Are We Plateauing in Our Financial Freedom Journey?

For the past 2 years I have felt a bit like we are plateauing in our pursuit of financial freedom. Our journey has been on autopilot: busy with life, family, work and with what seems like less time dedicated to pursuing our net worth goals. It might not be obvious in our net worth reports, but perhaps its more noticeable in the topics that I have been covering on this blog for the last 2 years - quite frankly its been a little dull compared to the previous 3+ years to me.

Part of this is directly related to increased responsibilities/time commitments at work and increased family responsibilities. I would say my wife and I are still overwhelmed with our time commitments and still trying to figure out how to manage without derailing our net worth goals. As a result a lot of areas in are lives are getting less time than they need including our interests/hobbies and personal goals (including our financial freedom goal).

On the positive side I think we are in an overall good position (financially) do be dealing with these challenges at this point. Our net worth growth has put us in a comfortable position at this point to reach our financial freedom goals in the time frame we initially set out for in this marathon. We don't have to focus as much energy on growing our net worth or correcting our course to reach our initial goal which allows us presently to be putting more focus on other things in our lives. Even without this focus we are seeing regular and consistent growth in our net worth and significant progress towards our financial freedom goals.

We Are Still Time Poor
However plenty of challenges still remain. Commitments and ongoing responsibilities are a big time drain for us. We may be doing ok from a financial goal perspective, but we are currently very time poor. I think many folks use financial resources to combat this, outsourcing everything they can to reduce time drains in their hectic lives. Spending money to save time is something we have stretched so far to avoid or at least minimize, but have recently been exploring ways to outsource more, because we both recognize we can't sustain this with our current responsibilities/commitments.

When I initially set out on this financial freedom journey I never thought I would be pulling my foot off the gas pedal a bit. However the sacrifices and planning we made early on have put us in a great position to do just that at times and still make regular progress toward financial freedom. To me the tricky part is keeping the right balance because either extreme can easily derail us.

Related in Financial Goals:

Financial Freedom Plan - 2015 Update (Apr 30, 2015) I finally sat down to get an updated view of our progress towards our financial freedom plan that I laid out a few years go in terms of asset allocation. Some notes: Our asset allocation to fixed income (interest) will...

Financial Freedom Plan (Aug 25, 2013) Almost two years ago I laid out a plan for the net asset allocation I thought we needed for our financial freedom plan. It was a rough guide for asset allocation that I believe could generate enough income to cover...

2012 Passive Income: Dividends (Jan 27, 2013) Here is a summary of our 2012 dividend income. All this income comes from our taxable stock portfolio that is included in our monthly investment review. All retirement investment holdings are excluded from this dividend income summary. This passive income...

Comments (10)


The post doesn't clearly communicate anything. Are you saying you are planning to reduce your contribution to savings or are you saying that you are planning to use some of your savings, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the interest. It is not surprising- most married people have wives that wish to spend galore. As far as having no time you honestly are overdramatizing it. You have one child. Try having three. Your work is no more complicated than mine. Does your wife work full time? Last I remembered she was only doing some tutoring. You are EXTREMELY lucky to have saved before you met her because I saw this coming after you got married. (I think I posted about it back then on one of your wife's spending rationalizations). Fact is, people like Clark Howard and yourself were saving a huge chunk of your income. You do that from living below your means. Your inability to save isn't due to time or the kids, frankly speaking - it's due to the larger house, the larger "wants". It's OK to want things but then just come clean and admit what is going on as it build trust with the readers.

2million, you are doing very well! I don't think you should worry because you are on the right track to your goal, i.e. the 2 million benchmark. Could it be that you are feeling this way because your goal has now changed? Maybe 2 million is not really your most important goal now like it once was but a secondary goal and that having more time to enjoy your family and life is the REAL goal now? Maybe reassess and get back to it. Do you want to change your blog from "2million and change", the change part meaning a "change" in priority to more time?

Rick I think you are being a little assumptive and a little harsh. If it gives me anymore cred I also have three kids and also have found myself pulling my foot off of the gas the last few years - or at least feeling that way.
I found myself somewhat disconnected from my savings goal - because I did so much work early on in my life there really isn’t much to do now and everything is sort of on auto-pilot and tends to get a little boring or feels like I'm not doing much towards it anymore and have other higher priorities even though I'm probably ahead of 95%+ of people out there and in really good shape just like 2million.
Also I think its perfectly ok for 2million to take his foot off the gas or maybe spend a little bit frivolous now(even though I know he's not). The 2 million goal and all of the freedom that comes with it is great, but it really means nothing compared to the family time and enjoying that now. Its always a balancing act between saving for future and enjoying some of your resources now and I think 2million is doing just that finding that balance based on his life now.
Yes it may have changed from when he created his blog and he might not be quite as hardcore, but I think that’s a good thing if it matches the other variables in his life (wife,kids,etc) and adjusted priorities that have changes since he set his goal. I don't think any of us properly understand how much starting a family will change our priorities in life so there is no shame in modifying or altering the path to or destination of his financial goal if it will increase his happiness long term. Again its not like he's made drastic changes, but I think it’s certainly ok for him to make some minor changes. Just my 2 cents.

Where financial freedom is an important goal and it sounds as if you are inline with your goals on that front. In my humble opinion, if you don't readjust to find time for relaxtion and family, you will burn out and grow apart from your family. There is a balance that should be found. I wish you luck in finding this balance with your time.

Well, look at 2million's net worth now, around 800K. This guy is gonna hit 1 million bucks in no time within 2 years or sooner at the rate he's going. He can afford to take his foot off the pedal a bit as the nest egg is now coasting on auto pilot!

Great site... Do not give it up... I was looking for a $2 mill site and only found a couple...since I am typing this on my iPhone I'll be brief...I am at $1.5M/age 51/never married .. I follow Stanleys 'millionaire next door' pretty closely.. Keep it up!

The answer 2million is "no", you are not plateauing. You are exponentially INCREASING!

It is definitely a pivotal moment in life when it comes to planning and finances. The years of rampant spending for many has caused most of us to hunker down and think about things a bit differently when it comes to how we save and spend money.

Sometimes you need to take your foot off the gas pedal - the important thing is to enjoy the ride!

Keep up the good work!

Rick is being a dick. You're doing great. I'm very impressed, and I think you don't have to personally invest the time anymore. Now, you don't have to be the driver anymore. You've already achieved success, and letting the power of your wealth do the work for you is an option that is available to you. Should you choose not to invest another dime of the money you make from your career, you'll still undoubtedly hit your goal well within 2 decades.

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A personal finance weblog of my journey to reach my goal of $2 million + the value of my primary residence.
Current Net Worth: $1,938,393

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