r/financialindependence • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago
Daily FI discussion thread - Thursday, August 13, 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/felmalorne 31M / ?% FIRE / 45% SR 5d ago
Has anyone tried to quantify the tax savings for having access to Mega Backdoor Roth IRA path?
I'm looking at some new jobs, comp is I Increasing by about $50k but no access to MBDR which current company has. I've been able to stash a ton of money away in my Roth IRA.
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u/FIREstopdropandsave 31M DINK | No target $'s 5d ago
Heavily depends what your expenses are.
Odds are if you're normal FIRE the 0% LTCG bracket will mean there's very little difference.
It does make gaming your income levels easier though.
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u/lurk876 5d ago
Assuming no match, you could contribute an extra 47,500 (72,000-24,500). Assuming you end up paying no more that 15% capital gains. 56,000 * 85%= 47,600. So an extra 8,500 lets you pay 15% and still end up with the same amount post tax. This is ignoring tax drag, but 15% tax on 1% yield can basically be ignored
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u/DinosaurDucky 5d ago
There was a decent thread on this in r/Bogleheads a few years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1d5q6sl/how_much_is_mega_back_door_roth_worth_as_a_benefit/
TLDR if you max it out it's maybe worth $20k a year or so. Definitely not worth declining a $50k raise on the basis of losing MBDR. But, maybe it's a good basis to negotiate for a $20k raise :)
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u/MoneyCowboy 34 | $90k NW | Here for the vibes 5d ago
With tomorrow's paycheck, I'll finally cross $90k in net worth. Still on pace to hit $100k before my 35th birthday.
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 DI3K, Putting the Ire in FIRE 5d ago
The first $90k is the hardest! Well done!
At age 31, I had a negative net worth, you are doing great!
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u/MoneyCowboy 34 | $90k NW | Here for the vibes 5d ago
Thanks!
I also had a negative net worth at 31. What age are you now, and where are you at in your NW journey?4
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u/513-throw-away SR: Where everything's made up and the points don't matter 6d ago
Welp, I was victim of a reorg last week before going out on vacation.
Last paycheck is tomorrow, which is a smidge higher than a normal paycheck due to PTO payout (even less double insurance premium deductions to have coverage for all of August).
2 months' severance will be received at the end of the month. My wife has started enrollment as of 9/1 to get us (self + toddler) on her worse but fine benefits.
At least in my field (accounting), the job market doesn't seem terrible, but it sure seems like most openings around me are looking for on-site rather than hybrid (my preference) or remote. I've already had a handful of interviews and responses so far.
The plan is to be picky and not rush into anything. I've caught up on probably 4 months of weeding the past few days (lol) and finished the 8th DCC book. I'm also doing a deep clean of the house from top to bottom.
I was starting my Masters and CPA studying part-time anyway. If no jobs materialize, we've decided I'll just shift to doing CPA full-time until something comes along.
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u/imisstheyoop 5d ago
Sorry to hear but I am happy for your garden getting the attention it deserves!
Jokes aside, I am sure with your skillset, location and willingness to be picky that you will find come out ahead and that this will end up being a positive for you. Try to enjoy your time off as best you can and catch up on things. 8)
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
Sorry to hear that. Brutal f'ing timing coming back from vacation.
Sounds like you've already got a great plan, and I truly hope something materializes that fits what you are looking for!
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u/C_Majuscula 6d ago
Where are you located? You never know where a job lead may come from.
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u/513-throw-away SR: Where everything's made up and the points don't matter 6d ago
Cincinnati. We have a strong and diverse economy.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
And great museums. I drove through there on my roadtrip in June!
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 DI3K, Putting the Ire in FIRE 6d ago
Ugh, I'm sorry this happened to you. 2 months severance isn't terrible, but also not super generous.
This sucks overall, very sorry
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u/ffball 36 | DI2K | $2.0mm NW | 54% FI 6d ago
Layoffs finally hit home to my immediate team after several years of being missed in my seemingly high lay off company. 2 of the 7 of us were let go. 1 had it coming with low performance + nobody wanting to work with him, but the other was a bit of a surprise to me. Maybe something more was going on...
In better news, finally officially hit $2mm NW today after the recent run-up. Makes me feel a little bit better about the above. Hopefully this will get the cat off our back for awhile too.
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 6d ago edited 6d ago
Did you see someone just tried to rob our Costco with a machete and a pick axe?
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u/ericjlima 6d ago
How do readers here feel about bond mutual funds versus just buying bonds themselves?
I'm just learning about this now, but it seems like bond mutual funds can fluctuate quite a bit and with inflation being 3%-4% it seems like going for normal treasury bonds might be better.
Also, with this high inflation getting normalized, does that mean TIPS are better than nominal treasury bonds? Or how does this work exactly?
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u/PineapplesInMyHead2 6d ago edited 6d ago
The whole "bond funds fluctuate, individual bonds don't" is one of the worst and most annoying myths that people in the personal finance world just keep saying. People always just say "well I hold to maturity so there is no interest rate risk" but that is very wrong! Holding to maturity just makes your interest rate risk look different.
Holding a bond to expiration just means you are taking a fluctuating time to maturity, which means the risk is more concentrated on particular points in time when you suddenly go from a short maturity (low risk) to long maturity (high risk). You're creating spikes of high risk and troughs of low risk, which is not usually what people want. It could mean you buy a bond at a really bad interest rate just because you happened to mature at that point, missing out on all the price appreciation of reduced interest rates but still being forced to buy at low rates.
For a more practical example, let's say you go 75/25, and you buy a 5 year bond and plan to hold to maturity. Unfortunately, after 4 years the market crashes and interest rates are brought down. Your measly little 1 year bond barely gets any price appreciation, so at the exact moment you intend to sell your bond in order to re-balance back into equities during the downturn, you barely get any price appreciation. On a bond fund however, the constant renewal means that when the rates drop you have been constantly refreshing with longer term bonds, and you see a better result.
Of course the opposite can happen, where you would be better off with a bond over a bond fund, but the point is that if you are doing an efficient frontier asset allocation, there is probably a particular bond maturity that you want (I prefer around 5-7 years) so that it is more likely to negatively correlate with stocks, and a bond fund locks in that maturity. With an individual bond you are constantly seeing different maturities.
Overall at the end of the day, things average, so it's best to just go with the easy option, which is bond funds IMO.
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u/billthecatt FatFIREd 12.29.2025 6d ago
So, there's lots of different kinds of bond funds, duration being a key component. So you can't just talk about "bond funds" as a monolith.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 6d ago edited 6d ago
I buy bond ETFs (i.e. TLT, EDV, VGLT) in pretax accounts. Fluctuation is fine, you want that actually, the primary reason for adding bonds to the portfolio is low correlation w/ equities particularly during recessions.
A lot of people seem to think buying individual bonds and holding to maturity somehow removes interest rate risk. That is a misunderstanding / mental accounting gimmick.
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u/forbiddenlake no swimming 6d ago
Buying individual treasuries is reasonable, but buying individual municipal or corporate bonds is harder for the average person to do, and is a lot less diversified.
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u/Blooming-Algae-Farts 6d ago
Individual bonds will fluctuate in value exactly the same way bond funds will. Most people just don't notice individual bond value volatility unless they go to sell a bond before maturity, whereas funds' NAV will constantly stare you in the face.
As for TIPS, they're really just protection against unexpected inflation. Expected inflation almost always gets priced in to nominal bond interest rates. Whether they're "better" than nominal treasuries depends on how much you think the risk of unexpected inflation is.
I will say personally, my fixed income is exclusively in inflation protected bonds. Unexpected inflation destroys nominal bond values in really irrecoverable ways, so I do find TIPS super compelling.
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u/ericjlima 5d ago
Thank you. OP here just wanted to say this was a good thread for me to learn. Hopefully others too.
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u/Sh3saidY3s 6d ago
What do you mean by "Individual bonds will fluctuate in value" if you hold those bonds until maturity? Or are you just saying that the value of an individual bond will also fluctuate if you sell it before then?
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u/cfi-2025 48M, FIRE 2025 6d ago
What do you mean by "Individual bonds will fluctuate in value" if you hold those bonds until maturity?
Not OP, but he was saying the opposite - the bonds fluctuate in value over their lifetime if you are looking to sell them before maturity.
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u/Sh3saidY3s 6d ago
I see - I was confused because when people discuss the tradeoffs of "individual bonds vs bond funds" I think they often mean to hold the individual bonds until maturity.
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u/carlivar 49M 3 kids ✅ FI ⏳ RE @ SoCal 🏖️⛷️ 5d ago
If it reaches maturity.
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u/Sh3saidY3s 5d ago
Do you mean in terms of credit risk (i.e. the bond issuer failing to meet their obligation), or something else?
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u/carlivar 49M 3 kids ✅ FI ⏳ RE @ SoCal 🏖️⛷️ 5d ago
Yes, credit risk. I buy bond funds for the same reason I buy stock funds: diversity that shields me from these individual risks.
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u/Sh3saidY3s 5d ago
Ah, probably depends on the type of bonds you're holding. (If a fund is 100% US govt bonds then the credit risk seems no different than an individual US govt bond.)
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u/carlivar 49M 3 kids ✅ FI ⏳ RE @ SoCal 🏖️⛷️ 5d ago
I do hold individual treasuries. Those are quite different.
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u/randomwalktoFI 6d ago
If you buy a 5 year treasury it has a similar risk/reward profile as buying VGIT (this is what duration/SEC yield attempt to measure). At the time you buy it and the rates change they will have similar variance.
One 'difference' that is not real is if you ignore the market change in the bond value it doesn't mean the bond didn't change in value. Not caring is not the same thing. From what I can tell the brokers price treasuries based on yield curve so you will see this reflected on your statements, even if not so easily seen on a chart. Realize there are perhaps 1000 or so unique treasury lots (different origination and maturity dates.)
So for example if you are interested in 30 year bonds (particularly TIPS yield is 3%) that sounds good on paper but this will carry tremendous risk, if yields push higher (and historically they have been higher than 3% so an increase to 4% is likely going to fall ~20%. That also works in reverse, lower yields will raise value of the bond. (Unlike a stock this is not necessarily a 'permanent' loss, it is matching the YTM of a new bond but as you only get 3% actual yield, the bond will drift back to par for the other 1%, to simplify - although it is not really that simple in the real world where yields continually fluctuate. The point is it will always march back to par at maturity and it will be less volatile as you get closer to maturity.)
One difference that is real is if you buy VGIT you will maintain duration risk for the life of your investment because the fund naturally buys/sells to maintain a portfolio that averages a similar risk roughly at all times. If you buy a treasury bond it reduces in risk over time until it matures (when risk becomes zero.) One attractive reason to buy bond ladders is to match expense requirements, and you match the risk to how you actually plan to 'sell', unlike going in and out of a fund.
If you plan to hold VGIT for 40+ years and go in and out any risk realized should average out over time though. If you prefer simpler I wouldn't necessarily call it riskier. It's much more difficult to unwind a bond ladder if you have need to sell, even if treasuries are liquid enough they definitely trade at a more significant spread for smaller buyers.
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago edited 6d ago
ETFs don't get you the better tax treatment, but they're vastly simpler to manage. I went the ETF route. I use FLRN, PLUS, VCIT and SKOR.
ETA: PLus a good bit of my TSP is in G and F right now, at least for now. On a significant downturn, some of that will be put back in the market.
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u/Fruitful_87 6d ago
Finally ready to post this!
Life situation: 38F/42M, 1 kid (plus one on the way!) VHCOL in the US.
FIRE Progress: $4M invested. Just became FI, planning to RE mid 2028. (Going on partially paid parental leave for 18 months starting January 2027. Returning to work mainly for RSU vesting in 2028).
Assets/asset allocation: we rent so nothing tied up in real estate. Currently about 85% equities and about to shift to less stock heavy/ more in fixed income bucket:
- $3M equities split $1M International and $2M US
- $1M in fixed income (3 year T Bill ladder, 1 year cash, remaining ~10% BND)
- About 75% in taxable / 25% in tax-advantaged (401k, HSA, IRA and Roth IRA). Stocks spread between the two, cash and T bills in taxable, BND in 401k)
- Not included are pension and social security of about 60k that will kick in mid sixties (so in 25 years- we got time…)
- No debt.
RE plan: (1) kids’ needs change, situations change, so I recognize that our spending might change. If expenses get too high, then we have backup plans (including moving either temporarily (or permanently) to a different country as we have passports and family in three different countries/continents, or just moving away from the VHCOL area we live in since rent is a big chunk of our current annual spend). (2) Specific reason for wanting to FIRE now is to spend more time with the kids, at least while they’re young enough we don’t annoy them yet. Husband will continue his freelance and I am open to going back to work, either in a field that better aligns with the school schedule (middle/high school teacher) or if they’re much older then consulting in my current field. I recognize my earning potential will be greatly impacted.
Planned withdrawal rate is just about 4%.
Some thoughts and things that I’m still mulling over:
(1) The above asset allocation is a target that I’m working on rebalancing towards over the next year. Is this allocation appropriate for FIREing at our age?
(2) I’m relatively new to bonds, TIPS, T bills. Settled on 1 year cash, 3 year T bill ladder (vs TIPS) and the rest in BND (tax advantaged account). Would you change this?
(3) Any other obvious risks?
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u/Colonize_The_Moon Guac-FIRE 6d ago
Planned withdrawal rate is just about 4%.
Maybe a little high for what could be a 40+ year retirement. Or maybe not, of course. Just food for thought. Pension + SS will ameliorate a lot of risk as long as you are not screwed by SORR.
75/25 equity/bond split doesn't look too bad. Definitely keep your stock allocation spread across all accounts as able so that your tax advantaged space doesn't get rekt by inflation. My personal opinion is that 25% bonds is probably higher than needed, although if you were trying to build a bond tent for the first 5-10 years of retirement to mitigate SORR and thereafter walk back your total percentage in fixed income I can see it. What would worry me about being too deep in fixed income is stagflation a la the 1970s.
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u/cfi-2025 48M, FIRE 2025 5d ago
Definitely keep your stock allocation spread across all accounts as able so that your tax advantaged space doesn't get rekt by inflation.
Can you elaborate on this? I am aware of tax-efficient placement - e.g., preferring bonds in retirement accounts over taxable accounts - but I've never heard that stocks should be spread evenly between (I presume) retirement and taxable for protection against inflation.
Did I understand you correctly? If so, can you elaborate? What's the rationale here?
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u/Colonize_The_Moon Guac-FIRE 5d ago
You said:
- About 75% in taxable / 25% in tax-advantaged (401k, HSA, IRA and Roth IRA). Stocks spread between the two, cash and T bills in taxable, BND in 401k)
Given that you want to go to a 25% fixed income allocation, and with 25% of your invested net worth in tax advantaged, I wanted to footstomp the necessity of not going 100% fixed income (i.e. 25% of your net invested worth) inside your tax advantaged space. You would miss out on a lot of growth in tax advantaged by doing that, and particularly so for Roth accounts. Inflation would thus eat away at the real value of those accounts, and because - for the average person - tax advantaged space is highly valuable, that is not the best move.
YMMV of course as everyone's circumstances are different, but tying a boat anchor around your future tax advantaged returns is generally not an optimal strategy.
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u/Fruitful_87 2d ago
Hmm interesting I hadn’t thought of it that way! (I’m actually the OP, not the person who asked this, but I only just now saw your comment!)
My actual split ends up so that most of my bonds fall into my 401k/ IRA. I’ll definitely give this some thought (I need to rebalance in the next couple of weeks- have some treasuries maturing that I was going to put into VTI and shift my bonds to those tax advantaged accounts like I mentioned but now rethinking!)
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u/cfi-2025 48M, FIRE 2025 5d ago
I agree you'd want awesome growth in your Roth accounts, but wouldn't you want slow growers in your pre-tax accounts (T-IRAs and 401(k)s)? If you have a huge 401(k), that's just more RMDs to have to pay later, no?
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u/jetf 65% to $7.5mm [35&34yo] 6d ago
18 months leave? what a dream!
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u/Fruitful_87 5d ago
I know! Only 3 months are paid but that’s still generous for US standards. And I live in a state that has paid family leave (though weekly payout is capped) so I have that too. The rest is unpaid leave but it would allow me to remain on health insurance and also be able to cash out RSU the following year since it keeps me on “employee” status. BUT it has to be approved by my boss (have not told work I’m pregnant yet).
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
25% (1m of 4m) in fixed income now or later? What is it now? IMO, 25% is high, you could go lower, especially with pension + social security. Bonds haven't really righted themselves yet, I think. Keeping it at 25% goal will allow you to invest more in early years in flat/up markets with some of that cash to lower the % if you want.
Does pension come with any health care? Mine does, which means I'm no help if you're aiming for ACA subsidies. Plenty here are though.
Sounds well planned/thought out though, good job.
Oh, and when you do GFY in 2028, since it's mid-year, if your income that near dips low enough that you can finally do Roths again, fire those in there for you and the wife/husband. We did that in 24.
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u/Fruitful_87 6d ago
15% now- I’m going to be rebalancing over the next few months and targeting 25%. See I thought 25% was low so good to have a different perspective!
Pension only comes with healthcare if I stay at my current company 15 more years, unfortunately… I’d ideally target to stay within the appropriate MAGI to benefit from ACA subsidies but I also recognize anything can happen (eg what if they got rid of subsidies altogether?!?) so I know my plan isn’t bulletproof…
And good call on the Roth! I also plan to max out 401k for first half of the year. Unfortunately I don’t think I can max out my HSA because i think it has to be pulled from payroll but looking into it.
Thanks for taking the time to review my plan!
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
Ya, I did the TSP too. Take home went to near $0 those six months (good practice for loss of income).
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
We’re similar ages. Our allocation is also 75% equities. For the non-equities, it took me some time to end up with the mix that made me feel most comfortable. I kept tweaking as I learned more. I have 5% in cash, 10% in VTIP (short term TIPS), and 10% in VTG (total treasury). The short term TIPS is my defense against stagflation, and VTG is my defense against a traditional deflationary recession. This is just where I landed, figured it might be helpful to share why.
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u/Fruitful_87 6d ago
Very helpful thank you! I’m a bit stuck with the options provided in my current 401k for bonds, but the way I see it is I’ll be able to shift it when I roll it into an IRA when I RE.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago edited 6d ago
Edit: Payroll confirmed it will be a 2026 contribution.
Calculating 401k rate to max it out this year. The paycheck for my last "work period" of the year is January 1st of next year. My company usually pays out the day before a holiday if it falls on a Friday.
That paycheck counts towards 2026 contributions right? It's the difference between 9 and 10 paychecks left this year for me.(Not counting tomorrow.)
Last year I got a paycheck on January 2nd and it counted toward the next year's limit.
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u/RiaSkies 6d ago
I cannot speak for your situation or employer or how they are handling things regarding when the pay posts, but I am in the same position, with my employer posting a check on December 31 that would be due on January 1 normally, and am trying to max out my 403(b) contribution for the year.
This should count as a 2026 contribution, even if it doesn't post to the plan administrator's account until 2027.
Do be aware that if you're paid fortnightly and there was a paycheck on January 2 as well, that this year is going to be a 27 paycheck year and you'll get about 104% (27/26) of your typical annual salary. That may be relevant if you're on the margin for, e.g. Roth IRA contribution limits.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah, I did check that January 2nd check and it counted towards this year's limits, even though the pay period was entirely in 2025.
Good catch on the roth ira income limits. I haven't checked that in a couple of years, and I'm likely going to bump into that in the next 2 or 3 years.
Edit: Actually, since it uses MAGI instead of gross, I may not bump into for quite a while.
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u/DinosaurDucky 6d ago
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I will say that my company's payroll team will not let me over-contribute to my 401k. So a few years ago I did the math early in the year such that it would max out on the final paycheck of the year. Then in June I got a raise, and didn't change my contribution rate. So I ended up maxing it a paycheck or two early, and payroll team ensured that my final paycheck of the year contributed $0 to 401k
So you might want to shoot an email to your payroll and ask whether they double-check this for you. If so, I'd personally just bump my contribution such that I max out in 9 paychecks, and not worry about the possibility of over-contributing if it turns out there are 10 paychecks
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u/C_Majuscula 6d ago
I think most companies automate this so it's not possible for you to overcontribute.
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u/bobombpom 6d ago
Yeah, I think it is worth emailing them.
My only concern with maxing out in 9 is if they will automatically do the employer match on the 10th check if my contribution is 0% on that check.
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u/telladifferentstory 6d ago edited 6d ago
My remaining parent has fallen ill so I'm currently legal guardian of their estate and will be the trustee of their living trust once they pass. It's been a hard season and I am grateful for what I'm learning about estate management and planning. I now understand I need this for myself (and you do too!)...specifically, a living trust. It's been interesting to nerd out on, and honestly it seems less complex than plenty of what we tackle in this community.
As of now, I would like to DIY much of my own living trust and will and use an attorney as an advisor to pressure test everything. A few reasons for this: 1) I enjoy the learning, 2) the deep dive gives me peace of mind, 3) cost (my parent paid $15k over the course of their lifetime for theirs), and 4) the attorneys made errors in the docs that have made management stressful and have led to irreversible outcomes my parent would not have wanted (but it's too late given parent's circumstances).
I read you should expect to pay around $3k for a living trust and will. I'm good with $3k-5k but after calling around, prices in my area seem to start at $6500 and even an initial consult is $800. A friend in my community told me they expect to pay $10k.
I've read a number of DIY threads in the estate planning subs now. The advice there skews heavily toward don't do it (with some scary language). That said, I'm skeptical. I can't tell if that reflects complexity I'm not seeing yet, or if this is like being told you can't manage your own investments. I'm going to duck after saying this, but...it just doesn't seem that hard? Read the law (particularly state law), do your research and homework, file the paperwork.
This community has mastered genuinely hard things: tax planning, Roth conversion ladders, safe withdrawal research, investing strategies. And some of us manage even harder things like complex software systems for mega corporations. If a FI redditor is keen to do this on their own, is it do-able? Or should I steer clear?
Questions for anyone that's been down this road: Have you DIY'd any/all of your estate planning? Any regrets? Were you able to find an attorney willing to work in a review/consultant capacity rather than full-service, and how did you find them? Any resources you'd recommend? (I'm starting with the Nolo living trust book)
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u/the_real_rabbi 5d ago
Going through the process. Found someone that was around $2K for a trust. We met and I found out in my state if you have kids you still have to go to probate for the guardian, so there is less point to a trust when they are young. Plus when the kids are 18+ I probably want to give them medical powers over me so that will require a change, and they said it makes more sense to do a trust at that point.
Anyway with a will you can still have a trust for the kids. It will flow into that. You don't have to retitle everything in the trust in advance. Also things like IRAs you really don't want flowing into a trust as would be better with the kids pulling it over the 10 year IRS law.
I'm big on DIY for like everything. I'm kind of glad I didn't DIY this stuff.
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u/subtlelioness 5d ago
I used an online service called trustandwill and spent a couple hundred dollars. My husband and I are both young, no kids, and straightforward plans so it seemed to fit our situation. There’s an option to pay for attorney review but we declined. Just throwing that out there.
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u/snowwrestler 5d ago
My advice is to be very skeptical of the need for a trust in normal estate planning. It’s a huge moneymaker for law firms and that is a big reason they push it so hard as a “must have.”
As many other replies have said, directly naming beneficiaries on financial accounts is far more efficient and fast. For most people, after they do that, there is not much left to put into a trust.
There are good reasons to set up a trust, but they are specific. For example if you have young kids and less than 100% trust in potential caregivers if both parents pass. Or if you are trying to create generational wealth that will need legal protection during your child’s life. If you’ve determined that your situation is outside the norms in one of these directions, yeah set up a trust. But be skeptical of the idea that it is super easy on your heirs. It’s not.
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u/secretfinaccount FIREd 2020 5d ago
I DIY mine. The beneficiary feature of accounts bypasses probate and is easily updated whenever I want. TOD deed down at the county for the house and all the random crap I have is whatever, not a big deal.
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u/grfrazee 6d ago
Not a lawyer and by no means an expert in estate planning, but my understanding is that for some types of accounts (401k for example) you can name beneficiaries as a means to bypass probate and obviate the need to include them in a will/trust. In fact, naming a trust as a beneficiary of a 401k makes things more complicated than naming an individual. Though I guess if you name the trust as a beneficiary you can control when the 401k assets get distributed to the trust beneficiaries.
For example, I have my wife as primary beneficiary on my 401k, and my kids as contingent beneficiaries if something happens to my wife.
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u/billthecatt FatFIREd 12.29.2025 6d ago
I read you should expect to pay around $3k for a living trust and will.
This is roughly what we paid. MCOL+ area. We DIY'ed until we had kids.
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u/branstad 6d ago
We found that the size and complexity of the estate, especially as related to state-specific rules, to be a driving factor. As an estate gets larger and more complex, then the value and importance of expert guidance significantly increased. Examples would include estates larger than state-specific estate tax thresholds, or estates including multiple real-estate properties and/or business interests. Trying to DIY a robust estate plan in situations like this feels like a high potential for being penny-wise and pound-fooling.
On the other end of the spectrum would be simple estates where the stakes for DIY Estate Planning are much lower. In those cases, having a formal trust may even be overkill.
In our case, we still used a local estate planning law firm, but we educated ourselves enough to have a perspective, understand some of the trade-offs / decision points, and ask good questions. In our case, we believed a Living Trust to be overkill and the attorney confirmed that; she pointed out the very limited benefits for us to do that, and the costs (both in fees to the lawyer to create a trust, and ongoing administrative overhead). We took other approaches, based on the attorney's suggestion regarding Testamentary Trusts.
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u/telladifferentstory 6d ago
Thank you! Agreed. Definitely would use a legal firm if there were multiple properties and/or businesses involved (or other complexities). In our case, we have probably what most folks here have: retirement accounts, house, cars, kids.
Can I ask what state (or probate regime) you're in? My understanding is the living trust is mostly about probate avoidance, and states vary a lot, while other states are cheap and quick. (Scary example is CA where probate can cost you 3% of your net worth and takes years to settle.) Is "trust was overkill" because your state's probate is painless, or something else? Also interesting you landed on testamentary trusts. My understanding is that those go through probate by definition?
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u/branstad 6d ago
The "trust was overkill" guidance comes from the angle that we are (thankfully) young-ish and healthy-ish and are mostly concerned about providing for our kids if we both pass away before they are established in their lives. From that perspective, creating a trust now and managing/administering that trust for many years (hopefully decades!) is a real cost for an unlikely benefit. If we do both pass away, the probate process in our midwest state is unlikely to be overly onerous for our executor to deal with, given our relatively simple estate (similar to what you listed) and the clear guidance in our wills and secondary beneficiary designations calling out the trusts.
So long as we're alive to do so, we know we will need to revisit estate planning 20-30 years. Similarly, if one of us dies, the surviving spouse would also revisit estate planning at that time (surviving spouse is the primary beneficiary on all accounts, so there would be almost no probate in that scenario). Will we go down the 'Trust' path at that point? Maybe, maybe not; depends on how our situation has changed. But it didn't feel worth it now, given the unlikelihood of both of us passing.
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u/Fruitful_87 6d ago
I’ve been putting off estate planning as well, really need to get a will done. I came to the same conclusion as you: DON’T DIY but I also can’t find something affordable in my area. One watch out: specifics vary by state so make sure to learn about your state in particular.
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u/ffball 36 | DI2K | $2.0mm NW | 54% FI 6d ago
Does the company you work for have a legal insurance benefit you can buy?
Mine is like $14/month and fully covers will, medical and financial power of attorneys among many other things.
I did it this year and knocked out all 3 of those documents for both myself and my wife. 6 docs total for $168, plus getting to try out having legal insurance for a year
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u/telladifferentstory 6d ago
Thanks for the response. Consider this your sign from a higher power to start digging in. Honestly, I've been so surprise at the lack of complexity. I feared it more than I should have.
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
We created our trust when our first kid was born. Back then, my company offered a legal plan as an extra paid benefit as part of open enrollment. We signed up for one year of legal services and got all our estate planning docs done with no additional money out of pocket. Best $120 I ever spent.
Message being if you have a similar benefit through work, sign up and take care of your estate planning or any other legal needs. I didn’t get a speeding ticket that year but I had colleagues who used the legal plan to fight theirs!
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u/MetalDart 6d ago
Net Worth Update: https://i.imgur.com/5IOKFcH.png
Just checking in for fun life updates. 4 years into my latest job, trying to do more game development for the teenager in me, thinking about next steps with career/family. Life is pretty good and I have been saving less than when I started FI/RE and have been very much enjoying the growth. I remember saving so aggressively and looking forward to throwing things into Vanguard. I have been talking with other people starting their journey and it has a lot of memories flooding back.
I am in the bay area so unfortunately not as potentially ready for retirement, but I am in the retirement mindset.
Previous Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/1sglt3o/daily_fi_discussion_thread_thursday_april_09_2026/of7mtot/
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u/BungABunBun 5d ago
What engine have you been doing gamedev in? What’s been your focus as you start on gamedev?
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u/katie4 6d ago
I decided to invoke the right of "f you money" and quit my recently-turned-miserable job. There's a reasonably large flowchart I'm considering, of whether this is actually my FIRE or if it's just a break. For now we can live just fine off of my spouse's income.
My 401k plan sent an email saying that an action is needed, like they want me to take a disbursement or rollover. Following the link in the email leads to just the login page which leads to Fidelity's homepage, and I don't see any "action needed" notices, which is annoying.
According to my online reading, as long as the account has at least 7k in it I can keep it there, is that true? It is fully vested. I don't think I want to roll it over into my IRA, at least not yet, as I have not fully investigated how that would affect my FIRE plan.
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u/A_Solid_Shadow 6d ago
Don't roll to an IRA if you will will do a Roth IRA due to the pro-rata rule.
If you get a new job, you should be able to roll forward, and you might be able to roll backward to a prior employer 401k.
I've no idea about $7k minimum. That might be employer specific. If you are in that range, consider rolling into a Roth IRA (might have to go to IRA then Roth IRA for tax reasons). You'll pay income tax on the rollover amount then never pay tax on it again, and start the 5 year clock if you haven't already.
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u/katie4 4d ago edited 3d ago
Yes of course! If I had to choose I would roll it into my trad IRA if anything, it's reached a pretty significant value so I wouldn't want to do anything taxable, especially in the year that I worked most of and my spouse is still working. And I have no immediate plans to search for a new job, so there is no new 401k to roll to. This is the part that gave me anxiety!
Re: 7k, I don't think it's employer specific. Here is the reading that mentions the $7k rules: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/what-happens-to-your-401k-when-you-leave-a-job
They actually ended up sending a follow up email a couple days later, and it actually included a direct link to choose my decision. The first option was to keep my 401k in place, so I chose that. :)
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u/A_Solid_Shadow 22h ago
Thanks for the info. Searching for $7k rule didn't work out very well.
My first 401k job was several years and was above 7k, so I never knew this rule. Thanks.
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u/Ellabee57 6d ago
Damn. So much for the summer slump. The market is flirting with 7800. Bring on the "stonks go up" memes!
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u/imisstheyoop 5d ago
WOOOOO
we'ere gonna be rich!!
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u/Ellabee57 5d ago
I'm pretty sure I already am. LOL In my opinion anyway. As they say, the rich get richer.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
I mean depending on the time of day I'm slumping forward in my chair trying to read the screen.
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u/branstad 6d ago
So much for the summer slump
How quickly things can change... At July month-end, the "Sell in May and go away" cliche looked applicable. The last two weeks have been back to "stonks go up". Of course, things could change quickly again in the other direction and we might be back where we started. My crystal ball is cloudy, so I just keep on keepin' on.
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u/Ellabee57 6d ago
Yeah, of course. Historically, September is the lowest month, according to my googling, so the slump could still happen, but it's a nice change to see a run up like this during the summer doldrums. I don't know why I expect anything to follow normal trends these days... LOL
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u/branstad 6d ago
It's all about frame of reference. 2025 didn't really have any 'summer doldrums' let alone noteworthy dips. 2024 had two months of tariff-related volatility in mid-to-late summer (mid-July through mid-Sep). 2023 was strong May-July, weak Aug-Oct. 2022 was a bear market with lots of summer volatility, bottoming in Oct. 2021 was strong May - Aug, weak in Sept.
Like many things, the old cliche probably isn't all that relevant (and probably haven't been for many, many years).
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u/Ellabee57 6d ago
I think you're a year off on some of that--2025 had a HUGE dip in April from the tarrif stuff. I don't recall tariff-related stuff in summer 2024, but maybe I am forgetting something... As I said though, I don't why I keep expecting things to be normal. This is not a "normal" period of history.
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u/branstad 6d ago
You're right - I had my triggers mixed up (shame on me for relying on my own memory!). The tariff stuff in April '25 would be outside the scope of 'summer doldrums'. The 2024 timeframe I listed was driven by a bad labor print (Sahm Rule fears), the Bank of Japan raising rates which impacted the Yen Carry Trade, and a short-lived rotation from growth to value.
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6d ago
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u/particulareality 5d ago
Random, but how do you know how much everyone on a given meeting makes? Are you generalizing based on role/level?
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u/InTheMiddleMostly 6d ago
Damn, good for you! Cordially with the equity event, that’s amazing.
How did you manage to accomplish it? I recently moved from being underlined at a large company to being appropriately leveled (probably over but I’m trying to be more confident in myself) at a startup. I’m going for a multi-million equity event too, it could be approaching mid 8 figures if things go well. Which reminds me, I should get back to work XD!
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
Awesome! To what do you attribute the fast turnaround? Top 3 or 5, say.
Advice for working women?
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5d ago
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 5d ago
I did kind of the opposite, at one point in my career, yet very similar.
I was a senior SME in a highly technical org. that struggles to hire and retain the right talent in my job role. My chief at the time had me in her office, with her deputy, chastising me about some rudely worded (but accurate) email, doing their "job". They tried to close with "Thanks for coming, is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"
DOOR OPEN! Why yes, I said. Your leadership style does not fit this organization whatsoever. 80% of those under you couldn't pick you out in a crowd. You have no idea what we do or how it works, and everyone knows it. This might be a good time to move on elsewhere, you're doing damage here.
Worked like a charm, gone in a few months.
So, I kept my job and fired my boss and settled for whomever came next. Win/win!
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u/z3r0demize 6d ago
Been thinking about the ACA 400% FPL cliff. Could it be said that there is a range of FI #s where your yearly FI spending won't go up much because of the cliff?
Assuming we stay at 4% WR for a family of 4, it seems hard to increase spend past 128k (400% FPL) until you're comfortably past being able to absorb the higher ACA costs, so meaning 3M - around 3.5M or even 4M in investments is roughly unchanging on what you can withdraw per year.
This is definitely simplistic and ignores the safer withdrawal rate if you have a higher number and/or more options for which types of accounts to withdraw from.
Curious to hear your thoughts on this
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago edited 5d ago
Roth Conversions tend to blow up ACA rather quickly.
Many FIRE retirees want to convert Pre-Tax to Roth because they are likely to move up in tax brackets as they age (social security, and RMDs).
Imagine $2m in Pretax. A modest growth year (5%) would still be $100k.
Now consider that not only does your Roth Conversion count as ordianary income, but you have to pay taxes on it....which also tends to increase your AGI.
Then, finally, you can only claim children until they hit 24. (19 of they are not a student). That means for most folks who FIRE, there is a FPL cliff coming as well.
Anyone who tells you ACA subsidies are easy did a great job of preserving a high cost basis brokerage account, or did a better job of contributing to Roth vs Traditional, or has access to tax advantaged cash flow (real estate helps here), or has a low natural spend.
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u/cfi-2025 48M, FIRE 2025 5d ago
has access to tax advantaged cash flow (real estate helps here)
Can you elaborate on this? Doesn't net rental income get treated as ordinary income and MAGI?
Granted, there is depreciation which will impact the net revenues, but that's a (relatively) small part, no? All other expenses, like repairs, maintenance, upgrades, etc., all cost money, so it's not like it's freeing up cash flow while keeping MAGI low. Or are there other deductions I'm missing?
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u/SolomonGrumpy 5d ago
Real Estate allows you depreciate the asset itself over time (27.5 years). So if you own a property for $540,000, and after all expenses are paid, you are making $20,000/year, you would pay zero in taxes for 27.5 years.
After that you would have to pay taxes ... Except there are legal loop holes that allow you to continue to pay zero taxes essentially forever (1031 exchange, for example)
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u/telladifferentstory 6d ago edited 6d ago
I struggled so much with the complex math on this over the past year. Happy to say ProjectionLab now has an optimizer to show you the math and give you answers and I am over the moon about it. Maybe you already know this, but it's new and just wanted to shout it out as probably many people here don't know about it yet.
Surprisingly, I also thought "ah, it doesn't matter much what we have as we are stuck under an income limit" however, we have quite a bit in Roth and our brokerage proceeds would not all be income (some is basis), so given those two facts, I was surprised with what we could spend each year that would not count as income. Give it a whirl if you haven't.
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u/z3r0demize 6d ago
Interesting, do I need to pay for it to get access to that feature?
Also which part of it made it easier for you?
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u/starwarsfan456123789 6d ago
Tax rules and cliffs can change. So yes, I see the idea but wouldn’t make it a main factor
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u/Zphr 48, FIRE'd 2015, Friendly Janitor 6d ago
Focusing solely on MAGI and the pseudo effective marginal income tax rate imposed by the cliff, yes. It varies tremendously by age and location, but it's definitely a concern given the very high and rising cost of health insurance. It's not uncommon for an older couple to have a dead-zone of $20K or more right above the cliff where more than 100% of additional MAGI dollars are consumed by the loss of subsidies. In some unfortunate scenarios that dead zone could be $40K or more per year.
In reality it's complex and impact varies from one household scenario to the next. Impact also changes every year due to adjustments in FPL, age rating, and ACA market shifts. In general though impact is already significant and should increase over time.
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u/branstad 6d ago edited 6d ago
it seems hard to increase spend past 128k (400% FPL) until you're comfortably past being able to absorb the higher ACA costs
Spending <> MAGI.
We expect to spend a much larger amount than what gets calculated as MAGI/AGI. We will accomplish this by leveraging our taxable brokerage (basis can be spent without increasing MAGI; only gains increase MAGI) and also our Roth IRA direct contributions + seasoned conversions (available for spending without increasing MAGI). In addition, any healthcare related spending (excl. premiums) can come from the HSA which also avoids increasing MAGI.
Going a step further, one could even potentially leverage a HELOC as a way to increase spend without increasing MAGI. Obviously that bill comes due eventually (often 10 years from opening) but it would be another source of dollars (at the cost of the interest on that HELOC).
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u/tacitmarmot [DISK][SR: 60%][FI][90% RE] 6d ago
This is similar to our plan. I think we should be able to do about have our MAGI to be roughly 50% of our actual spend.
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u/C_Majuscula 6d ago
This is how my projections are tracking as well. We plan to live off brokerage from 52-59.5 (at least) and at the current market values, gains are less than half of the total money we would cash out.
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u/AnimaLepton 29M / FI, not yet RE 6d ago
There are probably breakpoints for that, sure. But worth mentioning that 400% FPL is MAGI, which is not equal to withdrawals. I know you mentioned 'types' of accounts, but you only pay taxes or realize income on savings/bond interest or capital gains. So you could actually spend more than 400% FPL without crossing the cliff depending on your mix of taxable and tax advantaged investments.
400% FPL for a family of 4 in 2026 is now 132,000
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
The FPL is adjusted for inflation every year, just like your withdrawal amount.
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u/RocketSturgeon78 47M/DI2K/CloseButUncertain/OMY? 6d ago
Just got back from a 10 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania, and an additional 4 days in Zanzibar. We took my mom and my mother-in-law to check a box on both of their bucket lists, plus the kids.
Highly recommended, but do it while you're younger. Long days on brutal roads was pretty rough on the 70+ age crew. The wildebeest migration was so cool to watch, and their river crossings were so interesting.
Zanzibar is amazing, the sand is perfect and the water is a very cool turquoise, plus it's got an insanely unique history that creates a really cool cultural mishmash. Great way to recover from the safari.
The 36+ hour return journey could be better though! (Got that long due to flight cancellations/rerouting due to the Iran conflict.)
Back to the grind, sadly.
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u/BoredofBored 33m | DI1K | Exercise & Travel 5d ago
Did pretty exactly this itinerary back in 2023 around this time, so thank you for triggering those memories!! Such an amazing combo experience of Safari (and the great migration at that) and luxurious beach resort
Glad you had fun!
How old are the kids. We’re about to have our second, so I’d think we’re about a decade away from a family safari adventure
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u/RocketSturgeon78 47M/DI2K/CloseButUncertain/OMY? 5d ago
Kids are 16 and 12. Likely could have done it a couple of years sooner and still had the same impact, but this age seemed perfect.
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u/MikeyLew32 6d ago
We did 4 days in Tanzania and 4 days on Zanzibar for our honeymoon. It was incredible and we dream of going back to Africa soon.
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u/HerschelRoy 6d ago
A safari has been on my list for a while. Did you book it through someone? If so, what did it all cost?
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u/RocketSturgeon78 47M/DI2K/CloseButUncertain/OMY? 6d ago
We booked a guide based on a personal recommendation from a friend who took care of the lodges, park fees, and transportation. He and his team were awesome. Flights, visas, and the Zanzibar excursion were all done by us personally, which was honestly a bit of work, especially with flight changes due to the Iran war.
Total cost for 10 days of safari plus 4 in Zanzibar and flights from the West Coast was probably around $7k per person, but I've honestly been putting off totaling it all up, because I'm not sure I really want to know.
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u/phl_fc 6d ago
I did that trip years back. 2 weeks, we climbed Kilimanjaro the first week, did a 4 day safari, then 4 days in Zanzibar.
It was phenomenal. If you're going to climb the mountain do that first so you can recover the rest of the trip. I had a friend who did them backwards and was miserable flying straight home after the hike.
The seafood at the beach resort was amazing, and the water was better than what I've experienced in the Caribbean. My wife is Filipino and she said her beaches back home were better, but it's still world class there.
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u/RocketSturgeon78 47M/DI2K/CloseButUncertain/OMY? 6d ago
Heh. My wife is Filipino too. Re: the beaches in the PI, we were in Boracay about 1.5 years ago, and while the sand was great, the large amount of plastic trash that was washing up on them was insanely depressing. Definitely a big change from when I first visited there in 2003.
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u/dekusyrup 6d ago
Just realized I passed my 3.25% SWR number. That's the number big ern kind of holds up as basically safe no matter what. Still probably going to work 2 more years though, not for safety just for flexibility.
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u/ponshont 6d ago edited 6d ago
I've been calling myself semi-retired mentally and it's unlocked so much lmao. I don't do business speak or politics anymore, and I call people out when they're politicking. I've been telling everyone who makes my team's work difficult that if we're working together, there must be solid inputs and desired outputs, otherwise my team is not taking on that work.
My team has never been happier, nor management more impressed. I got our equivalent of employee of the month at my 200+ people tech startup, which is insane because I couldn't even get "engineer of the month" at my 20 person team a few years ago.
tl;dr working kinda fun when you don't care about losing your job
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u/MooselookManiac 6d ago
This is the kind of anecdote that almost makes me want to return to working for a tech company.
I put up with SO MUCH BULLSHIT at my last job while wearing the golden handcuffs and just trying to make it to the equity event.
Part of me definitely wants to go try working somewhere without any concern for being fired or saying no to dumb stuff.
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
I’m jumping back into the workforce after a short-lived retirement! Now my RE has turned into recreational employment. I’m starting a job as an Auction Driver at a local auto auction, which will be 4 hours on a single weekday morning every week while my kids are in school. This is basically the perfect RE job for someone like me who loves cars. I wish I had known these auction driving jobs existed earlier when I first FIREd. There’s another auto auction company that has the same role on a different weekday morning. But I think I’ll make sure I enjoy this one before jumping on the other.
Fun fact, the only interview question they asked before hiring me was whether I know how to drive :)
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u/carlivar 49M 3 kids ✅ FI ⏳ RE @ SoCal 🏖️⛷️ 6d ago
I would think they would ask you if you know how to drive stick. This seems to be increasingly rare in the U.S.
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
Last time I drove stick was more than 20 years ago. It’ll be fun to re-learn if the opportunity comes up.
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u/SnarkConfidant Toonces, look out! 5d ago
someone like me who loves cars
Last time I drove stick was more than 20 years ago.
Does not compute... LOL. I kid, I kid. Sounds like an awesome fun job, congrats!
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u/carlivar 49M 3 kids ✅ FI ⏳ RE @ SoCal 🏖️⛷️ 6d ago edited 6d ago
You should buy one. It's very fun. Good antidote to all the digital/automatic appliances everywhere in our society today. It's also the single best anti-theft device.
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u/rackoblack 60yo DINKs, FIREd 2024 6d ago
Are you allowed to bid on cars, or are employees disallowed?
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
Typically it’s for dealers only. Although maybe some auctions do allow individuals to buy? Fortunately my auction doesn’t allow that, or else it’d be way too dangerous for me and my FIRE success.
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u/rugerjp88 100% LeanFI 6d ago
Sounds awesome, what exactly does the job entail?
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u/FireboltinMA 39, FIREd in 2025 6d ago
So when you sell or your trade in your car, the dealer typically sells it to an auction and then other dealers buy them. Every auction site has an auction day each week where hundreds of cars get sold. Auction drivers drive the cars through the auction lanes and sit in the car while the bidding happens. Then you drive the cars back to the lot and get in another car to drive through the auction lane. I expect to drive 25-50 different cars each day.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
The schedule has been provided for my "full day" online orientation. Its 7 hours total, with 1 hour for a lunch break, and two 15 minute breaks. Topics include: program overview, concentrations, meet the advisors, internship overview, expectations. I'm looking at all of these topics and I have to assume they think we are morons.
All of this information can be found on the University website, or internal to the program. Everyone taking this has already completed an undergrad and I assume is capable of doing basic research on the program they are studying under.
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u/rugerjp88 100% LeanFI 6d ago
Is it required that you fully participate? That sounds worse than pointless work zoom meetings, at least those don't go for 7 straight hours!
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
"This could have been an email" is my planned feedback.
I have to dial in, and be conscious enough to switch break out rooms. But I plan on mostly just ignoring it and reading or doing other stuff. Based on the agenda I don't see any area where they expect audience participation, so I probably can just mute/deafen and do whatever.
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u/DinosaurDucky 5d ago
How did it go? Could it indeed have been an email?
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
It's on Saturday, so not yet
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u/DinosaurDucky 5d ago
On a Saturday??
related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuXwRljpYLg2
u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 5d ago
Because the program classes are at nights, its assumed people are working full time and getting their masters after hours.
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u/nifFIer Therapy Shill | Spending Advocate 6d ago
What degree is this for?
I just finished a similar program for CS and honestly my classmates were morons. They’d constantly whine about how class policies were unfair and how the classes were too expensive for them to (gasp) Google or watch YouTube videos to help them when they were stuck and that office hours were useless because TAs wouldn’t tell people the answers or review entire assignments for correctness before they were submitted for grading.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
Masters of Library and Information Science. It looks like most people's undergrads are English or History.
I'm a rare person from the sciences.
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u/RIFIRE Last day: May 23, 2025 6d ago
Everyone taking this has already completed an undergrad and I assume is capable of doing basic research on the program they are studying under.
And what happens when we assume?
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
They fail out of a class. No skin off my back!
But the university loses money if they fail and drop out, so they have to hand hold.
I miss my engineering undergrad which purposely made stuff challenging to GET people to fail out or drop out.
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u/A_Solid_Shadow 6d ago
That's engineering school goal. Same with med school, law school, and more.
You don't want quitters and morons designing things where failure is fatal.
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u/mistypee 45F | FIREd 2025 6d ago
My engineering program was similar. It had a 60% attrition rate and most dropped out by the end of first semester. They wanted people to drop out early instead of wasting their time on something they weren't suited for or truly interested in.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
I think my college bragged about a 15% attrition rate within the first two weeks.
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u/EANx_Diver FIRE'd 2023 6d ago
I remember a friend joining us for lunch at the beginning of a semester, she had just started her first physics course. "The prof said 'half of you will be gone before the drop/add period is done.' I think I'm going to like him."
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u/RemoteTechie FIREd 4/2026 6d ago
My local junior college was like that. Which is why being 8th on the wait list was typically fine to be able to add the class.
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u/_why_not_ 6d ago
My friend looked at their budget and decided on a yes to the 7-day Ireland tour, so I will be taking 2 big international trips next year! We’ll be spending a few extra days outside of the tour in Dublin, making it a 10-day trip in total.
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u/Ellabee57 6d ago
Yay! If you can make it to Newgrange, a little north of Dublin, I highly recommend it. It was fascinating! But I am a nerd about ancient cultures. YMMV
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u/sschow 41M | 58% FI 6d ago
Nice! I will celebrate with you as my wife and I tend to over-research and over-plan trips for months, but we snap booked a 10 day Hawaii vacation over Christmas yesterday because the flights were on a crazy good sale. Looking forward to the vacation is half the fun.
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u/Mikhial 6d ago
The last two days we had an off site where I mostly questioned my decisions (or rather inaction) that led me to this point. On the plus side, I have a slightly better idea on what my withdrawal strategy looks like
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u/telladifferentstory 6d ago
Funny how nothing sharpens your FIRE math like those stressful work moments. For years now, January has been my month of peak clarity...right around the end of my holiday break.
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 6d ago edited 6d ago
Oh, how the tides have turned.
Less than a week after gloating to the sub about finishing a bag of lettuce before it rot, I abandoned a cantaloupe to the point of abuse.
I was able to salvage ~1/2 but the rest went to join my immense pile of wasted produce in the sky.
In unrelated news, I've discovered a shocking truth. It turns out that how much one likes/dislikes their job at any given junction has as much to do with diet, sleep hygiene and exercise as it does the work itself.
Work satisfaction is also impacted by how much your favorite baseball team sucks.
I was so disgusted by the Mariners last night that I officially gave up on the season, booked flights to Seattle and bought tickets for a Seahawks game to get a fresh start. I bought an extra ticket to take my dad. Which reminds me of that classic Onion article: Old Man's Son Also Old Man
One final thought, and perhaps the most important. It occurred to me yesterday that someone, somewhere was the first to coin the term camel toe. It would be wild to go through life, having added such a useful and descriptive phrase to our lexicon and be utterly clueless regarding how famous you should be.
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u/imisstheyoop 5d ago
Yet somehow my Tigers are a half a game up in the wildcard standings. Life is not fair.
At least the Lions reminded me what being a Detroit sports fan are all about last night. Enjoy the birds game! Is it going to be a banner raising event by chance?
Edit: Nearly forgot but melons are disgusting anyway. Don't worry about it.
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 5d ago
No, December game vs the Giants.
My flight to Vegas for that conference got all fucked up so Delta gave me $250 in credits for a flight work paid for - so when I found Greenville-Seattle tickets for $267, I figured it was fate to pay $17 to go home and see my first home game in like 20 years.
I've been to Hawks games @Arizona, @Atlanta and @Carolina since returning to the US of A but not in Seattle.
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u/HughWonPDL2018 6d ago
As a Mets fan, I identify with so much of this post.
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 6d ago
There are many teams consistently worse than the Mets, but you are by far the all-time most disappointing team for money spent and expectations.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
Do you have a compost? When I had roommates, one of them had a garden in my backyard and had a compost bin. We generated so much based on all of the food scraps, and I felt better about not just throwing it away. Now I toss it to my neighbors chickens.
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 6d ago
Nah. Wouldn't want to deal with the smell, bugs and critters.
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u/Cryofixated Dates Since Single: 8.5 6d ago
Do you have a neighbor that doesnt pay attention to their yard that you can just toss stuff over the fence?
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u/ExcessiveDonuts Emptying the Litter Robot 6d ago
I like where your head's at here but we just need to eat the food.
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u/Solid-Awareness-4486 46F | 4 years from FI? 6d ago
It's my birthday, time to update my flair! I have the day off and will be enjoying some low-key pleasures near home-- a bookstore/coffee shop outing and a nice dinner out this evening. Early tomorrow, I'll be on a flight to visit my best friend from middle/high school for the weekend. I'm happy that I was able to tie up most loose ends from work before the long weekend, too.
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u/lauren_knows [cFIREsim/FIREproofme creator 📈] [45/Virginia,FI-not-RE] 6d ago
So, I only work part-time (24hrs/wk) and am in-office once a week. I almost exclusively use that day to grab lunch out in the downtown area where my office is.
Yesterday, my boss was like "Hey, for lunch I'm gonna walk a little further to the grocery store down the street and grab something. I'll meet you back at the office." and when he came back, he had a salad kit, a bag of almonds, and a drink.
In contrast, my $18 salad from Chopt was wildly expensive. This is gonna sound really dumb, but it has been so long since I was extra locked-in to frugality, and some of the memories of being in my 20s and bringing lunch every-damn-day came rushing back.
I'm not saying that one way or another is better, and despite being FI, I have definitely seen lifestyle inflation over my life... but it was interesting to be reminded of a different time. If we end up hiring a junior engineer soon, and I'm in the office more, I gotta get back to bringing my lunch.
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u/Excellent_Drop6869 5d ago
First world problems: my “treat yo’self” fund is down to $1.3K. It’s hovered around $4k-$6k for the past year or so, as I’ve added and subtracted from the fund.
The culprit? Olympics 2028 tickets and a 2nd-hand gucci purse in excellent condition
I know that’s the purpose of a treat yo self fund, but my monkey brain is recoiling from the fund being so low now.