Challenge "Magic number"

There are many nice blogs by physicians who set as their goal to retire early from their medical carriers.  

I do have a family history of "early" retirements: my mother retired with 55 and father with 60. When they retired they found some new things to do for themselves. My father started a new business and my mother got a lot of chickens, turkeys and geese to keep herself busy. 
I don't have any particular plans yet. 


I am not in a hurry to retire and to retire early is not my goal. I like my work. After I moved to the place where I live now from a very very cold place, the weather here makes me feel like I am on vacation almost every day. When I go on vacation, it is like I am taking vacation from my vacation. 


My main motivation to reach that magic number of $3,000,000 is just to finally feel safe, because I grew up very poor and that "post-traumatic stress syndrome" of growing up very poor still doesn't let me go.  


In savings, like in other things I like to underpromice and to overachieve.
Of course I will try to overachieve here in this challenge. 

I don't know when I reach the magic number of $3,000,000 or even if I ever reach it. But I every month I will make small steps toward my goal.











    

Rules of 72, 114 and 144

Conservative estimates of 1% per year for returns of my investments are really very conservative. I am sure they are not realistic, in a good way.

After maxing out all tax advantaged options I will have to start taxed investment accounts.


It is interesting to make some estimates for different rates of return, which are more realistic than 1%.

I found some "rules"  for quick estimates of approximate calculations.

Rule of 72

1) Estimate of time to double your money based on growth rate.
Example:
Expected growth rate: 10% per year
Time to double your money: 72/10=7.2 years.

2) Estimate of needed growth rate for purpose of doubling your money
Example:
Targeted time for doubling money: 5 years
Needed yearly growth rate: 72/5=14.4%


Rule of 114  

1) Estimate of time to triple your money based on growth rate.
Example:
Expected growth rate: 10% per year
Time to triple your money: 114/10=11.4 years.

2) Estimate of needed growth rate for purpose of tripling your money
Example:
Targeted time for tripling money: 5 years
Needed yearly growth rate: 114/5=22.8%


Rule of 144  

1) Estimate of time to quadruple your money based on growth rate.
Example:
Expected growth rate: 10% per year
Time to quadruple your money: 144/10=14.4 years.

2) Estimate of needed growth rate for purpose of quadrupling your money.
Example:
Targeted time for quadrupling money: 5 years
Needed yearly growth rate: 144/5=28.8%


Using those rules I see that with my very conservative estimates of 1% growth I will not go far.

My own conservative example:
Growth rate 1%
Time to double the money: 72/1=72 years, very long time.
If I can get at least 5% yearly growth in my "challenge" account that will double the money in 14.4 years. 





 

What to do after you maxed out all tax advantaged opportunities?

After I maxed out all tax advantaged options, there is nothing else left for me then to open a taxable investments account.

What taxes would I pay on investments in a taxable account?

A taxable account is funded with post-tax money.
The interest, dividends and capital gains are taxed every year. 

1. Interest
It is taxed at ordinary income tax rate according to you tax bracket.


2. Capital gains and Qualified Dividends (2018)
Ordinary dividends and short term capital gains are taxed at ordinary income tax rate.

Qualified dividends  and long term capital gains are taxed at reduced rates: 

There is an additional 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (or Medical Surcharge Tax) for capital gains, and dividends.
It applies to modified adjusted gross incomes exceeding $200,000 for singles and $250,000 married filing jointly.  



I am thinking of opening a separate "challenge" account in which I will try to learn how with certainty to achieve more than 1% yearly returns on my own. In this account I will not use indexing. 
Majority of my investments is in index funds at this time. Indexing is supposed to make more than 1% returns per year with relatively high certainty. 
The "challenge" account will be for trying it on my own. I will add a link to it here as soon as I start with that.