200k+ @ 21! wanted to share with someone :)
hi! i just recently crossed the milestone of 200k and wanted to share because it felt like something i’ve been working towards forever. i’ve been maxing out money in every vehicle where possible: HSA, 401k, IRA, personal brokerage, and HYSA. i live pretty frugally, the only big expenses i’ve had are recent grad trips with friends i won’t see for a while/gifts for my family.
i’ve been working so hard for as long as i can remember and i finally feel a semblance of financial safety. i graduated college @ 20 with an engineering degree (which was only possible bc of all the community college classes i took in high school - highly recommend) and had 70k$ in savings from working 2 jobs and having a small side business. my parents paid for my college and i can’t thank them enough or express how lucky i was that they did that for me, but they aren’t so well off as to tank that cost without it affecting them and i could tell. i’m getting paid >200k$ now and am on track for some quick promotions (affirmed by my manager!) and hopefully will be making 300-500k$ soon. it’s been rly so amazing to see them happy that i’m able to take care of myself and live out the opportunity they created for me :D
the industry i work in has been pretty unstable w tons of layoffs and i feel 0 sense of purpose day to day, but i feel like i’m pretty good at what i do and i’m hoping i can just last long enough to hit my FIRE goals. i love learning about history, social organization, physics, math, biology, pretty much any subject and i have a whole list of books and projects i want to get to that i’m slowly working through + have as my retirement to-do list.