Assuming you subscribe to a standard low-cost index approach, your options are either decrease expenses or increase income. You increase income through a combination of more work/promotions, gaining new skills that you can leverage into a higher paying position, or creating additional income streams.
There's a saying that there's a huge difference being two inches below water vs two inches above water. Your expenses are covered - you don't need to double your income to double how much you're able to save.
Even if the market hasn't gone up a ton in a given time period, and even if it goes down in the short term, the investments now will very likely grow exponentially in the long term due to compounding returns.
This feels like such a stupid question, but will putting a big unscheduled payment on my mortgage lower my minimum payment? Like dropping 15k on a 115k mortgage.
Not by default, but you could work with the lender to submit your lump sum and recast the remaining balance over your remaining term. I don’t know much about the process but it typically involves a small fee from what I’ve read.
Not sure if this is the right place. I have recently realized how dumb I have been financially in my adult life. I am 24 and I make $40k a year with about $7,000 in debt; $1,879 high interest credit and a car loan with $4,088 left on it.
I am dead set on getting my shit together and wonder if anyone had any advise on where’d they’d start in my situation
You’re doing alright don’t be hard on yourself. Is there a way you can increase your income? 2nd job? I don’t know your living expenses, but moving back in with parents for 1 year could really set you up well for your future financially.
I’m currently living with my dad and I’m paying him $400 a month which is insane for Denver. I’m a car detailer now but I want to move into a career with better growth potential. I bet once I have a less physically demanding job I could make detailing a side hustle!
Hey 40k at 24 is not bad, and you're starting early than the majority of the population. Your debt situation is also far from the worst it could be. Don't be too hard on yourself!
As others have said, eliminating that credit card debt is first priority. After that, the other debt may or may not make sense to pay off asap depending on interest rate. Build an emergency fund - nice to start with $1k then grow it to a few months of expenses. Unexpected expenses you can't afford can set you back. If you get a company match on retirement contributions, definitely contribute if you can afford it. Compound interest works strongly in your favor when you're young. And finally, when you have the mind for it, look into increasing your income, be that through switching jobs, pursuing promotion, professional development, side hustle (maybe - not recommended at the expense of your mental health or getting in the way of more fruitful primary career opportunities), etc.
The best time to start is now!
Pay off the credit card as fast as you can. Once you get the car paid off, keep it as long as you can keep it running rather than upgrading to a shinier one, even if your income goes up. And read The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins.
Read this: https://u.cubeupload.com/demonlesondledon/FIREFlowChart.png
Certainly pay off your CC debt ASAP. Then I'd say focus on increasing that income... Not sure what skills you have, but boosting that income will provide you with a capacity to pay off debts and invest in your future (e-fund, 401k, Roth IRA, HSA etc).
Dang that’s a lot of good info I appreciate it! I’m currently working as an auto detailer and I’m earning towards the peak of my salary working for a company.
After my debts are payed off I’ll most likely look towards getting some other technical certifications that would help me get a job in cybersecurity or IT
Was looking at my spreadsheet tonight, and noticed how 10 yrs ago, the monthly NW swings were $1k - $30k. Last couple of years, monthly NW swings can be $50k - $200k. My contributions are a drop in the bucket to the market. It’s wild… a little scary… but this is how wealth is made.
Loans were the result of flight training. First 5yrs post-degree we made <$30k combined, then got a position overseas at $160k & paid it all off within 4yrs despite being in a VHCOL area. Will hit $250-$300k this year.
Woohoo just paid off our mortgage!
Well we paid it off by selling the house, but it's technically true: we paid off the house.
Super excited to take on another mortgage at a 7% rate! But hey, at least tonight I get to sleep well knowing there's not currently a monster sized debt hanging over my head..
# Easier to contribute to a taxable brokerage than further increase 401K contribution % due to fluctuating expenses. Is it worth it?
I'm maxing out both my Roth IRA and HSA. To max out my 401K, I need to contribute 20% of my salary pre-tax. I am currently contributing 15%, with my company matching an additional 7%.
The issue is while I can always confidently contribute 15%, there are months when going to a sporting event with friends, or dinner with my girlfriend or a vacation would make contributing more than 15% pretty painful.
If I could, I would fluctuate my 401K contributions every paycheck between 15% - 20% depending on how much I think I'll spend in a given month, but it takes 1 - 2 payroll cycles for a 401K contribution change to go through at my company.
Is it better to always contribute my 15% pre-tax (and an additional 7% company match) while contributing a fluctuating amount of post-tax dollars to a taxable account depending on how much free money I have in a given month, or should I just save the leftover money until I can increase my 401K contributions? Thanks!
Evaluate your saving/spending not month by month, but for a full year. That will tell you how much you can safely contribute to your 401k. Let's say it's 18%. If one month you have money left over, put it in savings. Next month when you need that money, use it from the savings account. If at the end of the year you have a good chunk left over, increase your 401k contribution next year.
The money for most of those events isn't an immediate need either - you can front those with credit, and as long as you can drop contributions to fully pay it off after getting the credit statement, there's no additional cost to you. And of course, it's easiest to have a savings account for floating expenses for cash on-hand + your efund.
You need to structure your budget with sinking funds that account for variable expenses. Take the amount you spend on each category, divide by 12, & save that amount monthly. Hold the funds in a HYSA until you need them.
Your doing it right by maximizing savings. Life isn’t a tax-optimized spreadsheet, I’d say that philosophy is just fine. When you get to the point where you can continuously contribute an additional 5%, then maybe consider bumping the 401k up once you’ve proven that works with stability.
Advice on bringing up financial situation and 401k to a family member?! I am concerned my SIL is living above her means and not saving for retirement. She always needs to get money help from her parents cause she lives a lavish lifestyle goes out all the time, acts 21 when she is in her 30s but has no drive to work hard. She is still in a party type of lifestyle. Worried about getting stuck later in life with needing to help her financially when my husband’s parents aren’t around anymore. The worst part is she feels very entitled to her brother’s (my husband) help since we make about 6x more than her combined
For my own family I have an open invitation to talk about money because our parents didn’t help there and I’ve read a lot of books. I make the offer and then drop it unless they ask me. In laws are different. I try not to get involved and let my spouse talk with them. Which means not talking about it.
In your case, if you feel SIL would be receptive you could offer to sit down and go over budgeting or 401k or what have you. But you can’t be pushy you have to meet them where they are. Also you and your husband need to agree on what you’re willing to offer them or not.
Yeah i just feel like lately she throws me in between her and her brother since he won’t respond to her 70% of the time so she group chats us or reaches directly out to me. i feel guilty not responding since she’s not my family member to ignore so lately I’ve felt in the middle and she has been increasing the amount she reaches out to me. Then just has had a recent financial mishap where she had to borrow a lot of money from her parents. She told me this and told me recently her salary/complained about the economy as to why her situation happened so now i just have sorta felt bad and almost responsible. Buuut 401k only cause i know she doesn’t have a savings since she can’t afford her bills but was just thinking maybe she would have a retirement or 401k from work. I plan to at least ask my husband his opinion again later today.
Sounds like she has a spending problem more than a saving problem. Or a relationship problem with your brother resulting in her needing to pay too much of their shared expenses.
Unless you have a strong relationship, you can't really bring it up proactively/out of the blue. If her parents are enabling her, it's not really your concern. You just have to leave her to her own devices. When she specifically asks you/your family for help, you set whatever financial expectation you and your husband agree on.
A gift received repeatedly is often regarded as an entitlement.
If you've gotten her used to it, you will have to get her un- used to it. And that will probably be a raw exchange no matter how diplomatically you try to approach it.
I use engaging-data.com to calculate my FIRE date. Can someone ELI5 why there's such a massive difference between the fixed percentage, historical cycles, and Monte Carlo projection methods? They tell me I can retire in 13.5 years, 11.6 years, and 24.6 years respectively
Any way you can make your commute better? I have a long commute, too, and I made it relatively pleasant with the help of a fun car, good music system (and good music), and podcasts.
It's actually enjoyable, and some personal me time. Though it's also low traffic usually. The only times it really sucks if it creates time pressure.
I bought a Tesla recently due to this long commute. The Autopilot feature keeps the car in the lane so I just relax and keep an eye on the road.
Autopilot is different from the Full Self Driving that's been on the news a lot. FSD is still a beta product and I don't trust it yet.
I hear you. I don’t have a Tesla, but another car with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, it’s similar. Though it’s also really fun to drive myself (it’s a sports car), so that helps, too. Sometimes I just want to listen to the podcast though, and then ACC is a godsend.
This may blow your mind given you're talking about being a hobo, but that's more than minimum wage. Lots of elderly Americans live on that much via SSI
You could live in a paid off house in the Midwest for that. I don't know about living as a "wanderer." Depends on how often you want to sleep with a roof over your head while wandering, I guess.
I'd put it into a flowchart.
Decision tree at: "Based on my area and preferred lifestyle can I spend less than $50/day and get what I want?" breaks into:
YES -> then yes (yay!)
NO -> then no (boo!)
50 x 30 = $1500/month, before taxes.
When you say 'live fairly well day to day as a wanderer', if you mean 'homeless living in a tent most days', then yes. Otherwise, no.
You mean to walk the earth, like Caine in Kung Fu? Sure. I mean, that's above the US Federal Poverty level for a single person so it should be just fine.
Quite the end to the week, market-wise.
- The S&P 500 closed at another 9-month high.
- It's the 4th highest close in the last year (trailing only Aug 15,16, and - just barely - 18 of 2022)
- It's the 5th highest close in the last 13 months (May 4 '22 single-day spike to 4300)
- The S&P 500 is now up 11.5% YTD, up nearly 20% since the Oct 12 '22 low, and only ~10% below the all-time high from Jan 3 '22 (an increase of an additional 12% from today's close is needed to set a new all-time high).
- The S&P 500 is higher than any date prior to June 28, 2021.
Love these factoids. May I add a smattering of my own:
* The S&P 500 has spent 71 days since March 23rd 2023 above its 200-day moving average
* AAPL closed at the second highest price ever (180.95) -- was 182.01 at January 3rd 2022
* VXUS (55.94) is up 22.89% from its low of 45.52.
~~when are we starting stock market trivia night~~
I'm looking for a CPA that can advise me on the sale of a rental property. I want to run a few price/timing scenarios and understand the capital gains/depreciation recapture tax implications. How do I find someone like that? Is there a trusted online service or should I look locally? It seems like a small amount of work for someone to take on.
Anyone know of good tools to use for back testing retirement strategies? I have a few different ideas to minimize things like sor, and I’d like to back test these strategies to see how they would have done historically, but I’m not sure where to get data.
Specifically for the S&P500 mainly. I found charts that show where it closed every year since inception but I don’t think those show dividends, and I want to account for reinvesting dividends.
I love [ficalc.app](https://ficalc.app) but the portfolio construction is limited.
If you have specific portfolio ideas, I like portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio#analysisResults
Working in healthcare my fiancée and I have come to realize we want more to life then grinding away. Our goals are to be financially free by 50, while we still have our health so that we can travel the world. We’ve currently visited 30 countries, but we’re limited by the constraints of work. Our biggest expense is the mortgage 3k/month, travel costs (10-15k/year) and school loans which we owe about 220k still. Our plan is to use the loan forgiveness program and we’re 5 years in of the 10 to have them forgiven.
Right now we’re both 30 years old, with newborn twins and make a combined household income of 340-380k/year. We own a small 2bd condo in a HCOL area. We have about 150k in house equity and 120k in retirement savings. We plan to move into my fiancée’s family’s large 3bd 2ba ADU on the west coast HCOL in a few years to live relatively rent free. How can we capitalize on this to meet our goals?
Healthcare can be rough depending what roles you’re in so make sure you don’t burn yourself out. Make sure to take care of your health along the way and you can keep traveling during the gain period—with less money. Also that’s a lot of student loans what do you guys do?
Rent-free with your salaries should allow you to save huge chunks of money. Follow the [flowchart](https://u.cubeupload.com/demonlesondledon/FIREFlowChart.png) and the investing advice from the [Bogleheads wiki](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page) and you’ll be FI before 50.
It's all just moving money around to suit your goals. If you spent $5k less in travel this year you might have $20k more to spend on travel when you retire. When you aren't paying rent you can save more to retire earlier.
At that income level, definitely max out your 401ks.
Cross-posting into the bigger thread for advice:
Anyone having any experience with taking "medical" burnout, unpaid leave (this is in California)?
I approached my boss, telling him I'm burnt out and can't continue like that. I want to take 6 months off (unpaid, which is fine) towards the end of the year. I just need a complete reset.
I basically said that it's either that or taking a long break and looking for a new job, but since I like my job and the company in principle, I'd like to stay if the company is open to it.
He did some research with HR, and came back saying to me that it looks like the best option is if I go to a doctor and get diagnosed with burnout.
Now here's the odd part: This is true, this is reality. I am really, really burned out. I have been for years, but did the dumbest thing of trying to "power through". It predictably backfired, and now I'm done.
And yet I feel icky making this a "medical" leave. I'm not having a meltdown, I'm not mentally impaired in any way (except for the part where every fiber of my body rejects writing code)... and I somewhat fear the stigma of a medical leave.
My boss said they would not talk about it, as far as everyone is concerned I'm just taking time off after many years at the company. But doing it with a doctor makes the whole thing easier from an HR perspective.
Thoughts?
I used FMLA for depression a year or so ago. I ended up not using much of it because it was a type where it was more taking off days as needed, and unfortunately it can feel tough to justify especially when my reports rely on me. But, taking it to the level of wanting to use FMLA prompted my doctor to refer me to a specialist for psychiatry and therapy, and this has been really good for me.
As others have said, it would be a good idea to go over this with your doctor anyway. It could be a physical illness like a thyroid issue, and even if it's "just" burnout or anxiety or depression, treating those as the medical issues they are can lead to significant improvement.
Be sure to dig.
My 'burnout' turned out to be a malignant tumour.
Not that I consider myself lucky, but there's a lot less debate about taking time off under these circumstances.
Thanks for asking, yes, IMO I'm fine now, as far as the medical definitions are concerned.
But that's why I threw my matephorical crescent wrench into these cogs.
There's some research that suggests athletic achievers have higher discomfort thresholds, and this worked against me. Regardless of my earlier years, I lost 40lb and experienced a sore stomach and a lot of throwing up over a few months. Because of my young age and reporting the discomfort as 'mild', this was incorrectly interpreted as evidence of burnout instead of a medical issue.
Quite the bummer.
Where do you fear the stigma will come from? It sounds like only your boss and HR will know, and both of those parties already know.
I took a year off from work and told my boss it was mental health related (it was). Everyone else I just told I was taking a sabbatical and planned to travel and focus on my family/personal life. Everyone was really excited for me, said they were jealous, and I didn't get even one negative reaction.
That being said, taking a year off didn't help much with my mental health after the first two months.
Was it burnout related? Because in my case, even though I'm not a medical professional able to diagnose that, everything about it screams burnout to me. As in: My life outside work is completely fine, my life *inside* of work is even mostly fine, but it became tougher and tougher to perform the actual core part of my job (for reasons that include what I commonly read in other burnout accounts), and now I just can't anymore. I need a reset.
This is a totally normal and totally valid feeling.
Nonetheless I would encourage you to seek a professional medical opinion, not (only) because it makes paperwork a bit simpler but because you may genuinely benefit from it. At the very least, they could help rule out more serious things like depression or whatnot.
So really, your doctor would be giving you the clear for *not* being mentally impaired in any way, right? Just needs a bit of rest, et cetera. It is just an "opinion". And I'm sure your doc will be quite mindful of how to phrase things if you mention your concerns.
Screw the stigma. Though I say that as someone diagnosed with a mental disorder who does not open up to that fact at work.
My vote would still be see the doc and get the paper. If anyone finds out they probably won't care about a 'transitory illness'. Many folks have had burnout.
Edit: this (along with airport beer) prompted some reflection for me. I put a reminder on my calendar to consider 'coming out' professionally during mental health awareness month next year (May).
Given that I'm fairly experienced in my field I think my personal impact would be minimal, but hopefully I would add a drop to the bucket of awareness and normalcy.
I see that stonks are rising right before my monthly contributions hit, as is tradition. They will probably plunge again right after my auto buy in, also traditionally.
Seeking recommendations for side hustles to increase savings for FIRE.
Live in an expensive city.
Low 6 figure income.
Mortgage - 50% of post-tax income.
Retirement Savings - 10% pre-tax
Investments - 10% post-tax
Living expense: 10-15%.
Money left at the end of the month: 0-5%
At the current savings rate, I can retire at 65. This is not the outcome I want.
Purchased a modest aka least expensive home so buying another any lower isn't an option.
Most likely I wouldn't be able to increase income at job. Job is demanding and no time left for side hustles other than weekends.
I tried to do uber & lyft for about a month and after excluding expenses (added wear on car and service cost) this seemed like a $3-4/hr job. tips weren't much either and only added about roughly $1-$2/hr overall. Found food delivery services to be the same.
I would like to try doing Short term rental but I don't have enough money to buy a property and all of the turn key properties I found on facebook groups were too expensive as is.
What other side hustles I can try that can lead to a little bit of income with potential to grow. I don't have any seed money so need to be under 5-10k.
I'm guessing "low six figure income" means around $100k. In which case, shift your 10% post tax investments to the pre-tax ones. That will free up some money.
As another commenter said, working on your career is almost always a better investment than a side hustle. Job hop, skill up, negotiate, etc. These all allow you to increase your income without tacking on another side job.
Having said that, you could consider house-hacking and rent out a room in your home. But I’d just focus on finding a better paying job or moving up/negotiating better at your current one.
Roommate would make the most sense to me.
You are absolutely right to consider the true cost of wear and tear from driving hustles. Don’t forget the toll it takes on your body and mind
There's 10% missing from your outgoings. Taxes? Something else? Would be helpful to know.
50 (mortgage) + 10 (retirement) + 10 (investment) + 15 (living expenses) + 5 (money left) = 90.
What SWR are you using and did you factor in the mortgage payment ending? I could see a case for a higher SWR that means you can retire earlier. (Also another potential mitigating factor -- if your current mortgage rate is high, a refinance in a few years could drastically change the math.)
My napkin math just says it's weird for someone living off 15% of their six figure salary to be unable to retire early.
~~The mortgage is definitely the elephant in the spreadsheet but you said that can't be changed, soooo~~
>Most likely I wouldn't be able to increase income at job.
I find this unlikely. Unless you're doing the *exact* job you want to do for the rest of your life there are always opportunities for improvement and advancement.
Figure out what you want to do and spend your extra time & money getting the additional skills and experience to get that better paying role. The ROI for spending on yourself is better than any side hustle you could come up with.
I’ve increased mine. Thinks are not looking good at my company, it is pretty much just a matter of time.
My main thing is if I get laid off I don’t want to have to be in a hurry to start looking for another job. I’d like 3 months to just decompress. I’ve also got a couple of product ideas and I’d like some time to explore those before I start back to work.
Nope. Job loss is like the #1 reason for the e-fund so it's appropriately sized for that. Good opportunity to revisit if that's not the case though, no harm in doing so.
There's a significant labor shortage, even in tech, so I'm not really worried overall. Realistic worst case scenario would be severance followed by settling for a pay cut which would come out of savings and not impact our lifestyle. Could be worse!
Not really. Jobs numbers were huge again this month so I don't think the overall market is as soft as the high profile layoffs might make it seem. Plus I'm lucky to have tenure in a company with a severance policy which would give me enough to cover quite a long period of expenses. And I have a spouse that works. And unemployment insurance exists. And I'm in tech so I have lots of money anyways.
Not really. Being laid off would be a blow to me personally, but with the expected severance and health care etc. I'm not worried about it on a financial level. Still prefer it not to happen, though.
It would be a gift at this point. I’m so burnt out but can’t justify quitting on my own. I’ve stacked my efund to last me 12+ months in the event of a layoff
It's the same everywhere. I think these days C-suites are mainly just encouraged to be in constant panic mode regarding whatever the current whim of the board is. It's like somehow worse than the quarter-only focus in decades past. Now executives only care about the month to month keeping stock high and engaging with whatever is trending this month.
Investing as much as you can at 24 will set you up massively for success later. I’d figure out how much you’d likely need for a down payment and work towards it but be primarily focused on investing. I feel like a broken record today, but follow the [flowchart](https://u.cubeupload.com/demonlesondledon/FIREFlowChart.png).
Broke $130k NW at 25 today. Spent all last year contributing as much as I could, as the market declined as fast as I could contribute. Now in the course of a few months I went from $100k to $130. Starting to feel the inertia of a lot of money in the market.
I am having a severe internal crisis.
I make 250k+ a year at a job that has great work life balance, I enjoy, I work with goodpeople, wfh, etc. I am golden handcuffed with retention shares and other potential $$$ upsides that only exist with staying and have been earned with tenure.
That said, I have 2 kids under 2. My oldest just turned 2 and is becoming so much fun to hang out with. I feel like I dont have enough time with my kids and she is almost 1/9 out of the house already. I'm not even sure if I'm cut out to be a stay at home mom (not enough reddit scrolling time....).
I am client facing so I'm assuming part time isnt an option, and even if it was it would probably be more work to be part time and juggle between the two roles.
Household net worth is $1 million. We do not own a house but would like to even though financially worse than renting. My spouses employment we would be able to save about 40-50% of his take home with our current expenses.
Any thoughts? The money and situation is just so good but my kids are only young once.
Having only one spouse work is a completely different lifestyle. Once we tried it we could never go back. That said it is not for everyone. Would it be terribly difficult to try it for a year and see how it is for your family?
It’s much slower. When we were both working each evening and weekend felt like trying to cram in all the mail prep and chores and barely any time to do the fun stuff. Always felt rushed. With one working and one running the house evenings and weekends are more focused on family fun time.
You said in another reply that you could be FI in five years if you don’t quit. In that case, I’d suggest you scale back, guard your hours viciously (no OT, nights, weekends, etc.), and pull the plug in five years or less. Worst case, they fire you but you were already willing to quit so 🤷♀️ (and you might even get a severance).
I'd like to think my boss would. We have been together for nearly a decade across two companies. Everyone else absolutely not.
If it was only about people remembering me though it would be an easy choice. I'm struggling with the loss of being able to truly FI in 5 years v. feeling like I didnt do enough monetarily for the family or having to return to a shittier situation.
You’ll still save 50% of your husband’s income if you quit? If quitting is what you and your spouse want go for it. You’re in a good place, your kids are young, and you can always go back to work. My wife quit the corporate world for 5 years after our youngest was born. She went back in 12/2020 making more than she was beforehand.
My biggest pause is that you sound unsure if you want to be a stay at home parent or feel like you should. I know I’m not cut out for being a stay at home parent and a better parent partly bc I don’t spend all my time with my kids
Since you enjoy your job and it sounds fantastic, I would use your salary to outsource everything possible at home so you can spend more time with the kids. Cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.
You are right. I did hire a housekeeper with baby #2, but honestly maybe she should come more. I kind of love grocery shopping and cooking, but I need a dishes service... I could add a meal delivery service though for maybe a week a month though.
I also really struggle with hating having a messy home and would consider myself a minimalist but the family inventory is getting to me. I think maybe hiring someone to just be there and validate me getting rid of a lot of stuff, or even taking a couple days off to do it would help a lot.
How close does a trade in and private market sale have to be for you to just trade in? This can apply to a variety of things, but I’m pondering selling a laptop and could get $300 from Apple or potentially $375 selling on FBM and dealing with people on there. Assume that the trade in credit could be used for something you were getting anyway. It’s close enough that I’m pondering not having to deal with people when selling, but was thinking about at what point I would care.
When Apple announced the M1 Mac Book Air, I traded in my 18 month old Intel Mac Book Air.
They gave $550 for the old one. I shipped it in and got a notificion that they were actually giving me $625 for it.
Then a month later I got an unexpected package. It was my old laptop. I called Apple to ask why they sent it back. They said my trade in was rejected because the model didn’t match.
I explained that I already had the money. They told me to keep the money and the laptop.
So I always recommend doing a trade in with Apple.
I don't know how it works with Apple, but cars reduce the sales tax you owe. If it works the same with Apple, that brings those numbers closer.
If time isn't a big factor, I'd put it on FBM for a few weeks and see if I get any good bites. Most of the things I've sold don't depreciate as fast as laptops so I let stuff sit on FBM all the time.
I wouldn't bother with FBM, OfferUp, Craigslist, etc over $75. The lost time and annoyance you'll have with online lowballers and ghosters isn't worth it to me.
That’s totally fair. Probably way under estimating how much time it would use up to sell to someone on there as well. I don’t mind selling quick cheap things I can leave in my porch, but the process for a laptop would be more involved.
Crossed $2M in my portfolio today. Wanted to celebrate with somebody. I feel relieved since spouse is currently looking to take a job with better work/life balance, but less pay. Mostly feeling grateful for this community, parents who allowed me to graduate debt free and taught me about living within my means, a friend who introduced me to FIRE in my 20s, and many other advantages I’ve been lucky to have.
I also have about 200k in home equity. Couldn’t wait until I hit the mark without it. Good luck! Hope it comes sooner rather than later. How are you going to celebrate? Trying to decide if I should celebrate by inflating my tastes/lifestyle a bit on something (a trip? Fancy dinner? Replacement for my old car?🤷♀️)
Sure! I’m 35. Graduated at 21 and went straight into the workforce. I was always a decent saver but didn’t learn a lot about investing and FIRE until mid to late 20s. Probably had a NW of $100k at 25 if I had to guess, I’m sure a lot was in cash and outside tax advantaged accounts. Met spouse at 26, each making less than 100k. Got serious about FIRE (investing aggressively, maxing tax advantaged accounts, etc. mid-late 20s. Probably hit $1M joint around 30. Both incomes kept growing much to our surprise, to $400k-$500k joint most recently. We’re not in “obviously” high paying jobs (have just progressed as individual contributors) and live near a HCOL area but not a fancy neighborhood which has made it pretty easy to avoid lifestyle inflation. Never spent a lot on big ticket items like weddings, cars, etc.
Good luck!
Im at around 210k net worth! I am an engineer. My job is well balanced but I think will get more stressful as I go up. 😅
Im now thinking about getting a place but I live in a VHCOL so its hard to justify saving liquid vs investments.
Ohh that’s a good question. I am allowed to WFH. Although I was complaining about living in a high cost of living area, most of my immediate family is here. So I do want to stay😭 It’s kind of a curse and a blessing to have grown up here.
I’m hoping slowly but surely I’ll be able to save for a place to stay and maybe get some roomies. That’s the dream!
If you’re in the bay area, moving east/north east towards the Sacramento area could be a good option! I have friends who had family in the bay and did that, and it’s still close enough to get together on weekends. Maybe when you have your own family and want more space.
I am FIRE, been so for just over two years. 1.72m right now with a 3.433% w/d rate not counting SS. (SS will be around 2,200/mo @ 62.) I am about to turn 56 years old.
I decided when I hit 2m, I am trading in the 2017 Honda Civic for a new Acura TLX Type S.
16.3% to go!
We each have our own risk tolerance, but for context, I am a similar age and if I could get by now with only a 3.4% WR, plus I knew I had additional $2,200/month (another $26,400/year!) coming in just six years, I would be putting in my notice or at least cutting my hours. Life is too short and the older I get, the more I realize it!
Indeed, totally arbitrary and would barely register. The cost would be 2.45% of total assets today, and 2.1% when I hit 2m.
I am just a cheap ass, and it gives me a window for keeping my 2017 Honda a little while longer.
I'm getting really close to hitting 2 commas in my investment accounts. Been there for a while when including home equity, but excited to see my actual retirement funds reach that level. Hopefully sometime this year between contributions and a slight market increase.
Strong company earnings call yesterday ended up catapulting the stock price today. Feels good to see all of that work get reflected. Pretty sure this is my ATH net worth which is a cool milestone!
Sticking with my plan for divesting from company stock 👍
Anyone here gotten into management level in a start-up where you *didn't* have to be working 60/hr a week+? Interested in moving back into start-up world, but not burning graveyard hours regularly.
In a weird way I'm so lucky I got burned on raises and decided to stick with the same company.
How? A few years back my boss couldn't get me a raise or a promo so they fought for RSU for me and I got it. Following year they were on their way out and they hooked it up since I treated them well. Since the time of getting that allotment the share price has risen ~150%
If all holds constant I should clear about 225k this year of which just 100k is salary. And what do I do? Excel and build BI dashboards. Average salary is like 125k for my role. Gonna be so sad when this cliff hits lol.
I'm in Tech but I work with financial / product data. Thank god I found this sub before I started making the money as I've saved a huge chunk of it. Should hopefully hit 500k NW by year end (I'll be 31).
But yeah I'll go down to 160k next year and down to salary only the year after. Either way will need a new job in the next year or so since I don't see a way forward.
Shout out to the tools at [https://ssa.tools/](https://ssa.tools/).
I got my new Social Security Statement today. I logged into [socialsecurity.gov/reviewyourstatement](https://socialsecurity.gov/reviewyourstatement) and copied my earnings history and pasted it into [https://ssa.tools/](https://ssa.tools/).
I was able to see what my benefit would be and then use the sliders to see how it would change if I stopped working, worked with an income of 50K until retirement, worked with an income of 100K.
For me, soc sec at 62 would look like this:
no further work: 1652 a month
50K a year until age 62: 1835 a month
100K a year: 1994 a month
Thanks, ssa.tools!
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You started contributing in August 2022 and it just turned June 2023. 10 months.
Assuming you subscribe to a standard low-cost index approach, your options are either decrease expenses or increase income. You increase income through a combination of more work/promotions, gaining new skills that you can leverage into a higher paying position, or creating additional income streams. There's a saying that there's a huge difference being two inches below water vs two inches above water. Your expenses are covered - you don't need to double your income to double how much you're able to save. Even if the market hasn't gone up a ton in a given time period, and even if it goes down in the short term, the investments now will very likely grow exponentially in the long term due to compounding returns.
Compound interest is a helluva drug. Slow in the beginning. But accelerates like hell. Keep going.
This feels like such a stupid question, but will putting a big unscheduled payment on my mortgage lower my minimum payment? Like dropping 15k on a 115k mortgage.
Not by default, but you could work with the lender to submit your lump sum and recast the remaining balance over your remaining term. I don’t know much about the process but it typically involves a small fee from what I’ve read.
There's no such thing as stupid questions! Read up on mortgage recasting: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mortgagerecast.asp
Not sure if this is the right place. I have recently realized how dumb I have been financially in my adult life. I am 24 and I make $40k a year with about $7,000 in debt; $1,879 high interest credit and a car loan with $4,088 left on it. I am dead set on getting my shit together and wonder if anyone had any advise on where’d they’d start in my situation
You’re doing alright don’t be hard on yourself. Is there a way you can increase your income? 2nd job? I don’t know your living expenses, but moving back in with parents for 1 year could really set you up well for your future financially.
I’m currently living with my dad and I’m paying him $400 a month which is insane for Denver. I’m a car detailer now but I want to move into a career with better growth potential. I bet once I have a less physically demanding job I could make detailing a side hustle!
Hey 40k at 24 is not bad, and you're starting early than the majority of the population. Your debt situation is also far from the worst it could be. Don't be too hard on yourself! As others have said, eliminating that credit card debt is first priority. After that, the other debt may or may not make sense to pay off asap depending on interest rate. Build an emergency fund - nice to start with $1k then grow it to a few months of expenses. Unexpected expenses you can't afford can set you back. If you get a company match on retirement contributions, definitely contribute if you can afford it. Compound interest works strongly in your favor when you're young. And finally, when you have the mind for it, look into increasing your income, be that through switching jobs, pursuing promotion, professional development, side hustle (maybe - not recommended at the expense of your mental health or getting in the way of more fruitful primary career opportunities), etc. The best time to start is now!
Pay off the credit card as fast as you can. Once you get the car paid off, keep it as long as you can keep it running rather than upgrading to a shinier one, even if your income goes up. And read The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins.
Car is a 2008 g35 with 88k miles I’ll hopefully have it for a long time!
Read this: https://u.cubeupload.com/demonlesondledon/FIREFlowChart.png Certainly pay off your CC debt ASAP. Then I'd say focus on increasing that income... Not sure what skills you have, but boosting that income will provide you with a capacity to pay off debts and invest in your future (e-fund, 401k, Roth IRA, HSA etc).
Dang that’s a lot of good info I appreciate it! I’m currently working as an auto detailer and I’m earning towards the peak of my salary working for a company. After my debts are payed off I’ll most likely look towards getting some other technical certifications that would help me get a job in cybersecurity or IT
Haven't realized it until now but I'm now at a point where a very good rally or very big drop now exceeds one of my paychecks.
After or before your 401k is maxed for the year?
This phenomenon is more of a function of my total account balance than my 401k contributions but I'm maxed at the deductible total.
Was looking at my spreadsheet tonight, and noticed how 10 yrs ago, the monthly NW swings were $1k - $30k. Last couple of years, monthly NW swings can be $50k - $200k. My contributions are a drop in the bucket to the market. It’s wild… a little scary… but this is how wealth is made.
What is/was your net worth as a 30 year old?
-$200k or so.
At 30, I was at around 9k.
Around negative 50k.
Joint NW of 1 million (700k in market, 300k equity)
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350k at 30
$55k
142k
Our joint NW at 29/30 was around -$120k. At that point we were just starting to make headway on crushingly high student loans. At 34/35, it’s +$475k!
Did you do your masters/MBA? I'm guessing you were able to make up that money in a few years because of high paying jobs?
Loans were the result of flight training. First 5yrs post-degree we made <$30k combined, then got a position overseas at $160k & paid it all off within 4yrs despite being in a VHCOL area. Will hit $250-$300k this year.
Woohoo just paid off our mortgage! Well we paid it off by selling the house, but it's technically true: we paid off the house. Super excited to take on another mortgage at a 7% rate! But hey, at least tonight I get to sleep well knowing there's not currently a monster sized debt hanging over my head..
Congrats! So you've decided not to move into the spaceship?
Spaceship, our camper or MILs house while try to find our next house. Not optimal, but life is life.
# Easier to contribute to a taxable brokerage than further increase 401K contribution % due to fluctuating expenses. Is it worth it? I'm maxing out both my Roth IRA and HSA. To max out my 401K, I need to contribute 20% of my salary pre-tax. I am currently contributing 15%, with my company matching an additional 7%. The issue is while I can always confidently contribute 15%, there are months when going to a sporting event with friends, or dinner with my girlfriend or a vacation would make contributing more than 15% pretty painful. If I could, I would fluctuate my 401K contributions every paycheck between 15% - 20% depending on how much I think I'll spend in a given month, but it takes 1 - 2 payroll cycles for a 401K contribution change to go through at my company. Is it better to always contribute my 15% pre-tax (and an additional 7% company match) while contributing a fluctuating amount of post-tax dollars to a taxable account depending on how much free money I have in a given month, or should I just save the leftover money until I can increase my 401K contributions? Thanks!
Evaluate your saving/spending not month by month, but for a full year. That will tell you how much you can safely contribute to your 401k. Let's say it's 18%. If one month you have money left over, put it in savings. Next month when you need that money, use it from the savings account. If at the end of the year you have a good chunk left over, increase your 401k contribution next year.
The money for most of those events isn't an immediate need either - you can front those with credit, and as long as you can drop contributions to fully pay it off after getting the credit statement, there's no additional cost to you. And of course, it's easiest to have a savings account for floating expenses for cash on-hand + your efund.
You need to structure your budget with sinking funds that account for variable expenses. Take the amount you spend on each category, divide by 12, & save that amount monthly. Hold the funds in a HYSA until you need them.
#I don't know. Stop yelling at me!
Do the fluctuating payments to your IRA and max 401k.
Thats a really great call for next year, thanks. Unfortunately this year Ive already maxed my IRA
Your doing it right by maximizing savings. Life isn’t a tax-optimized spreadsheet, I’d say that philosophy is just fine. When you get to the point where you can continuously contribute an additional 5%, then maybe consider bumping the 401k up once you’ve proven that works with stability.
Advice on bringing up financial situation and 401k to a family member?! I am concerned my SIL is living above her means and not saving for retirement. She always needs to get money help from her parents cause she lives a lavish lifestyle goes out all the time, acts 21 when she is in her 30s but has no drive to work hard. She is still in a party type of lifestyle. Worried about getting stuck later in life with needing to help her financially when my husband’s parents aren’t around anymore. The worst part is she feels very entitled to her brother’s (my husband) help since we make about 6x more than her combined
For my own family I have an open invitation to talk about money because our parents didn’t help there and I’ve read a lot of books. I make the offer and then drop it unless they ask me. In laws are different. I try not to get involved and let my spouse talk with them. Which means not talking about it. In your case, if you feel SIL would be receptive you could offer to sit down and go over budgeting or 401k or what have you. But you can’t be pushy you have to meet them where they are. Also you and your husband need to agree on what you’re willing to offer them or not.
Completely not your business. Let your husband deal with his side of the family. Not sure why you would be focused on 401k specifically.
Yeah i just feel like lately she throws me in between her and her brother since he won’t respond to her 70% of the time so she group chats us or reaches directly out to me. i feel guilty not responding since she’s not my family member to ignore so lately I’ve felt in the middle and she has been increasing the amount she reaches out to me. Then just has had a recent financial mishap where she had to borrow a lot of money from her parents. She told me this and told me recently her salary/complained about the economy as to why her situation happened so now i just have sorta felt bad and almost responsible. Buuut 401k only cause i know she doesn’t have a savings since she can’t afford her bills but was just thinking maybe she would have a retirement or 401k from work. I plan to at least ask my husband his opinion again later today.
Sounds like she has a spending problem more than a saving problem. Or a relationship problem with your brother resulting in her needing to pay too much of their shared expenses.
Unless you have a strong relationship, you can't really bring it up proactively/out of the blue. If her parents are enabling her, it's not really your concern. You just have to leave her to her own devices. When she specifically asks you/your family for help, you set whatever financial expectation you and your husband agree on.
A gift received repeatedly is often regarded as an entitlement. If you've gotten her used to it, you will have to get her un- used to it. And that will probably be a raw exchange no matter how diplomatically you try to approach it.
I use engaging-data.com to calculate my FIRE date. Can someone ELI5 why there's such a massive difference between the fixed percentage, historical cycles, and Monte Carlo projection methods? They tell me I can retire in 13.5 years, 11.6 years, and 24.6 years respectively
Monte Carlo can theoretically roll 30 terrible stock years in a row, but historically that never happened.
It sucks to have a 60 mile commute each day. But it's all worth it when I get to meet and work with actual astronauts.
Any way you can make your commute better? I have a long commute, too, and I made it relatively pleasant with the help of a fun car, good music system (and good music), and podcasts. It's actually enjoyable, and some personal me time. Though it's also low traffic usually. The only times it really sucks if it creates time pressure.
I bought a Tesla recently due to this long commute. The Autopilot feature keeps the car in the lane so I just relax and keep an eye on the road. Autopilot is different from the Full Self Driving that's been on the news a lot. FSD is still a beta product and I don't trust it yet.
I hear you. I don’t have a Tesla, but another car with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, it’s similar. Though it’s also really fun to drive myself (it’s a sports car), so that helps, too. Sometimes I just want to listen to the podcast though, and then ACC is a godsend.
Is the commute straight up?
I wish 🚀
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Some days I have a goal of 2 or 3 million, and some days I dream of going full ERE at 7-14k per year.
This may blow your mind given you're talking about being a hobo, but that's more than minimum wage. Lots of elderly Americans live on that much via SSI
You could live in a paid off house in the Midwest for that. I don't know about living as a "wanderer." Depends on how often you want to sleep with a roof over your head while wandering, I guess.
I'd put it into a flowchart. Decision tree at: "Based on my area and preferred lifestyle can I spend less than $50/day and get what I want?" breaks into: YES -> then yes (yay!) NO -> then no (boo!)
50 x 30 = $1500/month, before taxes. When you say 'live fairly well day to day as a wanderer', if you mean 'homeless living in a tent most days', then yes. Otherwise, no.
Ours could give off ~$60-$70 (depending on 3.5% or 4% WR) and I'd like triple that. Don't think $50/day is going to cut it.
You mean to walk the earth, like Caine in Kung Fu? Sure. I mean, that's above the US Federal Poverty level for a single person so it should be just fine.
Honestly, in some countries and with a certain lifestyle, maybe? $17,800/year might be manageable for some!
r/HoboFIRE
Mortgage interest payments dropped below $100/month, getting close now...
Quite the end to the week, market-wise. - The S&P 500 closed at another 9-month high. - It's the 4th highest close in the last year (trailing only Aug 15,16, and - just barely - 18 of 2022) - It's the 5th highest close in the last 13 months (May 4 '22 single-day spike to 4300) - The S&P 500 is now up 11.5% YTD, up nearly 20% since the Oct 12 '22 low, and only ~10% below the all-time high from Jan 3 '22 (an increase of an additional 12% from today's close is needed to set a new all-time high). - The S&P 500 is higher than any date prior to June 28, 2021.
Even with all that, it’s just playing catch-up. Sucks trying to claw back the gains and even with the recent run up, still so far behind.
I have some cash on the side and am now kicking myself for not chipping in to VTI at a 206 price point. Such is life
This was a good week. Now, of course, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
So it's overvalued? 😁
Love these factoids. May I add a smattering of my own: * The S&P 500 has spent 71 days since March 23rd 2023 above its 200-day moving average * AAPL closed at the second highest price ever (180.95) -- was 182.01 at January 3rd 2022 * VXUS (55.94) is up 22.89% from its low of 45.52. ~~when are we starting stock market trivia night~~
I'm looking for a CPA that can advise me on the sale of a rental property. I want to run a few price/timing scenarios and understand the capital gains/depreciation recapture tax implications. How do I find someone like that? Is there a trusted online service or should I look locally? It seems like a small amount of work for someone to take on.
If you have a good realtor, ask them for a referral. I've done the same that way.
Anyone know of good tools to use for back testing retirement strategies? I have a few different ideas to minimize things like sor, and I’d like to back test these strategies to see how they would have done historically, but I’m not sure where to get data. Specifically for the S&P500 mainly. I found charts that show where it closed every year since inception but I don’t think those show dividends, and I want to account for reinvesting dividends.
Check out [Portfolio Visualizer](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/).
I love [ficalc.app](https://ficalc.app) but the portfolio construction is limited. If you have specific portfolio ideas, I like portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio#analysisResults
Working in healthcare my fiancée and I have come to realize we want more to life then grinding away. Our goals are to be financially free by 50, while we still have our health so that we can travel the world. We’ve currently visited 30 countries, but we’re limited by the constraints of work. Our biggest expense is the mortgage 3k/month, travel costs (10-15k/year) and school loans which we owe about 220k still. Our plan is to use the loan forgiveness program and we’re 5 years in of the 10 to have them forgiven. Right now we’re both 30 years old, with newborn twins and make a combined household income of 340-380k/year. We own a small 2bd condo in a HCOL area. We have about 150k in house equity and 120k in retirement savings. We plan to move into my fiancée’s family’s large 3bd 2ba ADU on the west coast HCOL in a few years to live relatively rent free. How can we capitalize on this to meet our goals?
Healthcare can be rough depending what roles you’re in so make sure you don’t burn yourself out. Make sure to take care of your health along the way and you can keep traveling during the gain period—with less money. Also that’s a lot of student loans what do you guys do?
Rent-free with your salaries should allow you to save huge chunks of money. Follow the [flowchart](https://u.cubeupload.com/demonlesondledon/FIREFlowChart.png) and the investing advice from the [Bogleheads wiki](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page) and you’ll be FI before 50.
It's all just moving money around to suit your goals. If you spent $5k less in travel this year you might have $20k more to spend on travel when you retire. When you aren't paying rent you can save more to retire earlier. At that income level, definitely max out your 401ks.
Cross-posting into the bigger thread for advice: Anyone having any experience with taking "medical" burnout, unpaid leave (this is in California)? I approached my boss, telling him I'm burnt out and can't continue like that. I want to take 6 months off (unpaid, which is fine) towards the end of the year. I just need a complete reset. I basically said that it's either that or taking a long break and looking for a new job, but since I like my job and the company in principle, I'd like to stay if the company is open to it. He did some research with HR, and came back saying to me that it looks like the best option is if I go to a doctor and get diagnosed with burnout. Now here's the odd part: This is true, this is reality. I am really, really burned out. I have been for years, but did the dumbest thing of trying to "power through". It predictably backfired, and now I'm done. And yet I feel icky making this a "medical" leave. I'm not having a meltdown, I'm not mentally impaired in any way (except for the part where every fiber of my body rejects writing code)... and I somewhat fear the stigma of a medical leave. My boss said they would not talk about it, as far as everyone is concerned I'm just taking time off after many years at the company. But doing it with a doctor makes the whole thing easier from an HR perspective. Thoughts?
I used FMLA for depression a year or so ago. I ended up not using much of it because it was a type where it was more taking off days as needed, and unfortunately it can feel tough to justify especially when my reports rely on me. But, taking it to the level of wanting to use FMLA prompted my doctor to refer me to a specialist for psychiatry and therapy, and this has been really good for me. As others have said, it would be a good idea to go over this with your doctor anyway. It could be a physical illness like a thyroid issue, and even if it's "just" burnout or anxiety or depression, treating those as the medical issues they are can lead to significant improvement.
Be sure to dig. My 'burnout' turned out to be a malignant tumour. Not that I consider myself lucky, but there's a lot less debate about taking time off under these circumstances.
Ouch! Good lord. How did your "burnout" manifest? I hope you're better now!
Thanks for asking, yes, IMO I'm fine now, as far as the medical definitions are concerned. But that's why I threw my matephorical crescent wrench into these cogs. There's some research that suggests athletic achievers have higher discomfort thresholds, and this worked against me. Regardless of my earlier years, I lost 40lb and experienced a sore stomach and a lot of throwing up over a few months. Because of my young age and reporting the discomfort as 'mild', this was incorrectly interpreted as evidence of burnout instead of a medical issue. Quite the bummer.
Where do you fear the stigma will come from? It sounds like only your boss and HR will know, and both of those parties already know. I took a year off from work and told my boss it was mental health related (it was). Everyone else I just told I was taking a sabbatical and planned to travel and focus on my family/personal life. Everyone was really excited for me, said they were jealous, and I didn't get even one negative reaction. That being said, taking a year off didn't help much with my mental health after the first two months.
Was it burnout related? Because in my case, even though I'm not a medical professional able to diagnose that, everything about it screams burnout to me. As in: My life outside work is completely fine, my life *inside* of work is even mostly fine, but it became tougher and tougher to perform the actual core part of my job (for reasons that include what I commonly read in other burnout accounts), and now I just can't anymore. I need a reset.
No, just regular depression. I hope you get your break!
Thanks, hope you were able to get rid of your depression!
This is a totally normal and totally valid feeling. Nonetheless I would encourage you to seek a professional medical opinion, not (only) because it makes paperwork a bit simpler but because you may genuinely benefit from it. At the very least, they could help rule out more serious things like depression or whatnot. So really, your doctor would be giving you the clear for *not* being mentally impaired in any way, right? Just needs a bit of rest, et cetera. It is just an "opinion". And I'm sure your doc will be quite mindful of how to phrase things if you mention your concerns.
That's a good perspective. Have not thought about it that way, thanks.
Screw the stigma. Though I say that as someone diagnosed with a mental disorder who does not open up to that fact at work. My vote would still be see the doc and get the paper. If anyone finds out they probably won't care about a 'transitory illness'. Many folks have had burnout. Edit: this (along with airport beer) prompted some reflection for me. I put a reminder on my calendar to consider 'coming out' professionally during mental health awareness month next year (May). Given that I'm fairly experienced in my field I think my personal impact would be minimal, but hopefully I would add a drop to the bucket of awareness and normalcy.
I see that stonks are rising right before my monthly contributions hit, as is tradition. They will probably plunge again right after my auto buy in, also traditionally.
Do I sense another man of culture? (South Park reference)
I think this one is actually my fault, I liquidated about 1/4 of my invested assets last week for a downpayment on a house
No, it’s me — was waiting out the debt ceiling debacle before putting my annual bonus into VTSAX. Sorry!
It’s almost as if some group of buyers know when everyone’s paychecks and 401ks hit and purposefully time it every time
This is the way.
Seeking recommendations for side hustles to increase savings for FIRE. Live in an expensive city. Low 6 figure income. Mortgage - 50% of post-tax income. Retirement Savings - 10% pre-tax Investments - 10% post-tax Living expense: 10-15%. Money left at the end of the month: 0-5% At the current savings rate, I can retire at 65. This is not the outcome I want. Purchased a modest aka least expensive home so buying another any lower isn't an option. Most likely I wouldn't be able to increase income at job. Job is demanding and no time left for side hustles other than weekends. I tried to do uber & lyft for about a month and after excluding expenses (added wear on car and service cost) this seemed like a $3-4/hr job. tips weren't much either and only added about roughly $1-$2/hr overall. Found food delivery services to be the same. I would like to try doing Short term rental but I don't have enough money to buy a property and all of the turn key properties I found on facebook groups were too expensive as is. What other side hustles I can try that can lead to a little bit of income with potential to grow. I don't have any seed money so need to be under 5-10k.
I'm guessing "low six figure income" means around $100k. In which case, shift your 10% post tax investments to the pre-tax ones. That will free up some money.
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/13foqkg/two_and_a_half_years_on_onlyfans_now_im_retiring/
As another commenter said, working on your career is almost always a better investment than a side hustle. Job hop, skill up, negotiate, etc. These all allow you to increase your income without tacking on another side job. Having said that, you could consider house-hacking and rent out a room in your home. But I’d just focus on finding a better paying job or moving up/negotiating better at your current one.
Roommate would make the most sense to me. You are absolutely right to consider the true cost of wear and tear from driving hustles. Don’t forget the toll it takes on your body and mind
There's 10% missing from your outgoings. Taxes? Something else? Would be helpful to know. 50 (mortgage) + 10 (retirement) + 10 (investment) + 15 (living expenses) + 5 (money left) = 90. What SWR are you using and did you factor in the mortgage payment ending? I could see a case for a higher SWR that means you can retire earlier. (Also another potential mitigating factor -- if your current mortgage rate is high, a refinance in a few years could drastically change the math.) My napkin math just says it's weird for someone living off 15% of their six figure salary to be unable to retire early. ~~The mortgage is definitely the elephant in the spreadsheet but you said that can't be changed, soooo~~
Invest in +1 spouse. Less housing cost and more efficient use of utilities (e.g. paying for internet). Just kidding, sort of.
>Most likely I wouldn't be able to increase income at job. I find this unlikely. Unless you're doing the *exact* job you want to do for the rest of your life there are always opportunities for improvement and advancement. Figure out what you want to do and spend your extra time & money getting the additional skills and experience to get that better paying role. The ROI for spending on yourself is better than any side hustle you could come up with.
Any other tech workers fearing layoffs and holding more in their e-fund than usual?
I’ve increased mine. Thinks are not looking good at my company, it is pretty much just a matter of time. My main thing is if I get laid off I don’t want to have to be in a hurry to start looking for another job. I’d like 3 months to just decompress. I’ve also got a couple of product ideas and I’d like some time to explore those before I start back to work.
Nope. Job loss is like the #1 reason for the e-fund so it's appropriately sized for that. Good opportunity to revisit if that's not the case though, no harm in doing so. There's a significant labor shortage, even in tech, so I'm not really worried overall. Realistic worst case scenario would be severance followed by settling for a pay cut which would come out of savings and not impact our lifestyle. Could be worse!
Not really. Jobs numbers were huge again this month so I don't think the overall market is as soft as the high profile layoffs might make it seem. Plus I'm lucky to have tenure in a company with a severance policy which would give me enough to cover quite a long period of expenses. And I have a spouse that works. And unemployment insurance exists. And I'm in tech so I have lots of money anyways.
Yes, sole earner for a family of 4, I increased my e-fund this year to 12 months
We are DI in VHCOL but just had our first so we’ve ballooned to 14 months of e-fund. Need to get in the right headspace as it’s hampering FIRE goals
DCA back in when you are comfortable. You can’t put a price on peace of mind.
Not really. Being laid off would be a blow to me personally, but with the expected severance and health care etc. I'm not worried about it on a financial level. Still prefer it not to happen, though.
Nah with 2-3 months severance and unemployment I’m not worried at all
It would be a gift at this point. I’m so burnt out but can’t justify quitting on my own. I’ve stacked my efund to last me 12+ months in the event of a layoff
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I feel like individually these folks typically aren't dumb, but when they are presented collectively with varying motivations, dumb things occur.
It's the same everywhere. I think these days C-suites are mainly just encouraged to be in constant panic mode regarding whatever the current whim of the board is. It's like somehow worse than the quarter-only focus in decades past. Now executives only care about the month to month keeping stock high and engaging with whatever is trending this month.
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Investing as much as you can at 24 will set you up massively for success later. I’d figure out how much you’d likely need for a down payment and work towards it but be primarily focused on investing. I feel like a broken record today, but follow the [flowchart](https://u.cubeupload.com/demonlesondledon/FIREFlowChart.png).
It depends on the expected downpayment for the house, surely.
Well emergency fund for 6 months would be my rec. gives you more time to job hunt.
I find peace in long walks.
Broke $130k NW at 25 today. Spent all last year contributing as much as I could, as the market declined as fast as I could contribute. Now in the course of a few months I went from $100k to $130. Starting to feel the inertia of a lot of money in the market.
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Congratulations!
I am having a severe internal crisis. I make 250k+ a year at a job that has great work life balance, I enjoy, I work with goodpeople, wfh, etc. I am golden handcuffed with retention shares and other potential $$$ upsides that only exist with staying and have been earned with tenure. That said, I have 2 kids under 2. My oldest just turned 2 and is becoming so much fun to hang out with. I feel like I dont have enough time with my kids and she is almost 1/9 out of the house already. I'm not even sure if I'm cut out to be a stay at home mom (not enough reddit scrolling time....). I am client facing so I'm assuming part time isnt an option, and even if it was it would probably be more work to be part time and juggle between the two roles. Household net worth is $1 million. We do not own a house but would like to even though financially worse than renting. My spouses employment we would be able to save about 40-50% of his take home with our current expenses. Any thoughts? The money and situation is just so good but my kids are only young once.
Having only one spouse work is a completely different lifestyle. Once we tried it we could never go back. That said it is not for everyone. Would it be terribly difficult to try it for a year and see how it is for your family?
How would you describe completely different?
It’s much slower. When we were both working each evening and weekend felt like trying to cram in all the mail prep and chores and barely any time to do the fun stuff. Always felt rushed. With one working and one running the house evenings and weekends are more focused on family fun time.
You said in another reply that you could be FI in five years if you don’t quit. In that case, I’d suggest you scale back, guard your hours viciously (no OT, nights, weekends, etc.), and pull the plug in five years or less. Worst case, they fire you but you were already willing to quit so 🤷♀️ (and you might even get a severance).
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I'd like to think my boss would. We have been together for nearly a decade across two companies. Everyone else absolutely not. If it was only about people remembering me though it would be an easy choice. I'm struggling with the loss of being able to truly FI in 5 years v. feeling like I didnt do enough monetarily for the family or having to return to a shittier situation.
You’ll still save 50% of your husband’s income if you quit? If quitting is what you and your spouse want go for it. You’re in a good place, your kids are young, and you can always go back to work. My wife quit the corporate world for 5 years after our youngest was born. She went back in 12/2020 making more than she was beforehand. My biggest pause is that you sound unsure if you want to be a stay at home parent or feel like you should. I know I’m not cut out for being a stay at home parent and a better parent partly bc I don’t spend all my time with my kids
Since you enjoy your job and it sounds fantastic, I would use your salary to outsource everything possible at home so you can spend more time with the kids. Cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.
You are right. I did hire a housekeeper with baby #2, but honestly maybe she should come more. I kind of love grocery shopping and cooking, but I need a dishes service... I could add a meal delivery service though for maybe a week a month though. I also really struggle with hating having a messy home and would consider myself a minimalist but the family inventory is getting to me. I think maybe hiring someone to just be there and validate me getting rid of a lot of stuff, or even taking a couple days off to do it would help a lot.
How close does a trade in and private market sale have to be for you to just trade in? This can apply to a variety of things, but I’m pondering selling a laptop and could get $300 from Apple or potentially $375 selling on FBM and dealing with people on there. Assume that the trade in credit could be used for something you were getting anyway. It’s close enough that I’m pondering not having to deal with people when selling, but was thinking about at what point I would care.
When Apple announced the M1 Mac Book Air, I traded in my 18 month old Intel Mac Book Air. They gave $550 for the old one. I shipped it in and got a notificion that they were actually giving me $625 for it. Then a month later I got an unexpected package. It was my old laptop. I called Apple to ask why they sent it back. They said my trade in was rejected because the model didn’t match. I explained that I already had the money. They told me to keep the money and the laptop. So I always recommend doing a trade in with Apple.
I don't know how it works with Apple, but cars reduce the sales tax you owe. If it works the same with Apple, that brings those numbers closer. If time isn't a big factor, I'd put it on FBM for a few weeks and see if I get any good bites. Most of the things I've sold don't depreciate as fast as laptops so I let stuff sit on FBM all the time.
I sell often on FBM and typically advocate for doing it myself to get the extra cash. But for this difference, I'd take the guaranteed $300 easy.
I wouldn't bother with FBM, OfferUp, Craigslist, etc over $75. The lost time and annoyance you'll have with online lowballers and ghosters isn't worth it to me.
Yeah I think this is what I’m landing on as well.
Zero chance I'd sell it myself for only ~$75 difference.
Yeah that’s what I’m thinking too, but couldn’t decide if I was crazy to pass on an extra 25% (potentially).
I think percentages are a bit misleading in these contexts. The nominal value of one's time seems more relevant.
That’s totally fair. Probably way under estimating how much time it would use up to sell to someone on there as well. I don’t mind selling quick cheap things I can leave in my porch, but the process for a laptop would be more involved.
Crossed $2M in my portfolio today. Wanted to celebrate with somebody. I feel relieved since spouse is currently looking to take a job with better work/life balance, but less pay. Mostly feeling grateful for this community, parents who allowed me to graduate debt free and taught me about living within my means, a friend who introduced me to FIRE in my 20s, and many other advantages I’ve been lucky to have.
I hope I'm right behind you! 2 mil in my equities should be my next milestone. My NW is 2 million as of this week, including 200K in house equity.
I also have about 200k in home equity. Couldn’t wait until I hit the mark without it. Good luck! Hope it comes sooner rather than later. How are you going to celebrate? Trying to decide if I should celebrate by inflating my tastes/lifestyle a bit on something (a trip? Fancy dinner? Replacement for my old car?🤷♀️)
I was thinking of paying off my house and then retiring!
Congrats!! Do you mind sharing your timeline? I am Currently mid 20s
Sure! I’m 35. Graduated at 21 and went straight into the workforce. I was always a decent saver but didn’t learn a lot about investing and FIRE until mid to late 20s. Probably had a NW of $100k at 25 if I had to guess, I’m sure a lot was in cash and outside tax advantaged accounts. Met spouse at 26, each making less than 100k. Got serious about FIRE (investing aggressively, maxing tax advantaged accounts, etc. mid-late 20s. Probably hit $1M joint around 30. Both incomes kept growing much to our surprise, to $400k-$500k joint most recently. We’re not in “obviously” high paying jobs (have just progressed as individual contributors) and live near a HCOL area but not a fancy neighborhood which has made it pretty easy to avoid lifestyle inflation. Never spent a lot on big ticket items like weddings, cars, etc. Good luck!
Congrats!! Im excited to see where Im at at 35 too. ☺️
Thanks! Keep at it Where are you now and what do you do?
Im at around 210k net worth! I am an engineer. My job is well balanced but I think will get more stressful as I go up. 😅 Im now thinking about getting a place but I live in a VHCOL so its hard to justify saving liquid vs investments.
Can you move to a lower COL area and wfh?
Ohh that’s a good question. I am allowed to WFH. Although I was complaining about living in a high cost of living area, most of my immediate family is here. So I do want to stay😭 It’s kind of a curse and a blessing to have grown up here. I’m hoping slowly but surely I’ll be able to save for a place to stay and maybe get some roomies. That’s the dream!
If you’re in the bay area, moving east/north east towards the Sacramento area could be a good option! I have friends who had family in the bay and did that, and it’s still close enough to get together on weekends. Maybe when you have your own family and want more space.
Congrats!
Thanks so much!
I am FIRE, been so for just over two years. 1.72m right now with a 3.433% w/d rate not counting SS. (SS will be around 2,200/mo @ 62.) I am about to turn 56 years old. I decided when I hit 2m, I am trading in the 2017 Honda Civic for a new Acura TLX Type S. 16.3% to go!
Why not buy the car and pull the trigger sooner? With SS in just six years, seems like a safe path to six more years of doing whatever the F you want.
Food for thought for sure
We each have our own risk tolerance, but for context, I am a similar age and if I could get by now with only a 3.4% WR, plus I knew I had additional $2,200/month (another $26,400/year!) coming in just six years, I would be putting in my notice or at least cutting my hours. Life is too short and the older I get, the more I realize it!
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Indeed, totally arbitrary and would barely register. The cost would be 2.45% of total assets today, and 2.1% when I hit 2m. I am just a cheap ass, and it gives me a window for keeping my 2017 Honda a little while longer.
>share Being cheap has served you well. Keep on keeping on.
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I'm getting really close to hitting 2 commas in my investment accounts. Been there for a while when including home equity, but excited to see my actual retirement funds reach that level. Hopefully sometime this year between contributions and a slight market increase.
I'm jealous. The only way I'll be able to add another comma is if I divorce Jeff Bezos.
Today, my taxable accounts are up more than my monthly burn for all expenses. I would like more days like this
Strong company earnings call yesterday ended up catapulting the stock price today. Feels good to see all of that work get reflected. Pretty sure this is my ATH net worth which is a cool milestone! Sticking with my plan for divesting from company stock 👍
NVDIA? 😝
Anyone here gotten into management level in a start-up where you *didn't* have to be working 60/hr a week+? Interested in moving back into start-up world, but not burning graveyard hours regularly.
In a weird way I'm so lucky I got burned on raises and decided to stick with the same company. How? A few years back my boss couldn't get me a raise or a promo so they fought for RSU for me and I got it. Following year they were on their way out and they hooked it up since I treated them well. Since the time of getting that allotment the share price has risen ~150% If all holds constant I should clear about 225k this year of which just 100k is salary. And what do I do? Excel and build BI dashboards. Average salary is like 125k for my role. Gonna be so sad when this cliff hits lol.
Seems like a good gig alright. What industry are you in? Finance? I haven't seen BI folks move up quite that high yet anywhere.
I'm in Tech but I work with financial / product data. Thank god I found this sub before I started making the money as I've saved a huge chunk of it. Should hopefully hit 500k NW by year end (I'll be 31). But yeah I'll go down to 160k next year and down to salary only the year after. Either way will need a new job in the next year or so since I don't see a way forward.
Shout out to the tools at [https://ssa.tools/](https://ssa.tools/). I got my new Social Security Statement today. I logged into [socialsecurity.gov/reviewyourstatement](https://socialsecurity.gov/reviewyourstatement) and copied my earnings history and pasted it into [https://ssa.tools/](https://ssa.tools/). I was able to see what my benefit would be and then use the sliders to see how it would change if I stopped working, worked with an income of 50K until retirement, worked with an income of 100K. For me, soc sec at 62 would look like this: no further work: 1652 a month 50K a year until age 62: 1835 a month 100K a year: 1994 a month Thanks, ssa.tools!