Milestones

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I'm not going to lie -- I'm proud of these accomplishments.  But I'm not sharing these to brag . I'm sharing them to illustrate both the effectiveness of my methods and to give some examples of what good financial habits can achieve.

• College loans paid off at age 26
• Condo purchased at age 28
• Wedding (self-funded) and 50% down payment on house at age 36
• Birth of son and start of his 529 college fund at age 38
• Birth of daughter and start of her 529 college fund at age 39
• Brief moment of panic at how I'm going to save enough for my kids' college also at age 39 (followed by a few deep breaths and sharpening my pencil at age 39)
• 401k target milestone achieved at age 46; Planning for stretch retirement goals started!

And here are a few of the things my wife and I are planning for financially right now:

• Continue funding the 529 plans with goals of minimizing student loans for our kids
• After college is funded, we plan to pay off the rest of our mortgage
• Continue funding our 401k/403b accounts at maximum rates to plan for an amazing retirement

A note on privilege and advantages

I recognize that as a white male growing up in the US with supportive middle class parents, that is a set of  huge advantages when achieving my financial goals.  I do not believe in any self-delusions that I am completely "self-made".  I will however say that I always made choices where I attempted to be self-sufficient  (e.g. I funded my own college education with scholarships, a loan I took out myself, and by working throughout high school and college).   I endeavored to not squander my advantages and to make the best of what I had.

Again, I only share this to point out that  I achieved the milestones I mentioned above through work and using what I had learned about personal finance and investing. I put that knowledge and experience to work when coaching my clients.