Our combined net worths are $2.2M – Added Notes on the Journeys

My partner has literally zero interest in counting his money like Midas, and I am the opposite, constantly tracking and creating charts on my progress, and looking back with pride at how far I have come and what I’ve saved, etc.

He is the total opposite in that sense.

So when we finally calculated his net worth the other day, I was shocked. We are actually at $2.2M as a family!

WHAT!? THE BREAKDOWN

• Partner: $1.14M
• Myself: $1.02K –  Just recently discovered I reached this at age 36 on December 2019!
• Little Bun: $32K

Few reasons why I am so shocked

He is 15 years older than me

He has had more time to work/save and has had managerial positions where he made very good money. I guess he spent more than me then. 😛

He is much more frugal than I am

I like to spend money. It is not uncommon for me to have gone crazy in one year and just splurged $60K on stuff.

He has probably never spent $60K in a year in his life, especially not $10K of that on clothes. *side eye*

I thought the COVID-19 drop would have dropped us harder

You know, at $1.5M or something, not $2.2M. That means before this, we had more than $2M combined. That’s crazy to me.

More notes …

We don’t combine net worths

This was a one-off calculation.

I don’t consider his money mine, nor Little Bun’s (by the way, how great is that, a 6-year with with more money than I had when I was 25!? Gosh I feel like a slacker compared to my own son.)

I started with $60K of debt, he got a full-ride scholarship

I started out at a little disadvantage which really helped me shape my money mindset and focus on what makes real wealth, and he got a full-ride with $0 in debt.

I wouldn’t change what happened to me (would have liked a little less debt..), but I think it has made him a little lax on the money-obsession because he didn’t have to fight his way out of any debt to make him lean and money mean…. but he was naturally frugal so that helped.

I am farther ahead than he was at my age

The fact that I am work-optional at 35, and it took him until 50 to reach that, means if you give me another 15 more years, I am going to really rock it.

He retired on a lean budget, meaning bare minimum, about $20K a year is what he spends. This is what I can retire on now, and in fact, my “lean budget” was originally $1633 but this virus lockdown is showing me that I can spend about $1300 and still be fine, so $1633 is actually very generous.

I am revising those numbers.

I haven’t retired yet because I love my job and the money I make.

We started making bank at the same time more or less

Again, he’s 15 years older so he started making money later, when he had more experience.

He told me it was surprising how someone my age with only 2 years could make that kind of money, he had never seen that before.

(He’s very proud of me.)

As a result, he hasn’t made a lot of money until later in life, and I started 2 years out of school making $20K – $30K/month – my first contract was $90K in 3 months.

What really makes the difference is…

A) I started investing earlier

I started at 23 even while I was debt, maxing out my employer retirement match.

He didn’t really start investing seriously until about 10 years ago or so, because he thought the registered retirement plans (RRSP, TFSA) were all scams to lock in your money.

B) I am money-focused

He says obsessed, but .. we’re just splitting hairs here.

In addition to thinking registered plans are ‘scams’, to this day, he still doesn’t believe in high-interest savings accounts.

He tells me: What’s that? An extra $2000 a year? What’s the point?

Me: The point is AN EXTRA $2000 A YEAR. O_o

I don’t see how he can calculate that cutting his own hair saves him $300 a year and thousands in a lifetime, but then to not even bother maximizing his savings by putting it into an account, is BEYOND ME.

C) I am focused on making more money not necessarily spending less

I actually do both if I am honest, but I am really focused on INCOME (limitless potential), with side incomes, dividend investing, and trying to diversify out of what regular savings can bring.

He, is focused 90% on the savings side – saving money, not spending it, investing it, etc, but he doesn’t spend time thinking about alternate incomes, building other streams of money coming in.

Another example — he didn’t have a credit card for years. I told him you could have CASH BACK FROM SPENDING and he was again telling me:

“What’s that? Another $300 a year? I don’t see the point with all that hassle of using a card, then paying it.. why not just pay cash?”

Me: THE POINT IS THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS A YEAR. For FREE.

(Are you sensing a theme here..?)

He just isn’t focused on money like I am, and I think that makes a big difference as well, even though he has done quite well.

His priorities lie more in the studying, reading, thinking spectrum and somewhat cannot be bothered with thinking about making money in many ways.

We have two very different money styles, but our goals are similar.

He helps me be more frugal and to not spend money, and I helped him with the investing bit, teaching him about the registered government plans, and reading up on how to be tax-efficient and so on.

We balance each other out.

As for Little Bun…

He has more money than I did at 25. He will be fine. I also have a post coming up on how I plan on teaching and handling money talks with him.

The plan is to raise an independent, financially-minded son and he will eventually take over his own RESP account and invest on his own. More on that later.

What about you? Have you ever been with someone so different from you money-style wise?