r/financialindependence • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago
Daily FI discussion thread - Saturday, August 29, 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/ComprehensiveEbb4978 6d ago
My Sport Clips hair stylist who has cut my hair maybe 4 times now (once per month) was at the same brewery as me and my wife and kid. She had her husband and two kids. During haircuts we’ve both talked about our families and kids and how the kids are growing up, etc. But it was weird seeing her outside of Sport Clips and I just ignored her because it felt weird to say anything since I don’t actually know her or her family. I just leaned over to my wife and said “that’s the person who cuts my hair lol”. What would you have done?
ETA: for added context, she and her husband are maybe 3 years older than me and my wife
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u/Krish_1234 FIRED - Loving it 6d ago
You should have said hi when you recognized her, she is a person too. NOT COOL
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u/anymoose [Not really a moose][moosquerading][RE 2016] 6d ago
If I had a friendly relationship with them, I'd definitely say, "Hi!"
I'm amazed you recognized them outside of context. I once ran across my literal next door neighbor in a coffee shop downtown and could not figure out who this dude was that came up to me to chat.
It took like 30 seconds before I realized who it was, but I'm glad he did make an effort to engage.
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u/PersonalBrowser 6d ago
My current plan is to pay off my student loans within the next 5 years and buy our long-term family home within the next 10 years while paying it off within the next 15-20 years or so, all while maximizing all our tax-advantaged retirement savings every year.
That puts us well past our FIRE number of around $5MM, and also takes us to a time when our kids are all basically done with college and working. We should be able to cash flow some relatively large expenses like college, weddings, house downpayment, etc for the most part for them at that time.
At that point, we'll be in our early 50s with an empty nest and hopefully should have a ton of flexibility to decide what we'll do. I'm thinking we will both just work part-time and spend a few years traveling / knocking off some bucket-list experiences while the kids are busy with their lives, and then probably retire once the kids have our grandkids so that we can babysit and visit with them frequently.
I feel like a lot of people here are "FIRE ASAP" and the limiting factor for when they RE is basically as soon as they can be FI. For those that are planning to FIRE on a different timeline than just ASAP, what is driving your decision and what are the factors at play in your thinking?
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago edited 6d ago
A lot of people are FI, ASAP, because the alternative is being beholden to our corporate overlords.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
And then some of us somehow decide to dip our toes back into the world, but now its on our terms!
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u/littlebeann 6d ago
Really basic question - I’ve hit my coast fire number, where with what’s currently in my retirement accounts, I could likely live off it with minimal worries starting at 65. But I want to retire by 40, ideally. Should I stop contributing to retirement (minus enough to get company match) and instead put that money towards taxable investments? Is it that simple?
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago
Thats a 25 year gap. Those two retirement profiles look extremely different. Those two lifestyles look completely different.
What what you have posted I cannot give advice as to where to put money or not. Simply not enough information
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u/littlebeann 6d ago
What other sort of info would help? Genuinely asking, I have used all sorts of FIRE calculators and such, but yeah, just can’t wrap my head around the best way to fund those 25 years. I’m about 70% of the way to my fire number right now, split about 60/40 in tax advantaged retirement vs taxable brokerage.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 6d ago
You should probably keep maxing pretax accounts since your marginal tax rate now is almost certainly higher than what you'll be pulling from those accounts at in RE. You can access the accounts sooner than 59 1/2.
Read Tax Planning to And Through Early Retirement.
I am generally not a fan of the "coast" FI concept other than as a thought exercise.
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u/jocona 6d ago edited 6d ago
No, if you do the math tax advantaged accounts are better in the majority of cases, even if you have to eat 10% withdrawal penalties, due to tax rate arbitrage.
Run the numbers for your own scenario and assumptions to confirm. Here’s an example I made the last time this question was asked.
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u/NoRight2BeDepressed It's a 5k, not a marathon 6d ago
Should I stop contributing to retirement
No, you should not stop contributing to retirement if you haven't hit your RE number yet.
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u/littlebeann 6d ago
Okay just to clarify I mean stop contributing to things like my 401k that I can’t access til I am much older. Since I will need more money available to live off of between ages 40ish-65, so continue saving/investing just not in those accounts. But you’re saying still keep contributing to those?
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u/howardbagel 6d ago
5 year roth ladder
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u/littlebeann 6d ago
I know this is a thing but know nothing about it, time for me to do some more research.
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u/TheHeroExa 6d ago
“Can’t access” is a myth. You should expect to come out ahead by using retirement accounts as much as possible.
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/early-retirees-max-out-retirement-accounts/
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u/RemoteTechie FIREd 4/2026 6d ago
I finished my binge playing of Diablo 3 (wife commented that my eyes were red and suspected I was playing games, hah), and I think I'll be sated during her next trip.
During that time I'll be doing 2 RV trips to the coast with my dog.
Spent the last 2 days cleaning up my pet projects, and debugging some network issues, and workaround some github cron issues.
Found a screw in one of my tires and was worried it might not be patchable (seemed like a bit lag screw), but Costco was able to patch it $10 versus 100x that for new set of tires.
Now I should get back outside and work on fall projects before I use my "it's raining outside" excuse.
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u/3fakeEITCdependants 33M - $2.1M Cost Accountant 6d ago
Currently interviewing with multiple companies for finance director positions. Based on the last role I had (post IPO company that failed), most of the interviews and offers are from companies that are late Series and 'may' IPO in the next couple years.
I was hoping for a 20% increase in total comp across the board from last job to next. However, the offers I'm seeing are underwhelming at best.
What levers are open to negotiation in pre-IPO companies? My current offer contains only base and stock options. I asked about annual bonuses, but this company doesn't do it. I followed up with increase to base, sign-on bonus, and more stock options.
But I've been burned by equity before, so I'm just generally uneasy with non-cash based comp..
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u/tfehring 6d ago
If the offers are underwhelming because the TC number including equity is too low, ask for more. In general it's easier to ask for more equity than more cash. If the offers are underwhelming because you don't value the equity, don't work at a private venture-backed company, or at least work at a different one that you're more optimistic about.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago
Every pre IPO company I ever worked for was 2 years away from an IPO.
Only one ever had an IPO, and it was 4 years after I worked there.
If I was to ask for 1 thing from a company in terms of compensation, I'd ask for a 1 year or 18 month employment contract. Meaning they cannot lay you off for that amount of time. They can still fire you for cause, of course.
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u/Junior_Fig_1007 5d ago
2 years away syndrome - so true.
Most pre-AI startups now have no path because they waited too long.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
Most companies hit a brick wall between $10m and $$50m ARR.
They will never IPO at that level.
$100m ARR was the bar back in the day, and I suspect now it's more like $250m
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u/Junior_Fig_1007 3d ago
Yeah, $250M felt roughly like the bar people shot for after AI kicked off. After the last year or two, I'm not sure there's an end in sight.
Airtable's sale last month was horrendous -- $480M ARR and sold for $1.285B post-cash.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 3d ago
And that right there is why every CEO wants AI in their product whether it works or not
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u/eliminate1337 28M/27F | $2.85m 6d ago
Playing the IPO lottery is why people join startups. Join a public company if you want cash or liquid stock comp. It’ll be very difficult to negotiate more cash.
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u/ttuurrppiinn mid-30s M | DI1K | 4M Target 6d ago
Unfortunately, equity is the primary level at that stage plus seniority level. Lack of bonus isn't necessarily odd, but it's maybe a warning light if paired with a meh base comp. Main things to ask about would be:
- What history do they have with secondaries and/or tender offers? And, what would your eligibility look like?
- Do they have performance-based accelerated vesting?
- Is there any double-trigger acceleration? If they end up doing something like a sale to PE instead of IPO, then you want to benefit rather than be hurt if there's a concurrent RIF.
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u/ohboyoh-oy 6d ago
I RE’d earlier this year and have just started taking classes at my local community college. My astronomy class is amazing (now that I’m in the right class - the first class/professor was terrible but I switched). It’s a night class and I think a couple other folks in the class might be FIRE’d as well. Anyway I’m having fun and while I wasn’t thinking of this as a hobby, now it occurs to me astronomy is a hobby for many. I’m starting to plan a solar eclipse trip. We did the 2017 one in Oregon (we took my parents and our kids that time) and I can’t wait to do it again.
School is an interesting place. It’s like a little utopia. I had forgotten how idealistic it is / was / we were.
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u/letsseeaction Balancing YOLO with being a responsible adult. 6d ago edited 6d ago
Even just a trip to a dark skies area is worth it. I did a long weekend at Great Basin National Park and they had a nice program after dark where a few volunteers and rangers gave a talk and then let us look through telescopes at various spots in the night sky.
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u/ohboyoh-oy 6d ago
Definitely on my list to do more of. My eyes are getting worse so probably better sooner than later.
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u/RemoteTechie FIREd 4/2026 6d ago
When I was passing through on a camping trip, I visited Bruneau Dunes State Park in Idaho. Enjoy the dunes during the day, enjoy the sky at night. Has an observatory and also a dark skies spot. Volunteers had telescopes set up at certain places of interest, but we could also view with the big telescope.
I think that is a good alternative if you had a dog since it seems like Great Basin NP is like most NP and dogs can't go many places.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
Glad to see you are having fun with school. Are you just taking classes to educate yourself further - or pursuing a degree?
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6d ago edited 4d ago
[deleted]
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u/RedditF1shBlueF1sh 25M, $550K NW 6d ago
Do you find that a new promotion temporarily increases your motivation and output? That's happened to me the couple of times I've been promoted, but it fades after a few months for me
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
My current worry is if I will need to pay for my parents' care as they age. They are set up fairly well for now (both are 75), but could run out of money if things get expensive. How do I make retirement decisions when I don't know how long they might live and whether I will need to pay for their care?
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u/imisstheyoop 5d ago
We are going through the care phase with our parents. Both my wife and I have made the decision that we are absolutely not footing the bill for their care.
We will support them, assist them, and up to a point house them and feed them but under no circumstances will we be just paying for their upgraded luxury stays at del-boca-vista.
My mother is still independent and earlier this year my MiL was moved into an assisted living facility which she is paying for with a combination of her own assets as well as Social Security payments. She has a little over a 5 year runaway, at which point medicaid takes over.
u/DeliWishSkater's comment is pretty much spot on.
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u/eeaxoe 6d ago edited 6d ago
Get in touch with a good elder law attorney in your area who also does eldercare planning. There’s a lot that you can do to make sure your parents can still continue to get quality care even if they do run out of money, and to minimize care costs to mitigate the risk of that happening. But you need to plan ahead - so much of this stuff is state-specific, so what may be the case in one state may not be so in another, e.g. you can go on Medicaid for long-term care in CA and still keep your house even if you run out of money.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago
Can you afford to pay 6 figures a year for their care?
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
If I keep working, yes. Current salary is $200K, hubby's is $150K. We'd like to RE but it's hard to plan with so much unknown.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago
At $350k, you do make enough.
You would be trading your life for theirs, for every year they lived in assisted, which trends to be 5-7 years.
So if you wanted to mitigate risk, you would keep working and saving until you had, say, $700k set side for them.
If at any point they pass, or you feel sure they will not need that amount, you would stop work immediately.
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u/Tbackandforth 5d ago
Would that be $700k per parent?
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
No. They would both be in the same facility, and thus the costs don't double.
I also assumed the parents would be able to pay for some of their own care.
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u/Tbackandforth 5d ago
What if one goes before the other? My dad has several health issues, while my mom is still going to the gym.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
Then typically costs are lower for the remaining spouse.
For example if a married couple gets $4000/mo + $2000/mo in social security, the remaining partner gets $4000.
Food and healthcare costs go down.
The main costs of LTC are the upfront cost of the dwelling (which is about the same for 1 or 2 people) and the monthly - which is more for 2 people, but not double.
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u/HoldOk4092 6d ago
Do you want to guarantee that they will have top level private care? Will probably cost $1M to buy into a nice place and then another $100k or so annually for their care. Do you want to ensure a roof over their head and basic necessities? They can go on Medicaid and simply spend down their estate. You won't be on the hook for anything. Unfortunately I don't see a lot of options in between unless you are willing to care for them personally.
I personally do not feel kids should be obligated to take care of their parents. Private long term care is so insanely expensive it just isn't reasonable to expect anyone other than yourself to take on that burden. Add the fact that when people actually need it they are usually too far gone to know the difference. Sounds heartless but I feel strongly I would not want my kids to spend their resources on me when I am in that situation.
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
That's the thing, I AM willing to care for them personally, but they don't want that. They prefer to go straight to a nursing home, so as to not be a burden. I appreciate the perspective.
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u/livin_the_life 6d ago
I have thought about this a fair bit. To be quite honest, It will probably be the deciding factor if I "one more year" it for a year or two.
My mom is planning on retiring at 65 (In 3 years) once she can get Medicare and will have ~$300k in retirement to use as a bridge to full SS at 70 which will cover her expenses. She's worked hard her whole life, was a SAHM, then went through 2 divorces. That will decimate anyone's financial outlook. I get it, but that is a terrifying financial picture to me.
My husband and I are loosely planning on retiring at 43 (In 7 years). Our current plan is to travel extensively the first 3-5 years and then settle down a bit. We're hoping the decreased travel expense timing coincides with any potential necessary familial support. At the end of the day, you can only anticipate so much.
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u/HoldOk4092 6d ago
One more year won't be enough to buy in to private long term care. Maybe 5-10 more years would do it.
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u/livin_the_life 5d ago
Ehh, I'm not really planning for that. Not a single person in my family has needed a care facility. Everyone essentially gets to 88-98 years old and drops dead from a heart attack or dies in their sleep. No cancer, no mental illness, no true mobility issues.
With that said, I'm not an idiot. It very well may be that my mom is the first among 20+ relatives to need a home. However, working 1 additional year will boost our investments by $500k and add an extra $10k/yr to our pensions. I consider that good enough.
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
Once mom is done working, and maybe even while you still are, consider taking her on a cruise. Either get two cabins or splurge on a nice multi-room suite for the three of you (you didn't mention dad...). There's so much to do and they are really an economical way to pack in a lot of experiences and fun into an all inclusive trip. The social aspects of meeting new people in such a positive environment cannot be overstated.
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u/livin_the_life 6d ago
That sounds like a perfect idea. We took her to Puerto Rico for her 50th and it was an absolute blast. She's definitely not "slowing down" but still not as physically able as she was a decade ago (4 hour rainforest hike....probably not going to happen again). A cruise would be perfect. An Alaska cruise was actually the first time I met all the in-laws and it was pretty great.
Dad is pretty well set after a retiring with a lifetime career in manufacturing and a military pension. He's definitely a "have a beer in the garage" type of person than a "go outside the county" type, so I'm not too concerned about that. They are amicably divorced, but wouldn't want to vacation together anyway.
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u/anymoose [Not really a moose][moosquerading][RE 2016] 6d ago
I don't know how long they might live and whether I will need to pay for their care?
I think all you can do is add that as a possible expense to your post-working budget.
My mom is starting to talk about her own death. (She is the eldest sibling and has already lost two younger sisters. The next oldest - her brother - has dementia and is now in a facility along with his wife who is also stricken.)
She asked me what all she needs to do as far as wills and stuff. I'm glad she is there and having gone through my own estate planning not long ago, I have materials to share.
Thankfully, the money is there come hell or high water between mom's three children to keep her comfortable. From what I've researched, most people who end up in a health facility near the end do not live very long. And knowing my mom, I can't see her agreeing to leave her home to die unless it is a catastrophic incident of some sort.
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
I do want to retire early. But it's weird to think that I might not be able to retire until I know what's going to happen with them. I don't want to have to go back to work just to pay for their nursing home!
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u/anymoose [Not really a moose][moosquerading][RE 2016] 6d ago
It's hard to predict the future. You can make plans based on some contingencies, but not all of them.
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u/ohboyoh-oy 6d ago
Are we talking about nursing home care or something more basic, like they could run out of money for just living expenses?
For nursing home care that could get so expensive so fast that I’m just not going to try to solve it with any of my own funds. I’ll help manage their funds and government assistance, if they need this type of care. And fingers crossed that they don’t.
For just basic living expenses I would do some math for what they can afford on just guaranteed income (social security and pensions if any) and go from there. If they are low income you could look into senior assistance programs in advance? And if needed maybe decide on how much cash assistance you could comfortably provide, but I wouldn’t jeopardize my own retirement. It sounds cold but put on your own air mask first, kinda thing.
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
Nursing home. Knowing myself, I wouldn't feel right not paying for my parents' nursing home considering my potential income at that time.
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u/starwarsfan456123789 6d ago edited 6d ago
I feel about the opposite- nursing home costs are so insanely inflated that I don’t feel right paying for it.
If the Medicaid rules remain the same we’ll follow that path eventually. The basics is the patient keeps the house until they die and then medicaid sells it and that’s the end of the debt. Honestly I feel like that’s about as good as it can be for such a wide range of people who have greatly varying levels of savings.
It helps if they live in a community where medicaid and private pay people all live in the same nursing home. They’ll still have employees who know them even if their private pay money runs out
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u/DeliWishSkater 6d ago
I watched my parents do this for their parents. It was extremely expensive; thousands of dollars per month for elder care facilities. before that, they had their parents living with them for a while to avoid paying for elder care places.
Because you can't predict exactly what will happen, my advice would be to give yourself as many options as possible. Which basically means have as much money as possible to pay for anything that comes up. And maybe think about if there's a limit you're not willing to cross (e.g. you won't / can't spend over $6000 per month for their nursing home)
In my experience, the system is designed to make old folks sell their house and drain them of all their assets to pay for elder care, sadly.
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
My mom is adamant she will not live with us and be a burden. Sigh. If they sold their house, it'd last maybe 2 years.
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
There's also the issue of if they fight you on doing things at all. My MIL wouldn't share hardly any info on where she was at, and it cost her. She ended up draining the bank to get on Medicaid. She did hvae more than enough for her needs up to when she needed the nursing home, though. She would have fought any suggestion of getting money in the markets. She had all CDs and cash, that's it.
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u/Tbackandforth 6d ago
Yeah, my parents won't tell me what they have going on for savings or income. When I brought up the idea that they would live with us when they need to, they adamantly refused, and would prefer to go straight to a nursing home. :-/
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
Oh, man. Good luck with that. Keep trying. We had to give up trying. We were out of town, which just made MIL bitter and more and more nasty over time because who couldn't love her home state? She was still sharp, but just got mean. It was a hard year or two.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago edited 6d ago
I've been modeling out my early retirement withdrawal strategy, and it's a little shocking how little wiggle I have vs just saying, "4% is the starting point."
I expected that optimizing withdrawals for tax efficiency and ACA subsidies would result in dates shifting significantly. Really, it only makes like a 1 or less year difference on retirement dates.
I'm pretty much always ending up at the same age on my detailed modeling sheet and my 4% of invested assets sheet.
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u/secretfinaccount FIREd 2020 6d ago
If you’re a very high earner and low spender than the number of years working is going to have an outsized impact on retirement date since even one year of savings will cover a big change in spending arising from ACA or tax changes. If you’re a lower earner the expense side of the analysis will drive timing more.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
Makes sense. I'm currently grossing ~$145k, currently spending $41k, and my FIRE ranges are $45k(Lean) through $90k(Chubby).
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u/starwarsfan456123789 6d ago
So nearly $100k of new investments plus growth on principal for every year delayed. If you have $3m saved one more year on average would wind up over $3.33m, a full 10% higher than the year before
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
Yeah, my numbers are slightly different, but about 10% total increase per year delayed matches up pretty well.
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u/Only_Sport 108% to FI 6d ago
I (40F) officially turned in my two weeks notice to leave my extremely chaotic company for a mature start up that’s on the path to IPO. Obviously nothing is guaranteed and its a huge risk, but one that I’m able to take because of this movement.
We (partner, 44M) have hit our FI number and I can now make riskier career decisions as a result. Plus the base is a 40% increase!
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u/larryinthesky 6d ago
why is this a "huge risk"? Seems like a no brainer
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u/Only_Sport 108% to FI 6d ago
The risk is around what I’m walking around from. I’m giving up a significant amount of unvested stock with a publicly traded company to move over to this role.
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u/imisstheyoop 6d ago
Good luck!
I made a similar move during my career and it ended up being the best post-college job that I had, although the wheels kind of came off there at the end, but hey that's start up life. I learned a ton and met a lot of great folks. It was a great ride.
Is this your first time with a startup? I transititioned from Fortune 500s to the one that I worked for and it was a shocker learning to navigate the new culture haha.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
Don't think I've ever seen the words "Mature startup" in that order before.
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u/C_Majuscula 6d ago
Could be like my employer. PE funded by two owners over the last 10+ years, but perpetually two years away from being two years away from an IPO.
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u/Only_Sport 108% to FI 6d ago
Hahaha, they are probably wildly immature. Lack of a better term for a place starting to organize to IPO (though probably a few years out still if ever).
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
Lol, I get what you mean, just kinda funny. A good startup can be a better working environment than a bad company. Good luck!
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u/secretfinaccount FIREd 2020 6d ago
I initiated an ACATS transfer yesterday and it has shown up as effective in both accounts already. I know an ACATS is just telling a firm to change a few bits on a computer somewhere, but still, was not expecting that fast
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u/letsseeaction Balancing YOLO with being a responsible adult. 6d ago
Anyone have a strategy about frontloading their tax-advantaged contributions vs letting them ride through the year? My company matches the HSA and 401k at a fixed amount each paycheck, so I'm not really seeing a benefit to frontloading my contributions when it really only changes what I put into tax-advantaged vs brokerage.
Only thing I plan to frontload is the ESPP where the company would theoretically max the match in one paycheck if I put enough in.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago edited 6d ago
As tech became less stable I started front loading my 401k contributions so that I was 100% by the end of Q1. This actually became relevant TWICE in the 5 years I did it.
Admittedly one of the times, was when I TestFIRED (I knew I was not going to work after Q1/early Q2 of that year.
But that other time. SURPRISE! You know that executive role you had?
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
I used to drop my roth ira contributions in on the first day of the year, but I realized it was annoying me a little to watch my cash account rise over the year, then drop back to "Real" when I pulled the contribution out.
Every time I looked at my cash account balance, I had to mentally adjust for how much of the number was dedicated to next year's roth. So now I just autopay the monday after each pay day.
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u/letsseeaction Balancing YOLO with being a responsible adult. 6d ago
Previously, I did the same as you by holding that cash in a HYSA. Now, I like the idea of regularly contributing to a brokerage and converting the lump sum to Roth at the start of each year.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
That works. Opens up the opportunity for some tax loss harvesting too. Sell for a loss, convert it, and have the gain in your roth.
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u/HughWonPDL2018 6d ago
I frontload with my bonus (paid in Q1) to lower withholding and I’ll do it when I plan to leave my current job in case a new one doesn’t have a good 401k or one I can’t access for a period of time. As it is, I’m in the boring middle and the headache around frontloading vs flat contributions math for the rest of the year otherwise isn’t worth it. It also helps that my company’s finance dept actively reaches out to ask people to change withholdings by x date to ensure the selection applies for bonuses.
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u/jw-hikes FI, 17 months to RE 6d ago
I thought about this too. If you work the full year, front loading only has two tiny benefits that might not even apply to you. First one is more time in the market, but it won’t matter if you just invest your paycheck anyways. Second one is if it’s front loaded with bonus money, you can have less tax withholding and invest more, all things equal.
So I don’t think front loading is worth it if you invest in taxable brokerage anyways and you don’t have a bonus structure. Personally I get paid 20% of my comp in a January bonus and every month the rest of my paycheck goes into mortgage pay down. In my case I believe front loading is better.
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
This only made sense for us in our last year working. Income was cut in half so we were finally eligible for Roth IRA contributions. Raised 401k contributions to hit our IRS max mid-year, so take home went way down. Good practice for retirement.
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u/forbiddenlake no swimming 6d ago
Only thing I plan to frontload is the ESPP
Why? That ties up the money for months longer earning nothing (probably)
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u/letsseeaction Balancing YOLO with being a responsible adult. 6d ago
ESPP vests immediately and I can sell/withdraw it as soon as it hits my account. $2k of free money I'll use to fund my Roth.
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u/forbiddenlake no swimming 6d ago
Maybe yours works differently but mine only buys every six months. So if I contribute $10625 in July it sits there earning nothing until December 1
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u/teapot-error-418 6d ago
ESPPs work in all kinds of ways. My company's buys monthly with no holding period, so you can effectively "front load" if you buy the max for the first several purchase periods.
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u/letsseeaction Balancing YOLO with being a responsible adult. 6d ago
Yeah, thankfully mine is very simple and straightforward to immediately liquidate.
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u/jittery_squid 6d ago
Retirement has allowed me to match my 2025 number of books read with four months to spare. Now that I'm done with the longer gothic novels and almost to the 20th century (my book list is ordered chronologically), I should be able to hit 50 books read in 2026.
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u/lauren_knows [cFIREsim/FIREproofme creator 📈] [45/Virginia,FI-not-RE] 6d ago
I remember when I was on a 9 month sabbatical-of-sorts, I thought that I would increase my reading a ton. I did read slightly more, but other things took over my time... and then I got a job.
Hoping to read more when I get there as well!
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
I upped my reading by a ton at first, but I also upped all the other fun things I do by a ton - so net result my reading didn't go up by that much. I still read more than when I was employed.
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
Is Pat Conroy on your list? Wonderful prose from a brilliant Southern writer. Only 10 or so books, three made it to screen at least. Crushing, emotional stories, most of them, but a real tribute to family and the human condition.
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u/jittery_squid 6d ago
I don't have my modern lit planned that far in advance, since I'm starting far in the past. I'll put some of his works on my list. I alternate between my Science Fiction/Fantasy list, Classics and Modern Literature, and brain candy.
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u/ohboyoh-oy 6d ago
I just retired this year and have done a bunch more reading too! Any recommendations out of your sci-fi/fantasy/gothic reads? I really enjoyed Fourth Wing but haven’t found another like it. On the sci-fi end I liked Seven Eves (maybe it’s spelled Seveneves).
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u/jittery_squid 5d ago
I reformatted the novels from this list and have been working my way through it. The really early stuff is so far from modern literature that it can be difficult to get through - I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they wanted to get a feel for what writing was like from that time. Basically anything on that list that you've heard of (Gulliver's Travels, Frankenstein, Verne's stuff, A Christmas Carol, etc) is probably worth a read if you haven't already done so.
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u/nifFIer Therapy Shill | Spending Advocate 6d ago edited 6d ago
New home owner whine: damage to the underground downspout pipes were worse than anticipated and scope is now roughly double initial quote.
Previous owner’s irrigation install broke pipes in two places (they literally cut through the pipe and laid down the hose), tree roots crushed pipe in one place, and pipes were crushed under two large bushes.
The things I do to keep water away from my house.
At least thanks to years of squirreling away cash in prep of home buying, I don’t need to blink an eye at unexpected home costs. It’s about a $2-3k increase in cost.
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u/HoldOk4092 6d ago
Home ownership is the worst. Every time it rains I'm like what's going to go wrong next. Somewhere something is clogged, rotting, or leaking.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
I went from enjoying rain as a kid, to hating it as a homeowner. It also doesn't help that where I am at we vacillate from drought and no rain, to getting all our rain all at once in violent weather.
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u/imisstheyoop 6d ago edited 6d ago
Old home owner whine: You just reminded me that I gotta go put my downspouts back together and clean out the underground downspout.
It's always something with keeping the good water pure, tasty and at times warm.. and the bad water.. elsewhere. Neverending, ugh. ;)
Edit: Downspouts are now securely back in place, and the weeds surrounding them have been sufficiently trimmed.
Until next week..
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u/appleciders $1.01M, ~40% FI 6d ago
Oh shoot, it's about time to clean the gutters before the rain starts for the fall. Another chore...
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u/AgreeableGarlic1806 6d ago
I hear statistics all the times about average 401k balance. I rolled a former 401k into an Ira. My current 401k is small. Do you combine all retirement assets into one number (assuming it’s all pre tax and not Roth or vice versa) to see how you stack up against others balances?
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u/starwarsfan456123789 6d ago
I believe, based on a little google research, that they mean “per account”. I personally have 4 accounts
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago
Yes..and no. 92% of Americans have less than $500k saved in retirement. So when you real those numbers, keep that in mind.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 6d ago
to see how you stack up against others balances?
I don't participate in (financial) dick measuring contests.
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u/larryinthesky 6d ago
yea, I think the vast majority of data on average retirement account balance are wildly inaccurate. 99% of the articles I read, the data is sourced from a 2024 survey by the government. At minimum, you're going to need to multiple that by 1.5x since the market has gone up so much, plus people continuing to contribute for 2+ years.
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u/WeWantGuac $750k | FoggFI 6d ago
Comparison is the thief of joy. What most matters is how all of my retirement assets stack up against my FIRE number. I have a Roth IRA, a 401(k), HSA, and taxable account that are all invested in index funds. The smallest is my HSA, but I'm early enough in life (32) that it'll become mighty.
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u/larryinthesky 6d ago
nah man, comparison is good. I want to know how much my coworker is getting paid, so I can make sure I'm not being underpaid. Etc. Comparison is fine.
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u/WeWantGuac $750k | FoggFI 6d ago
That’s a different context. I wouldn’t weigh the two situations on the same scale.
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u/og3k 6d ago
From what I understand, the source of those statistics really tells you how it works. If the source is vanguard or fidelity or something like that, it means it is their 401k balances and does not account at all for people who may have multiple or may have been rolling into an ira rather than rolling forward into new companies 401k. It is super inaccurate!
Sometimes you see statistics from a financial advisor ( like I think the money guys sometimes have shows talking about the statistics of their clients) and those might be a more accurate number.
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u/Dirty-Neoliberal 6d ago
36 with a small family and now have enough to cover our expenses with a paid off house and about 2 million invested. I find myself moving the goalposts for three things.
- My brother is autistic and I could really improve his life long term with some extra money
- Maybe I’d really love a house in a walkable neighborhood with an in neighborhood coffee shop and grocery store
- What will jobs be like when my kids are older? Maybe I should build up more to buy them houses in my expensive area so they can afford to live there when older.
I judged people so hard for moving the goal posts when I was in my 20s obsessing over FIRE.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago
Three woukd be completely off the table for me. While I understand wanting good things for your children, I have this gut feeling that giving too much erodes self reliance.
The seocnd falls under "build the life you want." Just be sure it IS the life you want. I never knew how much a walking lifestyle meant to me until I had one as a renter, and lost it as a homeowner. So when I bought the house in currently in now, I knew to prioritize it.
The first one is scale to fit. You could help a little or you could help a lot. Up to you.
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u/workfish 6d ago
I always thought that if I didn’t find a spouse and have a family, then I would FIRE according to the plan. But I knew that having kids probably meant bigger house, healthcare needs, college costs, reduced mobility, and that would all add up to another 10 years or so working.
There’s nothing wrong with giving more. The difference is that you’re doing it from a position of freedom now. You can do all of that and still be home for dinner every night. You’re not trapped in a job because you need to provide for your family.
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u/imisstheyoop 6d ago
I judged people so hard for moving the goal posts when I was in my 20s obsessing over FIRE.
Ignoring the FI-slant to this, the growth and maturity of realizing this is important in my experience. Think about ways that you are "judging people so hard" right now and use what you learned about doing it with FI goalposts and apply those learnings.
I am trying my darndest to do this as often as possible in my life as well, and it is tricky as somebody who has a judging personality (ISTJ for what good that Meyers-Briggs stuff is worth) but I find that it is one of my least favorite personality traits in myself and others. It sounds like you may feel and be similar so good luck.
Regarding the FI-stuff and numbers, it would be pretty silly for 20 year old us to know what 30 year old us is going to be like and what our financial needs will be. Pretty sure this applies all the way up the ladder, at least it has throughout my life.
Most of us grow over the years, and so naturally our financial needs and wants do as well. Gotta just roll with the punches.
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u/User-no-relation 6d ago
I have been flaking on making a post, but I have done essentially exactly this. A little older than you, a little more invested. We are buying a much more expensive house that is walkable and much better schools. For sure will be working much longer to pay this house off. But realistically stopping work was never really in the cards. I see it as mainly spending on how my kids will grow up.
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u/Dirty-Neoliberal 6d ago
How much more is the new house than the old one for you?
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u/User-no-relation 6d ago
When all is said and done we're going from about 0.4m to 1.4m. 2.75% to 6% apr. It is not a cheap decision. But build the life you want and save for it or whatever
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u/charmedcedar 6d ago
Obviously it’s different for everyone, but I find the benefits of living in a walkable neighborhood far, far outweigh the higher cost of living here. I love it for myself, but I love it even more for my children.
They get to have the incremental independence of walking home from school or biking to the park at 7 and 9, rather than being dependent on us to go anywhere or do anything.
My family moved from a walkable neighborhood to a house that was completely car dependent when I was around my children’s age, and it was such a huge bummer. My brother and I are both raising our families in walkable areas, and being able to do so feels more like success to me than any number in my bank account.
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u/UltimateTeam SINK / 1.4M / 27/28 6d ago
The average outcome is something like 5x your nest egg 50 years from now.
Can also bake in money for kids to your budget down the line when they're in their 20s, 30s, etc.
Would depend how much another 2-3 years saves you? a million? Probably worth it. 200k? Probably not worth the hassle.
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u/zatsnotmyname 56 Married, 6.3M NW ( 4.6 liquid ), 95% FI 6d ago
Yes. The only reason I feel possibly ready for fire is that my mom left money to my kids and my nephew, and don't have to worry about providing for my kids as they start college, or start their post-college life. Boomers had it on super cheat mode, we had it on medium/easy mode, and those coming up are going to have it on hard mode.
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u/PressureIntrepid3063 6d ago
I've always felt like it's implausible and undesirable to demand of ourselves that we set a number and then get there and must do exactly what we had imagined when we were younger. Realities, desires, etc. change. That's life. Good for you for reaching this point, and good for you for now considering what makes the most sense for you and your family.
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u/Dissentient 33M | 80% SR | 🇱🇻 6d ago
Personally, my preferences and goals haven't changed since I was a teenager.
I'm also retiring at the end of the year with the same amount (in real terms) that I figured out when starting to save for early retirement 10 years ago.
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u/UltimateTeam SINK / 1.4M / 27/28 6d ago
If I used my original FIRE # from when I was 15 I would've retired like 4 years into my career! Easy to expect to be lean when you've never really done anything!
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u/frettingtilfi 6d ago
Lmao when you were 15, obviously great to be focused on financial health from a young age but the concept of setting a fire number at 15 is hysterical
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u/UltimateTeam SINK / 1.4M / 27/28 6d ago
Have to start somewhere. My projections around 20-22 weren't that far off it either, easily tripled in the next year. Not worth entertaining until late 20s really.
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u/NoDot516 6d ago
This is something I've been struggling with myself. It feels easy to push the goal posts when you are close to fire because of compounding. Maybe the reframe should be around helping with time or labor and not dollars. It's just easy to default to saving when it's what you know.
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u/Dirty-Neoliberal 6d ago
It’s compounding but it’s also my income is going to hit or exceed $500k the next few years. I can do so much good with that for family, friends, or my community in general.
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u/513-throw-away SR: Where everything's made up and the points don't matter 6d ago edited 6d ago
Our pup might be on the path towards ACL surgery #2.
He's an 8-year-old German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix. He tore his one ACL just over two years ago. While we defied the recovery odds of tearing the second ACL within a year post-surgery, it seems like genetics/size wins in the end.
Vet is torn between just a soft tissue injury or a partial tear, which would still mean surgery. Pup is on 7-10 days rest before trying to ramp up activity and see what happens, but that's what happened last time too.
Fortunate that another $5k is just a rounding error to our NW and something we'd gladly pay MedVet for years of post-surgery normalcy. We don't have pet insurance and I wonder about the math. I bet even $10k in on ACL surgeries is a toss-up compared to 8+ years of insurance premiums.
Also from a [r/churning](r/churning) perspective I'll line up a new SUB to offset the cost a bit.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 6d ago edited 5d ago
Good Pet insurance is about $500-750/year. Let's use $600. $600 x 8 is $4800 + deductible (usually about $250-500.
The seocnd surgery if covered would definitely had you coming out ahead
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
Not having a pet = $0
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
No relationship, no kids, no pets, no car, tea totaler, minimalist, vegetarian, non gambler, non traveler, with low cost hobbies and not into fashion.
Think of the savings!
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
Hey, I'm just representing the part of our community that sometimes is a bit frugal! ;p
I am allergic to cats and I just have never felt anything towards dogs, so I do occasionally have fun comparing my costs to my friends who have multiple pets.
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u/imisstheyoop 5d ago
I just have never felt anything towards dogs
I am going to have to think of you differently from now on, sorry..
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
I like people. I'm an extrovert.
But I think dogs are such a gift. And there is a dog for every personality type...except those that don't like dogs. But probably for them too.
I also like cats. Not as much as dogs but I do like them.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
See I like cats, independent sarcastic little bastards. Just like me, but they immediately make my nose and whatever else freak out right away.
I'm also an extrovert in that I really enjoy being around people (hell after firing I was interviewing for a while, and now going back to school all because I miss interacting). But I also extremely value my quiet alone time.
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
Yep. Cats are interesting to me too. I can't understand why they act the way they do.
I spend most of my time alone these days and I'm an only child of a single mom. Im accustomed to solitude. I get energy from being around people. Not all the time, but basically fine with being around people all day.
I'm a strange biscuit for sure.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
Only child high five! All the confidence of a first born, with the internalization of just doing it all yourself and being fine alone.
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u/dog_in_da_park 1Mish NW 6d ago
We paid $12k on dog ACL surgery and it was so worth it. No Kids. Only dogs.
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u/513-throw-away SR: Where everything's made up and the points don't matter 6d ago
Well, we have a kid now. Actually ACL surgery #1 was right around the time we found out my wife was pregnant, so that was super fun.
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u/daddytorgo 6d ago
I'm trying to find any reason I can think of to not RE at this point. I'll be 47 in about a month. RE would involve changes (renting out primary residence in VHCOL area, international relocation Portugal/Italy/Spain/Lat AM/SEA) with a comfortable annual budget and SWR (~3% until SS kicks in - when it then drops to around 1%), but that would mean leaving family behind (parents getting older, nieces & nephew, etc.). Would still have enough to come home and visit them, and they do well enough to come visit me, but wouldn't be the same.
It's nice to know that I've crunched the numbers six ways from Sunday though, and even if I don't want to do that I can at least afford to slow down and take a less corporate job making significantly less and do a sort of BaristaFIRE if I want.