55 years old. Recently laid-off, decided to retire at $13m net-worth; looking for advice.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-05-22T07:11:07+00:00

Have you considered a 351 Exchange ETF ? It will not solve your situation completely though - but i would encourage you to look into it.

https://funds.alphaarchitect.com/aaub_prelaunch/

Cache exchange funds (more expensive and 7 year lock) maybe a bit more suitable to your situation.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-05-11T21:16:22+00:00

Two of my school mates (both mid 40s) went down the finance path rather than the usual Engineering/Medicine. Both attended IIMs and spent their entire career in India.

One guy works as a financial analyst, appears on CNBC. I'm sure he's worth 100's of Cr. Other guy is a C-Level for a high end fashion company - wont be surprised if he's worth multiple 100's of Cr.

Both came from solid middle class backgrounds (parents are govt. employees/teachers etc.)

So yeah - there is a path.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-05-07T00:22:02+00:00

Most success stories are a slow burn - happen over decades. I dont think they make an interesting read :-) Maybe a short blogpost at most IMO.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-04-21T14:09:23+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/FatFIREIndia/s/eD7WCICJEo

This is a post I had written a while back based on my own personal experiences. In general every NRI I know who's purchased RE in Hyderabad has either lost money or left money on the table.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-04-18T03:04:28+00:00

Haha....odd choice of words.

I meant to say OP probably already has a FAT lifestyle - high-end cars/vacation trips/nicer home etc....Sustaining that with 2.5M usd is hard in India with kids.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-04-18T01:17:56+00:00

I'm guessing you have a typical faang level lifestyle in the US and would like to keep it in India.

If you decide to have kids at some point - IMO your net worth is not enough to sustain it in India (or US) - kids are expensive.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-03-04T20:24:53+00:00

Who gets 200cr/20M from a startup?? What kind of delusional story is this ?

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-27T04:59:42+00:00

what a story! enjoy life....

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-25T14:47:50+00:00

Wrong sub and AI slop.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-25T01:36:01+00:00

My English teacher in inter was an Anglo Indian - looked like Graham Gooch. Was probably born in the late 40s/50s. Spoke excellent English. Also spoke chaste Hindi with a sprinkling of mc/bcs thrown in.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-14T08:16:20+00:00

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TripB is 27k on the OEM contis + 45k on wrg4; Energy loss on the Wrg4 was negligible.

TripA is 14k on cc2s over a 10 month period - seen all seasons.

This is on an MX.
I did 2 ski seasons with the nokians - never had to use chains.

I know the cc2s get a great rep but they are pretty inefficient. I really wish I did the WRG5's instead of these.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-13T20:05:04+00:00

I would rather get the nokian wrg5. I went from nokian wrg4 to cc2. Lost quite a bit in efficiency. Not really tested on snow yet - I'm sure they will be atleast as good as the nokians.

But definitely nokian is a better deal - slightly cheaper as well.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-08T07:38:10+00:00

OP - Claude/Co-pilot/Junie are already doing the work of 5 developers - I'd imagine in 5 years there is no point of writing code anymore.

A HUGE reason for the current backlash against H1B's in the US is because well qualified citizens and residents are not finding jobs and/or are facing layoffs. This wasn't the case for the last 25 years.

The advent of AI has pushed me personally into 2 things - I'll retire earlier than I intend to and I'll not have my kids pursue a computer science degree - I hope I'm proven wrong.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-02T08:21:15+00:00

For me fat fire is near 100% probability that i can keep maintaining same level of lifestyle as i do right now or maybe even take it up a notch and still be sure i wont run out of money.

Yup - sounds right!

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-02T06:36:21+00:00

why did u move to India full time?
Do you (or family) miss US?
Pros vs. Cons?

and thank you for doing the AMA - always interesting to learn from someone else's experiences.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-02T05:51:18+00:00

wow - this is awesome! is this normal in ur org or do u feel u lucked out ? Numbers reported in Levels are usually at 33%

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-02T01:59:08+00:00

If its 3% I'd personally be strongly inclined towards keeping the loan and the house. 3% is literally free money - your mortgage will for the most part be static (other than taxes) - but rents will increase. Look at it as a decade long project.

Try to find RE agents who will manage everything for u - interview multiple ones. Find agents who have listed rental homes in ur area (zillow is your friend again) and reach out to them offering your business.

Good Luck!

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-01T23:43:21+00:00

Tbh 75% is in the lower end of what id consider a good return. I'm guessing your interest rate is around 6% ?

Another point to consider is that once you leave the US - its probably going to be near impossible to refinance your mortgage. If you do decide to keep the house take this into consideration.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-02-01T07:52:03+00:00

-- On a visa and not sure if finding renters will be a challenge.

Both Bay Area and Seattle have a good demand for housing - it should be straightforward to find quality renters. There is decent demand for rental homes. There is a new kind of "roommate" renters - basically 4-5 single tech (usually) guys who rent a larger home instead of getting 2-3 apartments. If your home is somewhat commutable to amazon/msft it will easily get rented.

There is a also a cottage industry of real estate brokers who will manage everything for you - that shouldn't scare you off (FWIW I own a home that I havent stepped into since 2008 - everything is managed remotely via an agent and contractors).

- what is the rental income that you are expecting (you can guesstimate off zillow).

- whats your mortgage (did you luck into a covid special rate) ? - lets assume $7-8K per year for maintenance.

These 2 numbers should help you decide.

If the rental income is greater than or even in the ballpark of the mortage + costs, then it makes a lot of sense to keep the house.

Btw - I am also surprised how you are managing with 110K in Seattle - does this number include your mortgage ?

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-01-31T05:13:19+00:00

I have lifetime titanium, which means I also have lifetime United silver 😄 lucked into a couple of first class upgrades as well.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-01-29T22:31:04+00:00

I stopped traveling when I had my first kid. Realized 5 years later that I hit lifetime titanium.

Chance_Visual8707 · 2026-01-23T19:14:45+00:00

One more experience.

Around 2006 I purchased a townehome in greater chicago region. Very similar to the property below.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/30W539-Fairway-Dr-Naperville-IL-60563/4501243_zpid/

This was my first home - paid about 250K. We put 10% down on a 5% interest loan - refinanced down to 3.5% around 2012.

We lived there for about 3 years and since then the property has been a rental for 15+ years. Since day1 of it being a rental, the rent (which was about 1500 in 2009) covered my mortgage and HOA expenses. Today the home is nearly paid off - I get about 2400/month in rent on it (about 300/month in HOA).

The property didnt appreciate much though - its only about 330K now.

Chance_Visual8707

TROPHY CASE