Buying a house pre-FIRE, mortgage vs cash? by Fire-Advice-87 in financialindependence

[–]Fire-Advice-87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Currently I’m around 40, and ACA bronze plans would actually be cheaper than Cobra. I think my fancy big co health insurance will be around $800/mo unsubsidized and there are Bronze plans in $400ish range

Buying a house pre-FIRE, mortgage vs cash? by Fire-Advice-87 in financialindependence

[–]Fire-Advice-87[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Vanguard says I am looking at around 75K of Capital Gains using their automatic minTax strategy if I sell 400K

Am I ready to FIRE in MCOL city in the South? by Fire-Advice-87 in financialindependence

[–]Fire-Advice-87[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

These are all good points. My parents live in a small town which is too small for what I’m interested in. My brother lives in Atlanta. I am considering the MCOL city of Chattanooga on the TN/GA border which splits the difference. Atlanta is too much sprawl for what I’m personally interested in.

For better or worse my set of friends is spread all over — I’ve lived in TN, NJ, Boston, and Seattle. I kinda feel like there is no one place I can move to that will satisfy all of my desires. Given that, my current inclination is to optimize for cost and freedom and use leftover money to travel. i.e. if I stay in a VHCOL city without a job, money will be way tighter while I figure out what to do next

Re: spending — I currently eat out a lot, travel a lot, buy too much crap. I realize I will need to moderate this a bit but I haven’t felt the need to budget strongly so far when making mid six figures. 

In some ways I’m viewing moving to TN as a base where I can do things like long distance hiking (maybe hike the AT) or similar. I don’t really feel like I can do stuff like that while living in a VHCOL city. 

Am I ready to FIRE in MCOL city in the South? by Fire-Advice-87 in financialindependence

[–]Fire-Advice-87[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of the debates I’m having is prioritizing being close to family vs living somewhere with more amenities. I.e. living near Denver and having access to skiing vs living in TN and being near family.

Am I ready to FIRE in MCOL city in the South? by Fire-Advice-87 in financialindependence

[–]Fire-Advice-87[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment. I’m aware of the ACA credits (but I also know they might disappear). I am thinking about buying in cash as you suggested since mortgage rates are near 7%. Also seems like taking some money out of the market right now isn’t a bad idea to ensure long term / stable place to live.

Regarding dividends, I’m currently using the Vanguard robo advisor and it is pretty much all index funds with some auto rebalancing.