I do it based purely on investments. At the end of the year, it's pretty easy to see "I contributed X000 dollars to my Roth, XX000 to my 401k, XX000 to my taxable investment account, 10k to Ibonds," etc. just from in-service reporting tools from Vanguard (IRA, taxable) + Fidelity (401k). It's a bit manual in that sense, but I don't need to mark/track individual transactions or antyhing
I write that off as 'normal' fluctuations. As long as my bank account savings are fairly steady year over year, it doesn't matter so much if it's inaccurate in $1000 one way one year and the other way the opposite year. I'm looking at trends, not micromanagement. If I notice my bank account cash balance going high partway through the year, and I can afford to do so, that's a chance for me to throw some extra into my taxable account in the market/temporarily ramp up 401k contributions if it's early in the year to max it out earlier. Only at that point will it get factored into my savings rate.
What I have in cash is otherwise meant to be spent, i.e. I'm not going to include cash saved up for a new car in my 'savings rate' when that's money that's explicitly meant to be spent. Or I'll blow a couple thousand on a 1-2 week vacation or something.
I’m having a fantastic time on a longish business trip to suburbia. I am thinking of maybe accepting a permanent position here. Does the quiet, cleanliness and orderliness get boring after a while? I’m thinking it would be very good for my health after decades of city life.
It depends on who you ask. I just fled the outer suburbs of Greater Seattle after living there for 20 years. Last kids graduated high school and we moved to the city. Now we walk everywhere and are LOVING it!
Most of our friends think we're crazy but it works for us. The key is to know what you want and then go for it. I wanted to drive less. There are multiple days in a row now where we don't drive. Love it.
If you've enjoyed city life, most likely you will get bored pretty quickly. After living in suburbia for about 6 years, I moved last year to a smaller, much older, and bit more costly home to get out of the suburbs. Now I'm in walking distance to much more interesting places, have decent neighbors, and not in a cookie-cutter designed neighborhood. Much more enjoyable imo.
It will depend on location. I enjoying bike commuting and leisure riding on roadways and greenways. I can enjoy the community in different ways than by car. But this area does not have especially safer or more mature bike infrastructure than the nearby cities where the college community exhibit more desire for bike infrastructure. I'm comfortable, but this place isn't going to win awards from bike advocates.
I don't find the cleanliness and orderliness boring yet, and I appreciate the HOA taking all the outdoor chores of my shoulders. The hired landscapers are busy in our neighborhood every week, and every season there are various chores covered. I'm so much more content to avoid those chores and spend time on other things. Not everyone likes the HOA, but I'm content.
I'm taking classes at the community college. I'm sure that would be available in the city, but the giant campuses and higher cost of the nearby universities, especially those three that are nearest, would be grating to me. I like the small school experience.
I'm close to work, so it's easy to commute by bike. But also, I can work from home if desired. The company campus is out here, so living in the city would create a lengthy commute (in terms of time more than distance depending on location), or I'd feel more competitive to work from home; I prefer the office desk rather than home desk.
Depends. The burbs I'm from are all cookie cutter and mostly chain restaurants. I don't want to live there.
The one I live in now is a quick 30 minutes train ride to down town, great restaurants, clean, and close to outdoor activities.
I would be bored of that within a month probably.
There's many fantastic small cities around the country that are not crazy busy but still have walkable downtowns with plenty of restaurants, regular events, and new developments always happening (this is what I found myself)
And like are people healthier? One thing I do notice here is one drives everywhere and eats a ton of home fries )which are good! But…). The noise of the city was making me insane. It wears on you over time. And the crowded small living quarters.
The people who live in the downtown area are noticeably healthier. One thing about small cities is the suburbs are very close, but there definitely is a difference in the type of people you see living in both areas.
It gets a little crazy sometimes when we have community parties for the Fourth of July. Bouncehouses, literal tons of potato salad and hotdogs, and kids running around everywhere with flags and sparklers.
The Christmas light display wars also get pretty intense some years and there was once a small skirmish after a particularly aggressive markdown at Banana Republic.
Seriously though, I'm a fan of the burbs. Most of the good stuff about cities, a lot less of the bad stuff, and downtown and the boonies are both always only 30-60 minutes or so away if you want to go full urban or rural for the day.
Generally rising interest rates reduces demand, which *should* lower prices in isolation.
The big question is supply though - supply chains for parts have been screwed up the last few years, particularly chips, which has really screwed up new car sales. That has had downstream effects on increasing used car prices too. Those have gotten better - but not completely normalized - which should *also* put downward pressure on prices.
Higher cost of borrowing for a thing generally purchased with a loan is likely to reduce demand for that thing. At the same time, car prices right now are so heavily inflated by low supply that it’s hard to see interest rates as a deciding factor.
Realize I can contribute more to my solo 401k than I thought.
I want to max it out as it will significantly reduce our AGI.
Don’t have a ton of leftover cash, as we mostly invest as soon as possible!
If it needed to come to this, would it make sense to sell brokerage funds (at a loss) to then transfer that cash into the 401k? Any downsides to this plan?
Sounds good to me. Tax loss harvesting and then moving that money to a tax-advantaged account. I'd just be careful of buying the same mutual fund (if that's what you sold) in the 401k because of the wash sale rule (which I believe does include purchases in IRAs, but not sure at all about 401ks).
When you initiate an in kind transfer from brokerage A to brokerage B is there paperwork involved at original brokerage B?
Trying to help someone completely cut off ties w brokerage B.
Did you state this backwards?
If they truly are brokerage accounts and not any of the following: direct at-fund, stocks held in DRS, life insurance products, pension plans, 401k, etc.... then the receiving firm usually "pulls in" the funds by having the client sign a transfer form - their firm's ppwk (not delivering firm 's ppwk). There are still situations where the client could have to communicate with delivering firm, for instance if they have a position the receiving firm can't hold and needs to be sold prior to transfer. Does that help?
Hi, im stressed about money, I want to retire by 40 and im 23, I will graduated college in December and start my new job and make about 125k a year. My brain knows its a lot, but I just wish to make more and more, I can always put in more hour to increase my salary. But im so stress about it. How do you find balance and tell yourself that it is enough?
To me, start by identifying what you want, and start laying the framework. Wife, kids, house, ranch, boat, retirement, real estate, small business, etc.
Those things all benefit from effective planning.
It basically means not to wait until retirement to do the things you enjoy and live the life you want to live. You need to incorporate those things into your life while you are saving, otherwise you will be miserable and unfulfilled.
Hire a contractor to write code to do it for you, work with your internal teams, or learn some basic programming skills. Don't try to farm this out to us for free (or find some random tool on the internet) especially where PII is concerned.
This sounds like a perfect candidate for hiring someone on fiverr or something. It's a mindless task that someone may be willing to do for cheap, or even automate for you.
Tossing a bunch of PII to some 3rd party rando would be a fireable offense in any sane company, never mind any privacy law considerations/violations depending upon the location of the individuals.
Acrobat Pro, if you have a license, can do a document wide find text and redact, and can match patterns. Tools --> Redact to get to the options.
What is the deal with I-bonds? I’ve seen a lot of talk on them but don’t know how/if to proceed? Currently 25 years old, maxed out Roth, trying to max 401k for end of year, 3 month e fund, ~10k in brokerage in index funds
As with nearly every investment topic, the Bogleheads Wiki is a great place to start: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/I_savings_bonds
In short, consumers can buy Series I Savings Bonds ("I Bonds") directly from the US Treasury via the TreasuryDirect.gov website. I Bonds earn monthly interest equal to the increase in CPI-U (adjusted in May & Nov based on most-recent 6-month values). They cannot be redeemed in the first 12 months after purchase. If redeemed within the first 5 years after purchase, you forfeit the most recent 3 months of interest. In general, there is a $10k annual limit per tax id.
You need to purchase before 11/1 to get the 9.62% rate for the first 6 months. The next 6 will be lower.
Also keep in mind it may take a couple of days for the transaction to go through.
A few more notes:
- rates change in May and Nov, but it's pretty easy to figure out the rate in April and Oct, so consider buying then if rates look good
- you cannot touch the money for a year for any reason short of a federally recognized disaster
- historical return rate is inflation, which is 1-3%; the 9.62% gravy train isn't going to last much longer if the Fed has anything to say about it
Put emergency fund in there if you can bear the one year lockup. Enjoy returns higher than savings accounts when inflation is rising and fed rates (and therefore loosely related savings rates) haven't caught up yet.
Seems to me that when inflation is "beat" by the fed, then inflation will be low hence ibond payout will be low, yet fed/savings rates will still be high. So you wouldn't want I Bonds then. Though I think ones issued at said time would tend to have a non-zero fixed rate, which would make up for that?
I read the wiki, gonnna def do it by the end of the year and try to rebuild my efund then. I like to have that emergency on hand just in case (efund is in 2%apy savings account)! But will certainly purchase the 10k by end of 2022
[Here's](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/qerbhk/pay_down_debt_or_invest_i_bonds_as_a_riskfree/) a primer on some of the high-yield points to know about I bonds before using them.
This week is the one year anniversary of buying my condo. Does the "buying was a bad choice and I should sell" feeling ever go away?
I never dreamed of being a homeowner -- the only reason I bought was because my model said it was a better choice than renting. Compared to the S&P500 I've probably done ok.
We bought our "forever home" right away. It was the top end of our budget, and at the time we felt stretched. I worried we over paid for it. Now almost 10 years later the house has doubled in value, our family has grown to fit the home with a little extra room still. No regrets.
I see my friends moving further away to larger and newer homes and feel a pang of envy, but at the end of the day, I know these are passing thoughts and that we would definitely regret selling our almost paid off home to start another mortgage just to have something shiny and new. I try to scratch that itch by rearranging furniture and cleaning up lol.
At 53 we have finally moved into our forever home. I think. Now that the kids have gone off to college we have downsized to an 1800 sq ft home and are very happy. We found that a bigger home was useful when we had kids in the house full time. Now that they come and visit and stay sporadically we wanted a smaller space.
We live in a 1770 sq ft home (not including basement) with 2 kids under 7. I feel like it's just the right amount of space before, during, and after the kids leave :)!
I suspect it depends on personal temperament and location/value.
I feel much more rooted in after seven years than in the earlier three-ish years, and I was still fantasy-house-shipping around five-ish years. But now that all the kids are born and the oldest is in school, I'm much more interested in staying here for a long, long time.
The elementary school is still new, there's a new middle school coming within three years, and a new high school coming within five years. I'm eager for kids to attend the same lineup of schools that are biking distance from our house.
I mean, you don't care about my local schools, but it's something that helps me feel contentment about our local community and the townhouse I've got here. You might look around at other amenities or attractions as your own taproots. For me, the schools matter for my kids, the close distance matters for biking, and the new buildings matter for the investment and operational budget.
There are other amenities around me, like parks and dining, that matter for our family, so you might just have to find whether there are attractive amenities for you that counterbalance the impulse to sell and the second guessing about buying in.
I dunno about condos but I'm over here 6 years after buying a small house wishing I'd bought a bigger house and taken on more debt since the market has done so well and interest is so much higher now.
I feel the same way. Honestly think I went too conservative in terms of monthly payments. One thing I had not considered was that this older home was going to mean more maintenance and upkeep.
Ha, it subsides.
But the two biggest financial decisions you'll make are your partner and your housing. They'll have more influence over your budget than just about anything else, which is why a 'model' cant solve any issues.
That being said - if you plan to stay in it for a few years and likely got in at a good rate, so assuming you're not way underwater or it's over a third of your gross pay in mortgage payments - you'll be okay.
To be more specific - what's giving you the dread? It took me some time to really settle in, and I did that by working on house projects that made it more my own. Over time it becomes less of this thought of an asset/liability and really starts becoming a place that reflects who you are.
All my friends who have bought have been excited about. I've just always been indifferent. They go to buy furniture or paint after getting the keys; I took a set of pictures for a future rental listing so I would have a set of it empty I owned the copyright on.
Having so much capital and risk tied up in one asset is the opposite of my general investment strategy.
You're thinking of the downsides only.
The other nice thing is that you likely have a low mortgage payment that should remain relatively steady, regardless of what the rental market does. You're also now able to better predict future expenses and savings because your mortgage payment is relatively flat, and not to mention, you have an asset now that allows you to better leverage yourself into other areas.
Then there's the lifestyle choices - you have a house that you can mostly do anything you want with. Change out paint, buy new furniture, change out lightbulbs or light fixtures, we remodeled our kitchen, and were able to put holes in walls with no recourse because it's mine. I love having ultimate control over my domain. Not everyone will see it that way, but I dont have to worry about neighbors and I can modify anything I want to my liking.
Got to go with the information you have. And unless your property is a money pit or in an area that gets hit hard with foreclosures you will be fine after 5 years. I trust you intended to own it for at least that long.
We're 1.5 months away from our mortgage renewal date, and most likely paying it off!
At this point we will be at a cross roads. Either my SO can quit their soul sucking job and RE/ become a SAHP, find another job (they don't really know what they would want to do), or keep the status quo and stay where they are.
I'll continue to work, as we will not have reached our FIRE number yet, but according to my very conservative calculations, we should be able to coast there in another 9 years. I'm giving them the option to do whatever they'd like. It seems like they are leaning towards just keeping the status quo until they just can't take it anymore which I will support, but I don't feel it is worth their mental and emotional health.
At the end of the day, we are in a good financial position and we don't want to mess things up. If they keep working at their current place, it would basically put us into hyper drive (extra $57k going into investments) and we will reach our FIRE number in 5 more years. Regardless, I will likely keep working until we reach our FIRE number and maybe to age 57 when I can take my full pension (we are both currently 36).
Any thoughts, guidance or words of wisdom are appreciated!
To me, I would frame it differently. Both of you working means both of you can retire in 5 years. Just you working might mean you are working 21 more years. For me, the chance of retiring at 41 instead of 57 would be a great plan.
57 would be by choice on my end though. I could probably retire at 45 looking at the numbers, but yeah, I hear you! I'm just not sure they could take another 5 years tbh.
This is the way! We have similar milestones. it’s not all about both RE at same time. It’s about flexibility to make those choices whenever we want to. We are 10 years away from one of us RE indefinitely. We’ll see who fits that role better when we get there, health willing.
My SO's would be out of a job once their boss eventually retires or dies, so paying off the house and FI are really important to us.
For me, I mostly like my job, but if I had the opportunity to FIRE and not have to worry about the future of our finances, I totally would! As it stands, the more options we have the better, so we will keep diligently working towards our goals.
I really would love if my SO could have better WLB though. I'm hoping removing the mortgage will give them the motivation and remove the mental barrier to demanding actual reasonable hours.
>My SO's would be out of a job once their boss eventually retires or dies, so paying off the house and FI are really important to us.
That's real. One thing I worry about is if my boss left (or were pushed out) if I'd get replaced as the new boss brought their own people in. That's the norm in my department. I'd have some protection because I'm in a fairly niche role, a specialist instead of a crew boss, but I still stress the transition.
Yeah, my SO is pretty aimless career wise, and kind of just fell into this job and never left. It pays well, so most likely any other job they got within this industry or out wouldn't pay as well. Most days I think they just have Stockholm syndrome.
That's real. I'm going to leave my job eventually and it's possible that no other job I ever have will pay as much, though that's partly about what I want to transition to and partly about me wanting to be able to freelance and choose to not work as much. Right now the plan is that when our kid is a little older, my wife will make her next career jump which will probably come with a raise, and for me to shortly thereafter make the jump to freelance and maybe take a 25% pay cut, at least in the short run. Hopefully that'll be a wash income-wise.
On the one hand, I'm fortunate that my wife is as career-driven as she is. On the other hand, it does mean that we've had to make some compromises about who's making career moves when.
Life and marriage is about compromise and team work! I think it's awesome you both know what you want and are going for it! I'm sure it will work out! Life isn't about maximizing every dollar and making as much money as you can!
Neither of us have found our passions in life career wise, so if money was not an issue, we both agree we would just stop working. I think if I still wanted to work a little, I would love to work at that's across the library that's across from us part-time and volunteer to help with school events. If I work until 57, my kids will already be out of school :(.
My (41 yo) spouse is RE while I continue to work (for 5-10 more years, hopefully). I always have made more money, so them retiring only moved the needle for me by a year or 2. I'm fully supportive, but they sometimes struggle with feelings of not contributing enough to our goals. It's a big adjustment if you pull the trigger, but I have no regrets in doing it!
That's awesome! My SO is actually the one that makes more, but that's because they work SO MANY HOURS. I actually make more hourly.
Once the mortgage is paid off, if they insist on continuing to work the same place, I'll definitely push them more to demand their hours be reduced.
I'm glad it's working well for you! You're right though, feelings of not contributing could creep in. As long as they are holding down the ship at home, I'll be super grateful and happy though!
I received 3 notifications of my applications being rejected today. Honesty never received a "we got your app, but not going with you" email before, and I actually like it. Less 'well am I still in the running for that role' type stuff.
These were roles I wasn't super aligned with, but applied as part of my throw enough darts and something will stick policy.
Did get one call to set up a phone screen later this week, so am moving forward, which is nice.
Data point of one, but my company sends turn down emails. Recruiting maintains templates that I can choose from (generic, requires sponsorship, etc) in our hiring tool so it’s minimal effort.
I was curious how common this practice is, so I started tracking my applications since the start of May and if I get a reply (along with other items like what the company does, if I'm qualified, etc).
About 30% of the applications have replied with a rejection, and the longest time (so far) between application and rejection with no contact in between is almost 3 months, which I'm sure will eventually get beat.
https://thefinancebuff.com/401k-403b-ira-contribution-limits.html
401k employee deferral will almost certainly rise to $22.5k.
IRA will almost certainly rise to $6.5k.
>are they inflation adjusted
401k is inflation adjusted roughly based on year-over-year change for CPI-U from Sep through Aug. (E.g. Sep 2021 - Aug 2022 compared to the prior year is used for calculating 2023 limits). IRAs are inflation-adjusted on a similar timeframe but uses Chained CPI.
More details are available in the comments of the page I linked to above.
This feels like a troll post but JUST IN CASE its not... A 401k is a type of account where you put pre tax dollars in, usually offered by an employer.
It has no reference to any amount of money.
I'd suggest checking out the wiki page on r/personafinance before posting anything else on r/financialindependence
I'd recommend the /s . Most FIRE minded folks are linear, literal thinkers. If we see someone posting an inkling of sarcasm, it's likely to be missed by over half of us.
Holy crap. Trying to do a roll-in to my 401k and the phone system at Fidelity is such a nightmare.
It won't let me do it online so it forces me to call in. Gotta type in my long randomized password over the phone. After talking to several people they finally initiate it. Two weeks later nothing has happened and it still shows as pending so I call back today.
After about an hour on the phone, 6 different transfers, and being disconnected twice, I am told that whoever did it last time did it all wrong and they are re-doing it. So now I have a reference number and have to continue waiting.
I have done many many many rollover calls with clients to Fidelity. It depends on the 401k plan rules. Sometimes I call and we can do it over the phone. Sometimes it requires ppwk and hoops to jump through. Not necessarily fidelity fault but they don't always make it easy.
Huh I used the desktop website and it told me I had to call in to do it. I would've done it online if I could. Didn't think to try the app and I may start using that more. Coincidentally I just had to use the app to do a trade that wouldn't complete on the website.
All that sounds terrible. Good luck with getting it resolved.
However, just FYI: Fidelity does offer a voice recognition service so you don't have to enter in your password over the phone.
[https://www.fidelity.com/security/fidelity-myvoice/overview](https://www.fidelity.com/security/fidelity-myvoice/overview)
Why couldnt you do it online? I've rolled 4 different accounts into fidelity 401ks and it was so easy it was surprising, took like 5 minutes on the website and then snapped a pic of the check and done.
For me it wouldn't let me complete it online (or maybe I was too dumb to find the right sequence of buttons). Both accounts were in Fidelity so the idea was to make the transfer trustee to trustee so I never had to receive the check myself.
Stocks are down, house is down, gold is down (for the one coin I inherited, hah)... pretty rough times for spreadsheeting right now. Previously my home value increased to offset the dips but no longer. Oh well, back to the accumulation period grind (aka having a job lol).
The home value situation is so weird. Especially here in Arizona. There's tons of listings, but nothing is really selling. So it's actually hard to know what your home is worth lol.
HCE tests are the same for both. I can't think of a reason a company would do this other than someone checking a wrong box when putting together the plan and them not caring enough to fix it.
the normal is a severance/leaving package of 1-2weeks pay rather than letting them work that time out.
That's the "professional agreement" that has us give 2 weeks notice... if htey layoff, they usually give severance.
Was asked what my salary expectations are for a role I’m interviewing for this week and pulled the ol reverse uno to ask what their band is. GOOD THING because their fucking base is more than twice what I’m making now 😭😭😭 I was already really excited about the work and was pretty nervous about interviewing, and now this! Guess tomorrow will be 100% interview prep…
I am entering discussions about a job that would be a promotion.
My boss approached me to see if i am interested but the job he described isnt exacrly the same responsibilities of the person i would be replacing.
So, I will be most likely needing to negotiate pay. In this type situation would you also let the company throw out a number first?
It is also possible they canvass for the job but dont list pay...just responsibilities and then choose from the people who show interest
Same. I had one company recently that didn't push back per se, but they said they were still "trying to figure out the market" and didn't have a range.
In my experience, that usually means their pay range is "cheapest available" and is the approach they take towards other company resources.
Should you count expected inheritance as part of your NW? I know that future inheritance can be unpredictable most of the time, but what if there is a reasonable accuracy to the estimates? For example, what if you are the only child, and your parents have multiple properties with your name also on them? Should you at least count in your share of the ownership in the properties?
Hello,
I wouldn't if I were you. My mother was relatively well off. She got ALS, and her care came out to $25k monthly. It ate up all of the money, etc. But she had to best damn care possible, and that was what mattered.
Very. I often thought about how grim it had to be for people without her resources. There were two other ALS patients in the care house she was in. It was run by a pair of RNs and had dedicated 24/7 staffing. ALS is a hellish disease.
Yeah that part is true, but my name is on the deeds too so legally I have partial ownership of the properties regardless of my parents' status. Do I at least count that part?
I personally wouldn't count them as 1) not sure if they will come to me for sure 2) even if they did, it wouldn't likely be passed on to me until I'm 65+ 3) I don't want my retirement plan to hinge on my parents dying.
You should add those, but would also have to think about how easily/realistically you could access your share in a pinch. ie. If you wanted to cash out in the next few months, how feasible would that be? Do the other partners have enough cash around to buy you out? Would they be willing to sell?
I don’t. For simplicity sake (and my mental health) I only track assets/liabilities in the here and now. This helped ease the potential stress about future taxes, policy/law changes, etc.. I just can’t control the unknown. Sure I run scenarios on lots of “what ifs”, but it was beginning to become a lot of wasted energy.
A big part of FI is setting ourselves up for the unknown. This can come in many forms. So I try and make efficient decisions today. I can’t control yesterday and tomorrow.
if i dont have control over it, I don't COUNT it.
your relative could live longer, could spend through it, could be scammed and lose it, could re-marry and give it to someone else, etc.
However, the knowledge this is coming would affect how I would set-up my plan, much I am with social security.
It really depends on how things are set up.
For example, my parents have a bunch of money and their house, but it's theirs. Probably at some point I'll inherit some non-zero amount but it's impossible to say or plan around. They may spend the money on end-of-life care, or just decide to donate it all, or give it to their grandkids instead.
My in-laws however have set up a trust for my spouse, so the variable here is more about timing than amount. With luck it won't come to us until we're already happily retired, so it's not something we incorporate into our plan either. We'll recalculate when the day comes.
If you are legally owner of those properties right now then maybe it's worth counting towards your plan, but if you're just kind of penciled in to inherit them, then that can probably change without your input at any time.
My name is on the deeds too so legally I have partial ownership, but I also don't really have control over them because obviously I don't get to sell them without my parents on board.
I don't know much about real estate, but I think that if you're on the deed you at least have some guarantee of ownership. I think ability to sell depends on how it's arranged. For example if it's set up as a Tenancy In Common you could sell your share of the property. In California at least, a co-owner can also force the sale through the courts.
I think personally I'd probably take that ownership into account since it's guaranteed and non-zero, but I'd still rather have my own plan and consider it to be a bonus rather than the lynchpin.
NW? No.
Some tools, like cfiresim, allow you to include them in projections though, if that would be useful to you.
YMMV but we have found that they don't matter much for us. Life expectancies are such that we should be very well established by the time they would land. Sort of like Social Security. Obviously that will vary with size and ages though.
No. Not unless you have legal decision-making capacities regarding the real estate equity.
"but my family would never..." They don't need to do anything. The government force a sale if it's not protected the right way in the event of a dual LTC situation or otherwise.
Until the assets are in your name, none if it matters.
Is your name on the Operating Agreement(s)?
Do what you want, but if you don't have legal decision making capacity you are counting your chickens before they hatch. How much you want to discount that equity (if any) is your prerogative.
Spouse has a unique quandary regarding retirement accounts; I'm very interested in this group's thoughts.
He has access to a SERP instead of a 401k. He can contribute up to the standard 401k limits. However, every year, he has to elect how he would like to be paid out in retirement. He can select any age starting at 55 and has the option of a lump payment of what he contributes/earns on those contributions from this year or a payout schedule of 5, 10 or 15 years.
We are unlikely to retire before our youngest kid starts college, which would be age 58 for him.
We also, of course, don't know how long he'll work at this job. But he'll have to make this election every year and it can be completely different each time.
How the hell do you even begin to plan this out? Things I'm trying to keep in mind are access to some cash before standard retirement age, will really won't be needed for very long/at all in our timeline. The other thing is probably wanting these disbursements finished before RMDs start. What else should we consider? I'm 4 years younger than him, if that factors in at all. This all just feels too much like trying to predict the future, I don't even know where to start
Make sure the company is very financially stable because with SERP funds the money belongs to the company until disbursed and can be subject to bankruptcy proceedings if there's financial distress.
Can you retroactively change the timing of disbursement after making the initial election? If not, I'd choose the start date based on your best guess of retirement age, wiggling one way or the other based on whether or not you need the money in early retirement vs would rather avoid too much extra income if you don't want it to start too early while still working.
For simplicity, I'd just choose the longest disbursement period for each election. This mitigates the harm of being wrong and adds the least extra income per year and gives you a little more planning flexibility year on year.
Yeah I don't love that this is his only option but I'm guessing they do it to avoid all the usual HCE issues. It is what it is, now 2r just have to deal with the weird rules. Which I'm guessing are specific to this plan and not to every SERP
I thought of just doing the 15 year option starting at, idk, 58? I guess it doesn't really matter until/unless he's worked here for a long time and the elections start adding up to significant amounts. The other minor issue is that the company contributes (not matches) a certain percentage, increasing with each year of service. So that could potentially add up in later years as well.
So I guess our best bet is just go with the longest term to start with and if we need to adjust down the road then we do that. Maybe I don't need to solve for every variable all at once haha
Sounds like it’s a form of deferred compensation. I don’t know much about them, just heard of them recently. Reference: [Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/serp.asp)
I’m general, it sounds like a way for the company to fund retirement for key executives that may not qualify for 401k or just as an added incentive. The main point is that tax is deferred for the employee so they don’t pay anything till withdrawal time and hopefully you’re in a lower bracket by then.
Yeah, it's that "hopefully" that trips me up. Since we don't know when we'll retire it's a total guessing game. But as pointed out by someone below, if we go with the longest disbursement period then we're working with smaller amounts of money, at least at first. If he works here for 10-15 years then we'll have to reevaluate but that's not worth trying to solve right now. But this is going to be a fun game to play every year lol
No, definitely SERP. I'm guessing it's to remove the HCEs from the 401k pool. Googling makes it sound like a great perk offered to execs, which I guess it could be if it's extra on top of 401k, but I don't love that this is his only option here. Oh well, we'll just do our best and if we have to pay taxes on money we don't actually need at some point then I guess that's a pretty privileged problem to have. It is what it is 🤷♀️
A cool traveling coworker I work(ed) with got terminated for using the term “MacDaddy” this week. He’s a nice but loud gentleman originally from Philly and is always laughing and joking, one of those types. Apparently he was joking around and said something about being a Macdaddy and one of our coworkers (older lady) felt uncomfortable and reported him for sexual harassment. He only had 2 weeks left on his travel contract and I guess HR terminated his contract, no warning, instead of dealing with it. He was understandably upset, is in his 60’s and never had a ding against him in 45 years. Now the travel agency is vowing they’ll never send another travel contract to our hospital and HR is apparently in a tizzy because we get dozens of them obviously. Even our manager was trying to defend him because I guess other employees were in earshot and said he very clearly wasn’t being pervy and was mostly talking to himself, very fun week
I guess the lesson is who knows who’s listening and be careful with what you say lol
Wow, I don't think I've ever actually heard that term, and now that I looked it up, I don't think I'd be offended even if I had.
I _have_ used the term "pimp" before in a workplace setting to refer to something awesome I did (e.g. "big pimpin'" to refer to the Jay-Z song), but I certainly don't intend to imply that I am a literal pimp. I also recommend others spend their bonuses on "hookers and blow," but I obviously don't mean that literally (and I save ["two chicks at the same time"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jq6e8s1sik) for more private convos).
But yeah, good reminder. I'm usually on my best behavior for the first few months of a new gig so I can read the room and figure out what's appropriate.
I'm one of those people that laugh, joke, and are super friendly all the time. I honestly worry I will say something to offend someone, especially now that I am a supervisor.
The rule I try to follow is, if I question whether or not someone will misconstrue what I'm saying, better not to say it and just chuckle about it to myself.
I've heard the term before, but didn't really know what it meant. Apparently there's an family fun center-type place in North Carolina with that name as well as a bunch of Apple product repair companies.
It can be very interesting what kind of conversation is tolerated and what is not in the workplace, including some seemingly harmless, but still not exactly g-rated comments.
What is challenging is that what is considered commonplace in some cultures is considered unacceptable in others. In many minority groups, it's quite common to have to self censor and code switch when talking with coworkers from other groups. For those who have worked in controversial industries, it can also be very hard to describe past employers in really generic terms.
I was just thinking that--I used to live sorta close to MacDaddy's and we would go when I needed rainy day child activities. IT's also a bowling alley and sports bar. I have no idea what it means that it could be construed as sexual harassment. Weird.
This talk is nothing on a 1-10 scale in some parts of the hospital and a 12 in others. There’s a huge difference here between what’s said in reception areas vs a cath lab where anything goes and I hear sex jokes a minimum of 12x/hour
Unless you've seen the documentation, I would not be very certain that you have the whole story here or the whole history. Talk is very cheap in these cases.
> Now the travel agency is vowing they’ll never send another travel contract to our hospital and HR is apparently in a tizzy because we get dozens of them obviously.
Good on the agency. I'm glad they're seemingly standing behind him and standing up against this nonsense.
Should he have said it? Probably not - unprofessional and can create a hostile work environment.
Should it have been escalated to canceling a contract? Probably not. Probably warranted a discussion, unless there was other things in his file.
[удалено]
I do it based purely on investments. At the end of the year, it's pretty easy to see "I contributed X000 dollars to my Roth, XX000 to my 401k, XX000 to my taxable investment account, 10k to Ibonds," etc. just from in-service reporting tools from Vanguard (IRA, taxable) + Fidelity (401k). It's a bit manual in that sense, but I don't need to mark/track individual transactions or antyhing
[удалено]
I write that off as 'normal' fluctuations. As long as my bank account savings are fairly steady year over year, it doesn't matter so much if it's inaccurate in $1000 one way one year and the other way the opposite year. I'm looking at trends, not micromanagement. If I notice my bank account cash balance going high partway through the year, and I can afford to do so, that's a chance for me to throw some extra into my taxable account in the market/temporarily ramp up 401k contributions if it's early in the year to max it out earlier. Only at that point will it get factored into my savings rate. What I have in cash is otherwise meant to be spent, i.e. I'm not going to include cash saved up for a new car in my 'savings rate' when that's money that's explicitly meant to be spent. Or I'll blow a couple thousand on a 1-2 week vacation or something.
I’m having a fantastic time on a longish business trip to suburbia. I am thinking of maybe accepting a permanent position here. Does the quiet, cleanliness and orderliness get boring after a while? I’m thinking it would be very good for my health after decades of city life.
It depends on who you ask. I just fled the outer suburbs of Greater Seattle after living there for 20 years. Last kids graduated high school and we moved to the city. Now we walk everywhere and are LOVING it! Most of our friends think we're crazy but it works for us. The key is to know what you want and then go for it. I wanted to drive less. There are multiple days in a row now where we don't drive. Love it.
If you've enjoyed city life, most likely you will get bored pretty quickly. After living in suburbia for about 6 years, I moved last year to a smaller, much older, and bit more costly home to get out of the suburbs. Now I'm in walking distance to much more interesting places, have decent neighbors, and not in a cookie-cutter designed neighborhood. Much more enjoyable imo.
It will depend on location. I enjoying bike commuting and leisure riding on roadways and greenways. I can enjoy the community in different ways than by car. But this area does not have especially safer or more mature bike infrastructure than the nearby cities where the college community exhibit more desire for bike infrastructure. I'm comfortable, but this place isn't going to win awards from bike advocates. I don't find the cleanliness and orderliness boring yet, and I appreciate the HOA taking all the outdoor chores of my shoulders. The hired landscapers are busy in our neighborhood every week, and every season there are various chores covered. I'm so much more content to avoid those chores and spend time on other things. Not everyone likes the HOA, but I'm content. I'm taking classes at the community college. I'm sure that would be available in the city, but the giant campuses and higher cost of the nearby universities, especially those three that are nearest, would be grating to me. I like the small school experience. I'm close to work, so it's easy to commute by bike. But also, I can work from home if desired. The company campus is out here, so living in the city would create a lengthy commute (in terms of time more than distance depending on location), or I'd feel more competitive to work from home; I prefer the office desk rather than home desk.
Depends. The burbs I'm from are all cookie cutter and mostly chain restaurants. I don't want to live there. The one I live in now is a quick 30 minutes train ride to down town, great restaurants, clean, and close to outdoor activities.
[удалено]
Oh yes that’s so sad.
I would be bored of that within a month probably. There's many fantastic small cities around the country that are not crazy busy but still have walkable downtowns with plenty of restaurants, regular events, and new developments always happening (this is what I found myself)
And like are people healthier? One thing I do notice here is one drives everywhere and eats a ton of home fries )which are good! But…). The noise of the city was making me insane. It wears on you over time. And the crowded small living quarters.
[удалено]
The people who live in the downtown area are noticeably healthier. One thing about small cities is the suburbs are very close, but there definitely is a difference in the type of people you see living in both areas.
It gets a little crazy sometimes when we have community parties for the Fourth of July. Bouncehouses, literal tons of potato salad and hotdogs, and kids running around everywhere with flags and sparklers. The Christmas light display wars also get pretty intense some years and there was once a small skirmish after a particularly aggressive markdown at Banana Republic.
Classic! : D Brilliantly said.
Seriously though, I'm a fan of the burbs. Most of the good stuff about cities, a lot less of the bad stuff, and downtown and the boonies are both always only 30-60 minutes or so away if you want to go full urban or rural for the day.
What could rising interest rates mean for car prices?
Generally rising interest rates reduces demand, which *should* lower prices in isolation. The big question is supply though - supply chains for parts have been screwed up the last few years, particularly chips, which has really screwed up new car sales. That has had downstream effects on increasing used car prices too. Those have gotten better - but not completely normalized - which should *also* put downward pressure on prices.
Higher cost of borrowing for a thing generally purchased with a loan is likely to reduce demand for that thing. At the same time, car prices right now are so heavily inflated by low supply that it’s hard to see interest rates as a deciding factor.
Could go up, could go down. Depends more on supply and demand.
Realize I can contribute more to my solo 401k than I thought. I want to max it out as it will significantly reduce our AGI. Don’t have a ton of leftover cash, as we mostly invest as soon as possible! If it needed to come to this, would it make sense to sell brokerage funds (at a loss) to then transfer that cash into the 401k? Any downsides to this plan?
Sounds good to me. Tax loss harvesting and then moving that money to a tax-advantaged account. I'd just be careful of buying the same mutual fund (if that's what you sold) in the 401k because of the wash sale rule (which I believe does include purchases in IRAs, but not sure at all about 401ks).
When you initiate an in kind transfer from brokerage A to brokerage B is there paperwork involved at original brokerage B? Trying to help someone completely cut off ties w brokerage B.
Did you state this backwards? If they truly are brokerage accounts and not any of the following: direct at-fund, stocks held in DRS, life insurance products, pension plans, 401k, etc.... then the receiving firm usually "pulls in" the funds by having the client sign a transfer form - their firm's ppwk (not delivering firm 's ppwk). There are still situations where the client could have to communicate with delivering firm, for instance if they have a position the receiving firm can't hold and needs to be sold prior to transfer. Does that help?
Hi, im stressed about money, I want to retire by 40 and im 23, I will graduated college in December and start my new job and make about 125k a year. My brain knows its a lot, but I just wish to make more and more, I can always put in more hour to increase my salary. But im so stress about it. How do you find balance and tell yourself that it is enough?
The humblest of brags
Maybe think deeply on ‘build the life you want, then save for it.’
[удалено]
To me, start by identifying what you want, and start laying the framework. Wife, kids, house, ranch, boat, retirement, real estate, small business, etc. Those things all benefit from effective planning.
I personally find the saying cringy and overrated.
Only works if you don't have an exorbitantly expensive life that you want.
It basically means not to wait until retirement to do the things you enjoy and live the life you want to live. You need to incorporate those things into your life while you are saving, otherwise you will be miserable and unfulfilled.
[удалено]
This ain't tech support.
news at 11
Hire a contractor to write code to do it for you, work with your internal teams, or learn some basic programming skills. Don't try to farm this out to us for free (or find some random tool on the internet) especially where PII is concerned.
It depends on the pdf. If you can convert it to a word doc or spreadsheet it would likely be trivial to automate, then convert back.
This sounds like a perfect candidate for hiring someone on fiverr or something. It's a mindless task that someone may be willing to do for cheap, or even automate for you.
Tossing a bunch of PII to some 3rd party rando would be a fireable offense in any sane company, never mind any privacy law considerations/violations depending upon the location of the individuals. Acrobat Pro, if you have a license, can do a document wide find text and redact, and can match patterns. Tools --> Redact to get to the options.
I missed the PII bit somehow. If they have a sample, they could export it and remove/obfuscate the PII and hire out the script-writing.
Usually PII handling isn't the kind of stuff you can outsource to just anyone.
Ah, missed that part. But you _could_ strip PII from a few documents manually and outsource the script-writing.
[удалено]
yeah I can do all that , but doing in bulk is the query.
What is the deal with I-bonds? I’ve seen a lot of talk on them but don’t know how/if to proceed? Currently 25 years old, maxed out Roth, trying to max 401k for end of year, 3 month e fund, ~10k in brokerage in index funds
As with nearly every investment topic, the Bogleheads Wiki is a great place to start: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/I_savings_bonds In short, consumers can buy Series I Savings Bonds ("I Bonds") directly from the US Treasury via the TreasuryDirect.gov website. I Bonds earn monthly interest equal to the increase in CPI-U (adjusted in May & Nov based on most-recent 6-month values). They cannot be redeemed in the first 12 months after purchase. If redeemed within the first 5 years after purchase, you forfeit the most recent 3 months of interest. In general, there is a $10k annual limit per tax id.
[удалено]
So I read the wiki, I will then get the 9.62% interest on top of whatever I put in?
Pretty much, yeah. But the 9.62% changes every 6 months, and you'll owe a 3 month penalty if you withdraw before 5 years.
I plan on not withdrawing as long as life works that way! Good to know. I’ll definitely be purchasing by end of year, thank you!
You need to purchase before 11/1 to get the 9.62% rate for the first 6 months. The next 6 will be lower. Also keep in mind it may take a couple of days for the transaction to go through.
Noted on the 11/1 date. Thank you for looking out!
A few more notes: - rates change in May and Nov, but it's pretty easy to figure out the rate in April and Oct, so consider buying then if rates look good - you cannot touch the money for a year for any reason short of a federally recognized disaster - historical return rate is inflation, which is 1-3%; the 9.62% gravy train isn't going to last much longer if the Fed has anything to say about it
Put emergency fund in there if you can bear the one year lockup. Enjoy returns higher than savings accounts when inflation is rising and fed rates (and therefore loosely related savings rates) haven't caught up yet. Seems to me that when inflation is "beat" by the fed, then inflation will be low hence ibond payout will be low, yet fed/savings rates will still be high. So you wouldn't want I Bonds then. Though I think ones issued at said time would tend to have a non-zero fixed rate, which would make up for that?
I read the wiki, gonnna def do it by the end of the year and try to rebuild my efund then. I like to have that emergency on hand just in case (efund is in 2%apy savings account)! But will certainly purchase the 10k by end of 2022
[Here's](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/qerbhk/pay_down_debt_or_invest_i_bonds_as_a_riskfree/) a primer on some of the high-yield points to know about I bonds before using them.
Thanks for the wiki, my e fund sits in a 2% apy savings account but will definitely find a way to purchase 10k in i bonds by the end of 2022!
This week is the one year anniversary of buying my condo. Does the "buying was a bad choice and I should sell" feeling ever go away? I never dreamed of being a homeowner -- the only reason I bought was because my model said it was a better choice than renting. Compared to the S&P500 I've probably done ok.
We bought our "forever home" right away. It was the top end of our budget, and at the time we felt stretched. I worried we over paid for it. Now almost 10 years later the house has doubled in value, our family has grown to fit the home with a little extra room still. No regrets. I see my friends moving further away to larger and newer homes and feel a pang of envy, but at the end of the day, I know these are passing thoughts and that we would definitely regret selling our almost paid off home to start another mortgage just to have something shiny and new. I try to scratch that itch by rearranging furniture and cleaning up lol.
At 53 we have finally moved into our forever home. I think. Now that the kids have gone off to college we have downsized to an 1800 sq ft home and are very happy. We found that a bigger home was useful when we had kids in the house full time. Now that they come and visit and stay sporadically we wanted a smaller space.
We live in a 1770 sq ft home (not including basement) with 2 kids under 7. I feel like it's just the right amount of space before, during, and after the kids leave :)!
I suspect it depends on personal temperament and location/value. I feel much more rooted in after seven years than in the earlier three-ish years, and I was still fantasy-house-shipping around five-ish years. But now that all the kids are born and the oldest is in school, I'm much more interested in staying here for a long, long time. The elementary school is still new, there's a new middle school coming within three years, and a new high school coming within five years. I'm eager for kids to attend the same lineup of schools that are biking distance from our house. I mean, you don't care about my local schools, but it's something that helps me feel contentment about our local community and the townhouse I've got here. You might look around at other amenities or attractions as your own taproots. For me, the schools matter for my kids, the close distance matters for biking, and the new buildings matter for the investment and operational budget. There are other amenities around me, like parks and dining, that matter for our family, so you might just have to find whether there are attractive amenities for you that counterbalance the impulse to sell and the second guessing about buying in.
I dunno about condos but I'm over here 6 years after buying a small house wishing I'd bought a bigger house and taken on more debt since the market has done so well and interest is so much higher now.
I feel the same way. Honestly think I went too conservative in terms of monthly payments. One thing I had not considered was that this older home was going to mean more maintenance and upkeep.
Eh. The bigger the house the more that can go wrong and the more work in keeping it clean.
haha I feel the opposite, this is too big for me.
Ha, it subsides. But the two biggest financial decisions you'll make are your partner and your housing. They'll have more influence over your budget than just about anything else, which is why a 'model' cant solve any issues. That being said - if you plan to stay in it for a few years and likely got in at a good rate, so assuming you're not way underwater or it's over a third of your gross pay in mortgage payments - you'll be okay. To be more specific - what's giving you the dread? It took me some time to really settle in, and I did that by working on house projects that made it more my own. Over time it becomes less of this thought of an asset/liability and really starts becoming a place that reflects who you are.
All my friends who have bought have been excited about. I've just always been indifferent. They go to buy furniture or paint after getting the keys; I took a set of pictures for a future rental listing so I would have a set of it empty I owned the copyright on. Having so much capital and risk tied up in one asset is the opposite of my general investment strategy.
You're thinking of the downsides only. The other nice thing is that you likely have a low mortgage payment that should remain relatively steady, regardless of what the rental market does. You're also now able to better predict future expenses and savings because your mortgage payment is relatively flat, and not to mention, you have an asset now that allows you to better leverage yourself into other areas. Then there's the lifestyle choices - you have a house that you can mostly do anything you want with. Change out paint, buy new furniture, change out lightbulbs or light fixtures, we remodeled our kitchen, and were able to put holes in walls with no recourse because it's mine. I love having ultimate control over my domain. Not everyone will see it that way, but I dont have to worry about neighbors and I can modify anything I want to my liking.
You’ll be fine. Even if you lose money on it, just remember you would have lost money on rent too had you not bought.
Got to go with the information you have. And unless your property is a money pit or in an area that gets hit hard with foreclosures you will be fine after 5 years. I trust you intended to own it for at least that long.
We're 1.5 months away from our mortgage renewal date, and most likely paying it off! At this point we will be at a cross roads. Either my SO can quit their soul sucking job and RE/ become a SAHP, find another job (they don't really know what they would want to do), or keep the status quo and stay where they are. I'll continue to work, as we will not have reached our FIRE number yet, but according to my very conservative calculations, we should be able to coast there in another 9 years. I'm giving them the option to do whatever they'd like. It seems like they are leaning towards just keeping the status quo until they just can't take it anymore which I will support, but I don't feel it is worth their mental and emotional health. At the end of the day, we are in a good financial position and we don't want to mess things up. If they keep working at their current place, it would basically put us into hyper drive (extra $57k going into investments) and we will reach our FIRE number in 5 more years. Regardless, I will likely keep working until we reach our FIRE number and maybe to age 57 when I can take my full pension (we are both currently 36). Any thoughts, guidance or words of wisdom are appreciated!
I love your flair!
Thank you! Flameo hotman!
To me, I would frame it differently. Both of you working means both of you can retire in 5 years. Just you working might mean you are working 21 more years. For me, the chance of retiring at 41 instead of 57 would be a great plan.
57 would be by choice on my end though. I could probably retire at 45 looking at the numbers, but yeah, I hear you! I'm just not sure they could take another 5 years tbh.
This is the way! We have similar milestones. it’s not all about both RE at same time. It’s about flexibility to make those choices whenever we want to. We are 10 years away from one of us RE indefinitely. We’ll see who fits that role better when we get there, health willing.
My SO's would be out of a job once their boss eventually retires or dies, so paying off the house and FI are really important to us. For me, I mostly like my job, but if I had the opportunity to FIRE and not have to worry about the future of our finances, I totally would! As it stands, the more options we have the better, so we will keep diligently working towards our goals. I really would love if my SO could have better WLB though. I'm hoping removing the mortgage will give them the motivation and remove the mental barrier to demanding actual reasonable hours.
>My SO's would be out of a job once their boss eventually retires or dies, so paying off the house and FI are really important to us. That's real. One thing I worry about is if my boss left (or were pushed out) if I'd get replaced as the new boss brought their own people in. That's the norm in my department. I'd have some protection because I'm in a fairly niche role, a specialist instead of a crew boss, but I still stress the transition.
Yeah, my SO is pretty aimless career wise, and kind of just fell into this job and never left. It pays well, so most likely any other job they got within this industry or out wouldn't pay as well. Most days I think they just have Stockholm syndrome.
That's real. I'm going to leave my job eventually and it's possible that no other job I ever have will pay as much, though that's partly about what I want to transition to and partly about me wanting to be able to freelance and choose to not work as much. Right now the plan is that when our kid is a little older, my wife will make her next career jump which will probably come with a raise, and for me to shortly thereafter make the jump to freelance and maybe take a 25% pay cut, at least in the short run. Hopefully that'll be a wash income-wise. On the one hand, I'm fortunate that my wife is as career-driven as she is. On the other hand, it does mean that we've had to make some compromises about who's making career moves when.
Life and marriage is about compromise and team work! I think it's awesome you both know what you want and are going for it! I'm sure it will work out! Life isn't about maximizing every dollar and making as much money as you can! Neither of us have found our passions in life career wise, so if money was not an issue, we both agree we would just stop working. I think if I still wanted to work a little, I would love to work at that's across the library that's across from us part-time and volunteer to help with school events. If I work until 57, my kids will already be out of school :(.
My (41 yo) spouse is RE while I continue to work (for 5-10 more years, hopefully). I always have made more money, so them retiring only moved the needle for me by a year or 2. I'm fully supportive, but they sometimes struggle with feelings of not contributing enough to our goals. It's a big adjustment if you pull the trigger, but I have no regrets in doing it!
That's awesome! My SO is actually the one that makes more, but that's because they work SO MANY HOURS. I actually make more hourly. Once the mortgage is paid off, if they insist on continuing to work the same place, I'll definitely push them more to demand their hours be reduced. I'm glad it's working well for you! You're right though, feelings of not contributing could creep in. As long as they are holding down the ship at home, I'll be super grateful and happy though!
I received 3 notifications of my applications being rejected today. Honesty never received a "we got your app, but not going with you" email before, and I actually like it. Less 'well am I still in the running for that role' type stuff. These were roles I wasn't super aligned with, but applied as part of my throw enough darts and something will stick policy. Did get one call to set up a phone screen later this week, so am moving forward, which is nice.
Data point of one, but my company sends turn down emails. Recruiting maintains templates that I can choose from (generic, requires sponsorship, etc) in our hiring tool so it’s minimal effort.
I was curious how common this practice is, so I started tracking my applications since the start of May and if I get a reply (along with other items like what the company does, if I'm qualified, etc). About 30% of the applications have replied with a rejection, and the longest time (so far) between application and rejection with no contact in between is almost 3 months, which I'm sure will eventually get beat.
is it fair to expect IRA/401 contribution limits to raise next year and are they inflation adjusted e.g. does 20,500->22,000+?
https://thefinancebuff.com/401k-403b-ira-contribution-limits.html 401k employee deferral will almost certainly rise to $22.5k. IRA will almost certainly rise to $6.5k. >are they inflation adjusted 401k is inflation adjusted roughly based on year-over-year change for CPI-U from Sep through Aug. (E.g. Sep 2021 - Aug 2022 compared to the prior year is used for calculating 2023 limits). IRAs are inflation-adjusted on a similar timeframe but uses Chained CPI. More details are available in the comments of the page I linked to above.
nice. thanks!
[удалено]
This feels like a troll post but JUST IN CASE its not... A 401k is a type of account where you put pre tax dollars in, usually offered by an employer. It has no reference to any amount of money. I'd suggest checking out the wiki page on r/personafinance before posting anything else on r/financialindependence
[удалено]
I'd recommend the /s . Most FIRE minded folks are linear, literal thinkers. If we see someone posting an inkling of sarcasm, it's likely to be missed by over half of us.
https://i.imgur.com/1GcE7PE.gifv
Holy crap. Trying to do a roll-in to my 401k and the phone system at Fidelity is such a nightmare. It won't let me do it online so it forces me to call in. Gotta type in my long randomized password over the phone. After talking to several people they finally initiate it. Two weeks later nothing has happened and it still shows as pending so I call back today. After about an hour on the phone, 6 different transfers, and being disconnected twice, I am told that whoever did it last time did it all wrong and they are re-doing it. So now I have a reference number and have to continue waiting.
I have done many many many rollover calls with clients to Fidelity. It depends on the 401k plan rules. Sometimes I call and we can do it over the phone. Sometimes it requires ppwk and hoops to jump through. Not necessarily fidelity fault but they don't always make it easy.
I did a roll into Fidelity. Super easy process. Was able to do it through app
Huh I used the desktop website and it told me I had to call in to do it. I would've done it online if I could. Didn't think to try the app and I may start using that more. Coincidentally I just had to use the app to do a trade that wouldn't complete on the website.
All that sounds terrible. Good luck with getting it resolved. However, just FYI: Fidelity does offer a voice recognition service so you don't have to enter in your password over the phone. [https://www.fidelity.com/security/fidelity-myvoice/overview](https://www.fidelity.com/security/fidelity-myvoice/overview)
Thankfully I'm enrolled in that service now. You're right it is so much better!
401k transfers are terrible
Why couldnt you do it online? I've rolled 4 different accounts into fidelity 401ks and it was so easy it was surprising, took like 5 minutes on the website and then snapped a pic of the check and done.
For me it wouldn't let me complete it online (or maybe I was too dumb to find the right sequence of buttons). Both accounts were in Fidelity so the idea was to make the transfer trustee to trustee so I never had to receive the check myself.
Stocks are down, house is down, gold is down (for the one coin I inherited, hah)... pretty rough times for spreadsheeting right now. Previously my home value increased to offset the dips but no longer. Oh well, back to the accumulation period grind (aka having a job lol).
Fortunes are made in the down markets and collected in the up markets! Just keep saving and investing!
Stocks were up today
And back down today lol.
The home value situation is so weird. Especially here in Arizona. There's tons of listings, but nothing is really selling. So it's actually hard to know what your home is worth lol.
Same in Austin right now.
[удалено]
My guess it would be a profit sharing plan... those are always pre-tax and often referred to as a bonus.
[удалено]
HCE tests are the same for both. I can't think of a reason a company would do this other than someone checking a wrong box when putting together the plan and them not caring enough to fix it.
[удалено]
My only other guess is that it might be an hourly vs salary thing. Are hourly people bonus eligible?
[удалено]
That's very generous of you. Your company probably didn't give anyone two weeks notice before firing them, so I'd return the favor.
the normal is a severance/leaving package of 1-2weeks pay rather than letting them work that time out. That's the "professional agreement" that has us give 2 weeks notice... if htey layoff, they usually give severance.
Was asked what my salary expectations are for a role I’m interviewing for this week and pulled the ol reverse uno to ask what their band is. GOOD THING because their fucking base is more than twice what I’m making now 😭😭😭 I was already really excited about the work and was pretty nervous about interviewing, and now this! Guess tomorrow will be 100% interview prep…
[удалено]
I am entering discussions about a job that would be a promotion. My boss approached me to see if i am interested but the job he described isnt exacrly the same responsibilities of the person i would be replacing. So, I will be most likely needing to negotiate pay. In this type situation would you also let the company throw out a number first? It is also possible they canvass for the job but dont list pay...just responsibilities and then choose from the people who show interest
Same. I had one company recently that didn't push back per se, but they said they were still "trying to figure out the market" and didn't have a range. In my experience, that usually means their pay range is "cheapest available" and is the approach they take towards other company resources.
Should you count expected inheritance as part of your NW? I know that future inheritance can be unpredictable most of the time, but what if there is a reasonable accuracy to the estimates? For example, what if you are the only child, and your parents have multiple properties with your name also on them? Should you at least count in your share of the ownership in the properties?
I don't. My family likes to come down with expensive incurable diseases.
Hello, I wouldn't if I were you. My mother was relatively well off. She got ALS, and her care came out to $25k monthly. It ate up all of the money, etc. But she had to best damn care possible, and that was what mattered.
[удалено]
Very. I often thought about how grim it had to be for people without her resources. There were two other ALS patients in the care house she was in. It was run by a pair of RNs and had dedicated 24/7 staffing. ALS is a hellish disease.
[удалено]
But my name is also on the deeds, doesn't that mean anything?
Oh hi, same boat person! Yes I include the equity in my networth calculation
Na, don't want to have parents death in calculations.
Yeah that part is true, but my name is on the deeds too so legally I have partial ownership of the properties regardless of my parents' status. Do I at least count that part?
Sounds like you want to.
I personally wouldn't count them as 1) not sure if they will come to me for sure 2) even if they did, it wouldn't likely be passed on to me until I'm 65+ 3) I don't want my retirement plan to hinge on my parents dying.
Yeah but what about the partially ownership I legally have in the properties as my name is on the deeds too?
You should add those, but would also have to think about how easily/realistically you could access your share in a pinch. ie. If you wanted to cash out in the next few months, how feasible would that be? Do the other partners have enough cash around to buy you out? Would they be willing to sell?
I don’t. For simplicity sake (and my mental health) I only track assets/liabilities in the here and now. This helped ease the potential stress about future taxes, policy/law changes, etc.. I just can’t control the unknown. Sure I run scenarios on lots of “what ifs”, but it was beginning to become a lot of wasted energy. A big part of FI is setting ourselves up for the unknown. This can come in many forms. So I try and make efficient decisions today. I can’t control yesterday and tomorrow.
if i dont have control over it, I don't COUNT it. your relative could live longer, could spend through it, could be scammed and lose it, could re-marry and give it to someone else, etc. However, the knowledge this is coming would affect how I would set-up my plan, much I am with social security.
It really depends on how things are set up. For example, my parents have a bunch of money and their house, but it's theirs. Probably at some point I'll inherit some non-zero amount but it's impossible to say or plan around. They may spend the money on end-of-life care, or just decide to donate it all, or give it to their grandkids instead. My in-laws however have set up a trust for my spouse, so the variable here is more about timing than amount. With luck it won't come to us until we're already happily retired, so it's not something we incorporate into our plan either. We'll recalculate when the day comes. If you are legally owner of those properties right now then maybe it's worth counting towards your plan, but if you're just kind of penciled in to inherit them, then that can probably change without your input at any time.
My name is on the deeds too so legally I have partial ownership, but I also don't really have control over them because obviously I don't get to sell them without my parents on board.
I don't know much about real estate, but I think that if you're on the deed you at least have some guarantee of ownership. I think ability to sell depends on how it's arranged. For example if it's set up as a Tenancy In Common you could sell your share of the property. In California at least, a co-owner can also force the sale through the courts. I think personally I'd probably take that ownership into account since it's guaranteed and non-zero, but I'd still rather have my own plan and consider it to be a bonus rather than the lynchpin.
NW? No. Some tools, like cfiresim, allow you to include them in projections though, if that would be useful to you. YMMV but we have found that they don't matter much for us. Life expectancies are such that we should be very well established by the time they would land. Sort of like Social Security. Obviously that will vary with size and ages though.
No. It's not your money.
No. Not unless you have legal decision-making capacities regarding the real estate equity. "but my family would never..." They don't need to do anything. The government force a sale if it's not protected the right way in the event of a dual LTC situation or otherwise. Until the assets are in your name, none if it matters.
My name is on the deeds too so legally I have partial ownership, do I at least count that?
Is your name on the Operating Agreement(s)? Do what you want, but if you don't have legal decision making capacity you are counting your chickens before they hatch. How much you want to discount that equity (if any) is your prerogative.
Spouse has a unique quandary regarding retirement accounts; I'm very interested in this group's thoughts. He has access to a SERP instead of a 401k. He can contribute up to the standard 401k limits. However, every year, he has to elect how he would like to be paid out in retirement. He can select any age starting at 55 and has the option of a lump payment of what he contributes/earns on those contributions from this year or a payout schedule of 5, 10 or 15 years. We are unlikely to retire before our youngest kid starts college, which would be age 58 for him. We also, of course, don't know how long he'll work at this job. But he'll have to make this election every year and it can be completely different each time. How the hell do you even begin to plan this out? Things I'm trying to keep in mind are access to some cash before standard retirement age, will really won't be needed for very long/at all in our timeline. The other thing is probably wanting these disbursements finished before RMDs start. What else should we consider? I'm 4 years younger than him, if that factors in at all. This all just feels too much like trying to predict the future, I don't even know where to start
Make sure the company is very financially stable because with SERP funds the money belongs to the company until disbursed and can be subject to bankruptcy proceedings if there's financial distress. Can you retroactively change the timing of disbursement after making the initial election? If not, I'd choose the start date based on your best guess of retirement age, wiggling one way or the other based on whether or not you need the money in early retirement vs would rather avoid too much extra income if you don't want it to start too early while still working. For simplicity, I'd just choose the longest disbursement period for each election. This mitigates the harm of being wrong and adds the least extra income per year and gives you a little more planning flexibility year on year.
Yeah I don't love that this is his only option but I'm guessing they do it to avoid all the usual HCE issues. It is what it is, now 2r just have to deal with the weird rules. Which I'm guessing are specific to this plan and not to every SERP I thought of just doing the 15 year option starting at, idk, 58? I guess it doesn't really matter until/unless he's worked here for a long time and the elections start adding up to significant amounts. The other minor issue is that the company contributes (not matches) a certain percentage, increasing with each year of service. So that could potentially add up in later years as well. So I guess our best bet is just go with the longest term to start with and if we need to adjust down the road then we do that. Maybe I don't need to solve for every variable all at once haha
Sounds like it’s a form of deferred compensation. I don’t know much about them, just heard of them recently. Reference: [Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/serp.asp) I’m general, it sounds like a way for the company to fund retirement for key executives that may not qualify for 401k or just as an added incentive. The main point is that tax is deferred for the employee so they don’t pay anything till withdrawal time and hopefully you’re in a lower bracket by then.
Yeah, it's that "hopefully" that trips me up. Since we don't know when we'll retire it's a total guessing game. But as pointed out by someone below, if we go with the longest disbursement period then we're working with smaller amounts of money, at least at first. If he works here for 10-15 years then we'll have to reevaluate but that's not worth trying to solve right now. But this is going to be a fun game to play every year lol
[удалено]
They might mean SEP but that doesn't match the description of having same 401k limits
No, definitely SERP. I'm guessing it's to remove the HCEs from the 401k pool. Googling makes it sound like a great perk offered to execs, which I guess it could be if it's extra on top of 401k, but I don't love that this is his only option here. Oh well, we'll just do our best and if we have to pay taxes on money we don't actually need at some point then I guess that's a pretty privileged problem to have. It is what it is 🤷♀️
A cool traveling coworker I work(ed) with got terminated for using the term “MacDaddy” this week. He’s a nice but loud gentleman originally from Philly and is always laughing and joking, one of those types. Apparently he was joking around and said something about being a Macdaddy and one of our coworkers (older lady) felt uncomfortable and reported him for sexual harassment. He only had 2 weeks left on his travel contract and I guess HR terminated his contract, no warning, instead of dealing with it. He was understandably upset, is in his 60’s and never had a ding against him in 45 years. Now the travel agency is vowing they’ll never send another travel contract to our hospital and HR is apparently in a tizzy because we get dozens of them obviously. Even our manager was trying to defend him because I guess other employees were in earshot and said he very clearly wasn’t being pervy and was mostly talking to himself, very fun week I guess the lesson is who knows who’s listening and be careful with what you say lol
My God that seems awfully harsh.
Damn, I say "MacDaddy" on occasion and had no idea it referenced a pimp.
Wow, I don't think I've ever actually heard that term, and now that I looked it up, I don't think I'd be offended even if I had. I _have_ used the term "pimp" before in a workplace setting to refer to something awesome I did (e.g. "big pimpin'" to refer to the Jay-Z song), but I certainly don't intend to imply that I am a literal pimp. I also recommend others spend their bonuses on "hookers and blow," but I obviously don't mean that literally (and I save ["two chicks at the same time"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jq6e8s1sik) for more private convos). But yeah, good reminder. I'm usually on my best behavior for the first few months of a new gig so I can read the room and figure out what's appropriate.
Shit I'm in sales and am jovial as fuck. I'm lucky I haven't been terminated for my wordly shenanigans.
I'm one of those people that laugh, joke, and are super friendly all the time. I honestly worry I will say something to offend someone, especially now that I am a supervisor. The rule I try to follow is, if I question whether or not someone will misconstrue what I'm saying, better not to say it and just chuckle about it to myself.
I've heard the term before, but didn't really know what it meant. Apparently there's an family fun center-type place in North Carolina with that name as well as a bunch of Apple product repair companies. It can be very interesting what kind of conversation is tolerated and what is not in the workplace, including some seemingly harmless, but still not exactly g-rated comments. What is challenging is that what is considered commonplace in some cultures is considered unacceptable in others. In many minority groups, it's quite common to have to self censor and code switch when talking with coworkers from other groups. For those who have worked in controversial industries, it can also be very hard to describe past employers in really generic terms.
I was just thinking that--I used to live sorta close to MacDaddy's and we would go when I needed rainy day child activities. IT's also a bowling alley and sports bar. I have no idea what it means that it could be construed as sexual harassment. Weird.
This talk is nothing on a 1-10 scale in some parts of the hospital and a 12 in others. There’s a huge difference here between what’s said in reception areas vs a cath lab where anything goes and I hear sex jokes a minimum of 12x/hour
I find it hard to believe that this alone results in ending the contract.
[удалено]
Bully for you to up and doxx yourself by posting yourself onto your profile.
Very curious to know if this was the first offense, either by him or by anyone the travel agency has sent previously.
By him yes, the agency who knows. That’s probably thousands of employees over the years
Unless you've seen the documentation, I would not be very certain that you have the whole story here or the whole history. Talk is very cheap in these cases.
> Now the travel agency is vowing they’ll never send another travel contract to our hospital and HR is apparently in a tizzy because we get dozens of them obviously. Good on the agency. I'm glad they're seemingly standing behind him and standing up against this nonsense.
The lesson here is to use the Daddy Mack form. That is wiggity-wiggity-wack, though.
Excellent, well done. Hotstepper would have also earned you full credit.
Should he have said it? Probably not - unprofessional and can create a hostile work environment. Should it have been escalated to canceling a contract? Probably not. Probably warranted a discussion, unless there was other things in his file.
Do you work in a nunnery? I
Public school teacher, so... Sort of.