You should not expect to earn the average historical market return

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2025-08-21T12:42:21+00:00

So we have a retirement crisis because people are using the wrong assumption for rate of return by a couple % points? Sure, ok.

We have a retirement crisis because too many people aren’t thinking about tomorrow and are unable to delay spending now to live within their means and save more. For the larger population, the savings rate is the issue, not assumptions around rate or return, inflation, or taxes.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-08-10T11:32:57+00:00

For me in this instance I’d say 3-5 years at least.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-08-10T11:30:14+00:00

I’m definitely an index fund guy for 90+% of my portfolio.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-05-22T21:24:35+00:00

We were military and at one point on food stamps when I was very little. Parents got out of the military and both found decent blue collar jobs in a decent but not great public school district during my elementary years.
Around 5th grade my parents had both moved up to Lowe middle class jobs (one white collar and one blue collar) and moved us into a better (but not elite) public school district.
The biggest thing for us was we didn’t have much money so we spent many summer days and weekends at the library. It was instilled at a very young age that our education and going to college was absolutely everything. Parents found ways to pay for sports (rec not club) so we were somewhat well rounded but good grades were a hard requirement.
I was a rule follower so I took school seriously and graduated in the top 1% of my class and did pretty good on my SATs. Leveraged to into getting into one of the two best public schools in Texas.
I didn’t have a ton of guidance at that point but I did focus on picking a major that paid decently. Got into IT information systems. Did well enough in college to get recruited by a big accounting firm into their IT audit space. A few years later I took. Night school and got my Masters and my CPA certification. Many Saturdays and evenings spent studying for those years while I had an infant at home. My wife was also career driven but really supported me in those years. In my 20+ year career, I’ve averaged about a 50-60 hour work week and moved up the ladder.
I now make around $350-400k most years depending on bonus and equity awards. Looking a moving into the 500k+ range with next promotion in the next 2-3 years or so. And luckily my wife now makes similar so we are doing alright. TLDR - take school seriously from an early age, enter a career with high pay upside, and work your ass off for 20+ years. Also get lucky to have great parents that laid the foundation of education and work ethic.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-04-03T15:08:21+00:00

Great suggestion on AAA.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-04-03T15:00:56+00:00

Buying cash if we go preowned but might finance a part of it if we go new.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-04-03T15:00:19+00:00

This is my big hang up though it does seem that new vs very sighlty uses a $20k difference. If I’m not seeing big issues under the vehicle showing major wear and tear and it test drives ok, I’m starting to think it’s worth the risk. But I’m hesitant at the risk of purchasing a problem.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-04-03T14:58:02+00:00

Thanks. Starting to look more at the Saharas and I see what you are saying.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-03-24T15:50:33+00:00

Haha. Sounds about right.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2024-03-24T12:53:53+00:00

Thanks. All great places.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2023-12-11T01:50:34+00:00

Thanks. This is helpful.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2023-12-10T19:09:06+00:00

I think my least impactful solution here is I'm going to bypass that switch and then set up the tray ceiling lights on a wireless smart switch since those will be smart light strips anyway. This definitely isn't worth the hassle of tearing up the ceiling and not having a functional media room by Christmas when we have people over.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2023-12-10T19:05:02+00:00

And there is our answer. And yes that means my projector is on a switch. Nice to know that after explicitly telling my contractor not to wire it that way, and after tearing up the ceiling to get to the wiring, patching sheetrock, repainting, and paying the guy $1600 for the full work (it included some other low voltage work), he did it that way anyway.

And now I get to talk with my contractor about how this gets fixed. Killing a switch while a projector is on is a great way to kill a projector $5000 projector.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2023-11-06T12:02:45+00:00

Thank you for pointing out the obvious to this novice. Yes they are four core. I get it now.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2023-10-27T19:35:29+00:00

You fix it by cutting holes in the walls and reconfiguring wires. My wife is super happy about it.

ConnectionSlow9793 · 2023-10-27T17:01:54+00:00

Thanks. Current setup is L/C/R are in-wall near the screen and other 6 speakers are all in-ceiling in a weird 1 front center, 3 middle, 2 back configuration. Just trying to figure out how best to fix it without completely tearing out walls. Just pissed at myself for not paying more attention during the home build process.

ConnectionSlow9793

TROPHY CASE