by nevion03
As the title states….
I’ve been a long time lurker and just crunched the numbers tonight and wanted to share. I am so happy. I did it. Brings tears to my eyes.
I’m 32, African American and a single mom of 1 teenager. I was born and raised in a true “hood”, long ago, before gentrification came along. My parents were a part of the 80s crack epidemic that wiped out many families, especially African American families. I ended up in foster care and remained there my entire childhood until being emancipated and left to fend for myself in the streets of NYC at 15 years old in the early 2000s. I was a homeless and pregnant teen and immediately became a single mom.
Through this turmoil and the crippling depression and feeling of hopelessness that came along with the “humble beginnings” of my life, I was able to graduate school early, find a job, saved just enough money to go to a trade school (it was $700 back then and every single dime that I had.) Through HARD work and insane grit and perseverance, I obtained all of my certifications and began my career at age 19. I’ve never looked back.
I discovered the FIRE and personal finance community nearly 3 years ago and its been a God send. I am rewriting my families wealth tree and I couldn’t be prouder.
I am navigating the world solo (no biological family besides my son) yet I’ve found the will to succeed, despite all of the trials, tribulations and abandonments.
At 12:15am on 7/16/19, 32 years of age, 13 years into my career, 1 teen son, and a LOT OF PRAYERS along the way….later.. my NET WORTH is $103,408!
A MIXTURE of 457, 457 Roth, 401K, 529, smaller investment portfolio and pension.
I will be retiring at age 45 with a full pension and God willing a MILLION DOLLAR portfolio.
This is the most I’m willing to share. Please don’t nit-pick, pry more or be passive aggressive. Just wanted to inspire someone somewhere who may not have as many or ANY resources to succeed.
Long Story Short: No one thought I’d make it out from under the shitty hand I was dealt. I did and just surpassed a $100K Net Worth!
EDIT #1: Some of you are super triggered. LOL. I don’t see this type of responses on other more “traditional” postings. Y’all do know I have thick skin and come from a place where nightmares are made of…right?! I also have worked in a very AGGRESSIVE fast pace career interacting with strangers during their absolute worst moments for 13 yrs +…. read: they are with the shxts and so am I…. LOL….you do know your typed “insults” don’t hurt…right?!
EDIT #2: If I did not a THING else I would STILL be retiring with a FULL PENSION of nearly 50K + health insurance. Yes, at age 45. 25 years of service and that’s it. Not 25 years of service + age requirement.
EDIT #3: Yes, a 1 million dollar portfolio is lofty for some and not lofty for others. For me, it’s just an idealistic number…really…
EDIT #4: 20-30K + investments I’ll continue to have yearly for the next 14 years. I am currently at 26K invested this year and we are only in July. I am nearly 3 years in to saving this aggressively at 50%+ (had it at nearly 70% for months and just lowered my percentages. It’s not a race.)
EDIT #4: I am a Paramedic. I also clean apartments as a side gig. My current career has no overtime cap. I have coworkers making 100% OVER their salary. Last I checked my percentage I was around 40 I think. Again, its only July.
EDIT #5: I live on 30K in NYC (by choice: frugal minimalist). I invest ALL OF THE REST. I do NOT have to invest this aggressively. God covered me and I made a great choice in trade/career and the medical field knows no recession especially in NYC. I am BLACK AND PROUD of what I am doing, no plans to stop. Thank you for ALL the comments. Positive, neutral and negative. I learned a long time ago that SUCCESS can’t be denied. I will surely be back with updates. I tried to respond to everyone over the past few hours. Sorry for those I’ve missed. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN
EDIT #6: WAKANDA FOREVER!!!!!!!!
EDIT #7: I’m on IG same handle as my screen name in my profile. Not this one. I can’t place it in the post. Sorry I didn’t realize that broke a rule. Just wanted to extend more information of my journey and how I got here to those who are curious/disbelief/appreciative. Thanks again for this platform and subreddit.