Steady Wealth Project

A little bit of context up front. I’m 31, single, and I work in corporate strategy.

Sharing real numbers can be genuinely helpful—especially when you’re not selling a course or pretending the path to financial independence is exciting every day.

In December 2025, my net worth is about $700,000. I make roughly $150k per year, and my loose target for financial independence is around $1.5M (give or take).

This post is simply a snapshot of where I am today—and what I’m invested in.

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Net Worth Breakdown

Here’s the simple breakdown, rounded:

• Checking cash: $7k
• Brokerage cash & money market: $144k
• Traditional IRA: $156k
• 401(k): $142k
• Roth IRA: $122k
• Real estate bond: $79k
• HSA (combined): $39k
• Truck (paid off, estimated value): $19k

I currently rent and do not own a home. I effectively have no debt at the moment.

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My Timeline (The Milestones Do Speed Up)

Here’s when I crossed each $100k milestone, plus how long it took to reach the next one:

• $100k: October 2019
  → ~17 months to $200k
• $200k: March 2021
  → ~22 months to $300k
• $300k: January 2023
  → ~10 months to $400k
• $400k: November 2023
  → ~6 months to $500k
• $500k: May 2024
  → ~12 months to $600k
• $600k: May 2025
  → ~7 months to $700k
• $700k: December 2025

The early milestones feel slow. Later on, compounding (and higher income) starts to do more of the work.

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What Drove the Growth

1) My income went up

My salary path looked like this:

• 2017: $65k
• 2018: $75k
• 2019: $95k
• 2020: $100k
• 2021: $110k
• 2022: $120k
• 2023: $125k
• 2024: $140k
• 2025: $150k

This isn’t a secret: higher income made investing much easier.

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2) I invested consistently

My philosophy follows the Bogleheads approach:
low-cost, diversified index ETFs, and fewer decisions.

I invest when the market is calm.
I invest when the market is annoying.
I try hard not to overreact.

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3) Real estate helped a bit

I’ve owned two properties—lived in both and fixed up both:

• Duplex (2022–2024):
  Lived in one unit, rented the other
  Sold for roughly $20k–$30k profit
• Single-family home (2023–2025):
  Lived in it, fixed it up, sold for about $20k profit

Not life-changing, but meaningful.

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What I’m Invested In

My invested assets (about $690k) are roughly:

• ~70% large-cap U.S. equities (VOO)
• ~5% small-cap U.S. equities (VBK)
• ~5–10% international equities (VXUS)
• ~15% real estate exposure (VNQ + a real estate bond)

I’ll do a deeper portfolio breakdown in a future post.