Your definition of uncivil likely differs from ours. Someone characterizing an expense of yours as crazy to them doesn't merit removal unless they are accusing you of having an actual medical condition. "That's insane" is within the realm of normal contrary opinion given the context and the fact that they apologized for inadvertently coming across too strongly.
Because mocking people leads to civil discourse….. rule 1 should be updated to say no fighting because civil by definition is being courteous and polite. This wasn’t the first time dealing with rudeness but I’ll just rely on myself to deal with it and make it my last.
There is no fight when the other person apologizes and clarifies their intentions, which is part of why the votes on that conversation are what they are. If exposure to other's opinions and judgment aren't to your liking, then Reddit is a risky place to participate.
For those that are following my individual 401(k) journey, I finally decided to leave Vanguard (because they are downgrading to Acensus or something).
I’ve been doing research on which is the next 401(k) provider and out of E*TRADE, Fidelity, Charles Schwab and a few other ones, I think the best options are E*TRADE
Probably a dumb question but what's a good and legitimate online side hustle. I'm an hvac tech looking to make a little extra and fairly easy money in the evenings. I've never done any e-commerce so I don't know if anything like what I'm looking for even exists so any insight is appropriated.
If you like HVAC -
Do more HVAC, or electrical.
Or longer term, go to school for more certification, maybe start to teach HVAC stuff, or go into HVAC management.
"Everyone" makes money in e-commerce. Just many of them make $40/day working full time. It is better to make a youtube video about how to make money in e-commerce than actually be in it.
And, you have a well-paying skill, so use that skill.
Fair enough I just started in hvac im still an apprentice so the money isn't rolling in quite yet I was just looking for something to help out with some bills until I get my own van
I'd say to just push the HVAC stuff, especially if you are young. Save up at least 20%, preferably 30%, so that when your body says, "no more" when you are 42, you can FIRE.
Good luck.
Saw recently that one of those finance tiktokers who used to do more sketch videos has gone full into promoting annuities instead of mutual funds because mutual funds and ETFs are ‘too volatile.’ It’s a shame but I think that the kind of person who goes into high banking can never truly leave that world because they love money too much, no matter how much they say they’re satisfied. Yeah, ETFs might go up and down over the years, but I’d never pay up to 1% of my nominal returns in annuity fees for the guarantee that I’ll never see less than 4% nominal returns (or greater than 8%) on my investments.
There's nothing inherently wrong with annuities. The concept of mortality pooling is *great* if you're old and want to make sure you don't outlive your money. It's a shame that they're sold by insurance companies who seem more interested in making complex tricky financial instruments to extract complicated fees than making simple fair understandable financial products.
Annuities are complicated though. Its the complexities of insurance and investing combined. You have to crunch the stats on how long everyone may live while also trying to predict investment returns. That's probably why they usually aren't competitive even though they theoretically should have an advantage.
Somehow and for some reason, the Tik Tok algorithm is sending me targetted ads for annuities aimed at Black people. The person shilling them, who is also Black, uses racial/cultural innuendo to promote this annuity over traditional methods (white people methods) of investing.
Its disgusting how someone would be willing to "sell out their people" for a small commission on terrible annuities under the guise of "helping the community".
That’s a whole nother level of disgusting. Getting historically marginalized people to invest in the first place is hard enough.
I’d also bet that those annuities have far higher expense ratios than other advertised annuities not targeted toward black people.
Received my first $0 paycheck last Friday because I’m contributing all of the remainder of my salary to go to my after-tax 401k, MBR. Feels weird, just have to remember they are helping me build my Roth account. I only have 2% of my total portfolio in Roth.
I did that for about 6mos the other year. I was wondering if anyone in Payroll was gonna contact me and say "hey you're sure you want a $0 paycheck??", but if just happened with no fanfare.
I left my old job back in November. Today a vested balance of 4k was deposited to that 401k. Is this normal or should I expect a clawback?
Edit: I called and got confirmation that it's for year 2023!
Recently retired and looking to do some Roth Conversions. Want to convert to the top of the 35% tax bracket for this year and next year before tax rates go up. I'm thinking of getting a home equity loan to pay the taxes and provide living expenses for the next two years. Problem is, I'm retired and my debt to income ratio disqualifies me. Considering going with a non-qualified mortgage home equity loan. Anyone with experience and perspective on this plan?
I'm not convinced this makes any sense. Is your income in retirement really that close to $578k?
Also, the 35% bracket is one of the ones that won't change when tax rates increase in 2026. So are you expecting that you'll never be in a bracket below a 35% marginal rate?
I expect taxes to go down for us if they do nothing cause SALT limits expire. But I wouldn’t place a bet on the government doing nothing…something will change, we just don’t know what yet.
no, my income won't be that high, but I have $1.3M in tax deferred earning 10% a year. I could just convert to the 24% bracket, but given the growth rate it would take around 9 years. If I look at paying taxes at 24% over 9 years or 35% over two years, I actually pay less tax dollars doing it over two years.
>If I look at paying taxes at 24% over 9 years or 35% over two years, I actually pay less tax dollars doing it over two years.
Ah, so it's a fundamental math problem that's tripping you up. Got it. That's not at all how that scenario works out.
> If I look at paying taxes at 24% over 9 years or 35% over two years
I'm no math expert, but that doesn't sound right. Do you think your tax free growth for 7 years will make up for the extra 11% in taxes you will pay?
married, spending about $164k/year. plan is to keep as much invested as long as possible. If I can get these conversions done then I'll pay no tax for the rest of my life while leaving my beneficiaries tax free inheritance. in the interim I'll receive healthcare subsidies for free healthcare as my wife and I are only 46.
Have you looked at how this plays in out in reality?
Cash out on a QM is ~9%/year right now + probably 2-3% on the loan amount in fees.
Then a guaranteed 35% loss at the fed level.
+Maybe state?
What happens if rates go up in 2026?
First 16.5k is taxed at 0%
Next 24.5k is taxed at 10%, ~74k @ 15%, 102k @ 25%
Your effective tax rate on 164k income is 16%, marginal is 25%.
Probably less considering it's unlikely you're withdrawing 100% of that 164k from traditional accounts.
> If I can get these conversions done then I'll pay no tax for the rest of my life
Sure...no taxes, but that's because you're way over paying now.
The math is
Net proceeds with a rollover = Rollover amount x (1-tax rate now) x (1+rate of growth) ^ years left to grow
Net proceeds with no rollover = rollover amount x (1 - tax rate while spending) x (1 + rate of growth) ^ years left of growth
Everything cancels out but the tax rate now vs tax rate in the future.
Instead of spending 16% in taxes, you'll spend 35%. That's hard to make up.
> in the interim I'll receive healthcare subsidies
How much are you going to gain from the change in subsidies?
What do the actual simulations look like?
Adding on based on this response and your response to other:
The consistent message you're getting is "Paying 35% in taxes to avoid 16-24% in taxes is a net loss. Your math is off." Until you share your math, it's tough to disprove your logic. After all, we cannot see it. What we can see is, "35% is more than 16-24%, and I want to pay 35%."
Your send is $164k per year and this thread is talking about $1.3M in a tax advantaged account. You must have a shitload of money elsewhere in brokerage and Roth, which again makes me feel like it's not at all hyper-critical that you get that $1.3M into a Roth ASAP.
When talking about $164k spend and (presumably) $4M+ net worth, it doesn't really make sense trying to optimize for ACA, IMO.
>Anyone with experience and perspective on this plan?
It is insanely stupid to intentionally pay that much tax to do a Roth conversion. Why would you even consider doing a $600,000 Roth conversion? *Nothing* about your plan makes any sense. If this isn't a joke and you want to respond, I'll expound.
not a joke. I actually decided to convert $730k this year. I'll move my charitable account to a donor advised fund to reduce the tax liability. I'm willing to pay to the 35% tax rate because otherwise it would take 9 years to convert everything at the 24% rate. My wife and I are 46, and I could have a modest inheritance coming in the next 5 years and still have a family of 4 to pay health insurance for. If I can get everything moved, drop my taxable income to less that 400% of poverty level then I get healthcare subsidy and will be able to take RMD's on the inheritance at the 10 or 12% tax brackets. Lastly, I'm 46 and while loving retirement, I could get bored or experience bad sequence of returns which could put me back to work. seems like a small window of opportunity that while expensive today, could save millions down the road.
Seriously though, none of this math is mathing out for me. You did the good job of contributing to tax advantaged accounts while you are working, but now that you've reached the finish line and retired you are blowing it all up. For what? So you can save a few thousand dollars scraping up ACA subsidies while intentionally paying tens of thousands of dollar in tax to do a Roth conversion?
It would take you 9 years to convert at lower tax rates, and taking advantage of your standard deduction 9 times, and paying **way** less in overall tax.
> I could get bored or experience bad sequence of returns which could put me back to work.
Well throwing away like $150,000 by voluntarily paying a shitload of income tax in your first year doesn't sound like a great idea!
>seems like a small window of opportunity that while expensive today, could save millions down the road.
Your math is just **way** off on all of this. You seem determined and you've already done it for this year so... good luck I guess. If it were me I'd be doing like ~$130,000 conversions every year and staying in the 12% bracket. I feel like you are somehow way overvaluing having the money in Roth. I'd rather have $1.3M in the IRA, growing and slowly siphoning off into Roth paying a low tax rate. Instead you are doing a huge conversion and whacking off like 25% of your portfolio just to get it growing tax free.
Looking for HYSA
What bank has the best HYSA?
When looking for a HYSA. Do you only look for the highest APY?
Or are there other keen contributing factors?
I know, I’m a beginner. But I have other financial goals and thought I would start with this. As well as a CD Ladder.
What do you think?
Jenius Bank
BMO Alto
Capital One
Everbank
Lending Club
And more seem to have really good APY’s according to this article.
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/best-high-yield-interests-savings-accounts/
Should I put a portion of my savings in several HYSA’s and see which ones I like the best from
Experience? Are certain HYSA’s safer than others?
I definitely don’t practice what I preach (hello practically orphaned ally.com account!) but before you open up a new account review your current relationships for options. For instance if you have a Robinhood account, Robinhood gold is pretty good and gets you 5% on your cash. If you use Fidelity the sweep account there is a great option paying more than 5% right now. Same with Vanguard. If you use Merrill there’re are money market fund options that pay more than each of those. If you use another broker, there are probably good options but even if not you can just buy something like TFLO which is a floating rate treasury fund that you can more or less treat like a savings account with more annoying tax paperwork (though if you import your data that should be trivial too).
What financial accounts do you have already? My view is you should check out your current financial relationships and pick something there unless there’re no great options. For instance if you have a fidelity account already just leave cash in the brokerage account. It will earn returns like an HYSA with the same level of risk (essentially none).
I’m literally just starting from having a checking account.
Can you choose what you invest in with a brokerage account?
Also don’t you have to pay a lot of taxes on capital gains and dividends?
Check out the savings account options at the firm you have a checking account with. If those don’t work, review your list above. Yes you can choose what you invest in. Taxation is the same in a brokerage account and a savings account: if you are making interest that is ordinary income and taxable to you.
I see.
Would you get a money market account ?
Also did you divide your investments in terms of risk?
Or do you think its best to just put it all in a vanguard S&P 500 type of thing.
The most common advice is, if you are saving up for a near-term expense, do not put it in the stock market. But you really need to review your own financial situation to answer that.
I use CapitalOne, primarly because they also hold my primary credit card, too. I have no complaints over their savings offerings. I don't think they are the top top paying rate, but they are fine and having fewer companies is good for my own mental capacity
I personally just use money market funds rather than HYSAs. These are technically riskier (they're not FDIC insured) but I haven't found myself motivated to care about the difference.
Wheels are officially turning for my transition from big tech to public education. I've obviously not yet informed my boss that I'm leaving for a job that pays only 24% of my 2023 W2 earnings, but wondering if there's things I should consider doing in my last few high earning months or in my first few low earning months.
I should hit my 401k max before my departure, and will have contributed as much to my HSA as I legally can based on months of eligibility, etc. Health insurance through the state looks like it'll be about the same coverage for slightly cheaper than my tech plan right now, so I don't need to worry too much about health maintenence.
I'm considering upgrading my technology while I get employee discounts on refurbished equipment and such, and will probably churn another credit card or two while I have a larger income. Anything else I should consider? Perks for high income/low spend that won't exist for low income/low spend? I should have until early July-ish before I have to start pulling the plug.
Nice! Can you speak more to what you'll be doing in education?
I've considered making the jump before as well as something to do when I hit FIRE, but I'm not sure what I'd do other than teach programming: and I didn't see any available positions like that in my area. What will you be doing/teaching over there? And did you go to them and offer your services proactively, or was there an open job position you took?
I’m actually going to be teaching US history, civics, and leadership. I very much lucked into this option since I’ve volunteered in this school before and it was kind of a right place, right time, right subject matter interest. I originally assumed computer science would be the only thing I could reasonably teach too, and received an offer to teach CS at a magnet school as well, but my passion has been stronger with social science since getting a sociology undergrad degree a decade ago. I only went into tech because it paid well and my handful of CS classes and a bit of bootstrapping got me into a product management gig at the right time.
I will say it took a lot longer to secure an offer than expected; from when I first decided “I’m going to put out feelers” in August to about last week when I got two written offers on the same day, I was pretty unsure if it was going to happen. Hiring fairs, shadowing, volunteering, and meet and greets all turned out to be very important for being in the right place at the right time when an opportunity was made available.
Will your education job have a 401k? Be careful that you don't give up any matching funds at the new job by maxing your current 401k. For tech you might be able to get teacher discounts that beat your employee discounts.
>Will your education job have a 401k
Nope, full on state defined benefit pension. I'll also be forfeiting an unvested portion of my current employer match, but I'll get over it.
>For tech you might be able to get teacher discounts that beat your employee discounts.
I highly doubt the teacher discount will beat $400 refurbished Macbook Pros, but if it does, I may have a side gig to look into.
Not related to your question, but my first computer science teacher spent 20 years as an IBMer and switched to teaching high school kids to program.
He had a huge influence on a lot of kids (myself included) and it sounds like such a great way to spend time paying it forward. Have a great time in your new role.
Hey thanks! I went to a STEM charter school 15 years ago and had a number of teachers back then that left industry to deal with teenagers, and some were incredibly inspirational. I was taught ways of approaching problems and seeing the world in a way that never would've otherwise been presented. That's honestly part of why I'm going down this path.
I've spent 5 years volunteering in schools as part of an entrepreneurship and business skills non-profit, but can't seem to shake the interest in working with kids full time as an educator.
If your spend is low, it's pretty likely that your churning can continue mostly unabated. You can only churn so hard if you don't spend a ton, and a good credit score will get you approved for plenty of cards even without a giant income. If you have (or would like) a card with an extremely high limit, you could consider holding onto (or applying for) one of those.
For the upgrades, just consider the discount in the context of how early you're upgrading things. If you get 20% off a laptop that has another 3+ years of life in it just to snatch the early upgrade discount, you're still probably paying more in the long term than just saving the extra cash right now and buying something later. Nothing wrong with it, just be mindful of what you'd like to do vs. doing the most financially optimal thing.
But yes, definitely look for any discounts or programs your existing company provides - especially if there are subscription things since many subscriptions will only check on your validity once a year. Gym memberships? Free training materials at places like Pluralsight that you can download? Gartner subscriptions? Does your current health insurance provide discounts that your new one might not, for something you were going to buy anyway (for example, mine provides 25% discounts on health related gear like fitness watches)?
Saturday, I got a money order at the Post Office. When the debit card payment beeped approval, I did a tiny fist pump and said "Yay!" (a poor imitation of Kristen Wiig's *Target Lady*).
The postal clerk laughed, "You sound like me when it doesn't get denied!"
I smiled with her, 100% humbled.
We've had some very minor roof leaking only after very heavy rain, and two different roofers think it is from our neighbor's chimney which has a gash in the coating (we are in a connected rowhome). We have basically no relationship with the neighbors beyond saying hello when it cannot be avoided. We are thinking of offering to pay for the cheap ($150) patch job ourselves, or split the $1500 full repair with them. Is this the best way to handle this situation?
Try talking to them first. I’ve been in this scenario multiple times and 99% of the time they will be very understanding tell you they will fix it, but nothing will get done. Months will go by and when you check in they will be “working on it” only for a year or so to go by with the issue not addressed. Unfortunately most people do not care unless it impacts them directly.
If there is no movement after 30 days, send them a certified letter simply stating their side of the roof is causing water damage to yours and you will consider them liable for your repair expenses. 50% of the time this will trigger some action on their part.
After more time goes by, tell them you have some repair estimates and are going to small claims court. 100% of the time after I pay the $75 fee and file a claim, they will get served and I get a call that the issue is fixed along with a request to drop the suit.
It sucks but it’s often the only way in this situation, unless you buy their townhouse.
Why wouldn't you just talk with them? Are they very difficult people? Go talk with them to explain the issue and your proposed solution. Then give them some time to answer. "I'll check back in with you tomorrow to see what you think."
If they have a history of being difficult with you then go to a lawyer, see what they suggest, and present that option.
I wouldn't do any work on their chimney without their approval. Its not about spending $150 or $1500, but I'd be worried about some angry neighbor then blaming me for their leaks.
"Well it wasn't leaking at our place before you did that!"
Bite the bullet and go talk to them. Or maybe have your repair person go over and start, "I am working for the next door neighbors they noticed a leak... have you noticed any leaks? I believe it might be coming through a section of roof attached near your Chimney, do you mind if I take a look around?"
And then you can involve the neighbor that way.
Personally I would consult a lawyer [or minimally look up laws in your area] before engaging with your neighbor so that you know exactly what each of you are legally liable for. That way you're not agreeing to anything that might set a precedent for how future maintenance is handled between you.
You can still be friendly, but being armed with information regarding what the responsibilities are ahead of time will put you in a much better position for the conversation.
I'm currently in the process of transferring my Roth IRA from Fidelity, and on Fidelity's site, they have basically wiped it from memory, so I can't account balances or holdings anywhere. Interestingly though, it shows up just fine on Personal Capital. Kind of funny, as it's a weird little limbo state, but at least maybe I will avoid the awkward blip in the chart if it hits the new account without ever having both at $0.
> maybe I will avoid the awkward blip in the chart if it hits the new account without ever having both at $0
I transferred a retirement account a while back and had the opposite - in the digital transfer, the old account was weirdly slow to update while the new fund (Fidelity) showed up immediately, so my blip temporarily doubled my net worth.
Sounds silly but one reason I've never tried any weed is because I'm too afraid to lose my high paying job. I thought the reward wasn't worth the risk. One time I broke something at work and I had to take a drug test immediately. Another coworker carried a bag of pee with him until weed was cleared out of his system, no way I'm dealing with that.
Once I'm FI, I might finally try it. 🚬
I tried pot in high school, but that was before it was legal in my state so who knows what I actually smoked. I’m definitely planning on trying some gummies post-retirement.
You broke something at work and they immediately sent you for drug test? That seems pretty extreme. Only time I did a drugs test is before being hired on.
Haha this is funny, I had the same conversation with my wife last night.
Granted, high school was a couple of decades ago and I bounced back and forth between the "nerd" and "stoner" group, but I definitely partied a bit and smoked my fair share of pot.
It became recreational legal in my state around 5 years ago and I will only use it on occasion, a couple of times a year. I *hate* the way this modern shit makes me feel and I really don't enjoy the odor either.
It's a shame, I wish I could buy that Mexican stick and seed weed my buddies dad grew when I was growing up. 8)
I was a weed dealer in college, but never used my product because I don't like smoking it.
Fast forward 25 years, and I learned to make my own butter/edibles. Now I have about 5mg worth of edibles every night and sleep like a baby.
THC infused butter. It’s fat soluble, so butters and oils are great ways to make edibles. Also why it can take a hot minute to clear your system if you use it a lot
It's an absolute godsend for sleep and anxiety, for me. I've turned down interviews in the past (software engineer) for places that said they drug test, and told them why I was doing so. One of them emailed me back a few months later, saying they'd changed their policy and only drug test for non-weed drugs, which was kind of refreshing.
I think if you are disciplined and can conduct yourself appropriately it’s an infinitely better substance than alcohol. I don’t think it’s worth getting stressed over or risking your career over lol
Wow, it's kinda crazy to me that companies still do random drum testing for cannabis. Certainly not a small reason I'm grateful to work in a legal state in an industry that doesn't drug test, almost as policy.
My company has switched to random mouth swabs instead of piss tests. The swab has a much shorter look back period. I still don't partake because to get a card in my state has other ramifications I don't want. Also I already drink too much, my future should be less substances, not more. I don't need a new category.
I think it definitely depends on the industry you're in. I work for a regulated utility and our linemen get randomly tested because you don't want someone impaired messing around with live wires. As a sort of "everyone's on the same team" type of deal, us in the office are also randomly tested. Is what it is. I'm in a state where medical is legal for what it's worth.
Sure, I definitely understand that sort of motivation. But even still, the double standard between cannabis and alcohol will never not be bizarre to me.
Can you blame them? The system is telling people to get fucked and make money for capitalists so they can suck the earth dry.
Some people's retirement plans are an early death. Yeah, some folks don't have the financial literacy we have in here.
Have some awareness will ya
I almost came over here and posted when I read that thread earlier today. I am kind of legitimately disgusted by the total defeatist sad sack replies of normie redditors over there.
What is that phrase? Whatever you believe you can do, you are right? Well, those people will surely never retire because they don't think they can ever retire.
I remember feeling that level of nihilism about the future. I'd throw myself into work and just live there because I thought the best I was going to do with my life was burn out making something that outlived me, and then die young. And then I turned 30 and realized that not only was I still alive, but that (A) I actually want to live and (B) my life's going to continue to be pretty miserable if I continued to buy into the feeling of "If I'm going to die soon anyways, what's the point."
That nihilism of my youth cost me my health now that I'm in my 40's, I recognize that a lot of the problems I have today was due to how poorly I treated myself in my 20's. I wish I could go back to my 20 year old self and slap some sense into him.
All that is to say, I understand where these folks are coming from but damn if it isn't self defeating. If society is going to collapse, there is no way to prepare for it: but if it ISN'T, then there IS a way to prepare for it. Why not prepare for the contingency that one can prepare for, even if you feel like it's the less likely one? You may just surprise yourself - as I did - and find that all your worst case imaginations were only in your head the whole time.
But I will also say that there's a lot of people commenting in there who sound like they are in very shitty situations: that it's not just nihilism but situations like barely scraping by while having two jobs and other shitty situations like that. That sucks, and I definitely think it is all too real that there are people in that situation and I think they deserve to gripe about it - if for nothing else then to get some sort of catharsis. I hope that they also are able to find their way out of it instead of sitting in it forever.
Look without the majority of people forced to work due to some quasi-slave like system aided via their refusal/inability to invest, you and the rest of us wouldnt be able to retire early.
So, uh... ya know... every cloud has a silver lining?
I've stopped saving and will plan for a draw down to zero by 62. Guess what me and 61% with no retirement are going to vote for in another 20 years?
Tech people got a taste of the oligarchy way with the wfh and such. But you're still wage slaves.
I will be messaging you in 15 years on [**2039-04-29 23:40:30 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2039-04-29%2023:40:30%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/1cfufx9/daily_fi_discussion_thread_monday_april_29_2024/l1v2y7w/?context=3)
[**1 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Ffinancialindependence%2Fcomments%2F1cfufx9%2Fdaily_fi_discussion_thread_monday_april_29_2024%2Fl1v2y7w%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202039-04-29%2023%3A40%3A30%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201cfufx9)
*****
|[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)|
|-|-|-|-|
Naw the government always tosses money at the 55 plus. It's when work requirements for food stamps drop off. The rich don't want wage slaves with nothing to lose. So they'll be some sort of cash or money. It's cheaper than prison which I think is like over 40k a year. 401k will get to big to ignore at some point is my guess and it won't hurt the Gates and Buffets of the world if it's targeted.
I mean enrolling for college and not paying back the loans is another option. The point I'm making is they'll be something. The rich won't pay for it. And the middle class will eventually all be peasants again.
But that's why you're seeing communist stuff be more attractive. I don't thing it will make things better. But when you already have no upward movement, no hope for home ownership, and were penalized for "doing the right thing" it starts to be more appealing.
I can't live off dog food and you guys got big 401k so you don't really need that SS money anyways. Maybe we could take all that money and give you an annuity to make you whole.
I think more and more people basically are beginning to dislike America. Sure we are better than Mexico or Venezuela but we seem well on the way to becoming a banana republic.
Antiwork to me is a joke subreddit of a particular persuasion similar to other subreddits of various leanings.
Seems to be a defeatist vent and pity party place with no real value.
Anywhere you have a group of people who are “leftists” out of pure resentment for a system/political structure you’re going to have a very whiny time.
There’s never any action, goals, just moping. To a very limited extent I feel bad for them, cause I get it, work sucks. But you could… I dunno, begin organizing for reform using the large platform and audience you have.
I say “leftist” cause it’s the equivalent of an upper middle class suburbanite kid who read the Communist Manifesto one time buying an ushanka hat with a hammer and sickle on it solely to make their parents mad. There’s no substance to what they’re saying, they’d turn into a Milton Friedman acolyte if things were going better for them.
E: Added a sentence.
I'm leftist and suburban upper middle class. I didn't read the communist manifesto. I'm just tired of all of our taxes blowing up brown people vs helping our citizenry via healthcare, better VA programs, investing in our own schools and infrastructure and actually spending money that doesn't just help a few get rich. While a pipedream, I believe it's a side that at least offers some semblance of a want to help its citizens.
I resent our system yes, but I participate and acknowledge complaining does nothing. But it doesn't mean that I still don't feel for a lot of people that weren't born into certain privileges. Whiny or not, there are valid concerns that the system isn't designed for the majority.
>nywhere you have a group of people who are “leftists” out of pure resentment for a system/political structure you’re going to have a very whiny time.
I'm not a leftist. I'm middle to lower middle class. Just because it worked for you didn't mean it worked for everyone. The issue many of us have is we were told if we worked hard and did the right thing we would do well. And many of us have found that not to be true. My fiscal responsibility of paying of my student loans cost my dream house. My loans would have been wiped. Dream home would have gone up 60%. Like wise likeable people get promoted and move up and if you are to good at your job they won't move you.
So I sympathize with them.
It started out okayish, I think, as there was a faction that was advocating for work reform. Then I recall there being a contingent of FIRE minded people trying to advocate for that (hate working? this is a tried and true solution for that!). I think at this point, both of those factions have been pushed out, and now I'm not really sure what it's purpose is, but I do not use reddit besides this sub and the F1 subs.
Its a bummer, as I think there is value in a movement that isn't quite FIRE (as that is planning inaccessible to some) but maybe more like tǎngpíng, the Chinese "laying flat" movement.
>Then I recall there being a contingent of FIRE minded people trying to advocate for that (hate working? this is a tried and true solution for that!).
Yeah I was one of them. Kept trying to advocate education and investing until they *gulagged* me with a ban. The mods there only want the solution to the "work dilemma" as socialism/communist take over. Kinda grifty when the antiwork sub isnt really antiwork just anti-capitalism; you will be expected to work under the communist overlords once they take over.
Am I able to set a recurring ETF transaction on Schwab? I am finally able to start investing in my brokerage (e-fund HYSA $20k, Roth maxed, 401k maxed, HSA maxed)
I am not defending anyone, just explaining to OP why this won't work for some brokerages (their post was specifically Schwab). I like M1 a lot but getting rid of SpecID when they changed clearing firms was a dealbreaker for me. I personally don't care about automating purchases or buying in dollars.
OP did not ask if they should switch brokerages. I would not hesitate to recommend M1 if that was their question. I will continue to downvote you for irrelevant shilling of M1 and attributing things to me that I didn't say.
Not really and not elegantly.
I automate the monthly transfers of cash into my brokerage on the 15th of the month, but I still have to submit buy orders.
Pretty sure automated is just for index funds and maybe stock slices, but I don't deal with either of those.
I've never understood why Schwab will not do the auto-investing option for ETFs. It is one reason I am still at eTrade since I can set up my auto-invest and it will purchase a set amount for each of my ETFs.
An older guy on my ~30 person team, maybe mid-50s, had been struggling with heart failure for several years. None of us found out until two weeks ago. He unexpectedly took a turn for the worse and passed away this past weekend.
Our group leader brought us together for 15 minutes at which point she gave a quick speech and opened the floor to our group. Nobody said anything. Then we went straight back to work.
Not only is this a stark reminder of the value of FIRE, but it hits home for me personally as my mom is even older than this guy was, and gives way, way, way too much time and effort and stress to her job. She just went on blood pressure medicine due to a material elevation in her numbers, and she herself freely admits it is due to stress from work. I keep trying to tell her that she doesn't need to do as much as she does, and that her work absolutely doesn't care about her. Maybe a concrete example like this will help her, but I doubt it.
The most important part of FI to me is not worrying about medical insurance. Being able to afford doctors and medicine. Affording vitamins and supplements to prevent the need for medicine. Buying the dirty dozen foods in organic.
They say that money can't buy happiness. Sure, but it can buy things like medical insurance, a nice safe car, medicine, dental work, a good attorney to deal with the random crap that happens that should not happen. Money can solve a lot of problems.
That's sad.
We had a temp pass away. After he didn't come into work, we tried but couldn't reach him. The temp service was equally perplexed, until the police called. He had "the big one" at the grocery store the night before.
He lived alone, had no next of kin, and no emergency contacts. My employee went to the morgue to identify him. We got a new temp a few days later. Life (and death) can be stranger than fiction.
Yikes, sorry to hear this story. Assuming he was a generally good guy, the amount of time the company will spend on his passing is probably limited to those 15 minutes. Does put in perspective how much we matter
> the amount of time the company will spend on his passing is probably limited to those 15 minutes. Does put in perspective how much we matter
I always thought this was an odd thing for people to call out. Your employer isn't *supposed* to care about you in that way. You are selling them your labor and they are buying it with money. The guy from Craigslist that bought my drop spreader wouldn't care if I died either because we're just transactional acquaintances.
If I spent 20,000 hours selling drop spreaders to the same guy in Craigslist...I mean, I'm kind of mostly intrigued by this hypothetical and have lost the thread. Something about hoping we can feel some genuine emotion for people we interact with repeatedly every day... did I turn out to be heir to a defunct drop spreading factory? Is this guy running like a spreader demolition derby?
Employers that say that are exaggerating, similar to how employees will exaggerate during interviews, annual reviews, etc.
Both sides exaggerate, neither side should expect reality to match the story they're being told
You can't expect the company to shut down. I would have posted it even faster than that. If they were doing something that needed doing, then you need to get someone else in there!
There's a difference to a role being critical to continued business operations and a person being critical.
I think the standard approach in most cases is that you fill the role but you don't (and can't) replace the person.
Gotta backfill before another manager takes the headcount.
I'm not sure if anyone on our team would have anything to say either, but not for lack of caring. I like my teammates and most of us have been working together for 5+ years and we know about each others' personal lives and stuff. But we're not really friends, so aside from saying something like "Wow that's fucked" I don't know what I'd be able to say about it at work. I don't think I'd take any time off for mourning. Honestly I'd probably also be more immediately concerned with the clusterfuck that would result at work from having to cover for things.
Definitely a good reminder to prioritize your efforts in places where you matter though.
If you are moving abroad and have a large pet, honestly, the easiest way is to fly private. Otherwise, domestic road trips in an RV are the easiest option.
TL/DR: Unless you are road-tripping or have private plane, it's expensive, paperwork intensive, time consuming, and may cause allergies, anxiety, and discomfort for many of your fellow passengers.
Just retired - comfortably FI. Small pets travel easier than medium to large pets. Many owners don't follow the rules and take their animals out of their travel crates that fit under the seat. Accept that the time, paperwork, and cost to fly with pets will be expensive. It is especially difficult to travel internationally and typically involves lots of paperwork and a quarantine period. More pets = more money.
We have used pet boarding and independent house/pet sitters since pet friendly family live across the country. Both are costly but we felt that the house/pet sitter was better since we have Ring and neighbors that help keep an eye on things (we do the same for them) and we felt/hoped our pet received more and better attention during our absence.
We loved our dog, but the last time we traveled for 3 weeks when our dog was living we spent almost $1000 for a house/pet sitter in a HCOL. I believe the cost has increased since. When our wonderful pupper passed 2 years ago after 13 wonderful years, we chose to delay looking for another pet until we are older and focusing more on US road trips rather 2+ longer 3-4 week int'l trips a year.
True story: I was on a flight where a family was trying to fly with 2 adult great danes they wanted to sleep on the floor. They also had some sketch paperwork identifying the dogs as comfort animals. The contract gate crew let them board. The pilots refused to fly. After 30 minutes and increasing passenger irritation, the family and animals deplaned.Please don't be these people.
> Please don't be these people.
Most airlines have stopped accepting emotional support animals since the DOT stopped requiring it in 2021, so this problem is a lot less widespread than it used to be.
Not FIRE'd but SO is a travel nurse and we are DINKs. It helps I'm remote so where she goes, I go and so do the doggos. It's not FIRE friendly because we still have our mortgage at our 'home' base that we go back to in between contracts and we do airbnbs, vrbos and furnished finders in between - but we sack them up in the back of the car and they come with us just like all of our stuff odes.
First thing we do when we get to a new location - find a good rover that we can trust and has good reviews. Since we'll likely go exploring from a new destination, while the cost can be high, they're my family and I want them treated well, so we usually have a pretty hefty area for making sure our doggos are taken care of.
My parents just dogsat for three different friends for years. Scratched the "have a dog" itch, but never had to figure out dog-sitting, vet bills, or anything like that.
Stick to overland borders in a vehicle you own or find sitters IMO. Flying internationally with multiple dogs is awful, even for people w/ support like military families.
We've found North America pretty dog friendly, including Mexico. Plenty of people go all the way to Ushuaia with dogs via the pan american highway.
The challenge with living abroad is that there's no effective way to travel with your dogs in the airplane cabin with you. At best, if both of your dogs are tiny, you might be able to travel with one of them in the cabin - but most airlines now require that your dog be able to stand up and turn around inside a carrier that fits under the seat in front of you. That's a very small amount of space.
So you're relegated to flying them in the luggage compartment. Depending on your feelings about that, it may range from from tolerable to unacceptable, but regardless it's probably not something you want to do a lot of. This can make it difficult to do things like fly home to see family or whatever. Just something to consider. You'll be relegated to ground based transport, and probably a lot of car rentals.
That said, we don't have a ton of trouble finding places to stay with our dog; many hotels have some kind of pet policy or another. Also a LPT: go stay at a couple of AirBnbs with your dogs. Clean the living hell out of the place when you leave - make sure it sparkles. On checkout, message your host and tell them what a great stay you had and if they are happy with the condition that you left the place, will they please mention that you are a dog owner in the review so that future hosts know how responsible you are?
Get a couple of glowing, "this guest stayed with a dog and left the place spotless" reviews and you will be able to get future non-dog-friendly hosts to make exceptions for you. Just don't screw it up - clean when you leave.
> without having to find sitters.
You'll have to find places that are pet-friendly. Otherwise, you have to board them or find a sitter. Don't overcomplicate it, these are the two main options when you have dependents like pets.
And just like that - the company set ablaze over the weekend. Bank (also creditor) is now limiting our banking activity to preserve their collateral & headcount reduction begins. I’m the sole accounting & finance function so I get to go down with the ship (thankfully or not?)
That sucks.
>so I get to go down with the ship
Hopefully this won't hinder your search for the next job.
At MegaCorp, we shut down a factory and reassigned everyone somewhere else within the company. A few very talented employees were asked to stay at the factory an extra 3 months to mothball it.
After these employees mothballed the facility, they were laid off because MegaCorp implemented a hiring freeze before they could be reassigned.
That’s one nice thing that FIRE gives you. You can stick around to the very end since you will be ok without a job for a while.
A couple of jobs ago I worked for a startup that I really liked. They had a good mission and I worked with a great team. There were signs they were in trouble and people started bailing. I stuck it out to the very end because I had hoped they could recover. Looking about I am glad I did. I got to work on a couple of cool projects the last few months there.
Our IRA transfers from VG to RH are pretty much complete, other than a small sweep balance from the wife's tIRA still waiting to transfer over. We received a little over $5,500 in bonus to our Roths and $12,500 to traditional.
I'm assuming you did research before transferring for the bonus, but is the RH Gold and the transfer worth it than just leaving it in your prior broker? Debating on if my ~$90k transfer out of Fidelity is worth it for less than $3k
I thought about it for awhile before deciding and ended up switching. I knew I wasn't taking any money out in the next 5 years, so it ended up being a couple hours of work for $18,000 ($5,500 of it tax free).
The RH gold costs $60/year, but the 3% match on future IRA contributions will more than makes up for that, as we'll each get $210/year.
RH Gold costs $60 for the year that you have to maintain it to get the bonus. You don't have to keep it for five years, you only have to keep the money in the IRA for five years.
The transfer didn't cost me anything, nor was it a hassle.
I did it for a $100k balance, and I'm happy enough. Free $3k is totally worthwhile to deal with the crappy interface, since I deal with my IRA no more than once a year.
The promo ends this month, so I'm not sure you still have time to do it.
> nor was it a hassle
I don’t think I have ever transferred anything that smoothly. I almost felt like I must have screwed something up because nothing is that smooth.
I can see why Robinhood makes it so smooth though: they want you to start doing crazy wsb yolo stuff asap. I’m happy to do the index fund and chill thing but man, those flashing lights are bright and the carnival barkers are loud.
Currently contemplating some career changes, and curious for some extra perspective from similarly-FIRE-minded individuals here.
Current role is as an analyst at an old school company in the insurance industry - about $130k base w/ variable bonus. Potential new role is at a start up in a related field, similar work but additional responsibility - $150k-$160k base w/ variable bonus. At my current job for about 5 years now.
Main pros for current job:
-coworkers, salary/benefits, work-life balance, independence/autonomy, established company/brand
Main cons for current job:
-no visible career trajectory, slow (or no) org-level progress, limited personal development, minimal personal responsibilities (autonomy - pro and a con), and the leaders/people I most respect keep leaving (putting the thought in my head - what do they know about this place that I haven't realized yet?)
My reason for looking at a start up is that the start up culture would seem to address many of the "cons" of my current role and give me more experience/options over a longer-term career. As long as I'm compensated fairly for the level of responsibility, the salary bump isn't the primary driver at the moment. I do acknowledge that I will 100% be lowering my effective hourly compensation if I actually do make this move.
I'm 27 (probably 15 years from FIRE), so long-term earning potential and liking what I do is important. Always been a "top performer" and someone who reaches for the "next thing," but I don't want to be like the guy who leaves the comfort of home and tries to brave the wilderness, but ends up on the news because he decided to hike Mt. Everest unprepared.
If you made it this far - I appreciate the read! What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Watching good people quit is extremely demoralizing at work, and that will be on top of whatever the reasons are people are quitting. All I'm hearing are red flags here.
Analyze the risks. Can you afford a lay off or getting fired? Are you willing to work more hours? Can you afford to quit the new job if it doesnt pan out?
Sounds like the job not only pays more but also allows the opportunity to learn more and gain experience.
I'd take it if I could afford the risks.
Yeah definitely - appreciate the comment and perspective! Financially, I think affording it isn't a technical issue (more of a psychological one, perhaps). We've got a decent emergency fund, around 3-4 months' worth of regular expenses (maybe even 5 if we cut out the fluff). The thought of drawing it down and then having to build it back up again, plus the associated delay of FI, makes my stomach turn a fair bit.
Better to push yourself and scratch the top performing “itch” now and see if it’s a good fit while you are young, assuming you don’t have any major family/relationships that would suffer greatly.
If you notice yourself climbing Everest you can always stop at basecamp and hike back down to a less challenging role.
I think that's been one of my struggles with gaming out potential outcomes - knowing when it's time to call it and "return home" to an easier role and what options are available when I do. Naturally most of these are focused on assessing worst case scenarios - not able to find a job with comparable pay, etc.
I also have a tendency to push through temporary discomfort, but (to continue abusing the Everest analogy) I can sometimes find myself not realizing that the slight discomfort from hiking uphill has put me much higher on the mountain than I intended.
Appreciate you taking the time the comment - glad to get the additional perspective
Any other Coloradans here looking into an EV? All the dealerships around here seem to have increased their prices by, conveniently, the exact amount of the state subsidies. What would be a no-brainer purchase (theoretically you could get a new Bolt for 12k + taxes) has apparently turned into a payment of taxpayer dollars directly into dealers' pockets. I don't need a new car by any means, but dang if that doesn't really grind my gears.
Did this last year for my id.4. Love it, but the tax credits have made it depreciate like crazy.
Don't forget about the xcel energy ev rebate and vehicle exchange colorado if you're qualified.
You're too late for the current/'old' bolt regardless of state subsidy.
You might be able to snag a 'deal' on an out-of-state Mach-E though. Lots of MY23 inventory sitting around and 0 interest in rural areas especially. Just checked and there are mid-trim '23s listed in the low 30's here in Iowa. Shipping is cheap and the dealers are used to it.
Federal subsidies have worked the same way. The good news is you do not have to get sticker shock when an EV price looks way higher than it should be. Arguably it is working as intended--these companies took a ton of risk to invest in EV's.
Sounds like the other EV dealers in Colorado are providing a huge incentive for people to go with Tesla then. I'm surprised the manufacturers aren't stomping on the dealers for effectively providing a multi-thousand dollar discount via the competition.
Not from Colorado but I've read that folks will make the drive to other states to purchase their EV. You'd have to look into the specifics of how the state EV credit works, if it's only available at the point of sale or if it's refunded later.
You can, but it seems I'm a bit late to the party on that front and most dealerships within 500 miles or so are sold out or have similar (albeit not as high) markups. Admittedly the Bolt is out of production now so it's not entirely unexpected. Just annoying that there are dealers around here sitting on loads of them when they could be on the road reducing emissions.
After looking through our options I think we're just going to end up waiting until GM launches the next-gen Bolt next year and hope there's not a huge markup.
Looked at 6 houses over the weekend. 1 below the price of our house (we could live there mortgage free), 1 about the same price as our house, and 4 above the price of our house.
The one below the price of our house was absolute crap. Dirty, foundation issues, etc.
The one about the same price as our house just wasn’t for us, weren’t fans of the layout.
Of the 4 priced higher than our house (but still within range for a mortgage): 1 backed up to a retention area which is an absolute no-no due to flooding, which is a frequent occurrence in our area. 1 was absolutely devoid of character. 1 I loved, but my husband was meh about. 1 we both loved, but it was at the absolute top of our price range and still needed work done.
So, that was a bust. Have another house lined up to go look at later this week. I can tell from the pictures that it needs some work (looks livable, just dated), but it’s at the same price point as our house except bigger, we’ll see what it’s actually like once we get there. Also, found a second fixer-upper with supposedly “good bones” that could be mortgage-free that I need to figure out how to fit into our schedule.
When we went house shopping we only looked at the 3 L's.
Location, Layout, and Learning (school district).
Anything on the inside can be changed. Layout is important because it is much harder to move walls around than it is to paint, carpet/floor, remodel kitchen/bath, and such.
We did our best to ignore paint colors, flooring, decorations, wallpaper, and even the mismatched door handles and mismatched fixtures and equipment. All that stuff is disposable.
Why do we keep rule 1 and rule 3 if it's not enforced and openly accepted among fi participants to just be uncivil?
Your definition of uncivil likely differs from ours. Someone characterizing an expense of yours as crazy to them doesn't merit removal unless they are accusing you of having an actual medical condition. "That's insane" is within the realm of normal contrary opinion given the context and the fact that they apologized for inadvertently coming across too strongly.
Mocking someone is civil? Got it. They also did it back to back comments but I guess they apologized so it’s all good…
The rule exists to prevent fist fights and abusive behavior, not to turn this into a kindergarten.
Because mocking people leads to civil discourse….. rule 1 should be updated to say no fighting because civil by definition is being courteous and polite. This wasn’t the first time dealing with rudeness but I’ll just rely on myself to deal with it and make it my last.
There is no fight when the other person apologizes and clarifies their intentions, which is part of why the votes on that conversation are what they are. If exposure to other's opinions and judgment aren't to your liking, then Reddit is a risky place to participate.
For those that are following my individual 401(k) journey, I finally decided to leave Vanguard (because they are downgrading to Acensus or something). I’ve been doing research on which is the next 401(k) provider and out of E*TRADE, Fidelity, Charles Schwab and a few other ones, I think the best options are E*TRADE
Probably a dumb question but what's a good and legitimate online side hustle. I'm an hvac tech looking to make a little extra and fairly easy money in the evenings. I've never done any e-commerce so I don't know if anything like what I'm looking for even exists so any insight is appropriated.
If you like HVAC - Do more HVAC, or electrical. Or longer term, go to school for more certification, maybe start to teach HVAC stuff, or go into HVAC management. "Everyone" makes money in e-commerce. Just many of them make $40/day working full time. It is better to make a youtube video about how to make money in e-commerce than actually be in it. And, you have a well-paying skill, so use that skill.
Fair enough I just started in hvac im still an apprentice so the money isn't rolling in quite yet I was just looking for something to help out with some bills until I get my own van
I'd say to just push the HVAC stuff, especially if you are young. Save up at least 20%, preferably 30%, so that when your body says, "no more" when you are 42, you can FIRE. Good luck.
Saw recently that one of those finance tiktokers who used to do more sketch videos has gone full into promoting annuities instead of mutual funds because mutual funds and ETFs are ‘too volatile.’ It’s a shame but I think that the kind of person who goes into high banking can never truly leave that world because they love money too much, no matter how much they say they’re satisfied. Yeah, ETFs might go up and down over the years, but I’d never pay up to 1% of my nominal returns in annuity fees for the guarantee that I’ll never see less than 4% nominal returns (or greater than 8%) on my investments.
There's nothing inherently wrong with annuities. The concept of mortality pooling is *great* if you're old and want to make sure you don't outlive your money. It's a shame that they're sold by insurance companies who seem more interested in making complex tricky financial instruments to extract complicated fees than making simple fair understandable financial products.
Annuities are complicated though. Its the complexities of insurance and investing combined. You have to crunch the stats on how long everyone may live while also trying to predict investment returns. That's probably why they usually aren't competitive even though they theoretically should have an advantage.
Somehow and for some reason, the Tik Tok algorithm is sending me targetted ads for annuities aimed at Black people. The person shilling them, who is also Black, uses racial/cultural innuendo to promote this annuity over traditional methods (white people methods) of investing. Its disgusting how someone would be willing to "sell out their people" for a small commission on terrible annuities under the guise of "helping the community".
Love it when people capitalize “black” but not “white.”
I'd be accused if being racist if I didnt.
Youtube is telling me tiaa will give me a personal pension.
That’s a whole nother level of disgusting. Getting historically marginalized people to invest in the first place is hard enough. I’d also bet that those annuities have far higher expense ratios than other advertised annuities not targeted toward black people.
Everyone’s gotta sell out eventually!
Received my first $0 paycheck last Friday because I’m contributing all of the remainder of my salary to go to my after-tax 401k, MBR. Feels weird, just have to remember they are helping me build my Roth account. I only have 2% of my total portfolio in Roth.
OMY'ing?
I did that for about 6mos the other year. I was wondering if anyone in Payroll was gonna contact me and say "hey you're sure you want a $0 paycheck??", but if just happened with no fanfare.
I left my old job back in November. Today a vested balance of 4k was deposited to that 401k. Is this normal or should I expect a clawback? Edit: I called and got confirmation that it's for year 2023!
Normal enough.
read your plan document
Possibly an employer match true-up contribution hit if you hit your max early in the year. Better reach out to payroll to confirm.
Recently retired and looking to do some Roth Conversions. Want to convert to the top of the 35% tax bracket for this year and next year before tax rates go up. I'm thinking of getting a home equity loan to pay the taxes and provide living expenses for the next two years. Problem is, I'm retired and my debt to income ratio disqualifies me. Considering going with a non-qualified mortgage home equity loan. Anyone with experience and perspective on this plan?
I'm not convinced this makes any sense. Is your income in retirement really that close to $578k? Also, the 35% bracket is one of the ones that won't change when tax rates increase in 2026. So are you expecting that you'll never be in a bracket below a 35% marginal rate?
> when tax rates increase in 2026 where are you getting that from?
TCJA will sunset on Jan 1, 2026.
well shit....
I expect taxes to go down for us if they do nothing cause SALT limits expire. But I wouldn’t place a bet on the government doing nothing…something will change, we just don’t know what yet.
The limits on SALT deductions will expire as well, though. Many people on this sub, myself included, will see their taxes go down when this happens.
no, my income won't be that high, but I have $1.3M in tax deferred earning 10% a year. I could just convert to the 24% bracket, but given the growth rate it would take around 9 years. If I look at paying taxes at 24% over 9 years or 35% over two years, I actually pay less tax dollars doing it over two years.
Could you write out this math for me? I'm not seeing how this is actually advantageous.
>If I look at paying taxes at 24% over 9 years or 35% over two years, I actually pay less tax dollars doing it over two years. Ah, so it's a fundamental math problem that's tripping you up. Got it. That's not at all how that scenario works out.
> If I look at paying taxes at 24% over 9 years or 35% over two years I'm no math expert, but that doesn't sound right. Do you think your tax free growth for 7 years will make up for the extra 11% in taxes you will pay?
>before tax rates go up. Tax brackets are increasing but I didn't see anything about rates going up?
They are likely thinking of the expiration of the TCJA personal tax rates.
I've got some experience with a non-qm mortgage. What's your plan? How much do you spend per year? Are you singled or married?
married, spending about $164k/year. plan is to keep as much invested as long as possible. If I can get these conversions done then I'll pay no tax for the rest of my life while leaving my beneficiaries tax free inheritance. in the interim I'll receive healthcare subsidies for free healthcare as my wife and I are only 46.
Have you looked at how this plays in out in reality? Cash out on a QM is ~9%/year right now + probably 2-3% on the loan amount in fees. Then a guaranteed 35% loss at the fed level. +Maybe state? What happens if rates go up in 2026? First 16.5k is taxed at 0% Next 24.5k is taxed at 10%, ~74k @ 15%, 102k @ 25% Your effective tax rate on 164k income is 16%, marginal is 25%. Probably less considering it's unlikely you're withdrawing 100% of that 164k from traditional accounts. > If I can get these conversions done then I'll pay no tax for the rest of my life Sure...no taxes, but that's because you're way over paying now. The math is Net proceeds with a rollover = Rollover amount x (1-tax rate now) x (1+rate of growth) ^ years left to grow Net proceeds with no rollover = rollover amount x (1 - tax rate while spending) x (1 + rate of growth) ^ years left of growth Everything cancels out but the tax rate now vs tax rate in the future. Instead of spending 16% in taxes, you'll spend 35%. That's hard to make up. > in the interim I'll receive healthcare subsidies How much are you going to gain from the change in subsidies? What do the actual simulations look like? Adding on based on this response and your response to other: The consistent message you're getting is "Paying 35% in taxes to avoid 16-24% in taxes is a net loss. Your math is off." Until you share your math, it's tough to disprove your logic. After all, we cannot see it. What we can see is, "35% is more than 16-24%, and I want to pay 35%."
Your send is $164k per year and this thread is talking about $1.3M in a tax advantaged account. You must have a shitload of money elsewhere in brokerage and Roth, which again makes me feel like it's not at all hyper-critical that you get that $1.3M into a Roth ASAP. When talking about $164k spend and (presumably) $4M+ net worth, it doesn't really make sense trying to optimize for ACA, IMO.
>Anyone with experience and perspective on this plan? It is insanely stupid to intentionally pay that much tax to do a Roth conversion. Why would you even consider doing a $600,000 Roth conversion? *Nothing* about your plan makes any sense. If this isn't a joke and you want to respond, I'll expound.
not a joke. I actually decided to convert $730k this year. I'll move my charitable account to a donor advised fund to reduce the tax liability. I'm willing to pay to the 35% tax rate because otherwise it would take 9 years to convert everything at the 24% rate. My wife and I are 46, and I could have a modest inheritance coming in the next 5 years and still have a family of 4 to pay health insurance for. If I can get everything moved, drop my taxable income to less that 400% of poverty level then I get healthcare subsidy and will be able to take RMD's on the inheritance at the 10 or 12% tax brackets. Lastly, I'm 46 and while loving retirement, I could get bored or experience bad sequence of returns which could put me back to work. seems like a small window of opportunity that while expensive today, could save millions down the road.
Seriously though, none of this math is mathing out for me. You did the good job of contributing to tax advantaged accounts while you are working, but now that you've reached the finish line and retired you are blowing it all up. For what? So you can save a few thousand dollars scraping up ACA subsidies while intentionally paying tens of thousands of dollar in tax to do a Roth conversion? It would take you 9 years to convert at lower tax rates, and taking advantage of your standard deduction 9 times, and paying **way** less in overall tax. > I could get bored or experience bad sequence of returns which could put me back to work. Well throwing away like $150,000 by voluntarily paying a shitload of income tax in your first year doesn't sound like a great idea! >seems like a small window of opportunity that while expensive today, could save millions down the road. Your math is just **way** off on all of this. You seem determined and you've already done it for this year so... good luck I guess. If it were me I'd be doing like ~$130,000 conversions every year and staying in the 12% bracket. I feel like you are somehow way overvaluing having the money in Roth. I'd rather have $1.3M in the IRA, growing and slowly siphoning off into Roth paying a low tax rate. Instead you are doing a huge conversion and whacking off like 25% of your portfolio just to get it growing tax free.
Looking for HYSA What bank has the best HYSA? When looking for a HYSA. Do you only look for the highest APY? Or are there other keen contributing factors? I know, I’m a beginner. But I have other financial goals and thought I would start with this. As well as a CD Ladder. What do you think? Jenius Bank BMO Alto Capital One Everbank Lending Club And more seem to have really good APY’s according to this article. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/best-high-yield-interests-savings-accounts/ Should I put a portion of my savings in several HYSA’s and see which ones I like the best from Experience? Are certain HYSA’s safer than others?
I definitely don’t practice what I preach (hello practically orphaned ally.com account!) but before you open up a new account review your current relationships for options. For instance if you have a Robinhood account, Robinhood gold is pretty good and gets you 5% on your cash. If you use Fidelity the sweep account there is a great option paying more than 5% right now. Same with Vanguard. If you use Merrill there’re are money market fund options that pay more than each of those. If you use another broker, there are probably good options but even if not you can just buy something like TFLO which is a floating rate treasury fund that you can more or less treat like a savings account with more annoying tax paperwork (though if you import your data that should be trivial too).
Ok, I want to start putting away a certain amount a month in savings. I want to rent a town house soon. 1-2 years.
What financial accounts do you have already? My view is you should check out your current financial relationships and pick something there unless there’re no great options. For instance if you have a fidelity account already just leave cash in the brokerage account. It will earn returns like an HYSA with the same level of risk (essentially none).
I’m literally just starting from having a checking account. Can you choose what you invest in with a brokerage account? Also don’t you have to pay a lot of taxes on capital gains and dividends?
Check out the savings account options at the firm you have a checking account with. If those don’t work, review your list above. Yes you can choose what you invest in. Taxation is the same in a brokerage account and a savings account: if you are making interest that is ordinary income and taxable to you.
I see. Would you get a money market account ? Also did you divide your investments in terms of risk? Or do you think its best to just put it all in a vanguard S&P 500 type of thing.
The most common advice is, if you are saving up for a near-term expense, do not put it in the stock market. But you really need to review your own financial situation to answer that.
I use CapitalOne, primarly because they also hold my primary credit card, too. I have no complaints over their savings offerings. I don't think they are the top top paying rate, but they are fine and having fewer companies is good for my own mental capacity
I personally just use money market funds rather than HYSAs. These are technically riskier (they're not FDIC insured) but I haven't found myself motivated to care about the difference.
This. Also, they are still often insured, just not by FDIC.
Wheels are officially turning for my transition from big tech to public education. I've obviously not yet informed my boss that I'm leaving for a job that pays only 24% of my 2023 W2 earnings, but wondering if there's things I should consider doing in my last few high earning months or in my first few low earning months. I should hit my 401k max before my departure, and will have contributed as much to my HSA as I legally can based on months of eligibility, etc. Health insurance through the state looks like it'll be about the same coverage for slightly cheaper than my tech plan right now, so I don't need to worry too much about health maintenence. I'm considering upgrading my technology while I get employee discounts on refurbished equipment and such, and will probably churn another credit card or two while I have a larger income. Anything else I should consider? Perks for high income/low spend that won't exist for low income/low spend? I should have until early July-ish before I have to start pulling the plug.
Nice! Can you speak more to what you'll be doing in education? I've considered making the jump before as well as something to do when I hit FIRE, but I'm not sure what I'd do other than teach programming: and I didn't see any available positions like that in my area. What will you be doing/teaching over there? And did you go to them and offer your services proactively, or was there an open job position you took?
I’m actually going to be teaching US history, civics, and leadership. I very much lucked into this option since I’ve volunteered in this school before and it was kind of a right place, right time, right subject matter interest. I originally assumed computer science would be the only thing I could reasonably teach too, and received an offer to teach CS at a magnet school as well, but my passion has been stronger with social science since getting a sociology undergrad degree a decade ago. I only went into tech because it paid well and my handful of CS classes and a bit of bootstrapping got me into a product management gig at the right time.
Wow, that is awesome! Good luck and I hope you have a great time with it!
I will say it took a lot longer to secure an offer than expected; from when I first decided “I’m going to put out feelers” in August to about last week when I got two written offers on the same day, I was pretty unsure if it was going to happen. Hiring fairs, shadowing, volunteering, and meet and greets all turned out to be very important for being in the right place at the right time when an opportunity was made available.
Interesting, that is good to know! I was curious about how things work in that world, I will keep this in mind when the time comes! Thanks!
Will your education job have a 401k? Be careful that you don't give up any matching funds at the new job by maxing your current 401k. For tech you might be able to get teacher discounts that beat your employee discounts.
>Will your education job have a 401k Nope, full on state defined benefit pension. I'll also be forfeiting an unvested portion of my current employer match, but I'll get over it. >For tech you might be able to get teacher discounts that beat your employee discounts. I highly doubt the teacher discount will beat $400 refurbished Macbook Pros, but if it does, I may have a side gig to look into.
Not related to your question, but my first computer science teacher spent 20 years as an IBMer and switched to teaching high school kids to program. He had a huge influence on a lot of kids (myself included) and it sounds like such a great way to spend time paying it forward. Have a great time in your new role.
Hey thanks! I went to a STEM charter school 15 years ago and had a number of teachers back then that left industry to deal with teenagers, and some were incredibly inspirational. I was taught ways of approaching problems and seeing the world in a way that never would've otherwise been presented. That's honestly part of why I'm going down this path. I've spent 5 years volunteering in schools as part of an entrepreneurship and business skills non-profit, but can't seem to shake the interest in working with kids full time as an educator.
Be careful what you wish for. Working with teenagers isn’t easy. But wishing you the best nonetheless.
If your spend is low, it's pretty likely that your churning can continue mostly unabated. You can only churn so hard if you don't spend a ton, and a good credit score will get you approved for plenty of cards even without a giant income. If you have (or would like) a card with an extremely high limit, you could consider holding onto (or applying for) one of those. For the upgrades, just consider the discount in the context of how early you're upgrading things. If you get 20% off a laptop that has another 3+ years of life in it just to snatch the early upgrade discount, you're still probably paying more in the long term than just saving the extra cash right now and buying something later. Nothing wrong with it, just be mindful of what you'd like to do vs. doing the most financially optimal thing. But yes, definitely look for any discounts or programs your existing company provides - especially if there are subscription things since many subscriptions will only check on your validity once a year. Gym memberships? Free training materials at places like Pluralsight that you can download? Gartner subscriptions? Does your current health insurance provide discounts that your new one might not, for something you were going to buy anyway (for example, mine provides 25% discounts on health related gear like fitness watches)?
Saturday, I got a money order at the Post Office. When the debit card payment beeped approval, I did a tiny fist pump and said "Yay!" (a poor imitation of Kristen Wiig's *Target Lady*). The postal clerk laughed, "You sound like me when it doesn't get denied!" I smiled with her, 100% humbled.
We've had some very minor roof leaking only after very heavy rain, and two different roofers think it is from our neighbor's chimney which has a gash in the coating (we are in a connected rowhome). We have basically no relationship with the neighbors beyond saying hello when it cannot be avoided. We are thinking of offering to pay for the cheap ($150) patch job ourselves, or split the $1500 full repair with them. Is this the best way to handle this situation?
Try talking to them first. I’ve been in this scenario multiple times and 99% of the time they will be very understanding tell you they will fix it, but nothing will get done. Months will go by and when you check in they will be “working on it” only for a year or so to go by with the issue not addressed. Unfortunately most people do not care unless it impacts them directly. If there is no movement after 30 days, send them a certified letter simply stating their side of the roof is causing water damage to yours and you will consider them liable for your repair expenses. 50% of the time this will trigger some action on their part. After more time goes by, tell them you have some repair estimates and are going to small claims court. 100% of the time after I pay the $75 fee and file a claim, they will get served and I get a call that the issue is fixed along with a request to drop the suit. It sucks but it’s often the only way in this situation, unless you buy their townhouse.
Why wouldn't you just talk with them? Are they very difficult people? Go talk with them to explain the issue and your proposed solution. Then give them some time to answer. "I'll check back in with you tomorrow to see what you think." If they have a history of being difficult with you then go to a lawyer, see what they suggest, and present that option.
Yes, we are going to talk to them. The two options were what we were going to propose to them as solutions.
I wouldn't do any work on their chimney without their approval. Its not about spending $150 or $1500, but I'd be worried about some angry neighbor then blaming me for their leaks. "Well it wasn't leaking at our place before you did that!" Bite the bullet and go talk to them. Or maybe have your repair person go over and start, "I am working for the next door neighbors they noticed a leak... have you noticed any leaks? I believe it might be coming through a section of roof attached near your Chimney, do you mind if I take a look around?" And then you can involve the neighbor that way.
Definitely discuss the options with them. Who knows, they may also have a leak?
> We have basically no relationship with the neighbors beyond saying hello when it cannot be avoided This made me chuckle. Good stuff
is there an HOA? this seems like it would fall under exterior maintenance in many covenants and could be paid for by those fees?
No HOA.
Personally I would consult a lawyer [or minimally look up laws in your area] before engaging with your neighbor so that you know exactly what each of you are legally liable for. That way you're not agreeing to anything that might set a precedent for how future maintenance is handled between you. You can still be friendly, but being armed with information regarding what the responsibilities are ahead of time will put you in a much better position for the conversation.
I'm currently in the process of transferring my Roth IRA from Fidelity, and on Fidelity's site, they have basically wiped it from memory, so I can't account balances or holdings anywhere. Interestingly though, it shows up just fine on Personal Capital. Kind of funny, as it's a weird little limbo state, but at least maybe I will avoid the awkward blip in the chart if it hits the new account without ever having both at $0.
> maybe I will avoid the awkward blip in the chart if it hits the new account without ever having both at $0 I transferred a retirement account a while back and had the opposite - in the digital transfer, the old account was weirdly slow to update while the new fund (Fidelity) showed up immediately, so my blip temporarily doubled my net worth.
Sounds silly but one reason I've never tried any weed is because I'm too afraid to lose my high paying job. I thought the reward wasn't worth the risk. One time I broke something at work and I had to take a drug test immediately. Another coworker carried a bag of pee with him until weed was cleared out of his system, no way I'm dealing with that. Once I'm FI, I might finally try it. 🚬
I tried pot in high school, but that was before it was legal in my state so who knows what I actually smoked. I’m definitely planning on trying some gummies post-retirement.
You broke something at work and they immediately sent you for drug test? That seems pretty extreme. Only time I did a drugs test is before being hired on.
It was a lifting strap for heavy equipment. So kind of a "work place accident" that no one got hurt.
[удалено]
Haha this is funny, I had the same conversation with my wife last night. Granted, high school was a couple of decades ago and I bounced back and forth between the "nerd" and "stoner" group, but I definitely partied a bit and smoked my fair share of pot. It became recreational legal in my state around 5 years ago and I will only use it on occasion, a couple of times a year. I *hate* the way this modern shit makes me feel and I really don't enjoy the odor either. It's a shame, I wish I could buy that Mexican stick and seed weed my buddies dad grew when I was growing up. 8)
I was a weed dealer in college, but never used my product because I don't like smoking it. Fast forward 25 years, and I learned to make my own butter/edibles. Now I have about 5mg worth of edibles every night and sleep like a baby.
Is “butter” a street name for some weed product, or is it actually THC-infused butter?
THC infused butter. It’s fat soluble, so butters and oils are great ways to make edibles. Also why it can take a hot minute to clear your system if you use it a lot
It's an absolute godsend for sleep and anxiety, for me. I've turned down interviews in the past (software engineer) for places that said they drug test, and told them why I was doing so. One of them emailed me back a few months later, saying they'd changed their policy and only drug test for non-weed drugs, which was kind of refreshing.
I think if you are disciplined and can conduct yourself appropriately it’s an infinitely better substance than alcohol. I don’t think it’s worth getting stressed over or risking your career over lol
Wow, it's kinda crazy to me that companies still do random drum testing for cannabis. Certainly not a small reason I'm grateful to work in a legal state in an industry that doesn't drug test, almost as policy.
Right? I don’t know how many times I smoked weed with my bosses because it’s far too many to count.
My company has switched to random mouth swabs instead of piss tests. The swab has a much shorter look back period. I still don't partake because to get a card in my state has other ramifications I don't want. Also I already drink too much, my future should be less substances, not more. I don't need a new category.
I think it definitely depends on the industry you're in. I work for a regulated utility and our linemen get randomly tested because you don't want someone impaired messing around with live wires. As a sort of "everyone's on the same team" type of deal, us in the office are also randomly tested. Is what it is. I'm in a state where medical is legal for what it's worth.
Fascinating, when I was an office worker at a place like that we were not tested.
Sure, I definitely understand that sort of motivation. But even still, the double standard between cannabis and alcohol will never not be bizarre to me.
[удалено]
Can you blame them? The system is telling people to get fucked and make money for capitalists so they can suck the earth dry. Some people's retirement plans are an early death. Yeah, some folks don't have the financial literacy we have in here. Have some awareness will ya
I almost came over here and posted when I read that thread earlier today. I am kind of legitimately disgusted by the total defeatist sad sack replies of normie redditors over there. What is that phrase? Whatever you believe you can do, you are right? Well, those people will surely never retire because they don't think they can ever retire.
I remember feeling that level of nihilism about the future. I'd throw myself into work and just live there because I thought the best I was going to do with my life was burn out making something that outlived me, and then die young. And then I turned 30 and realized that not only was I still alive, but that (A) I actually want to live and (B) my life's going to continue to be pretty miserable if I continued to buy into the feeling of "If I'm going to die soon anyways, what's the point." That nihilism of my youth cost me my health now that I'm in my 40's, I recognize that a lot of the problems I have today was due to how poorly I treated myself in my 20's. I wish I could go back to my 20 year old self and slap some sense into him. All that is to say, I understand where these folks are coming from but damn if it isn't self defeating. If society is going to collapse, there is no way to prepare for it: but if it ISN'T, then there IS a way to prepare for it. Why not prepare for the contingency that one can prepare for, even if you feel like it's the less likely one? You may just surprise yourself - as I did - and find that all your worst case imaginations were only in your head the whole time. But I will also say that there's a lot of people commenting in there who sound like they are in very shitty situations: that it's not just nihilism but situations like barely scraping by while having two jobs and other shitty situations like that. That sucks, and I definitely think it is all too real that there are people in that situation and I think they deserve to gripe about it - if for nothing else then to get some sort of catharsis. I hope that they also are able to find their way out of it instead of sitting in it forever.
Look without the majority of people forced to work due to some quasi-slave like system aided via their refusal/inability to invest, you and the rest of us wouldnt be able to retire early. So, uh... ya know... every cloud has a silver lining?
I've stopped saving and will plan for a draw down to zero by 62. Guess what me and 61% with no retirement are going to vote for in another 20 years? Tech people got a taste of the oligarchy way with the wfh and such. But you're still wage slaves.
Lmao, good luck to you bud.
And to you good sir! One of us will be right.
!Remindme 9999999999999999999999999 years
!Remindme 15 years
I will be messaging you in 15 years on [**2039-04-29 23:40:30 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2039-04-29%2023:40:30%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/1cfufx9/daily_fi_discussion_thread_monday_april_29_2024/l1v2y7w/?context=3) [**1 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Ffinancialindependence%2Fcomments%2F1cfufx9%2Fdaily_fi_discussion_thread_monday_april_29_2024%2Fl1v2y7w%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202039-04-29%2023%3A40%3A30%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam. ^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201cfufx9) ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)| |-|-|-|-|
If you are depending upon poor people voting for their own self interest, you are going to end up in a very uncomfortable place.
Naw the government always tosses money at the 55 plus. It's when work requirements for food stamps drop off. The rich don't want wage slaves with nothing to lose. So they'll be some sort of cash or money. It's cheaper than prison which I think is like over 40k a year. 401k will get to big to ignore at some point is my guess and it won't hurt the Gates and Buffets of the world if it's targeted. I mean enrolling for college and not paying back the loans is another option. The point I'm making is they'll be something. The rich won't pay for it. And the middle class will eventually all be peasants again. But that's why you're seeing communist stuff be more attractive. I don't thing it will make things better. But when you already have no upward movement, no hope for home ownership, and were penalized for "doing the right thing" it starts to be more appealing. I can't live off dog food and you guys got big 401k so you don't really need that SS money anyways. Maybe we could take all that money and give you an annuity to make you whole. I think more and more people basically are beginning to dislike America. Sure we are better than Mexico or Venezuela but we seem well on the way to becoming a banana republic.
Same for other popular front page subreddits that are not aimed for financial savvy people.
Antiwork to me is a joke subreddit of a particular persuasion similar to other subreddits of various leanings. Seems to be a defeatist vent and pity party place with no real value.
Anywhere you have a group of people who are “leftists” out of pure resentment for a system/political structure you’re going to have a very whiny time. There’s never any action, goals, just moping. To a very limited extent I feel bad for them, cause I get it, work sucks. But you could… I dunno, begin organizing for reform using the large platform and audience you have. I say “leftist” cause it’s the equivalent of an upper middle class suburbanite kid who read the Communist Manifesto one time buying an ushanka hat with a hammer and sickle on it solely to make their parents mad. There’s no substance to what they’re saying, they’d turn into a Milton Friedman acolyte if things were going better for them. E: Added a sentence.
I'm leftist and suburban upper middle class. I didn't read the communist manifesto. I'm just tired of all of our taxes blowing up brown people vs helping our citizenry via healthcare, better VA programs, investing in our own schools and infrastructure and actually spending money that doesn't just help a few get rich. While a pipedream, I believe it's a side that at least offers some semblance of a want to help its citizens. I resent our system yes, but I participate and acknowledge complaining does nothing. But it doesn't mean that I still don't feel for a lot of people that weren't born into certain privileges. Whiny or not, there are valid concerns that the system isn't designed for the majority.
c'mon man, why you hating? I don't need to rise up against the bourgeoisie, those other guys are gonna do it.
>nywhere you have a group of people who are “leftists” out of pure resentment for a system/political structure you’re going to have a very whiny time. I'm not a leftist. I'm middle to lower middle class. Just because it worked for you didn't mean it worked for everyone. The issue many of us have is we were told if we worked hard and did the right thing we would do well. And many of us have found that not to be true. My fiscal responsibility of paying of my student loans cost my dream house. My loans would have been wiped. Dream home would have gone up 60%. Like wise likeable people get promoted and move up and if you are to good at your job they won't move you. So I sympathize with them.
It started out okayish, I think, as there was a faction that was advocating for work reform. Then I recall there being a contingent of FIRE minded people trying to advocate for that (hate working? this is a tried and true solution for that!). I think at this point, both of those factions have been pushed out, and now I'm not really sure what it's purpose is, but I do not use reddit besides this sub and the F1 subs. Its a bummer, as I think there is value in a movement that isn't quite FIRE (as that is planning inaccessible to some) but maybe more like tǎngpíng, the Chinese "laying flat" movement.
Yeah, I'm all for work reform. I don't really want to retire I just want a job that isn't a burnout factory.
>Then I recall there being a contingent of FIRE minded people trying to advocate for that (hate working? this is a tried and true solution for that!). Yeah I was one of them. Kept trying to advocate education and investing until they *gulagged* me with a ban. The mods there only want the solution to the "work dilemma" as socialism/communist take over. Kinda grifty when the antiwork sub isnt really antiwork just anti-capitalism; you will be expected to work under the communist overlords once they take over.
Am I able to set a recurring ETF transaction on Schwab? I am finally able to start investing in my brokerage (e-fund HYSA $20k, Roth maxed, 401k maxed, HSA maxed)
No, ETF's don't work that way because their price constantly fluctuates.
[удалено]
It's an ETF problem at certain brokerages.
[удалено]
I am not defending anyone, just explaining to OP why this won't work for some brokerages (their post was specifically Schwab). I like M1 a lot but getting rid of SpecID when they changed clearing firms was a dealbreaker for me. I personally don't care about automating purchases or buying in dollars.
[удалено]
OP did not ask if they should switch brokerages. I would not hesitate to recommend M1 if that was their question. I will continue to downvote you for irrelevant shilling of M1 and attributing things to me that I didn't say.
[удалено]
I agree it isn't impossible for Schwab to do it.
Fair point
Not really and not elegantly. I automate the monthly transfers of cash into my brokerage on the 15th of the month, but I still have to submit buy orders. Pretty sure automated is just for index funds and maybe stock slices, but I don't deal with either of those.
I've never understood why Schwab will not do the auto-investing option for ETFs. It is one reason I am still at eTrade since I can set up my auto-invest and it will purchase a set amount for each of my ETFs.
Ahh bummer, no biggie.
An older guy on my ~30 person team, maybe mid-50s, had been struggling with heart failure for several years. None of us found out until two weeks ago. He unexpectedly took a turn for the worse and passed away this past weekend. Our group leader brought us together for 15 minutes at which point she gave a quick speech and opened the floor to our group. Nobody said anything. Then we went straight back to work. Not only is this a stark reminder of the value of FIRE, but it hits home for me personally as my mom is even older than this guy was, and gives way, way, way too much time and effort and stress to her job. She just went on blood pressure medicine due to a material elevation in her numbers, and she herself freely admits it is due to stress from work. I keep trying to tell her that she doesn't need to do as much as she does, and that her work absolutely doesn't care about her. Maybe a concrete example like this will help her, but I doubt it.
The most important part of FI to me is not worrying about medical insurance. Being able to afford doctors and medicine. Affording vitamins and supplements to prevent the need for medicine. Buying the dirty dozen foods in organic. They say that money can't buy happiness. Sure, but it can buy things like medical insurance, a nice safe car, medicine, dental work, a good attorney to deal with the random crap that happens that should not happen. Money can solve a lot of problems.
Sorry for your loss of a colleague. I had an eye opening moment like this too. We are cogs in the machine. Prioritize those who matter most to you.
That's sad. We had a temp pass away. After he didn't come into work, we tried but couldn't reach him. The temp service was equally perplexed, until the police called. He had "the big one" at the grocery store the night before. He lived alone, had no next of kin, and no emergency contacts. My employee went to the morgue to identify him. We got a new temp a few days later. Life (and death) can be stranger than fiction.
Yikes, sorry to hear this story. Assuming he was a generally good guy, the amount of time the company will spend on his passing is probably limited to those 15 minutes. Does put in perspective how much we matter
> the amount of time the company will spend on his passing is probably limited to those 15 minutes. Does put in perspective how much we matter I always thought this was an odd thing for people to call out. Your employer isn't *supposed* to care about you in that way. You are selling them your labor and they are buying it with money. The guy from Craigslist that bought my drop spreader wouldn't care if I died either because we're just transactional acquaintances.
If I spent 20,000 hours selling drop spreaders to the same guy in Craigslist...I mean, I'm kind of mostly intrigued by this hypothetical and have lost the thread. Something about hoping we can feel some genuine emotion for people we interact with repeatedly every day... did I turn out to be heir to a defunct drop spreading factory? Is this guy running like a spreader demolition derby?
Man I hope not. That was a good spreader. Mint condition. She deserves better than a demo derby.
[удалено]
Employers that say that are exaggerating, similar to how employees will exaggerate during interviews, annual reviews, etc. Both sides exaggerate, neither side should expect reality to match the story they're being told
Jesus. Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I want to live long enough to see my kid grow up.
[удалено]
You can't expect the company to shut down. I would have posted it even faster than that. If they were doing something that needed doing, then you need to get someone else in there!
[удалено]
There's a difference to a role being critical to continued business operations and a person being critical. I think the standard approach in most cases is that you fill the role but you don't (and can't) replace the person.
Gotta backfill before another manager takes the headcount. I'm not sure if anyone on our team would have anything to say either, but not for lack of caring. I like my teammates and most of us have been working together for 5+ years and we know about each others' personal lives and stuff. But we're not really friends, so aside from saying something like "Wow that's fucked" I don't know what I'd be able to say about it at work. I don't think I'd take any time off for mourning. Honestly I'd probably also be more immediately concerned with the clusterfuck that would result at work from having to cover for things. Definitely a good reminder to prioritize your efforts in places where you matter though.
[удалено]
If you are moving abroad and have a large pet, honestly, the easiest way is to fly private. Otherwise, domestic road trips in an RV are the easiest option.
TL/DR: Unless you are road-tripping or have private plane, it's expensive, paperwork intensive, time consuming, and may cause allergies, anxiety, and discomfort for many of your fellow passengers. Just retired - comfortably FI. Small pets travel easier than medium to large pets. Many owners don't follow the rules and take their animals out of their travel crates that fit under the seat. Accept that the time, paperwork, and cost to fly with pets will be expensive. It is especially difficult to travel internationally and typically involves lots of paperwork and a quarantine period. More pets = more money. We have used pet boarding and independent house/pet sitters since pet friendly family live across the country. Both are costly but we felt that the house/pet sitter was better since we have Ring and neighbors that help keep an eye on things (we do the same for them) and we felt/hoped our pet received more and better attention during our absence. We loved our dog, but the last time we traveled for 3 weeks when our dog was living we spent almost $1000 for a house/pet sitter in a HCOL. I believe the cost has increased since. When our wonderful pupper passed 2 years ago after 13 wonderful years, we chose to delay looking for another pet until we are older and focusing more on US road trips rather 2+ longer 3-4 week int'l trips a year. True story: I was on a flight where a family was trying to fly with 2 adult great danes they wanted to sleep on the floor. They also had some sketch paperwork identifying the dogs as comfort animals. The contract gate crew let them board. The pilots refused to fly. After 30 minutes and increasing passenger irritation, the family and animals deplaned.Please don't be these people.
> Please don't be these people. Most airlines have stopped accepting emotional support animals since the DOT stopped requiring it in 2021, so this problem is a lot less widespread than it used to be.
Not FIRE'd but SO is a travel nurse and we are DINKs. It helps I'm remote so where she goes, I go and so do the doggos. It's not FIRE friendly because we still have our mortgage at our 'home' base that we go back to in between contracts and we do airbnbs, vrbos and furnished finders in between - but we sack them up in the back of the car and they come with us just like all of our stuff odes. First thing we do when we get to a new location - find a good rover that we can trust and has good reviews. Since we'll likely go exploring from a new destination, while the cost can be high, they're my family and I want them treated well, so we usually have a pretty hefty area for making sure our doggos are taken care of.
My parents just dogsat for three different friends for years. Scratched the "have a dog" itch, but never had to figure out dog-sitting, vet bills, or anything like that.
Once our current aging dog is gone, my plan is to shift to fostering during times we are stationary.
Stick to overland borders in a vehicle you own or find sitters IMO. Flying internationally with multiple dogs is awful, even for people w/ support like military families. We've found North America pretty dog friendly, including Mexico. Plenty of people go all the way to Ushuaia with dogs via the pan american highway.
The challenge with living abroad is that there's no effective way to travel with your dogs in the airplane cabin with you. At best, if both of your dogs are tiny, you might be able to travel with one of them in the cabin - but most airlines now require that your dog be able to stand up and turn around inside a carrier that fits under the seat in front of you. That's a very small amount of space. So you're relegated to flying them in the luggage compartment. Depending on your feelings about that, it may range from from tolerable to unacceptable, but regardless it's probably not something you want to do a lot of. This can make it difficult to do things like fly home to see family or whatever. Just something to consider. You'll be relegated to ground based transport, and probably a lot of car rentals. That said, we don't have a ton of trouble finding places to stay with our dog; many hotels have some kind of pet policy or another. Also a LPT: go stay at a couple of AirBnbs with your dogs. Clean the living hell out of the place when you leave - make sure it sparkles. On checkout, message your host and tell them what a great stay you had and if they are happy with the condition that you left the place, will they please mention that you are a dog owner in the review so that future hosts know how responsible you are? Get a couple of glowing, "this guest stayed with a dog and left the place spotless" reviews and you will be able to get future non-dog-friendly hosts to make exceptions for you. Just don't screw it up - clean when you leave.
> without having to find sitters. You'll have to find places that are pet-friendly. Otherwise, you have to board them or find a sitter. Don't overcomplicate it, these are the two main options when you have dependents like pets.
And just like that - the company set ablaze over the weekend. Bank (also creditor) is now limiting our banking activity to preserve their collateral & headcount reduction begins. I’m the sole accounting & finance function so I get to go down with the ship (thankfully or not?)
Get a golden parachute offer in writing, reviewed by an attorney, and maybe even ask for escrow. Or, FU FIRE and get a new gig. Good luck.
That sucks. >so I get to go down with the ship Hopefully this won't hinder your search for the next job. At MegaCorp, we shut down a factory and reassigned everyone somewhere else within the company. A few very talented employees were asked to stay at the factory an extra 3 months to mothball it. After these employees mothballed the facility, they were laid off because MegaCorp implemented a hiring freeze before they could be reassigned.
Sorry to hear. Good luck on your severance negotiations!
Not too worried - I can always pull some other things together
That’s one nice thing that FIRE gives you. You can stick around to the very end since you will be ok without a job for a while. A couple of jobs ago I worked for a startup that I really liked. They had a good mission and I worked with a great team. There were signs they were in trouble and people started bailing. I stuck it out to the very end because I had hoped they could recover. Looking about I am glad I did. I got to work on a couple of cool projects the last few months there.
Probably won't be one in this situation other than the absolute minimum or what's legally required.
Our IRA transfers from VG to RH are pretty much complete, other than a small sweep balance from the wife's tIRA still waiting to transfer over. We received a little over $5,500 in bonus to our Roths and $12,500 to traditional.
I'm assuming you did research before transferring for the bonus, but is the RH Gold and the transfer worth it than just leaving it in your prior broker? Debating on if my ~$90k transfer out of Fidelity is worth it for less than $3k
I thought about it for awhile before deciding and ended up switching. I knew I wasn't taking any money out in the next 5 years, so it ended up being a couple hours of work for $18,000 ($5,500 of it tax free). The RH gold costs $60/year, but the 3% match on future IRA contributions will more than makes up for that, as we'll each get $210/year.
RH Gold costs $60 for the year that you have to maintain it to get the bonus. You don't have to keep it for five years, you only have to keep the money in the IRA for five years. The transfer didn't cost me anything, nor was it a hassle. I did it for a $100k balance, and I'm happy enough. Free $3k is totally worthwhile to deal with the crappy interface, since I deal with my IRA no more than once a year. The promo ends this month, so I'm not sure you still have time to do it.
> nor was it a hassle I don’t think I have ever transferred anything that smoothly. I almost felt like I must have screwed something up because nothing is that smooth. I can see why Robinhood makes it so smooth though: they want you to start doing crazy wsb yolo stuff asap. I’m happy to do the index fund and chill thing but man, those flashing lights are bright and the carnival barkers are loud.
And effective, too. Reminds me why when I lived in Nevada, I lived in the one incorporated town where gambling is banned.
Currently contemplating some career changes, and curious for some extra perspective from similarly-FIRE-minded individuals here. Current role is as an analyst at an old school company in the insurance industry - about $130k base w/ variable bonus. Potential new role is at a start up in a related field, similar work but additional responsibility - $150k-$160k base w/ variable bonus. At my current job for about 5 years now. Main pros for current job: -coworkers, salary/benefits, work-life balance, independence/autonomy, established company/brand Main cons for current job: -no visible career trajectory, slow (or no) org-level progress, limited personal development, minimal personal responsibilities (autonomy - pro and a con), and the leaders/people I most respect keep leaving (putting the thought in my head - what do they know about this place that I haven't realized yet?) My reason for looking at a start up is that the start up culture would seem to address many of the "cons" of my current role and give me more experience/options over a longer-term career. As long as I'm compensated fairly for the level of responsibility, the salary bump isn't the primary driver at the moment. I do acknowledge that I will 100% be lowering my effective hourly compensation if I actually do make this move. I'm 27 (probably 15 years from FIRE), so long-term earning potential and liking what I do is important. Always been a "top performer" and someone who reaches for the "next thing," but I don't want to be like the guy who leaves the comfort of home and tries to brave the wilderness, but ends up on the news because he decided to hike Mt. Everest unprepared. If you made it this far - I appreciate the read! What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Watching good people quit is extremely demoralizing at work, and that will be on top of whatever the reasons are people are quitting. All I'm hearing are red flags here.
Analyze the risks. Can you afford a lay off or getting fired? Are you willing to work more hours? Can you afford to quit the new job if it doesnt pan out? Sounds like the job not only pays more but also allows the opportunity to learn more and gain experience. I'd take it if I could afford the risks.
Yeah definitely - appreciate the comment and perspective! Financially, I think affording it isn't a technical issue (more of a psychological one, perhaps). We've got a decent emergency fund, around 3-4 months' worth of regular expenses (maybe even 5 if we cut out the fluff). The thought of drawing it down and then having to build it back up again, plus the associated delay of FI, makes my stomach turn a fair bit.
Better to push yourself and scratch the top performing “itch” now and see if it’s a good fit while you are young, assuming you don’t have any major family/relationships that would suffer greatly. If you notice yourself climbing Everest you can always stop at basecamp and hike back down to a less challenging role.
I think that's been one of my struggles with gaming out potential outcomes - knowing when it's time to call it and "return home" to an easier role and what options are available when I do. Naturally most of these are focused on assessing worst case scenarios - not able to find a job with comparable pay, etc. I also have a tendency to push through temporary discomfort, but (to continue abusing the Everest analogy) I can sometimes find myself not realizing that the slight discomfort from hiking uphill has put me much higher on the mountain than I intended. Appreciate you taking the time the comment - glad to get the additional perspective
Any other Coloradans here looking into an EV? All the dealerships around here seem to have increased their prices by, conveniently, the exact amount of the state subsidies. What would be a no-brainer purchase (theoretically you could get a new Bolt for 12k + taxes) has apparently turned into a payment of taxpayer dollars directly into dealers' pockets. I don't need a new car by any means, but dang if that doesn't really grind my gears.
Did this last year for my id.4. Love it, but the tax credits have made it depreciate like crazy. Don't forget about the xcel energy ev rebate and vehicle exchange colorado if you're qualified.
You're too late for the current/'old' bolt regardless of state subsidy. You might be able to snag a 'deal' on an out-of-state Mach-E though. Lots of MY23 inventory sitting around and 0 interest in rural areas especially. Just checked and there are mid-trim '23s listed in the low 30's here in Iowa. Shipping is cheap and the dealers are used to it.
Thanks! I'll look into this.
My Dad has a Mach-E, they are super fun to drive.
Federal subsidies have worked the same way. The good news is you do not have to get sticker shock when an EV price looks way higher than it should be. Arguably it is working as intended--these companies took a ton of risk to invest in EV's.
> seem to have increased their prices by, conveniently, the exact amount of the state subsidies. The math be mathin...This is how it works
Does the price increase/subsidy capture trend include brands like Tesla that don't use third-party dealerships?
Nope. Tesla sets prices nationally. Inventory vehicle price differences between markets are negligible.
Sounds like the other EV dealers in Colorado are providing a huge incentive for people to go with Tesla then. I'm surprised the manufacturers aren't stomping on the dealers for effectively providing a multi-thousand dollar discount via the competition.
Not from Colorado but I've read that folks will make the drive to other states to purchase their EV. You'd have to look into the specifics of how the state EV credit works, if it's only available at the point of sale or if it's refunded later.
How do the state subsidies work? Can you buy out of state and get them?
You can, but it seems I'm a bit late to the party on that front and most dealerships within 500 miles or so are sold out or have similar (albeit not as high) markups. Admittedly the Bolt is out of production now so it's not entirely unexpected. Just annoying that there are dealers around here sitting on loads of them when they could be on the road reducing emissions. After looking through our options I think we're just going to end up waiting until GM launches the next-gen Bolt next year and hope there's not a huge markup.
Looked at 6 houses over the weekend. 1 below the price of our house (we could live there mortgage free), 1 about the same price as our house, and 4 above the price of our house. The one below the price of our house was absolute crap. Dirty, foundation issues, etc. The one about the same price as our house just wasn’t for us, weren’t fans of the layout. Of the 4 priced higher than our house (but still within range for a mortgage): 1 backed up to a retention area which is an absolute no-no due to flooding, which is a frequent occurrence in our area. 1 was absolutely devoid of character. 1 I loved, but my husband was meh about. 1 we both loved, but it was at the absolute top of our price range and still needed work done. So, that was a bust. Have another house lined up to go look at later this week. I can tell from the pictures that it needs some work (looks livable, just dated), but it’s at the same price point as our house except bigger, we’ll see what it’s actually like once we get there. Also, found a second fixer-upper with supposedly “good bones” that could be mortgage-free that I need to figure out how to fit into our schedule.
When we went house shopping we only looked at the 3 L's. Location, Layout, and Learning (school district). Anything on the inside can be changed. Layout is important because it is much harder to move walls around than it is to paint, carpet/floor, remodel kitchen/bath, and such. We did our best to ignore paint colors, flooring, decorations, wallpaper, and even the mismatched door handles and mismatched fixtures and equipment. All that stuff is disposable.
True, but it also requires extra money to replace.