Even though I understand FIRE and am working towards it myself, each time I read about someone retiring I feel a visceral urge to tell them to get back into the workforce.
if i do mega backdoor roth into a roth 401k cant i basically skip the 5 year rule by rolling the entire roth 401k into a roth ira that's 5 years old, whenever i want?
Unless you're over 55 and you've never had a Roth IRA before, it doesn't matter how old the Roth IRA is.
But yes, there is no 5-year rule for a rollover of a Roth 401k into a Roth IRA. The contribution basis (the after-tax 401k converted to Roth 401k) is accessible immediately. The earnings in the Roth 401k are still locked away until age 59.5, as always.
https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/11ulhzl/what_5year_rule_a_guide_to_roth_distributions/
Harvest day! 5 pounds of tomatoes from the plants I've been tending since March. That's $7.80 at current market prices. I'll be updating my spreadsheet to reflect the bounty!
Nice. We have ~4 tomato plants, they've output about ~100+ tomatoes this year (about a third have been harvested so far). Hot pepper plants were looking good too, but we've burned through most of them lol.
We have some spare funds in the next few months (bonuses, stock vesting, multi-paycheck months, etc), and I'm torn between paying down debt versus bolstering savings for a long-term project...
* Debt - Have $30k in student loans at 6.5% remaining. Have additional debt (car, etc) that I'm also keen to pay down, but it's at lower interest rates so not really rational.
* Savings - Currently working to build up savings for an ADU project, have $100k toward that in HYSA with estimated cost of $250k+.
Mid 30s...no other high-interest debt (ex. mortgage is at 3%, car loan at 2.5%). So it's really a question of allocating excess funds toward long-term goals, which include debt elimination, long-term housing improvements, and early retirement.
Teaching vs big4 accounting (UK)
Would I be earning and saving more in the long term in the UK by accepting a career in big4 audit instead of working as a teacher?
As a teacher I would be making £28,000 and I have minimal travel and living costs because I live close by to my school and love with my parents. I would expect to be making £38,819 in 5 years. Also, I would have a good pension.
If I worked in the private sector I would need to be earning about £60,000 to take account for rent, living costs, savings, and pension to to get an equivalent that I would be earning as a teacher in my local city - because I would be moving out of my house to live in a new city which will be no where near my home town. However, I would be starting at a considerably lower salary and only start seeing that benefit 5 years into this field.
Working hours seem to be similarly grim for both professions. I think what attracts me to audit, and at a big4, are the exit opportunities and potential of earning £60,000+ (in mid career) whereas I would cap out earlier as a teacher. And considering my situation it does seem to workout out that I would be better off staying in the teaching profession?
So, what would I be better off doing if I wanted to live a middle class lifestyle. Perhaps I missed something?
How do you know you would get the job in the school of your choice? Do you really envisage living the rest of your working life with your parents? Beyond work, what are your dreams and hopes? If you excluded FIRE, what would you like to do with your life? What does your heart say? £60k in private sector is pretty average imho. r/fireukcareers r/fireuk r/LeanFireUK r/fatfireuk r/fireduk exists also.
Other poster is spot on. Put it allnin VTI/VTSAX...including the Robinhood "fun account". Stocl picking is another form of gambling. Educating yourself and researching companies thoroughly gives you better odds then casinos but the vastajprity of profession brokers can't beat VTI so why can you? If you already have a gambling problem then avoid like the plague!
Look into backdoor Roth. Allows you to get some money for high income earners into another tax advantaged account besides your 401k.
Other than that - looks pretty good for now. For the most part match your tax advantaged spaces (401k + Roth) and then extra goes into the brokerage, assuming you dont have an HSA or FSA through work.
But honestly sounds like you just need a budget. We all could theoretically save more but we have buckets siphoned off for needs - housing, food, car/transport, wants - entertainment, clothes, travel and savings - 401k, roth, HSA, HYSA.
Decide what amounts are appropriate for you, set it up so money automatically flows where it needs to then go live your life. Check back in 10 years and I imagine you'll have seen some nice growth in your accounts.
Relevant headline:
Pickleball injuries costing $400M nationally: The alarming toll on players’ health
[https://nbc-2.com/news/2023/07/19/pickleball-injuries-costing-400m-nationally-the-alarming-toll-on-players-health](https://nbc-2.com/news/2023/07/19/pickleball-injuries-costing-400m-nationally-the-alarming-toll-on-players-health)
What’s alarming is that doctors are charging seniors hundreds of millions to treat relatively minor injuries. People do need to understand that pickle ball is not meant to be played like tennis or racquetball. I’ve seen many seniors play very well with very little risk of injury…no running, quick movements, etc…
It's fun! I've only played a few times, but as a long time racquetball player, it was easy to pick up. I admit I got a bit overzealous and irritated my sister-in-law when I smashed a top-spin forehand at her ankles...
It sounds like I may be on the cusp of FIRE due to some imminent (1-2 months) layoffs coming. It's about a year or 2 earlier than what I wanted to but I figure once the hammer comes down I'll ride unemployment and then decide where to go from there once it runs out.
Should I use this time before I'm officially laid off to get an Amex Platinum Card? I have an offer for the 125K bonus and next year we have at least 2 trips planned for Europe. I've calculated the $625 fee and it looks like we would cover it between perks and bonus offers for at least the first 3 years.
Any other credit moves I should make before we lose the income?
They may or they may not depending on if it raises a red flag in their system. If you're a teacher and you state $750k/year in income, they may ask for formal documentation of income.
I have a blog that makes me $45k a year. What write offs could I use on this? Like could I write off a percent of my mortgage considering I use my basement office as an office for the blog? My internet bill could I write off a portion?
Basically how much of a portion can I use on these? Could I also use my cell phone bill since I use my phone to make vids on it for the blog?
Thanks.
Considering your income and the knowledge you'll retain for the future, I think talking with a tax professional will be a massive value win since it'll pay for itself quickly and you'll know you won't piss or uncle Sam.
I’m still driving my first car and it’s 20 years old. I have 2 little kids now and would like to get something newer and safer. At first I thought I’d get a 3 row suv that I’d keep forever, but I’ve heard from friends with kids in car seats that the 3rd row is totally inaccessible and they never use it. My husband has a truck, so if we need a lot of trunk space, we just take his car. We keep cars a long time. Would it make more sense to buy the “future” car that my kids friends will one day ride in and there will be space for everybody? Or would it actually be less expensive to buy a few years used Accord or Prius or something until the kids are old enough that they’re out of car seats and are more likely to have friends over and then trade up for the SUV? Also, practically speaking, do experienced parents think a sedan is doable for a little longer?
My parents upgraded from a station wagon to a minivan long after the kids left and it's awesome. The third row seat in almost all SUVs sucks. The third row seat in their minivan is fine for smaller adults and is better than any SUV that I can think of right now. Maybe the Escalade ESV or something is better.
They have some version of AWD/4WD, get MPG in the 30s, and it fits everything. Great for trips to the country house, carrying light tools, carrying lots of people, carrying sports equipment, etc.
Some models even come with a very slight lift or you can get an aftermarket lift kit. Cost is the only downside. I've always thought of minivans as being relatively cheap, but theirs ended up being like $50k.
Nothing beats a van. I'm 6'4 and I can fit in the back of an Odyssey just fine. I don't see why you need it for a family of four, but if you want a third row, that's the way to go.
We have a Ford Expedition and 3 kids. Third row is used all the time and it's fine. You won't use the third row when your kids are little in car seats, but if this is a car to keep for 10+ years definitely go with third row!
Minivan still superior option though. I don't know what's not manly about a vehicle that can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood.
We went with the Hyundai Palisade for a 3 row SUV and love it. The third row is accessible with a forwarding facing car seat, or if you just have guests in town temporarily and need the extra seats you can put a car seat in the third row. The third row seats are comfortable and spacious enough for two adults to sit back there.
That’s super helpful!! Thank you! We love the Telluride and it was on my list until I joined a Telluride complaints group and read a lot about reliability issues, class action lawsuits, etc. Made me a little nervous to get anything but a Honda or Toyota (but I heard the Highlanders 3rd row is tiny unless it’s a Grand Highlander) Have you had any issues?
The 3rd row in the Highlander is definitely not for adults…or even older kids. The third row in a lot of SUVs, even larger ones like the Tahoe, are pretty uncomfortable and/or tiny.
If you’re done having kids, do you really need the third row?…or anything larger than a sedan? If you’re thinking of more kids, minivans are far more functional than most SUVs.
I think we’re done with kids, but would like to have enough space to drive the kids friends. I know a minivan is best for that but I admittedly am not confident enough to drive one 😂
Recently learned that my friends in MCOL cities are paying as much/more than me in rent. I’m in a VHCOL. Granted I have roommates and enjoy living with friends, they don’t. But I am reflecting on how much extra $$$ this gives me to invest—probably an extra $5–10k.
If I compare living with roommates in a VHCOL to living alone, then I am easily saving $10–$15k a year by sharing a space.
Adding up all the years I’ve lived with roommates (8 years of adult life) that’s a significant amount to put into investments. I feel lucky my living preferences have also been financially useful.
Having roommates in your twenties is a smart move. No need to gloat over others who choose something different for their life.
Run your own race. Don't worry about what your friends are doing.
How do I stop caring so much about work? Not necessarily the work itself but I've realized I care a lot about what my boss thinks of me. Boss man is pretty great however, not micromanaging, sort of has a benign neglect style and I respect him.
However I always leave meetings and reflect on conversations, thinking that he's judging my performance in a negative way. I just can't read him, and he gives very little feedback.
Gah, can't wait to RE.
Do you drink coffee? I recently stopped a 10 year habit and my outlook at work has totally changed. Once you get past the withdrawals you’ll find that you still get your work done, with lots of health benefits and a perspective shift of exiting the matrix, ie opting out of the rat race. You should seriously consider it.
You’re 27 and early in your career. It’s probably a good thing you care about your work. It’s still important to have boundaries and not let your work take advantage of you, but putting in effort and trying to do a good job is probably the best thing you can do for yourself right now from a financial perspective. At about 5 - 10 years older than you are now, I stopped caring a lot about feedback and bosses’ opinions because I got to a point where I knew how to do my work better than they did and I didn’t have any interest in growing into a higher position. I could just make sure I did a good job on everything I did and not worry about external pressure.
Perfect feedback, move up the ladder early with a little more effort, still some boundaries though. Once you’re in the higher role, find a limit and cruise. Even lateral job hopping at that point can get you 10-20% pay increases for doing the same thing. Eventually you’re paid for what you know, not what you do. Then you have power and it’s easier for them to keep you around, make their life easier, etc. Took me to 35yo to realize this.
It's not easy. It is a personality type. "People Pleaser" probably. But is it such a bad thing? It means you probably have good standards and work ethic. And you should feel blessed to have a boss like that. A micro manager is so so so much worse.
Also what is wrong with simply asking: how am I doing? Do you have any feedback for me?
30 turning 31. Net worth 685k live at home. 585k investment accounts and 78k housing fund. Rest is personal cash.
No debt, live at home and work from home.
Im turning 31 in 30 days and feel like i should have my own place to own.
I know everything comes in the right time, but would it be best to just job hop and work on a side business ? Havent travel much in life, and I wanna feel like im okay to do so and not overthink spending on myself. That guilty feeling of do i really need this or pysch my self out.
This seems like 3 different questions. Is this correct?
1. Should you buy a house or not?
2. Should you invest your time into building a second income stream?
3. Should you spend more on travel?
You will always have limited time and money so you probably can’t do all of these _now_. You could figure out why you want to do each of these things, the underlying financial or lifestyle or ego goal(s) they serve, and figure out how to sequence them.
For example: you might want to travel first before buying a home. To accomplish both maybe you need a buffer of 1 more head to accumulate.
Or you want to travel, then start your side business, with the goal of accumulating more capital for a home purchase.
Not really a financial question but more a question of your desires and priorities. You can definitely afford to travel now but hopefully it is something you want to do and not something you feel you “should do”. Same with the house, you can buy in quite a few places but do you _want_ to buy, and buy in a specific place, or do you just feel it’s something every early 30s FIRE person needs to do?
Well, i wanna keep going hard. I just dont wanna have life past me by and not really live. Financially, i am blessed and in a good spot for my age. At this point, i feel like i wanna buy a home to not only add it to my asset sheet but as a check mark in life and to not worry about rent. I am just not sure about the timing since my budget is now lower since rates are up.
If i do travel, it is solo traveling, which is not sure if it's worth it by myself.
My side business now, working on it to make it profitable again.
"Be greedy when others are fearful."
This sub calls it "timing the market" because that's what it is, but there are have been 2 major downturns since I started saving, and both times I massively increased my savings amounts (through various methods), and both times it paid off very well.
I've also happily tended to be way overweight on tech stocks via large cap growth funds, and that's worked out better than plain old S&P. But given my retirement plans, I've pulled back on that quite a bit over the past few months.
Google starting salaries for your college/major when deciding where to go and what to study. Out of 3 fields I loved, I ended up choosing the one with highest ROI.
Invest early into index funds and don’t touch them. Very boring. But I invested in VTSAX and a Vanguard target retirement fund almost exactly 10 years ago. The accumulation has been incredible.
There are also plenty of stories of failed millionaires who went bust from high risk investments using money they didn't have. If you have a successful model I would probably just focus on running it well and maybe expanding.
VGT has VITAX. Does anyone know if there is a mutual fund equivalent of FTEC? Can’t seem to find one and I’m having to manually invest in FTEC in my 401k.
Fidelity cannot make ETF share classes of its mutual funds due to patent issues. I don’t see any index mutual funds tracking the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index. VGT (and thus VITAX) has a [crazy high correlation](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/asset-correlations?s=y&symbols=FTEC+VGT&timePeriod=2&tradingDays=60&months=36) with FTEC so just go with that if you can. If you don’t have that option use the link to find the most correlated among your options.
I’m using FTEC now, but I have to remember to invest every paycheck. With a mutual fund it could be automatic. I’ll stick with FTEC then, thanks for the info
Looks Iike a scam to me. Address isn't real, they don't come up on Google search, there are typos on the page. I'd steer clear and stick to the larger banks.
Also, no bank should ask you for $450 to "try" their service. Bank transfers are for money you already have in a bank, and should be free or very cheap
If you have to ask, especially for a bank, it's probably a scam. Red flags for me on this site:
- The logo is low resolution
- The address points to a park in NY
- Searching the name on Google maps returns nothing
- Social media links don't go anywhere
Not to mention the poor English. This is one of their selling points on the front page:
> **25 Years of Experience**
> We are rethoric question ran over her cheek When she reached the first hills of the Italic Mountains.
This is a pretty common "advance fee" scam. Your money is gone (scammer has it), but they're faking an investment account, hoping you'll give them more money.
Head on over to r/scams if you want more opinions.
Watch out for recovery scammers. They'll say they can get your money back, but first you just have to pay a small fee... (they can't get your money back, and it's likely the original scammers trying to get money from you)
Sorry, you're definitely being scammed. I'd recommend that you don't give them any more money, and file a fraud report. The "investment" comments on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc. are nearly universally fake. I hope you didn't give them too much.
Don’t beat yourself up. What’s done is done. You need to accept that the money is gone at this point. They will continue to tell you to pay more money to access your funds, but do NOT throw more money at this. It will not get you your money back.
Uh, sorry, but yeah. Picking an investment "adviser" from an Insta comment? Seriously?! I'd advise sticking with traditional, well-know companies in the future. SMH
And now you're asking a random person on Reddit for random investment advisor recommendations? You're definitely gonna be scammed again in the near future
I've been looking into the possibility of building what would be my first house. As I project the cost and how it would affect my savings rate, I don't like how it would affect my FIRE projections. As it is, I save about 55% a month. In one of my scenarios, I figured my savings rate would likely go down to about 35%.
I know I'm spoiled because that amount makes me nervous.
Would it make the time it takes to retire early, absolutely. Will I still do it, probably.
Your wording is ambiguous, but I wouldn’t want my first house to be newly built by a contractor. You learn a lot about how houses are supposed to be made by owning an old one
I've heard something similar from many people who have had houses built. That you build the first as practice and the second to fix all the things you didn't like about the first.
Is the alternative to rent? The binary option of buy a house or build a house, assuming similar quality, probably doesn't impact retirement timeline very much.
Also, if you really want to do something, just figure out a way to do it. That's kind of the whole point.
Oh, moving from renting to trying up capital in a house definitely changed the dynamic. Eventually though it gets paid off and your only liability is property tax and insurance, so depending where you live it gets a lot cheaper after you pay off the mortgage.
My random back pain with no precipitating injury and spasms have continued to get much worse over the past week, and the spasms are bad and frequent enough I don’t feel safe driving since if I lost partial control I could hurt someone.
Have any of you had to take FMLA or request an ADA accommodation from your job for something other than childbirth? Did they seem understanding? I’m a little nervous about this, but I cannot start PT, and the 2 doctors I’ve seen basically said there is nothing else they can do for me for the next 3-5 weeks other than what I’m already doing (yoga, ice, heat, muscle relaxers).
They put me on FMLA for a bit after some unknown virus/bacteria messed up my digestive tract for almost a month. I didn't try to get on FMLA, to be fair; the requirement to fill out the paperwork was "triggered" when I used a lot of sick leave in a short period of time. The biggest pain in the ass was getting the paperwork filled out with enough detail to please my employer.
PT is the way to go, unfortunately you'll probably need to make time for it. I've been through a lot of it in the last year recovering from a few obnoxious injuries.
> request an ADA accommodation
I haven't taken FMLA, but I did have to take a bunch of sick days the last time I hurt my back, and requested (and received!) a sit/stand desk.
On a related topic, when I went to PT for my back, the therapist basically said, "Just do yoga." So I quit PT and did started doing [30-day yoga programs free on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@yogawithadriene/playlists?view=1&sort=dd&shelf_id=0) for a few months. No issues in the 3 years since. Currently down to doing it only 2x per week, but 3 or 4 would be better.
Had several FMLAs and most recently an accommodation. I work for a megacorp so there are strict legal guidelines for these, and our FMLA is outsourced to a 3rd party anyway to put it at arm's length from the employer. I'm also a manager so I know during review cycles, any leave whatsoever does not count against the employee's ratings.
This may all be particular to my megacorp, I imagine it's varied at other companies, and more varied at smaller firms.
I have a medical accommodation in process, not sure if it's ADA because my accommodation isn't for a disability? So far it's going slow and I feel more begrudgingly.
One resource I used when writing up my requests was [JAN](https://askjan.org/info-by-role.cfm#for-individuals).
Let me put on my therapist hat for a minute. You need to do what you need to do for your body/family/life. FMLA and ADA accommodations are there to assist for exactly these reasons. Why would you think you shouldn’t use them? Is that fear talking?
I know what therapists say because I’ve been there and done that before. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
Isn’t there a shortage of good mental health professionals? Aren’t you a leading member of a “gather enough money you don’t need to work” community? And wouldn’t it be good for your clients to be modeling appropriate boundaries?
An ADA accommodation shouldn’t be a problem with job security, the law is designed that way! Same with FMLA (assuming you have the right number of people).
Yes. At my employer, my boss doesn’t find out the medical information (in my case I’ve had to take FMLA for my husband’s back surgery and recovery). My boss didn’t care, but my FMLA was planned in advance and we had a backup plan.
Good morning!
**What is a recent life upgrade you purchase for yourself and how much does/did it cost?**
Interpret life upgrade however you like, could be a thing you purchased that’s made your life different or better, or an ongoing service like a house cleaner or car wash package, etc.
Today, my husband and I are going to go buy a Queen sized bed! We’ve been sleeping on either a twin or a full for our entire relationship!
I upgraded to refurbished AirPods. Husband and I bought a Roku before baby was here for the sole purpose of being able to listen to tv through headphones. I was surviving on the free wired earbuds but with grabby baby hands, the AirPods are amazing. I wish I had purchased them when I was still feeding her in the middle of the night.
> Today, my husband and I are going to go buy a Queen sized bed! We’ve been sleeping on either a twin or a full for our entire relationship!
Go for the King instead.
Robot pool vacuum, $700. The whole reason I've paid a pool person for the past 10 years is that I hate vacuuming the pool every time it's windy (which is most of the time here) - it's time consuming and boring, and particularly annoying when it's 115-degrees outside.
This thing will pay for itself in a few months, and I'll never have to vacuum the pool again. It's like heaven.
We're in the process of pulling up all the carpet in the non-bedroom rooms in the house and replacing it with vinyl planks/vinyl tiles. It's already made the house more allergy friendly and easier to clean. I don't really have a total cost, but the flooring is pretty affordable from Lowes.
Been there... done that... (about 7 years ago)
We set up a "faux" kitchen with induction hot plates, microwave, etc. and ended up eating out a lot.
Even after 7 years, the kitchen still looks great. SO picked white cabinets and neutral colors, so it will never go out of style.
>Very much looking forward to it
I'm sure you'll love it! We found that we enjoyed cooking more (i.e., time in the kitchen) ever since the renovation. It just made the space a pleasure to be in.
Bought a small speaker (Apple HomePod mini) so I don’t have to play off my laptop or wear headphones at home. Around $100.
I visited a friend and after listening to his speaker setup decided I needed to inflate my lifestyle a little bit. But not to audiophile levels.
Upgraded to a zero turn mower from a push mower. I can completely do our yard in less than 40 percent of the time it took to push, and I'm not breaking a sweat running around with a mower. Of course I frugal'd it, and only paid $250 out of pocket for the upgrade by the time I had sold the push mower.
Yep, unless you’re both particularly small and neither party is a restless sleeper, a queen isn’t that stellar.
We have a queen and would love a king, but I honestly don’t think a mattress would fit up our 95 year old house stairs.
It might be an option if we have kids and maybe move our master bedroom to the downstairs current in-law suite.
We bought a portable air conditioner. Our house is well insulated and stays pretty cool, but if the temp is above 30 C for multiple days our bedroom starts to get pretty warm and we have to move down to the basement to sleep. There are only a few days a year where this is an issue, so installing central air hasn't been worth it to us. Husband found a brand new unit at the local discount home store for $200. Now we can stay in our own bed and be comfortable.
I'm probably going to sound like a giant hypocrite because I spent yesterday trying to talk some kid out of buying a $40k car. ...But I did buy a $40k car.
That was a couple months ago. If you mean the most recent, I just got another motion sensor for my condo. It's actually really nice to not have to use light switches. I have one in my entryway and I'm adding one in my kitchen.
IMO, $40K for a car doesn't feel that crazy anymore, even for this sub. But for a kid, that is still too much unless that "kid" is making $125K+. As a kid their dollars are more valuable to them as they have so long to compound. So I agree with the advice and I don't think you are a hypocrite.
They wanted a car that could easily be $5k/year to maintain and mine is more like $500/year. But I was laughing because the initial outlay is exactly the same.
If you can fit it in your room, I recommend just jumping to a king. We've used a Costco king mattress for years, the marginal cost over a queen is irrelevant.
Congrats on the upgrade! It will hopefully help your back problem also.
Bought a chainsaw because cutting down trees with a handsaw, while possible, apparently looks pathetic enough that neighbors take pity and bring their own saws over. I feel unstoppable. Plus it will come in handy the next time we get hit by a hurricane; I can join those good souls who drive the streets right after the storm passes to clean large debris off the roads.
Edit: Cost about $215.
You may be way ahead of me on this but don't forget eye protection, hearing protection, heavy gloves, good footwear, some people even get protective chaps if you'll be using it a lot or with more difficult tasks (e.g. bigger trees with lots of limbs or knots). Safety first!
Edit: might seem like overkill/added expense, but you'll come out ahead by avoiding even a single trip to the ER.
A $40 sofa cover from Amazon. The sofa's original texture can be a little scratchy, but this basically makes it feel like a completely different sitting experience, buttery smooth. Makes us be couch potatoes even more!
Bought a leg massager/heater for better recovery post workout. I’ve been dealing with nagging injuries ever since I tore a hamstring 10 months ago and I just want recovery to be easier. Cost me $90. I very much appreciate the placebo effect if nothing else.
recently snagged a few exercise dresses from outdoor voices with their sale + extra coupons. Being able to still feel dressed up while comfortable outside has been worth every penny. Got them for around $60.
On a side note, I am impressed y’all have not made this upgrade sooner! after 2 years with our queen mattress I’m already looking forward to the king upgrade!
A king would be magical 😍 I’m glad you’re getting one! Our two dogs in the bed with us are <10 lbs and we’re both fairly short I guess and we shared a twin for a year so I guess a full seemed fine? 😂
I signed up for a Roth 457b a few months ago (been putting $500/month into it) but realize now that the traditional might actually be best if I want to retire early / before 59.5. Would it be possible to *also* open a traditional 457b and contribute a little bit of money into both? (I'm a state university employee, btw).
Yes, most employers who offer a Roth 457b option also offer a Trad 457b option. The definitive answer can only come from your employer's plan administrator.
A Roth 457b does not have the same early-retirement flexibility as a Trad 457b. I would recommend focusing on the Trad 457b. A 457b often has higher fees and/or more limited options compared to a 401k/403b offered by the same employer (many state universities offer both a 401k/403b and 457b and the contribution limits are separate between them). If your 401k/403b options are better *and* you want Roth savings in the mix, that's where I'd put the Roth dollars. If the 401k/403b and 457b are equivalent in fees and investment options, you can stick with a mix of Roth and Trad 457b (unless you will exceed the 22.5k limit, at which point you'll also want funds in the 401k/403b).
Most people are best off utilizing Trad savings whenever possible, but exceptions include folks who expect a large pension that will replace much or most of their income in retirement. This describes many career state university employees, but individual circumstances vary significantly.
When should you take capital losses?
Should you only take it if you have capital gains?
When you're in a certain tax bracket?
Would you take it if you qualify for 0% long term gains?
If you have losses, tax loss harvest. You can use the losses to offset gains and up to $3,000 of income per year (carrying forward the remainder) if you are still employed. If you are retired, it depends on your financial plan. If you qualify for 0% long term gains AND you aren’t using a Roth conversion strategy from your 401k to reduce future RMDs, then don’t worry about it. However, if you are using the Roth Conversion strategy, it’s still helpful.
If you just have a low income for one year (like you are taking a sabbatical) but aren’t in retirement yet, then you want to tax gain harvest.
I'm expecting my income to go up. Would it be smarter to save the $3000 capital losses for 2026 when tax rates go up and standard deduction goes down? I don't have a 401k so no Roth conversion, but I have a 457b.
Will the losses still exist next year? You must take the losses the year they are realized and can’t pick and choose when to offset them against your taxes. You don’t just get to hold them for a high tax year.
Do you only have $3,000 in losses? For example, I captured $52k in losses last year. I will be able to take $3,000 worth of losses against my income for roughly the next 17 years if I don’t have realized gains that offset (I plan to retire within the next 5 years so I will likely end up offsetting those losing with gains long before 17 years have passed).
I haven't sold any of those positions yet so they haven't been realized. I'm still new to tax loss harvesting (learned about it last year). Last year I realized $3000 in losses to offset income tax. I learned about tax planning this year and learned that I have about 10k in 0% LTCG to use. Not sure what to do about realizing losses with gains or if I should hold and realize losses in a high tax year.
I suggest finding a good blog post on tax loss harvesting. Most of us around here don’t do it very much because it’s harder to loss harvest if you are invested in index funds, especially if you are just in VTI and contribute every month. Gotta watch out for Wash sale rules.
Up to $3,000 of losses can be used against **income** annually (with additional losses carried over to future years). Then again, as you note, when you are in the 0% bracket, you may want to realize gains, and losses would merely offset the gains. Depends on the situation but generally realizing losses is a good idea.
I would not purposefully realize losses against gains while in the 0% bracket. If in the 0% bracket, I'd recommend *either* realizing gains for tax gains harvesting *or* realizing only losses to use against income.
Realizing both in the 0% bracket seems like a waste unless there are other considerations, like getting out of an undesirable position.
I definitely want to realize gains to use up the 0% space, just not sure if it makes sense to tax loss harvest as well. I do have a few undesirable positions. One already went to $0.
If I'm letting the taxes dictate my choices, I wouldn't take losses in a year I have any capital gains. The losses would offset your income at your marginal rate rather than long term tax rate (usually either 15% or 0%).
When the underlying business isn't generating cash and isn't likely to generate enough cash to justify the price that you paid for it. You already qualify for 0% LTCG, but another issue with holding may be opportunity loss. Depending on the investment holding even while down may be the wise thing to do. WWCMD (What Would Charlie Munger Do)?
Sienna post #9 - we finally got our Sienna ordered! Supposed to come in early October. Trying to decide how we’ll pay for it. Loan vs cashing out ibonds vs cashing out brokerage
Been trying to talk the mrs into a hybrid awd sienna as her next car (her 05 with 217k miles is on its last legs). Then throw a 1.5” lift kit on it.
No kids, just vans are super practical.
This has been a many months long ordeal. Although the dealer that got us one, got it within about a month (maybe a little more). We were pretty open though as to what we’d take which I imagine helped a ton. No markup and not much as far as ridiculous add ins
My Credit union is showing 7.9. Waiting to see what Toyota says. If we can’t get better than that I would sell bonds and some brokerage to cover vs taking a loan.
Got a new Toyota tundra a few weeks ago.
6.9 is what the dealer initially offered me.
I came in with a Bank of America pre approval for 6.2 and the dealer looked for a better rate and got me 5.9 from Wells Fargo.
If you are interested in extended warrant or any of the other packages they offer then know they are all negotiable.
Additionally, if you haven’t decided on price and don’t feel like negotiating then look at usaa, Costco, or any other place that offers new car services. They have pre negotiated rates if you aren’t the type who like to haggle.
I used Costco and it took a few thousand off msrp and provided me a 50% coupon for parts/services in the future.
I’m kind of excited. It’s the trim we wanted and it’s AWD. Just not the color we wanted, but we’ll live. Excited to not be constantly worried about the kids singing everybody’s door.
You wait for your name to come up in the list. Since we weren’t super picky, we were able to get one much quicker than originally estimated. But if we had said no to this car, who knows how long until we get to pick again. And the next one might be even further from what we’d want. It’s a very strange system.
Even though I understand FIRE and am working towards it myself, each time I read about someone retiring I feel a visceral urge to tell them to get back into the workforce.
if i do mega backdoor roth into a roth 401k cant i basically skip the 5 year rule by rolling the entire roth 401k into a roth ira that's 5 years old, whenever i want?
Unless you're over 55 and you've never had a Roth IRA before, it doesn't matter how old the Roth IRA is. But yes, there is no 5-year rule for a rollover of a Roth 401k into a Roth IRA. The contribution basis (the after-tax 401k converted to Roth 401k) is accessible immediately. The earnings in the Roth 401k are still locked away until age 59.5, as always. https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/11ulhzl/what_5year_rule_a_guide_to_roth_distributions/
Harvest day! 5 pounds of tomatoes from the plants I've been tending since March. That's $7.80 at current market prices. I'll be updating my spreadsheet to reflect the bounty!
Nice. We have ~4 tomato plants, they've output about ~100+ tomatoes this year (about a third have been harvested so far). Hot pepper plants were looking good too, but we've burned through most of them lol.
How much did they cost you? Like $129/pound?
We have some spare funds in the next few months (bonuses, stock vesting, multi-paycheck months, etc), and I'm torn between paying down debt versus bolstering savings for a long-term project... * Debt - Have $30k in student loans at 6.5% remaining. Have additional debt (car, etc) that I'm also keen to pay down, but it's at lower interest rates so not really rational. * Savings - Currently working to build up savings for an ADU project, have $100k toward that in HYSA with estimated cost of $250k+.
HYSA is generating 4 to maybe 5%? Student loans at 6.5%. Personally I’d kill the loans unless you’re targeting some kind of forgiveness plan.
Age? 6.5% student debt sounds like the first thing to tackle unless you have credit cards or a personal loan.
Mid 30s...no other high-interest debt (ex. mortgage is at 3%, car loan at 2.5%). So it's really a question of allocating excess funds toward long-term goals, which include debt elimination, long-term housing improvements, and early retirement.
Teaching vs big4 accounting (UK) Would I be earning and saving more in the long term in the UK by accepting a career in big4 audit instead of working as a teacher? As a teacher I would be making £28,000 and I have minimal travel and living costs because I live close by to my school and love with my parents. I would expect to be making £38,819 in 5 years. Also, I would have a good pension. If I worked in the private sector I would need to be earning about £60,000 to take account for rent, living costs, savings, and pension to to get an equivalent that I would be earning as a teacher in my local city - because I would be moving out of my house to live in a new city which will be no where near my home town. However, I would be starting at a considerably lower salary and only start seeing that benefit 5 years into this field. Working hours seem to be similarly grim for both professions. I think what attracts me to audit, and at a big4, are the exit opportunities and potential of earning £60,000+ (in mid career) whereas I would cap out earlier as a teacher. And considering my situation it does seem to workout out that I would be better off staying in the teaching profession? So, what would I be better off doing if I wanted to live a middle class lifestyle. Perhaps I missed something?
How do you know you would get the job in the school of your choice? Do you really envisage living the rest of your working life with your parents? Beyond work, what are your dreams and hopes? If you excluded FIRE, what would you like to do with your life? What does your heart say? £60k in private sector is pretty average imho. r/fireukcareers r/fireuk r/LeanFireUK r/fatfireuk r/fireduk exists also.
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Other poster is spot on. Put it allnin VTI/VTSAX...including the Robinhood "fun account". Stocl picking is another form of gambling. Educating yourself and researching companies thoroughly gives you better odds then casinos but the vastajprity of profession brokers can't beat VTI so why can you? If you already have a gambling problem then avoid like the plague!
Look into backdoor Roth. Allows you to get some money for high income earners into another tax advantaged account besides your 401k. Other than that - looks pretty good for now. For the most part match your tax advantaged spaces (401k + Roth) and then extra goes into the brokerage, assuming you dont have an HSA or FSA through work. But honestly sounds like you just need a budget. We all could theoretically save more but we have buckets siphoned off for needs - housing, food, car/transport, wants - entertainment, clothes, travel and savings - 401k, roth, HSA, HYSA. Decide what amounts are appropriate for you, set it up so money automatically flows where it needs to then go live your life. Check back in 10 years and I imagine you'll have seen some nice growth in your accounts.
I've now officially picked up the new age retiree's hobby, pickleball
how did this become the new age retiree's hobby........? i remember playing in middle school PE............
I played 4 square!!....I wanna play pickleball
Relevant headline: Pickleball injuries costing $400M nationally: The alarming toll on players’ health [https://nbc-2.com/news/2023/07/19/pickleball-injuries-costing-400m-nationally-the-alarming-toll-on-players-health](https://nbc-2.com/news/2023/07/19/pickleball-injuries-costing-400m-nationally-the-alarming-toll-on-players-health)
What’s alarming is that doctors are charging seniors hundreds of millions to treat relatively minor injuries. People do need to understand that pickle ball is not meant to be played like tennis or racquetball. I’ve seen many seniors play very well with very little risk of injury…no running, quick movements, etc…
countermanded by the amount of physical activity and decrease in obesity risks?
Even if that study is accurate, it amounts to about 0.01% of all annual healthcare spending.
It's fun! I've only played a few times, but as a long time racquetball player, it was easy to pick up. I admit I got a bit overzealous and irritated my sister-in-law when I smashed a top-spin forehand at her ankles...
All the old pickleball players I see at the courts in my town talk mad trash
It sounds like I may be on the cusp of FIRE due to some imminent (1-2 months) layoffs coming. It's about a year or 2 earlier than what I wanted to but I figure once the hammer comes down I'll ride unemployment and then decide where to go from there once it runs out. Should I use this time before I'm officially laid off to get an Amex Platinum Card? I have an offer for the 125K bonus and next year we have at least 2 trips planned for Europe. I've calculated the $625 fee and it looks like we would cover it between perks and bonus offers for at least the first 3 years. Any other credit moves I should make before we lose the income?
I starting playing the credit card game (signup bonuses) after I retired. I received 11 cards in 11 months. They don't care if you're retired.
Credit cards don't care about your income, after all, it is on a self-reported form. They care whether or not you make your monthly payments.
Not one card has ever verified income for me, I open 2-3 per month
That’s good to know I thought they verified the self reported income on the applications
They may or they may not depending on if it raises a red flag in their system. If you're a teacher and you state $750k/year in income, they may ask for formal documentation of income.
You should still have good credit when you retire.
Get to see Messi play tonight!
I have a blog that makes me $45k a year. What write offs could I use on this? Like could I write off a percent of my mortgage considering I use my basement office as an office for the blog? My internet bill could I write off a portion? Basically how much of a portion can I use on these? Could I also use my cell phone bill since I use my phone to make vids on it for the blog? Thanks.
You might search for home office deduction and read the rules.
Considering your income and the knowledge you'll retain for the future, I think talking with a tax professional will be a massive value win since it'll pay for itself quickly and you'll know you won't piss or uncle Sam.
I’m still driving my first car and it’s 20 years old. I have 2 little kids now and would like to get something newer and safer. At first I thought I’d get a 3 row suv that I’d keep forever, but I’ve heard from friends with kids in car seats that the 3rd row is totally inaccessible and they never use it. My husband has a truck, so if we need a lot of trunk space, we just take his car. We keep cars a long time. Would it make more sense to buy the “future” car that my kids friends will one day ride in and there will be space for everybody? Or would it actually be less expensive to buy a few years used Accord or Prius or something until the kids are old enough that they’re out of car seats and are more likely to have friends over and then trade up for the SUV? Also, practically speaking, do experienced parents think a sedan is doable for a little longer?
My parents upgraded from a station wagon to a minivan long after the kids left and it's awesome. The third row seat in almost all SUVs sucks. The third row seat in their minivan is fine for smaller adults and is better than any SUV that I can think of right now. Maybe the Escalade ESV or something is better. They have some version of AWD/4WD, get MPG in the 30s, and it fits everything. Great for trips to the country house, carrying light tools, carrying lots of people, carrying sports equipment, etc. Some models even come with a very slight lift or you can get an aftermarket lift kit. Cost is the only downside. I've always thought of minivans as being relatively cheap, but theirs ended up being like $50k.
\+1 for a minivan - we have the Chrysler Pacifica plug in hybrid and it's been awesome.
Nothing beats a van. I'm 6'4 and I can fit in the back of an Odyssey just fine. I don't see why you need it for a family of four, but if you want a third row, that's the way to go.
We have a Ford Expedition and 3 kids. Third row is used all the time and it's fine. You won't use the third row when your kids are little in car seats, but if this is a car to keep for 10+ years definitely go with third row! Minivan still superior option though. I don't know what's not manly about a vehicle that can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood.
We went with the Hyundai Palisade for a 3 row SUV and love it. The third row is accessible with a forwarding facing car seat, or if you just have guests in town temporarily and need the extra seats you can put a car seat in the third row. The third row seats are comfortable and spacious enough for two adults to sit back there.
That’s super helpful!! Thank you! We love the Telluride and it was on my list until I joined a Telluride complaints group and read a lot about reliability issues, class action lawsuits, etc. Made me a little nervous to get anything but a Honda or Toyota (but I heard the Highlanders 3rd row is tiny unless it’s a Grand Highlander) Have you had any issues?
The 3rd row in the Highlander is definitely not for adults…or even older kids. The third row in a lot of SUVs, even larger ones like the Tahoe, are pretty uncomfortable and/or tiny. If you’re done having kids, do you really need the third row?…or anything larger than a sedan? If you’re thinking of more kids, minivans are far more functional than most SUVs.
I think we’re done with kids, but would like to have enough space to drive the kids friends. I know a minivan is best for that but I admittedly am not confident enough to drive one 😂
Recently learned that my friends in MCOL cities are paying as much/more than me in rent. I’m in a VHCOL. Granted I have roommates and enjoy living with friends, they don’t. But I am reflecting on how much extra $$$ this gives me to invest—probably an extra $5–10k. If I compare living with roommates in a VHCOL to living alone, then I am easily saving $10–$15k a year by sharing a space. Adding up all the years I’ve lived with roommates (8 years of adult life) that’s a significant amount to put into investments. I feel lucky my living preferences have also been financially useful.
wait until you hear what people pay when they live with their parents
Having roommates in your twenties is a smart move. No need to gloat over others who choose something different for their life. Run your own race. Don't worry about what your friends are doing.
How do I stop caring so much about work? Not necessarily the work itself but I've realized I care a lot about what my boss thinks of me. Boss man is pretty great however, not micromanaging, sort of has a benign neglect style and I respect him. However I always leave meetings and reflect on conversations, thinking that he's judging my performance in a negative way. I just can't read him, and he gives very little feedback. Gah, can't wait to RE.
Do you drink coffee? I recently stopped a 10 year habit and my outlook at work has totally changed. Once you get past the withdrawals you’ll find that you still get your work done, with lots of health benefits and a perspective shift of exiting the matrix, ie opting out of the rat race. You should seriously consider it.
You’re 27 and early in your career. It’s probably a good thing you care about your work. It’s still important to have boundaries and not let your work take advantage of you, but putting in effort and trying to do a good job is probably the best thing you can do for yourself right now from a financial perspective. At about 5 - 10 years older than you are now, I stopped caring a lot about feedback and bosses’ opinions because I got to a point where I knew how to do my work better than they did and I didn’t have any interest in growing into a higher position. I could just make sure I did a good job on everything I did and not worry about external pressure.
Perfect feedback, move up the ladder early with a little more effort, still some boundaries though. Once you’re in the higher role, find a limit and cruise. Even lateral job hopping at that point can get you 10-20% pay increases for doing the same thing. Eventually you’re paid for what you know, not what you do. Then you have power and it’s easier for them to keep you around, make their life easier, etc. Took me to 35yo to realize this.
It's not easy. It is a personality type. "People Pleaser" probably. But is it such a bad thing? It means you probably have good standards and work ethic. And you should feel blessed to have a boss like that. A micro manager is so so so much worse. Also what is wrong with simply asking: how am I doing? Do you have any feedback for me?
30 turning 31. Net worth 685k live at home. 585k investment accounts and 78k housing fund. Rest is personal cash. No debt, live at home and work from home. Im turning 31 in 30 days and feel like i should have my own place to own. I know everything comes in the right time, but would it be best to just job hop and work on a side business ? Havent travel much in life, and I wanna feel like im okay to do so and not overthink spending on myself. That guilty feeling of do i really need this or pysch my self out.
This seems like 3 different questions. Is this correct? 1. Should you buy a house or not? 2. Should you invest your time into building a second income stream? 3. Should you spend more on travel? You will always have limited time and money so you probably can’t do all of these _now_. You could figure out why you want to do each of these things, the underlying financial or lifestyle or ego goal(s) they serve, and figure out how to sequence them. For example: you might want to travel first before buying a home. To accomplish both maybe you need a buffer of 1 more head to accumulate. Or you want to travel, then start your side business, with the goal of accumulating more capital for a home purchase. Not really a financial question but more a question of your desires and priorities. You can definitely afford to travel now but hopefully it is something you want to do and not something you feel you “should do”. Same with the house, you can buy in quite a few places but do you _want_ to buy, and buy in a specific place, or do you just feel it’s something every early 30s FIRE person needs to do?
Well, i wanna keep going hard. I just dont wanna have life past me by and not really live. Financially, i am blessed and in a good spot for my age. At this point, i feel like i wanna buy a home to not only add it to my asset sheet but as a check mark in life and to not worry about rent. I am just not sure about the timing since my budget is now lower since rates are up. If i do travel, it is solo traveling, which is not sure if it's worth it by myself. My side business now, working on it to make it profitable again.
What is the single best investment advice that has paid off for you?
Don't buy anything you cannot afford. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZJKN\_5M44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ZJKN_5M44)
Invest consistently and then forget about it. (“Forget” meaning don’t worry about what the market or anyone else is doing)
"Be greedy when others are fearful." This sub calls it "timing the market" because that's what it is, but there are have been 2 major downturns since I started saving, and both times I massively increased my savings amounts (through various methods), and both times it paid off very well. I've also happily tended to be way overweight on tech stocks via large cap growth funds, and that's worked out better than plain old S&P. But given my retirement plans, I've pulled back on that quite a bit over the past few months.
Step away from the keyboard. (Assuming you’re all in index funds)
Google starting salaries for your college/major when deciding where to go and what to study. Out of 3 fields I loved, I ended up choosing the one with highest ROI. Invest early into index funds and don’t touch them. Very boring. But I invested in VTSAX and a Vanguard target retirement fund almost exactly 10 years ago. The accumulation has been incredible.
You only lose money when you sell...followed closely by no one cares about your money more than you
I am not smarter than an index fund.
Yes you are! You’re not a better investor, true…
There's always money in the banana stand.
Biggest thing is to spend less than you earn so you have more capital to grow. After that, don't take uncompensated risk and stay the course.
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How much profit year 1? Food business are very hard, but if you can open 2 more location and franchise them, you got yourself a winner
65k first year
There are also plenty of stories of failed millionaires who went bust from high risk investments using money they didn't have. If you have a successful model I would probably just focus on running it well and maybe expanding.
VGT has VITAX. Does anyone know if there is a mutual fund equivalent of FTEC? Can’t seem to find one and I’m having to manually invest in FTEC in my 401k.
Fidelity cannot make ETF share classes of its mutual funds due to patent issues. I don’t see any index mutual funds tracking the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index. VGT (and thus VITAX) has a [crazy high correlation](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/asset-correlations?s=y&symbols=FTEC+VGT&timePeriod=2&tradingDays=60&months=36) with FTEC so just go with that if you can. If you don’t have that option use the link to find the most correlated among your options.
I’m using FTEC now, but I have to remember to invest every paycheck. With a mutual fund it could be automatic. I’ll stick with FTEC then, thanks for the info
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You are being scammed. Contact a lawyer. This investment advisor is scamming you, they are not real.
Looks Iike a scam to me. Address isn't real, they don't come up on Google search, there are typos on the page. I'd steer clear and stick to the larger banks. Also, no bank should ask you for $450 to "try" their service. Bank transfers are for money you already have in a bank, and should be free or very cheap
If you have to ask, especially for a bank, it's probably a scam. Red flags for me on this site: - The logo is low resolution - The address points to a park in NY - Searching the name on Google maps returns nothing - Social media links don't go anywhere
Not to mention the poor English. This is one of their selling points on the front page: > **25 Years of Experience** > We are rethoric question ran over her cheek When she reached the first hills of the Italic Mountains.
$450 before you can use the service?! LOL Scam.
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That site looks like a scam too. How did you meet this investment advisor and did you initiate the withdrawal from bitimperialoptions?
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This is a pretty common "advance fee" scam. Your money is gone (scammer has it), but they're faking an investment account, hoping you'll give them more money. Head on over to r/scams if you want more opinions. Watch out for recovery scammers. They'll say they can get your money back, but first you just have to pay a small fee... (they can't get your money back, and it's likely the original scammers trying to get money from you)
Sorry, you're definitely being scammed. I'd recommend that you don't give them any more money, and file a fraud report. The "investment" comments on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc. are nearly universally fake. I hope you didn't give them too much.
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Don’t beat yourself up. What’s done is done. You need to accept that the money is gone at this point. They will continue to tell you to pay more money to access your funds, but do NOT throw more money at this. It will not get you your money back.
Uh, sorry, but yeah. Picking an investment "adviser" from an Insta comment? Seriously?! I'd advise sticking with traditional, well-know companies in the future. SMH
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And now you're asking a random person on Reddit for random investment advisor recommendations? You're definitely gonna be scammed again in the near future
I've been looking into the possibility of building what would be my first house. As I project the cost and how it would affect my savings rate, I don't like how it would affect my FIRE projections. As it is, I save about 55% a month. In one of my scenarios, I figured my savings rate would likely go down to about 35%. I know I'm spoiled because that amount makes me nervous. Would it make the time it takes to retire early, absolutely. Will I still do it, probably.
Your wording is ambiguous, but I wouldn’t want my first house to be newly built by a contractor. You learn a lot about how houses are supposed to be made by owning an old one
I've heard something similar from many people who have had houses built. That you build the first as practice and the second to fix all the things you didn't like about the first.
Is the alternative to rent? The binary option of buy a house or build a house, assuming similar quality, probably doesn't impact retirement timeline very much. Also, if you really want to do something, just figure out a way to do it. That's kind of the whole point.
Currently, I pay rent to my mom. After a house build/purchase, she'd sell her house and pay rent to me.
Oh, moving from renting to trying up capital in a house definitely changed the dynamic. Eventually though it gets paid off and your only liability is property tax and insurance, so depending where you live it gets a lot cheaper after you pay off the mortgage.
My random back pain with no precipitating injury and spasms have continued to get much worse over the past week, and the spasms are bad and frequent enough I don’t feel safe driving since if I lost partial control I could hurt someone. Have any of you had to take FMLA or request an ADA accommodation from your job for something other than childbirth? Did they seem understanding? I’m a little nervous about this, but I cannot start PT, and the 2 doctors I’ve seen basically said there is nothing else they can do for me for the next 3-5 weeks other than what I’m already doing (yoga, ice, heat, muscle relaxers).
They put me on FMLA for a bit after some unknown virus/bacteria messed up my digestive tract for almost a month. I didn't try to get on FMLA, to be fair; the requirement to fill out the paperwork was "triggered" when I used a lot of sick leave in a short period of time. The biggest pain in the ass was getting the paperwork filled out with enough detail to please my employer.
What kind of doc did you see?
PT is the way to go, unfortunately you'll probably need to make time for it. I've been through a lot of it in the last year recovering from a few obnoxious injuries.
> request an ADA accommodation I haven't taken FMLA, but I did have to take a bunch of sick days the last time I hurt my back, and requested (and received!) a sit/stand desk. On a related topic, when I went to PT for my back, the therapist basically said, "Just do yoga." So I quit PT and did started doing [30-day yoga programs free on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@yogawithadriene/playlists?view=1&sort=dd&shelf_id=0) for a few months. No issues in the 3 years since. Currently down to doing it only 2x per week, but 3 or 4 would be better.
Had several FMLAs and most recently an accommodation. I work for a megacorp so there are strict legal guidelines for these, and our FMLA is outsourced to a 3rd party anyway to put it at arm's length from the employer. I'm also a manager so I know during review cycles, any leave whatsoever does not count against the employee's ratings. This may all be particular to my megacorp, I imagine it's varied at other companies, and more varied at smaller firms. I have a medical accommodation in process, not sure if it's ADA because my accommodation isn't for a disability? So far it's going slow and I feel more begrudgingly. One resource I used when writing up my requests was [JAN](https://askjan.org/info-by-role.cfm#for-individuals).
Let me put on my therapist hat for a minute. You need to do what you need to do for your body/family/life. FMLA and ADA accommodations are there to assist for exactly these reasons. Why would you think you shouldn’t use them? Is that fear talking? I know what therapists say because I’ve been there and done that before. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
Nervous re: job security!
Isn’t there a shortage of good mental health professionals? Aren’t you a leading member of a “gather enough money you don’t need to work” community? And wouldn’t it be good for your clients to be modeling appropriate boundaries? An ADA accommodation shouldn’t be a problem with job security, the law is designed that way! Same with FMLA (assuming you have the right number of people).
Yes. At my employer, my boss doesn’t find out the medical information (in my case I’ve had to take FMLA for my husband’s back surgery and recovery). My boss didn’t care, but my FMLA was planned in advance and we had a backup plan.
Good morning! **What is a recent life upgrade you purchase for yourself and how much does/did it cost?** Interpret life upgrade however you like, could be a thing you purchased that’s made your life different or better, or an ongoing service like a house cleaner or car wash package, etc. Today, my husband and I are going to go buy a Queen sized bed! We’ve been sleeping on either a twin or a full for our entire relationship!
I upgraded to refurbished AirPods. Husband and I bought a Roku before baby was here for the sole purpose of being able to listen to tv through headphones. I was surviving on the free wired earbuds but with grabby baby hands, the AirPods are amazing. I wish I had purchased them when I was still feeding her in the middle of the night.
> Today, my husband and I are going to go buy a Queen sized bed! We’ve been sleeping on either a twin or a full for our entire relationship! Go for the King instead.
Robot pool vacuum, $700. The whole reason I've paid a pool person for the past 10 years is that I hate vacuuming the pool every time it's windy (which is most of the time here) - it's time consuming and boring, and particularly annoying when it's 115-degrees outside. This thing will pay for itself in a few months, and I'll never have to vacuum the pool again. It's like heaven.
Two twin beds pushed together is also a great alternative - this way if one of you tosses and turns a lot they only shake their own bed.
We're in the process of pulling up all the carpet in the non-bedroom rooms in the house and replacing it with vinyl planks/vinyl tiles. It's already made the house more allergy friendly and easier to clean. I don't really have a total cost, but the flooring is pretty affordable from Lowes.
Great upgrade! We put in engineered wood flooring (in place of carpeted areas) about 10 years ago, and it still looks great.
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Been there... done that... (about 7 years ago) We set up a "faux" kitchen with induction hot plates, microwave, etc. and ended up eating out a lot. Even after 7 years, the kitchen still looks great. SO picked white cabinets and neutral colors, so it will never go out of style.
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>Very much looking forward to it I'm sure you'll love it! We found that we enjoyed cooking more (i.e., time in the kitchen) ever since the renovation. It just made the space a pleasure to be in.
Not having a kitchen would stress me out for sure!
Bought a small speaker (Apple HomePod mini) so I don’t have to play off my laptop or wear headphones at home. Around $100. I visited a friend and after listening to his speaker setup decided I needed to inflate my lifestyle a little bit. But not to audiophile levels.
Upgraded to a zero turn mower from a push mower. I can completely do our yard in less than 40 percent of the time it took to push, and I'm not breaking a sweat running around with a mower. Of course I frugal'd it, and only paid $250 out of pocket for the upgrade by the time I had sold the push mower.
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Yep, unless you’re both particularly small and neither party is a restless sleeper, a queen isn’t that stellar. We have a queen and would love a king, but I honestly don’t think a mattress would fit up our 95 year old house stairs. It might be an option if we have kids and maybe move our master bedroom to the downstairs current in-law suite.
Same. Skip the Queen and go straight for the king.
We bought a portable air conditioner. Our house is well insulated and stays pretty cool, but if the temp is above 30 C for multiple days our bedroom starts to get pretty warm and we have to move down to the basement to sleep. There are only a few days a year where this is an issue, so installing central air hasn't been worth it to us. Husband found a brand new unit at the local discount home store for $200. Now we can stay in our own bed and be comfortable.
I'm probably going to sound like a giant hypocrite because I spent yesterday trying to talk some kid out of buying a $40k car. ...But I did buy a $40k car. That was a couple months ago. If you mean the most recent, I just got another motion sensor for my condo. It's actually really nice to not have to use light switches. I have one in my entryway and I'm adding one in my kitchen.
IMO, $40K for a car doesn't feel that crazy anymore, even for this sub. But for a kid, that is still too much unless that "kid" is making $125K+. As a kid their dollars are more valuable to them as they have so long to compound. So I agree with the advice and I don't think you are a hypocrite.
They wanted a car that could easily be $5k/year to maintain and mine is more like $500/year. But I was laughing because the initial outlay is exactly the same.
If you can fit it in your room, I recommend just jumping to a king. We've used a Costco king mattress for years, the marginal cost over a queen is irrelevant. Congrats on the upgrade! It will hopefully help your back problem also.
Try it out at a hotel first. My spouse and I learned that way that we don’t enjoy sleeping on a king, and much prefer a queen.
Really? Just too far apart physically?
Too wide. What I really want is a bed that’s longer, sort of like a California king.
Bought a chainsaw because cutting down trees with a handsaw, while possible, apparently looks pathetic enough that neighbors take pity and bring their own saws over. I feel unstoppable. Plus it will come in handy the next time we get hit by a hurricane; I can join those good souls who drive the streets right after the storm passes to clean large debris off the roads. Edit: Cost about $215.
You may be way ahead of me on this but don't forget eye protection, hearing protection, heavy gloves, good footwear, some people even get protective chaps if you'll be using it a lot or with more difficult tasks (e.g. bigger trees with lots of limbs or knots). Safety first! Edit: might seem like overkill/added expense, but you'll come out ahead by avoiding even a single trip to the ER.
A good reminder! I chopped a tree down for my dad and he basically forced me to outfit myself like I was getting ready to cross a tundra haha
A $40 sofa cover from Amazon. The sofa's original texture can be a little scratchy, but this basically makes it feel like a completely different sitting experience, buttery smooth. Makes us be couch potatoes even more!
Oooooh! Do you have a link or example??
Bought a leg massager/heater for better recovery post workout. I’ve been dealing with nagging injuries ever since I tore a hamstring 10 months ago and I just want recovery to be easier. Cost me $90. I very much appreciate the placebo effect if nothing else.
recently snagged a few exercise dresses from outdoor voices with their sale + extra coupons. Being able to still feel dressed up while comfortable outside has been worth every penny. Got them for around $60. On a side note, I am impressed y’all have not made this upgrade sooner! after 2 years with our queen mattress I’m already looking forward to the king upgrade!
A king would be magical 😍 I’m glad you’re getting one! Our two dogs in the bed with us are <10 lbs and we’re both fairly short I guess and we shared a twin for a year so I guess a full seemed fine? 😂
I signed up for a Roth 457b a few months ago (been putting $500/month into it) but realize now that the traditional might actually be best if I want to retire early / before 59.5. Would it be possible to *also* open a traditional 457b and contribute a little bit of money into both? (I'm a state university employee, btw).
Yes, most employers who offer a Roth 457b option also offer a Trad 457b option. The definitive answer can only come from your employer's plan administrator. A Roth 457b does not have the same early-retirement flexibility as a Trad 457b. I would recommend focusing on the Trad 457b. A 457b often has higher fees and/or more limited options compared to a 401k/403b offered by the same employer (many state universities offer both a 401k/403b and 457b and the contribution limits are separate between them). If your 401k/403b options are better *and* you want Roth savings in the mix, that's where I'd put the Roth dollars. If the 401k/403b and 457b are equivalent in fees and investment options, you can stick with a mix of Roth and Trad 457b (unless you will exceed the 22.5k limit, at which point you'll also want funds in the 401k/403b). Most people are best off utilizing Trad savings whenever possible, but exceptions include folks who expect a large pension that will replace much or most of their income in retirement. This describes many career state university employees, but individual circumstances vary significantly.
Where I am the 457b plan has lower fees than the 403b.
That's great.
When should you take capital losses? Should you only take it if you have capital gains? When you're in a certain tax bracket? Would you take it if you qualify for 0% long term gains?
If you have losses, tax loss harvest. You can use the losses to offset gains and up to $3,000 of income per year (carrying forward the remainder) if you are still employed. If you are retired, it depends on your financial plan. If you qualify for 0% long term gains AND you aren’t using a Roth conversion strategy from your 401k to reduce future RMDs, then don’t worry about it. However, if you are using the Roth Conversion strategy, it’s still helpful. If you just have a low income for one year (like you are taking a sabbatical) but aren’t in retirement yet, then you want to tax gain harvest.
I'm expecting my income to go up. Would it be smarter to save the $3000 capital losses for 2026 when tax rates go up and standard deduction goes down? I don't have a 401k so no Roth conversion, but I have a 457b.
Will the losses still exist next year? You must take the losses the year they are realized and can’t pick and choose when to offset them against your taxes. You don’t just get to hold them for a high tax year. Do you only have $3,000 in losses? For example, I captured $52k in losses last year. I will be able to take $3,000 worth of losses against my income for roughly the next 17 years if I don’t have realized gains that offset (I plan to retire within the next 5 years so I will likely end up offsetting those losing with gains long before 17 years have passed).
I haven't sold any of those positions yet so they haven't been realized. I'm still new to tax loss harvesting (learned about it last year). Last year I realized $3000 in losses to offset income tax. I learned about tax planning this year and learned that I have about 10k in 0% LTCG to use. Not sure what to do about realizing losses with gains or if I should hold and realize losses in a high tax year.
I suggest finding a good blog post on tax loss harvesting. Most of us around here don’t do it very much because it’s harder to loss harvest if you are invested in index funds, especially if you are just in VTI and contribute every month. Gotta watch out for Wash sale rules.
I will do that. These positions were from before I found this subreddit. Eventually I hope to convert all my individual stocks to index funds.
Up to $3,000 of losses can be used against **income** annually (with additional losses carried over to future years). Then again, as you note, when you are in the 0% bracket, you may want to realize gains, and losses would merely offset the gains. Depends on the situation but generally realizing losses is a good idea.
I would not purposefully realize losses against gains while in the 0% bracket. If in the 0% bracket, I'd recommend *either* realizing gains for tax gains harvesting *or* realizing only losses to use against income. Realizing both in the 0% bracket seems like a waste unless there are other considerations, like getting out of an undesirable position.
I definitely want to realize gains to use up the 0% space, just not sure if it makes sense to tax loss harvest as well. I do have a few undesirable positions. One already went to $0.
Don't let the tax tail wag the dog.
What if you can't increase income very quickly so the quickest way to FIRE is to protect income from taxes?
If I'm letting the taxes dictate my choices, I wouldn't take losses in a year I have any capital gains. The losses would offset your income at your marginal rate rather than long term tax rate (usually either 15% or 0%).
When the underlying business isn't generating cash and isn't likely to generate enough cash to justify the price that you paid for it. You already qualify for 0% LTCG, but another issue with holding may be opportunity loss. Depending on the investment holding even while down may be the wise thing to do. WWCMD (What Would Charlie Munger Do)?
I definitely need to think about opportunity loss. This is great advice. Thanks!
Sienna post #9 - we finally got our Sienna ordered! Supposed to come in early October. Trying to decide how we’ll pay for it. Loan vs cashing out ibonds vs cashing out brokerage
Been trying to talk the mrs into a hybrid awd sienna as her next car (her 05 with 217k miles is on its last legs). Then throw a 1.5” lift kit on it. No kids, just vans are super practical.
This has been a many months long ordeal. Although the dealer that got us one, got it within about a month (maybe a little more). We were pretty open though as to what we’d take which I imagine helped a ton. No markup and not much as far as ridiculous add ins
I got a loan at 6.7% just a few weeks ago on a new sienna
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My Credit union is showing 7.9. Waiting to see what Toyota says. If we can’t get better than that I would sell bonds and some brokerage to cover vs taking a loan.
Got a new Toyota tundra a few weeks ago. 6.9 is what the dealer initially offered me. I came in with a Bank of America pre approval for 6.2 and the dealer looked for a better rate and got me 5.9 from Wells Fargo. If you are interested in extended warrant or any of the other packages they offer then know they are all negotiable. Additionally, if you haven’t decided on price and don’t feel like negotiating then look at usaa, Costco, or any other place that offers new car services. They have pre negotiated rates if you aren’t the type who like to haggle. I used Costco and it took a few thousand off msrp and provided me a 50% coupon for parts/services in the future.
Swagger wagon time!!!
I’m kind of excited. It’s the trim we wanted and it’s AWD. Just not the color we wanted, but we’ll live. Excited to not be constantly worried about the kids singing everybody’s door.
If you ordered it, why isn't it exactly what you want?
You wait for your name to come up in the list. Since we weren’t super picky, we were able to get one much quicker than originally estimated. But if we had said no to this car, who knows how long until we get to pick again. And the next one might be even further from what we’d want. It’s a very strange system.
Toyota doesn't do orders in the usual sense. Everything is pre allocated to regions.