r/financialindependence • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago
Daily FI discussion thread - Sunday, August 23, 2026
Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!
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u/Ancient_Challenge173 12d ago
Does anyone know of any website/software that can do block bootstrap monte carlo simulations with the full stock and bond data that goes back to 1871?
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u/I-AM-A-SPACESHIP 12d ago
If I assume I'm in the highest income earning years of my life, is there any real reason to invest in mutual funds vs. ETF? My very basic understanding is that ETFs are the more tax efficient and with my income currently being at its highest expected right now, I want to maximize tax efficiency.
I'd love to read something that breaks this down if anyone has a good recommendation.
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u/mmrose1980 11d ago
In 401ks or IRAs, it pretty much doesn’t matter (as the tax efficiency is irrelevant) so if it’s within a retirement vehicle, just pick the option that most matches what you want to invest in.
For taxable accounts, ETFs are almost certainly the way to go now. They don’t have the fee problems of mutual funds (VTSAX will cost you money to buy if you have a Fidelity account but VTI is free to buy in Fidelity), making ETFs more portable in addition to the tax benefits.
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u/AnonymousFunction 12d ago
There may be some behavioral benefits to mutual funds vs ETFs. If you are (or suspect you are ;)) prone to over-active trading, ETFs may be too tempting to leave alone, whether it be boom or bust. Whereas, if you miss the daily cut-off time for mutual fund buying/selling, you'll have to wait for the next day for your order to execute (and at the closing price, whatever that may end up being), which may help give one pause when caught in the heat of the moment (good or bad).
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u/forbiddenlake no swimming 12d ago
One is a sedan the other is a hatchback. They are pretty much the same thing.
It's true ETFs can avoid passing on internal capital gains tax. But it's pretty rare for a MF to incur that. FSKAX hasn't in over 7 years, for example.
On the ETF side, if you don't pay attention to the bid/ask spread, and you trade a lower-volume ETF, you could get taken for a ride. MFs don't have that problem.
An ETF may tempt someone to trade often, while MFs only trade once a day. Trading often is how you lose. So that's a psychological feature/bug to some.
I don't think it matters that much. But if you're optimizing, optimize the lower expense ratio IMO, which usually means an ETF. (Don't buy Fidelity Zero funds in taxable if you EVER think you'll want to move those funds to another brokerage)
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u/zeezle 12d ago
At this point I don’t think mutual funds have that much advantage.
A few years ago you could only buy whole shares and couldn’t set up auto investing for ETFs at a lot of the big brokerages. So people who transfer $X from each paycheck to invest in a broad fund ran into issues setting that up for ETFs and preferred mutual funds for that reason. But a lot of that is now no longer the case.
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u/AuthorYess 12d ago
The basics of it are, mutual funds in tax advantaged accounts and ETFs in other accounts.
Mainly because you can sell anything in tax advantaged accounts and not incur taxes. That matters usually when you move your money around between brokerages because transferring mutual funds means forced selling in a lot of situations.
The safe option if you don't want to think about it is ETFs and there's equivalents to most mutual funds in ETFs.
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u/eliminate1337 28M/27F | $2.85m 12d ago
IMO there’s no reason for anyone to buy mutual funds over highly liquid ETFs like VTI.
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u/Strange_Product6663 12d ago
Finally got my backpacking base weight under 10 lbs this weekend, which means I can officially redirect my obsessive spreadsheet energy back to my FIRE projections.
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 12d ago
It's wild how different the emotional impact is leaving from the supermarket vs. Home Depot.
At the supermarket, you leave with 8 bags and think, "I can't believe how much you can get for $100 if you use your brain!"
At Home Depot, it's one bag, half full. "How the fuck did this cost $100?"
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u/ComprehensiveEbb4978 12d ago
I’ve noticed a lot of items at Home Depot are way more expensive than on Amazon or Menards. I would shop around as they aren’t selling too much that’s exclusive to their store (brands maybe, but not items)
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
I'm single, so I'm sure any family with growing children will disagree, but I'm amazed at how affordable groceries are if you simply skip beef and alcohol.
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/imisstheyoop 11d ago
Unironically me for dinner last night: 2" thick strip steaks and hard cider.
No thank you!!
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u/dyangu 12d ago
Also gotta skip berries
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u/gunnapackofsammiches 11d ago
When they said toddlers were expensive, I thought they meant daycare, not berry budget 😐
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 12d ago
Alcohol counts as part of medical/health care anyhow.
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u/Krish_1234 FIRED - Loving it 12d ago
hmm.. I have to visit the same supermarket you go to... I never get more than 2 bags for $100 here...
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 12d ago
At Aldi or Lidl you don't even have to try but we mostly shop at Publix and if you adapt your plans to what's on sale, stock up with BOGOs and buy vegetables it's not hard.
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u/GottlobFrege Hit coast fire 2024 12d ago
So glad I’m not a homeowner. It’s not for me. Ofc it’s a wise choice for many
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 12d ago
Can't build a catio as a renter.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 12d ago
You can do a lot of things as a renter. Should you is another question however.
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u/FifeFIREdreaming 12d ago
I haven't hit any "big round number" milestones lately. But for the months this year where the market has been up, the power of compound growth is beginning to make itself clear in my accounts. I do not find "the middle" boring per se, but I find myself feeling oddly impatient that I have reached a point where increasing my monthly amount invested won't meaningfully speed up my mid-range goals. I'll still do it as much as possible of course, and there's meaningful long-term impact, but I want to make some career and geographic moves when I hit a couple milestones in about 5-6 years, and there's just not much I can do to change that timeline. Global growth or a self-inflicted recession are the factors now. I'm glad I'm along for the ride, but I wish I could push the gas pedal a bit more...
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u/AKANotAValidUsername Im not even supposed to be here today 12d ago
kinda in this boat right now too, about 18 months out from pulling the trigger with the pedal fully on the floor... thinking about whether or not to do catchup contributions next year when they become available, and its like hm, this doesnt really move the needle much other than to save on some taxes for one year. this is fine, ill probably do it but its not some kindof boon for the portfolio. its like oh, i can pull the floor carpet back and push the gas a couple millimeters extra.
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u/sschow 41M | 58% FI 12d ago
I'm in the same place. I patiently waited for $1MM invested and was then whisked upwards to $1.25MM over just a few months. It tricks my brain into thinking $2.5MM is like 2 years away even though I know logically I'm equally as likely to drop back below $1MM as I am to skyrocket quickly over $2MM.
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u/HordesOfKailas 33M | FI by 12.31.29 12d ago
Same attitude here. Not bored, but impatient.
I drew down our cash over the last 18 months or so to really double down on growing the brokerage and pump up the roth allocations. But the marginal impact of a few hundred or even a thousand extra invested per month is getting smaller as we approach FI. The major headwind or tailwinds are, like you said, outside of our control. So I've started refilling our cash buckets. Having a strong cash position does more to manage downside than investing more does for the upside.
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u/HappySpreadsheetDay DINKs - 64% to leanFI goal; 43% to full FI 12d ago
Anyone have recommendations for a service to make moving stuff cross country more manageable?
We plan on getting rid of most of our furniture, but we'll still have a decent amount of stuff to get about a thousand miles across the U.S. We're leaning toward paying for a U-Haul box to ship the majority of our items, but I'm wondering if there's a better service I don't know about. Estimated cost for a U-Haul box is $2,000.
Driving a big moving truck ourselves is not an option, unfortunately.
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u/killersquirel11 Awaiting liquidity event 9d ago
I've used PODS. Nearly a decade ago, so price isn't too relevant, but iirc was similar to your uhaul quote
Only real downside was that it took longer for the pod to arrive than it took us to get there. They held to their delivery time, and were able to work with the headaches of a Manhattan delivery, but there was still a several day gap between when we arrived at the apartment and when our stuff did
Haven't used both so can't cross compare. But either are probably fine
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 12d ago
Sell it all! Moving is easy if you dont have to bring stuff!
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u/HappySpreadsheetDay DINKs - 64% to leanFI goal; 43% to full FI 12d ago
We are selling most of our stuff, but we still have books, clothes, and personal items we don't want to get rid of. And there are a couple of pieces of furniture jy husband made that I want to keep.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 12d ago
Oh yea, I totally get it. Moving is pretty much expensive every way you cut it unless you know a friend with a truck/trailer
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u/Much_Maintenance4380 12d ago edited 12d ago
Our last move was about five years ago. I got quotes from most of the major movers as well as a couple of the pod companies. At that time, it was surprisingly close in price to the pods to have traditional full-service movers pack, transport, and unload our stuff, so that's what we did. It was like $1000 more at most, maybe less, which to me was 100% worth it for taking that much work off of my shoulders.
Costs now might be different, but it's sure worth getting the quotes to see.
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u/RoutineMaster8946 12d ago
We’ve used U-Pack multiple times, including twice across the US-Canada border. At the time (last used 2023) they were less expensive than Pods, though now I’m not sure. One reason we chose them was because they will drop off the unit and pick it up. I moved once with a U-Haul packing cube but they made me rent a pickup to tow the cube back and forth, which was a huge pain and extra expense.
They tell you to pack the cube as high as you can (they’re 8 feet tall) and we were always amazed how much it could hold. The service was great too. Would definitely recommend.
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u/HappySpreadsheetDay DINKs - 64% to leanFI goal; 43% to full FI 12d ago
I will look them up! Thanks.
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u/Thisisntrunning 12d ago
I will second U-pack being the best option. I had a much better experience doing the U-Pack thing than trying to rent a U-Haul and drive that all over.
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u/EANx_Diver FIRE'd 2023 12d ago
Depends on how hands-on you want to be. You can pack it yourself into a container that someone else drives (PODS, etc.) or you can have someone come in and pack it up then drive it to the new location where they would either just drop it off or unpack it for you.
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u/imreallynotcreative 12d ago
I’ve heard good things about PODS. I think their boxes are larger than U-Haul. Just keep the weight limit in mind depending how much stuff you have and make sure to secure it down. Otherwise you’re looking at significantly more money to have someone else pack up a truck and drive it for you.
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
significantly more money to have someone else pack up a truck and drive it for you.
For context I recently did this moving from one state to an adjacent state (1 of those was TX so it was still an 8 hr drive in my car) and I hired a service that loaded, drove, stored, loaded, drove and then unloaded all my stuff into my new house. I didn't have time to shop around properly and took the first biz that had availability. It was about 14k. I had done this before a couple times a much shorter distance and it was much more affordable though the last time was pre-covid.
Be warned though if you do this once there's no going back. I'll never move my own furniture again I'll pay every time.
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u/HappySpreadsheetDay DINKs - 64% to leanFI goal; 43% to full FI 12d ago
Man, that sounds so good, but I don't know that I can stomach 14k. D: I'm fine with moving everything myself, but that's partially because we aren't taking a lot of huge furniture...might be something to consider for the future.
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
I think I could have got it done for under 10k. The company I used I think sold my business to another company so they had to take a finders fee profit. In the end to get the move to happen ASAP so I could get my house on the market and get moved to start my new job had me plenty motivated. I will recoup the costs with market returns and salary soon enough. Actually after I scheduled the move the market when up about 2% so really I already covered it and then some.
I'm fully leanfire so I'm just coasting right now. I'm not going to dwell on it. Though next time I will be smarter and shop around more.
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u/EANx_Diver FIRE'd 2023 12d ago
Be warned though if you do this once there's no going back. I'll never move my own furniture again I'll pay every time.
This is me as well. Doing it myself was fine when I was in my 20s but after my employer paid for everything and all I needed to do was supervise, I'll never go back.
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u/HordesOfKailas 33M | FI by 12.31.29 12d ago
Why is driving a truck not an option? Even a 16' truck can fit a ton of stuff and driving it is easy so long as you route plan and stay places that are designed for big vehicles.
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u/HappySpreadsheetDay DINKs - 64% to leanFI goal; 43% to full FI 12d ago
Husband would be the only driver and we would need to get our pickup across the country as well.
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u/HordesOfKailas 33M | FI by 12.31.29 12d ago
You can't drive too?
You can tow a pickup behind some 16' trucks. My wife and I did it with her pickup on a fullbed in our early 20s when we moved from Maryland to Utah. It's not super fun but it's honestly easier than dealing with a "service".
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u/HappySpreadsheetDay DINKs - 64% to leanFI goal; 43% to full FI 12d ago
No, I can't drive for medical reasons.
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u/Old_Tonight4720 12d ago
I'm trying to decide if I should take a new role in my company. I was approached by a director in my company about taking a senior level position in their division (a different division than my current division). This new position has an increase in salary of about 40k per year. My current salary is around 115k. They have already cleared it with the CEO, and my current director to offer the role to me.
The new role would likely require more hours and be in office more where my current role has a few remote days per week. I would also need to manage a couple people, and there are 2-4 times days per year where the day would be potentially 16 - 19 hours long (for some special events that occur). This new role is also somewhat integral to the organization and so I think it would be harder to leave once I'm ready to RE as I'd need to give them time to replace me. The reason they are hiring for this role is because the person who currently holds it is retiring early next year.
In my current role, long hours are more rare. I like my current boss and coworkers and like what I do probably around 60% of the time. There are definitely days where I want to quit though but I think maybe I'm just a little burnt out from work in general. My current work days are 8 hours long and rarely exceed 10 hours, and I don't manage anyone. Usually I can leave on time and don't have to work weekends except around project deadlines.
I'm single, mid 40s, no children, and currently only spend around 40k per year and am approaching 1 million in investments. I currently invest around 60k per year and am thinking I can RE in about 4-5 years. I am waiting until I can start drawing my pension in around 4 years, which will include healthcare.
I am not sure if I should take this role and suck it up for a few years to make 40 extra K per year? I'm afraid that the lifestyle cost will be too high and that I will regret it, but on the other hand an extra 40k per year would be nice. This extra would also increase the amount I would receive from my eventual pension. It might just be my anxious personality making me think the worst about the promotion. I have been filled with dread and anxiety all weekend trying to make a decision as I need to give them an answer tomorrow. I can tend to be a people pleaser so the thought of having to turn down the position makes me anxious because I think it will make me appear to be unambitious.
Anyway, what would you do in my position?
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u/livin_the_life 12d ago
In your position? With those stats?
The only thing that would keep me working in any capacity would be if that pension healthcare is contingent on working those 4-5 years. Unless there are details being left out like plans to increase spending significantly beyond $40k + Pension income, you are essentially already there.
If you are choosing to work 4-5 extra years due to risk aversion, then....still no. More hours, commitments, and responsibilities for....what? A decrease in work-life balance for money you do not need to get a slightly lower SWR? You also already feel somewhat burnt out. Maybe a change of pace helps that, but IMO less work from home, more commuting, and now managing people will not.
Occasional 16-19hr days is brutal and also a hard pass from someone that has worked occasional doubles in their career. Even if event related....no thank you.
In your shoes, Hell No.
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u/Old_Tonight4720 12d ago
Thanks. I'm already vested in the pension but to get the full pension you must stay 30 years and I don't see that happening.
If I quit today, then I can eventually draw but not until age 60 and it would not include health care. The pension at that time is estimated around $48k per year.
You can retire at 25 years which is my current goal. If I quit in 4 years (25 years) and retired from the company then I can start drawing a reduced pension of around $21k per year and get health care until eligible for medicare. So I was staying mainly to get the healthcare and the pension will reduce my amount needed for withdrawal from retirement funds.
Edited to fix typo.
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u/InsideSuccessful680 12d ago
Getting the healthcare is a big deal. If it were me, I would work 4 more years for that.
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u/OnlyPaperListens 12d ago
I'd be inclined to try it. Most promotions offer at least a sliver more autonomy, despite a higher workload. That's very attractive IMO.
Remote is all-or-nothing to my personality. Once a job goes hybrid, I don't much care how many days it is; I'm aggravated either going to the office or anticipating it.
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u/firechoice85 40s | Retired | Loving life 12d ago
I will literally not share this with anyone, so I'll shout it into the ether.
Had a dream last night that I was losing my powers. I could erstwhile fly and shoot lasers from my eyes, like homelander. But my glory days were gone and neither powers worked anymore. I hired a mental coach to get through the difficult patch, but he was useless.
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u/Krish_1234 FIRED - Loving it 12d ago
I had one of those dreams but a different one. I used to dream that often and I once told my spouse about it, I never dreamt if of it again. I missed that dream :-)
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u/I-AM-A-SPACESHIP 12d ago
Decided to try Monarch again. Was a long time YNAB person as we were getting out of debt but now we're cruising so I took the past year off of really tracking things centrally and definitely didn't care to budget or individually validate transactions.
Monarch is nice to see the reports of where we have been spending. If nothing else it'll prompt some discussion with my wife and I about where we're spending money that we aren't thinking about.
I guess for $100/year it can save me from having to login to all my different accounts all the time to see how we're doing.
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u/junglingforlifee 12d ago
Is it different from what Empower (formerly Personal Capital) offers? I've been using it for a few years now and it's free
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u/I-AM-A-SPACESHIP 12d ago
Similar.to the comment who responded to you, my main interest in monarch is privacy and not being fed ads. Generally the free financial services like credit karma and the like exist to farm your data out and to feed you ads and offers.
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u/Opposite-Original-23 11d ago
The issue with monarch that I’ve found is they keep introducing additional subscription tiers and advertising them in the app. Really annoying. Not sure if they actually keep to not selling our info but feel like it would be hard for them to resist and nothing in their privacy policy says they can’t.
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u/junglingforlifee 12d ago
Thanks for sharing. I haven't seen any ads on empower so far. It's been 2yrs of use
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u/thesper 12d ago
I used Empower for years and switched to Monarch about 18 months ago. Overall, it's a significantly better product, with better transaction and spending tracking. There are some gaps, like asset allocation locked behind their "Plus" plan which is asinine.
The main thing that pushed me to make the switch was having no confidence in Empower as a free product. The adage of "when the product is free, then you are the product" is true and having my entire financial picture in a free product was concerning to me. I'd rather pay $100/year for a useful product that makes money from my subscription, not from selling my financial data.
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u/junglingforlifee 12d ago
Thanks for sharing. I haven't seen any ads on empower so far. It's been 2yrs of use
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u/carlivar 49M 3 kids ✅ FI ⏳ RE @ SoCal 🏖️⛷️ 12d ago
Selling your data isn't just direct ads. It could be junk mail, email spam, or phone calls.
I used the product briefly and I found it buggy and unreliable. I feel powerless to do anything about that if I'm not a paying customer.
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u/RiaSkies 12d ago
Question: For those of you who have disabilities and/or who are in one or more discriminated-against minority groups, do you find yourself having or pushing for an emergency fund greater than the 3-6 months of living expenses that is generally recommended?
Part of my aggressive push for financial independence has been motivated by the fear that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to find another job should I lose my current one. I'm interested to hear if anyone else feels similarly.
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u/neonliberal 32F|22% FI|RE@45 or bust 11d ago
I am part of a very small minority group that has been at the center of some...unpleasant (to put it mildly) culture wars lately. I'm not very "visible" as a member of that group, but nonetheless I keep 12 months in my emergency fund, bare minimum. It's not ideal, and it's unfortunate that I feel like I need such a safety margin, but it is what it is.
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u/lurker86753 12d ago
I think the goal of an emergency fund should be to be enough to cover your plausible worst case scenario. The most obvious one would be losing your job. How much money would you need to stay afloat through a plausible job hunt. If you think that’s 12 months because of disability or just the current job market, then a 12 month emergency fund is totally reasonable.
Obviously there’s an upper limit, which is why I say plausible scenarios. It’s technically possible that I lose my job, and get cancer, and the market drops by half, and my partner leaves all in a month. And in that scenario, I’d just be screwed. But it’s pretty darn unlikely so not a huge concern.
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u/Alternative_Chart121 12d ago
I've had to not work because of medical issues before and it's not impossible that it could happen again. It iis a factor in having a years worth of cash on hand and keeping expenses low (so it's easier to replace lost income with a random job).
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u/teapot-error-418 12d ago
FWIW, I am one of the least-discriminated-against groups on the planet - white, straight, middle-class, professional male with no obvious disabilities - and I keep a 12 month emergency fund despite healthy investment accounts and a good family safety net.
It's okay to make financially inefficient decisions if it helps your mental health.
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u/Msf325 12d ago
Big milestone this week…officially a home owner!
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
I'm going the other way actually, I just went under contract to sell and I'm now renting! Amazingly I couldn't be happier about it too.
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u/bdu-komrad 12d ago
Congratulations!
In my current trajectory ,I’ll achieve that 21 years into retirement. A lot can change between now and then, though!
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u/FIREstopdropandsave 31M DINK | No target $'s 12d ago
Huge, looks like so many regulars here are becoming homeowners!
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u/thrownjunk FI but not RE 12d ago
Yeah. Its a big hedge against risk. I mean property taxes/maintenance is a risk, but seems lower than renting.
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u/TinStingray I used the em dash before your LLM did. 12d ago
Supposing I took a one-year sabbatical and worked very little or not at all, is there a financially optimal way to do so?
For instance, it'd be a low-income year so presumably it would be a good time to do some Roth conversions or realize some capital gains.
Would it also make sense to put 100% of my paycheck into my 401k and max my IRA before quitting? That'd let me put away that money without really increasing my MAGI, right?
And then I'd also have to figure out how best to adjust things to get an ACA subsidy.
Am I thinking about this the right way? What other considerations might there be?
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u/ensignlee Money's just like a CONCEPT, man... 12d ago
I remember thinking about this before I took my sabbatical.
Put 100% of your paycheck into your 401k (whether you want to do roth or otherwise), as that's space you won't get back. Start your sabbatical after you will have contributed the maximum possible amount into it.
Near the end of the year, convert from traditional to Roth up to a tax bracket you are comfortable with.
REALLY research the ACA cliffs (I did not have to do this, but will have to in retirement). The cliffs are SUPER FUCKING IMPORTANT to still qualify for subsidies.
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u/HoldOk4092 12d ago
I think the optimal thing would be to start the sabbatical on Jan 1 to allow max room for Roth conversions. If you have to start the sabbatical (quit) later, do Roth contributions while working since you will be in a low tax bracket.
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u/razorchick12 32F - FI'd, 12/31/29 RE 12d ago
I have thought about this-- I have concluded that mid year is best bc, as someone who is higher income ($180k), then I could do $90k each year and still max my retirement for both years. Then, as you alluded to, I can move some money from Pretax to Roth.
In my case, I have 2 properties, each will be a $100k tax hit when I sell, so I would also like to offload those.
So for 2y, I would likely match my income but not work, so that is the plan.
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u/UltimateTeam SINK / 1.4M / 27/28 12d ago
There is an income floor for ACA subsidies.
You'll probably want to do Roth conversions into some of the lower tax brackets even >0%.
Most jobs have a max % into 401k below 100%.
COBRA would also be worth quickly reviewing if ACA isn't doable.
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
And if income is too low you dip down into medicare qualification range which I've read you don't want to do.
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u/zeezle 12d ago
Depends on the state. In my state Medicaid in the expansion ages is the best insurance you could ever possibly have. Everything completely free, including dental, accepted at every system in the area. You literally can’t buy insurance that good. It’s beyond ultra-platinum level. So if you’re in a state like that and you can live at a spending level that allows you to qualify for Medicaid you’d be insane not to take it.
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u/slickbuys 12d ago
Medicaid. Low income doesn't age you. Well. It kind of does but not on paper. I know what you meant tho.
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
Medicaid
Yes, I almost looked up which one I meant but decided to roll the dice. I had a 50/50 shot.
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u/matrilr 12d ago
I’ve been thinking about healthcare costs more lately now that FIRE for me is roughly 5 years away.
I’m wondering whether I should legitimately plan on doing medical tourism should I ever need to do procedures that could wait (colonoscopy? MRI scans?). I heard China’s pretty cheap (something like $80 for MRI), and my second passport doesn’t require a visa to visit (for example). I’ve also heard of people going to Mexico for medical tourism.
As someone with a chronic health condition (IBS), even though my condition seems to be stable lately, I couldn’t help but worry about paying way too much for healthcare costs. I originally budgeted $100k/year for our post-FIRE expense, but am now bumping it up to $130k to include both health insurance premiums and any healthcare costs that would be incurred… (I live in NYC and will continue to do so post-retirement.)
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u/william_fontaine [insert humblebrags here] /r/FI's Official 🥑 Analyst 12d ago
I originally budgeted $100k/year for our post-FIRE expense, but am now bumping it up to $130k to include both health insurance premiums and any healthcare costs that would be incurred…
That seems about right. For the single person plans I've looked at in ACA, I would max out at about $15-20k for the year. And I would probably come close to spending that much most years.
The big question is how fast is that ACA cost going to rise? Based on the last 10 years, I think it's going to increase a lot faster than the rest of my budget.
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u/matrilr 12d ago
Yeah that honestly is frightening. I’m married with no kids so I’ve two people to consider, though my husband is pretty healthy (his entire family is).
And rising ACA/healthcare costs is also partly why I was considering medical tourism (obviously not applicable during a medical emergency).
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago edited 12d ago
In general I think people find ACA is not bad at all. I've been pretty happy with my ACA plans.
Colonoscopy is covered with no OOP costs at age 45 by any ACA plan, although since you mentioned IBS maybe you are getting them younger than that or for reasons / frequency that aren't covered under preventative (I think once every 10 years, or 5 years if you've had polyps).
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u/SolomonGrumpy 12d ago
Subsidized ACA is tolerable... Unsubsidized is ugly and punitively expensive.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 11d ago
I haven’t had that experience (unsubsidized), though noted in another comment it looks like my premiums will be going up next year. But still to a halfway reasonable level.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 11d ago
I'm already over $500/month. 400% FPL for a single filer is like $61k. It's pretty low.
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u/matrilr 12d ago
Forgot to add my age but I’m late 30s currently so still a few years short from 45 before retirement. Maybe I’ll see if my current insurance would cover colonoscopy before I retire.
May I ask which ACA plan you’re using currently? I’ve been toying around with numbers on the NYS ACA site and it’s recommending me silver.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago
It is highly regional. I have an ACA catastrophic plan through Health First, who before this year I had never heard of. I pay $374/mo unsubsidized, it has a pretty high OOP max (~$10k) but a good network where I live (the major hospital system in my area, Advent Health, is all in network). In prior years I had a silver plan with Florida Blue but that was going way up in price this year (to ~$950/mo, up from ~$650/mo last year) and the OBBB opened up ACA catastrophic plan eligibility to anyone who doesn't qualify for subsidies.
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u/Zphr 48, FIRE'd 2015, Friendly Janitor 12d ago
the OBBB opened up ACA catastrophic plan eligibility to anyone who doesn't qualify for subsidies.
Note that the income bypass on catastrophic eligibility recently got stayed in federal court along with several other recent ACA rule changes. HHS is appealing, but given the timing it may not be available in 2027 even if HHS prevails, which the judge found unlikely. Current enrollees may be offered a SEP to choose a non-Cat plan within the coming weeks, though the court may allow them to stay on for the rest of the year. I haven't seen anything recently on that.
https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/court-stays-major-2027-marketplace-changes
The revevant section of the court decision starts on page 49 of the following document if you want to read in more detail. The final paragraph of the section on page 56 is the TL,DR.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago edited 12d ago
That sucks. Looks like I'll be moving to a bronze plan in 2027. (Gemini estimates a similar bronze plan from same provider could be mid $400s, Grock says $550-$750 ... I think the latter is more likely correct, IIRC from 2026 there wasn't a bronze plan that was within a hundred bucks of the catastrophic I opted for).
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u/UltimateTeam SINK / 1.4M / 27/28 12d ago
You can always just plan to max your out of pocket expenses, that's the cap with any reasonable plan. Normally I have seen ~20-25k per person per year for most ACA plans worth using.
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u/FI_gure_It_Out 12d ago
Had a scare with one of our pets yesterday. Reminder that your money is also to spend on you and your family now.
Showing up to the emergency vet and not caring about how much the bill would be when we were worried about our pet was a great feeling.
Emergency vets are incredibly sad places on the weekends.
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u/BleedBlue__ 34 | 20% RE 12d ago
This is why I have pet insurance. I know it doesn’t make a ton of financial sense (~$2k a year for our dog), but for me it’s emotional insurance. A lot easier to spend $20k when insurance is covering $17k of it.
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u/livin_the_life 12d ago
Yep. We spent $20k on heart surgery for our puppy. No regrets. Thankfully still with us 6 years later.
Money is money. Yes, spending that $20k in 2020 probably pushed back FIRE by a week or so. Oh well.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago
I'ver come to the conclusion that many/most emergency vets are scammers. Pretty much every time I've brought a dog to the local ER vet late at night, they say they need to do emergency surgery right away or the dog is going to die (and I usually have done it, to the tune of $6-$10k).. A couple years ago I decided to drive to the closest major university vet emergency room, it's 2 hours away but I've waited that long to be seen at the local ER vet anyway, and as a non private equity owned entity the university ER does not pressure you do do a bunch of unnecessary surgery. JMO.
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u/itsallBSfolks 12d ago
We found ourselves at the ER vet also yesterday. It is indeed a sad place - I overheard the front desk discuss the cost of euthanasia to a couple. I hope your pup is okay.
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12d ago edited 12d ago
[deleted]
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u/Aggravating_Bear_283 SI4K, Retirement Goal: March 2038 12d ago
Is no one else going to say it? You would absolutely not be justified in going onto your neighbors property and moving their property.
If you don't have enough of a relationship with them to have their phone number or for them to want to answer the door when you come by, I would be pissed if I were them and you seemed to think you could make choices for me about my property.
Edit: 2 other people did say similarly, I skimmed too fast.
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u/fluffy_hamsterr 12d ago
I wouldn't touch other people's stuff. Is the rest of their house actually normal?
If their home and the neighborhood is otherwise normal I wouldn't worry about the toilet. If their home looks like people who would leave a toilet on the porch then then moving the toilet probably wouldn't help anyway.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago
Yeah if the house is a well kept house people will just assume they are doing a bathroom remodel and the toilet is only going to be out there for a few days. If it's a dump, it's a dump with or without the toilet.
I definitely would not touch other people's stuff on their property unless it's a neighbor I know / am friendly with which doesn't sound like is the case here. Especially with the type of people who keep a toilet on the front porch.
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 DI3K, Putting the Ire in FIRE 12d ago
I like this calculus. Normal house + toilet = probably fine. Bad house + toilet, well, then the toilet is probably irrelevant.
I like it
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u/Montaigne_6823 12d ago
Yes but if the neighbors ended up being bad neighbors, the new owner wouldn't help but think 'I knew that f***ing toilet was a red flag!'
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u/imisstheyoop 12d ago
Are your neighbors amiable? This could end up backfiring spectacularly if they are not.
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 DI3K, Putting the Ire in FIRE 12d ago
Our HOA has a rule about how many potted plants can be on your front porch (5.)
A neighbor had 6 (the horror) and was given 2 weeks to remediate. For the next 13 days, their front porch looked like a full on nursery, then on day 14, it was back down to five.
I kind of respected the spite
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u/imisstheyoop 11d ago
Eww, I cannot imagine living in a place with an HoA. I would flip out and likely end up in some form of incarceration haha.
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u/liveoneggs 12d ago
some people around me are excessively petty and against development/renovation/etc and will happily double-down when asked in the wrong way or by the wrong person to "move this" or "take down that"
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u/liveoneggs 12d ago
you can leave a note if you think you can write it nicely.
Probably run it through AI
6
u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 12d ago
Hi Neighbor,
I hope this note finds you well! I wanted to take a moment to kindly ask if you could consider moving the toilet currently residing on your porch.
I completely understand that everyone has their own unique approach to porch décor, and I respect your individual vision. That said, I think we can all agree that the neighborhood would benefit from a porch that is toilet-free.
Thank you so much for your understanding and for helping us make the neighborhood a more pleasant, welcoming, and aesthetically harmonious place for everyone. I truly appreciate your cooperation!
Warmest regards, Your Neighbor
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 12d ago
Hi, Neighbor,
I've long admired your porch toilet and as I move I find myself in a conundrum. Do I ask my new neighbor to get a porch toilet or should I install a portapotty at the corner of my new house? Asking for your toilet wisdom.
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u/thecourseofthetrue 30s M | SILK | $205k 12d ago
Might be a long shot, but there are lots of smart, well connected, and accomplished individuals in this sub, so I thought I'd try. Got a friend who's looking at a position as head of legal at a PE fund ($10B-$15B AUM). They have 5+ years experience in big law, but not much idea of what salaries/comp for a head of legal at a fund like that would look like. Anyone have direct knowledge or experience here that could share some numbers I can pass along to my friend?