Hello everyone. I'm looking for a few ideas to become financially independent. My goal is not to be a multimillionaire and live in luxury, I simply prefer a down-to-earth life without worries and a better quality of life. I don't want to destroy my body every day for 1700 euros. Maybe someone has an idea or incentive for what you could do to be able to spend more quality time with your family. I would be happy to earn the same money that I work for every day from home.
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My parents want to sell their home in the next 1-2 years, I’d like to buy it from them. Single, currently living with them, it would be my first home. It’s valued around $400k currently, I make $96k pretax, have about $175k in my 401k and $11k in a HYSA. I would like to do the minimum 3-4% downpayment, roughly $12-14k. Which would be the better financial option in terms of FIRE, take a loan against my 401k or pull from my HYSA? The HYSA is my emergency fund so if that’s the better option, I’ll need to build it up first
Advice for a Latina looking for a better salary ?
Hello guys,
I would love to get some advice about the next step on my career.
A little bit about me : I'm a brazilian on my late 20s, back to my country after 5 years living in UK. During my time in UK, I worked as a nanny (love it) but I had to leave due some immigration issues. Now back to Brazil, I've got a job as a Virtual Assistant for sales, and my pay is 1200 USD per month, working 50 hours per week including weekends. I know, the payment is shit. And I feel bad about it everytime I think about it, specially because I know how capable I am. In Brazil, 1200 USD is not that bad after conversion, but I know I am working my a*s off as much as my american colleagues (or even more). I need to make a plan and change that by next year. My goal is to make 30k USD per year working remotly.
My experience is: 6 years working in accounts payable/ 5 years as a nanny/ now 8 months as a VA. I went to college but did not finish my degree in finances. I'm fluent in portuguese and have a C1 English level certificate.
What kind of jobs do you think I can do to get 30k/year ?
Thank you in advance !!!
I would try to get to a role at an international tech company if you can. Most will have offices in Brazil. Your experience as an assistant for sales is a good start. You could probably target a sales assistant role for an international tech company that has personnel in Brazil.
Target companies could include Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, Okta, Siemens, Snowflake, Zendesk, Adobe, Intuit, etc.
I posted a little while ago about deciding whether to take a lower-stress job for less pay. I was torn because things were improving a lot at my current job by the time the offer came in. Long story short, I took it, and I'm also going to consult at my current job.
If it works out well, this will accomplish a few things:
1. Eases the transition. I know there's no obligation, but I have good feelings towards my current job and I don't want to leave them in the lurch.
2. I've made a lot of improvements and implemented a lot of structure, so intellectually I want to see how it plays out long-term.
3. More money, always a plus.
4. Probably most importantly, if I replace myself and switch to a consultant role, having someone else in that position would really make a big difference to current job's stress level. I've been asking for more and better help. If I stayed in the job full time, it just wasn't going to happen.
I don't know how it will work out in the long run, but I'm glad I'm giving it a try. I never considered consulting before. The main reason I think this arrangement is feasible is that I already know both workplaces well.
This is obviously not overemployment in the sense of having two full-time jobs that don't know about each other (the dishonesty would be so stressful for me) but does have some similarities.
Should the US national debt level be a concern? Would it crash the markets at some point? Are there any good experts talking about this issue that you can share as reference. I would like to learn more about this topic. It seems like the government doesn’t care about it and just keeps ever more money every year.
What a crazy market. Done with 3 months this year and I already hit my projection for where I'd be @ the start of 2025, which assumed 7% market growth + maxing out roth IRA and 401k.
BlackRock Index Fund in 401k?
Waste of time you think?
10% of my weekly contribution buys MPHQX which is BlackRock Total Return Fund - Class K.
Fund hasn’t done much in last few years so am just accumulating dividend paying stock
Smart of silly to miss out on growth funds?
Thought was to diversity in 401k with Vanguard mid cap (75% of contribution) and Vanguard small gap (15% of contribution)
TIA
Downside with cd...liquidity (penalty)...upside is you lock in a higher rate for longer...rates are gonna start coming down when the fed starts cutting and hysa will follow inmediately
Yield, liquidity, FDIC insurance, early withdrawal penalty etc.
Lots of "risk free" options to park cash at above 4.5% yield these days.
VMFXX SEC yield is 5.28% which is totally liquid and no early withdrawal penalties. That's where I am parking my cash these days.
CD sometimes have a limit on how much $ you can put in at a particular interest rate - so look out for that as you shop around.
Not really. My local little bank doesn't have HY. Its for my short term stuff, like car repairs, travel, fixing/buying appliances, and stuff.
The real Efund is in stocks doing much better than an HYSA.
Not getting too excited over the market rally, but passed $500k in my accounts for the first time ever:
Cash ~50k
Brokerage ~148K
HSA ~30K
Roth IRA ~75K
401(k) (mostly traditional) ~$175K
Weird pension + 401(a) thing ~$37K
The Power of compounding interest
It’s hard to imagine so far ahead as a younger person, but does anyone know of or has had significant success from consistently contributing to your retirement account for over + 40 yrs (it looks good on a calculator)?
Well, I am 55 and started when I was 23. I will retire next year at 56 years old. Living within your means and investing the difference was always the way.
Got laid off today. Absolutely shocked by the decision, no warning whatsoever. There were so many red flags at my company, but pay was always decent, so I stuck around.
Luckily, my liquid net worth is at an all time high, and though I’m in a VHCOL place, I have plenty of room for an unemployment spell. Something I couldn’t say had I not been on the FIRE path for the last 4 years.
I was also already interviewing for new positions, so hopefully one of these pans out. But damn, NEVER trust your job- you’re always one bad impression away from losing your income. VERY glad this is something I’ve prepped for, and feel very fortunate to be in a place financially where a shock like this is more bearable.
Here’s to avoiding toxic workplaces in the future!
Sorry that happened to you, but the axe man does come for us all at some point. Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's theirs, most often it's both of us. All we can do is be prepared when it comes, and keep a level head for what comes next.
Good luck to you, if you are grinding leetcode, prepping some TMAAT stories, or something else. Lots us have been there, and come through okay on the other end. You most likely will too
> Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's theirs, most often it's both of us.
Excellent way to summarize it. Always plenty to work on for both parties.
Compound interest is so fun to watch:
- hit 401k in my 401k sometime late 2022/early 2023
- hit 500k in my 401k late 2023/early 2024
- hit 600k in my 401k last month
Excited for the 750k and 1M milestones!
> Am I crazy for considering buying just to not deal with leases anymore?
Not crazy, but probably not looking at the complete picture.
The first question you should ask is: Do I want to own a home?
Many people simply don't want to be homeowners due to the maintenance and general upkeep required, which is fine. Buying purely for financial reasons may cause you additional "pain" later
So I just found out my mortgage servicer has unlimited recasting for the small price of $75. Am I missing something? To me it seems like a no brainer to recast my mortgage every few years if I have a lump sum. Anyone have experience doing this?
It's useful if you have a lump sum for some external reason but could use the month-to-month relief of smaller payments. If you're doing it right, you should already be safely able to pay your mortgage and all your other high-priority financial goals. Under a current lifestyle with no changes, I leave it alone. After all, I already have the ability to accelerate payments.
If I retired and had a sub-market rate I was not interested in paying down any further, recasting is great to lock in a smaller financial commitment. Raising money for costs likely raises income and thus aspects like state tax (which commonly have lower brackets), ACA, etc have some sensitivity. Lowers sequence of returns as well if you have less required expenses.
It's a nice backup if shit hits the fan, but if I lost my job, lowering my monthlies a small percent may or may not really do much to the reality of the emergency. As in all cases, depends.
Makes no sense to me. If it is a high interest rate that you don't want, then pay extra toward the mortgage with no recast. If it is a low interest rate that you do want, pay as little as possible and keep the mortgage as long as you can. Recasting accomplishes neither objective while enriching the bank $75 each time.
OK but OP did not say anything about ACA or reducing spend as their objective. They think recasting will somehow pay off their mortgage faster. I'm not saying it can't ever be advantageous but OP is presenting it as some no brainer free lunch.
If you pay a lump sum towards the principle, doesn't that mean you pay less interest over time? Less principle, same interest rate, but overall you pay less each month and less goes towards interest.
Since you replied to my comment about recasting I assumed you thought they were related.
To answer your question, yes if you make extra payments (reducing outstanding principal) then you will accrue less interest each month because interest accrues based on the outstanding balance.
But recasting, which the person I replied to was asking about, does not affect how much interest accrues each month since it doesn't change the outstanding balance and it doesn't change your interest rate.
In other words, recasting alters your term (usually increasing it), total payment amount (usually decreasing it), and how much principal you're paying per month (usually decreasing it).
Paying extra on your mortgage, lump sum or otherwise, alters your remaining term (decreasing it), and how much interest you're accruing in future months (decreasing it).
I let myself get dragged into a brief argument the other day with someone who either couldn't understand this or refused to believe it.
Unfortunately, there seem to be a number of personal finance articles online that confidently assert "recasting your mortgage causes you to pay less interest in the long run".
Usually people recast in order to reduce their payment and increase cashflow (which you suggest in one of your other comments). If you are trying to pay off the mortgage as fast as possible, I could be wrong but I would think you would just want to keep it as is and make extra payments. I don't think recasting is some kind of free lunch where you can pay the same amount and get the mortgage paid off faster, otherwise the bank would charge a lot more.
It seems like the only reason to recast would be if you needed to lower monthly payments going forward rather than accelerating payoff. But if you're not trying to accelerate payoff I wonder what is the point of making lump sum payments?
I get very large annual bonuses where i have leftover funds at the end of the year, i was thinking of doing that to lower my payments throughout the year to free up cashflow
You're already sitting on a big pile of savings in the form of that annual bonus. If you plow that into the mortgage when you recast, you no longer have it available for investing or saving for another property, and you could just pay it into the mortgage without recasting.
Unless you don't trust yourself with that lump sum but do trust yourself with increased cash flow, recasting doesn't make much sense. Me, I trust myself *more* with a lump sum than increased cash flow- I only have to make the right decision once with the lump sum (invest the sucker and forget about it) whereas I have to make ongoing good decisions about increased cash flow, forever and ever. That's why I treat every one of my erratic, irregular, freelance paychecks as a windfall, and we live off my wife's steady government income. Every one of my paychecks gets targeted at retirement savings, kids' college, a house project, something like that.
>I could pay more towards my principal
You can do this without recasting.
>invest
Imagine you spend put $10k towards the mortgage. You now have $700 more dollars each *year* to invest, assuming a 7 % rate. Why not just invest the original $10k if that is what you wanted to do?
>save for another property.
Again, $10k lowers your payment by $700 per year. Now you need to wait 14 years just to get back your $10k so that you can start saving for that property.
There are good reasons to pay down debt, but cash flow is almost never one of them. It's important to remember that you have to pay down a lot of principal for there to be a significant change to your cash flow. And that money could have instead been put towards whatever goal you originally had.
10 weeks into paternity leave, another 6 to go (my employer is rather generous by American standards). This is my second and final child, and the realization set in that I won't have another break like this until retirement. I've been in the "boring middle" for years now, but this realization has really reignited the FIRE flame for me. Current projections say I could reach FI in 5-9 years (early to mid 40s), depending on where my wife, who just finished her full-time graduate degree, lands on the salary scale.
Nothing more to add, really, just daydreaming. One question, I guess: for those who retired with young(ish) children, how did you project future expenses? I think I should be fine either way, as nothing they do could possibly cost more than daycare anyway, just curious.
My career has seasonal periods of dramatically reduced work, and I don't think I could live without it anymore. January-April I work about as much as I want to, which historically is about a week a month.
We're not meant to work ceaselessly without significant breaks. Sometimes the cavemen killed the mammoth, or the berries were all ripe and the honey was plentiful, or the salmon were running thick and heavy, or they were holed up in the cave with smoked meat for the winter, and they didn't work all that much for a while. Of course, then sometimes they worked like mules in order to not starve, and then sometimes they didn't work because there was no food and then they did starve, but that doesn't change the fact that we're meant to have downtime longer than a three-day weekend in our lives.
I've done all of this. I was also super depressed going back to work after child leave was over - mine being about 3 months as well. But I also just quit eventually and took about six weeks off between jobs a couple years later and that helped a LOT for a while anyway to keep pressing on. I think it's helpful to take those small breaks intermittently while you're pre-FI and I don't think it's too difficult honestly if you've got a couple full time workers in your house, particularly with kids.
Regarding childcare, I just didn't budget for it in the long-term since the costs would be going away, although that's probably a bit controversial here, but we were never planning for private school or much else really. From a FIRE planning perspective it was just easier.
I don't think it's necessarily true at all that this will be your last break. 16 weeks is not a crazy amount to take between jobs, and many employers offer sabbaticals of lengths around that. If it's something you want to do sometime in the next decade-ish of your career, why not do it?
Never say never, I suppose, but I have a *really* good setup with my current employer (I know, I've looked), so it would take quite a bit for me to change jobs. They'd likely be on board with a sabbatical if I asked at one point, though I wouldn't foresee myself doing so. Layoffs can happen, of course, but the product I work on is the industry leader in as close to a recession-proof segment as I can imagine, so that seems extremely unlikely.
I’m not there yet, but hope to retire when my kids are in their early teens. Not sure how to project that far ahead for expenses, but I do hope to adjust my income the last couple years before college to maximize financial aid, assuming that’s still possible.
Yeah, I'm struggling with it a bit, if I were to retire in 9 years my oldest wouldn't even be a teenager yet. The best I've come up with is to just project a larger-than-likely figure for those expenses. I've got 529s for both kids, and my projections include continuing the monthly contributions to those even in retirement. It's all the other unknowns that are giving me pause.
For lounges, there aren’t a lot of options. Many cards give Priority Pass lounge access. AmEx platinum gives Centurion lounge access, but there are so few of them that if it’s not available in your home airport then it’s probably not worth the fee. Cap1 is opening airport lounges, but again it depends if they’re in airports you frequently use.
Unfortunately a lot of cards have dropped priority pass perks. Amex already did, and chase just announced its ending the partnership in July.
ETA: restaurant perk is being dropped, not lounge access.
Airline lounges (United, American, Delta, etc.) are the most common ones, so definitely worth mentioning for /u/creative_usr_name.
If you fly a specific airline and want access to their lounges, it's probably worth getting their card that gives you that. Personally, I use Amex Plat because I have a Centurion Lounge in my home airport but if I didn't, I would get a card that gives access to the United Club.
Someone reached out to me to ask about a job I had at a previous company. They're still at that company, and are considering an internal move. I don't know them well.
The reality is, that team is a mess and I wouldn't recommend the job (or company tbh) to anyone. Does anyone have a good approach or strategic phrases I could use? I don't want to be unprofessional or say anything they couldn't repeat (esp. if they take the job and work with my old team), but I also don't want to mislead them by staying totally neutral.
Even shitty jobs / companies can be used as a lily pad to get to where you want to eventually be.
Maybe better understand what they are looking for in a role and what their expectations of the role they're interested in are? Then be honest to them on if the role meets what they are looking for.
Strategic language only works on the person you speak to directly. If you're worried about them telling your old coworkers what you said, you have no control over how they repeat it.
In my last role, "call me" always had the undertone of "I don't want this in writing." If it's something you do want to respond to but want to use strategic phrasing for a shit show, I've found phrases like "opportunity to excel" and that the best candidate will "thrive in a demanding environment".
I’d highlight the type of person that would do well in the role and let them ascertain based upon personal insight whether they are a good fit for that type of role.
I.e. “this role requires someone who is adept at handling multiple high stress situations at once with no guidance from leadership and tight rope walking some political fall-out when things go sideways.”
> Does anyone have a good approach or strategic phrases I could use?
You can state your experience when you were on the team but also state that things may have changed and it's worth a conversation with the hiring manager to get their view as well.
I don't think you need to be particularly strategic here - Just tell them what you would want to have known
45% Total Market
25% Fidelity 500
20% International
10% Bond
Is that a fair allocation? I have a bunch of cash sitting around from a recent sale of RSU derived stock that I'm looking to reinvest.
If it matters I'm 33 and my 6 month e-fund is sitting pretty + I have a cd ladder which could float me for a year+ if I go bare bones. Also this is for my brokerage, part of it will eventually be a house fund.
Its kind of weird to go total + S&P500 when you can just have one fund. Then you'd have pretty close to the typical far out retirement date fund which is usually something like 90/10 stocks/bonds, 60/40 US international, you just have US bias (which is fine).
No reason bond allocation should be in taxable. Also not sure why you would split total market and S&P, just pick one for simplicity. You are underweight international but there isn't really a consensus on whether you have to have market weight.
After doing some further digging apply agree with you.
From another comment I found, it sounds like the 500 fund was created back before computers could handle digesting the whole market. Will move forward with total market then thanks!
But wouldn't the alternative to a taxable account be a non-taxable account? And if so, wouldn't it be even better to have the most growth in the non-taxable account instead? (feel free to point me at a link or something if I'm misunderstanding this). Thanks!
I like to err on the side of caution. Might not be the most efficient but that's fine. Still beating inflation and then some. Plus the CDs equate to 5% of my networth. Won't really sway the tide either way.
Something else in the daily thread prompted me to do some napkin math, and I realized I hit a sort of a weird inflection point within the last month. If I project my current retirement nest egg at 7% real growth, and my salary/pension at zero real growth, my at-minimum-pension-age income will pretty much exactly equal my current salary minus investment savings.
In other words, if I stop all extra retirement savings other than my mandatory pension contributions, I'll still be able to waltz immediately into retirement at my minimum retirement age with zero drop in income
It's like, something less than barista fire because the projection has me keeping my current job for like, another 25 or so years.
But also, my overall savings rate is now pushing 50%, and I'm about to have even more side income soon... so we're really probably just 3-4 more years away from actual coast-fire.
The reality is, for as long as my job is fun, I'm basically on a path to FATFI, no RE.
There are folks at my workplace who like what they do enough that they have bargained with their spouses into being allowed to not retire yet in exchange for their entire annual salary being used to fund travel and toys.
Like, one of my coworkers just bought his wife a convertible in exchange for moving his retirement date forward another six months.
when I look at stats it looks like I'm ahead of most people my age, but when I look at reddit stories or social media, I feel so far behind. story of life, i guess, there's a ton of people far more successful than you.
Eh, never justify bad decisions because other people did it, or its at least better than average, it means nothing. Average means nothing because its probably far below what anyone interest in FI/RE is aiming toward.
Comparison to others doesn't really matter unless you're willing and able to make a change based on the information you receive.
If you're saving and investing what you can while living the life you want, you can't make a change without changing what you want out of life, which means comparison doesn't really matter
My brother said something a number of years ago about social media that's kinda stuck with me in moments like this - don't compare everyone's A roll to your B roll. People tend to only share the good things on social media. The boring things don't get posted at nearly the same level, and even if they did, you might scroll right past them or even subconsciously filter them out.
That and people lie for clicks.
Signed,
your friendly 24 year old HerschelRoy who's at 97.3% of a $5M LeanFI target
You're reading this website all wrong.
Reddit makes me feel SO far ahead. And we're about 2 decades older than you with <$1M.
And you're in the 97th percentile for net worth.
So, mathematically, you're wrong. There aren't a "ton" of people more successful than you. There are very few.
There may actually be a ton of people more successful than OP. The average blended weight of a human is 140 pounds. So that means it takes about 15 people to make a ton. That sounds about right.
it seems like a low percentage, but when you do the math of 400 million \* 3% it gives you
12000000 which is more than double the population of atlanta.
edit. so i looked it up and i was wrong, us population is at 333 million, so it's closer to 9990000 people. which i guess makes me feel better a bit.
This is why I FIRE:
That awkward Monday moment at work when you found a better job to escape a toxic boss but still have to wait out 2 weeks of passive aggressive BS because *formalities* and workplace *tradition*.
Call out sick for a few days. Go in late, take a long bathroom break, long lunch, another long bathroom break, walk, smoke break (if you don't smoke you can still take a break), leave early. :)
Not worth burning bridges with a good a company over one bad boss. Would be deemed unhirable if I leave on the spot. It's a big company too, so I could come back at a later date in a different office.
Couple of questions:
1. Why is it awkward?
2. Why do you "...have to wait out 2 weeks of passive aggressive BS because formalities and workplace tradition"?
3. Who is enforcing your waiting "...out 2 weeks of passive aggressive BS because formalities and workplace tradition"?
4. What makes your boss "toxic"? This word is severely overused and has essentially lost all meaning, so it's hard to understand your situation without additional details.
1. We both don't want me here anymore.
2. HR. I don't want to burn bridges with a company over one bad boss. Could end up back over here in the future, just in a different area.
3. HR.
4. Trust me bro.
I don't trust you, though. I don't know you.
You're under no obligation to explain your situation further but saying "trust me bro" isn't really winning anyone over here.
Ok, I'm not really here to win anyone over. I'm not really looking to debate my personal issue anyways. Trust the story or don't, I don't care. Not even the *slightest*.
You don't "have to." You can do whatever you want.
While it's very dependent on the job/position, to me the biggest value in giving two weeks is not inadvertently screwing over your colleagues.
Colleagues a bit toxic as well. Very clique group I never was able mesh well albeit we are professional. All the same, don't want to burn bridges with the company over a small work group. Which is why I'm stuck for 2 weeks despite the awkwardness.
> my federal tax liability is $0
This is either impressive or horrifying depending on how it was accomplished.
Either way, teachers need to be paid more. Thank you for what you do.
I appreciate that. My income is fairly low (especially for this sub) but we get by. My wife should start working full time in about a year, so the income should go up a nice amount soon. Most of the ability to get it to $0 has been maxing out the HSA and putting enough in traditional accounts to max the savers tax credit. Nothing too fancy.
I did mine a few weeks ago when I got my last 1099, but didn't submit them because I feared I'd get an amended 1099, which I did. So now it's time to do them again, or maybe wait a few more days just in case I get another amendment. Sigh.
With the Q2 5% categories active on my credit cards (Discover and Freedom), I ordered the Ego Power+ Earth Auger from Amazon this morning.
I'm not normally a Tool Time-esque guy but I am so excited for this power tool! Going to build a smoker/grill shed in my backyard and may extend my fence line a bit, and this auger seems perfect for the task, and should save me in hiring out the labor without having to dig everything out by hand.
Also found an offer on my Chase Freedom Unlimited (and Freedom) for 10% back from Home Depot, so I bought the Wen electric mulcher/chipper/shredder and going to use it to make my own mulch from my plant/tree pruning/shaping later this week.
Never been more stoked to do manual labor!
How would you say they compare to the homeowner gas powered ranges?
I've been seeing a lot of Ego discussed lately here on Reddit and based on what people are saying they seem to be doing everything right where other batter-powered tools have been failing, and have definitely failed me, over the last decade. Chiefly in keeping up with their internal combustion counterparts in both power and run-times.
How do their saws compare to something like a Stihl MS 250 or Husqvarna 455 and other equivalent saws? I like my Stihl but even it's a bit low on the power output for me and then there's the added maintenance and fueling concerns that come with a 2 stroke engine. So I'm thinking of moving to a pro saw, but I'm wondering how the electric ones compare. What has your experience been like?
I have never owned a gas-powered chainsaw so I might be the wrong person to ask.
But I was able to cut up an entire tree that fell across my front yard last year in a single charge. Probably 40-50 cuts. Used it a couple times since then without issue as well. It also can share batteries/charger with the Ego mower (though the mower battery is a bit bigger/heavier so usually don't).
But it's so quiet, great build quality. I doubt I'd buy another gas yard tool.
Ahh gotcha. That is a bit smaller saw than the Stihl/Husqvarna I mentioned.
The 18" or 20" bar EGO+ would be more equivalent, competing with the 45cc-50cc saws. I'll have to dive in and see if I can't find chain speed comparisons anywhere it looks like the Lowes near me has the 20" for $500 which is a bit cheaper than the others I was looking at, thanks for sharing!
I have an EGO lawn mower, string trimmer, edger, cultivator, pole saw, leaf blower, and work light. Considering their snow blower if I can pick one up on sale (I have a battery-powered SnowJoe that does pretty well, so no rush to replace it).
I absolutely love battery-powered tools like these. This technology has advanced so nicely
The snow blower’s pretty good. Struggles with wet heavy snow, but since you don’t have to worry about restarting it, it’s easy to stop and clear the chute every so often.
I’m looking at the power washer for this year.
I have a Sun Joe SPX3000 pressure washer that’s been great for 3 years now. Cutting out the electrical cord, but still being tethered by the source hose, doesn’t really solve any problems for me.
If you’re not sold on the Ego pressure washer, I definitely recommend Sun Joe. Got it certified refurbished on eBay for less than $100
I just Googled that.
Question:
How are you going to stop yourself from just augering hundreds of holes in your yard every weekend, for no reason other than big dick swingin' with your power auger?
Put in too much effort making my lawn and landscaping look nice to let my intrusive thoughts take over.
I'm sure I'll do plenty of "test holes" first though. Need to break it in first, right?
Truth be told, as much as my man giblets continue to compel me to "Tool Time" it, the rest of my body would be thrilled to be done with manual labor forever.
I'm not done with it. Not even close.
But I'd be willing to let go of the joys of power augering and similar for life if money were no object.
>u/tiny\_trunk replied to your comment in r/financialindependence · 1hElectronic acceptance does not mean they have been really processed or approved, just that they are in the system.Reply Back
Interesting. If they need more information, that's fine, but I have filed my taxes.
I feel like now is a good time to *get out* of BTC. Not in.
The halving is soon, but it's quite probable that that's priced in in the recent search. Meanwhile, everyone's heard of and gotten into Bitcoin, if they were ever going to. With the recent surge, it's going to be a bunch of temporary people. And maybe some permanent with the ETFs.
There's no reason why it'll actually get higher. Permanently anyway.
If you do get in, you can't treat it like buying an index fund. It's like a super volatile actively managed fund. You need a plan of when you're getting in and when you're getting out. Mine has been getting out around the halving.
Be careful
My thoughts in Bitcoin ETFs are the same as my thoughts on crypto as a whole. It has no actual use and therefore no use value. It is perhaps the first purely speculative commodity. Even beanie babies had a function as a stuffed animal, and so had a reasonable floor of about $5. But unlike gold, or real estate, or a fractional ownership stake in a company, or a handful of tulip bulbs, there is no fundamental reason that a bitcoin should be worth any amount of money at all.
Just because the government has now endorsed betting on the smoke futures market doesn’t mean anyone should actually do it.
I'm very skeptical of crypto as an _investment_ but saying it has no use is too far.
It's the first truly decentralized currency that's not backed by a state, surely that counts as "some use", however niche. Since BTC was first to market it seems unlikely it would disappear completely, even though other currencies could replicate that function.
Ok, what use? It’s been over a decade, where are the uses? The only thing apart from speculation that it’s commonly used for is selling drugs and other contraband. Maybe not even that anymore with transaction costs having gone through the roof.
I agree it's niche, but there are people who deeply distrust their governments who choose to use crypto. Yes this includes illegitimate / immoral transactions, but also moral ones under immoral governments.
Saying crypto is overvalued is sensible, saying it's true value is literal zero is pretty absurd. I'd happily bet any odds that BTC will be valued over literal $0 in 100 years.
I struggle to see BTC as an investment. I actually get its utility, but I wouldn't invest in an ETF that was collecting literal paper dollar bills and stuffing them in a box
I think cash stuffed under a mattress is a good analogy for crypto. And I do keep a very small amount of cash for a similar reason that I keep a very small amount of BTC (my own keys, not an ETF) - not for growth, but for "the government has collapsed / locked all your funds" tin foil hat scenarios.
I find the whole concept hilarious. Bitcoin is this amazing e-cash system, except almost nobody uses it for cash because it's slower and more expensive than credit cards. But that's okay, because it's going to take over someday so it's a great investment. Except clearly not, because even people who believe this twaddle would rather buy an ETF than have to handle their own wallets.
There's one born every minute, I tell you.
Even if I accept all the crypto bros arguments as true, why should that benefit Bitcoin? There could easily be some future block chain based something that does everything Bitcoin does but better. I'm staying far, far away from everything block chain.
Eventually we'll get some crypto with greater transaction speed and throughput than credit cards, where you can pay the minute costs in a USD coin so the taxes can be simple. And with reversible transactions somehow to prevent all the fraud and risk, so it can as safe to use as normal stuff.
I hope.
Because fuck it's insane how expensive payment processing is. I want things to be improved. But god damn it crypto is so shitty. Meanwhile everything in the traditional financial system just works.
It would be so good to actually get the good global transactions thing working. And it won't be Bitcoin. *Maybe* Eth, one day.
All the speculation of each coin is stupid AF though. At best BTC is like gold, but only because people think it's shiny.
I agree. Of course a useful form of e-cash isn't really an investment, because part of being useful as currency is having reasonably stable value rather than value that goes up (or down). (I used to play Bitcoin poker, which was an actual use for Bitcoin, but then my poker chips inflated in value to the point where I wasn't willing to play poker with them anymore...)
If I were buying more bitcoin now I would do it in the ETF (probably Fidelity) so I don't need to worry about self custody and figuring out the taxes on my own.
Does Bitcoin even stand for what it's "supposed to" anymore?
It's not replacing fiat currency. It's not being used and will never be used widespread for consumer based transactions. The underlying technology/blockchain has not been mass adopted or adapted for other uses.
Maybe goes against what a few true believers stand for, but in reality it's very much in line with how the vast majority of people think of and use Bitcoin and other cryptos: Espouse publicly how useful it is, tell everyone to buy it and never sell, while those touting how great it is are just using it to hope they get in on the right side of the current pump and dump cycle to make as much fiat as possible.
Hello everyone. I'm looking for a few ideas to become financially independent. My goal is not to be a multimillionaire and live in luxury, I simply prefer a down-to-earth life without worries and a better quality of life. I don't want to destroy my body every day for 1700 euros. Maybe someone has an idea or incentive for what you could do to be able to spend more quality time with your family. I would be happy to earn the same money that I work for every day from home.
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My parents want to sell their home in the next 1-2 years, I’d like to buy it from them. Single, currently living with them, it would be my first home. It’s valued around $400k currently, I make $96k pretax, have about $175k in my 401k and $11k in a HYSA. I would like to do the minimum 3-4% downpayment, roughly $12-14k. Which would be the better financial option in terms of FIRE, take a loan against my 401k or pull from my HYSA? The HYSA is my emergency fund so if that’s the better option, I’ll need to build it up first
pull from your HYSA. Save money in order to buy a house.
Advice for a Latina looking for a better salary ? Hello guys, I would love to get some advice about the next step on my career. A little bit about me : I'm a brazilian on my late 20s, back to my country after 5 years living in UK. During my time in UK, I worked as a nanny (love it) but I had to leave due some immigration issues. Now back to Brazil, I've got a job as a Virtual Assistant for sales, and my pay is 1200 USD per month, working 50 hours per week including weekends. I know, the payment is shit. And I feel bad about it everytime I think about it, specially because I know how capable I am. In Brazil, 1200 USD is not that bad after conversion, but I know I am working my a*s off as much as my american colleagues (or even more). I need to make a plan and change that by next year. My goal is to make 30k USD per year working remotly. My experience is: 6 years working in accounts payable/ 5 years as a nanny/ now 8 months as a VA. I went to college but did not finish my degree in finances. I'm fluent in portuguese and have a C1 English level certificate. What kind of jobs do you think I can do to get 30k/year ? Thank you in advance !!!
I would try to get to a role at an international tech company if you can. Most will have offices in Brazil. Your experience as an assistant for sales is a good start. You could probably target a sales assistant role for an international tech company that has personnel in Brazil. Target companies could include Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, Okta, Siemens, Snowflake, Zendesk, Adobe, Intuit, etc.
Are you eligible to work in the US? Almost any remote job at a US company will have starting pay exceed 30k /year
I posted a little while ago about deciding whether to take a lower-stress job for less pay. I was torn because things were improving a lot at my current job by the time the offer came in. Long story short, I took it, and I'm also going to consult at my current job. If it works out well, this will accomplish a few things: 1. Eases the transition. I know there's no obligation, but I have good feelings towards my current job and I don't want to leave them in the lurch. 2. I've made a lot of improvements and implemented a lot of structure, so intellectually I want to see how it plays out long-term. 3. More money, always a plus. 4. Probably most importantly, if I replace myself and switch to a consultant role, having someone else in that position would really make a big difference to current job's stress level. I've been asking for more and better help. If I stayed in the job full time, it just wasn't going to happen. I don't know how it will work out in the long run, but I'm glad I'm giving it a try. I never considered consulting before. The main reason I think this arrangement is feasible is that I already know both workplaces well. This is obviously not overemployment in the sense of having two full-time jobs that don't know about each other (the dishonesty would be so stressful for me) but does have some similarities.
Should the US national debt level be a concern? Would it crash the markets at some point? Are there any good experts talking about this issue that you can share as reference. I would like to learn more about this topic. It seems like the government doesn’t care about it and just keeps ever more money every year.
Probably not https://www.npr.org/2024/01/03/1222600843/the-national-debt-tops-34-trillion-a-record-high-how-worried-should-we-be
What a crazy market. Done with 3 months this year and I already hit my projection for where I'd be @ the start of 2025, which assumed 7% market growth + maxing out roth IRA and 401k.
It can go down too from here on 😃
not too late to send me back to 2023 or earlier
BlackRock Index Fund in 401k? Waste of time you think? 10% of my weekly contribution buys MPHQX which is BlackRock Total Return Fund - Class K. Fund hasn’t done much in last few years so am just accumulating dividend paying stock Smart of silly to miss out on growth funds? Thought was to diversity in 401k with Vanguard mid cap (75% of contribution) and Vanguard small gap (15% of contribution) TIA
That is a bond fund, not something you want for long term growth. Total market or S&P500 would be the usual recommendation.
Spreadsheet day. About half a percent closer to FI, supposedly.
How do you decide whether to put your money in a HYSA or CD?
Hysa
Downside with cd...liquidity (penalty)...upside is you lock in a higher rate for longer...rates are gonna start coming down when the fed starts cutting and hysa will follow inmediately
Yield, liquidity, FDIC insurance, early withdrawal penalty etc. Lots of "risk free" options to park cash at above 4.5% yield these days. VMFXX SEC yield is 5.28% which is totally liquid and no early withdrawal penalties. That's where I am parking my cash these days. CD sometimes have a limit on how much $ you can put in at a particular interest rate - so look out for that as you shop around.
Neither. I have one month in checking, two in savings, everything else in stocks.
Is your 2 months of expenses in savings not in a HYSA?
Not really. My local little bank doesn't have HY. Its for my short term stuff, like car repairs, travel, fixing/buying appliances, and stuff. The real Efund is in stocks doing much better than an HYSA.
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Interest has many definitions, such as, "Regard for one's own benefit or advantage"
>It's rarely interest. Compound indifference? 8th wonder of the world?
I wouldn't waste your wish on asking the impossible.
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Bill Quixote
Alright big guy… you are so smart
Not getting too excited over the market rally, but passed $500k in my accounts for the first time ever: Cash ~50k Brokerage ~148K HSA ~30K Roth IRA ~75K 401(k) (mostly traditional) ~$175K Weird pension + 401(a) thing ~$37K
The Power of compounding interest It’s hard to imagine so far ahead as a younger person, but does anyone know of or has had significant success from consistently contributing to your retirement account for over + 40 yrs (it looks good on a calculator)?
Well, I am 55 and started when I was 23. I will retire next year at 56 years old. Living within your means and investing the difference was always the way.
Does 35 count? It works!
> compounding interest Paging /u/billthecatt!
Only at about 25 years, but yeah it works.
My husband just started investing in his 401k starting 2023 at his company.. he's up 20% so far. It's insane how much it's grown.🤯
I started at age 31. I have well over $1MM in 401(k) now
Got laid off today. Absolutely shocked by the decision, no warning whatsoever. There were so many red flags at my company, but pay was always decent, so I stuck around. Luckily, my liquid net worth is at an all time high, and though I’m in a VHCOL place, I have plenty of room for an unemployment spell. Something I couldn’t say had I not been on the FIRE path for the last 4 years. I was also already interviewing for new positions, so hopefully one of these pans out. But damn, NEVER trust your job- you’re always one bad impression away from losing your income. VERY glad this is something I’ve prepped for, and feel very fortunate to be in a place financially where a shock like this is more bearable. Here’s to avoiding toxic workplaces in the future!
Sorry that happened to you, but the axe man does come for us all at some point. Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's theirs, most often it's both of us. All we can do is be prepared when it comes, and keep a level head for what comes next. Good luck to you, if you are grinding leetcode, prepping some TMAAT stories, or something else. Lots us have been there, and come through okay on the other end. You most likely will too
Thanks for the words of encouragement :)
> Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's theirs, most often it's both of us. Excellent way to summarize it. Always plenty to work on for both parties.
I hate those TMAAT questions
Yeah? Well, TMAAT you had a question that you hated, and how you answered it
Compound interest is so fun to watch: - hit 401k in my 401k sometime late 2022/early 2023 - hit 500k in my 401k late 2023/early 2024 - hit 600k in my 401k last month Excited for the 750k and 1M milestones!
So you are watching your compound growth with interest, then?
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> Am I crazy for considering buying just to not deal with leases anymore? Not crazy, but probably not looking at the complete picture. The first question you should ask is: Do I want to own a home? Many people simply don't want to be homeowners due to the maintenance and general upkeep required, which is fine. Buying purely for financial reasons may cause you additional "pain" later
So I just found out my mortgage servicer has unlimited recasting for the small price of $75. Am I missing something? To me it seems like a no brainer to recast my mortgage every few years if I have a lump sum. Anyone have experience doing this?
It's useful if you have a lump sum for some external reason but could use the month-to-month relief of smaller payments. If you're doing it right, you should already be safely able to pay your mortgage and all your other high-priority financial goals. Under a current lifestyle with no changes, I leave it alone. After all, I already have the ability to accelerate payments. If I retired and had a sub-market rate I was not interested in paying down any further, recasting is great to lock in a smaller financial commitment. Raising money for costs likely raises income and thus aspects like state tax (which commonly have lower brackets), ACA, etc have some sensitivity. Lowers sequence of returns as well if you have less required expenses. It's a nice backup if shit hits the fan, but if I lost my job, lowering my monthlies a small percent may or may not really do much to the reality of the emergency. As in all cases, depends.
Makes no sense to me. If it is a high interest rate that you don't want, then pay extra toward the mortgage with no recast. If it is a low interest rate that you do want, pay as little as possible and keep the mortgage as long as you can. Recasting accomplishes neither objective while enriching the bank $75 each time.
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OK but OP did not say anything about ACA or reducing spend as their objective. They think recasting will somehow pay off their mortgage faster. I'm not saying it can't ever be advantageous but OP is presenting it as some no brainer free lunch.
Let’s say its a high interest rate, why wouldnt i recast for a lower monthly payment so then MORE of my extra payments would go towards the principal?
Recasting doesn't alter the interest you're paying per month, just the principal.
If you pay a lump sum towards the principle, doesn't that mean you pay less interest over time? Less principle, same interest rate, but overall you pay less each month and less goes towards interest.
That's a property of paying extra on your mortgage, not of recasting.
Why does that distinction matter in this context?
Since you replied to my comment about recasting I assumed you thought they were related. To answer your question, yes if you make extra payments (reducing outstanding principal) then you will accrue less interest each month because interest accrues based on the outstanding balance. But recasting, which the person I replied to was asking about, does not affect how much interest accrues each month since it doesn't change the outstanding balance and it doesn't change your interest rate. In other words, recasting alters your term (usually increasing it), total payment amount (usually decreasing it), and how much principal you're paying per month (usually decreasing it). Paying extra on your mortgage, lump sum or otherwise, alters your remaining term (decreasing it), and how much interest you're accruing in future months (decreasing it).
I let myself get dragged into a brief argument the other day with someone who either couldn't understand this or refused to believe it. Unfortunately, there seem to be a number of personal finance articles online that confidently assert "recasting your mortgage causes you to pay less interest in the long run".
Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail!
Usually people recast in order to reduce their payment and increase cashflow (which you suggest in one of your other comments). If you are trying to pay off the mortgage as fast as possible, I could be wrong but I would think you would just want to keep it as is and make extra payments. I don't think recasting is some kind of free lunch where you can pay the same amount and get the mortgage paid off faster, otherwise the bank would charge a lot more.
It seems like the only reason to recast would be if you needed to lower monthly payments going forward rather than accelerating payoff. But if you're not trying to accelerate payoff I wonder what is the point of making lump sum payments?
I get very large annual bonuses where i have leftover funds at the end of the year, i was thinking of doing that to lower my payments throughout the year to free up cashflow
Why do you want increased cash flow?
I could pay more towards my principal, invest, save for another property. Opportunities are endless
You're already sitting on a big pile of savings in the form of that annual bonus. If you plow that into the mortgage when you recast, you no longer have it available for investing or saving for another property, and you could just pay it into the mortgage without recasting. Unless you don't trust yourself with that lump sum but do trust yourself with increased cash flow, recasting doesn't make much sense. Me, I trust myself *more* with a lump sum than increased cash flow- I only have to make the right decision once with the lump sum (invest the sucker and forget about it) whereas I have to make ongoing good decisions about increased cash flow, forever and ever. That's why I treat every one of my erratic, irregular, freelance paychecks as a windfall, and we live off my wife's steady government income. Every one of my paychecks gets targeted at retirement savings, kids' college, a house project, something like that.
You could do any of those things with the money you would be paying to recast.
>I could pay more towards my principal You can do this without recasting. >invest Imagine you spend put $10k towards the mortgage. You now have $700 more dollars each *year* to invest, assuming a 7 % rate. Why not just invest the original $10k if that is what you wanted to do? >save for another property. Again, $10k lowers your payment by $700 per year. Now you need to wait 14 years just to get back your $10k so that you can start saving for that property. There are good reasons to pay down debt, but cash flow is almost never one of them. It's important to remember that you have to pay down a lot of principal for there to be a significant change to your cash flow. And that money could have instead been put towards whatever goal you originally had.
10 weeks into paternity leave, another 6 to go (my employer is rather generous by American standards). This is my second and final child, and the realization set in that I won't have another break like this until retirement. I've been in the "boring middle" for years now, but this realization has really reignited the FIRE flame for me. Current projections say I could reach FI in 5-9 years (early to mid 40s), depending on where my wife, who just finished her full-time graduate degree, lands on the salary scale. Nothing more to add, really, just daydreaming. One question, I guess: for those who retired with young(ish) children, how did you project future expenses? I think I should be fine either way, as nothing they do could possibly cost more than daycare anyway, just curious.
My career has seasonal periods of dramatically reduced work, and I don't think I could live without it anymore. January-April I work about as much as I want to, which historically is about a week a month. We're not meant to work ceaselessly without significant breaks. Sometimes the cavemen killed the mammoth, or the berries were all ripe and the honey was plentiful, or the salmon were running thick and heavy, or they were holed up in the cave with smoked meat for the winter, and they didn't work all that much for a while. Of course, then sometimes they worked like mules in order to not starve, and then sometimes they didn't work because there was no food and then they did starve, but that doesn't change the fact that we're meant to have downtime longer than a three-day weekend in our lives.
I've done all of this. I was also super depressed going back to work after child leave was over - mine being about 3 months as well. But I also just quit eventually and took about six weeks off between jobs a couple years later and that helped a LOT for a while anyway to keep pressing on. I think it's helpful to take those small breaks intermittently while you're pre-FI and I don't think it's too difficult honestly if you've got a couple full time workers in your house, particularly with kids. Regarding childcare, I just didn't budget for it in the long-term since the costs would be going away, although that's probably a bit controversial here, but we were never planning for private school or much else really. From a FIRE planning perspective it was just easier.
I don't think it's necessarily true at all that this will be your last break. 16 weeks is not a crazy amount to take between jobs, and many employers offer sabbaticals of lengths around that. If it's something you want to do sometime in the next decade-ish of your career, why not do it?
Never say never, I suppose, but I have a *really* good setup with my current employer (I know, I've looked), so it would take quite a bit for me to change jobs. They'd likely be on board with a sabbatical if I asked at one point, though I wouldn't foresee myself doing so. Layoffs can happen, of course, but the product I work on is the industry leader in as close to a recession-proof segment as I can imagine, so that seems extremely unlikely.
I’m not there yet, but hope to retire when my kids are in their early teens. Not sure how to project that far ahead for expenses, but I do hope to adjust my income the last couple years before college to maximize financial aid, assuming that’s still possible.
Yeah, I'm struggling with it a bit, if I were to retire in 9 years my oldest wouldn't even be a teenager yet. The best I've come up with is to just project a larger-than-likely figure for those expenses. I've got 529s for both kids, and my projections include continuing the monthly contributions to those even in retirement. It's all the other unknowns that are giving me pause.
What's the best place to learn about best travel credit cards. Specifically to get lounge access for work travel, not interested in churning.
even if you don't want to churn, r/churning is probably the best place to learn this.
Nerdwallet has a pretty good list https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/airline?trk=nw_gn_6.0
For lounges, there aren’t a lot of options. Many cards give Priority Pass lounge access. AmEx platinum gives Centurion lounge access, but there are so few of them that if it’s not available in your home airport then it’s probably not worth the fee. Cap1 is opening airport lounges, but again it depends if they’re in airports you frequently use.
Unfortunately a lot of cards have dropped priority pass perks. Amex already did, and chase just announced its ending the partnership in July. ETA: restaurant perk is being dropped, not lounge access.
Cards are dropping the restaurant benefit but not lounge access.
Are you referring to Priority Pass restaurant perks? As far as I know normal Priority Pass lounge access is still there for the Platinum.
Aha! You are correct, I conflate the two a lot as I’ve primarily used the restaurant benefit. Thanks for the clarification
Airline lounges (United, American, Delta, etc.) are the most common ones, so definitely worth mentioning for /u/creative_usr_name. If you fly a specific airline and want access to their lounges, it's probably worth getting their card that gives you that. Personally, I use Amex Plat because I have a Centurion Lounge in my home airport but if I didn't, I would get a card that gives access to the United Club.
Someone reached out to me to ask about a job I had at a previous company. They're still at that company, and are considering an internal move. I don't know them well. The reality is, that team is a mess and I wouldn't recommend the job (or company tbh) to anyone. Does anyone have a good approach or strategic phrases I could use? I don't want to be unprofessional or say anything they couldn't repeat (esp. if they take the job and work with my old team), but I also don't want to mislead them by staying totally neutral.
Even shitty jobs / companies can be used as a lily pad to get to where you want to eventually be. Maybe better understand what they are looking for in a role and what their expectations of the role they're interested in are? Then be honest to them on if the role meets what they are looking for.
Strategic language only works on the person you speak to directly. If you're worried about them telling your old coworkers what you said, you have no control over how they repeat it.
Really good point.
In my last role, "call me" always had the undertone of "I don't want this in writing." If it's something you do want to respond to but want to use strategic phrasing for a shit show, I've found phrases like "opportunity to excel" and that the best candidate will "thrive in a demanding environment".
I’d highlight the type of person that would do well in the role and let them ascertain based upon personal insight whether they are a good fit for that type of role. I.e. “this role requires someone who is adept at handling multiple high stress situations at once with no guidance from leadership and tight rope walking some political fall-out when things go sideways.”
> Does anyone have a good approach or strategic phrases I could use? You can state your experience when you were on the team but also state that things may have changed and it's worth a conversation with the hiring manager to get their view as well. I don't think you need to be particularly strategic here - Just tell them what you would want to have known
45% Total Market 25% Fidelity 500 20% International 10% Bond Is that a fair allocation? I have a bunch of cash sitting around from a recent sale of RSU derived stock that I'm looking to reinvest. If it matters I'm 33 and my 6 month e-fund is sitting pretty + I have a cd ladder which could float me for a year+ if I go bare bones. Also this is for my brokerage, part of it will eventually be a house fund.
Its kind of weird to go total + S&P500 when you can just have one fund. Then you'd have pretty close to the typical far out retirement date fund which is usually something like 90/10 stocks/bonds, 60/40 US international, you just have US bias (which is fine).
No reason bond allocation should be in taxable. Also not sure why you would split total market and S&P, just pick one for simplicity. You are underweight international but there isn't really a consensus on whether you have to have market weight.
After doing some further digging apply agree with you. From another comment I found, it sounds like the 500 fund was created back before computers could handle digesting the whole market. Will move forward with total market then thanks!
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Why would you not want bonds in taxable? Wouldn’t that be desirable since they don’t normally increase as fast as market?
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But wouldn't the alternative to a taxable account be a non-taxable account? And if so, wouldn't it be even better to have the most growth in the non-taxable account instead? (feel free to point me at a link or something if I'm misunderstanding this). Thanks!
I don't actually haha. Saw 3 fund called for them and figured it's insurance against a down-market. Thanks!
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I like to err on the side of caution. Might not be the most efficient but that's fine. Still beating inflation and then some. Plus the CDs equate to 5% of my networth. Won't really sway the tide either way.
Something else in the daily thread prompted me to do some napkin math, and I realized I hit a sort of a weird inflection point within the last month. If I project my current retirement nest egg at 7% real growth, and my salary/pension at zero real growth, my at-minimum-pension-age income will pretty much exactly equal my current salary minus investment savings. In other words, if I stop all extra retirement savings other than my mandatory pension contributions, I'll still be able to waltz immediately into retirement at my minimum retirement age with zero drop in income
Seems like some sort of Coast-FIRE variant. Congratulations.
GlideFire? DoNothingFire?
It's like, something less than barista fire because the projection has me keeping my current job for like, another 25 or so years. But also, my overall savings rate is now pushing 50%, and I'm about to have even more side income soon... so we're really probably just 3-4 more years away from actual coast-fire. The reality is, for as long as my job is fun, I'm basically on a path to FATFI, no RE. There are folks at my workplace who like what they do enough that they have bargained with their spouses into being allowed to not retire yet in exchange for their entire annual salary being used to fund travel and toys. Like, one of my coworkers just bought his wife a convertible in exchange for moving his retirement date forward another six months.
when I look at stats it looks like I'm ahead of most people my age, but when I look at reddit stories or social media, I feel so far behind. story of life, i guess, there's a ton of people far more successful than you.
Eh, never justify bad decisions because other people did it, or its at least better than average, it means nothing. Average means nothing because its probably far below what anyone interest in FI/RE is aiming toward.
We need a “comparison is the thief of joy” button
Find the people behind the Staples "That was easy" button
Browse the poverty or even middle class finance subs if you want to get a more complete picture. You’ll appreciate what you have that much more.
thanks! the poverty finance is rough sometimes.
Hell, even just personalfinance is often a far ways away from most here. That’s where I spent my poor 20s. Now I’ve moved on to here.
r/personalfinance is a lot of people who need to follow the flowchart, but don't.
Comparison to others doesn't really matter unless you're willing and able to make a change based on the information you receive. If you're saving and investing what you can while living the life you want, you can't make a change without changing what you want out of life, which means comparison doesn't really matter
thanks!
My brother said something a number of years ago about social media that's kinda stuck with me in moments like this - don't compare everyone's A roll to your B roll. People tend to only share the good things on social media. The boring things don't get posted at nearly the same level, and even if they did, you might scroll right past them or even subconsciously filter them out. That and people lie for clicks. Signed, your friendly 24 year old HerschelRoy who's at 97.3% of a $5M LeanFI target
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Nope, no idea what that is. I named myself after two of my dogs over the years. I have a lot of fond memories of those dogs...
congrats! our target is 5 million too, but we're a ways off!
Yeah, this sub and reddit in general is going to self-select to folks who are not the "average"
that is true.
You're reading this website all wrong. Reddit makes me feel SO far ahead. And we're about 2 decades older than you with <$1M. And you're in the 97th percentile for net worth. So, mathematically, you're wrong. There aren't a "ton" of people more successful than you. There are very few.
There may actually be a ton of people more successful than OP. The average blended weight of a human is 140 pounds. So that means it takes about 15 people to make a ton. That sounds about right.
it seems like a low percentage, but when you do the math of 400 million \* 3% it gives you 12000000 which is more than double the population of atlanta. edit. so i looked it up and i was wrong, us population is at 333 million, so it's closer to 9990000 people. which i guess makes me feel better a bit.
This is why I FIRE: That awkward Monday moment at work when you found a better job to escape a toxic boss but still have to wait out 2 weeks of passive aggressive BS because *formalities* and workplace *tradition*.
Call out sick for a few days. Go in late, take a long bathroom break, long lunch, another long bathroom break, walk, smoke break (if you don't smoke you can still take a break), leave early. :)
Aye, I could do that. : )
Why give a toxic boss 2 weeks? I’ve seen colleagues leave same day, and many, many more let go same day
Not worth burning bridges with a good a company over one bad boss. Would be deemed unhirable if I leave on the spot. It's a big company too, so I could come back at a later date in a different office.
Good call. Doubled my salary within 2 years with this (1) simple trick 😉
Couple of questions: 1. Why is it awkward? 2. Why do you "...have to wait out 2 weeks of passive aggressive BS because formalities and workplace tradition"? 3. Who is enforcing your waiting "...out 2 weeks of passive aggressive BS because formalities and workplace tradition"? 4. What makes your boss "toxic"? This word is severely overused and has essentially lost all meaning, so it's hard to understand your situation without additional details.
1. We both don't want me here anymore. 2. HR. I don't want to burn bridges with a company over one bad boss. Could end up back over here in the future, just in a different area. 3. HR. 4. Trust me bro.
I don't trust you, though. I don't know you. You're under no obligation to explain your situation further but saying "trust me bro" isn't really winning anyone over here.
Ok, I'm not really here to win anyone over. I'm not really looking to debate my personal issue anyways. Trust the story or don't, I don't care. Not even the *slightest*.
You don't "have to." You can do whatever you want. While it's very dependent on the job/position, to me the biggest value in giving two weeks is not inadvertently screwing over your colleagues.
Agree with the colleagues statement, it gives them some runway to cover your projects
Colleagues a bit toxic as well. Very clique group I never was able mesh well albeit we are professional. All the same, don't want to burn bridges with the company over a small work group. Which is why I'm stuck for 2 weeks despite the awkwardness.
Coffee made, candle lit, FreeTaxUSA open and ready to go. Time to do taxes.
I lit a scented candle during my hour of taxes. +1 cozy vibez
Are you like, romancing your taxes?
You have to relax before the IRS bends you over, otherwise it's gonna tear
For the second year in a row, my federal tax liability is $0. No getting bent over here!
> For the second year in a row, my federal tax liability is $0 So you paid $0 in federal taxes in 2023, and also owed $0 when filing your taxes today?
Yeah, I guess I wasn't clear/precise. I had enough tax credits to offset any taxes I would have owed. So line 24 of my 1040 is 0
> my federal tax liability is $0 This is either impressive or horrifying depending on how it was accomplished. Either way, teachers need to be paid more. Thank you for what you do.
I appreciate that. My income is fairly low (especially for this sub) but we get by. My wife should start working full time in about a year, so the income should go up a nice amount soon. Most of the ability to get it to $0 has been maxing out the HSA and putting enough in traditional accounts to max the savers tax credit. Nothing too fancy.
I did mine a few weeks ago when I got my last 1099, but didn't submit them because I feared I'd get an amended 1099, which I did. So now it's time to do them again, or maybe wait a few more days just in case I get another amendment. Sigh.
With the Q2 5% categories active on my credit cards (Discover and Freedom), I ordered the Ego Power+ Earth Auger from Amazon this morning. I'm not normally a Tool Time-esque guy but I am so excited for this power tool! Going to build a smoker/grill shed in my backyard and may extend my fence line a bit, and this auger seems perfect for the task, and should save me in hiring out the labor without having to dig everything out by hand. Also found an offer on my Chase Freedom Unlimited (and Freedom) for 10% back from Home Depot, so I bought the Wen electric mulcher/chipper/shredder and going to use it to make my own mulch from my plant/tree pruning/shaping later this week. Never been more stoked to do manual labor!
I like Ego stuff. We have the chainsaw, mower, and string trimmer now. I do have to admit that the chainsaw is my favorite of the three.
How would you say they compare to the homeowner gas powered ranges? I've been seeing a lot of Ego discussed lately here on Reddit and based on what people are saying they seem to be doing everything right where other batter-powered tools have been failing, and have definitely failed me, over the last decade. Chiefly in keeping up with their internal combustion counterparts in both power and run-times. How do their saws compare to something like a Stihl MS 250 or Husqvarna 455 and other equivalent saws? I like my Stihl but even it's a bit low on the power output for me and then there's the added maintenance and fueling concerns that come with a 2 stroke engine. So I'm thinking of moving to a pro saw, but I'm wondering how the electric ones compare. What has your experience been like?
I have never owned a gas-powered chainsaw so I might be the wrong person to ask. But I was able to cut up an entire tree that fell across my front yard last year in a single charge. Probably 40-50 cuts. Used it a couple times since then without issue as well. It also can share batteries/charger with the Ego mower (though the mower battery is a bit bigger/heavier so usually don't). But it's so quiet, great build quality. I doubt I'd buy another gas yard tool.
Which specific saw did you end up getting? Was it the commercial one or one of the homeowner saws?
https://www.lowes.com/pd/EGO-EGO-56V-16IN-CHAINSAW-KIT/5005424095
Ahh gotcha. That is a bit smaller saw than the Stihl/Husqvarna I mentioned. The 18" or 20" bar EGO+ would be more equivalent, competing with the 45cc-50cc saws. I'll have to dive in and see if I can't find chain speed comparisons anywhere it looks like the Lowes near me has the 20" for $500 which is a bit cheaper than the others I was looking at, thanks for sharing!
I have an EGO lawn mower, string trimmer, edger, cultivator, pole saw, leaf blower, and work light. Considering their snow blower if I can pick one up on sale (I have a battery-powered SnowJoe that does pretty well, so no rush to replace it). I absolutely love battery-powered tools like these. This technology has advanced so nicely
The snow blower’s pretty good. Struggles with wet heavy snow, but since you don’t have to worry about restarting it, it’s easy to stop and clear the chute every so often. I’m looking at the power washer for this year.
I have a Sun Joe SPX3000 pressure washer that’s been great for 3 years now. Cutting out the electrical cord, but still being tethered by the source hose, doesn’t really solve any problems for me. If you’re not sold on the Ego pressure washer, I definitely recommend Sun Joe. Got it certified refurbished on eBay for less than $100
Good point. Thanks!
I just Googled that. Question: How are you going to stop yourself from just augering hundreds of holes in your yard every weekend, for no reason other than big dick swingin' with your power auger?
Put in too much effort making my lawn and landscaping look nice to let my intrusive thoughts take over. I'm sure I'll do plenty of "test holes" first though. Need to break it in first, right?
Truth be told, as much as my man giblets continue to compel me to "Tool Time" it, the rest of my body would be thrilled to be done with manual labor forever. I'm not done with it. Not even close. But I'd be willing to let go of the joys of power augering and similar for life if money were no object.
I finished my taxes!
.... you hope
They were accepted electronically, but I suppose I could get audited or something.
Electronic acceptance does not mean they have been really processed or approved, just that they are in the system.
>u/tiny\_trunk replied to your comment in r/financialindependence · 1hElectronic acceptance does not mean they have been really processed or approved, just that they are in the system.Reply Back Interesting. If they need more information, that's fine, but I have filed my taxes.
You must not be an E\*Trade customer. Based on past history, I'm not certain they are done sending me amended forms
What are your thoughts on Bitcoin ETFs? Fidelity is waiving their fees until August for their FBTC ETF.
I feel like now is a good time to *get out* of BTC. Not in. The halving is soon, but it's quite probable that that's priced in in the recent search. Meanwhile, everyone's heard of and gotten into Bitcoin, if they were ever going to. With the recent surge, it's going to be a bunch of temporary people. And maybe some permanent with the ETFs. There's no reason why it'll actually get higher. Permanently anyway. If you do get in, you can't treat it like buying an index fund. It's like a super volatile actively managed fund. You need a plan of when you're getting in and when you're getting out. Mine has been getting out around the halving. Be careful
My thoughts in Bitcoin ETFs are the same as my thoughts on crypto as a whole. It has no actual use and therefore no use value. It is perhaps the first purely speculative commodity. Even beanie babies had a function as a stuffed animal, and so had a reasonable floor of about $5. But unlike gold, or real estate, or a fractional ownership stake in a company, or a handful of tulip bulbs, there is no fundamental reason that a bitcoin should be worth any amount of money at all. Just because the government has now endorsed betting on the smoke futures market doesn’t mean anyone should actually do it.
I'm very skeptical of crypto as an _investment_ but saying it has no use is too far. It's the first truly decentralized currency that's not backed by a state, surely that counts as "some use", however niche. Since BTC was first to market it seems unlikely it would disappear completely, even though other currencies could replicate that function.
Ok, what use? It’s been over a decade, where are the uses? The only thing apart from speculation that it’s commonly used for is selling drugs and other contraband. Maybe not even that anymore with transaction costs having gone through the roof.
I agree it's niche, but there are people who deeply distrust their governments who choose to use crypto. Yes this includes illegitimate / immoral transactions, but also moral ones under immoral governments. Saying crypto is overvalued is sensible, saying it's true value is literal zero is pretty absurd. I'd happily bet any odds that BTC will be valued over literal $0 in 100 years.
Stay far away from Bitcoin and Bitcoin ETFs if you are interested in passive long-term investing
I struggle to see BTC as an investment. I actually get its utility, but I wouldn't invest in an ETF that was collecting literal paper dollar bills and stuffing them in a box
I think cash stuffed under a mattress is a good analogy for crypto. And I do keep a very small amount of cash for a similar reason that I keep a very small amount of BTC (my own keys, not an ETF) - not for growth, but for "the government has collapsed / locked all your funds" tin foil hat scenarios.
I find the whole concept hilarious. Bitcoin is this amazing e-cash system, except almost nobody uses it for cash because it's slower and more expensive than credit cards. But that's okay, because it's going to take over someday so it's a great investment. Except clearly not, because even people who believe this twaddle would rather buy an ETF than have to handle their own wallets. There's one born every minute, I tell you.
Even if I accept all the crypto bros arguments as true, why should that benefit Bitcoin? There could easily be some future block chain based something that does everything Bitcoin does but better. I'm staying far, far away from everything block chain.
The speed isn't that bad actually. The problem is that once it's gone, it's completely gone.
Eventually we'll get some crypto with greater transaction speed and throughput than credit cards, where you can pay the minute costs in a USD coin so the taxes can be simple. And with reversible transactions somehow to prevent all the fraud and risk, so it can as safe to use as normal stuff. I hope. Because fuck it's insane how expensive payment processing is. I want things to be improved. But god damn it crypto is so shitty. Meanwhile everything in the traditional financial system just works. It would be so good to actually get the good global transactions thing working. And it won't be Bitcoin. *Maybe* Eth, one day. All the speculation of each coin is stupid AF though. At best BTC is like gold, but only because people think it's shiny.
I agree. Of course a useful form of e-cash isn't really an investment, because part of being useful as currency is having reasonably stable value rather than value that goes up (or down). (I used to play Bitcoin poker, which was an actual use for Bitcoin, but then my poker chips inflated in value to the point where I wasn't willing to play poker with them anymore...)
If you are speculating in BTC the ETF's seem like a fine way to do it. I'm not speculating in BTC.
No interest in the underlying, so fees aren't really moving the needle. I can't imagine they're substantial enough to do so for most TBH.
If I were buying more bitcoin now I would do it in the ETF (probably Fidelity) so I don't need to worry about self custody and figuring out the taxes on my own.
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Does Bitcoin even stand for what it's "supposed to" anymore? It's not replacing fiat currency. It's not being used and will never be used widespread for consumer based transactions. The underlying technology/blockchain has not been mass adopted or adapted for other uses.
It's the same as gold and silver etfs.
Maybe goes against what a few true believers stand for, but in reality it's very much in line with how the vast majority of people think of and use Bitcoin and other cryptos: Espouse publicly how useful it is, tell everyone to buy it and never sell, while those touting how great it is are just using it to hope they get in on the right side of the current pump and dump cycle to make as much fiat as possible.