This will be a short and sweet post. I can’t believe the year is halfway over and obviously I’ve been slacking with my posts. But it is the halfway mark and I think I would regret not reflecting on this momentous event. I officially hit $500k net worth!

The market has just been absolutely crazy. My net worth increased by over $100k in just six months which is just mind-blowing. Of this increase, market gain accounted for half of that!

I started 2024 this 🤌 close to hitting $400k but not quite hitting it yet. I would never imagine in my wildest dream that 6 months later I would have a $100k gain.

The icing on the cake is I saw my net worth hit $500k while I was on vacation! Nothing like laying in your hotel room after witnessing the wonders of Machu Picchu and checking your account (habit at this point) and seeing your money work for you while you’re doing absolutely nothing!

I’ve reflected over hitting positive net worth after climbing out of six-figured debt. I’ve also done a more in-depth reflection on my road to $100k and then $300k. I thought about doing the same for this milestone, but to be honest after that first $100k, things really did start going on auto-pilot. I’m continuing to max my retirement accounts and continuing to add into my brokerage account every month. Other than that, I’ve let the power of compound interest take care of the heavy lifting!

What’s Next?

I feel very much at a crossroads right now. To put it into perspective, $500k used to be my FI number! There was a time during the COVID years when my spending hovered around the $20k mark, not counting my student loans. I remember thinking, once I pay off these student loans I’ll be able to FIRE with $500k! Oh how naive, little old me was.

Since then I’ve paid off my student loans, but have gained a whole new monster called mortgage! And my spending has doubled which makes sense as COVID lockdown spending is not exactly a good representation of normal years (duh!) and just overall lifestyle creep has taken over.

I had a hard time accepting that before, but I’ve come to terms that I should enjoy my life as much as possible now rather than trying to save to some arbitrary number when life is never a guarantee. Morbid, I know but I say that with the best intention. 

This leads perfectly into my newest conundrum. I’m completely burned out at work. I’m happy with my current WFH position, I’m happy with my boss and coworkers, the pay is good, and to be honest, the work is not too bad on most days. I just can’t help but not want to work. 

Most days, I feel like a fraud when I see my coworker who was hired into the same position at the same time as me continuing to put herself out there, adding extra (unnecessary, in my opinion) burden on herself in an attempt to climb the corporate ladder while I’m simply doing the bare minimum of my required job description and nothing more.

I keep debating if I should quit and just take a year sabbatical. I truly don’t care for career advancement so I’m not too concerned about this move “taking me back” career-wise. 

I am, however, concerned about losing this comfortable position I’m in. This is by far the best job I’ve had and realistically I don’t think I’ll be able to have my position back if I quit then decide to come back. 

So do I hold out a couple of years staying in the job and maybe push for some 3-week vacations to get a feel for that “slow travel” experience I’ve been wanting? 

Or should I just say f*** it and take off for a year and see if this is truly what I want? I definitely think it’s wise to do some kind of a test run to see if early retirement or nomadic lifestyle that I’ve dreamed of is all it’s cracked up to be.