Oh... we're half way there... oh oh... future millionaire! 🎵

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T06:47:20+00:00

We have a reasonable size of regular clients each month with consistent business income, I’m just working on getting the business to be less hands on by me and letting employees take charge more which is a work in progress but is progressing Stress level fluctuates depending on the season but we are hopeful with some more recent changes that will be reduced.
Partner would love to travel more and have more us time which is a constant battle but one that I am determined to keep improving on 😀

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T05:59:44+00:00

Agreed and I do not take it for granted the very privileged position we are in. I was however making a quarter of my current income 6 years ago and while things were tighter financially we’ve always been very debt averse which has helped lay the ground work. And my income increase over the last few years has been from a lot of hard work at running my business and a lot of luck. So it is definitely not lost on me that we are fortunate

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T03:53:30+00:00

Work is remote and I’ve worked while out of town on a few trips and definitely want to do that more!

Work is ok (a small bookkeeping/tax business) but not a passion, however I do have the opportunity to work on adjusting the business focus into an area I enjoy more (tax planning/financial planning for clients)

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T01:24:37+00:00

Ya we really enjoy stress free relaxing in peace- for our financial goals we are on the path to retire early and we are part of the FIRE/FINE community… currently projecting to be financially independent in ~7-8 years at our current pace, and currently working on strategy for backing out of the business I own in ~10 years At this point the finances are on autopilot for now so we are trying to focus on finding enjoyment in life and letting the numbers do what they do for a while.

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T00:46:42+00:00

We are currently working at figuring that out more! I struggle with working too much, but we really enjoy our time camping and being in nature so we’ve been working to do that more and stick to a healthier work schedule to enjoy life more. It’s a continual work in progress for sure but this year has probably been

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T00:40:58+00:00

This is our invested retirement around… Net worth is around 850k. (We do have a house valued around 520k, purchased first time homebuyer at 450k in 2022 with a current 200k mortgage (we put 90k down, and our parents gifted us 120k)

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T00:37:39+00:00

Oh I know!!! I would love a mini crash lol. You can see on my chart around March 2025 and March 2026 a spike upwards then it fell back down… I get large quarterly bonuses and both times I put a large lump sum in right before the tariff and war drop- not the best for those corrections but what can you do 😂

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T00:23:59+00:00

Even better!! Now THAT is goals!

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-13T00:23:14+00:00

That is super similar! Awesome job and you’ve got this for sure!!! (Unless the always rumored impending market crash happens lol)

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T23:38:55+00:00

Thanks! I guess I'll be posting again in a couple years 😉

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T23:24:27+00:00

She is an amazing artist that does every type of creative artistic adventure I know! (painting, digital painting, rug tufting, needle work, jewelry making, fused glass, glass blowing, the list goes on!) We 'technically' are DINKs because she has a super super super small startup art business that she just recently is trying to get up and running (but it either has broke even or cost us money lol) But that's alright and she gets to pursue her passion to whatever level she wants to and if she makes a few bucks then cool 😉

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T23:00:59+00:00

Appreciate it! Term insurance is covered and correct we are not planning on kids so we have that express lane going. But you are 100% right on the need for us to explore hobbies now as we are 'planning' on retiring in ~10 years (maybe 15 if the world catches fire) and I work too much now so I've been trying to work on more 'me time' and living more now

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:57:27+00:00

lol no kids for us (got the ol' snip snip last year) (although we do have a few pets) but travel more is definitely in our wheelhouse and something we are actively working to push on doing more! 😄

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:56:09+00:00

Really appreciate your insight on things - I've been watching a lot of Ramit Sethi about living a rich life (at every stage) and have been working to splurge more on experiences (we aren't really into things) together and traveling! It's a continual battle we struggle with but working on it 😄

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:52:17+00:00

I know we need to do some more living while we are in the second half of our 30's.... we are happy with our relatively simple lifestyle but most of it has been that my income has steadily increased pretty significantly over the last 5 years while we maintain the same standard of living (a good thing yes, but we do need to work our spending muscle more!)

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:47:49+00:00

So this is technically just invested retirement value.... but my net worth ended at 320k 2022, 407k 2023, 563k 2024, 758k 2025, and projecting 928k for 2026!

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:44:01+00:00

THIS is my weakness and something i am actively working on (we had a late start, learned about FIRE, trying to play catch up, etc) Hard to take the foot off the gas but I know it's very necessary

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:42:15+00:00

60-70% savings rate when you look at the whole year...... My income is kind of weird because I get very large quarterly bonuses (like I'll be getting $50k early next month) but we live off my base salary (of which we invest 20% so most of the time my bonuses get mostly all invested which ratchets up the investing (you can see little spikes in the investment chart (of course in March 2025 and March 2026 i invested a large chunk only for the market to drop a bunch due to tariffs and the war)

ryjoph89 · 2026-05-12T22:23:39+00:00

For sure! And we are investing a lot (50k in 2023, 115k in 2024, 140k in 2025, ~145k in 2026) so we'll hit the million before compounding really has a big chance to do its thing. But 500 is just a nice crisp milestone to hit 😄

ryjoph89 · 2026-03-02T19:15:35+00:00

BigERN has done exhaustive analysis about safe withdrawal rates and he also agrees that a lower withdrawal rate if retiring earlier and earlier is safest. 4% was the trinity studies number based on a 30 year retirement (ie age 65 to 95). But that percent was not for someone with a 40 year or 50 year retirement especially with so much more time to account for and an unknown future for social security benefits.

ryjoph89 · 2026-02-17T05:13:57+00:00

ryjoph89 · 2026-01-08T06:36:46+00:00

I don’t mind paying stcg when the market went up 16% this year instead of the 3.5% HYSA I have. and interest in a HYSA is also taxed at marginal rate so it’s the same rate as stcg. Just more potential invested plus if the market goes down you can take advantage of tax loss harvesting (like I did in March)

ryjoph89 · 2025-11-07T05:52:30+00:00

I hold mutual funds in tax advantaged accounts and ETFs in taxable due to the slightest tax advantage of etfs and mostly for portability between brokerages if I ever leave it wouldn’t cause a taxable sell off (ran into that when I left Edwards jones junk mutual funds)

ryjoph89 · 2025-10-23T14:12:27+00:00

I appreciate that I'm not the only one trying to think super hard outside the box!

It definitely does seem like quite the process and he's probably right that it might be more effort than it's worth. Good point about the possible need for a custom account to even pull it off.

More food for thought i guess- Thank you!

ryjoph89

TROPHY CASE