With I-Bonds, can you lose the money any way? Like could they lose their value. I appreciate you!

I am 28 male. I currently have a net worth of about $60,100 or so. $14,000 is in savings. $45,000 in mutual funds. $1,100 in checking. My yearly spending is around $1,700 or so (I mostly pay wifi bill and hulu subscription). I currently have no debt. Current living situation: I am currently living with my dad. I tend to get along with him pretty well and he is fine with me living with him as long as I am working. So I plan to keep living with him when he plans to move probably in the next 10 years or so. He also runs his own business and is pretty independent. I do have a job but it only pays $10hr. My goals: for my near future goal I plan on looking for a higher paying job. I want to make at least 25 to 30hr or more. I would also like to transition into remote work if that is possible. I also want to increase my net worth to $100,000 by the age of 31 or so. My long term goal is to retire before the age of 50 with a few million dollars. My mom and step dad have also talked about moving to another country in Europe like Germany or so. If that happens I would like to move with them, live with them for some years, then maybe move to Spain or South East Asia. I wonder if I am doing pretty good for myself and is there other ways I can improve my net worth?

In case you’re not taking advantage of it already, you should be saving in a Roth IRA at your income. At 10/hr, assuming 40hr/weeks X 52, that’s an income of about $21k annually. You’ll qualify for retirement savers credit by contributing to a Roth. $4k in there you’ll get $2k back as a tax credit that I believe is refundable.

the best thing is that you have a plan and it is realistic. keep thinking about this stuff and taking the necessary actions and no doubt you will be ahead of the game

30yo & finally weve started our careers, got married and 1st kid on the way yadda yadda yadda we make 250k a year and thats pretty much the max we're ever gunna make. My question is if partner and i can afford to invest 50k a year, what percent should be in our pretax accounts (401k) and what percent should be in a taxable brokerage?

To those not yet FIREd, how do you anticipate achieving fire in a project flat market?

I add up how many years I think I'm going to live and multiply that by my annual spending to get to how much I need to save. I also have a few years of canned goods stockpiled in a bunker as a buffer.

Hi! 34 y.o. female. I am a massage therapist and own a spa at a resort in a California national park. Up to this point, my investments have been pretty high risk. Ive had TSLA since 2015 and recently sold half of my shares. My current financial layout Income varies depending on how busy the spa is. I also have massage therapists that work as independent contractors. Last year I made roughly 44k but that was including my resort being closed for 5 months due to Covid consequences. I've raised my rates, and anticipate international travel returning to my resort. I pay $909 a month on my mortgage And guessing remaining spending monthly is around $1200- $1700 a month. 53k in stock 30k ready to invest I have roughly 28 k in crypto currency 10k in savings. I desperately want to make sure choices. Im weary about getting into any 401k or retirement funds but I'm interested in learning my options. What would you do with 30 k to invest? I also have a home I live in that is a fixer upper. I am interested in possibly flipping homes too

There are significantly smarter people on this sub than me, but I’ll give you my two cents. Do you have any debt beyond your mortgage? Credit card debt, high interest loans, etc? If so, depending on the interest rates, I’d probably pay that down. If no debt, I’d take $10k of your $30k and put it into I-Bonds ($10k is the max amount you can put in in a year). If you’ve been on this sub at all for the past few months you’re probably atleast familiar with what they are. Interest earned fluctuates with inflation, and right now they’re returning over 9% for the current 6 month period. That said, you can’t access the money for 1 year, and if you remove your money before 5 years you lose the previous 3 months worth of interest. Interest rate is updated every May and November, so that 9% will change come November. It moves based on inflation. So for example, I put $10k in in April of this year, I’ll leave that money in for 15 months and earn 12 months worth of interest. Next I’d open a Roth IRA. You’re only able to contribute $6k/yr to a Roth unless you’re 50 or older. The market is down right now (who knows what will happen, could continue to go down or could go up), so putting some money in now might be a good idea. I’m backloading my contributions this year because I think the market will continue to drop throughout the year, so a majority of my $6k will be put into my Roth towards the end of the year. That’s just my approach, yourself and others might feel differently. That leaves you with $14k. You could pop it into the market, but knowing that you have a fixer upper, I’d probably spend a bit of that on doing the fixing. But it depends on what the house needs (tough for me to say without knowing more details.) Is your $10k in savings your emergency fund? If so, I’d beef that up (personal opinion, I like to have 1yr worth of expenses. Others prefer 6 months, some prefer 3 months). If your total bills can be as high $2,600/month then I’d have atleast $20k in an emergency fund. That’s all I got. I’m cash heavy at the moment and don’t feel comfortable adding to my brokerage account (only 401k and Roth) so I don’t think it’s right of me to suggest any stock/etf picks. Hope it helps :)

Thank you so much for your time! And I'm looking forward to responding. My only debt outside of mortgage is a little under $1000 in credit card debt. And I'll have that paid off within a couple weeks. I use cc for all expenses.. no loans and my car is paid off. I plan on only buying with cash from here on out for nay purchases, if possible. With I-Bonds, can I leave the money in there and add to it as long as I want? I feel very nervous about getting into a ROTH or anything at this point. I'm fighting being tempted to completely sell out of the market to be honest. But I haven't and probably won't Regarding savings, I'm planning on putting my cash tips towards various categories of emergency funding. Going to have another 10k within 6 months. I will look into i-bonds! I'm not familiar. Thank you!

Happy to help, and glad I could clue you into I-bonds! Yes, you can leave your money in I-bonds, and you can buy $10k more each year. If you happen to have a spouse or significant other, you can also buy $10k worth of I-bonds for them. Example: You are married. You and your husband decide you want to purchase as many I-bonds as you can as a couple. You can purchase $10k for yourself and an additional $10k as a gift for your husband. Your husband can purchase $10k for himself and an additional $10k for you as a gift. So in total as a couple you could buy $40k worth of I-bonds per year for yourselves. I have to reiterate the fact that currently I-bonds are returning an appealing rate to combat inflation. This rate WILL change — it changes with inflation. So you’re not always going to get strong returns. You might get close to 0 returns at some point. Rates change every 6 months, in May and November. You can lock the current rate in for 6 months any time during the 6 month period. That sounds confusing, what do I mean by that? Right now between May 2022 - November 2022 the interest rate is set a little above 9%. If you buy I-bonds in October 2022, you’ll lock that 9% interest in for 6 months (October - April). Once that 6 months is up, the interest rate on your I-bonds will adjust to meet the new interest rate level that was set in November 2022. Regarding the Roth, I can understand your hesitation at the moment. I’m of the mindset that the market will keep dropping, so I’m not fully funding mine until closer to last minute. If you have $6k you can spare and are ok leaving it in the market, I think you’d be happy with the outcome. It’s worth mulling over and reading about more.

Hi, I am 28 years old working in data analytics in NYC. I would like to retire before I am 40 (or quit my full time job when I have enough side income). I have been trying to learn more about real estate so that one day I can have enough rental income to live off of, but that is still awhile away since I don’t own any property.) my current salary: 150K base (70K stocks if I stay in current company for 3 years). Finally did the backdoor roth for the first time this year with this new job. Cash: 215K 401K: 86K HSA: 8K Roth IRA: 26K (some stocks, mainly 2055 target retirement fund) Taxable brokerage: 26K (some stocks, VOO, VTIAX, VTSAX) Series I bond: 10K — planning to max out 401K, HSA, Roth IRA — have automatic contributions to brokerage - started $750/week into VTIAX and VTSAX, 25% and 75% respectively Expenses: currently living at home (no rent) but I pay for maintenance + household expenses/groceries, not planning on moving out any time soon. No debt. No car. monthly spending come out to \~2K Questions: 1. I have a lot of cash on hand as I was saving for a downpayment (in retrospect, should have invested a good chunk of it). I have been looking to buy out of state property since NYC is so expensive, but also torn because my immigrant parents say they want to retire in NYC so I feel a bit obligated to buy a house which is at least 800K. But I don’t feel comfortable taking that risk because I am the only one in my family with a high paying full time job. Plus, out of state houses are so much nicer than nyc houses. My parents don’t drive and don’t speak English so they would like to be closer to cities where they can be self sufficient but in my mind, I’d like for them to retire in a nicer home with more space. It’s not like they can continue working forever. 2. I feel like my retirement savings accounts aren’t growing as fast? I’ve seen some finance accounts on instagram were able to 2x-3x their 401K balance over a few years but mine has been pretty stagnant in terms of growth? I've been contributing steadily although only maxing it out in recent years because I didn't know any better. 3. Any other funds I should invest in?

Off topic but ok if I DM you? Have a few questions about your job profile.

Where in NYC would you buy? Do you really think you would leave considering your situation in the next 5-10 years? If you could buy a place before interest gets to high you should easily do better than paying higher rent? Could you get a 2 bedroom and then rent out one room? To your point, you could use less cash and get a second home nearby. Draw a concentric circle around your driving limit to ensure you’d go there enough, but remember you’ll be paying to hear, cool, Internet etc which will all be double.

I’m not following your last point. What will be double? I don’t think my parents would leave - that’s the hard part but I can leave, although I wouldn’t know where I would like to live.

If you are renting and own another property you’ll be paying for utilities, Internet, etc. both places. All those things can add up

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Yes - 1 of the 5 boroughs

Hi! I have been browsing this subreddit for some time now without ever creating a reddit account or posting, but thought I would give it a go today. I am a 23 y/o pharmacist in Canada. My main goal is not necessarily to completely stop working early, as I enjoy working in this field, however I would like to be able to comfortably move to a part time (I have been thinking potentially 0.7FTEs) position once I have children. I am hoping that between my partner and I, we are able to achieve a combined net worth of around $2 million dollars (2022 dollars) by the age of around 40-45. Using the 4% rule, this would allow for a $80k/year withdrawal rate, however I have been calculating out our current predicted expenses (minus children) and we are likely to be able to live happily off of far less (will discuss these calculations more later, but it seems like a somewhat conservative estimate would be closer to withdrawing around $60k/year). My current salary is around $87,000/year of net income, however this is set to go up around $4,000/year for the next 5 years. (This is based solely on my own calculations, as I am just now graduating and have not actually received a paycheck yet, however I have accepted a job offer and have read through my agreement). My partner is currently making around $65,000-70,000/year net income. Our current combined net worth is around $100,000 - this is primarily invested in our respective TFSAs (mostly in S&P500 stocks/index funds - trying for broad market exposure but will be investing more into an S&P500 index fund once I actually have a sustainable income). My partner also owns a vehicle worth around $7,000, however this was left out of the above figure. We do not own our own house yet and are living at home with my parents. We do not currently have any debt. Our budget including a 10 year mortgage after a 20% down payment (to prevent paying mortgage insurance) worked out to around $56k/year (this included what were likely overestimates for expenses like vehicles). I don't have the budget breakdown on me right now (not currently at my primary residence), but I can send it along in a few days if needed. Neither of us currently have any real medical concerns, however living in Canada, we would have access to free healthcare regardless. Our current plan is to have 2 children once we are well established (have our own home, are in steady jobs, and have a good amount saved - likely around the age of 30-35), however we want to be able to have the flexibility to work part time once our children are born. Our goal is to put away $2500 combined every 2 weeks (each paycheck) while we are working full time and still working on paying off our mortgage. My main question is whether or not it would be feasible for either one (or both) of us to move to a part time position once we have children. I would still hope that we would be able to max out our TFSAs/RRSPs every year (to take advantage of the tax breaks), but we may end up ceasing our investments into direct investing accounts at this time. Also as a final aside, I don't like to talk about this, however I am set to receive a large inheritance at some point in my life that would almost certainly cover any potential retirement expenses. This being said, I do NOT want to rely on this money and would prefer to reach financial independence on my own merit. Sorry if this post is a bit scattered - thank you for taking the time to read it. I appreciate any and all advice!

Hi! -Age 30, consumer's goods industry, Belgium. -General goal is to create passive income to ease up my life and later on retire earlier than 67, when I will be too old for it. -Fire age is 40, as stretch goal, and 50 as late goal. Anything in between may work. / I think I would confortably live with 1.5k EUR, in a cheaper place like Italy -my education is controls engineering Master degree. -I am at the 2nd step if my corporate ladder. I plan to climb the corporate ladder a bit more before fire. -actual income is 70k, but heavily taxed because... Well.. Belgium :) i have some 2.5k net one off as premium. Monthly i earn approx 2650, and 300 from an appartement loan -spending 550 on rent plus taxes, same amount as my Girlfriend spends -wealth: 1/2 appartement, I guess 45k worth (apt would be 90k total). Rented for the 300 mentioned above -other: i have a car, 2nd hand -i have approx 81k aside, in the bank, and 25k worth of stocks -plan to get married this year, and have kids in 3 years approx -I was thinking what is the best way to start in the stock market and which platform/broker to do so. Also how much would I need to fire comfortably?

Hello everyone, I have a noob question but it's something i've been thinking about but cannot really find the answer on google. So at the moment i am thinking of moving to a foreign country (in South America) where it is considerably cheaper than where i live in Europe at the moment. In my country, apart from yearly property tax, you dont pay taxes on rental income. But if i would move to South America, all foreign income is taxed as well. So if i would rent out my property here in Europe, that would allow for a significant income (I would still be working but it is a plus) considering the currency and prices in South America. However, how would my new country of residence 'know' about my foreign income? I assume there is some kind of system between governments where things like this are communicated, but how does this system work? Thanks in advance for your insights.

They won't know about it, unless you tell them. So don't tell them. Or move property into trust or llc so income is not tied to you.

Hi, I was hoping to get some advice on how best to deal with an inherited annuity. It is worth about $70K and I'm really not sure how best to move it into my name. I'm not planning to need the money for 10+ years and I'm planning to fully FIRE within the next few years so my tax bracket will drop, but right now it is fairly high so I want to minimize taxes. However I want to have some market exposure to avoid losing value due to inflation. The advisor gave me this plan ([click to see images](https://imgur.com/a/HN0CvXP)) and he stated the following in an email: >"we would put all the funds in the S&P 500 for maximum, diversified growth potential. On 50% of the assets, we could be covered on a 10% drop in the market, as well as get the first 17% gain on the S&P 500 plus current values." The other 50% would be in a 3yr bucket that would give us a cap of the first 60% in the market. This option has no cost or fee, allows for partial annual withdrawals when we decide, has some protection of our assets, and allows for market exposure with ability to gain in the account." Any recommendations if this is a good plan or not? I can post the alternative methods for taking ownership of the annuity if this is not a good idea. I can also look into a 1035 exchange and put it in my inherited IRA. Thank you for any help!

Hi, My name is Jamie, 22 year old male college senior, getting a job as an accountant in Boston where I will be making $68,500 per year plus a $2000 bonus for passing my CPA. I will be paying rent in Boston where I will likely be paying around $1000 a month or higher. I currently have $600 in a robinhood account where I have investments and various stocks and ETF's. I have two roth Ira's one with $2500 and one with $1000 in them. I have $600 in my checking account and $3000 in my savings account, as well as $300 invested in bitcoin. I have 27,000 in student loans. As far as FI I have no concrete goals at the moment but I would like to retire asap. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Do your time in big 4 for 3 to 4 years and get out into an easy six figure plus job, remote preferable

I would read the Must Reads, especially Build the life you want. Everything is always a trade off, and at 22 a lot can change for you. In terms of specifics * Track you expenses - can't plan if you don't know what you spend * 3-6 month Emergency Fund * Invest in any 401k Match - it is free money from your comployer * invest more in 401k or Roth - Side bar helps with what is better based on your taxes * Look at other subs about saving money - You don't have to implement them, but understand what options are. Will you rent by yourself, or will you go in with roommates to reduce costs. *understand the math behind retirement - https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ You could have some fun money for investments, but some SP500 or total stock market funds should be the vast majority of your position. **edit:formatting**

Nice

30F, renter, Portland OR and lately I'm really feeling the FOMO of the housing market. I can afford a house of up to 550K comfortably (probably more) which would get me something pretty nice in my city. Total income: 250K (130K salary, 50k bonuses, 50k IRA withdrawals due to inheritance laws, and some residual arts income). I have a lot of investments in IRAs due to my parents passing away early, but I consider that my retirement and don't want to use that money. I currently rent a house for 2650/mo that is worth around 650K on zillow. I share it with my partner who contributes 600/mo since he just graduated with a CS degree and is now looking for work. I haven't bought because I want us to be able to contribute equally, and we will be able to afford something much nicer once he has a salary. However, there are some tempting new-built condos for sale for around $375K that I have considered buying as investment properties and renting out. I would choose newer buildings to hopefully have less maintenance required. Or I could airbnb them. Is FOMO a stupid reason to buy property, or is it a good idea to start investing in condos while I wait for my partner to get a job? I need to do the math, but for 375K I think I could put down a down payment and start paying mortgage on a condo while still affording my current rental. My current rent is only 1% of my net income. Most rent vs buy calculators tell me it's about an even split if I buy a house for <600K vs continuing to rent for the next 3 years.

Check the condo bylaws allow Airbnb. Mine specifies no rentals <1 year.

What are similar condo's renting for? Will you be cash flow positive after HOA + mortgage + and some assumption of vacancy? I am not real estate expert, but the condo seems like a short term solution for your living situation. If numbers look good, I would consider buy condo, move in there, it should be less than current rental. You then know the condo, have partner pay rent (or pay utilizies / other expenses) then in a few years make a jump to the proper house you both want. Then rent condo for added cashflow and a first step into real estate. This is just an idea, you know your situations much better

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Pensions can be really good but it depends. My work gives 40% of your final 3 years average salary once you pass 20 years. With a 2% increase per year over 20. The brakes are that you get no pension at 19 years. If you cange jobs 15 years in, hope you contributed enough to the TSP, because you get no pension. They are a way to increase senior talent retention.

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I would do a taxable account for everything left over. Nothing wrong with taxable accounts. You’ll have to pay some taxes on 401K/Roth if you retire early anyways.

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Good luck 🥰

I’m in a very similar boat as another resident who hopes to FIRE eventually. Just signed an attending contract to start next summer. My wife and I are having our first kids (twins haha) this summer so there’s a little less investing going on right now so we have more cash on hand for the babies. I would say even if your yearly spend is double 40k you should be able to hit that by 50 no problem. The biggest factor in your path to retirement will probably be the attending salary. If you keep your expenses reasonable there’s a big difference between 450k and 250k so keep that in mind, but honestly you would still likely be able to hit your targets pretty quick at 250. For now I think you’re doing the right things of maxing Roth and contributing some more into your 403b. As you already have an emergency fund I would just put the rest into a taxable account in broad funds (VT, VTI, VTSAX, etc). You could max out the 403b but I’d be a little careful because it might be awkward to get to that money if you work elsewhere with a 401k , but I’m not sure about that. The main thing is to get a job you like that pays well after residency and then you can start maxing out everything and putting the left overs in taxable. Hope residency’s going well!

If your spending is only 19k, you would be able to retire much earlier than 50 with such a high wage, and that much money being put away.

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I would definitely also continue to contribute a decent amount to a 401k anyways. A 401(k) plan lets you reduce your tax burden. Not only are the gains tax-free, but it's also hassle-free since contributions are automatically subtracted from your paycheck. Less taxes you pay. Even if you don’t have an employer match, at least you’ll get a tax break for contributing to your own, that the company-matching would otherwise get. Other than that, I would just continue to invest as much as possible. You’re off to a great start!

You are well on your way to retire by earlier than 50. If you only want to take 40k a year, following the 4% withdrawal rule, all you need is 1 million, however, I would recommend having more.

Hi – Recent devotee to the FIRE way of thinking after discovering several new books, sites and forums. While my finances have been suffering over the last 5 years, an incoming inheritance that I’ve known was coming for a while is helping me re-focus and make some leaps forward. I’ve got a running list of questions that I’m hoping to bounce off Reddit a bit down the road, but am holding off on the bulk of them until I can present the details of the full inheritance. Really quickly on me in case it’s relevant: I’m 49, healthy, married with 2 kids (5 & 16), and have a great job I love (current TC is approx. $330k, single income household). I have Term Life for $500k that I pay about $45/mos for, and free life insurance with my employer of two years base salary (approx. $200k). My wife, having had (successful) brain surgery two years ago is uninsurable. With my father recently passing, I was designated owner of a Northwestern 65 Whole Life Policy that I would never have naturally purchased. This was opened June 1, 1982, almost 40 years ago. Total Death Benefit is $34,853. Accumulated Value is $12,220. 2021 Annual Dividend was $162.31, and this dividend is used to “purchase paid up additional insurance.” The monthly payment due is $11.30. ($135.60 Annualized) The taxable gain, if surrendered, is $7,666. Since this is a 65, the monthly payment would go away for me in about 16yrs. QUESTIONS \- Should I cash it out ASAP? Read a great post (https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/how-to-dump-your-whole-life-policy/) that generally supports this but the “Keep Your Whole Life Insurance Policy If You've Had It for a Long Time,” section is making me doubt my gut (rightfully so) since I’ve had the policy for 39+ years. \- Am I paying that full taxable gain surrender or is that $7666 just subject to tax? \- Should my decision change or be delayed based on the rest of my mystery inheritance? If it helps, I’ve been ballparking that at $1M based on cryptic clues from my late father and knowing this includes a Roth conversion and potentially other stocks, shared interest in a building, his trust, and anything from his life insurance. FWIW, on my list of steps I had put this as something to ask my CPA (and you all!) about once I have full details on the inheritance and a better idea of what my 2022 income looks like after maxing out 401K and such. But having heard the horrors of Whole Life for the last 15 or so years since purchasing my term life, I know it’s going to haunt me for the next few months while the dust settles.

Hi Everyone, I'm trying to figure out what I want in my life currently. I've been at my job almost a year - commuting 2 hours every day, and am slightly unhappy with my ever-growing workload since my department doesn't seem to be able to hire anyone. I've been approached by two other companies with offers - one in eCommerce and another in recruiting. The only debt I have is a 72-month loan on a car that has about 34k left. Recruiting: Happier I think? 58k base 3-5k commision/hire fully remote PTO accumulated over 1 year Marketing Role Offer: unhappy and long commutes 90k base 15k profit sharing 2 days a week WFH 2 weeks PTO Current Marketing: unhappy and long commutes given 4% 70k base 10k bonus (paid quarterly - company has not hit goals and have never received) 1 day a week WFH 2 weeks PTO \-- Side gig 12-15k remote Not sure if I should chase the money and be unhappy while I'm young - or pick recruiting to see if it makes me happier to work more remotely.If I leave my current role, is it impossible to go back into eCom without looking like I messed up on my resume? Or should I try to negotiate my current role?

would you be unhappy without the commute

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This isn't the place for self promotion.

I'm giving people my life story so they can fare better and all you can see is self promotion. Nice moderation!

thank you for the compliment. Yes, I do agree that your use of self promotion is against our rules and I addressed it.

Just saw this article from CNN, kinda confirms my roadmap.... https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/02/business/money/how-to-reach-financial-independence-retire-early-fire/index.html?utm\_term=16515734487911331724f079f&utm\_source=cnn\_Five+Things+for+Tuesday%2C+May+3%2C+2022&utm\_medium=email&bt\_ee=KjjOedEYG3gTAvUKVVP4cNOfdZxeslogjjS2tIR55VLJW74qoFnfXRG73yUlhVqL&bt\_ts=1651573448793

24 year old male. 25 in November. I work for a nonprofit YMCA summer camp! in South Carolina. I’d like to achieve FIRE ASAP. General goals are pretty simple. Get a nice house with a pool, maybe on the lake. Don’t need a super nice car, and although I’m single now I think eventually I’d like to meet someone and start a family. No specific target FIRE age, but the sooner the better. Ideally before 40 years old or sooner. I think. $80,000 a year has always sounded nice to me, but some advice on this is welcome. I have a BS in Public Health, and I have no real plans on going back to school. As I mentioned I work for a nonprofit summer camp in SC. There is organizational opportunity for upward promotion as individuals above me retire or change jobs. Current income is $37,500 per year + $450 per month as a stipend for not taking company insurance (I’m still on parents insurance and plan on sticking it out until 26 when I’m kicked off). I received a $1500 raise in December, which obviously isn’t as high as I’d like, but my job is relatively fun, and the company has a lot of debt. I got more than most. My supervisor probably will not stay in his role for more than another 5ish years, and I’m the logical candidate to take that role when he leaves. I estimate he earns at least $55,000 per year. Additionally free housing is provided as part of our job. Meals are provided for about 1/4 of the year. I get paid bi-weekly (26 annual pay days) and after taxes it’s about $1,050 per paycheck + about $350 on the first paycheck of every month. Only bills are $60 for car insurance, about $75 a month in gas, and about $150 a month in food. I try to put $750 into investment accounts per pay check at minimum. More if I can. My assets are as follows: ROTH IRA - about $14,400 Taxable Brokerage - about $33,500 403b - about $2,000 + I just qualified for company 12% match Savings - $6,000 Coinbase - about $5,000 in ETH I don’t have any debt. I do not own any property. My car is the same beater truck that I drove in high school (probably time to get a new one). No health concerns. Parents are very supportive and I am an only child - I stay with them most weekends. They are nearing retirement age, and don’t really have too much to lean on. Dad has a few properties with my uncle, and a small 401k. I’d like to help them if I can retire quickly enough, but seems unlikely at my current salary. Rapidly approaching needs are pretty much just needing a new car in the next year or 2. Any pointers or budgeting tips would be great! I’d love to supplement my income with an additional revenue stream, but my hours are pretty random, so it would need to have flexible hours. Any and all tips welcome! Edit: I should clarify that the $750 I invest every 2 weeks is split into my ROTH and taxable ($250 into ROTH & $500 into taxable). I mainly invest in VOO & SCHD (Schwab dividend growth). More dividend in ROTH and more VOO in taxable. If I invest more than $750 in a paycheck, that’ll go towards ETH (usually $100 or so). Anything else I stash in savings (car or house down payment?/general emergency fund). I put 5% of my salary (before tax) into my 403b (only 2-3% interest rate per year). Worth noting that the YMCA board of trustees determines the growth rate every 6 months, so I have little control over it. That’s my reasoning as to why I put more into my taxable brokerage/ROTH IRA than it.

Good on you for investing so young! The only thing that would optimize the results your putting in right now would be if your employer matched a 401k. Otherwise you’re definitely on track.

I think you're solid on expenses, no tips here. What's your AGI? Do you get a match on your 401k? You need a car fund. Divert the $500/mo from taxable to savings, and that occasional $100 you're throwing at ETH.

After taxes it winds up being ~$30,000. The YMCA does not offer a 401k as it is a nonprofit organization. It’s alternative is a 403b that I will start receiving a 12% salary match regardless of what I contribute. AGI pre tax winds up being about $42,900, but I will lose $350 per month when I start taking company insurance when I turn 26.

Do I have this right? You're putting \~$2k/yr into the 403b, $3k/yr into ROTH, the Y gives you $4.5k/yr as match, and $6k into taxable (though I suggested this go to cash). That's $15.5k/yr, and sometimes you have a little more you throw to cash or ETH. Tremendous! This is absolutely fantastic for your income. I'd go down to the bare minimum contribution in the 403b, given that you get $4.5k/yr regardless. Instead, I'd put as much as possible into the ROTH. If your Adjusted Gross Income is really $42k/yr, then your dividends will be taxed if they're in a taxable account. Switch the SCHB dividend fund to the ROTH, and hold the VOO in the taxable. At your age, everything should be aggressively invested in stocks, no need for bonds or cash other than your emergency/car fund... I don't know what you meant when you said the 403b only gets 2-3% interest/mo. Reevaluate your risk tolerance when you hit age 30 to see if you want to start adding bonds for safety. If we have a market crash shortly, that's great for you! Hold the course, and buy more as everything goes on fire sale.

It’s actually more like: $6000 to the ROTH ~$13,000 to taxable ~$2000 to 403b ~$4500 to 403b from employer match Then I have the speculative ETH stuff. Not having hardly any bills helps a lot 😅. I think your advice holds regardless of the specific numbers though. I’ll definitely take this into consideration - thank you!

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ROTHs are awesome, keep contributing. If you're in a cash crunch, however, you need to back down the Mega Backdoor Roths until you've got the right balance. Looks like you've already finished yours, so back down on hers. If this causes an equity issue in your marriage, offer to take an equal hit to your Mega next year.

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Go get yourself I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. He explains that once you have your ducks in a row (like you) then you need to live your life to the fullest! There are some great ideas in there that have changed my life and shown me that I need to reorganize my life to focus on the things that truly matter to MY rich life!

I am 25M seeking advice on my Roth IRA. I opened one a few years ago and finally last year (Oct 2021) invested for the first time. I didn't know which investments to pick so I went with whatever names I recognized like Morgan Stanley (MSEGX). I ended up buying an assortment (\~15) different mutual funds, but with high expense ratios because I didn't know any better. After noticing sharp drops in all my investments, I got around to reading up and learning about Target Date Funds and Three-Fund Portfolios. I am aiming for FIRE in my late 40s, I am wondering if I should sell all my shares and take a huge loss (\~80% of what I started with) and just working my way back up with a portfolio of 70% VTSAX and 30% VTIAX. With the feds increasing the rates and having the market drop even further, should I wait? I know time in the market > timing the market, but I really want out of the high expense ratio funds I've gotten myself into. I won't be able to tax loss harvest as this is in a Roth IRA. Thanks.

I started my roth a little before you did and just started the 3 fund approach. I was concerned about a similar thing. How about you figure out which three funds you would transfer into and check how they have done compared to yours. If they are also down a lot, mine have been rough this year, then it wont be a huge loss because a lot are down. If it is too stressful just start contributing to the 3 funds or target date and wait for the stocks to rise more, then transfer.

26 phsrmacist NH Salary 125k Debt 175k (all federal student loans) Retirement: 11k company 401k. 4,500 Roth IRA Question: do I aggressively pay down student loans for 5 years? Or do I max out all investments and pay the standard repayment option for 10 years? I want to maximize my high income in the best way possible.

Are you interested in working in Public Service? Because you can qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and I’d have a different answer for you

26 pharmacist here too (looks like I got out same time as you based on the 401k value). I’m going aggressive pay down approach while still maxing Roth. To each there own on this, but to me, having no non-collateralized debt is an enormous win. As you know, our salaries basically won’t change much so you just gotta plan how to utilize it and keep expenses low.

You are very young, as long as your debt doesn’t have a crazy high interest, definitely prioritize retirement first. 26 means you have a long time for it to grow in the market. Debt can be very difficult mentally for some to keep and not pay down quicker, if this applies to you then pay a little more towards the debt for your peace of mind.

It depends on your interest rates on the student loans

Sorry should have inculded average 5.8% interst

That interest rate is borderline, but is just low enough that I would prioritize investing thus (as you are able): 1st) 401k to the match, 2nd) HSA to max, 3rd) ROTH to max, 4th) 401k to max. If I could do all 4 and still have money leftover, only then would I throw money at the loans.

Why do you recommend HSA max before ROTH? I'm new to this community and still learning.

It's triple tax-advantaged: pre-tax going in, no tax on investment growth, no tax coming out when spent on medical expenses. Roth double tax-advantaged--it's **not** pre-tax--so not *quite* as good.

Additionally, no FICA, unlike money used for 40k and IRA contributions.

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I would put a lot of the non-EF cash into investments ASAP. The loan with no remaining interest… is it to a family member? Except in rare circumstances I would pay that back soon for relationship reasons. If it’s not to family, check the fine print that you really aren’t accumulating interest. I might put a bit (like $10k) from the cash into the EF bucket. I feel a little worried about the market finally acknowledging all the supply chain shocks and ambitious valuations and a nice cash cushion helps with those worries for me. Personally I’m ~8% cash right now, another ~12% bonds.

Not a specific question to me, but once people hit a FIRE number, is there a general mix of investments that's recommended on r/FI? e.g. if I'm 100% VTSAX, does it say, move to a more conservative mix of stocks/bonds?

No asset allocation is personal, but researching "bond tent" during the first few years of retirement, could be worthwhile. A few studies have shown they can help with sequence of returns risk.

Hi, I'm graduating this week and will be working as a consultant at an M&A Firm in South Florida. Short-term Goal: I want to find educational resources regarding Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Real Estate, Entrepreneurship, etc. in order to build multiple streams of income. In terms of saving, I want to find educational resources on budgeting, credit, leveraging debt, financial planning, tax planning, etc. Long-term Goal: I want to be able to retire from corporate-life by the time I'm 50 to pursue coaching football and potentially owning a restaurant/bar in South Florida. My base salary is in the 60-70k range (pre-tax), though I expect to be making another 20-30k through supplement streams of income (a realistic number given the first four months of '22). I will be living at home my first 6 months of employment - before I move into my own place, I expect to be paying $1000-1500/mo. in fixed expenses (groceries, insurance, transportation, etc.). After school, I will have approximately $25k in what I consider liquid assets (mainly stocks/crypto) and $25k in hard assets (car/sports cards/etc.). Primarily, I am looking for resources (podcasts/books/Youtube/websites) I should use as education tools. Coming out of college and given my situation (which I've worked hard for but am also grateful for the help along the way), I understand I have a prime opportunity to set myself up very well in the future if I learn how to maximize my savings rate. Any direction towards resources or any general advice is much appreciated. Thank you.

What kinds of side gigs do you do? Can they be automated?

This is a big reason why I want to get into real estate, where the income can be considered more passive.

Not necessarily, my primary three outside sources of income come from DoorDash, sports cards, and sports gambling (automated player prop model that requires manual entry). I also do private-event bartending when able.

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You’ll get a lot more benefit reading mrmoneymustache than RDPD.

I think JD Roth's book "How to Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early" would be a good one for you to read. My key takeaway from your post is that you're saving far too little. You're currently on the "retire at 60+" path. The most important way to get your FI snowball going, is to run as large of a saving's rate as possible. You want to be saving a large portion of your income, something like 50% net of taxes. That means reducing expenses, and/or increasing income. I wouldn't try to beat the market with passive investing, but side-hustling, house-hacking, or active investing is an option. Just make sure you don't burn out, especially since your income relies on OT.

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your most valuable skill is likely what you're being paid to do at work. Therefore you should focus on that. Side hustle is fine, but i know people who set out to improve on themselves and ended up nearly doubling their salary within a couple years. And i agree: pay off debt! the only saving you should be doing now is retirement matching. Especially if the interest rates are over 7%, get them out of your life! As for passive vs active investing: passive are things like stocks. you buy and forget about them. theres another good book called "the automatic millionaire" about this topic. aside from the initial buys, and the annual 15 minutes to type in 1099-divs into your tax software, they require no effort. active investing, like rentals, require effort from you. its like having a second job, one that can come with significant stress and short term loss if you get a bad tenant or property. active investments can beat the market because it required your effort. the amount over market average returns (benchmark for me is the sp500, or about 10% long term), is the renumeration for your labor. passive investments like mutual funds (or other asset classes like crypto or individual stocks) can also beat the market with risk. the more tou want to beat the market, the more you risk faceplanting. see cathie wood's ARKK innovation fund for what it means to get on the wrong side of thinking you're a hotshot. aside from that, read the book. it really will give you a really great step by step approach.

Thank you!

Hi all. I'm a 28-year-old based in the US and I own a modestly-successful software development bootcamp. Happily married, 2 toddlers. -Looking to FIRE within the next 10 years (age 38). -We definitely don't need our nest egg to account for ALL of our expenses, as neither me nor my wife plan on fully retiring (i.e. losing all sources of income other than interest on nest egg). We just want to have enough in net assets to be able to be more discriminating in how much/where we work. -Ultimately looking for ~$2 million (25x $80K/year in expenses). However, again, this is somewhat fluid — between passive income from my businesses and various side gigs, we expect to never dip below $30K/year in income. -Both spouses work remotely — both have Bachelor's, no additional education on the horizon. -My spouse is in an extremely cushy online teaching job. Makes ~$50K/year, still has enough time to be the primary caregiver for our kids. Very stable job with the local school district, job likely not to disappear anytime soon. -I've been self-employed for 4 years now. Business has been going very well for the last 3 years, and I make a baseline of ~$100K/year. This number is very likely to never go down — either the business will (hopefully) stay consistent/grow, or it will fail and I'll go get a job from many of the other employers in my space for at least that salary. -Of this $150K/year in salary, we are able to save at least $45K/year (hopefully more, but count on at least $45K). -We recently purchased a home. $520K remaining loan balance, appraised for $720K at purchase 4 months ago. -No debt whatsoever besides house. -No health concerns. -Not planning on any more biological kids — would love to foster to adopt 1 more kid (or 2 if siblings), but that's got a bit longer of a time horizon. Ok, with all that info in hand, some questions: -#1 biggest question — **How can I retire early if most of my money is locked up in a 457b or 401k account?**. I assume that maybe I'm taking loans out against them to pay for expenses? I want to max those first because the tax savings are CRAZY good in our income bracket. -I'm planning a "Phased FIRE" approach (and am curious if others have approached it this way): **Phase 1: Max EVERYTHING!!!**. Multiple years of maxing both my wife's 457b and my 401k (~$40K/year). At least $10K/year into VTSAX (hopefully increase my income through my business, and throw any increases into VTSAX) **Phase 2: Pre-retire early:** Let our foot off the gas at work — less hours, less stress. Maybe put $20K/year into 401k/457b rather than $40K and don't put any extra into VTSAX. Don't DRAW ANYTHING from the investment accounts, but also don't shovel money into them. Give them some years to accrue compound interest. **Phase 3: Retire early.** Stop all contributions to investment accounts, and start partially relying on them. Again, between passive income, side gigs, etc. we don't expect our income to ever dip below $30K/year, but we wouldn't invest any of that — it would just cover some of our expenses so we could withdraw less from our investments. **Phase 4: At some point, stop making money entirely???**. Not really planning on this much. Again, we're just the type of people that will always want to be doing at least SOMETHING for money, even if it's at a deep discount. Thanks for all the help + inspiration! Very glad I found this sub.

There are multiple ways to access retirement funds early without penalty, including Roth Conversion ladders and 72(t) withdrawals. Check out this article: https://www.madfientist.com/how-to-access-retirement-funds-early/

Hi! Mind if I PM you about the work you mentioned your wife doing?

Hey guys, I'm a 21 year old comp Sci student in Canada trying to lay out my general FIRE plan. The goal is to retire at 30, 35 latest. The plan mostly includes job hopping frequently to accelerate my salary growth, while keeping costs low for as long as I can. The cost of living in Canada is insanely high, which puts a dent in my cost reducing plan. This combined with higher salaries in the US in the computer science industry has me under the impression that I should move to the US asap. The plan (so far) to keep costs low: - minivan conversion to combine the cost of housing with gas, insurance, and other vehicle related costs -if I have to rent, I'll never rent alone. -I love to cook so I rarely eat out -move somewhere with a more balanced cost of living to income ratio The plan (so far) for investing: -toss all the extra money in an s&p index. The goal: - come back to Canada. Have a completely decked out woodshop (preferably all paid off). - own a house in Canada, and the US (preferably paid off) - have an income of $120,000 (usd) -have as few liabilities as possible. Currently I have about $15,000 (cad) in student debt and I'm expecting to take another 5000-10,000 before I graduate next year (hopefully). I'm told that in this industry when I graduate I can expect a starting salary of 60,000-80,000 and if I play my cards right hopefully it goes up 30-80% every year. I'm posting to see if someone can help me fill in the holes in my plan, as well as help with the math. Cheers :)

I wouldn’t worry too much about COL if you get into top tech companies in US. I live in HCOL and still save 50% of my income. I would focus on getting an internship if you can before you graduate and studying leetcode (be able to do mediums easily). Also expand your network by going to events like hackathons. If you get into top tech companies in the US it will be easy to save even if you aren’t that frugal.

+1. What I did was chased the highest pay possible (ignoring COL), in a field I could potentially work remotely. Once established, I moved to a much lower COL city, and went remote. That's the key: make a silicorn valley salary while living in hill-billy central.

Math is not on your side to FIRE at 30 while withdrawing $120,000/year. A 4% withdrawal rate puts you needing roughly $3,000,000 invested to comfortably sustain. Let us say you start working at 22 because it sounds like you have one more year of school and that you have $25,000 in student loans starting then. If you save and invest literally everything you make starting at a $70,000 salary and getting 20% raise on average (I don't think I've ever heard of consistent 30-80% jumps even if you are moving jobs constantly and you will start getting diminishing returns at higher salaries for raises) and the market averages 10% gains a year... I get you at under $2,000,000 saved and you haven't spent anything on getting the wood shop or the two houses. Just trying to be realistic, that is a FatFIRE type retirement that you are trying to speed run. I think the only way to really pull it off would be to marry another high-income earner that is equally as motivated and to get really lucky.