $500K Net Worth Our combined NW just passed $500K earlier this year. This is largely due to equity in his condo. M likes to joke he is the one keeping our NW positive. True for now ;). Although we aren't married, we have signed paperwork (wills, etc) that essentially bind us together. We also operate as a family now with Eggy due soon. What milestones have you reached this year? Make sure you celebrate them!]]>
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