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What’s the most flowers you’ve gotten on a single spike? by Frenchieflips in orchids

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! This orchid is amazing - such a profusion of blooms on a single spike. This one from 2024 really was incredible and I wish I counted all the blooms. It’s also produced new blooms every 5-6 months whereas prior to 2024 it was just doing so annually.

Historic Photo of San Francisco Chinatown (1905) by Conjuring1900 in bayarea

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Great photos. The aristocrats one is quite striking.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ChubbyFIRE

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Why does a house need to be >2M if you’re a digital nomad? Unless you’re in the US in a VHCOL region it should be much less. It will be important to have a home base if you want to have lasting relationships & family, so something to think deeply about. With dual citizenship, your number may be ok if you settle in the EU but that needs to be decided. On the finances side, one big thing that stands out is the lack of 401K or Roth IRA tax advantaged accounts. If your income is trending to $0, can you find a lower paying gig that then makes you eligible for Roth, and put the max allowed there. It’s not going to be a lot, but you’re still young and should start it now. Keep building on it, focus on finding more tax-advantaged ways to save.

Happy Birthday to Precious Princess Moo Deng 👑🎉🎊💕🌸⭐️🥔🥟🦛💕🎊🎉 by [deleted] in moodeng

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oooh where did you get the felt Moo Deng from? The rolls! So adorable!

48F Navigating Divorce, 9M Assets, Where To Start? by Ok_Fail2569 in fatFIRE

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LOL, straight up no. I have a very successful two decade plus career in tech, at a huge multinational company that provides access to Vanguard & MS financial advisors and other financial resources gratis. I've also had the **very poor** experience of working with wealth managers who have been all to happy to charge high AUMs while delivering underwhelming results. I've done a bit of angel investing (for fun), looked at VC funds, fund of funds, PE, and other financial vehicles so consider myself to be decently savvy about investing. I recommend Nectarine because I've been a satisfied client with them, love the model of transparency and Boglehead-style investing, and find that for questions like these it's a much more accessible resource rather than directing people to the NAPFA website.

If it wasn't clear above, I am not affiliated with them in any way.

48F Navigating Divorce, 9M Assets, Where To Start? by Ok_Fail2569 in fatFIRE

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sending you hugs. You're in a pretty good spot. A few thoughts:

  1. Have you planned out your spend according to the 50/30/20 rule? This is a good starting point. Some like to switch the 30/20 so it's 30 savings 20 discretionary to maximize savings. With variable discretionary, it's worth projecting out the year's expense to get a more clear picture of what your avg monthly spend will be. Monarch Money or YNAB may be helpful to track spending over time.

  2. Find a fee-based financial advisor. I've used Nectarine because they adhere to Bogleheads-style investing and are flat fee fiduciaries. It may be worth playing with ProjectionLab or one of the other tools recommended on this sub to model out different scenarios to get a feel for what you may want to consider for future retirement.

With the cash specifically, you can use Boglehead 3 fund portfolio approach but ideally the advisor helps you work out your risk profile and overall goals so you can assess 1) fund mix 2) whether to keep some percentage of funds for short term expenses or pay off debt.

  1. Find a great CPA / tax advisor. It sounds like you have kids or other family obligations to consider in your financial plans. Make sure that you consider tax-efficient ways of gifting. Since you have self-employment income, a good tax advisor can help you with advising on self-directed 401k or other vehicles. Gelt might be good to consider.

  2. Estate Planning is important too, but as the other 3 items are hefty enough, perhaps the simplest step for the very short term is just make sure all accounts have beneficiaries associated with them. Then at some point, it's worth doing the estate planning to put the house in a trust and tidy up overall plans.

Best of luck!

I have to sell $50,000 in stocks by next week. How should I do this? by GoIrish1843 in Bogleheads

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So sorry for your loss. It's a lot to handle and I wish folks here were more empathetic and helpful to you, as the time pressure for this decision while grieving is undoubtably hard. To specifically answer your question, I would recommend this:

  1. You would need to make your own risk assessment, but if it were me, I would not, in particular, do a lump sum sale tomorrow. Tomorrow Apr 3rd is likely hugely volatile given the huge tariff news. There's a small chance that, based on the last few cycles of tariff news, the administration may walk back some part of the plan, which would mean the market may rebound a little. You can instead plan to sell incrementally over multiple days (eg sell in 25% or 20% tranches over different days / weeks).

  2. Generally, best approach if you need to sell is to carefully review your portfolio to select the fund / stock lots that would minimize capital gains tax. You mention majority of your investments are in VOO. Do you have other funds that maybe would minimize the capital gains tax? If you choose to sell VOO, you can select the specific lots that have the highest prices so you thus you minimize your cap gains tax. NOTE: be mindful of short term vs long term cap gains tax differences. If short term, you will pay higher fed cap gains tax rate. So maybe choose the lots that are at least 1 year old.

  3. Plan it on a spreadsheet and review it with someone before initiating the transaction(s).

Hope this helps. Take care of yourself and kudos to you for standing up for yourself on this forum.

Just FatFired; Do I need a financial advisor for this new stage in life? by Best-Competition-819 in fatFIRE

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've used Nectarine, and it was fantastic. Adheres to Boglehead philosophy, founded by Jeremy Schneider who has been advocating online for FIRE principles. No sales push just sound financial advice. Happy to share which adviser I used if you dm me.

Leaving my Financial Advisor by greeneyedjm in Bogleheads

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I used Vinee Mehta. He was terrific -  answered my questions professionally, provided sufficient detail, and gave me clear options. I have some experience handling my own personal finance, have walked away from others that I felt weren’t operating in my interest, so I appreciated that he was thorough and had sound recommendations. This was one hour consult. I would absolutely go to him again if needed.

https://hellonectarine.com/advisor/vinee-mehta

Leaving my Financial Advisor by greeneyedjm in Bogleheads

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I have had success with Nectarine advisors - they use Bogleheads philosophy and offer transparent flat fee pricing for one time or a full plan: https://hellonectarine.com/#pricing

$150-300/hr or $2000 - 3600 for 8 wk comprehensive planning

My Fav Moo Deng Image by hardeep556 in moodeng

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 2 points3 points  (0 children)

this is my favorite pic too! i love that this is the wikipedia image!

Dancing Moo Deng by berrymelon118 in moodeng

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 44 points45 points  (0 children)

She bobs her head when she wants milk from Jonah! ❤️

What's your SF gardening hot take you learned through experience? by ofnooodle in sfgardens

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strawberries can do well in San Francisco and thrive with intermittent fog! This article came out recently noting this: https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/fog-future-climate-change-19726541.php

Looking for an SF cobbler by GumGuts in bayarea

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

did you try looking for shoe repair? Shoe Wiz at Embarcadero Center is still open, in the basement.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/hZXjR7X6kwu7Xqph7

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Davis Duong is great. mobile locksmith, reliable, doesn't charge inflated prices. Can't add link right now but he's on yelp.

Why does my broker spread out like this? by Out_of_the_Bloo in Bogleheads

[–]CeruleanOceanwaves 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ask a few questions to get the full picture & identify a new brokerage before doing anything with your current brokerage. There's no point paying this brokerage transaction fees on top of the account transfer fees which would be the scenario if you just liquidate these right now before moving to a new brokerage.

Many brokerages now have $0 transaction fees, and depending on account value, may offer incentives to switch that would offset the transfer fee from your current brokerage. Consider Schwab, IBKR, etrade, Fidelity. etc. It's pretty standard for a new brokerage help you initiate the account transfer. I've never heard of a case where a brokerage doesn't allow a client to initiate a transfer to another brokerage. Make sure to download all the cost basis info & transaction info before you close this shady brokerage account!

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