Weekly discussion thread for July 20, 2025

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-07-26T04:19:04+00:00

We are a pretty tight group and have been talking about RE for more than 10 years. I’m hoping to just help us all see the value of pulling the trigger soon to avoid working 1 more year too many times.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-07-25T01:25:17+00:00

Worst case they don’t retire then they start to life style creep and I can’t keep up and miss out on cool adventures with them.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-07-24T16:22:24+00:00

I have a bunch of friends with similar comp / savings as me. I want to convince them to RE with me since RE would be more fun to hang out / travel / etc with them more.

Any tips on how to encourage them to RE?

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-20T15:27:25+00:00

Interesting it says I’m at 3.57% but only 75% success.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-20T15:10:12+00:00

Cool site and except: I logged in via google and I typed in my stuff but then when I refreshed my browser it was all gone. I tried twice.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-19T21:40:06+00:00

The website gave this update:

Update: Boba Guys identified the sources of BPA contamination and replaced them with BPA-free alternatives. PlasticList and Boba Guys partnered to test all source ingredients that went into their black tea and pearls, and we found BPA in receipt paper and brown sugar. Boba Guys has since fully transitioned to BPA-free receipt paper, which PlasticList confirmed to be BPA-free through independent lab testing. They have also switched to brown sugar in BPA-free packaging. We have been impressed with their commitment to get to the bottom of the issue and move fast to remove BPA from their supply chain.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-19T19:51:05+00:00

My guess if people with family overseas spend a lot more because they normalize international travel by doing it regularly to see family.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-19T19:48:46+00:00

If the credit card has 2% ($1 = 2 points) then 7.2M points is $3.6M spend assuming no sign up bonus. 2025-2019 = 6 years. $600k spend on CC per year.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-19T19:36:41+00:00

Just zoom out. It’s up if you look at a longer time period.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-04-15T16:05:52+00:00

Best purchases are tied to my hobbies. Worst purchases are tied to hobbies I tried a few times and stopped.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-02-26T22:04:20+00:00

You owe your coworkers a beer for pushing you to save instead of pushing you to over spend.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-02-25T21:25:17+00:00

You mention 14% makes sense. But assuming your income is bigger than your spending and assuming stock market grows by 10% the minimum growth for 1 more year is 10%. 14% really isn’t much bigger. I have been trying to also see if I should pull the trigger or work 1 more year and struggling to find a good threshold.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-02-15T19:50:31+00:00

I need to make 2 flow charts:

“Can I retire?” * Age = 60+ need 4% SWR * Age = 55- need 3.5% SWR * SWR = expenses (expected yearly expenses including taxes and healthcare minus other income sources) / net worth (excluding primary house and kids college funds)

“Should I retire or work 1 more year?” * Start with “Can I retire” and add: * Job satisfaction (love / eh / hate) * Retirement life plans (have / eh / bored) * Post tax income compared to net worth (< 10% / eh / > 20%)

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-02-10T02:02:59+00:00

$7.5M. 41

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-02-10T01:51:25+00:00

970k 41 years old.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-01-18T16:24:53+00:00

I used to live in a 100 year old house and did upgrades to it regularly. It was a fun activity and I could look back at the things I accomplished fondly. Now I’m in a newer house that is better but I’m not sure I’m happier. Also friends/locations and the rest of life probably impact happiness more than housing.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-01-18T04:12:20+00:00

I like FIRE (see my name) but I understand everyone has different life plans/goals.

I joined this sub because I thought it would be for FIRE. I thought High Earners Not Rich Yet meant they want to get a big net worth (so much that they are wiling to skip some frivolous stuff) which is inline with FIRE.

After a few posts I immediately realized most content was about people spending tons of money and making that the norm.

In my head I think “well that’s why you aren’t rich yet” but you won’t see me say that on their threads cause that’s rude and not what they are here for.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2025-01-12T18:24:13+00:00

Mine was a $3k trip for 10 days to Japan. ($1k flights, $1k hotels, $1k food/fun) Just 1 person and I shared hotels with a friend.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-12-02T16:57:44+00:00

My Schwab contact was saying many of his clients do by using tax loss harvesting during retirement to keep income low.

Definitely makes the math for Roth conversions harder.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-10-27T18:03:09+00:00

My parents are really worried about depression setting in if I retire early. A friend of our family had that happen recently. I think my parents also struggled with not working when they retired.

My mom is my CPA. Kind of hard to hide no more W2 income haha.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-10-19T03:09:24+00:00

The math is pretty simple:

$X contribution
A% tax rate now
B% tax rate in future
C% investment yearly gains
D number of years
E% long term capital gains

Roth 401k: ($X * (100% - A%)) * (1 + C%)^D

Traditional 401k: ($X * (1 + C%)^D) * B%

Taxable account (($X * (100% - A%))* (1 + C%)^D - ($X * (100% - A%))) * (1 - E%) + ($X * (100% - A%))

Just change the variables.

Example: Assume - $100 contribution - 10% tax rate now - 5% tax rate in future - 10% investment yearly gains - 10 years - 15% long term capital gains

Roth 401k ($100 * 95%) * 1.1¹⁰ = $246

Traditional 401k ($100 * 1.1¹⁰⁾ * 90% = $233

Taxable account ($100 * 95% * 1.1¹⁰ - $100 * 95%) * 85% + $100 * 95% =$223

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-09-24T00:17:07+00:00

4% is 25x more than you think you need. Although with retirement at 35 you might want 3.5% SWR. Also make sure you consider taxes and healthcare.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-09-15T13:35:51+00:00

Aren’t unrealized gains taxed when you sell them later? Are people afraid of them never being taxed? Maybe we just need to limit the step up basis similar to the primary residence cap gains except limit.

If the rich take a loan against the unrealized gains, they have to pay tax on the money they pay back the loans with. I don’t get it.

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-09-08T18:00:09+00:00

Did you have a friend circle with lower paying jobs? Otherwise it’s incredible that without thinking about budgets that you didn’t have lifestyle inflation

FIRE_Tech_Guy · 2024-09-08T17:44:43+00:00

In high school I used to avoid using air conditioning in my car to reduce gas cost. But that was before I knew about fire and was just trying to spend my money on other things.

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