How do you celebrate milestones?

[JoeP]

Just wondering if/how you celebrate reaching certain milestones.

We hit a minor milestone with respect to our net worth, and didn't do anything more than smile and focus on the major one. When that one comes, we're not really sure what to do!

Part of us wants to do something splurgy, because it could be said that this next milestone should be celebrated. Maybe a cruise, or stay in a resort, or a weekend in a big city like Toronto. Even dialing it back to something local (elegant dinner, overnight in luxury hotel) is on the table. Whatever it is, we'll be paying cash!

But the other part, which will probably win out, will follow the lessons from The Millionaire Next Door. So we'll probably have a nice dinner out, and then gift each other a couple hundred to spend on something we might want that could be a little outside the norm.

[MonkeyMama]

I am mostly of the mind that the milestone is its own reward. (I think it's hard to meet the milestones when you splurge at every success). But, I also believe in balance and leaving enough wiggle room in the day-to-day spending. That's just what works for us - the splurge doesn't much appeal to our personalities.

[JoeP]

I am mostly of the mind that the milestone is its own reward. (I think it's hard to meet the milestones when you splurge at every success). But, I also believe in balance and leaving enough wiggle room in the day-to-day spending. That's just what works for us - the splurge doesn't much appeal to our personalities.

Same here. We are humble people, not showy, not into they toys, and not into the "look at me" syndrome that is pretty popular in our community. We'll probably end up celebrating our achievement in a very low-key way.

[disneysteve]

I suppose we have "celebrated" a few things. For example, when I finished paying of my student loans, we finally got cable TV. We were probably the last house in town to get it.

[adviceseeker]

My partner and I celebrate milestone by doing something simple. Going out on a dinner or just buy an item that each of us wanted to have in order for us to have a simple remembrance that this particular item means that we reached this "certain something" in our lives.

[alexisnicholson]

Achieving milestone is reward itself , I personally enjoy by taking a holiday trip with my family only.

[feh]

We generally don't celebrate financial milestones. For example, we didn't do anything special when we paid off our mortgage, or crossed $1M in retirement savings.

We do celebrate personal accomplishments, commonly with a meal out.

[BuckyBadger]

I smile and tell my dad. He's the one who instilled saving and investing into from childhood and he gets a kick out of me finally following his advice.

[TheKayla]

I may show off my milestone by telling my roommates or other people in my life that I stress about my debt too. I also may reward myself with something monetary, something I've been wanting for a while, but always something less than $100 in order to stay on track. It may be a new clothing item, putting a hundred bucks in my travel account, or just a nice dinner out.

[kork13]

I don't really do much when I hit a milestone. Whether it's paying off a debt, saving up to a certain level, or whatever else, I haven't really found need or reason to "celebrate" anything. It's a bit vain, but sometimes it is nice to talk about the milestone with friends or people who know you well... but even then it's a pretty calm, "Hey guess what -- I just paid off my ___[whatever]___ loan -- glad to be done with that bugger." I recently hit a minor milestone of $100k in retirement, and all I did was mention it here on the forums to you all. I'm greatly looking forward to paying off my car loan in about 6 months from now, no plans to do anything notable to "celebrate"... Who knows, maybe I'll take her out for a wash, wax, & deep cleaning.

[dojo]

I don't celebrate anything, didn't do it when I became debt free, don't do it now when I save or do anything similar. The fact I'm doing OK and being responsible with our money is a celebration in itself

[JoeP]

I don't celebrate anything, didn't do it when I became debt free, don't do it now when I save or do anything similar. The fact I'm doing OK and being responsible with our money is a celebration in itself

This pretty much sums up how we currently handle things. We're not big spenders, not flashy, don't need toys, etc. The only thing we might do is have a special dinner out someplace nice, in order to reflect and get energized about future milestones...and maybe gift ourselves a little cash to buy something special.

Good point about financial responsibility. Without it, we would not be where we are now, and future milestones would be in jeopardy.

[Permanent Temp]

Just wondering if/how you celebrate reaching certain milestones.

We hit a minor milestone with respect to our net worth, and didn't do anything more than smile and focus on the major one. When that one comes, we're not really sure what to do!

Part of us wants to do something splurgy, because it could be said that this next milestone should be celebrated. Maybe a cruise, or stay in a resort, or a weekend in a big city like Toronto. Even dialing it back to something local (elegant dinner, overnight in luxury hotel) is on the table. Whatever it is, we'll be paying cash!

But the other part, which will probably win out, will follow the lessons from The Millionaire Next Door. So we'll probably have a nice dinner out, and then gift each other a couple hundred to spend on something we might want that could be a little outside the norm.

Depends on the milestone for me.

When I paid off my credit card debt, my husband and I went out to eat. Last week though I hit the 3 month mark in savings and I didn't do anything. I wanted a free coffee I had earned but the barista wouldn't let me have it iced because it was a 20 cent difference which was a bummer.

[ZZZ]

I celebrate by telling my dad. We have a competition on our retirement accounts. We are both still in the accumulation phase, but we are predicting when my retirement account will exceed his (parents will retire in the next ten years and start deaccumulating. As I am currently 22 and still in school... it will be a while.

The perspective amuses me. He tells me about how he broke a six digit number. I tell him about breaking a five digit number.

Other than that I don't really do anything special. I might eventually take a vacation when I hit a MAJOR mark, but we'll see.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nothing. But before when I was more into it I would celebrate by writing me on the blog. Now I'm more blown away since I look at less frequently. The large jumps are surprising. Plus we are more likely to miss milestones.

I find it funny that we are finally sort of riding on the front of the money wave to coin a Mustichian definition. Our money is finally starting to work for us. We are finally getting more added to our accounts from returns than our contributions.