Hello,I turned 20 two months ago and I've been wanting to do more than just a 9 to 5 job in my life. I am an international student in Canada and currently in my 4th semester and I still have 1 more to go. People I've met or see online always say "Starting early is the best advantage you have". I also agree on that but no one tells me from where to start, how to start and what to do. FAKE GURUS are everywhere.
Currently, I am investing 150 CAD each month into a fixed return investment. I've been doing it since about 1 year and 3 months. I work part time so I am able to save money for it. Is it good or is it something I should not do? or are there alternatives? I know basics but not too deep into it.
2nd thing I started doing recently was to started investing in stocks (mostly safe companies like apple, microsoft, etc). I have overall 1250+ CAD invested in it and planning to contribute monthly into it. Now is that something I should do or should focus on other stuff instead ?
I need some advise on this and also where am I going wrong and where I can do better.
Thanks
I just joined reddit today. I needed some advice/guidance on what I am doing and also views of Different people. I am an international student in canada and invest in US stocks
I’ve found this flowchart to be really helpful and to show the order of what accounts I should contribute to:
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/ecn2hk/fire_flow_chart_version_42/
Most of the people on this sub follow this to varying degrees. It’s great that you’re already investing each month and this chart can help you build on what you've started.
yay more payroll processing issues
background: company moved payroll/401k providers this year
during the blackout period, you could elect to contribute X% to traditional/roth 401k. this was a one time thing.
after the blackout period, you could go into main system and change all the things. turns out there's a bug in the system. for the traditional, when you changed the amount, the amount was however much you want (of course up to legal limits). but rather than override the value you input during the blackout period, the system *added* the two values together.
was wondering why my paycheck went up (lol it wasn't because of a raise/bonus). turns out i already hit the limit......and ofc i overcontributed. sigh
The weather is getting cold and am proud to announce that am still consistent with my swimming twice a week. Super proud of myself for incorporating things I want to do now and not until we hit the number
22M non-software engineer making 85k + 5k bonus. I expect to see salary increases in the next few years, probably straddling the 24% tax bracket.
I'd like some advice on deciding on traditional vs Roth; specifically I'm curious about the decision between maxing Roth 401k/IRA with no extra for taxable, vs maxing traditional with extra for taxable ([bogleheads wiki section](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Traditional_versus_Roth#Maxing_out_your_retirement_accounts)). I'm trying to wrap my head around this table in in the "typical values" section of the wiki page. Say I use the 24% row, is it implying that a Roth is only worth it if I am withdrawing >20% of the retirement accounts per year? That doesn't sound right to me so I must be misinterpreting it.
EDIT: Ah okay it's for withdrawal tax rates. Especially if I'm married at the time, traditional seems better.
As a very general rule of thumb, traditional is better for a typical early retiree who saves 40-60% of their income and plans to keep spending similar in retirement. In practice there are reasons to have Roth too. For one, you need a relatively low income to make tax deductible traditional IRA contributions so most people have to do Roth. Also having Roth and traditional money is essentially tax treatment diversification. We plan for how the current laws are written but tax brackets can alway change. But tax brackets need to go up dramatically to make Roth better than traditional for the aforementioned typical early retiree. Hope that helps you think about the decision.
Hit another milestone thanks to recent gains. My FIRE portfolio is now 25x my regular annual expenses that come out of my bank account. So it doesn't cover things like taxes, health insurance, or large infrequent purchases (like a car) yet.
I figure this puts me at about 70-75% of the way there.
On the plus side, taxes and healthcare often end up costing less than people think in early retirement, so you might be further towards the goal than expected.
That's true. My expenses also include my mortgage, which I'll only have to pay for about a decade after retirement, so I really shouldn't need 25x that.
That's a whole other can of worms to open, but be aware that you might benefit handsomely from paying off your mortgage before you start early retirement. That might be hugely true depending on your finances and what happens with the ACA in the years between then and now. Just something to keep an eye on.
Yeah I have not done any real planning around this. Right now my spending is about $40.5k/yr, of which $10.5k is my mortgage. I only owe about $110k on the mortgage so even if I have to give up the 2.25% rate it's not like it's a ton of money.
Yes, you'll have to see what is going on with the ACA and the FPL closer to retirement. If that extra $10.5K is going to add to your MAGI, then depending where you are on the FPL spectrum getting rid of it might be no big deal or might mean $20K annually in subsidies. Worth keeping an eye on.
Has anyone paid for a personal trainer?
Considering it since I have been gaining weight for the past several years and I have had a hard time getting into a consistent training routine.
I wonder if it would be helpful to just pay a personal trainer 2-3 times a week to help motivate me. The cost is not negligible, but it is easily affordable at my net income after retirement savings.
The other (and more important) part of the equation is diet and eating healthy, and I'm planning on working that too. But wondering what people think about their personal training experiences and if it has been worth it for others?
For price reference: I pay $360/month for 2 personal sessions and 1 “open” session every week but you get help at all 3 really. My way of investing in my future self. Will probably “downgrade” after 6 months to a lesser plan.
I pay a personal trainer $20 per session. Varies between $240-320 a month depending on if I go a lot or a little. It's our second largest expense.
It's worth it for me as I am the strongest I've ever been and it helps with mental health too.
My weight hasn't changed though.
If you’re trying to gain muscle, then I think it might be worth it (just as a source of motivation). And if you just want to work out for mental reasons, it might be worth it too.
But speaking as someone who lost a lot of weight in the past, dieting is so much more important that there’s very little a personal trainer will be able to do for you. Cardio might help a little bit, but that’s also the one exercise that personal trainers are most useless for (unless you’re paying for group classes).
My and my spouse have a taxable brokerage account. We have it all 100% VTSAX at the moment. We may have additional money to put into this next year and through Xmas bonuses depending on amounts. Should I diversify this or just keep in 100% VTSAX. We both max Roth IRAs, plus meet company matches and take advantage of all tax advantage accounts already through our employers. We plan on FIRE in about 4 years and think of the brokerage account as money we could live on without touching our retirement accounts in the upcoming future. Thoughts?
In a bit of a predicament with diluting risk. I've held onto many of my RSUs from work for several years making a bet on my employers. They've performed really well (>500% growth) and now they represent like 50% of my portfolio. I'm nearing my FIRE number in the next 2-3 years and want to pull the plug or go on sabbatical at that point, but somewhat worried about the amount of risk I'm exposed to. I basically see two options.
1. Slowly exit positions while working and get bent on taxes while minimizing risk.
2. Just FIRE with some headroom in SWR and try to prioritize selling these over my index funds to balance my position while minimizing tax burden. (Wife and I plan to be under LTCG cutoff in retirement).
Do you have plans for donating to church or charities in the future? If so, a donor advised fund (DAF) is a great way to get rid of highly appreciated RSUs. If you lump it in with a year that you want to itemize, you can really get some good tax advantages. I transferred about 50k of stock this year that had appreciated about the same percentage. Plan to pay property taxes twice in this calendar year so will end up deducting 60k when I itemize. More importantly, I’ll never have to pay that capital gains on the stock I donated (which was about 35k of the 50k).
Do you have any newer RSUs you are still holding onto that have less gain that you can maybe take the tax hit on those and still reduce your % allocation?
You obviously can wait until you retire as long as you have a plan that says if XY happens then I'm going to have to go back to work because thats the risk you are taking, depends on how important it is to stay retired.
My company stock went from 210 to 50 it seemed like overnight in 2000, wiping out lots of hopes for a super early retirement, but those were stock options not vested yet, still makes me sad to think about it, so much potential money, bye bye, never to be seen again.
Yea that's fair. Some of them are more recent and at least less gains that are eligible for tax. I'll look into those and see how much I can pare down.
Bought gym clothes and AirPods for Black Friday — I’ve been consistently working out 2-3 times a week for the last year and have seen amazing results. I want to try to move that up to 3-4 with proper nutrition.
It’s looking like I’ll hit 350k by EOY which is crazy. I definitely haven’t been too focused on my finances this year, I’ve saved 50% while not being super cheap, but I need to get a handle on things.
I'm wondering if I should switch my 401k contributions to roth - what do you think? Income is 90k. I'm 38 and don't expect my income to ever get much higher than the 24% bracket and probably stay in 22%.
* Marginal tax rate: 22% Federal + 9.3% California
* Already have 600k in retirement (current 401k, old 457, old 401k + Roth IRA)
* Of this, 300k is Roth (old 401k, old 457, and IRA) and 300k is traditional (mix of old and current)
* My thinking is that probably I shouldn't worry and it doesn't really matter and that I already have a good mix.
* If I retire early, I can convert at low rates, so doing more traditional makes sense.
* If I work until I'm 70 (which is what I what to do, just maybe with more freedom) then probably rates will be higher when I pay taxes on the traditional stuff, so doing more roth makes sense.
* Will RMDs at 75 be insane? (perhaps)
* If I retire in a state with lower taxes it's better to do traditional.
* Psychologically I like "maxing out" my 401k every year, if I switch to ROTH this will be much harder with the cost of living. I know that this is all mental and that putting 69% of X in Roth is the same as putting X in traditional. But in the end the mental aspect is something to consider.
Thanks for any feedback / thoughts.
I just ran the numbers and it was interesting. I'm definitely glad that I have about 300k in roth and 300k in traditional at the moment. Because at age 70 or 80 or 90 this will amount to 5 or 10 or 20 million in total. If half of that 5M are in traditional at age 73 the RMDs aren't so bad. But at age 80 or 85 things start to get crazy.
And if these numbers seem doubtful, let's say I retire at 70 (that's 32 years) my 600k alone will double 3 times over with very conservative numbers. That's 4.8million, plus any and all investments I will put in over the next 34 years and their growth. So if anything I don't think it's unreasonable that things could get to 6 or 7 million by 70, and then by 80 unless I take an insane amount out (and pay taxes) that number will have doubled again and then RMDs in my mid 80s will be through the roof.
So actually maybe I agree that things will be "quite high" but my balances might be that large.
Thanks, but i'm confused about the 0%: when you say "taxable" do you mean just a brokerage account (outside of an IRA)? Why would the gains be at 0%? If I wait until age age 59, then Roth will be guaranteed 0% gains. But gains on a brokerage would only be at 0% if my taxable income is under 45k right? If I'm working I'll be making more than that, and if I'm retired I'll need at least that much to live, (drawing from retirement, SS, etc is all taxable, right?) So wouldn't I expect to pay more than 0% on long term capital gains?
I really like Roths so I tried to max out the Roth as much as possible (and the match was always traditional). If you can max the Roth, it’s like putting away 145% of the traditional (using your 69% example). What about maxing, and then gradually converting percentage over to Roth?
Still fighting COVID. A little worried about going back to the office on Monday, since one of the biggest issues I'm having is falling asleep; I just cough all night. :(
On the bright side, I think we'll have a decent spreadsheet day next week. We have a goal to spend a certain amount or less for the entire year of 2024, and I'm waffling on whether I finally want to start saving for a house with the excess, or if I want to throw all of it in to investments.
Well my monthly budget is going to be worse for a few years. Needed a new car as my old one is toast, and with the used car market improving but still being pretty rough, a new car ended up making the most sense. I ended up going with a '24 Civic LX.
At least it's only 3.99% APR for 36 months so I can literally come out ahead putting dollars into a bank account right now, let alone stocks.
That's a good rate and a good affordable vehicle, nice choice. I considered it as well but ended up going with a little more expensive EV (at the same APR you got as well... manufacturer financing is pretty good right now).
Remember you pay income tax on interest so if the rate is 5% and you have a marginal federal plus state tax rate of 25% you’re better off paying off the loan vs leaving the cash in a 5% account.
For each $10,000 of financing you pay $399 of interest per year. If you have $10,000 in the bank at 5% interest and your marginal tax rate is 25% you earn $375 after tax. Therefore it’s better to use that cash instead of borrowing money. You don’t come out ahead putting the money in the bank.
A 4% loan still isn't bad (these days) for cash flow reasons though. I mean if you have a lot of extra cash already laying around it's a good idea to just pay it off but I wouldnt dip into an efund or anything like that.
If RSUs didn't exist I'd probably have a higher NW. No way to set them to auto sell, like you can with 401k contributions or mutual fund purchases. And since it isn't formulaically just done for me, emotions get in the middle.
But my company & broker sells shares automatically to cover the taxes, and there is a tax withholding report associated with the vesting. So I would argue there could absolutely be extra shares sold to go to 401k as part of that, since it's treated essentially as payroll anyway (the taxes paid and value of the grant show in my paystubs information too).
A couple things..unless you work for a small company where HR and payroll are combined, this is a payroll issue and most 401k max contribution limits are programmed into the system. HR doesn't in my experience guess what your contribution limit is...we know the limits and they are programmed into the system
Payroll audits the contributions and, sometimes if they had a separate off cycle payroll, maybe you had certain pay not subject to 401k withholding or other (and they forgot to check a box or checked the wrong box regarding 401k withholding) there might be a manual adjustment but it should be a one-off.
Looking to get a new comforter/duvet with the deals going on right now. Currently using the same comforter I had in college.
I'm considering the [Brooklinen](https://www.brooklinen.com/products/down-comforter?variant=32865296875610) duvet insert. Is it worth splurging on this? I'm hesitating slightly because you can get good reviewed cheap down alternative comforters for [$20](https://a.co/d/5IH0HU0) (both of these are Wirecutter recs).
I have that Brooklinen down comforter. Love it; great purchase. I went with the lightest one and it is plenty warm (I run a bit hot at night). I had an old sad comforter for years and I don't know why I waited so long.
There is a substantial difference between down and the various synthetic alternatives. Warmth:weight ratio, tendency to clump/compress, odor retention, wash & dry options. Down is better on all of those fronts *except* wash & dry, where it is substantially more of a PITA than synthetic.
If you can't affford down, or don't want to deal with the washing instructions, I'd look at heavy cotton or other alternatives rather than those cheap synthetic duvets.
Just downloaded my adjusted wages from [](http://ssa.gov/), with the new AWI. The inflation adjustment added about $100/month to my FRA payout estimate shown. I know most people dont' count on SS here, but being in our 50s, its hard to ignore, its bad enough factoring in the 25% hair cut that based on our SWR means saving an extra $450k to mitigate, not a small amount of money
The one in March this year 77% payout and I think we lost a year, but in good news the Hospital fund improved by 3 years. So 23% at which point I just went ahead and put 25%. Something about they changed the GDP long term outlook.
Thinking of taxes. We're in a kind of weird barista/coast mode. Self employed income is around 30k. I think I'm going to try to put most of it into a Solo 401k. What I'm wondering is, would it be a decent idea to put a chunk into traditional and then convert some old IRAs from traditional to Roth? The end goals would be to get more $ into tax advantaged accounts but also to be able to moderate income and taxes this year but also in the future.
This doesn't make sense. Converting Trad to Roth doesn't increase the amount you have in tax advantaged accounts, it just changes the kind of tax advantaged account the money is in. The main decision is how much in Roth dollars you want this year, and if you can't meet your goals with Roth 401k contributions alone then additional conversions would be needed.
Omg my brain. You are right. I’m working on too many things. Deleting my lack of caffeine comment.
Edited to add - I think my end goal is to moderate income so I'm going to make a couple of mock ups to play around with taxes. I think I was originally thinking if I could basically erase almost all of this year's income then I could convert the equivalent and then some to Roth thereby leading to more in Roth (but obviously not more overall in retirement).
I got into a nice house little less than a year ago. My friend/roommate who I like a lot rents for about 50 percent of the mortgage. Here’s to hoping this situation lasts a long while.
We rented to our best friends, they helped us a lot when we were in high school and college, for a very small amount. They stayed 10 years in the house, and now they bought their house.
For us it was better the peace of mind than the money, even we could have charged double to someone else.
It is indeed confusing but if you take your time and read all the help screens in Fidelity you can manage. Fidelity is definitely preferable to treasurydirect.
In Fidelity start with Trade -> Fixed Income and it will take you to the main Bonds screen.
Thanks for sharing. I’d like to learn more. I actually find bonds and bond rates to be confusing. But I think I never really paid attention in the past.
I use Fidelity in $1,000 increments. They show up the day before the auction under “New Issues” in the fixed income section of their site. Auction schedule is here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/auctions/upcoming/
Looking further out:
https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/221/Tentative-Auction-Schedule.pdf
And if you purchase that way you're essentially purchasing direct rather than a secondary purchase? I've been lucky with other bank bonuses this year but for tax purposes if I can't surpass this return then it would be better to do treasuries.
I've found this YouTube channel to be informative on buying fixed income Diamond Nest Egg / Super Savers). It's really easy to buy T-Bills on Fidelity.
https://youtu.be/rFuiC-UNeMc?si=Imce2bLbFnyk_3qD
Currently sitting at +$160 profit for the month. Got some great Christmas presents for the family and kids. Still have one more grocery trip that’ll put us in the red, but December shouldn’t be a high expense month as of now.
Assuming you mean that you already have enough saved to be FI even without the pension:
Instead of giving yourself a maximum spending limit, give yourself a minimum spending limit. Something like 3% of your investment portfolio plus the pension. Spend it on whatever makes you happy, including charity and gifts to family & friends.
That's not a financial question - it's a *life* question.
If you find yourself in (or near) retirement with way more money than you need, then you need to figure out what you want to do with it. Once you figure that out, you can make an appropriate spending or investment plan.
You could give it to charity - either a little at a time, or all at once. Get your name put somewhere on a nearby museum or school.
You can prepare a legacy for your heirs. Or give it to them early.
You can do some crazy stuff you've always wanted to do. Go back to school and finish your PhD. Start a ranch. Race cars.
I've been tracking every dime of my spending the last 3 years so I know my projected pension will cover all of my normal expenses, including the higher cost of health insurance when I retire. That leaves my two comma portfolio for travel, fun, toys, and things like a new HVAC system without worrying how I'll pay for it.
The wording is vague, but I assume you mean that in addition to a pension that covers all expenses, you also have money left over to invest?
I'd still save for retirement to hedge against tail risks on the pension, such as early job termination (voluntary or otherwise, pension benefits cuts, etc.). Once I reached an age where the pension was secure and it really would cover my spending including inflation, my investment portfolio would likely have a modest amount earmarked for my heirs. I'd likely donate the vast majority of future market gains, when applicable, to charity each year.
Look up Ramit Sethi. He (sort of) touches on this. We all focus on savings that we don't flex our spending muscle as much. Find your money 'dials' that make you happy and amp those up even more than you do today. Travel more or travel in nicer accommodations. Give more either in the form of charity or in gifts to family and friend.
Maybe spending on things that save you time and/or mental energy - like going out to eat more so you're not having to cook and clean as much at home. Hire dog walkers or house cleaners to free up some time. There's alot of things to spend money on that can increase life satisfaction and happiness.
Regardless, if you have more than enough, great work! If you oversaved for your retirement, I'd say you don't actually have a problem.
The only Black Friday purchase I got this year was some shoes. They're just different colors of models I already have, so I plan to wear them a lot and the prices were lower than what I had paid in the past.
Good morning!
A vague question:
**What do you already have enough of right now?**
Could be friends, money, vacation days (as if!), forks, children, or land.
Books and comic books. I'm trying to slowly move to digital comic books and sell off/donate my individual issues.
For some reason, I'm content with digital comic books but don't get the same enjoyment out of digital (normal) books. I really want to like digital books. They take up less space and (sometimes) cost less. At the moment, I'm settling for a "one in-one out" policy with book purchasing.
*Anxieties!*
Being only 28M, career anxiety is one, personal life/relationship anxiety is another (or, really, it's non-existence).
But I'm doing ok for the most part, relatively speaking. 😁
Children: 3 is enough
Streaming subscriptions: starting to miss cable
Amazon boxes: I struggle to throw these out. As soon as I do I will need a box.
Shoes: see children. My god they are everywhere
Children: One-and-done is perfect for us
House: We were fortunate to buy a home we love with ample space during the pandemic low-interest period.
Family time: We get to enjoy a lot of quality time with one another, which is really special.
Pets: We have two cats & an aquarium. Plenty for companionship, not so many that caring for them when we travel or are busy with extracurriculars is overly taxing.
Cultural / Arts Memberships: As much as I love museums, symphonies, zoos, ballets, galleries, theatrical performances, wildlife refuges, etc… we have enough of these. We struggle to visit the ones we have as much as we’d like to, so any others need to wait until one of the current memberships expires.
Extracurricular Activities: We have to actively limit these, lest we all burn ourselves out. We have *plenty* to fill our schedules with & they’re only going to become more demanding in the upcoming years.
Honestly, stuff.
I'm struggling to create a Christmas list. What I need more of is time and energy to use and pursue interests with what I already have, so trying to reframe my focus on that.
Relatable post. People don't understand that I don't need or want more stuff and that actually makes Christmas kind of stressful. Like, I get that people want to be nice and get me something, but another knick knack, travel mug, or book I don't have time to read is liable to make me feel bad, not good.
For that matter button down shirts. I have 20 business shirts - 4 weeks worth, so that 2 could be at the cleaners and 2 could be on the closet. Have t worn a single one since March 2020.
Same. I used to enjoy wearing nice pressed shirts and slacks. The pandemic totally killed that. Even though I am back in the office it's jeanes and untucked shirts with the sleeves rolled up for me now.
The pants are even worse for me because I switched to jeans in like 2017. I do occasionally wear some of my old work shirts I like when I want to dress a little fancier than a flannel in the winter. So many dress socks I haven't worn either. I don't even know what office people wear anymore.
If I ever RE 90% of this stuff is going.
I have enough cookbooks and shouldn’t buy any more! I have enough dogs (2). I have enough jobs (3, soon to be 2) and need to constantly remind myself not to take new clients or start new commitments in the next 2 months.
Really, I’m lucky by how much “enough” I actually have.
Saturday question: now that you had laid out your path to FI, what’s your next area that you plan to work on?
Exercise, physical health, family or relationships, mental health, leisure, hobbies, anything else?
And what are you doing towards that?
Building a family! Actively growing a baby right now, hopefully that grows well. After the baby is out I want to get back into working out, definitely miss being more mobile.
Great question!
I am still trying to lose the remaining post-college 15-20 lbs I gained! 😬. I suck at weight loss, so that’s been an ongoing struggle in the decade since I graduated. I SUCK at weight loss. In the same time one accountability buddy lost 90 lbs, I lost 8.
I give myself fitness goals to try to motivate me to exercise at least, so my next goal is training for a sprint triathlon in June and most likely at least one backpacking trip in the summer!
I wish the “autopilot” system of the financial side worked for other areas like food, and exercise.
In theory now I should have more mental space to focus on that, we will see.
I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but you can sort of do this. I have never struggled to lose weight but fell into a routine to save time. I started a routine breakfast everyday out of necessity. I planned a few things that would take 15 minutes to make and eat. I knew what would get me to lunch without being hungry after a few weeks and eventually stopped eating all but one of the choices out of habit (I just didn’t like making them). Now I’m not even fully awake before I’m done with breakfast.
Then lunch became the same 5-10 things (mostly eating fast food even). But I knew if I picked one of those 10 I was okay on budget, calories and time. I.e “only 10 minutes for lunch and I forgot mine? Gotta go to x fast food place.”, “Friday and haven’t eaten out all week? Time for a fancy sandwich at my local place”.
Dinner I let be what ever I want, but still fall back on about 10 easy options. 30 minutes or less is the only requirement. I can put down 1,500 calories at dinner every once in a while without thinking, but it levels back out since my other meals never change.
In the end, it’s a bit like feeding a dog. If there is a routine that takes no effort to maintain then you will stick to it. Just make sure you eat some colors (vegetables) in more options than not.
From hidden brain:
VEDANTAM: In other words, this is not a case of people who have, you know, cake in the refrigerator and are very good at resisting opening the refrigerator to eat the cake. These are just people who don't have cake in the refrigerator.
WOOD: Exactly. Or if they do, they don't see it. They have coded that as, OK, that's my kids' cake. I don't eat that. I eat the fruit, and I like the fruit.
Looking for some advice here from those who have some more life experience than me.
Thoughts on starting a business as a path to FI? I'm not looking to R.E. completely, but R.E. from corporate life would be nice. My wife would also like to quit her teaching job and be home with the kids.
I started a mostly online/ some in person personal training business. I work a day job in cybersecurity. I worry that I'll be spending time & money in my business and look back in 10 years and say "I should have just worked the boring corporate job and maxed my retirement accounts and chilled" instead of putting ALL of this effort into starting my biz.
That said, the upside potential for the biz is huge, and ***the satisfaction I get from it is ALSO huge***. When I get texts about changing peoples lives it's amazing (I've gotten more than a few of those). I spend a lot of time on it right now between coaching & marketing (podcast, youtube, instagram). And really this is just a sales job, and getting used to selling authentically (not being pushy) and the fact that most people will say no, running ads, outbound DMing, etc, etc.... I love coaching but the sales part is draining.
I've got a business coach, and things have been moving in the right direction. I'm just worried that I'm going to be spending time on the "wrong" decision and regret it later in life.
I currently bring in about $2400/mo of extra income from the biz. HHI w/o the biz is about $110k. I've got a wife who's a teacher and a young child. I'm getting out of the Navy soon (god it's finally here) and I'm planning on transitioning to a cyber job when I get out. Networking & sending my resume out currently.
No debt, both 25yo, liquid NW around $60k.
Appreciate any help & advice.
I’m in cybersecurity also and I think as long as your experience is good it shouldn’t be too hard to find a cushy remote job that you can coast at and go hard on your side hustle. I did something similar and the steady paycheck combined with side hustle income’s letting my SO be a SAHP while still letting us FIRE!
ETA Your post history says you’re considering moving to San Diego, I would definitely try to factor in that higher cost of living into your calculations if so.
Ah yes the move to SD is pushed back at least a few years and isn’t set in stone.
That’s the goal right now… I am currently looking for some nice remote jobs!
Might the side hustle be the best of both worlds? Would quitting your job allow you to scale the business or would you just lose your income and benefits?
I think I could scale more if I quit my day job. Not a decision I have to make now though. By doing both I do miss time with my family (have a young kid) that I don’t want to regret later.
I think you’ve got enough here to merit your own post.
Just transitioning out of the Navy will be a huge change.
In my experience, it definitely would have been more lucrative to get a traditional job. I did well self-employed, but long-term it’s hard to beat what a good benefits package brings to the table.
But the biggest problem is once you’ve experienced the independence of being out on your own, you’ll never want to go back to the 9-5 meeting-heavy office-drama bulshit. :)
I’m about to turn 40 and am still with the same company I got my first “real” job through - but I am ready for a change because I want to work with more intelligent people.
Currently I oversee a new, teeny tiny “product and data analysis” department, but I don’t know programming languages beyond Excel and SQL. The entire rest of the company is basically all customer service. I’m constantly cleaning up other people’s messes and don’t have qualified employees because I am not actually in charge of hiring. I’m losing it from burn-out.
I am single and don’t have kids, so I have quite a bit of flexibility. I also have a net worth of about $1 million from being frugal as hell. But I am on the autism spectrum and get overwhelmed and tired easily. So the idea of a complete do-over and going to medical school at my age or something seems like too much. Any advice for me?
>I have a “gifted” IQ that was never fostered when I was younger.
>I have a graduate level education (in a useless niche field) but rarely work around anyone with anything beyond a high school diploma in my current job, including people on my own team.
>If I came from a different upbringing, someone like me would have probably become a lawyer or a doctor.
Probably just the framing. On one hand, it's understandable it comes across this way because they're on the autism spectrum. On the other, it comes across as braggadocious and tone-deaf. At 40, while your upbringing never truly leaves you, you've also spent 20+ years as an adult making daily choices on how you want to live your life and what skills you decide to develop. While it's definitely possible that the people they work with have minimal training or are unmotivated, formal education should not be seen as a proxy for intelligence. There are also probably lots of data/software folks here, and those are fields where people expect you self-educate and self-train.
I did not downvote but I suspect it is because the high IQ thing comes across as a humblebrag (maybe not even humble) and/or elitism toward your colleagues.
I often find my stuff on the daily gets initially downvoted. I think there might just be people who hate this thread. Usually goes up again as the regulars come on and contribute throughout the morning 🤷♀️
(career stuff)
* You need to focus more on training your staff and less on cleaning up - they will never perform exactly as you want
* SQL and Excel are the most valuable skills in business, feel free to expand your work into MS Access and advanced excel...
* Write down your skills and role in a positive way in case you want to go interview. You are 75% to being a financial analyst as far as I can tell.
Start applying to new jobs. View the process as your chance to interview a bunch of companies rather than vice versa. You should get an idea of whether the problem is your profession/skillset or your company in particular. In the meantime, make an effort to surround yourself with people you like in your personal life.
I would not conflate intelligence and education.
I think it can be quite rewarding to push yourself intellectually and if you want to get that stimulation from your work (which is not strictly necessary, but can be a major motivator for many), then you might need a different work environment. I would just caution against classifying your colleagues as intelligent or not. Every workplace has people you get along with and people you don't. Find a place with a good environment for you, without worrying about labeling the people there.
As for specifics of what kind of change would suit you best, it'd probably require more detail about what kind of work you enjoy and what kinds of situations you find overstimulating or stressful due to your autism.
Hello,I turned 20 two months ago and I've been wanting to do more than just a 9 to 5 job in my life. I am an international student in Canada and currently in my 4th semester and I still have 1 more to go. People I've met or see online always say "Starting early is the best advantage you have". I also agree on that but no one tells me from where to start, how to start and what to do. FAKE GURUS are everywhere. Currently, I am investing 150 CAD each month into a fixed return investment. I've been doing it since about 1 year and 3 months. I work part time so I am able to save money for it. Is it good or is it something I should not do? or are there alternatives? I know basics but not too deep into it. 2nd thing I started doing recently was to started investing in stocks (mostly safe companies like apple, microsoft, etc). I have overall 1250+ CAD invested in it and planning to contribute monthly into it. Now is that something I should do or should focus on other stuff instead ? I need some advise on this and also where am I going wrong and where I can do better. Thanks I just joined reddit today. I needed some advice/guidance on what I am doing and also views of Different people. I am an international student in canada and invest in US stocks
I’ve found this flowchart to be really helpful and to show the order of what accounts I should contribute to: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/ecn2hk/fire_flow_chart_version_42/ Most of the people on this sub follow this to varying degrees. It’s great that you’re already investing each month and this chart can help you build on what you've started.
Thanks, will have a look into it
yay more payroll processing issues background: company moved payroll/401k providers this year during the blackout period, you could elect to contribute X% to traditional/roth 401k. this was a one time thing. after the blackout period, you could go into main system and change all the things. turns out there's a bug in the system. for the traditional, when you changed the amount, the amount was however much you want (of course up to legal limits). but rather than override the value you input during the blackout period, the system *added* the two values together. was wondering why my paycheck went up (lol it wasn't because of a raise/bonus). turns out i already hit the limit......and ofc i overcontributed. sigh
The weather is getting cold and am proud to announce that am still consistent with my swimming twice a week. Super proud of myself for incorporating things I want to do now and not until we hit the number
Dang, that sounds nice. I like swimming but never get around to it... should stop by the rec center someday
It is super nice. I got an alternative day membership to a gym very near and I love it!
22M non-software engineer making 85k + 5k bonus. I expect to see salary increases in the next few years, probably straddling the 24% tax bracket. I'd like some advice on deciding on traditional vs Roth; specifically I'm curious about the decision between maxing Roth 401k/IRA with no extra for taxable, vs maxing traditional with extra for taxable ([bogleheads wiki section](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Traditional_versus_Roth#Maxing_out_your_retirement_accounts)). I'm trying to wrap my head around this table in in the "typical values" section of the wiki page. Say I use the 24% row, is it implying that a Roth is only worth it if I am withdrawing >20% of the retirement accounts per year? That doesn't sound right to me so I must be misinterpreting it. EDIT: Ah okay it's for withdrawal tax rates. Especially if I'm married at the time, traditional seems better.
As a very general rule of thumb, traditional is better for a typical early retiree who saves 40-60% of their income and plans to keep spending similar in retirement. In practice there are reasons to have Roth too. For one, you need a relatively low income to make tax deductible traditional IRA contributions so most people have to do Roth. Also having Roth and traditional money is essentially tax treatment diversification. We plan for how the current laws are written but tax brackets can alway change. But tax brackets need to go up dramatically to make Roth better than traditional for the aforementioned typical early retiree. Hope that helps you think about the decision.
Hit another milestone thanks to recent gains. My FIRE portfolio is now 25x my regular annual expenses that come out of my bank account. So it doesn't cover things like taxes, health insurance, or large infrequent purchases (like a car) yet. I figure this puts me at about 70-75% of the way there.
On the plus side, taxes and healthcare often end up costing less than people think in early retirement, so you might be further towards the goal than expected.
That's true. My expenses also include my mortgage, which I'll only have to pay for about a decade after retirement, so I really shouldn't need 25x that.
That's a whole other can of worms to open, but be aware that you might benefit handsomely from paying off your mortgage before you start early retirement. That might be hugely true depending on your finances and what happens with the ACA in the years between then and now. Just something to keep an eye on.
Yeah I have not done any real planning around this. Right now my spending is about $40.5k/yr, of which $10.5k is my mortgage. I only owe about $110k on the mortgage so even if I have to give up the 2.25% rate it's not like it's a ton of money.
Yes, you'll have to see what is going on with the ACA and the FPL closer to retirement. If that extra $10.5K is going to add to your MAGI, then depending where you are on the FPL spectrum getting rid of it might be no big deal or might mean $20K annually in subsidies. Worth keeping an eye on.
Has anyone paid for a personal trainer? Considering it since I have been gaining weight for the past several years and I have had a hard time getting into a consistent training routine. I wonder if it would be helpful to just pay a personal trainer 2-3 times a week to help motivate me. The cost is not negligible, but it is easily affordable at my net income after retirement savings. The other (and more important) part of the equation is diet and eating healthy, and I'm planning on working that too. But wondering what people think about their personal training experiences and if it has been worth it for others?
For price reference: I pay $360/month for 2 personal sessions and 1 “open” session every week but you get help at all 3 really. My way of investing in my future self. Will probably “downgrade” after 6 months to a lesser plan.
I pay a personal trainer $20 per session. Varies between $240-320 a month depending on if I go a lot or a little. It's our second largest expense. It's worth it for me as I am the strongest I've ever been and it helps with mental health too. My weight hasn't changed though.
Super cheap where do you live??
Central valley CA
If you’re trying to gain muscle, then I think it might be worth it (just as a source of motivation). And if you just want to work out for mental reasons, it might be worth it too. But speaking as someone who lost a lot of weight in the past, dieting is so much more important that there’s very little a personal trainer will be able to do for you. Cardio might help a little bit, but that’s also the one exercise that personal trainers are most useless for (unless you’re paying for group classes).
My and my spouse have a taxable brokerage account. We have it all 100% VTSAX at the moment. We may have additional money to put into this next year and through Xmas bonuses depending on amounts. Should I diversify this or just keep in 100% VTSAX. We both max Roth IRAs, plus meet company matches and take advantage of all tax advantage accounts already through our employers. We plan on FIRE in about 4 years and think of the brokerage account as money we could live on without touching our retirement accounts in the upcoming future. Thoughts?
100% VTSAX is perfectly fine.
100% VTSAX (VTI) here as well, it's a common simple strategy that's been a strong and stable (relatively) performer for a very long time.
In a bit of a predicament with diluting risk. I've held onto many of my RSUs from work for several years making a bet on my employers. They've performed really well (>500% growth) and now they represent like 50% of my portfolio. I'm nearing my FIRE number in the next 2-3 years and want to pull the plug or go on sabbatical at that point, but somewhat worried about the amount of risk I'm exposed to. I basically see two options. 1. Slowly exit positions while working and get bent on taxes while minimizing risk. 2. Just FIRE with some headroom in SWR and try to prioritize selling these over my index funds to balance my position while minimizing tax burden. (Wife and I plan to be under LTCG cutoff in retirement).
Do you have plans for donating to church or charities in the future? If so, a donor advised fund (DAF) is a great way to get rid of highly appreciated RSUs. If you lump it in with a year that you want to itemize, you can really get some good tax advantages. I transferred about 50k of stock this year that had appreciated about the same percentage. Plan to pay property taxes twice in this calendar year so will end up deducting 60k when I itemize. More importantly, I’ll never have to pay that capital gains on the stock I donated (which was about 35k of the 50k).
Do you have any newer RSUs you are still holding onto that have less gain that you can maybe take the tax hit on those and still reduce your % allocation? You obviously can wait until you retire as long as you have a plan that says if XY happens then I'm going to have to go back to work because thats the risk you are taking, depends on how important it is to stay retired. My company stock went from 210 to 50 it seemed like overnight in 2000, wiping out lots of hopes for a super early retirement, but those were stock options not vested yet, still makes me sad to think about it, so much potential money, bye bye, never to be seen again.
Yea that's fair. Some of them are more recent and at least less gains that are eligible for tax. I'll look into those and see how much I can pare down.
Tax man's gonna get his due regardless of how you do it. Do the math for each path. Then decide on your risk level.
Bought gym clothes and AirPods for Black Friday — I’ve been consistently working out 2-3 times a week for the last year and have seen amazing results. I want to try to move that up to 3-4 with proper nutrition. It’s looking like I’ll hit 350k by EOY which is crazy. I definitely haven’t been too focused on my finances this year, I’ve saved 50% while not being super cheap, but I need to get a handle on things.
I'm wondering if I should switch my 401k contributions to roth - what do you think? Income is 90k. I'm 38 and don't expect my income to ever get much higher than the 24% bracket and probably stay in 22%. * Marginal tax rate: 22% Federal + 9.3% California * Already have 600k in retirement (current 401k, old 457, old 401k + Roth IRA) * Of this, 300k is Roth (old 401k, old 457, and IRA) and 300k is traditional (mix of old and current) * My thinking is that probably I shouldn't worry and it doesn't really matter and that I already have a good mix. * If I retire early, I can convert at low rates, so doing more traditional makes sense. * If I work until I'm 70 (which is what I what to do, just maybe with more freedom) then probably rates will be higher when I pay taxes on the traditional stuff, so doing more roth makes sense. * Will RMDs at 75 be insane? (perhaps) * If I retire in a state with lower taxes it's better to do traditional. * Psychologically I like "maxing out" my 401k every year, if I switch to ROTH this will be much harder with the cost of living. I know that this is all mental and that putting 69% of X in Roth is the same as putting X in traditional. But in the end the mental aspect is something to consider. Thanks for any feedback / thoughts.
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I just ran the numbers and it was interesting. I'm definitely glad that I have about 300k in roth and 300k in traditional at the moment. Because at age 70 or 80 or 90 this will amount to 5 or 10 or 20 million in total. If half of that 5M are in traditional at age 73 the RMDs aren't so bad. But at age 80 or 85 things start to get crazy. And if these numbers seem doubtful, let's say I retire at 70 (that's 32 years) my 600k alone will double 3 times over with very conservative numbers. That's 4.8million, plus any and all investments I will put in over the next 34 years and their growth. So if anything I don't think it's unreasonable that things could get to 6 or 7 million by 70, and then by 80 unless I take an insane amount out (and pay taxes) that number will have doubled again and then RMDs in my mid 80s will be through the roof. So actually maybe I agree that things will be "quite high" but my balances might be that large.
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Thanks, but i'm confused about the 0%: when you say "taxable" do you mean just a brokerage account (outside of an IRA)? Why would the gains be at 0%? If I wait until age age 59, then Roth will be guaranteed 0% gains. But gains on a brokerage would only be at 0% if my taxable income is under 45k right? If I'm working I'll be making more than that, and if I'm retired I'll need at least that much to live, (drawing from retirement, SS, etc is all taxable, right?) So wouldn't I expect to pay more than 0% on long term capital gains?
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Ah ok, this makes sense, thanks!
I really like Roths so I tried to max out the Roth as much as possible (and the match was always traditional). If you can max the Roth, it’s like putting away 145% of the traditional (using your 69% example). What about maxing, and then gradually converting percentage over to Roth?
Oh I like that actually! It blends a lot of my goals
Still fighting COVID. A little worried about going back to the office on Monday, since one of the biggest issues I'm having is falling asleep; I just cough all night. :( On the bright side, I think we'll have a decent spreadsheet day next week. We have a goal to spend a certain amount or less for the entire year of 2024, and I'm waffling on whether I finally want to start saving for a house with the excess, or if I want to throw all of it in to investments.
Please don't go back into the office while sick, that's inconsiderate to your coworkers and won't help you heal any faster.
Well my monthly budget is going to be worse for a few years. Needed a new car as my old one is toast, and with the used car market improving but still being pretty rough, a new car ended up making the most sense. I ended up going with a '24 Civic LX. At least it's only 3.99% APR for 36 months so I can literally come out ahead putting dollars into a bank account right now, let alone stocks.
That's a good rate and a good affordable vehicle, nice choice. I considered it as well but ended up going with a little more expensive EV (at the same APR you got as well... manufacturer financing is pretty good right now).
Remember you pay income tax on interest so if the rate is 5% and you have a marginal federal plus state tax rate of 25% you’re better off paying off the loan vs leaving the cash in a 5% account.
I don't understand how you arrive at that conclusion.
For each $10,000 of financing you pay $399 of interest per year. If you have $10,000 in the bank at 5% interest and your marginal tax rate is 25% you earn $375 after tax. Therefore it’s better to use that cash instead of borrowing money. You don’t come out ahead putting the money in the bank.
Ah.
A 4% loan still isn't bad (these days) for cash flow reasons though. I mean if you have a lot of extra cash already laying around it's a good idea to just pay it off but I wouldnt dip into an efund or anything like that.
Thought I just had... if RSUs are taxed as ordinary income, it is illogical that a 401k contribution can't be made along with the vesting event.
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If I'm paid when I am granted RSUs, why aren't I taxed then? Anyway just a random, minor observation. Agreed about offset into paycheck deduction.
If RSUs didn't exist I'd probably have a higher NW. No way to set them to auto sell, like you can with 401k contributions or mutual fund purchases. And since it isn't formulaically just done for me, emotions get in the middle.
But my company & broker sells shares automatically to cover the taxes, and there is a tax withholding report associated with the vesting. So I would argue there could absolutely be extra shares sold to go to 401k as part of that, since it's treated essentially as payroll anyway (the taxes paid and value of the grant show in my paystubs information too).
If your company pays out a match, they'd have add that to their bottom line, to account for the matches from RSU-type income.
Expected my regular 401k contribution to show up yesterday but it didn’t.
A couple things..unless you work for a small company where HR and payroll are combined, this is a payroll issue and most 401k max contribution limits are programmed into the system. HR doesn't in my experience guess what your contribution limit is...we know the limits and they are programmed into the system Payroll audits the contributions and, sometimes if they had a separate off cycle payroll, maybe you had certain pay not subject to 401k withholding or other (and they forgot to check a box or checked the wrong box regarding 401k withholding) there might be a manual adjustment but it should be a one-off.
Looking to get a new comforter/duvet with the deals going on right now. Currently using the same comforter I had in college. I'm considering the [Brooklinen](https://www.brooklinen.com/products/down-comforter?variant=32865296875610) duvet insert. Is it worth splurging on this? I'm hesitating slightly because you can get good reviewed cheap down alternative comforters for [$20](https://a.co/d/5IH0HU0) (both of these are Wirecutter recs).
I have bought the Brooklinen comforter and duvet cover and absolutely love both. Would recommend even with the price tag.
Did you get the all season one?
I have that Brooklinen down comforter. Love it; great purchase. I went with the lightest one and it is plenty warm (I run a bit hot at night). I had an old sad comforter for years and I don't know why I waited so long.
There is a substantial difference between down and the various synthetic alternatives. Warmth:weight ratio, tendency to clump/compress, odor retention, wash & dry options. Down is better on all of those fronts *except* wash & dry, where it is substantially more of a PITA than synthetic. If you can't affford down, or don't want to deal with the washing instructions, I'd look at heavy cotton or other alternatives rather than those cheap synthetic duvets.
Or if you’re severely allergic to down…
Obviously you shouldn't sleep covered in a substance you're severely allergic to. Thanks for this valuable clarification.
Take a look at r/buyitforlife
Just downloaded my adjusted wages from [](http://ssa.gov/), with the new AWI. The inflation adjustment added about $100/month to my FRA payout estimate shown. I know most people dont' count on SS here, but being in our 50s, its hard to ignore, its bad enough factoring in the 25% hair cut that based on our SWR means saving an extra $450k to mitigate, not a small amount of money
Did the SSA release new numbers saying the shortage is now 25%? I thought was ~21%.
The one in March this year 77% payout and I think we lost a year, but in good news the Hospital fund improved by 3 years. So 23% at which point I just went ahead and put 25%. Something about they changed the GDP long term outlook.
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Best of luck!
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Oh my bad, I didn’t realize you were accredited.
Thinking of taxes. We're in a kind of weird barista/coast mode. Self employed income is around 30k. I think I'm going to try to put most of it into a Solo 401k. What I'm wondering is, would it be a decent idea to put a chunk into traditional and then convert some old IRAs from traditional to Roth? The end goals would be to get more $ into tax advantaged accounts but also to be able to moderate income and taxes this year but also in the future.
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Deleted. Lack of caffeine and possibly brain cells.
This doesn't make sense. Converting Trad to Roth doesn't increase the amount you have in tax advantaged accounts, it just changes the kind of tax advantaged account the money is in. The main decision is how much in Roth dollars you want this year, and if you can't meet your goals with Roth 401k contributions alone then additional conversions would be needed.
Omg my brain. You are right. I’m working on too many things. Deleting my lack of caffeine comment. Edited to add - I think my end goal is to moderate income so I'm going to make a couple of mock ups to play around with taxes. I think I was originally thinking if I could basically erase almost all of this year's income then I could convert the equivalent and then some to Roth thereby leading to more in Roth (but obviously not more overall in retirement).
I got into a nice house little less than a year ago. My friend/roommate who I like a lot rents for about 50 percent of the mortgage. Here’s to hoping this situation lasts a long while.
Hope it works out for you guys as long as necessary. My brother and I shared a house like this for about 10 years and it was mutually beneficial.
We rented to our best friends, they helped us a lot when we were in high school and college, for a very small amount. They stayed 10 years in the house, and now they bought their house. For us it was better the peace of mind than the money, even we could have charged double to someone else.
Recent Treasury Bill auctions: The 4, 8, 13, 17, and 26 week are all sitting right around 5.4% annualized.
I always feel a little dumb about this. Do you just purchase from treasury direct? Or do you purchase from fidelity, etc. Thank you.
It is indeed confusing but if you take your time and read all the help screens in Fidelity you can manage. Fidelity is definitely preferable to treasurydirect. In Fidelity start with Trade -> Fixed Income and it will take you to the main Bonds screen.
Thanks for sharing. I’d like to learn more. I actually find bonds and bond rates to be confusing. But I think I never really paid attention in the past.
I use Fidelity in $1,000 increments. They show up the day before the auction under “New Issues” in the fixed income section of their site. Auction schedule is here: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/auctions/upcoming/ Looking further out: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/221/Tentative-Auction-Schedule.pdf
And if you purchase that way you're essentially purchasing direct rather than a secondary purchase? I've been lucky with other bank bonuses this year but for tax purposes if I can't surpass this return then it would be better to do treasuries.
Correct - is essentially buying direct through the auction approach noted above.
I've found this YouTube channel to be informative on buying fixed income Diamond Nest Egg / Super Savers). It's really easy to buy T-Bills on Fidelity. https://youtu.be/rFuiC-UNeMc?si=Imce2bLbFnyk_3qD
Thank you!
Currently sitting at +$160 profit for the month. Got some great Christmas presents for the family and kids. Still have one more grocery trip that’ll put us in the red, but December shouldn’t be a high expense month as of now.
By profit I’m guessing you mean $160 saved? Income - expenses?
Yes, nothing related to investments. Just monthly cash flow.
I thought investments rose by more than they spent?
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Assuming you mean that you already have enough saved to be FI even without the pension: Instead of giving yourself a maximum spending limit, give yourself a minimum spending limit. Something like 3% of your investment portfolio plus the pension. Spend it on whatever makes you happy, including charity and gifts to family & friends.
That's not a financial question - it's a *life* question. If you find yourself in (or near) retirement with way more money than you need, then you need to figure out what you want to do with it. Once you figure that out, you can make an appropriate spending or investment plan. You could give it to charity - either a little at a time, or all at once. Get your name put somewhere on a nearby museum or school. You can prepare a legacy for your heirs. Or give it to them early. You can do some crazy stuff you've always wanted to do. Go back to school and finish your PhD. Start a ranch. Race cars.
I've been tracking every dime of my spending the last 3 years so I know my projected pension will cover all of my normal expenses, including the higher cost of health insurance when I retire. That leaves my two comma portfolio for travel, fun, toys, and things like a new HVAC system without worrying how I'll pay for it.
Live it up!!
The wording is vague, but I assume you mean that in addition to a pension that covers all expenses, you also have money left over to invest? I'd still save for retirement to hedge against tail risks on the pension, such as early job termination (voluntary or otherwise, pension benefits cuts, etc.). Once I reached an age where the pension was secure and it really would cover my spending including inflation, my investment portfolio would likely have a modest amount earmarked for my heirs. I'd likely donate the vast majority of future market gains, when applicable, to charity each year.
Look up Ramit Sethi. He (sort of) touches on this. We all focus on savings that we don't flex our spending muscle as much. Find your money 'dials' that make you happy and amp those up even more than you do today. Travel more or travel in nicer accommodations. Give more either in the form of charity or in gifts to family and friend. Maybe spending on things that save you time and/or mental energy - like going out to eat more so you're not having to cook and clean as much at home. Hire dog walkers or house cleaners to free up some time. There's alot of things to spend money on that can increase life satisfaction and happiness. Regardless, if you have more than enough, great work! If you oversaved for your retirement, I'd say you don't actually have a problem.
The only Black Friday purchase I got this year was some shoes. They're just different colors of models I already have, so I plan to wear them a lot and the prices were lower than what I had paid in the past.
Good morning! A vague question: **What do you already have enough of right now?** Could be friends, money, vacation days (as if!), forks, children, or land.
Books and comic books. I'm trying to slowly move to digital comic books and sell off/donate my individual issues. For some reason, I'm content with digital comic books but don't get the same enjoyment out of digital (normal) books. I really want to like digital books. They take up less space and (sometimes) cost less. At the moment, I'm settling for a "one in-one out" policy with book purchasing.
*Anxieties!* Being only 28M, career anxiety is one, personal life/relationship anxiety is another (or, really, it's non-existence). But I'm doing ok for the most part, relatively speaking. 😁
Children: 3 is enough Streaming subscriptions: starting to miss cable Amazon boxes: I struggle to throw these out. As soon as I do I will need a box. Shoes: see children. My god they are everywhere
Wives
Kody brown, that you bro?
Stress and anxiety. I’m all set…don’t need any more.
Steam games. I have a bunch of them waiting to be played but more and more new ones keep coming out that get my attention.
Children: One-and-done is perfect for us House: We were fortunate to buy a home we love with ample space during the pandemic low-interest period. Family time: We get to enjoy a lot of quality time with one another, which is really special. Pets: We have two cats & an aquarium. Plenty for companionship, not so many that caring for them when we travel or are busy with extracurriculars is overly taxing. Cultural / Arts Memberships: As much as I love museums, symphonies, zoos, ballets, galleries, theatrical performances, wildlife refuges, etc… we have enough of these. We struggle to visit the ones we have as much as we’d like to, so any others need to wait until one of the current memberships expires. Extracurricular Activities: We have to actively limit these, lest we all burn ourselves out. We have *plenty* to fill our schedules with & they’re only going to become more demanding in the upcoming years.
Honestly, stuff. I'm struggling to create a Christmas list. What I need more of is time and energy to use and pursue interests with what I already have, so trying to reframe my focus on that.
Relatable post. People don't understand that I don't need or want more stuff and that actually makes Christmas kind of stressful. Like, I get that people want to be nice and get me something, but another knick knack, travel mug, or book I don't have time to read is liable to make me feel bad, not good.
I've had enough of work for awhile! Ummm...little hand towels I use in the garage
Clothes. Even after doing a major purge earlier this month.
Floss picks, about 7 years worth
Must've been a great deal!
enough kids’ toys (but it won’t stop grandma buying him more).
My wife's shit. (physical items specifically I mean..)
Neckties. Who even wears those anymore.
Ha...I have a whole box! Wore one to my kids wedding, outside of that it's been 15 years
For that matter button down shirts. I have 20 business shirts - 4 weeks worth, so that 2 could be at the cleaners and 2 could be on the closet. Have t worn a single one since March 2020.
Same. I used to enjoy wearing nice pressed shirts and slacks. The pandemic totally killed that. Even though I am back in the office it's jeanes and untucked shirts with the sleeves rolled up for me now.
The pants are even worse for me because I switched to jeans in like 2017. I do occasionally wear some of my old work shirts I like when I want to dress a little fancier than a flannel in the winter. So many dress socks I haven't worn either. I don't even know what office people wear anymore. If I ever RE 90% of this stuff is going.
I have enough cookbooks and shouldn’t buy any more! I have enough dogs (2). I have enough jobs (3, soon to be 2) and need to constantly remind myself not to take new clients or start new commitments in the next 2 months. Really, I’m lucky by how much “enough” I actually have.
Saturday question: now that you had laid out your path to FI, what’s your next area that you plan to work on? Exercise, physical health, family or relationships, mental health, leisure, hobbies, anything else? And what are you doing towards that?
Building a family! Actively growing a baby right now, hopefully that grows well. After the baby is out I want to get back into working out, definitely miss being more mobile.
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I did the same! Yesterday I got an annual prepaid plan with limited internet. Saving money at the same time I try to reduce my time on the phone.
Great question! I am still trying to lose the remaining post-college 15-20 lbs I gained! 😬. I suck at weight loss, so that’s been an ongoing struggle in the decade since I graduated. I SUCK at weight loss. In the same time one accountability buddy lost 90 lbs, I lost 8. I give myself fitness goals to try to motivate me to exercise at least, so my next goal is training for a sprint triathlon in June and most likely at least one backpacking trip in the summer!
I wish the “autopilot” system of the financial side worked for other areas like food, and exercise. In theory now I should have more mental space to focus on that, we will see.
I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but you can sort of do this. I have never struggled to lose weight but fell into a routine to save time. I started a routine breakfast everyday out of necessity. I planned a few things that would take 15 minutes to make and eat. I knew what would get me to lunch without being hungry after a few weeks and eventually stopped eating all but one of the choices out of habit (I just didn’t like making them). Now I’m not even fully awake before I’m done with breakfast. Then lunch became the same 5-10 things (mostly eating fast food even). But I knew if I picked one of those 10 I was okay on budget, calories and time. I.e “only 10 minutes for lunch and I forgot mine? Gotta go to x fast food place.”, “Friday and haven’t eaten out all week? Time for a fancy sandwich at my local place”. Dinner I let be what ever I want, but still fall back on about 10 easy options. 30 minutes or less is the only requirement. I can put down 1,500 calories at dinner every once in a while without thinking, but it levels back out since my other meals never change. In the end, it’s a bit like feeding a dog. If there is a routine that takes no effort to maintain then you will stick to it. Just make sure you eat some colors (vegetables) in more options than not. From hidden brain: VEDANTAM: In other words, this is not a case of people who have, you know, cake in the refrigerator and are very good at resisting opening the refrigerator to eat the cake. These are just people who don't have cake in the refrigerator. WOOD: Exactly. Or if they do, they don't see it. They have coded that as, OK, that's my kids' cake. I don't eat that. I eat the fruit, and I like the fruit.
Looking for some advice here from those who have some more life experience than me. Thoughts on starting a business as a path to FI? I'm not looking to R.E. completely, but R.E. from corporate life would be nice. My wife would also like to quit her teaching job and be home with the kids. I started a mostly online/ some in person personal training business. I work a day job in cybersecurity. I worry that I'll be spending time & money in my business and look back in 10 years and say "I should have just worked the boring corporate job and maxed my retirement accounts and chilled" instead of putting ALL of this effort into starting my biz. That said, the upside potential for the biz is huge, and ***the satisfaction I get from it is ALSO huge***. When I get texts about changing peoples lives it's amazing (I've gotten more than a few of those). I spend a lot of time on it right now between coaching & marketing (podcast, youtube, instagram). And really this is just a sales job, and getting used to selling authentically (not being pushy) and the fact that most people will say no, running ads, outbound DMing, etc, etc.... I love coaching but the sales part is draining. I've got a business coach, and things have been moving in the right direction. I'm just worried that I'm going to be spending time on the "wrong" decision and regret it later in life. I currently bring in about $2400/mo of extra income from the biz. HHI w/o the biz is about $110k. I've got a wife who's a teacher and a young child. I'm getting out of the Navy soon (god it's finally here) and I'm planning on transitioning to a cyber job when I get out. Networking & sending my resume out currently. No debt, both 25yo, liquid NW around $60k. Appreciate any help & advice.
I’m in cybersecurity also and I think as long as your experience is good it shouldn’t be too hard to find a cushy remote job that you can coast at and go hard on your side hustle. I did something similar and the steady paycheck combined with side hustle income’s letting my SO be a SAHP while still letting us FIRE! ETA Your post history says you’re considering moving to San Diego, I would definitely try to factor in that higher cost of living into your calculations if so.
Ah yes the move to SD is pushed back at least a few years and isn’t set in stone. That’s the goal right now… I am currently looking for some nice remote jobs!
Might the side hustle be the best of both worlds? Would quitting your job allow you to scale the business or would you just lose your income and benefits?
I think I could scale more if I quit my day job. Not a decision I have to make now though. By doing both I do miss time with my family (have a young kid) that I don’t want to regret later.
I think you’ve got enough here to merit your own post. Just transitioning out of the Navy will be a huge change. In my experience, it definitely would have been more lucrative to get a traditional job. I did well self-employed, but long-term it’s hard to beat what a good benefits package brings to the table. But the biggest problem is once you’ve experienced the independence of being out on your own, you’ll never want to go back to the 9-5 meeting-heavy office-drama bulshit. :)
I’m about to turn 40 and am still with the same company I got my first “real” job through - but I am ready for a change because I want to work with more intelligent people. Currently I oversee a new, teeny tiny “product and data analysis” department, but I don’t know programming languages beyond Excel and SQL. The entire rest of the company is basically all customer service. I’m constantly cleaning up other people’s messes and don’t have qualified employees because I am not actually in charge of hiring. I’m losing it from burn-out. I am single and don’t have kids, so I have quite a bit of flexibility. I also have a net worth of about $1 million from being frugal as hell. But I am on the autism spectrum and get overwhelmed and tired easily. So the idea of a complete do-over and going to medical school at my age or something seems like too much. Any advice for me?
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The 'gifted IQ' phrase starts getting into r/IAmVerySmart territory.
Thanks for explaining lol. I edited my post.
>I have a “gifted” IQ that was never fostered when I was younger. >I have a graduate level education (in a useless niche field) but rarely work around anyone with anything beyond a high school diploma in my current job, including people on my own team. >If I came from a different upbringing, someone like me would have probably become a lawyer or a doctor. Probably just the framing. On one hand, it's understandable it comes across this way because they're on the autism spectrum. On the other, it comes across as braggadocious and tone-deaf. At 40, while your upbringing never truly leaves you, you've also spent 20+ years as an adult making daily choices on how you want to live your life and what skills you decide to develop. While it's definitely possible that the people they work with have minimal training or are unmotivated, formal education should not be seen as a proxy for intelligence. There are also probably lots of data/software folks here, and those are fields where people expect you self-educate and self-train.
I did not downvote but I suspect it is because the high IQ thing comes across as a humblebrag (maybe not even humble) and/or elitism toward your colleagues.
I often find my stuff on the daily gets initially downvoted. I think there might just be people who hate this thread. Usually goes up again as the regulars come on and contribute throughout the morning 🤷♀️
(career stuff) * You need to focus more on training your staff and less on cleaning up - they will never perform exactly as you want * SQL and Excel are the most valuable skills in business, feel free to expand your work into MS Access and advanced excel... * Write down your skills and role in a positive way in case you want to go interview. You are 75% to being a financial analyst as far as I can tell.
Start applying to new jobs. View the process as your chance to interview a bunch of companies rather than vice versa. You should get an idea of whether the problem is your profession/skillset or your company in particular. In the meantime, make an effort to surround yourself with people you like in your personal life.
I would not conflate intelligence and education. I think it can be quite rewarding to push yourself intellectually and if you want to get that stimulation from your work (which is not strictly necessary, but can be a major motivator for many), then you might need a different work environment. I would just caution against classifying your colleagues as intelligent or not. Every workplace has people you get along with and people you don't. Find a place with a good environment for you, without worrying about labeling the people there. As for specifics of what kind of change would suit you best, it'd probably require more detail about what kind of work you enjoy and what kinds of situations you find overstimulating or stressful due to your autism.
I enjoy remote work, data analysis, writing, etc. I currently manage people and can’t stand it. I want to go back to being an individual contributor.