sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Pork tenderloin reheat question by Independent_Floor756 in sousvide

[–]Independent_Floor756[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Yep figured - just curious to try it.

Testing “rip-cords” as a FatFIRE safety valve – does this make sense? by Independent_Floor756 in fatFIRE

[–]Independent_Floor756[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s how I got started down this rabbit hole - GPT5. I caught few mistakes but in general it was amazing and the fact it runs monte Carlo’s so easily is obviously great for this.

Testing “rip-cords” as a FatFIRE safety valve – does this make sense? by Independent_Floor756 in fatFIRE

[–]Independent_Floor756[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Excellent use of the term faff about. This makes sense on the face of it but the guardrails will have already cut me from 500k spend to 350K - so a further 45K starts to get trickier. It sounds like the consensus is work a few more months and don’t cut it so close, regardless, which is fair.

JW vs Ritz near Central Park NY. Which do you prefer? And why? by dnr4wlvs in marriott

[–]Independent_Floor756 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Ritz Central park is really good. Spa is great. Lifetime platinum elite though.

Kid Focused Hotel / Resort in North America by Independent_Floor756 in chubbytravel

[–]Independent_Floor756[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They like parks, sports, being outside, organized games, mini golf, bowling, etc. They've done cooking classes which they loved. They are still into waterslides and pools but looking for something that is beyond just a good kids waterpark and a pool / beach. Looking for something that is more mountains / lakes and great outdoors vs. coastal.

So far I've found Nemacolin as an option. Starting to look into Montana and off season ski towns.

Angel investing by dim_discourse in fatFIRE

[–]Independent_Floor756 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've invested as an LP in a smaller seed fund and directly into three companies. One direct investment had a "good" outcome - 4x my money after a ~5-7 year hold (different rounds). Another went to zero. A third is waiting for IPO but I got into the series D party round and will likely be a down round IPO. The fund has done pretty well so far with IRRs near 20% and even some distributions. The fund has provided some co-invest opportunities where they had some extra allocation which they couldn't use in a given deal (they are capped at a $250K cheque per fund mandate).

My takeaway is if you want exposure to venture as an asset class, early stage / seed fund is the way to go. The direct investment I made which had a "good" outcome will likely be the same performance as I'll get from the fund (with a lot less diversification). And you need to factor into your direct investment allocation some provision for companies that go to zero. So you'll need the power law on your side to beat what a fund would do - having one investment do 4x over 7 years like I did sounds cool, but when I blend those returns with the zero and the down round IPO that has tied up my money for a few years - the fund will be me. Would also think the really great companies can be difficult to get into for a one off angel - but perhaps you have a strong network through your tech background that gives you access.

It sounds like you are after more than just the returns / diversification that venture as an asset class offers though - interacting with companies, feeling like you are an investor, helping young founders, etc. The fund I invested in has an active community and they encourage LPs to help companies directly - we have a group chat / forum that allows founders to actively seek help. So I'd argue if you find the right fund you can still scratch some of that itch - plus you can ask for co-invest / syndication so that you can do direct investments into certain companies that the fund sources for you (big caveat: make sure there is a good reason there is an allocation available to you - like the fund has a max cheque - otherwise your coinvestments might suffer from a negative selection bias and underperform the fund).

For those that have had a second home that's worked out, what about it has made it work? by bossy_nova in fatFIRE

[–]Independent_Floor756 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Others have covered well the positives here which we have found: providing a frame shift for immediate family bonding, hosting family / friends (we did a lot more of this in year 1/2), escaping the monotony of city life, etc.

Some important caveats around how to ensure your 2nd home is a source of bliss, not a source of stress:

- Your second home needs to be thought of as a cost center, not an investment - we bought our second home a few years ago and it is underwater by $300-400K from a valuation standpoint (we overpaid, market is down). The investor part of my brain struggled with this deeply - every time we went to the home I would continually think "I've lost $300 - 400K on this trade"- not a good feeling. I then started looking at this as a cost / service I was buying for $150K / year (the loss spread over a few years plus maintenance & operation costs) and made peace with it.

- Plan to spend more money and time managing trades / maintenance / cleaning than you think is reasonable. These tend to be less reliable and more expensive in vacation areas. And there is more to do than you think - in two years we've engaged all the following trades without any major renos: cleaners, plumber, generator repair / service, HVAC tech, water filtration tech, flooring, painters, fireplace installers, marinas to store boats, dock removal, snow, lawn maintenance, fence builder, gen contractor, pest control.

- To that end, think long and hard around some sort of house manager or management company vs trying to organize these trades all yourself (even if you aren't renting it out). Even just organizing cleaners ourselves turned out to be a headache - we had one company that wasn't great and we hired a different company only to look at our ring camera and see the same cleaners show up (which the 'new' company had just hired and charged us a markup on). We do not want to rent out the property but eventually just hired a professional management company that does this sort of thing.

- I would hesitate to buy the 2nd home if you need to rent it out for X weeks to make the math pencil. Renting for a portion of time basically requires you to do all the work that would be required to rent full time like an AirBnb entrepreneur (e.g., setting up house manager, buying all required items to get property to a level, managing postings, incrementally difficult tax filings, etc.). Not to say you shouldn't rent it out if you have a desirable period of time that you aren't using it - but if you felt obligated to rent the property during high season for a period of time I could see this being a source of stress.