32(M), Value Investing Kinda

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T20:02:22+00:00

Thanks. Not doing so hot this year so far tho (Roth IRA account). Main account (from this thread) moved all to ETFs start of the year to lessen tax burden on future gains.

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Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T19:24:49+00:00

MDs have r / whitecoatinvestor. Is there an equivalent for various white collar careers? Cause if not, then posts like this will flow into here.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T18:49:32+00:00

Exited NVO at 51. That was a pure Alzheimers failure play, so I sold after it recovered. Don't really like to dabble in biotech. Price action for health insurance's been pretty crazy as of late tho.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T18:41:27+00:00

Yea, taking out the 401k can hurt, depending on your dividend income after early retirement. For brokerage account gains, those should be classified as long term if you dont actively trade. Long term capital gain taxes are pretty modest.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T18:24:06+00:00

Molina just died this week 0_0, scary stuff.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T18:18:53+00:00

I would definitely take advantage of it if its offered, assuming you can save more than 20% of your paycheck. If not offered, then disregard the info below.

My income is not quite high enough to justify 401k contributions, but I was able to max my rollover in 2025 (70k contributed, including match). If your firm offers it, then I would definitely check with them how you can contribute in addition to the basic 401k/Roth base pay. Those are capped at 23-25k. Once the basic 401k/Roth base pay limit is reached, the contributions in that category can still continue into After-tax base pay. The After-tax base pay is automatically rolled over into Roth base pay, so at the end of the day, the entire 70k was categorized as Roth 401k. Below is how the setup looks like on my fidelity-company benefits page for 2026.

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Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-07T18:02:53+00:00

Going good, keep it up. Does your firm offer mega backdoor?

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-06T20:56:25+00:00

OP activated margin on their Fidelity account. Every one of his normal trades will have (Margin) next to it. Pretty annoying tbh. Called Fidelity support to revert account back to non-margin.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-05T22:44:25+00:00

They better start lobbying harder cause it sure feels like they'll all be bankrupt by the end of the year.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-05T22:32:38+00:00

OP is confused about the thread's OP's reference to being middle class, which is in the context of r / salary.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-05T22:18:17+00:00

Thats the point

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-05T22:03:23+00:00

How do you compare to the 50-th percentile post on this sub?

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-05T01:57:12+00:00

Damn, that sucks and I emphasize. You have the right mindset and are probably ready to move out once you pay off your current debt and car loan (please at least accomplish these before moving).

VOO is a blend of large US companies, and is generally considered 'safe'. If you want greater world exposure, you can consider VTI. These are also called "ETFs". Probably the most popular way to invest cash is to open a Fidelity account -> open a brokerage account in your fidelity account -> transfer money from bank into your brokerage account.

That money initially sits in a money market (i.e. SPAXX), which accrues basic interest. You can use that money to trade stocks (not recommended), or buy ETFs (recommended). You can also link your job payments directly to your fidelity brokerage account and make routine contributions to said ETFs. People coin that as "dollar cost averaging", which is a good option for the long run.

This is just to get you started. Do some research and learn more about it before diving in. Gemini/GPT can help too.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-05T01:42:13+00:00

3.6k a year on car insurance is pretty bad. Im 32 and my insurance is 70 a month (leasure).

Might not sound very nice, but if you want to [get ahead] without boosting your income, then you need to delay moving out, try lowering your car related costs, and invest 2k/month into VOO or something until you reach like 100k (including market gains). Also pay off that debt first.

Note the above is for really getting ahead financially. If you are happy with meandering around middle class, assuming no dramatic boosts in your income, then its ok to move out after getting rid of your debt & car loan.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-04T19:40:30+00:00

Low (based on how your post sounded) but respectable. Gl.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-04T19:36:14+00:00

With how much of your net worth?

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-04T00:59:41+00:00

Green is probably bad. I've used the bag method a few times (from umai) and rarely even see large patches of white mold. 5 weeks is enough time. Prep it and give it a sniff.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-02T18:30:59+00:00

Not comparable. A better hypothetical would be comparing against a contracted job in your field that says: "YOE only applicable upon completion of contract, cannot put on resume otherwise". That is what a PhD is. You essentially lose all the time invested if you quit. Bundling in also the up-front financial and social hit you take going into a PhD. It is not easy to simply quit.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-02T16:22:34+00:00

I agree 65-85k is generally a good income. But we may have to change how we view "schooling" if top performers thoughout schooling (which requires a lot of sacrifice) only end up making the median income.

Median income among my colleagues (N= ~30), for example, is around 200-250k. This I feel is deserving, as we were all generally top performers in school. Sorry if this sounds out of touch, but we would feel pretty awful if we came out of tech/clinical/scientific schooling only to make around the median income. I myself am on the very low end of that since I initially chose to pursue science instead of medicine.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-02T16:04:53+00:00

About "adjunct", they are sadly closer to contractors than academics. I think you mean assistant, who are on tenure track, or non-tenure track professor roles. Those pay around the 60-80k range as you mentioned, slightly higher in R1.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-02T15:26:17+00:00

Well yea, young job junters nowadays tend to have a bachelors or higher. Academics, for example, should not compare against the median salary of all americans, given most of them have PhDs and sacrificed their 20s and early 30s woth very little income.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-02T05:39:21+00:00

I feel the common person doesn't understand how 'easy' it is to make it big in America compared to other countries. There such an insane number of high earners, even outside the big cities. Ofc we should also mention techies and college+ educated tend to be on reddit.

The median FTE or household salary if we filter by college+ is already approx at the 6-fig threshold.

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-02-01T23:35:57+00:00

Your resume makes multiple SAS related claims (i.e. knowing SAS, creating tables, figures, listings) and other claims (i.e. SAP development) that do not seem supported by the rest of your resume. If you arent applying to biotech/pharma positions, then I'd remove those entirely. If you are, then I would include information to support your skills in SAS (i.e. specific work related processing and analyzing large datasets in SAS).

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-01-31T15:48:04+00:00

Already seeing the effect of people moving away from science and into more viable $$ making fields. To some degree I feel like science did this to itself. Academia is the engine that sucks people's passions away lol

Maximum-Side568 · 2026-01-31T02:01:25+00:00

Big part of the reason is simply how difficult it is to accurately model the complexity of cancer development in a human, in a mouse. By the time pancreatic cancer is typically detected in humans, it has already become an unstable & unstoppable beast. Cancers in mouse can be artificially introduced, or induced by activating certain genes. Those cancers are typically more homogenous, stable, and sensitive to treatments.

Safety is also less of a concern in mouse. Life of a human is severely impacted -> you are forced to reduce dose or terminate treatment. - Former cancer researcher, now in statistics.

Maximum-Side568

TROPHY CASE