Search found 435 matches

by word
Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:14 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question about MacOS security and package manager
Replies: 8
Views: 900

Re: Question about MacOS security and package manager

MacOS has a number of security features, determining which are relevant requires understanding what you’re to do. To highlight a few: - app downloaded from the internet will require privilege elevation to install/first run. You will be prompted by the OS at the time you run them. This is similar to Windows UAC. - applications installed from the App Store have extremely limited access and are very safe. They have a higher standard of security: they cannot access your hard drive without explicit permissions along with a number of other limitations - command line applications will require sudo for anything that messes with system internal and this is linked to your local account you set up - certain settings will require privilege elevation, y...
by word
Sat Feb 04, 2023 7:08 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do Airports Count
Replies: 58
Views: 3360

Re: Do Airports Count

As others have noted, your list, your rules.

Do us, our rules are: have a meal, have a sleep, take a walk

If we haven’t met those, then we haven’t met the requirements. Even this is squishy, we once slept in an in-airport hotel in Turkey. We also ate there and did a fair bit of walking in the terminal. I wouldn’t tend to count it because we didn’t really get to walk outside.
by word
Sat Dec 31, 2022 9:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

2022 Year End Update

We should hit that in about 4 years without any kind of serious market correction during that time. 8-) 2022 was a year of staying the course. We still added about 95k to savings and debt pay down. We started paying down the mortgage more aggressively to get a head start before early retirement. The kiddo is finally out of daycare. Unfortunately, I believe expenses were still up in 2022, it isn't by a huge amount, so hard to know for sure without final tax numbers. Started using an expense tracker in November that should give some insight into where our $$ is going. Current Assets: 1.44M (-200k YoY) Contributions in 2021: Tax Deferred (IRA/401k, etc): 53k (maxed 401k, backdoor roth) Taxable: ~37k 529: 2.4k Debt Payoff: 2k (started paying e...
by word
Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:09 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: hire car with driver in foreign country? Hungary, Slovakia
Replies: 14
Views: 1520

Re: hire car with driver in foreign country? Hungary, Slovakia

Have you tried just booking online?

I have rented cars in Argentina, Ecuador, and Uganda all online.

The only time I had an issues was Uganda where it took them hours to get me a car (we just went to get some food).

I would recommend an international drivers license a which you can get at AAA, though I only ever needed it in Argentina. The other countries were fine with my US license.

If you’re concerned about driving age, the online company we’ll likely indicate the rules.
by word
Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:59 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Excessive Financial Reserves
Replies: 14
Views: 2275

Re: Excessive Financial Reserves

Do you have large projects in the coming years that the HOA may be planning for?
by word
Mon Aug 22, 2022 8:59 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Antartica cruise
Replies: 18
Views: 3009

Re: Antartica cruise

We backpacked through South America in 2012 and did an Antartica cruise to Falklands, South Georgia, and Antartica. If you're up for traveling north, Torres del Paine (you can rent and drive through if you're not up for hiking) and El Chaltén are amazing. El Calafate is cool as well and well known for the glacier Perito Moreno, however, you'll be seeing A LOT of ice on your cruise, so maybe less important. We found Ushuaia to be sort of meh, but as other posters here say, there is some nice hiking in the area and there are some easy or moderate hikes depending on what you all are up for. Regarding clothing, we found the provided coat (we went with Quark and they 'gave' us coats) and layers to be sufficient for our torso. We rented pants in ...
by word
Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:49 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Google login: force 2FA every time
Replies: 20
Views: 2659

Re: Google login: force 2FA every time

My gripe is that whenever I log in, there is a box automatically checked indicating I want my device remembered. Unfortunately, you are in the vast minority of users in what you're looking for here. I think it is somewhat plausible that they add a setting to work the way you're asking, as other have indicated they may have already implemented it for some special cases. In general, if someone steals your PC I would recommend that you de-authorize 2FA tokens. The reason they don't account for this in their 2FA configuration is because it is very uncommon as a compromise vector. Regarding the cookies, I obviously can't speak for every online service in the world. Google however, does use a cookie to store this setting. Additionally, they prov...
by word
Fri Aug 19, 2022 1:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: MacOS Monterey (12.5.1): Incompatibility with Excel
Replies: 15
Views: 2014

Re: MacOS Monterey (12.5.1): Incompatibility with Excel

You can see how Google sheets will handle your spreadsheets right now without upgrading. Just try to open them with sheets and take a look around.

My personal experience is that it is likely to break some formatting and such, but in general formulas translate over reasonably well.

I would certainly encourage you to upgrade, you will notice a number of visual and system changes, but the big deal here is the security updates.

I checked on Monterey and you can download the new version of excel from the App Store with In-App purchase of a personal license for $69.99, so worst-case you have to buy this because your Excel 2014 stops working. The new version of Excel should open your existing sheets without issue.
by word
Fri Aug 19, 2022 1:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Google login: force 2FA every time
Replies: 20
Views: 2659

Re: Google login: force 2FA every time

I would imagine if you accessed it via an incognito/private browsing session that it wouldn’t remember your device. This assumes you close the session after logging out.
by word
Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

2021 was a good year for us, made a number of changes based on this post. Market returns were... outstanding. Expenses were up in 2021 due to the purchase of a slightly larger home that better accommodates WFH and the size of our family. Hoping to stabilize/reduce expenses a bit in 2022 Current Assets: 1.63M Contributions in 2021: Tax Deferred (IRA/401k, etc): 39k (maxed 401k) Taxable: ~40k 529: 2.4k Income: Hers: 1341k His: 180k Before tax savings rate: 25.3% After tax saving rate: TBD post-taxes Debt: 370k mortgage, new house in 2021 with a bit most space Continue to live in a HCOL city. Actions we took in 2021: - Updated estimated retirement expense to 100k/year. This should mean we need 2.8M to retire with 3.5% SWR. We should hit that i...
by word
Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Share your net worth progression
Replies: 4288
Views: 1082072

Re: Share your net worth progression

This is just investment balances, not net worth.

2016 32 530k HHI: $255,853
2017 33 628k HHI: $234,410
2018 34 673k HHI: $272,933
2019 35 940k HHI: $297,082
2020 36 1.22M HHI: $305,640
2021 37 1.64M HHI: $322,375

Professions: Tech / Pharmacy

Some lifestyle inflation in 2021 with a slightly larger home. The portfolio is outpacing our needs and we have a 4y/o meaning we'll be working for a while to come. Hoping in the next 2-3 years that we can move to part time or something like that while shifting some of our savings to paying off our mortgage so that we can look to retire at some point.
by word
Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:08 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: $2.5M networth under 40 now what?
Replies: 163
Views: 26280

Re: $2.5M networth under 40 now what?

Bb073084 wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 6:58 pm I like that idea of funneling extra after tax savings into the mortgage or 529. Conceptually cannot quite get comfortable paying off mortgage in one shot but putting an extra $1-2k a month will reduce it significantly.
I’ve been thinking about this more - you just have a ton of expenses ahead of you with the kids. You’ve sort of made your bed on that point.

You might consider dialing back your hours. If you can move to 4 days/week each then you’re still making more than enough to continue saving, just at a slower rate.

If you get to something like 4M you’re probably set regardless unless you want to pay for 100% of college.
by word
Wed Dec 29, 2021 6:42 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: $2.5M networth under 40 now what?
Replies: 163
Views: 26280

Re: $2.5M networth under 40 now what?

We make 300k/year and have 1.6M at 36/37. I find myself similarly unmotivated at this point and I’m yearning to decrease our hours. I’d say your savings are pretty good, maybe lacking earlier in life (?), but you’re in a very good spot given the windfall and current expenses. I think you should make sure you’re controlling expenses where you can (aka not daycare). Are you planning to do public school? Buying reasonable cars? Honestly, it reads to me like you’ve done an OK job here and most of your spend is from kids. If you’re thinking you want to move away from work: I think you should transition to eliminating debt and making sure you have money saved for kids’ school. This is going to be what we do as a final step before retiring. These ...
by word
Sun Aug 29, 2021 7:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Can I retire now and coast into my final number?
Replies: 37
Views: 7779

Re: Can I retire now and coast into my final number?

I think you’re in a pretty reasonable place. A couple things I’d say: - I would sort out my house first. I wouldn’t really want to be figuring out the living situation past-retirement. This is a pretty conservative take, but it is just what I will want to do. - You need to be mentally prepared that your projected growth might actually happen to be DOWN years. You’ve got optimistic growth in your head here, how would you feel about a 40% drop in your portfolio in January of 2023? I think you can weather that storm with this portfolio, but you need to keep that in mind. - I think you’re in a fine position. As a married couple we’re likely to dial back work responsibilities and start moving towards retirement at about 2.5M and retired complete...
by word
Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:21 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Slim/minimalist wallet suggestion
Replies: 139
Views: 18115

Re: Slim/minimalist wallet suggestion

I have been using a women’s hair tie for about 8 years now. I have a daughter which means fun colors!

I carry a credit card, debit card, state id, health insurance card, and transit pass.

Edit: I suppose there isn’t really a gender for hair ties. Not having hair, I think of it as women’s.
by word
Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:14 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Possibly having to live with a parent: Financial, career, etc considerations?
Replies: 28
Views: 3446

Re: Possibly having to live with a parent: Financial, career, etc considerations?

It sort of feels like there is a disconnect on work for you and your wife. I’m not here to analyze your relationship or anything like that, but I think you should try to get on the same page regarding next steps for yourselves in isolation. Does she want to continue working? Do you want to dial it back? There isn’t any reason you can’t retire at 40, but maybe you want to work 3-5 more years to build up some contingency $$$? Those have no bearing on the parent question. I would recommend not retiring in the Bay Area just for COL issues which you know well. That said, you have her family to consider. I think if you can get on the page there, you can then later on this additional detail much more easily. I think buying something with extra spa...
by word
Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:14 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to fix labor shortage at work?
Replies: 29
Views: 2487

Re: How to fix labor shortage at work?

My wife works at a hospital, she recently left a different hospital, I’ll outline why she left: - Management did not treat employees like humans. No regular schedules, mediocre pay, terrible pay for “entry level” roles. - Poor pay means those entry level employees left and 12-18 months. Now your CONSTANTLY hiring, training, etc. - Not being transparent about business plans. In one case they announced they’d be selling off a part of the hospital function to Walgreens. It took over two years and they ended up having to staff the area with temps. Why? Who wants to work at the department that’s going to go away? - terrible PTO policy, culture that encouraged people to come into work sick rather than “let the team down” Your CEO asking those tha...
by word
Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:11 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What all do you track on your spreadsheet?
Replies: 118
Views: 17206

Re: What all do you track on your spreadsheet?

I track two core data sets and bunch of stuff that derives from that data. Core data: Savings Contributions - By month, for the various accounts (7-8 different accounts) we have. Current Account Balances - Updated twice yearly with the actual balances from the accounts above. Annual compensation and taxes paid - This is used to derive savings rate. With these pieces of data I have the following data points displayed in a dashboard: Assets values - taxable and retirement totals Annual Savings - YTD for this year as well as total and matched YTD for previous years (so I can see how current year compares apples to apples) Retirement Viability - Calculated for ages 39, 45, 50. Shows projected portfolio balance at time of retirement and value of...
by word
Sun Jul 25, 2021 12:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Need travel help
Replies: 51
Views: 5775

Re: Need travel help

If you're looking for something adventurous you could try https://www.gadventures.com/. I haven't used them, but have bumped into groups they run in some very far flung places. Some people I trust have recommended them.

I've used their itineraries on the site as a starting point to plan my own trips in the past as well.

Edit: You could also ask something specific here and folks will probably chime in with recommendations. "We want to go on a safari..." or "We'd like a hiking vacation option..." or "Does anyone know anything about traveling to Ecuador" would net you some helpful advice I think.
by word
Sat Jul 24, 2021 10:48 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What is the average savings rates for bogleheads?
Replies: 343
Views: 41331

Re: What is the average savings rates for bogleheads?

Sharing again because I found myself thinking more about my first reply. I don’t think you should be comparing your savings rate with those making vastly more than yourself or those with different life situations. It would be very hard to save 30%+ if you’ve got a family and make 50k per year.

So in the interest of providing some extra context:

Gross: 35%
Net: 46%

Household income: ~300k
1 child, 24k/year for daycare (HCOL obv)
by word
Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:03 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: [Getting a promotion, how do I negotiate a raise?]
Replies: 107
Views: 10504

Re: [Getting a promotion, how do I negotiate a raise?]

I think a lot of the back and forth in this discussion can be simultaneously true at different companies, even inside the same company. Certain managers are going to be annoyed and hold it against you for a long time, I would argue that this is absurd, but it IS a reality. At the same time, many managers will be in a place where they listen openly and would like to do something for you, but can't due to budgets etc. In general, it will fall to you to determine which type of manager you have. In general, I'd advise asking. If you have a manager where it becomes apparent that they're very negative after you've made that ask, you want to get out of that position anyway. If you have the more open/flexible manager, you might get more money. Your...
by word
Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:10 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should you tip when picking up takeout food?
Replies: 290
Views: 50570

Re: Should you tip when picking up takeout food?

Yes, 20%. We make good money, it is appropriate to share the good fortune with those that make my neighborhood and city what it is. I wish the system were different, it is not.
by word
Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:41 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fun: long trips and/or round the world travel
Replies: 26
Views: 4035

Re: Fun: long trips and/or round the world travel

My wife and I quit our jobs and sold our house in 2012 at the age of 27 to travel for a year or two. We did intend to go RTW, but mostly that was just to see the most places possible, not for achieving anything in particular. Itinerary: Columbia Ecuador Peru Bolivia Chile Argentina Antartica/Falklands/South Georgia Italy France UK Turkey We ended up traveling for just under a year. We moved primarily overland via bus, with some trains in Europe. We traveled very minimally, staying in hostels and cheap AirBnbs. Nothing about this trip was business class. After this we returned to work, but had some major trips during that time: - 5 Weeks in Nepal and China to trek to Everest Base Camp - 3 Weeks in Uganda doing a road trip and seeing mountain...
by word
Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:44 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Can I retire today?
Replies: 98
Views: 17623

Re: Can I retire today?

My wife and I are both 36 and we have about 1.4M right now and are discussing how and when to start to move towards less work. Neither of us live to work, we make a good income, but really enjoy travel, etc. We WILL be dialing back our work responsibilities in the coming years (a whole recent discussion here ). All this is to say, not SO different a situation as you're in. Given that your timeline here is unknown, you want to be preparing for the surprises that will inevitably arise in the coming years. Some examples: significant changes to your health, healthcare costs, children, accidents, natural disasters, marital status, etc. It doesn't seem to me that 1M really leaves you in a place where you have much room for error in your planning....
by word
Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:32 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Advice on Buying Condo
Replies: 18
Views: 2158

Re: Advice on Buying Condo

West Looper in a timber/brick loft here that purchased a 3bdrm this month. We plan to live in it long term.

Agree with the previous poster, you'll want to understand the state of the building. Even newer stuff can be poorly built and thus need work that totals 100k+. In a historical building like you note... well when was the last time the roof was replaced? What about the HVAC (10k expense if just for your unit)?

Honestly, I wouldn't buy an investment property in Gold Coast, but that's just me. The property cost is going to be quite high for the return. When renting you're going to want to put 10% at least away for normal repairs, that alone is $450/month. Combined with potential vacant months will eat any potential profit.
by word
Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:55 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Should I quit/retire? Not a financial matter
Replies: 35
Views: 4216

Re: Should I quit/retire? Not a financial matter

I help run a small company, I'm not the CEO, but I have primary responsibility for our product and services. It had been an extremely hard few years getting to a stable point in the business, we've did multiple layoffs, but had finally started to see success in early 2019. Based on this success, we raised some capital to try to accelerate things (as you do) and built a much larger sales team, including a very expensive leader for that part of the organization. As you note, 2020 did not go as planned. We did have success with the new team, but not at the levels we were hoping. As I happens, our sales leader isn't going anywhere right now, but if he chose to do so, I wouldn't harbor even the slighest bit of frustration or resentment. I can al...
by word
Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Valuing web business for net worth purposes
Replies: 28
Views: 1793

Re: Valuing web business for net worth purposes

As others said, it very much depends on what you’re trying to do with this information.

In general, if you tried to sell me an affiliate website, I would consider 2-3x annual profit a reasonable starting point.

Affiliate sites are probably at the low end of the spectrum unless they have amazing brand recognition or spectacular positions on SEPs.

I would not annualize a single month’s profit, I’d take the trailing 6 or 12 months and do the math from that.
by word
Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to invest home downpayment money?
Replies: 17
Views: 2750

Re: Where to invest home downpayment money?

I don't want to make this thread about me, I was merely sharing my experience to help potentially frame it for OP. To respond to the questions/comments: Generating a tax bill from selling these stocks merely to create the convenience of a day or two or even up to a week of time between our purchase and our sale seems unnecessary and wasteful. We would take the proceeds from the sale and immediately reinvest in the same funds that the money was already in, EXCEPT that it would be less the taxes necessary to pay capital gains on the sales. You're not wrong that I'm ahead, it is precisely because I am ahead combined with an avenue to avoid tax loses that we chose not to sell the stock and re-buy a week later. If I had the money sitting in cash...
by word
Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:50 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Where to invest home downpayment money?
Replies: 17
Views: 2750

Re: Where to invest home downpayment money?

I'll just add that investing in something that generates a taxable event at sale is probably a bad idea. I'm supportive of the money market fund others have suggested. We have about 350k in a 'house fund' at Vanguard invested in VTSAX that we've been contributing to sort of mindlessly for years. We're under contract to buy a house and can't bring ourselves to liquidate 130k from the fund because of the tax implications. We don't need the cash to AFFORD the downpayment, that money will come from our current home, but we don't just have the 130k laying around so we have to close on our current home to get the cash before we can pay the down payment. In short, this is a cashflow problem. I'm somewhat frustrated at myself for putting this money...
by word
Wed Jan 13, 2021 6:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: 2FA while overseas (Google Voice doesn't support short-SMS codes?)
Replies: 22
Views: 4179

Re: 2FA while overseas (Google Voice doesn't support short-SMS codes?)

Using a password manager is now considered best practice. We use 1Password. While storing all of your passwords in one place can make you uneasy, you're able to protect your password manager account with a strong password and 2FA (including a hardware key like Yubikey). It also means you can have extremely secure, very random passwords for all of your other accounts making them less prone to issues. I would recommend moving any accounts you can to TOTP, SMS isn't considered secure anyway, though I think it is way better than nothing. I don't know about other password managers, but 1Password does allow your TOTP tokens to be stored there as well. For services that only support SMS for 2FA you might consider a proper VOIP number or jettisonin...
by word
Sat Jan 02, 2021 4:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best age for "bucket list" trips with kids
Replies: 40
Views: 3878

Re: Best age for "bucket list" trips with kids

The no timezone change in South America is amazing with kids. I really, really recommend renting a car. This means you can really travel at a pace that works for your family. Renting a car can also mean you get to more off-the-path places which can reduce cost and the car will certainly be cheaper than ANY package trip. You can choose shorter walks that you might not consider a 'real' hike to get them started. We took the little one on a 'hike' in Ecuador at age 2. We brought the little backpack thing to wear her and brought her down to a little river. This was about 30 minutes down. We were curious about the hike UP, but then she did 80% of it walking up a fairly steep, but well-maintained trail. We went slow of course, but she had a ball....
by word
Sat Jan 02, 2021 3:39 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Summer 2021 travel?
Replies: 81
Views: 6628

Re: Summer 2021 travel?

We're quite wary of any overseas travel plans in 2021 for this reason. It isn't yet clear when children will be eligible to be vaccinated, but current guidance is that BEST CASE would be summer. I think you should expect travel restrictions that are nearly impossible to anticipate through mid-2021 at the least. Countries are having to changes rules and guidance very, very rapidly. We plan to do some light travel inside the US with our little one in 2021. My wife has been vaccinated and with any luck I'll have the ability to be vaccinated in May/June. Our personal feelings on travel at this moment: - Currently, no travel, case loads are too high - Some localized (drive-able) travel likely fine in the next few months after immunity is in plac...
by word
Sat Jan 02, 2021 3:28 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best age for "bucket list" trips with kids
Replies: 40
Views: 3878

Re: Best age for "bucket list" trips with kids

My wife and I have travelled extensively in south America and a bit in to Europe, Africa, Nepal, China, and Antartica. We are non-conventional travelers, generally opting to self-serve as much as possible we find this really conduicive to travel with children. We did a large backpacking trip about 8 years ago now without kids. We took our 1 year old to the Netherlands and Brussels. We took our 2 year old to Ecuador on a road trip. Our 3 year old has not travelled this year for obvious reasons. If you're looking for easy trips I recommend western countries. Europe is nice, obviously there are many national parks in the United States that would be great fun for the kiddos at ages 3 & 7. I would also consider Japan or other 'modern' Asian ...
by word
Sat Jan 02, 2021 1:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Advice for In-Laws who received windfall
Replies: 34
Views: 3405

Re: Advice for In-Laws who received windfall

Agree that this seems more about your hesitation than theirs. Have you had experiences that make you hesitant?

I would have no issue advising my in-laws or parents if asked. We occasionally provide modest guidance on both sides of when asked. We never provide unsolicited advice.

In this case they’ve gone quite far to involve you, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask questions about their tolerance for risk and then advise a precise allocation for them. If the bank suggests anything at all, I would give them my opinion on that suggestion.

That said, if past experience (not the American habit of being sheepish on this topic) makes you hesitant, I would heed that intuition.
by word
Thu Dec 31, 2020 9:25 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Refinance Mega Thread
Replies: 12862
Views: 1277124

Re: Refinance Mega Thread

Well, for refi #2 in 2020 we just got an offer from LenderFi of:

2.125% for 15 years.
270k loan with 63% LTV in Illinois

We're currently paying 1,209/month + 500 additional on principal @ 3.25%
New payment would be 1,758.63, which is just a hair north of what we're already paying.

In January 2020 we were paying 1,542/month + 200 additional on principal at 4.25%

I can't believe these numbers. We'll be paying essentially the same amount as we were paying at the start of 2020 with 10 fewer years of payments. That's over 200k we'll be saving on the life of the loan. Absolutely unbelievable.
by word
Thu Dec 31, 2020 8:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How do you calculate savings rate and what is your annual goal?
Replies: 39
Views: 2796

Re: How do you calculate savings rate and what is your annual goal?

30.5% I added what you saved vs your income. I did not include the company match. I do it this way too because it is then easier to also do an apples to apples effective tax rate (tax paid/gross income). Other methods are possibly more correct but I find this one most useful as a guide. I do this as well and I'll add an additional reason: it isn't money I'm spending and cannot possibly spend, so including it my income is incorrect as well. It generally comes out in the wash if you include it in both the numerator and denominator, but I don't want it to inflate my savings rate either. This is money I have only nominal control over when it is contributed and so I ignore it. Important here: I track our INVESTMENTS separately and that DOES cap...
by word
Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:30 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: how to transition to part time?
Replies: 8
Views: 1131

Re: how to transition to part time?

Well, I'm the author of the thread you reference. I have not retired, but AM a COO at a small startup and have managed developers. So, I'll opine briefly on some routes that might be fruitful: I recommend thinking of you current role as a set of responsibilities. Some are closely tied together, others... less so. As a dev manager are you: Writing ANY code? Meeting with your team 1:1 and as a group? Helping with hiring? Participating in planning meetings with your team? Participating in planning meetings with higher ups? Broadly speaking, as a development team lead/manager I see your responsibilities primarily in three parts: human management (1:1s, hiring, etc), executing (sprint/release planning and care), and strategic (roadmap planning, ...
by word
Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How do you calculate savings rate and what is your annual goal?
Replies: 39
Views: 2796

Re: How do you calculate savings rate and what is your annual goal?

I calculate three separate rates in a spreadsheet we maintain: Gross Savings % = (All Savings + Debt Payoff) / Combined Income = 37.4% in 2019 Net Savings % = (All Savings + Debt Payoff) / (Combined Income - Federal Tax Witholdings - State Taxes) = 50% in 2019 Retirement Savings % = (Savings to IRA/401k/and taxable accounts I specify as 'retirement') / Combined Income = 18.2% in 2019 I'll note that the numbers I provided above are from 2019. I DO NOT track this mid-year. It would be a fair amount of ongoing data entry from every check, I just don't fee that is worth the effort. Today is the 31st and I won't have these percentages until we receive our final paystubs from 2020. Net Savings won't be possible to calculate until we finish our ta...
by word
Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

Living on less that 28% of income seems unusual to me. We work to avoid 'lifestyle inflation'. As your income increases, for frugal folks, it is perfectly normal and easy to drive this number down. We live in the same house and drive the same $13,000 used car at 300k as we had at 200k. We still buy our groceries for the week on Sundays and treat ourselves to takeout (thanks 2020) on the weekends. Where doesn't that extra 100k go? Savings. After we stop paying for daycare we'll be at 40% gross savings, maybe higher because we refinanced in 2020. One way to get to 30-35x target for retirement savings is to just... need less in retirement. Just one point I'd like to make, I think it would be very challenging for a family of 4 making 80k/year ...
by word
Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:54 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

anna.day wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:14 pm I would start thinking hard about whether you're going to end up with too MUCH money
That is really what's driving this discussion around part time. The reality of our situation and what we want for our child is that we're going to likely be staying put for the next 15 years. Fifteen years ago I was in college with lots of school debt and no actual money to my name. If we continue to save at this rate for another 15 years... we'll just have... too much. We're similarly aligned, I don't need to leave behind a massive estate.

In my view, anything beyond $3M is going to be too much, we'll be able to live on that for the rest of our lives comfortably. Ideally, I'd like to stop our savings around $2.25M.
by word
Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

Nothing happens to your earnings - they move right over to your 401K. That's why this should be such a no brainer. A 401K and Traditional IRA receive the same tax treatment. In both cases, the money comes out and is taxed in retirement. The 401K actually lets you start drawing at 55 if you're still at that employer when you leave, but that's not relevant in your case Thanks, I understand. One of them is intermingled with non-deductible tIRA contributions and I'm not sure how to handle that. This is certainly overcome-able, but has deterred me. My old thinking was that we needed to focus on taxable anyway, so I didn't see this as a priority. I've also been audited twice (both decided in our favor) for similar kinds of things, so I'm a bit w...
by word
Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:11 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Expected real rate of return
Replies: 134
Views: 9098

Re: Expected real rate of return

I find it useful to understand if my current savings can be expected to cover my future needs and thus do use a range of returns in my planning. I relied on these numbers from vanguard: https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/how-to-invest/model-portfolio-allocation To model this, I always subtract inflation to understand my real returns. I model inflation at 3.1%, this has been high for a decade now, but you can feel free to change it if you'd like. Thus in my spreadsheet it looks like this: =(StockRate*StockPercentage+BondRate*BondPercentage)-InflationRate Using the Vanguard numbers and a 60/40 portfolio that is: =(10.1%*60%+5.3%*40%)-3.1% = 5.08% In my models I look at both pre-retirement and post-retirement rates. I generally assume the...
by word
Tue Dec 29, 2020 6:31 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Portfolio Review and Advice Request
Replies: 22
Views: 1702

Re: Portfolio Review and Advice Request

So every non-retirement mutual fund I'm holding I'm going to get hit with heavy taxes when I decide to sell? In short, yes. Investments outside of your IRA/401k are in 'taxable' accounts. When you sell from these holdings you're taxed in one of two ways: long term or short term capital gains taxes. If you've held the asset for >12 months, you're taxed at long term rates which for you is likely 15% but ultimately depends on your income. Generally, the conventional wisdom is that you want to hold bonds in your tax sheltered (401k/IRA) accounts vs taxable. The reason for this is that they generate a lot of returns that you realize immediately in the form of interest and those are taxed at your full tax rate. This isn't the end of the world, b...
by word
Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

JoeRetire wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 6:53 pm If you are currently earning $300k and $220k of that is being consumed in a way that it won't when you retire, and you want that to be your lifestyle for the rest of your life, then you are indeed correct to target $80k.

So the $80k in retirement is after taxes (as you are saying it is now)?
You seem quite skeptical about our cost of living. I feel like most folks on this board a quite frugal, does this seem so strange a number? We also have a third human in the house right now included in that number and won't be here in retirement God willing.

The number in my post was 85k and is probably more like 80k post-taxes (married, joint).
by word
Mon Dec 28, 2020 6:48 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

JoeRetire wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:28 pm It's strange in the difference between what you are living on now and what you intend to live on for the rest of your life, that's all. I don't know if you missed that or not.
This is how much we’re spending today. 300k less taxes less savings less a couple significant expenses that won’t exist in retirement (daycare, mortgage). Is that not how I should calculate that number?
by word
Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

JoeRetire wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:07 pm You are 35 now, make $300k and expect to live on $85k/year for 40 to 50 years of retirement?
Yes. Is this strange in some way that I'm missing?
JoeRetire wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:07 pm It might make a good experiment to see if it would work out. Is 32 hours really that different/important for you?
I mean, it is a 20% reduction in time worked. Everyone weekend being a 3 day weekend seems like a nice perk?
by word
Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

As a data point my wife(40) and I(45)went p/t in June 2020. We've been averaging 17-24hrs/week. Rightly or wrongly we have 2 pots of money- Taxble which we'll spend from til SS and IRA/Roth which will sit for 20yrs growing hopefully. We'll pull about 3% +p/t income. I'd rather work p/t for 10-12 more years, than full time for 7 more yrs. It's a big quality of life difference Now. No guarantees. Thanks. This is our thinking as well. We’re going to be working for 15 more years regardless because we have a 3 year old and anticipating the eventualities over the next 15 years will be... challenging? Impossible? How much did you have combined taxable/sheltered when you went p/t? Are you still accumulating $$ during this period (how much)? Did yo...
by word
Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

Other things that will be coming. Do you own a house. I had my roof redone last year. $15k. Will you buy replacement cars? Will your kid go to college? My older one is done and out and working. My checks to the college totaled $300k. We should have about 100k saved for the kids’ college. I do have uncertainty about this. Otherwise, we live in a condo and the 85k/year expenses in retirement include this. Will your part time job come with health insurance and other benefits? Companies often have hours cut offs for those who get them or don't. Companies often change these policies because they decide they need to save money. So be ready for your company to go from benefits at 32 hours to benefits at only 40 hours full time. You're very young ...
by word
Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:54 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (37 y/o, 2022 update)
Replies: 44
Views: 5279

Re: Transitioning to Part Time and General Update (35 y/o)

Are you not able to roll your tIRA money into your 401K at work? Cleanest way to get access to the backdoor Roth. We also plan on retiring early, and currently have a lot less than you in taxable - we each have mega backdoor Roth access and have been maxing that out, leaving less for taxable. Given the link Klangfool provided and the accessibility of our backdoor and mega backdoor roth contributions, we aren't as worried about bridging to 59.5. I'm obviously biased to my own plam, but I think you're focusing too much on that part of your plan. I would take the steps to make sure you get all of your tax advantaged space filled - you have to care for post 59.5 retirement too! I think your right. Honestly, I’ve been a bit lazy on this front. ...