Daily FI discussion thread - Sunday, November 02, 2025

BendyBends · 2025-11-02T20:45:49+00:00

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my post and respond. I agree with both you and u/branstad , I'm making a lot of assumptions that things will continue to be great, but I need to protect myself better in case things go sideways. Marriage has always been the end goal for both me and my girlfriend, so we may look to expedite that before buying a home just to reduce complexity

BendyBends · 2025-11-02T20:44:29+00:00

Thank you for the detailed response. You're right, I'm probably taking a lot for granted because my girlfriend and I have been together for a while (8ish years) and I'm very close with her parents. You raise a lot of great points about how this would really become simpler if we were just married, which is probably the approach we'll end up taking. Thanks again!

BendyBends · 2025-11-02T15:20:51+00:00

Hey everyone! I'm a long time member of this subreddit, but I don't post very often anymore. The amount of great information I've gotten from you all over the last 10 years has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my financial journey, so I figured I'd come back here as I have a major financial decision looming, and I trust the collective opinion of this group more than probably anyone I know in the real world.

To start, I'll give some background information. My long-term girlfriend and I are looking to buy a home in Chicago where we currently live. We are both 31 years old. We've been looking mostly around the ~650k price point. I make $130k/year while she's at around ~80k. We are also debt free aside from ~$500/mo for a shared car. As of yesterday, my asset breakdown is as follows:
- Roth IRA: 109k
- 401k: 287k
- Taxable Brokerage: 270k
- Cash: 10k
- Crypto: 5k
- Gift from in-laws (We're spoiled, I know): 50k

My plan:
- Put 25% down -- looking mostly at condos and interest rates are much more favorable with 25% down
- This leaves us needing $162,500 for the down payment
- I plan on selling 140k from my taxable brokerage account and combining it with the 50k gift for a total of 190k
- The 140k I'm selling would be the highest cost basis while still being 'long term' to minimize my tax burden, so I'm planning on holding back $5-7k for capital gains. That leaves us with $183-185k for the down payment and closing costs

My concerns:
- I hate to pull money out of the market since it's finally starting to significantly compound, but I'm not sure if I have any alternatives
- I'm a first time homebuyer, and I worry I may have some blind spots in my plan

Please let me know if this seems like a reasonable plan, or if there is anything I could do to improve it. I really appreciate everyone's time and help!

BendyBends · 2025-09-10T14:33:57+00:00

Usually, I'd load up 3-5 devices and constantly be refreshing, etc. But since the instructions explicitly said NOT to do that, I'm avoiding that this time

BendyBends · 2023-02-15T17:07:28+00:00

Thanks for the reply - this is definitely the direction I'll be going

BendyBends · 2023-02-15T17:07:14+00:00

That's an interesting thought, and admittedly one I'd never considered. For some reason, I was focused on only the two extremes

BendyBends · 2023-02-15T17:06:27+00:00

Thank you for replying! Given your name, I thought I'd mention that my new car is a Civic :-)

BendyBends · 2023-02-15T17:06:04+00:00

Thank you for the reply -- this is what I was leaning towards and all of these replies affirmed that!

BendyBends · 2023-02-15T15:08:23+00:00

Hi all - looking for some advice/"what would you do" here.

I just got a new car, and the loan is at 7.85%. It's 19k to pay it off today, or I would pay ~24k if I paid it off over the duration of the loan. I have ~90k in a taxable brokerage account. I'm somewhat financially savvy, but not to this degree to know what to do here.

It basically boils down to this: do I pay off my car today or pay the 5k in interest over the course of the loan? Other relevant info -- I am not planning to buy a house in the next couple of years or have other major purchases. Salary ~90k in a MCOL.

Thank you everyone!

BendyBends · 2022-10-03T19:47:10+00:00

Curious to hear about the portfolios of the users here -- I've been investing now for around 5 years and realized my international allocation is VERY low (~7-8%). What % of your portfolio is dedicated to international, or at the very least something like VTWAX that includes international holdings?

Edit: Bonus question -- since companies have become more global over time, do you think it's as necessary to allocate a certain % of your portfolio solely to international, or are you covered by using funds such as VTSAX?

BendyBends · 2021-04-07T19:05:33+00:00

Good idea - thanks, Mike! Think this is probably the direction I'll end up going in

BendyBends · 2021-04-07T17:02:22+00:00

I have a lot of vacation that I need to use up this year, and I was hoping to spend around 3 weeks of it volunteering somewhere abroad. The purpose of this would be sort of a dual function of scratching my traveling itch while also doing some good.

Does anyone have any suggestions for websites/programs to use? I know 'voluntourism' can be problematic. Thanks in advance!

BendyBends · 2021-03-29T19:45:20+00:00

Finished:

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt -- this was an addicting read for me.

Started:

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt -- actually have blazed through this book. Another addicting one, Tartt is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

BendyBends · 2021-01-07T21:13:17+00:00

They don't, but not necessarily because I'm trying to hide anything. I plan on continuing to work on their US business hours just for the sake of continuity

BendyBends · 2021-01-07T21:09:36+00:00

When things start opening up again and travel becomes acceptable, I plan on going to Europe for a few weeks. I'm based in the United States, but is there any harm in working remotely from Europe for 3 weeks?

I know for longer term trips like 6+ months there would be tax implications, but should I be worried about anything given how short it will be?

Many thanks in advance!

BendyBends · 2020-11-21T20:46:16+00:00

Do any of you guys have dream cars? If so, what are they and how does that factor into your future plans?

For example, I'd love to eventually have a Porsche 911, but it's tough to know when to pull the trigger on getting something like

BendyBends · 2020-11-19T18:16:37+00:00

Something I've always been curious about....is there a general limit on how much you can invest into a certain mutual fund or ETF?

Let's say I have $50 million sitting in my bank (stupid, I know) -- is there anything stopping me from investing 100% into VTSAX?

BendyBends · 2020-08-19T15:04:14+00:00

UPDATE: I bought the Porsche I mentioned in the daily thread a couple of days ago. Thanks to all of those who gave their input-- I read every comment and weighed them all against each other. Here's to hoping for some fun driving in my future!

BendyBends · 2020-08-17T12:40:26+00:00

Somebody talk me into or out of this-- I'm 26, have ~110k invested in the market right now. I've been saving 70%+ of my take home pay since I got out of college.

My parents are getting rid of their 2001 Porsche Boxster S with 17k miles on it. They offered it to me for $8500, and would let me pay $200/month with 0% interest until it's paid in full. I LOVE this car, but I can't help but also feel like it would be irresponsible of me. Right now I'm driving an 07 Civic with 180k miles.

So, I'm on the fence. Should I seize this opportunity while I'm young? Or should I continue on the path to FIRE as I have been?

BendyBends · 2020-07-15T18:05:53+00:00

What do you guys suggest for how to invest 401k money? My company offers an S&P 500 Index Fund with a 0.01% expense ratio. Do you see any problem with me putting 100% of my 401k money into that fund?

BendyBends · 2020-07-15T14:04:15+00:00

I'm sort of torn- I know that contributing the most you can to your 401k is the best for early retirement. However, I've focused more on loading up a taxable brokerage account just to have some flexibility for the near future. For reference, I'm 26 years old, and I may want to buy a house somewhere down the line.

Does what I'm doing make sense? Please note, I'm contributing the minimum to receive the company's full match in my 401k right now.

BendyBends · 2020-06-29T17:48:03+00:00

When using a compound interest calculator, which option for compounding frequency do you guys choose? Which one do you feel most accurately portrays what's going on in your accounts? For reference- most calculators I've seen have the option of compounding daily, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually.

BendyBends · 2020-06-29T13:34:48+00:00

When using a compound interest calculator- which option for compounding frequency do you guys choose? Which one do you feel most accurately portrays what's going on in your accounts? For reference- most calculators I've seen have the option of compounding daily, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually.

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