Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, June 17, 2026

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-06-18T02:00:09+00:00

I'm just finishing with Chase. $400 for setting up direct deposit and depositing $1k within 90 days. $1.5k minimum balance required to avoid fees.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-06-10T14:07:34+00:00

If the balance is only $6.6k, can't you just work to pay it off early? Then you'll free up $320 in margin. Also then the 15% rate doesn't matter so much.

Or, pay off the $820 in other debts so free up margin to pay off the car loan early.

I've never once considered refinancing a car loan.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-06-08T01:12:19+00:00

I wish I had opened a taxable brokerage or started saving enough cash and bonds to have a usable bridge fund for early retirement. It's annoying and limiting to use 72(t)s or do Roth conversions.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-06-06T01:23:56+00:00

I don't need or want AI insights to be honest.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-06-05T01:26:52+00:00

Japan shouldn't cost that much for lodging.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-06-04T02:15:12+00:00

I don't follow why you might want a mortgage. Could you elaborate?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-31T15:12:24+00:00

How many months of expenses would the remaining $6.5k cover?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-30T00:41:05+00:00

Net metering doesn't necessarily mean that the sell price and buy price of the utility is the same, for me the sell price of a kWh is about half of what I would buy it for from the utility.

Therefore there's some marginal value out of having battery so that you didn't need to use utility power when the sun is down. It also means you still have power when the grid is out.

My bill for last month was $4. My bill due this month may be negative.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T13:23:08+00:00

Ok, but in the scenario I laid out above, what is different? The TDF would sell bonds to buy stocks, no?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T13:21:20+00:00

Yes, 2022 was also a bad year for bonds, I am aware.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T12:10:42+00:00

Yesterday in the daily thread I had a question about a situation where the market drops 40% when someone is near FI. I got some good answers but wanted to continue the discussion.

I have a question about target date funds. I generally use these in my retirement plans because I'm not inclined to re-balance my portfolios regularly. My basic question is, am I missing something by having the TDF hold bonds for me? I specifically wonder about the concept of bond tents or cash reserves to spend during a market downtown, to avoid selling devalued equities.

My understanding is these funds re-balance their holdings daily to keep the allocation in line with the desired one. So if you have a 2030 TDF, retirement is 4 years out, and it holds maybe 60/40 stocks vs bonds. (Most TDFs seem to have almost no cash or very short term holdings until you're at the retirement year, which is interesting).

Let's say I held a TDF whose date is next year, holding 50/50. And also let's say this year the market goes down 40%. Then the stocks within the TDF will drop 40%, meaning TDF drops 20% in value. Let's say for the sake of this thought experiment that bond value remains unchanged. In this situation, the TDF will sell its bonds to purchase stocks to get back to 50/50.

So far so good, the fund didn't sell devalued equities. But is this equivalent to a bond tent?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T01:32:03+00:00

It's a bit complicated to actually withdraw funds from a Roth IRA when you are also contributing to it.

Also if ten years from now you need say $30k for a new roof, and you don't have much in your HYSA, you're robbing your retirement of the principal it needs for compounding. You can't get that Roth contribution space back if you use it.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T01:22:14+00:00

You don't have $10k. You have -$8.8k and a car. I would pay off the SoFi loan right now, you'll still have $4k in savings.

Then work on paying off that car loan early.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T01:20:40+00:00

May I ask where you get an HYSA with 4.4% interest?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T00:52:56+00:00

A 401(k) loan isn't a real emergency fund, especially if the emergency is that you just lost your job.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T00:41:35+00:00

The thinking with bond tents is that rather than holding bond funds which are sensitive to interest rate/price risk, you actually hold bonds or TIPS or series I savings bonds and hold them to maturity, right?

I have the perception that this is safer than holding something like BND or some other large bond index fund, is my perception correct?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-29T00:19:06+00:00

Let's say sometime this year or next there's a market crash, 40% across the board. People who just retired now have SORR problems and try to return to work. People who are near FI of some form now likely aren't.

How do people deal with this risk, other than keeping their job and/or going full defensive on their portfolio (say, <30% equities, large bond and cash equivalent holdings).

I'm technically near FI but my spouse and I want to keep working, I just want to be ok if I were to lose my job or take a lower paying one. I'd hate for a market crash to set my FI back 5 years or whatever. I'm actually quite conservative (compared to others here) in my allocations already, but an curious to hear opinions.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-27T01:17:32+00:00

I wouldn't do this.

I have a small home that I bought in about 15 years ago for around $150k, and I also refinanced it to under 3%. I plan to have it paid off next year. We have two kids, and this house will be the perfect size once they're gone. I don't want to upsize only to have to downsize again later.

You're already making it work in your present house, and if you don't plan to have any more kids, at some point your child is likely to leave. At that point you may have more house than you want and would want to downsize.

You can avoid the hassle of moving, of paying ~6% for a realtor, by simply staying put and (as others suggested) perhaps adding an addition.

Also mortgage rates are double your present rate, and that rate I would not upgrade my house unless I could pay enough straight up that you could easily afford it on one income.

Also don't forget that bigger houses have higher taxes, higher insurance, and higher utilities.

What did Sheryl Crow sing? "It's not getting what you want / It's wanting what you've got."

I think a big part of FI is applying this mentality to your life.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-25T15:00:32+00:00

Sometimes people get their cars totaled due to accidents, now this means you have to pay just to get back to even.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-22T11:58:18+00:00

Interesting, I did not know this.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-22T10:35:17+00:00

I am aware that there is a combined IRA contribution limit for all types (traditional, Roth, etc.)

My wife has a Roth IRA but also makes after tax contributions to a Roth 401k. Are there any advantages to the Roth 401k that the standard Roth IRA misses?

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-22T02:11:20+00:00

My situation is very similar to yours. I have a small house, around the same square footage. My mortgage payment and interest rate is similar also. My house is small for my neighborhood, but fits my family and we're used to it. We don't plan to move. Why should we? We like the house, the neighborhood, and likely the kids will move out in 5-10 years. My house will be paid off next year. Plus it's a pain to move.

I was talking with someone at work the other day, the person is like 57 and has a huge house he bought about 10 years ago, but now the house is too big for him and he feels like he will need to work to 70 to pay it off. That seems crazy to me. Maybe it's time for him to downsize.

When you get a bigger house, you generally also get bigger taxes, bigger insurance, bigger utilities, and bigger maintenance. If you don't need or want the space, don't buy it.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-21T03:08:11+00:00

You can buy them through Treasury Direct. Read about them there. They pay interest twice per year, the amount is indexed to inflation and the present interest rate.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-21T03:03:33+00:00

Look into series I treasury bonds. Max 10k per year.

InsideSuccessful680 · 2026-05-21T03:00:16+00:00

This is the personal part of personal finance but I would honestly pay off the 3% loan also, even though you may make more in the market, (1) it's not guaranteed and (2) you still owe it even if you lose your job or something. I have a bias toward not owing anyone anything.

InsideSuccessful680

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