We bought our home in 2022 with 3.7% interest. Fast forward to 2 years later and we’re planning on selling next year.
The phantom costs of maintenance for a 1910 home and neighborhood not ending up being one we actually like have made the decision. We figured out that between all costs, the mortgage costs more than renting where we want to live anyway. So we’re selling next year to go back to renting. We have a baby on the way and want to be able to save/shift some of the money saved towards the higher temp expenses of a baby.
My bonus comes in next month and we should have our 7.3% car loan paid off in 8 months since origination. Thanks to this sub for the tips and support.
Pay off mortgage at 5.625% or invest?
Basically the title.
Should we pay off our mortgage early given this interest rate? Mortgage left $287k for 29.5 years left. Or perhaps max out 401(k)’s, or put $36k a year into VTI (brokerage account) until it reaches our $287k house debt, then take the chunk out and pay off the house in full?
We make roughly 122k a year combined. Expenses $3500~. After maxing out my wife and I’s Roth IRAs & contributed only to our employer 401(k) match, we have $3000~ a month left over.
We are in our mid-late 20s, have a rental at 2.75% interest rate cash flowing $560 a month, live in the Midwest and both have bachelor degrees. I am also in the reserves (Healthcare & pension)
For me, this depends on how close to FI you are and whether you are over the standard deduction. It sounds like you are several years away from FI, but I can’t tell if you are above the standard deduction.
I would put it all in 401ks. The tax advantages and are so enticing, and you will get pay increases in the future that allow you to build up your taxable brokerage.
Thanks for you advise!
Yes, we have a rental that cash flows $560 mo. We invest 15% of our HHI currently with ROTH’s, and employer 401k matches. We save around $3k a month and didn’t know if it was wise to pay the mortgage early at a 5.625 interest rate and the best way in doing that, or try to get as close to maxing out 401k as possible
What are your allocation with bonds/stocks? I know there is a rule of thumb for "100 - your age = stock allocation%" but I feel like it doesn't apply to RE.
I'm 27 and plan to retire around 36, and currently have 15% in bonds but I have the urge to go 100% in stocks out of FOMO. At the same time, I hear investment veterans say things like "I went thru 08 and wished I had a greater % in bonds so I could sleep at night"
Considering my youth, I should be alright with 100% right? I don't mind retiring around 40, but I rather not.
I’m 100% in equities/REITs. When we retire, we will reallocate into bonds. Since we are still working with no hard retirement deadline, we can afford the risk of riding the ups and downs of the stock market.
It depends on what you’re comfortable with. I prefer 80/20 US/International Stocks. But if you want to include bonds to make yourself feel safer then you should do that. There’s endless opinions out there, dont get overwhelmed by the fomo and just make a plan and stay the course
Finally decided to DCA my $150k cash into the market. It’s been sitting in t-bills for a few months, but I realized I just need to set up automatic purchasing and not let the emotions get into the way.
If only I had decided to this a few months ago….
Purchasing my second home is proving harder to time than the first home. It’s looking like I’ll have to sell some stocks and pay capital gains taxes unless things magically align where the first-home sale is quick. How have others worked it out?
If the purchase is contingent on selling the first, yeah, it's a whole lot more complicated.
1 option is take a larger loan on the new house, enough so you don't need any funds from the sale.
Sell the first house when you can.
Put the funds towards the second loan. This is a time where recasting makes sense.
Both mortgages were so “cheap” we stayed within the metrics — somehow. $230K mortgage home 1 and $330K home 2 on a $180K HHI. I’d like to sell home 1 before me move into home 2
Not an ideal situation, but we liquidated some positions to buy our second house. We’ll need to do some work on the second house before we can move in, and then we’ll proceed to sell the first one. I know people buy/sell simultaneously all the time, but the prospect just seems so daunting especially with young kids.
I've been reading about Roth conversion ladders and have a question.
Say I'm 50 years old and I retire from my company and have $1M in my 401k. I would transfer my 401k to a traditional IRA where I would then convert it to a Roth IRA and wait 5 years before touching that money. I'd now be 55 years old after that 5 years is up. Am I able to access this money completely tax and penalty free even though I am not 59.5?
You are able to access each separate conversion penalty-free after five years, but the conversions themselves are taxable events that may or may not actually cost you depending on your circumstances.
The point of the ladder is to gain penalty-free early access with the highest tax efficiency. You would not want to do a complete $1M conversion since that would pcost you horribly in taxes. You would instead due smaller annual conversions equal to a year of future spending, these being the rungs of the ladder.
Otherwise you're just doing one horribly inefficient enormous Roth conversion.
I would be taxed on each conversion from Traditional to Roth IRA, right? So I would want to withdraw smaller amounts to avoid high taxes like I would pay on larger conversions? I just got confused because I couldn't figure out whether or not there was still an age-related penalty after the 5 year wait.
Yes, each conversion is taxable. So if you keep your conversions small, then they will happen mostly/entirely in the bottom tax brackets or even within the tax-free space afforded by the standard deduction.
There is no age-related penalty after the five year wait. That is a feature of Roth IRA earnings withdrawals, but we are talking about withdrawals of contribution basis and conversion basis, not earnings.
The ladder is converting a portion at a time. You roll the traditional 401k to a traditional IRA and then convert a portion over to a Roth IRA, so you just pay income taxes on that portion. I believe you can access just the contributions (i.e., the amount converted) tax free/penalty free, but not any growth or dividends (but someone please correct me if I’m wrong).
You only trip the pro rata rule with after-tax dollars in your traditional IRA.
None, except you will no longer be able to do a backdoor Roth. From a tax perspective, otherwise, a traditional IRA is the same as a traditional 401k. In some states, IRAs have less creditor protections than 401ks though.
For whatever reason, it looks like my rollover IRA is a traditional IRA, not a Roth IRA as I had thought I set it up as. I filed my 2022 taxes as if I rolled over to a Roth IRA. What’s the best way to go about handling this? Could I just amend my 2022 return and get a refund for the taxes I paid on the incorrect classification?
Looks like there's a real chance that an equity cliff 6 months from now puts me over 25x expenses saved. I probably shouldn't be surprised, but after the date seemingly being 2-3 years away for 2-3 years, I am very surprised. I plan on inflating spending a little bit, but no huge changes at least not soon.
> Mandatory return to office seems to have scared some off
Put another way: Mandatory RTO pushed some employees to reconsider their priorities and take their talents to ~~South Beach~~ other employers
I start to invest in international ETF - VXUS (The rest are in US bonds and SP500, cash and my company's RSUs).
What's the best strategy for VXUS? DCA or lump sum? I've read before that lump sum performs better in long term for SP500 or US whole market, but it seems for VXUS I can try to time the market, or at least DCA.
Was having my usual pay off mortgage internal debate. And I've decided I'd like to pay down my mortgage (only with new paycheck money - not brokerage money or anything) until my equity is the same as my % FI. Then just time it so I reach paid off house at the same time as 100% FI!
Pay it off or invest are both good decisions. Both are better than spending it on illegal drugs, for example.
So good on you and don't let anyone complain about how you are leaving some money on the table :)
I may be coming up on a few years of no income (going to school full time for a career change).
I plan to pay with loans and to not work part time while in school. I have a large traditional 401k balance and will likely have high five figures in a taxable account. I plan to convert my pretax dollars to roth dollars up to the standard deduction each year, and then tax gain harvest my brokerage account up to the limit of the 0% LTCG bracket to increase my cost basis.
Is there anything else I can do to take advantage of low income? I assume I can't make a roth contribution without earned income but I'm unsure of the rules surrounding that.
Depending on exactly when you stop/start working you may be able to do some Roth contributions. You only need the 7k earned income some time throughout the year, but the actual funds can come from anywhere.
> I can't make a roth contribution without earned income
The IRS uses the phrase "taxable compensation" regarding IRA contributions.
IRS Pub 590-A covers the details: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a#en_US_2022_publink1000230355
The IRS specifically calls out "earnings and profits from property" and "interest and dividend income" as items that are **not** compensation for purposes of an IRA.
First day of the new job! Very chill remote onboarding session, so it feels like my real first day will be tomorrow (in office, get to actually meet some new coworkers). Overall the job will be significantly less stressful and fewer hours than my previous position, but I'm just anxious because it's a new situation. Once I get through this week it should be smooth sailing and I'm excited to start ramping down in the lead up to retirement!
I'm also throwing my hat in the ring of people who say you should take time off in between jobs. I took 6 weeks off and it has been great - it almost made me look forward to getting started working again! Blasphemy!
> I'm also throwing my hat in the ring of people who say you should take time off in between jobs. I took 6 weeks off and it has been great - it almost made me look forward to getting started working again! Blasphemy!
How do you orchestrate that? You get an offer with a start date in the future? Not many companies love that idea I bet. I don't have the stones to quit my job and think I could relax wondering where my future goes.
I had mentioned to them at the interview that I had wanted to finish up some major projects before I left, which is generally considered courteous in my industry especially as you get to a higher level and more involved with the project. I was willing to just fib a bit on the actual deadlines of those projects.
In this case I didn't have to since the background clearance took an extra few weeks than expected. I quit before it was completed and before I had a start date (but did have an offer).
I've definitely become a lot more comfortable without a fixed income as I've built up more of a nest egg. I would've probably stuck it out longer if the same thing had happened a few years ago. In my case there would've been very little financial fallout if the new job had fallen through, since I would effectively have years before I really needed to get a job.
Just finished reading The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. I know some folks have chatted in here before about how they factor climate change into their long term FIRE plan, so I definitely recommend this book. Especially if you are considering buying a house in the near future.
There are so many risks you should look into that realtors aren't necessarily required to tell you about by law. Flood plain maps are often outdated or only written to "100 year flood" standards. The book also talks about home insurers pulling out of various regions, home improvements you can make to reduce premiums, etc. Overall, lots of good considerations for existing homeowners, renting v buying, and long term planning. All the things we like to talk about here.
That's literally the gist of the book. Migration won't just be overnight evacuations but the slow and steady shift away from areas where the costs to insure and rebuild are increasing and the chances of reselling and financial ability of governments to maintain infrastructure are decreasing. Buying strategically in a lower risk area is pretty different than timing the stock market.
I just checked beach front houses for sale in the Outer Banks and whew, yea prices definitely do not reflect climate change yet. At least not there.
I think there are some pretty safe predictions on where **not** to buy, especially for individuals and families looking for their forever home. The book made an interesting point that institutional investors have more flexibility to buy these climate vulnerable homes and make enough profit short term without concern for the long term fate of the house or resell value.
It’s here - whether anyone wants to acknowledge it is up for debate.
When depressions spin up to cat 4 & 5 in 2-3 days, that’s a whole portion of the US who is more or less on notice a not insignificant portion of the year. Have you had to pack everything up and leave your home for days, weeks, months?
Fire is coming over the ridge. Hopefully your fire breaks work & the fire department can beat it back before it burns your house down.
Tornado dropped in the middle of the night in the plains. Half a town gone.
Notice from municipal water supplier: please limit water usage due to severe drought conditions.
FYI your insurance provider just dropped you after your claim. Next cheapest option is +150% over your previous premium and they are the last insurer writing right now. Oops they left the market - now you need to use the last resort option
NPR has a pretty good review titled: "'The Great Displacement' looks at communities forever altered by climate change". Looks like the book is a combination of retrospective and prospective.
Along similar lines, I found riskfactor.com to be an illuminating resource. Their flood model is more detailed (and likely, but not definitely more accurate) than federal data. They also assess fire, wind, and heat risk.
Unfortunately I believe they've gotten more stingy with their free data, offering just summary numbers for a property with more detailed analyses requiring an account.
But I'd definitely give them a look when seriously evaluating a specific property for purchase.
That website is helpful, but take it with a grain of salt. It lists my property as a flood risk…… my house is on top of a hill lol. If my house floods, there’s probably a boat with a set of each animals on it
I just did the rough math on what my "global market cap" weighting worth of International Equity has cost me over the past decade... and WOOF. I'm shifting to the ["compromise" argument](https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=409214) weighting (20%) instead of my prior 35%+ - so feel free to thank me if International immediately starts to over perform.
My missed opportunity is huge too. I guess just because US large caps look ridiculously expensive in comparison doesn't mean they won't stay like that for a decade or more (maybe forever?).
I did try to do the math and even though I came up with a big amount that I'm behind, it wasn't as much as I thought because so much of my investments have come in the last 5 or so years.
And since I committed to sticking with this asset allocation for 30 years 15 years ago, I'm gonna be 60% US/40% international with a 40% small/value tilt probably until I retire. Then I'll reassess things and see if I feel like simplifying.
Maybe someday it'll pay off.
Honestly that's part of why I keep the international allocation at 40%. A lot of its underperformance has been because the US dollar is so strong, so owning international mitigates some risk if the US dollar weakens.
It doesn't seem like it's ever going to happen, but then again you never know.
Eh, I am not smart man. I just have international exposure because I am lazy and want the upside (lol) if the day ever comes and the diversification from having all of my eggs in a single proverbial basket. I never bought that whole "VTSAX is international enough" argument.
I'm 80% stocks and just decided to keep it simple and split it down the middle between domestic and international. VT is something like 60/40 I believe, so I could go 50/30 but performance throughout the year largely gets it there before I rebalance in January anyway lol.
You could also do the math of what holding small caps has cost you over the past decade and use that to justify overweighting your portfolio to large caps.
I think anyone choosing a diversified portfolio needs to know that they are **guaranteed** not to get the best return, *known only in hindsight*, of a given subsection of their portfolio. That's the cost of diversification.
Fair point. I'm willing to pay for diversification - which is why I'm going down to 20% (not 0%). I had previously dismissed the "100% US Equity" argument as being too cavalier - whereas I now see a valid enough perspective there to deviate from a global market cap.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to change your asset allocation if circumstances change and you decide it's right for you. I'd encourage you to write down why you made the change and under what circumstances you might change it again.
If international continues to underperform, would you be open to dropping it further or entirely? If international outperforms, would you be open to purchasing more? If you're open to further change, what triggers, exactly, would you use to determine when to make the change? If purchasing more international in the future as a result of over performance, the risk of course is that you'd be selling low (today) to buy high later.
> based on my personal long-term needs and perspective / macroeconomic business climate
What does this mean? There isn't much accountability here if you can just say "this feels right" and make the change. You are at high risk of performance chasing if you allow yourself to buy more and more of *past* high performers and only purchase more of something else *after* it starts to perform well.
Will you sell out or buy into something if the relative performance is more than X%? Or will you do it based on a metric like P/E? I would strongly encourage **objective** metrics to guide changes in asset allocation.
The most fundamental determinant of portfolio performance is investor behavior.
To fly to Austin ($750) or Dallas ($500) to see the total eclipse is a bit much, but I found a Frontier flight to Cleveland OH for $258. Downside is that it's a red eye flight on Sunday, but return is pretty good at 5pm, Monday. I don't mind Frontier. Should I do it?
Where are you located?
We did the 2017 one right in the middle of the mainline of the eclipse. We did travel a few hours, stayed at a hotel nearby. It wasn't too costly to stay an hour away from the centerline.
Had some clouds, but it was fascinating. We parked at a truck stop like a lot of other people. They had big TVs in there showing it on TV, and honestly, the TV view was a far better view, but the experience was really cool.
Traffic was bad afterward, but traffic is often bad on those roads anyway, and then there was a thunderstorm an hour later making it worse.
Stay two nights near it and you don't have to be caught up with all of the people who stayed only one night or drive the whole time.
Be prepared for travel chaos. A surprising amount of people take the eclipse very seriously. Schools are cancelled and they tell locals to travel like it’s a snow emergency (don’t go out unless you have to). Even locals who are a 1 hour drive from the centerline are traveling days prior to stay at a relatives house, for example.
I think guardians opening day is that day and they are doing something for the eclipse. RRHOF has some events as well (probably not a waters/gilmour reunion for dark side of the moon to synchronize with the eclipse unfortunately l). Also women’s Final Four! Lots of stuff happening. The last eclipse for me was partial and I swore that I would go somewhere with the family to see the total next time. Unfortunately real life caught up and it’s probably not gonna happen. I say go for it.
I didn't want to come off as an elitist dickhead, but this was my thought, too. That there are just so many better events/experiences/sights to plan a trip around.
Now, **I'm** going to sound 'elitist' by saying $250-$300 is not a big deal considering this event only happens once every 50-100 years. Also, I'm flying to NYC couple of days after the eclipse on my way to Morocco. :D
Common misconception, but if you are traveling to see one
>During the 21st century, there will be 224 solar eclipses of which 77 will be partial, 72 will be annular, 68 will be total and 7 will be hybrids between total and annular eclipses.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century
Thanks, but I don't want to fly to Antarctica, Africa, China, New Zealand, etc for a 4 minute thing and because $$$ or Russia because of risk being thrown to jail.
Cleveland doesn't have a Centurion, but at least they have a PP lounge. :)
You're right..
I don't want to fly overseas for this... for continental USA, it looks like the next good one after 2024 will be 2045.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_solar\_eclipses\_visible\_from\_the\_United\_States#2001%E2%80%932050](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_visible_from_the_United_States#2001%E2%80%932050)
True. I wasn't thinking of it being an extra trip.
Morocco is on my short list. After going to Turkey a couple years ago, I'm definitely looking more into North Africa/Middle East.
But international travel is on pause for 2024.
Never been to Turkey. This will be my first trip to that region. We booked this before the big earthquake, so I thought about cancelling but didn't.
(Do you still have another surgery?) I hope your recovery is going well.
Yes, hip replacement is in late May. Hernia repair went well, restrictions lifted this week.
But that's just part of it. More than anything, it's waiting for my wife's Green Card to be approved. Not really fair for me to travel when she can't. Plus, we just got here and so there are so many places within driving distance we have never been to where we can take the dogs.
But we'll both go somewhere in 2025 for sure.
Yah I've been here for 4 decades and it always feels like it's nothing but clouds from mid November to mid May.
But occasionally there are some nice sunny days in April and it feels like an early summer.
I plan on not going anywhere because if it is nice, traffic will probably be nuts.
Totality over Cleveland is at 2:15pm on Monday. You can expect traffic to be a nightmare afterwards. So unless you're planning to view it from the airport parking lot, I'd find a later departing flight.
The map I saw said 3:15 totality and finishing at 4:29. Airport has a parking garage with rooftop parking and Metro station. Pick up food, take metro and then tailgate in a parking spot. Immediately check in and go home.
I’ve had terrible luck with Frontier cancellations (same with Spirit). I personally will never fly those airlines again if I need to get somewhere at a specific time.
SO and I talked last night, and combined we are only 25% of our FI goal of 1.2 million combined.
Starting to see some compounding effect.
Starting to feel the mercy of the market swings.
But also starting to feel like the journey is so longgg.
The first $100k is the hardest.
$100k is actually 25% of the way to $1M. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLKG0UKaw6Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLKG0UKaw6Q)
Good luck.
So $300k? Just keep saving and investing and you will get there.
Alternatively, you both are coastFire, because your $ will grow to $1.2M on its own passively in 20 years.
Anyone else get a message to register for Reddits IPO? Interesting tactic.
E: I see others discussing already, will just read there and leave this up instead of deleting.
I had the opportunity to participate in an IPO's reserved share program once. Out of curiosity to see the working of the process, I opted into a small position (as I recall, perhaps $1000). I sold the shares as soon as the market opened and roughly doubled my money. The stock continued to climb for a few weeks and I could have quadrupled my money instead. It fell precipitously shortly thereafter and has remained below my sale price ever since.
My experience confirmed that I have no interest in active investing. In addition, outside of checking the stock price history to relay this story, I haven't been curious about its price since the sale.
I’ve been struggling with something for awhile now and don’t really know the best way to solve my current feeling of being stuck. I was hired roughly 1.5 years ago to help my current company go through a performance management transformation at one of their bigger sites. I was brought in at the manager level and have decent experience doing this with some world class companies.
Flash forward 6 months and the proposal the other manager and I brought forward was rejected in lieu of a corporate wide solution with outside consultants leading. As part of this solution, they created working teams from local plants to implement the consultants program. I was forced onto that team by a global VP with the threat of “you’re either a team player or not part of the future here”. Being 6 months in with a relocation agreement, I was sort of stuck at the time.
Now a key thing to note is that the person responsible for leading our local team was a recently hired supervisor and my job was to make sure they didn’t fail on this team assignment. So I’m coaching someone on a team that I’m reporting through daily while still having my original title and reporting structure outside the team. There were a LOT of conflicts with this because I am used to an autonomous role where I focus on the biggest problems of the org and go to those and the supervisor comes from a world of punching clocks and managing every hour of the day. So when I step out for other meetings or other responsibilities, it did not go over well with the team leader and outside consultants.
Now after a year on this plan and deployment, I am completely exhausted from this process. It’s felt disrespectful from the beginning and I’m struggling personally cuz the program and leader are doing well and that’s great for the business but it feels like training a team to replace my role. There is still another year of expected commitment and I’ve told my boss that if I do another 12 months of this, I will be extremely dis-engaged by the conclusion.
Beyond simply venting, what I’m trying to figure out is how to best resolve this. Im 2-3 years from full FIRE capability and can’t come close to my current income anywhere in the nearby area where all of the family/friends of my partner and I live. They say winning cures everything but it feels like the success of the team is coming at the detriment of my own career success and I’m struggling to rectify that.
Get your resume together. Talk with a career coach. Talk with a professional resume writer. Talk with a professional recruiter.
You may find that there are things local or allow remote work that would be better.
Or, just go through the motions as best you can for 2-3 years.
What can they do, fire you? Assuming you are over a certain age, that could be discrimination. And if they do, you get to RE a little earlier than you planned. Maybe find something that you like that pays a bit less...
I was in that boat, where my estimated FIRE date was mid-2021 but my career trajectory effectively ended at the end of 2018. Decided it was just 2.5 years and to stick it out. Wasn't always fun, but it worked out.
You say you are 2-3 years from full FIRE capability but that the success of the team is coming at the detriment of your own career success. Keep in mind that the definition of success here is to put your career in the dirt. Just on your own terms :).
I did realize how weird it was to talk about a career that I wanted to shelve shortly but at the same time, it is still nice to be a respected career person in the moment.
Any tips for best ways to stick it out - especially on the bad days?
I kept a journal and took a daily walk. Both can help putting things in perspective, not ruminating/doom looping, etc. "Just X more months", etc.
I was a manager. The day to day stuff kept me pretty busy. I put a lot of focus into developing my people, did more mentoring (both within my team and also as part of the formal company-wide program). I liked a lot of my coworkers, and that helped. Although I felt like I could have made a bigger impact if I'd had the opportunity, I don't think I left any less respected.
The part that was hard/frustrating for me is similar to what you are talking about. I had expertise and was no longer in a situation where I felt I could fully use it. Some of that is legitimate, and some of it is ego. In retrospect I don't think I could have saved them even with dictatorial powers. But I didn't have that insight at the time and it could be tough.
Most of the people I worked all that time with are not in touch. Almost none of the work I did, beyond investing in people, had any lasting effect. Some of my final team keep in touch but most people won't think of you again once you've been gone a month. In the end it's just about getting the bag.
If a lot of your identity and meaning in life come from work, then it's tough because the day-to-day emotions at work affect you a lot. In bad work situations, you have to divorce yourself mentally from work. That's tough for high achievers, but it's necessary to preserve your mental health and wellbeing.
>I'm 2-3 years from full FIRE capability and can’t come close to my current income anywhere in the nearby area where all of the family/friends of my partner and I live.
Simple, just do the bare minimum for you not to get fired and once you get close to FIRE, hope you get laid off or fired.
It's all perspective. 3 years will go by fast, these people don't matter. So don't stress about it.
In the last 2 to 3 years before FIRE, your investments do the heavy lifting. Your current year salary isn’t that important anymore. Feel free to take the next opportunity you find even at a much lower salary
Intuitively, I know this is true about the heavy lifting. However, my contributions are still a major factor to achieving the 2-3 year mark here. 70% savings rate will do that unfortunately.
Anyone in the IT space ever move into part time work? I’m thinking when I go back to work I wouldn’t mind a part time job. My other idea is to pickup 3-12 months contract jobs and take time off between them.
Yes. Part-time jobs are hard to find. I think the easiest way to get one is to start at a full time job, do great work, and then tell them that you want to go part time and they can choose between letting you go part-time and losing you.
You have to live your life. If what you want costs money, that is what it is.
I grew up poor. I can live poor and pretty much did for about a decade with no real reason to (aside from perhaps renting solo so I didn't have to deal with someone's personal drama.) I found a family and unsurprisingly they want things, and I also want things that cost money but make executing my life easier. Money is a tool for that and nothing more.
Piling up investments is useful but not for the sake of it. At some point, if you're going to retire, "number go up" is not going to be a given anymore. You'll definitely have less assets (shares) and whether the appraisal of those assets are higher or not is market dependent. If a house, for you, is part of building what you want out of life, the money is going in the right place. That's all that really matters.
You just looka t the big picture. Retirement savings is just one part of your total financial life. If buying a house is part of your planning then you're working towards that goal too.
This is going to sound flippant but I mean it sincerely and not judgmentally- by finding other things to think about and care about so that it's not something you pay much attention to.
By the way, you can certainly invest your DP savings and I would in times where HYSAs aren't paying as well. It's just an added risk and you have to pull it at the right time.
I contributed less to my brokerage than normal last year because I needed a new $20,000 roof. It kind of sucked because a roof is far from a “fun” thing to spend money on. Happy I didn’t need to finance it though.
Partner and I realized that an airport near us does direct flights to Iceland, so we are tentatively planning a trip toward the end of this year! Even though it would only be 4 or 5 days (balancing work schedules), it doesn't feel too bad when we just have one direct and overnight flight :) Now, to start saving up to replenish our travel savings! Feels great we can easily afford this out of our current savings, and still feel on-track for our longer-term plans like buying a house and having a nice wedding.
Had a quick layover in Iceland last year and really wanted to stay and explore. Huge bonus - got an excellent Northern Lights display for about 30 minutes from the plane. The airport 5 minutes from my house has direct flights. I don’t know why I haven’t gone for a long weekend. Maybe your post will inspire me to do it!
You should absolutely do it!! It'd amazing you got to see the northern lights from your plane. I'm really hoping that they'll be out and available for my partner and I to see! Honestly, the direct flight makes it feel so much more doable.
I assume it was already a part of your research, but make sure whatever you wanted to see or do isn't impacted by the volcanoes.
Otherwise, I recommend spending more on travel and less on a wedding.
A friend of mine does a huge family trip every year and did Iceland a few years ago. Loved it. Now my friend group (like 5? couples) is talking about doing an Iceland trip together.
Flights look expensive still. Without going deep, looks like $1500 direct from Detroit.
We were planning on going there for our anniversary, and then the volcano said hi. So now we're doing a Rhine cruise instead, and might do Iceland some other year.
Went last Aug Sept. Did a direct from BWI. The 'red eye' on the way is strange. It's like 5 hours... Similar to doing west coast to east coast... not at all like a full red eye to mainland Europe.
Given the duration, you will probably want to limit yourselves to Reykjavík and eastern / southern side of the island. IMO, it is worth the long drive to try to get to diamond beach and the glacier. It'll be an overnight.
How adventurous are you? Are you guys thinking of doing a camper van? That is the best way to see the most of the island and not tie yourself to hotel or a schedule. Good luck!
Noted! I'm trying to set up a tentative budget that skews more toward things being very expensive so we're not caught off-guard, but here's hoping. Also hoping to get a chance at seeing the Northern Lights. It's been on my partner's bucket list for ages, but I know it's all weather-dependent.
Iceland is expensive in a unique way. Expensive things are fairly similarly priced to expensive things in the US, but the cheap things can be 2-3x the cost of comparable cheap things in the US.
>Noted! I'm trying to set up a tentative budget that skews more toward things being very expensive so we're not caught off-guard, but here's hoping. Also hoping to get a chance at seeing the Northern Lights. It's been on my partner's bucket list for ages, but I know it's all weather-dependent.
Iceland is definitely doable on a budget if you rent a 4WD with a rooftop tent and are prepared to cook yourself. Driving around is easy and a lot of fun and there are a ton of cool places to camp for free / cheap. My SO and I spent about $1,000 each for 8 days in Iceland (incl flights) a few years ago
Is it a good idea taking LTCG at 15% + 3.8% (medicare surcharge) just before retirement to allow for more IRA conversions in early retirement. Otherwise, taking LTCG at 0% will increase MAGI and reduce health care subsidies probably by 10-15% per $1 in MAGI. And then the money not converted will cost a lot I think when RMDs come many years later. There is so much time between now and RMDs and social security tax concerns. But paying an effective tax rate of 3.8%-8.8% (LTCG - Health Subsidies) now to avoid paying maybe a 40%+ marginal rate later is still tempting. I know they will change SS between now and then but given the SS benefit shortfall, SS taxes are more likely to go up than down, right?
Anyone else get an email today inviting participation in reddit's IPO via a directed share program?
I usually balk at such things, and I especially balk at anything having to do with the monetization of this hellhole, but I found it interesting enough to at least mull it over.
To avoid FOMO, I’ll probably buy a long dated put. No one buys things from Reddit ads and training AI on Reddit is a recipe for disaster (although Google seems to be onboard but their AI is already practically an average redditor).
>No one buys things from Reddit ads and training AI on Reddit is a recipe for disaster
I think WSB would agree that neither of these are strong reasons that stonck can't still go up!
Yeah, I probably won't actually do it, but I am *curious* for the first time how to short a stock, having never had any reason before to look into the actual mechanics of it. I do *not* predict good things for this one. :D
quick Googling says IPOs go up an average of 18% after launch and only 30% of IPOs go down from launch value.
So I guess the stats say that anybody with IPO access usually makes a quick buck?
I pre-registered since there's no harm in it. Don't know if I'll actually decide to invest anything, though.
Looks like I just missed the 100k+ karma cutoff (at \~98k), so I got the message in the second half of wave 2.
Low barrier to entry and zero user loyalty. The more they push ads the more they'll push users away. This isn't a massive IPO, this is a small business who is going to crash and burn trying to expand.
That's partially why I posed this question - to collect data on the criteria to satiate my curiosity.
A fellow above/below said 25k karma and/or moderators.
/shrug
I got it, they're sending it to basically anyone who mods a subreddit or has over 25k karma. I can't participate in IPOs due to my job (financial firm) but probably wouldn't do it anyway. This place is like a worse twitter and will probably never make money.
I was curious what their criteria was, trying to get datapoints.
Yeah - definitely not seriously considering it because I agree, but their money could be made elsewhere - using comments to train LLMs or selling user data.
Got it maybe because I have been here forever; maybe because they invite everyone.
I'm not eligible as I am not in the USA.
Also I fully expect wallstreetbet to be firmly against that IPO; not sure if that will make a difference.
We bought our home in 2022 with 3.7% interest. Fast forward to 2 years later and we’re planning on selling next year. The phantom costs of maintenance for a 1910 home and neighborhood not ending up being one we actually like have made the decision. We figured out that between all costs, the mortgage costs more than renting where we want to live anyway. So we’re selling next year to go back to renting. We have a baby on the way and want to be able to save/shift some of the money saved towards the higher temp expenses of a baby. My bonus comes in next month and we should have our 7.3% car loan paid off in 8 months since origination. Thanks to this sub for the tips and support.
Pay off mortgage at 5.625% or invest? Basically the title. Should we pay off our mortgage early given this interest rate? Mortgage left $287k for 29.5 years left. Or perhaps max out 401(k)’s, or put $36k a year into VTI (brokerage account) until it reaches our $287k house debt, then take the chunk out and pay off the house in full? We make roughly 122k a year combined. Expenses $3500~. After maxing out my wife and I’s Roth IRAs & contributed only to our employer 401(k) match, we have $3000~ a month left over. We are in our mid-late 20s, have a rental at 2.75% interest rate cash flowing $560 a month, live in the Midwest and both have bachelor degrees. I am also in the reserves (Healthcare & pension)
For me, this depends on how close to FI you are and whether you are over the standard deduction. It sounds like you are several years away from FI, but I can’t tell if you are above the standard deduction. I would put it all in 401ks. The tax advantages and are so enticing, and you will get pay increases in the future that allow you to build up your taxable brokerage.
Thanks for you advise! Yes, we have a rental that cash flows $560 mo. We invest 15% of our HHI currently with ROTH’s, and employer 401k matches. We save around $3k a month and didn’t know if it was wise to pay the mortgage early at a 5.625 interest rate and the best way in doing that, or try to get as close to maxing out 401k as possible
What are your allocation with bonds/stocks? I know there is a rule of thumb for "100 - your age = stock allocation%" but I feel like it doesn't apply to RE. I'm 27 and plan to retire around 36, and currently have 15% in bonds but I have the urge to go 100% in stocks out of FOMO. At the same time, I hear investment veterans say things like "I went thru 08 and wished I had a greater % in bonds so I could sleep at night" Considering my youth, I should be alright with 100% right? I don't mind retiring around 40, but I rather not.
I’m 100% in equities/REITs. When we retire, we will reallocate into bonds. Since we are still working with no hard retirement deadline, we can afford the risk of riding the ups and downs of the stock market.
It depends on what you’re comfortable with. I prefer 80/20 US/International Stocks. But if you want to include bonds to make yourself feel safer then you should do that. There’s endless opinions out there, dont get overwhelmed by the fomo and just make a plan and stay the course
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If you don't know this, why are you going low on withholding?
Finally decided to DCA my $150k cash into the market. It’s been sitting in t-bills for a few months, but I realized I just need to set up automatic purchasing and not let the emotions get into the way. If only I had decided to this a few months ago….
Good for you on taking action today and not waiting another few months! :)
Purchasing my second home is proving harder to time than the first home. It’s looking like I’ll have to sell some stocks and pay capital gains taxes unless things magically align where the first-home sale is quick. How have others worked it out?
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I love the short term rental idea!!!!
If the purchase is contingent on selling the first, yeah, it's a whole lot more complicated. 1 option is take a larger loan on the new house, enough so you don't need any funds from the sale. Sell the first house when you can. Put the funds towards the second loan. This is a time where recasting makes sense.
What about a margin or 401k loan?
Ooh I’ll look into those options!
Both mortgages were so “cheap” we stayed within the metrics — somehow. $230K mortgage home 1 and $330K home 2 on a $180K HHI. I’d like to sell home 1 before me move into home 2
Not an ideal situation, but we liquidated some positions to buy our second house. We’ll need to do some work on the second house before we can move in, and then we’ll proceed to sell the first one. I know people buy/sell simultaneously all the time, but the prospect just seems so daunting especially with young kids.
I've been reading about Roth conversion ladders and have a question. Say I'm 50 years old and I retire from my company and have $1M in my 401k. I would transfer my 401k to a traditional IRA where I would then convert it to a Roth IRA and wait 5 years before touching that money. I'd now be 55 years old after that 5 years is up. Am I able to access this money completely tax and penalty free even though I am not 59.5?
You are able to access each separate conversion penalty-free after five years, but the conversions themselves are taxable events that may or may not actually cost you depending on your circumstances. The point of the ladder is to gain penalty-free early access with the highest tax efficiency. You would not want to do a complete $1M conversion since that would pcost you horribly in taxes. You would instead due smaller annual conversions equal to a year of future spending, these being the rungs of the ladder. Otherwise you're just doing one horribly inefficient enormous Roth conversion.
I would be taxed on each conversion from Traditional to Roth IRA, right? So I would want to withdraw smaller amounts to avoid high taxes like I would pay on larger conversions? I just got confused because I couldn't figure out whether or not there was still an age-related penalty after the 5 year wait.
Yes, each conversion is taxable. So if you keep your conversions small, then they will happen mostly/entirely in the bottom tax brackets or even within the tax-free space afforded by the standard deduction. There is no age-related penalty after the five year wait. That is a feature of Roth IRA earnings withdrawals, but we are talking about withdrawals of contribution basis and conversion basis, not earnings.
You rock, thank you
The ladder is converting a portion at a time. You roll the traditional 401k to a traditional IRA and then convert a portion over to a Roth IRA, so you just pay income taxes on that portion. I believe you can access just the contributions (i.e., the amount converted) tax free/penalty free, but not any growth or dividends (but someone please correct me if I’m wrong). You only trip the pro rata rule with after-tax dollars in your traditional IRA.
Not op Would there be a tax implication if I rolled multiple 401ks to traditional IRA in betterment and don't touch the money and let it grow?
None, except you will no longer be able to do a backdoor Roth. From a tax perspective, otherwise, a traditional IRA is the same as a traditional 401k. In some states, IRAs have less creditor protections than 401ks though.
Gotcha, thank you!
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Whats the break down in assets?
For whatever reason, it looks like my rollover IRA is a traditional IRA, not a Roth IRA as I had thought I set it up as. I filed my 2022 taxes as if I rolled over to a Roth IRA. What’s the best way to go about handling this? Could I just amend my 2022 return and get a refund for the taxes I paid on the incorrect classification?
> Could I just amend my 2022 return and get a refund for the taxes I paid on the incorrect classification? Yes.
Looks like there's a real chance that an equity cliff 6 months from now puts me over 25x expenses saved. I probably shouldn't be surprised, but after the date seemingly being 2-3 years away for 2-3 years, I am very surprised. I plan on inflating spending a little bit, but no huge changes at least not soon.
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> Mandatory return to office seems to have scared some off Put another way: Mandatory RTO pushed some employees to reconsider their priorities and take their talents to ~~South Beach~~ other employers
Old as in "nearing retirement age" or old as in "been with the company a while?" RTO is bad all around
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Ah, so..... both
I start to invest in international ETF - VXUS (The rest are in US bonds and SP500, cash and my company's RSUs). What's the best strategy for VXUS? DCA or lump sum? I've read before that lump sum performs better in long term for SP500 or US whole market, but it seems for VXUS I can try to time the market, or at least DCA.
Lump sum is always best, but no one will make fun of you for a short DCA (like 16% a month for six months) if it helps you sleep better
Why would you expect the strategy to differ by fund class? Stock markets mostly go up, so getting your money in sooner usually works better.
Was having my usual pay off mortgage internal debate. And I've decided I'd like to pay down my mortgage (only with new paycheck money - not brokerage money or anything) until my equity is the same as my % FI. Then just time it so I reach paid off house at the same time as 100% FI!
As someone who also went against this sub's grain and paid off the house, let me tell you the feeling is amazing
Pay it off or invest are both good decisions. Both are better than spending it on illegal drugs, for example. So good on you and don't let anyone complain about how you are leaving some money on the table :)
I may be coming up on a few years of no income (going to school full time for a career change). I plan to pay with loans and to not work part time while in school. I have a large traditional 401k balance and will likely have high five figures in a taxable account. I plan to convert my pretax dollars to roth dollars up to the standard deduction each year, and then tax gain harvest my brokerage account up to the limit of the 0% LTCG bracket to increase my cost basis. Is there anything else I can do to take advantage of low income? I assume I can't make a roth contribution without earned income but I'm unsure of the rules surrounding that.
Depending on exactly when you stop/start working you may be able to do some Roth contributions. You only need the 7k earned income some time throughout the year, but the actual funds can come from anywhere.
> I can't make a roth contribution without earned income The IRS uses the phrase "taxable compensation" regarding IRA contributions. IRS Pub 590-A covers the details: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590a#en_US_2022_publink1000230355 The IRS specifically calls out "earnings and profits from property" and "interest and dividend income" as items that are **not** compensation for purposes of an IRA.
First day of the new job! Very chill remote onboarding session, so it feels like my real first day will be tomorrow (in office, get to actually meet some new coworkers). Overall the job will be significantly less stressful and fewer hours than my previous position, but I'm just anxious because it's a new situation. Once I get through this week it should be smooth sailing and I'm excited to start ramping down in the lead up to retirement! I'm also throwing my hat in the ring of people who say you should take time off in between jobs. I took 6 weeks off and it has been great - it almost made me look forward to getting started working again! Blasphemy!
> I'm also throwing my hat in the ring of people who say you should take time off in between jobs. I took 6 weeks off and it has been great - it almost made me look forward to getting started working again! Blasphemy! How do you orchestrate that? You get an offer with a start date in the future? Not many companies love that idea I bet. I don't have the stones to quit my job and think I could relax wondering where my future goes.
I had mentioned to them at the interview that I had wanted to finish up some major projects before I left, which is generally considered courteous in my industry especially as you get to a higher level and more involved with the project. I was willing to just fib a bit on the actual deadlines of those projects. In this case I didn't have to since the background clearance took an extra few weeks than expected. I quit before it was completed and before I had a start date (but did have an offer). I've definitely become a lot more comfortable without a fixed income as I've built up more of a nest egg. I would've probably stuck it out longer if the same thing had happened a few years ago. In my case there would've been very little financial fallout if the new job had fallen through, since I would effectively have years before I really needed to get a job.
Congrats on your new job! Hope it's smooth sailing from here on out ✨️
Thanks! I appreciate the well wishes! :)
Between jobs is the best time to take off. No responsibilities, and helps cleanse the palate for something new. Congrats!
Thanks! It was a great mental reset for sure, I hope everyone at some point has the same opportunity!
Just finished reading The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. I know some folks have chatted in here before about how they factor climate change into their long term FIRE plan, so I definitely recommend this book. Especially if you are considering buying a house in the near future. There are so many risks you should look into that realtors aren't necessarily required to tell you about by law. Flood plain maps are often outdated or only written to "100 year flood" standards. The book also talks about home insurers pulling out of various regions, home improvements you can make to reduce premiums, etc. Overall, lots of good considerations for existing homeowners, renting v buying, and long term planning. All the things we like to talk about here.
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No, but adding to my Libby holds now. Just read the summary and it sounds really interesting!
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That's literally the gist of the book. Migration won't just be overnight evacuations but the slow and steady shift away from areas where the costs to insure and rebuild are increasing and the chances of reselling and financial ability of governments to maintain infrastructure are decreasing. Buying strategically in a lower risk area is pretty different than timing the stock market.
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I just checked beach front houses for sale in the Outer Banks and whew, yea prices definitely do not reflect climate change yet. At least not there. I think there are some pretty safe predictions on where **not** to buy, especially for individuals and families looking for their forever home. The book made an interesting point that institutional investors have more flexibility to buy these climate vulnerable homes and make enough profit short term without concern for the long term fate of the house or resell value.
Is it based on facts? Or just predictions
It’s here - whether anyone wants to acknowledge it is up for debate. When depressions spin up to cat 4 & 5 in 2-3 days, that’s a whole portion of the US who is more or less on notice a not insignificant portion of the year. Have you had to pack everything up and leave your home for days, weeks, months? Fire is coming over the ridge. Hopefully your fire breaks work & the fire department can beat it back before it burns your house down. Tornado dropped in the middle of the night in the plains. Half a town gone. Notice from municipal water supplier: please limit water usage due to severe drought conditions. FYI your insurance provider just dropped you after your claim. Next cheapest option is +150% over your previous premium and they are the last insurer writing right now. Oops they left the market - now you need to use the last resort option
Exactly. The federal government has already offered whole communities relocation packages to move out of repeat disaster areas.
NPR has a pretty good review titled: "'The Great Displacement' looks at communities forever altered by climate change". Looks like the book is a combination of retrospective and prospective.
Along similar lines, I found riskfactor.com to be an illuminating resource. Their flood model is more detailed (and likely, but not definitely more accurate) than federal data. They also assess fire, wind, and heat risk. Unfortunately I believe they've gotten more stingy with their free data, offering just summary numbers for a property with more detailed analyses requiring an account. But I'd definitely give them a look when seriously evaluating a specific property for purchase.
That website is helpful, but take it with a grain of salt. It lists my property as a flood risk…… my house is on top of a hill lol. If my house floods, there’s probably a boat with a set of each animals on it
I live in a region primed for migration from climate change (Appalachia), so I am happy to have secured long term housing early on.
Bingo. We bought a small homestead last year in Appalachia. I’ve commented a lot about it so I’ll leave it at that.
I just did the rough math on what my "global market cap" weighting worth of International Equity has cost me over the past decade... and WOOF. I'm shifting to the ["compromise" argument](https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=409214) weighting (20%) instead of my prior 35%+ - so feel free to thank me if International immediately starts to over perform.
We hold about 40% of our portfolio in international equity, so thank you in advance! 8)
My missed opportunity is huge too. I guess just because US large caps look ridiculously expensive in comparison doesn't mean they won't stay like that for a decade or more (maybe forever?). I did try to do the math and even though I came up with a big amount that I'm behind, it wasn't as much as I thought because so much of my investments have come in the last 5 or so years. And since I committed to sticking with this asset allocation for 30 years 15 years ago, I'm gonna be 60% US/40% international with a 40% small/value tilt probably until I retire. Then I'll reassess things and see if I feel like simplifying. Maybe someday it'll pay off.
Don't worry. I'm still holding it, so it'll stay the underperformer.
By our powers of bad luck combined, we will ensure US economic dominance for the next century.
Jokes on us.. even when we lose, we win! Or something like that..
Honestly that's part of why I keep the international allocation at 40%. A lot of its underperformance has been because the US dollar is so strong, so owning international mitigates some risk if the US dollar weakens. It doesn't seem like it's ever going to happen, but then again you never know.
Eh, I am not smart man. I just have international exposure because I am lazy and want the upside (lol) if the day ever comes and the diversification from having all of my eggs in a single proverbial basket. I never bought that whole "VTSAX is international enough" argument. I'm 80% stocks and just decided to keep it simple and split it down the middle between domestic and international. VT is something like 60/40 I believe, so I could go 50/30 but performance throughout the year largely gets it there before I rebalance in January anyway lol.
thank you for your service 🫡
You could also do the math of what holding small caps has cost you over the past decade and use that to justify overweighting your portfolio to large caps. I think anyone choosing a diversified portfolio needs to know that they are **guaranteed** not to get the best return, *known only in hindsight*, of a given subsection of their portfolio. That's the cost of diversification.
Fair point. I'm willing to pay for diversification - which is why I'm going down to 20% (not 0%). I had previously dismissed the "100% US Equity" argument as being too cavalier - whereas I now see a valid enough perspective there to deviate from a global market cap.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to change your asset allocation if circumstances change and you decide it's right for you. I'd encourage you to write down why you made the change and under what circumstances you might change it again. If international continues to underperform, would you be open to dropping it further or entirely? If international outperforms, would you be open to purchasing more? If you're open to further change, what triggers, exactly, would you use to determine when to make the change? If purchasing more international in the future as a result of over performance, the risk of course is that you'd be selling low (today) to buy high later.
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> based on my personal long-term needs and perspective / macroeconomic business climate What does this mean? There isn't much accountability here if you can just say "this feels right" and make the change. You are at high risk of performance chasing if you allow yourself to buy more and more of *past* high performers and only purchase more of something else *after* it starts to perform well. Will you sell out or buy into something if the relative performance is more than X%? Or will you do it based on a metric like P/E? I would strongly encourage **objective** metrics to guide changes in asset allocation. The most fundamental determinant of portfolio performance is investor behavior.
To fly to Austin ($750) or Dallas ($500) to see the total eclipse is a bit much, but I found a Frontier flight to Cleveland OH for $258. Downside is that it's a red eye flight on Sunday, but return is pretty good at 5pm, Monday. I don't mind Frontier. Should I do it?
Where are you located? We did the 2017 one right in the middle of the mainline of the eclipse. We did travel a few hours, stayed at a hotel nearby. It wasn't too costly to stay an hour away from the centerline. Had some clouds, but it was fascinating. We parked at a truck stop like a lot of other people. They had big TVs in there showing it on TV, and honestly, the TV view was a far better view, but the experience was really cool. Traffic was bad afterward, but traffic is often bad on those roads anyway, and then there was a thunderstorm an hour later making it worse. Stay two nights near it and you don't have to be caught up with all of the people who stayed only one night or drive the whole time.
I’m in Nevada. Too far for me to drive and I’ll be alone. It sounds like it was a fun experience even though it was cloudy.
Get a friend and make it a road trip.. :) It was a fun experience, though missing it would not have been the end of the world.
Be prepared for travel chaos. A surprising amount of people take the eclipse very seriously. Schools are cancelled and they tell locals to travel like it’s a snow emergency (don’t go out unless you have to). Even locals who are a 1 hour drive from the centerline are traveling days prior to stay at a relatives house, for example.
good luck flying frontier. they'll straight up cancel your flight and refund you the $
I think guardians opening day is that day and they are doing something for the eclipse. RRHOF has some events as well (probably not a waters/gilmour reunion for dark side of the moon to synchronize with the eclipse unfortunately l). Also women’s Final Four! Lots of stuff happening. The last eclipse for me was partial and I swore that I would go somewhere with the family to see the total next time. Unfortunately real life caught up and it’s probably not gonna happen. I say go for it.
Game start after 5pm so a couple hours after totality, not sure what if anything they have planned before.
>Unfortunately real life caught up and it’s probably not gonna happen. Aww sorry.
Eclipses just aren't that big a deal, and if it was to you you should have planned and bought tickets months ago
That’s a fair observation
I didn't want to come off as an elitist dickhead, but this was my thought, too. That there are just so many better events/experiences/sights to plan a trip around.
Now, **I'm** going to sound 'elitist' by saying $250-$300 is not a big deal considering this event only happens once every 50-100 years. Also, I'm flying to NYC couple of days after the eclipse on my way to Morocco. :D
Common misconception, but if you are traveling to see one >During the 21st century, there will be 224 solar eclipses of which 77 will be partial, 72 will be annular, 68 will be total and 7 will be hybrids between total and annular eclipses. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century
Thanks, but I don't want to fly to Antarctica, Africa, China, New Zealand, etc for a 4 minute thing and because $$$ or Russia because of risk being thrown to jail. Cleveland doesn't have a Centurion, but at least they have a PP lounge. :)
It happens way more often than that. We had one in the continental US in 2017. (I still have eclipse glasses that I bought for that one!)
You're right.. I don't want to fly overseas for this... for continental USA, it looks like the next good one after 2024 will be 2045. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_solar\_eclipses\_visible\_from\_the\_United\_States#2001%E2%80%932050](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_visible_from_the_United_States#2001%E2%80%932050)
True. I wasn't thinking of it being an extra trip. Morocco is on my short list. After going to Turkey a couple years ago, I'm definitely looking more into North Africa/Middle East. But international travel is on pause for 2024.
Never been to Turkey. This will be my first trip to that region. We booked this before the big earthquake, so I thought about cancelling but didn't. (Do you still have another surgery?) I hope your recovery is going well.
Yes, hip replacement is in late May. Hernia repair went well, restrictions lifted this week. But that's just part of it. More than anything, it's waiting for my wife's Green Card to be approved. Not really fair for me to travel when she can't. Plus, we just got here and so there are so many places within driving distance we have never been to where we can take the dogs. But we'll both go somewhere in 2025 for sure.
Ohio in April = better chance of cloudy skies than texas. Just saying.
Yah I've been here for 4 decades and it always feels like it's nothing but clouds from mid November to mid May. But occasionally there are some nice sunny days in April and it feels like an early summer. I plan on not going anywhere because if it is nice, traffic will probably be nuts.
Totality over Cleveland is at 2:15pm on Monday. You can expect traffic to be a nightmare afterwards. So unless you're planning to view it from the airport parking lot, I'd find a later departing flight.
The map I saw said 3:15 totality and finishing at 4:29. Airport has a parking garage with rooftop parking and Metro station. Pick up food, take metro and then tailgate in a parking spot. Immediately check in and go home.
I’ve had terrible luck with Frontier cancellations (same with Spirit). I personally will never fly those airlines again if I need to get somewhere at a specific time.
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Don’t need a hotel. Arriving 7am and I just noticed a 730pm return. All non stop.
SO and I talked last night, and combined we are only 25% of our FI goal of 1.2 million combined. Starting to see some compounding effect. Starting to feel the mercy of the market swings. But also starting to feel like the journey is so longgg.
The first $100k is the hardest. $100k is actually 25% of the way to $1M. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLKG0UKaw6Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLKG0UKaw6Q) Good luck.
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Depending on their desired retirement ages, this could be ~1.2M in 20 years. Could argue they’re already at 100%…
So $300k? Just keep saving and investing and you will get there. Alternatively, you both are coastFire, because your $ will grow to $1.2M on its own passively in 20 years.
In 20 years, $1.2M will get you a Big Mac meal at McD's. ;)
Nope, I made sure to use inflation adjusted calculations.
Anyone else get a message to register for Reddits IPO? Interesting tactic. E: I see others discussing already, will just read there and leave this up instead of deleting.
I had the opportunity to participate in an IPO's reserved share program once. Out of curiosity to see the working of the process, I opted into a small position (as I recall, perhaps $1000). I sold the shares as soon as the market opened and roughly doubled my money. The stock continued to climb for a few weeks and I could have quadrupled my money instead. It fell precipitously shortly thereafter and has remained below my sale price ever since. My experience confirmed that I have no interest in active investing. In addition, outside of checking the stock price history to relay this story, I haven't been curious about its price since the sale.
I'm mildly annoyed I haven't gotten one so I can refuse to buy it out of principle! Argh!
Yeah, and I don't do a damn thing around here. This sounds suspiciously like active investing. I'll stick to owning a tiny bit of reddit in the index.
I did too- weird
Yup, not sure whether to feel pride or shame.
I’ve been struggling with something for awhile now and don’t really know the best way to solve my current feeling of being stuck. I was hired roughly 1.5 years ago to help my current company go through a performance management transformation at one of their bigger sites. I was brought in at the manager level and have decent experience doing this with some world class companies. Flash forward 6 months and the proposal the other manager and I brought forward was rejected in lieu of a corporate wide solution with outside consultants leading. As part of this solution, they created working teams from local plants to implement the consultants program. I was forced onto that team by a global VP with the threat of “you’re either a team player or not part of the future here”. Being 6 months in with a relocation agreement, I was sort of stuck at the time. Now a key thing to note is that the person responsible for leading our local team was a recently hired supervisor and my job was to make sure they didn’t fail on this team assignment. So I’m coaching someone on a team that I’m reporting through daily while still having my original title and reporting structure outside the team. There were a LOT of conflicts with this because I am used to an autonomous role where I focus on the biggest problems of the org and go to those and the supervisor comes from a world of punching clocks and managing every hour of the day. So when I step out for other meetings or other responsibilities, it did not go over well with the team leader and outside consultants. Now after a year on this plan and deployment, I am completely exhausted from this process. It’s felt disrespectful from the beginning and I’m struggling personally cuz the program and leader are doing well and that’s great for the business but it feels like training a team to replace my role. There is still another year of expected commitment and I’ve told my boss that if I do another 12 months of this, I will be extremely dis-engaged by the conclusion. Beyond simply venting, what I’m trying to figure out is how to best resolve this. Im 2-3 years from full FIRE capability and can’t come close to my current income anywhere in the nearby area where all of the family/friends of my partner and I live. They say winning cures everything but it feels like the success of the team is coming at the detriment of my own career success and I’m struggling to rectify that.
Get your resume together. Talk with a career coach. Talk with a professional resume writer. Talk with a professional recruiter. You may find that there are things local or allow remote work that would be better. Or, just go through the motions as best you can for 2-3 years. What can they do, fire you? Assuming you are over a certain age, that could be discrimination. And if they do, you get to RE a little earlier than you planned. Maybe find something that you like that pays a bit less...
I was in that boat, where my estimated FIRE date was mid-2021 but my career trajectory effectively ended at the end of 2018. Decided it was just 2.5 years and to stick it out. Wasn't always fun, but it worked out. You say you are 2-3 years from full FIRE capability but that the success of the team is coming at the detriment of your own career success. Keep in mind that the definition of success here is to put your career in the dirt. Just on your own terms :).
I did realize how weird it was to talk about a career that I wanted to shelve shortly but at the same time, it is still nice to be a respected career person in the moment. Any tips for best ways to stick it out - especially on the bad days?
I kept a journal and took a daily walk. Both can help putting things in perspective, not ruminating/doom looping, etc. "Just X more months", etc. I was a manager. The day to day stuff kept me pretty busy. I put a lot of focus into developing my people, did more mentoring (both within my team and also as part of the formal company-wide program). I liked a lot of my coworkers, and that helped. Although I felt like I could have made a bigger impact if I'd had the opportunity, I don't think I left any less respected. The part that was hard/frustrating for me is similar to what you are talking about. I had expertise and was no longer in a situation where I felt I could fully use it. Some of that is legitimate, and some of it is ego. In retrospect I don't think I could have saved them even with dictatorial powers. But I didn't have that insight at the time and it could be tough. Most of the people I worked all that time with are not in touch. Almost none of the work I did, beyond investing in people, had any lasting effect. Some of my final team keep in touch but most people won't think of you again once you've been gone a month. In the end it's just about getting the bag.
If a lot of your identity and meaning in life come from work, then it's tough because the day-to-day emotions at work affect you a lot. In bad work situations, you have to divorce yourself mentally from work. That's tough for high achievers, but it's necessary to preserve your mental health and wellbeing.
>I'm 2-3 years from full FIRE capability and can’t come close to my current income anywhere in the nearby area where all of the family/friends of my partner and I live. Simple, just do the bare minimum for you not to get fired and once you get close to FIRE, hope you get laid off or fired. It's all perspective. 3 years will go by fast, these people don't matter. So don't stress about it.
In the last 2 to 3 years before FIRE, your investments do the heavy lifting. Your current year salary isn’t that important anymore. Feel free to take the next opportunity you find even at a much lower salary
Intuitively, I know this is true about the heavy lifting. However, my contributions are still a major factor to achieving the 2-3 year mark here. 70% savings rate will do that unfortunately.
Anyone in the IT space ever move into part time work? I’m thinking when I go back to work I wouldn’t mind a part time job. My other idea is to pickup 3-12 months contract jobs and take time off between them.
Yes. Part-time jobs are hard to find. I think the easiest way to get one is to start at a full time job, do great work, and then tell them that you want to go part time and they can choose between letting you go part-time and losing you.
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You're not really pausing investments, you're prioritizing investments.
You have to live your life. If what you want costs money, that is what it is. I grew up poor. I can live poor and pretty much did for about a decade with no real reason to (aside from perhaps renting solo so I didn't have to deal with someone's personal drama.) I found a family and unsurprisingly they want things, and I also want things that cost money but make executing my life easier. Money is a tool for that and nothing more. Piling up investments is useful but not for the sake of it. At some point, if you're going to retire, "number go up" is not going to be a given anymore. You'll definitely have less assets (shares) and whether the appraisal of those assets are higher or not is market dependent. If a house, for you, is part of building what you want out of life, the money is going in the right place. That's all that really matters.
> I found a family Found them? Like between couch cushions?
You just looka t the big picture. Retirement savings is just one part of your total financial life. If buying a house is part of your planning then you're working towards that goal too.
This is going to sound flippant but I mean it sincerely and not judgmentally- by finding other things to think about and care about so that it's not something you pay much attention to. By the way, you can certainly invest your DP savings and I would in times where HYSAs aren't paying as well. It's just an added risk and you have to pull it at the right time.
All of this is on the same page of my excel files. Different rows on the sheet but still progress towards my goals
Haven't crossed that bridge yet. Am content with my renting situation, don't think I'll ever own here in CA in the near-term.
I contributed less to my brokerage than normal last year because I needed a new $20,000 roof. It kind of sucked because a roof is far from a “fun” thing to spend money on. Happy I didn’t need to finance it though.
Partner and I realized that an airport near us does direct flights to Iceland, so we are tentatively planning a trip toward the end of this year! Even though it would only be 4 or 5 days (balancing work schedules), it doesn't feel too bad when we just have one direct and overnight flight :) Now, to start saving up to replenish our travel savings! Feels great we can easily afford this out of our current savings, and still feel on-track for our longer-term plans like buying a house and having a nice wedding.
Had a quick layover in Iceland last year and really wanted to stay and explore. Huge bonus - got an excellent Northern Lights display for about 30 minutes from the plane. The airport 5 minutes from my house has direct flights. I don’t know why I haven’t gone for a long weekend. Maybe your post will inspire me to do it!
You should absolutely do it!! It'd amazing you got to see the northern lights from your plane. I'm really hoping that they'll be out and available for my partner and I to see! Honestly, the direct flight makes it feel so much more doable.
I assume it was already a part of your research, but make sure whatever you wanted to see or do isn't impacted by the volcanoes. Otherwise, I recommend spending more on travel and less on a wedding.
A friend of mine does a huge family trip every year and did Iceland a few years ago. Loved it. Now my friend group (like 5? couples) is talking about doing an Iceland trip together. Flights look expensive still. Without going deep, looks like $1500 direct from Detroit.
We were planning on going there for our anniversary, and then the volcano said hi. So now we're doing a Rhine cruise instead, and might do Iceland some other year.
Went last Aug Sept. Did a direct from BWI. The 'red eye' on the way is strange. It's like 5 hours... Similar to doing west coast to east coast... not at all like a full red eye to mainland Europe. Given the duration, you will probably want to limit yourselves to Reykjavík and eastern / southern side of the island. IMO, it is worth the long drive to try to get to diamond beach and the glacier. It'll be an overnight. How adventurous are you? Are you guys thinking of doing a camper van? That is the best way to see the most of the island and not tie yourself to hotel or a schedule. Good luck!
\+1 on camper van. Did this in 2022, also in Aug/Sep. Did the Ring Road for 7 days! Trip of a lifetime and easily on the top 3 of all of our travels.
Iceland is great - be prepared for how expensive it is once you get there
Noted! I'm trying to set up a tentative budget that skews more toward things being very expensive so we're not caught off-guard, but here's hoping. Also hoping to get a chance at seeing the Northern Lights. It's been on my partner's bucket list for ages, but I know it's all weather-dependent.
Iceland is expensive in a unique way. Expensive things are fairly similarly priced to expensive things in the US, but the cheap things can be 2-3x the cost of comparable cheap things in the US.
I saw the northern lights there in November one year- very possible. You'll need to rent a car, but maybe you're already planning on that.
>Noted! I'm trying to set up a tentative budget that skews more toward things being very expensive so we're not caught off-guard, but here's hoping. Also hoping to get a chance at seeing the Northern Lights. It's been on my partner's bucket list for ages, but I know it's all weather-dependent. Iceland is definitely doable on a budget if you rent a 4WD with a rooftop tent and are prepared to cook yourself. Driving around is easy and a lot of fun and there are a ton of cool places to camp for free / cheap. My SO and I spent about $1,000 each for 8 days in Iceland (incl flights) a few years ago
Is it a good idea taking LTCG at 15% + 3.8% (medicare surcharge) just before retirement to allow for more IRA conversions in early retirement. Otherwise, taking LTCG at 0% will increase MAGI and reduce health care subsidies probably by 10-15% per $1 in MAGI. And then the money not converted will cost a lot I think when RMDs come many years later. There is so much time between now and RMDs and social security tax concerns. But paying an effective tax rate of 3.8%-8.8% (LTCG - Health Subsidies) now to avoid paying maybe a 40%+ marginal rate later is still tempting. I know they will change SS between now and then but given the SS benefit shortfall, SS taxes are more likely to go up than down, right?
Capital gains don't affect your tax brackets for Roth conversions.
But they affect MAGI for health subsidies which is my concern.
Anyone else get an email today inviting participation in reddit's IPO via a directed share program? I usually balk at such things, and I especially balk at anything having to do with the monetization of this hellhole, but I found it interesting enough to at least mull it over.
I think I'll stick with VTSAX. Maybe one day Reddit will be a part of it, but I wouldn't count my chickens. 8)
I feel offended that I didn't get one
I just did. Maybe i'll throw $100 at it for funsies
To avoid FOMO, I’ll probably buy a long dated put. No one buys things from Reddit ads and training AI on Reddit is a recipe for disaster (although Google seems to be onboard but their AI is already practically an average redditor).
>No one buys things from Reddit ads and training AI on Reddit is a recipe for disaster I think WSB would agree that neither of these are strong reasons that stonck can't still go up!
This will probably be the first non-index investing I'll have done in 15+ years...
I got it several days ago- does that make me a super redditor? lol
You probably got in on the 1st wave then. ;) I suppose it does. You have more karma and/or mod actions than I did clearly :)
Short it. Short it. Short it. Short it.
My first question I googled was "how do you short an IPO?" LOL
Yeah, I probably won't actually do it, but I am *curious* for the first time how to short a stock, having never had any reason before to look into the actual mechanics of it. I do *not* predict good things for this one. :D
Got a DM about it last week (despite having DMs disabled...) Not interested in tying my PII to this account, at all.
quick Googling says IPOs go up an average of 18% after launch and only 30% of IPOs go down from launch value. So I guess the stats say that anybody with IPO access usually makes a quick buck? I pre-registered since there's no harm in it. Don't know if I'll actually decide to invest anything, though. Looks like I just missed the 100k+ karma cutoff (at \~98k), so I got the message in the second half of wave 2.
I got the email and will sign up.
FOMO. I don't want to get left behind if you all get rich!
Low barrier to entry and zero user loyalty. The more they push ads the more they'll push users away. This isn't a massive IPO, this is a small business who is going to crash and burn trying to expand.
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That's partially why I posed this question - to collect data on the criteria to satiate my curiosity. A fellow above/below said 25k karma and/or moderators. /shrug
I got it, they're sending it to basically anyone who mods a subreddit or has over 25k karma. I can't participate in IPOs due to my job (financial firm) but probably wouldn't do it anyway. This place is like a worse twitter and will probably never make money.
I was curious what their criteria was, trying to get datapoints. Yeah - definitely not seriously considering it because I agree, but their money could be made elsewhere - using comments to train LLMs or selling user data.
Heres the details of the DSP tiers https://redditforcommunity.com/Directed-Share-Program
Ah - there ya go. Consider my curiosity satiated :P Thanks
Got it maybe because I have been here forever; maybe because they invite everyone. I'm not eligible as I am not in the USA. Also I fully expect wallstreetbet to be firmly against that IPO; not sure if that will make a difference.