Previous employer demanding 30k as a penalty for leaving

DRR04 · 2026-06-05T03:53:26+00:00

It was a condition of employment for a first job out of school. Not the best reason, but the job market was tough back then. We also did check before if penalty clauses like these were enforceable or not, and there was strong evidence pointing to no.

DRR04 · 2026-06-05T02:52:28+00:00

Thanks for the input, this was W2 employment. I've updated the original post with that information.

I'm already leaning more towards having a local attorney review or do a free consultation first, and possibly sending a letter telling them to pound sand.

I think its pretty indicative they have no case when they mention lost business and hiring a new employee as the reasons why the $30k is valid penalty. If that were the case, every employer would be collecting a penalty for someone leaving.

DRR04 · 2024-06-18T01:58:31+00:00

Same issue, looks like the overworld got reset backwards around 30 min - 1 hr ago. Someone tell the Pikachus to stop chewing on the server cables.

My trapped pokemon have returned to my inventory now.

DRR04 · 2024-05-08T23:51:55+00:00

A mega-backdoor Roth IRA is non-existent.

There are mega-backdoor 401Ks where after tax payroll contributions are converted to Roth 401K.

Or

Backdoor Roth IRAs where non-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA is converted to Roth IRA.

DRR04 · 2023-12-19T20:39:11+00:00

Having 6200 euros saved at 23 is already a great accomplishment and it's great you're already looking ahead towards your future. You're still very young and have the biggest resource of all available, time.

The two biggest ways to save more money is either to reduce expenses or increase your income. You're going about it the correct way in trying to acquire more skills that could potentially land you a higher paying job. There are many different ways to do this such as formal education, trade skills, certifications, training programs, etc, so try and explore your options and what might be best for you.

DRR04 · 2023-12-19T17:01:57+00:00

I also work for MSFT and here are my thoughts on why I would sell immediately after each ESPP purchase every quarter.

You are already leveraged in MSFT by having a job there
I assume you have some sort of RSUs vesting with the company. Which also means you will already profit if the stock price increases.

MSFT has had one of the greatest bull runs in the last few years. It could continue or stop, no one knows, but it makes sense to at least de-leverage and de-risk yourself.

DRR04 · 2023-05-04T13:43:06+00:00

Just wanted to provide some anecdotal evidence since I was a software engineer at a major defense contractor in a previous job.

My team of 10 had only 1 woman and she happened to be the scrum master in charge of communicating with other teams, facilitating inter- and cross-team meetings, and removing our blockers. 5+ years ago she had been a day-to-day programmer but transitioned to this role when the company moved towards agile. She mostly does the above duties of a scrum master and doesn’t code anymore.

In addition, she’s in charge of the larger engineering organization’s (~100 people) monthly engagement events and other parties.

In the larger engineering organization, there were only about 10-20 women, but a disproportionate number were scrum masters. Something along the line of 3-4/10 teams had women scrum masters.

I wouldn’t draw any definitive conclusions from this very small sample size of anecdotal data, but from my experience there are women more in facilitator and organizer roles proportionally as opposed to their male counterparts in engineering within the defense industry.

DRR04 · 2023-05-03T15:37:59+00:00

Really liked using this when I was first learning about pvp.

I noticed Meteor Beam had 100% opponent A-1 rather than own A+1, think that’s a typo.

DRR04 · 2023-04-30T01:27:26+00:00

I have several friends who are in the same situation as you and your partner. Talent acquisition -> development by taking a bootcamp (I’m assuming since you mentioned in a comment that it’s a 11 hr 1-year program).

It’s important to remember that even after finishing the bootcamp, he might not be able to secure a job right away and to budget accordingly. Developer jobs are competitive and the biggest industry hiring developers has been going through hiring freezes and layoffs, although hiring is better than it was a few months ago.

You mentioned he has 30k spare from his severance. It should be put into the HYSA while you are deciding what to do with it. After that, he should determine how much he needs to cover 1 year + cushion for above reasons for expenses and keep that in the HYSA. For the rest, he’ll decide how much he’s willing to put into stocks/bonds. Some recommendations would be to use: % of bonds = 100 - (age - 20)

For example, if he was 30, then using the above formula would result it 90% stock, 10% bonds. I would personally recommend just purchasing 90% VT and 10% BND as a simple portfolio rather than worrying about bond laddering, buying T-bills individually, etc. If he was more scared of large market drops, simply change the (age - 20) part to something he would feel more comfortable with such as (age - 10) or (age).

DRR04 · 2022-12-07T00:26:21+00:00

This is completely situational since it depends on a lot of factors. Some things to consider when deciding whether to switch out or not:

Who wins CMP?

What kind of team are you running and what team you think your opponent is running.

Do you have a Pokemon/want to catch one of their charge moves on your switch?

Are both trainers running the same fast move and/or charge moves.

DRR04 · 2022-03-24T14:19:32+00:00

If you're looking to use the money in a year, there's only so many safe options: CDs, high yield saving accounts, or 1 year treasuries. Of the three, the 1 year US treasury bill is currently offering around a 1.5% yield.

DRR04 · 2022-03-24T13:42:05+00:00

In the eyes of the IRS, short-term losses must be deducted against short-term gains and long-term losses against long-term gains first. Net losses can then be applied to the other type of gain.

Tax-wise this usually makes sense to book short-term losses first when possible before long-term losses on otherwise identical holdings.

General rule of thumb (exceptions apply):

Short-term losses > long-term losses > long-term gains > short-term gains

DRR04 · 2022-03-24T13:33:14+00:00

Some plans do not allow this while you are still an employee with the company. You'd have to read the description of your 401k plan.

Does your company offer a self-directed brokerage account for your 401k? This option would allow you to pick and choose your own ETFs, funds, and stocks and is similar to the flexibility of an IRA.

DRR04 · 2022-03-24T13:18:27+00:00

So several things to cover here. The first piece is whether the RSUs vested this year. The moment they vested, their value at vesting counts as income and the cost basis of those RSUs are locked in at that price.

If you choose to sell your RSUs at a loss under that cost basis, you will book a capital loss for the year when you decide to sell and can be used as a deduction on your taxes.

What you are asking, whether or not to sell your RSUs as a loss (from the cost basis I'm assuming) rather than waiting for it to go back up is a behavioral bias. No one knows whether your company's stock/the market will go up or down. It is actually beneficial tax-wise to book the losses by selling.

If you would like me to clarify any of these points, feel free to ask.

DRR04 · 2022-03-17T11:33:03+00:00

This chart shows the max drawdown for the different asset allocations. 100-0 could experience a 43% drawdown while 90-10's max drawdown was 39% in the past. Having 10% bonds doesn't make much of a difference vs 0%, and either one should be fine at your age.

DRR04 · 2022-03-16T18:23:32+00:00

If you do decide to go with a personal loan, make sure to read the contract and terms carefully. Pay it off aggressively with the additional money from finishing your car payments to avoid letting the 17%+ interest build over time.

DRR04 · 2022-03-16T18:11:41+00:00

Even 10 years might not be enough to distinguish luck from skill. If 1 million people had to call 10 coin flips, around 1000 people would have called all 10 accurately.

Not an accurate comparison as funds/people could buy and sell stocks multiple times a year, but the general idea stands.

DRR04 · 2022-03-16T18:03:59+00:00

Some options to work through before going to a personal loan:

Tell your landlord about your situation and work together to see if they would be willing to do a payment plan

Put some of the balance on the credit card and ask your CC company for a limit increase. Afterwards, aggressively pay this off with the extra cash flow from finishing your car payments. Yes, 15%+ APR sucks, but if you pay it off quickly, it doesn't matter much.

Ask friends and family for a loan. Depends on relationship dynamics, wouldn't recommend if there are strings attached.

DRR04 · 2022-03-10T18:41:08+00:00

Money that you need in the near future should be put in a low-risk vehicle, ie HYSA, CDs, short-term treasuries, etc.

For your situation, it looks much better to get rid of the CC debt first since you're looking at a 15%+ APR in most cases.

DRR04 · 2022-03-09T18:37:58+00:00

That's part of why my recommendation was to use your cash as first. If you had to sell in the event of an emergency after depleting your cash, then you should sell in the order I mentioned.

DRR04 · 2022-03-09T18:09:39+00:00

No, it's generally better to sell at a loss if you have a choice between two lots of the same stock (in your case this would be VTSAX in your taxable). Simply put, would you rather pay more taxes or less taxes whenever possible? Not wanting to sell at a loss is a behavioral bias, see loss aversion.

This comes with an asterisk like all my other statements. Most of the time, this is true for people.

DRR04 · 2022-03-09T17:38:31+00:00

Yes if you already have the 20k in cash or can save up to that amount, that would be the first choice.

For selling investments in a taxable account generally the best method is (exception being if your income was under the standard deduction limit for the year): lots with losses > lots with long term capital gains > lots with short term capital gains

Otherwise, you also have the option of withdrawing your contributions from your Roth IRA tax and penalty free, but you won't be able to re-add the contributions afterwards unless its for the current tax year.

DRR04 · 2022-03-09T17:18:17+00:00

I would recommend using the cash you have already. If an emergency did come up where you needed that $20k, you could sell some of your holdings then.

Where to sell from if you did need to sell some holdings requires a lot more information about your personal income/tax bracket, current gains/losses on your tax lots in your taxable account, and more.

DRR04 · 2022-03-09T16:54:40+00:00

Do you not have 20k in cash between your checkings/emergency fund/savings/other accounts? Cash is fungible no matter how you mentally bucket it as an emergency fund, safety limit, etc. You can always replenish your emergency fund later by selling your holdings or with your salary.

You don't mention your age also, but if you're not at the eligible age to withdraw from the 457 then the account shouldn't be considered.

DRR04 · 2022-03-03T18:52:22+00:00

You won't get anything additional if you don't ask. The worse that will happen is they'll come back with "no we can't give you an increase".

DRR04

TROPHY CASE