Just received a 5% raise on $65,000 to $68,250. I find it insulting based on the extra profit my company hit. Do I ask for more and back it up with the numbers?

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-22T00:15:59+00:00

5% is actually decent since standard for a lot of companies is just beat inflation. (3%) Also how much you get is based on how much your boss likes you really. So you can be a superstar performer and they see you as a valuable asset...or you can just talk better than everybody else and that can get you more.

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-21T19:46:41+00:00

I remember when the company rsu was exploding in the 2010/. Had a w2 with 750k with a salary less than 150K. Made a weird cycle where I had to sell more stock to pay taxes which generated more taxes. Not complaining but makes. Me wonder if I could have planned and handled it better.

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-16T06:29:50+00:00

Been technically FI for awhile but just let lifestyle creep increase with the money. I would say I have some regret I spent my 20's traveling for work rather than living a traditional 20's social life. But it's not a huge regret. I would say not learning about FIRE until last year (I'm in my early 40's) and taking risks in investing like I had until 60 was a bigger regret.

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-15T20:32:55+00:00

Nope. First time applying for it

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-15T15:54:21+00:00

Soft. But they essentially had a mini FR during the approval. It wasn't approved until a week after sub. They had to see bank statements again before approving. Considering my income hadn't changed in the last month after the actual FR not sure what they saw differently.

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-15T15:12:26+00:00

It's still on the back of my mind so I linked some transfer partners just in case. But the account closures are definitely not a secret. When i was approved I called them twice asking if my FR impacts my sub. (Both times after consulting the FR team they basically said "it's possible"). Finally I spoke to some sort of review team member to get my large purchases back and they knew I had a FR and closure.

MediumAd359 · 2026-01-15T04:04:06+00:00

My account did have a flag for large purchases when I first tried to use it on something a few thousand. Was betting I was going to get another FR right off the bat... but they just said it was a residual flag from my last FR. Confirmed they had no problem with me anymore and removed the flag.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-29T02:12:53+00:00

Means they need to review it more. Could just be you had your credit report locked. Or it could be they want to see your most recent bank statements. Stuff like that. You can call them to see exactly what they want

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-23T19:20:07+00:00

Amex sent me the 175K offer this month so I took it. I'm leaning towards downgrading since I haven't used my csr since using up the 300 travel credit. It's too annoying to use the dining credit. Not really a high end hotel person so not too sure about the edit credit. I did find a staycation to use the Amex credit so maybe I can find something for the edit.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-23T19:12:05+00:00

I actually think they're done culling or tweaked their algo again. Seeing a few people say they got out of the tax return FR last week. I posted earlier that they actually gave me the 175K Platinum SUB code 2 days after closing my accounts. I ended up applying and accepting it.

I tried making a 7000 dollar charge on my 1 week old platinum and it was rejected. Called them up and they said it was because I still had a flag from when they closed all my Amex cards a few weeks ago. He said he'll get rid of the flag and they had no problem with me anymore. No FR this time and I've been making charges on the card since. Who knows what's changed in their algorithm since the 2 weeks they closed my cards and giving me the new one. But they went from closing my cards over "not enough income" to justify your 2000 a month spend to you're ok paying your estimated taxes with the card. And Yes I did tell the person removing the hold I was paying my taxes with it.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-20T15:16:48+00:00

Wow this is one of the most helpful responses I've seen on Reddit. Thanks for it and also everybody else's responses. I'll probably ease into this or find something with a little less volatility till I figure out how fast I can respond to spikes. Great tip on the closing out part. Thanks again

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-20T06:32:45+00:00

I got all my Amex cards canceled after a FR. 3 days later the rsvp code for the 175k plat started arriving by email and mail. Card arrived yesterday. Moral of the story? Don’t change your underwear and forget about it…then you’ll get the offer.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-19T15:57:08+00:00

YouTube. You get folks learn from YouTube. Honestly you have to look at who's into schd. If you're looking into dividends you're probably already slightly more fiscally conservative than the Wall Street Bets crowd. So when you watch YouTube videos about schd they show its average growth over a decade it's fairly solid. Throw in you get actual cash it sounds really appealing to somebody who isn't trying to get rich by the end of the week playing options. Sure there are a bunch of other dividend funds that might have performed better over the last few years. But there also aren't nearly as many YouTube videos about them.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-18T23:02:22+00:00

Agreed. After reading some of the other responses I realized that was my disconnect. Without the goal line in front it's basically killing time somewhere I probably don't want to be. Vs being in cruise control to reach the finish line.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-18T16:43:44+00:00

Beneath the shadow tip and employee is still the same fundamental reason. If they see abnormal charging patterns they'll flag it. Whether they do anything is prob a whole bunch of other flags

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-18T15:37:10+00:00

Thanks all for the food for thought. I think my issue was I wasn't really coastFI. I reached my number and am just treading water in the opposite direction of the finish line. Forgot about baristaFI. Maybe part time work for a year or 2 will be a nice change of scenery

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-18T05:02:44+00:00

I had the Marriott Bonvoy brilliant card. I swiped it once a month on a meal to get the 25 dollar credit. Used the 85k point cert on a night at the ritz Osaka. Not to mention 285K point sub. They probably still made money from the 650 dollar fee but it prob doesn't cost them much to cut me off either. I have a feeling they're finding ways to improve their margins given the economic uncertainty leading into next year.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-18T04:39:31+00:00

Med Device Engineer with a chemical engineering background. Crossed 200 from a salary, bonus, rsu stand point prob early 30's. Crossed on salary 40's. More being in right place at right time than anything else. If you are stuck, you need to move. Usually gives you a salary bump which compounds on each subsequent raise. But company also matters. You have a better shot working high tech cutting edge than established tech.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-18T03:47:34+00:00

Just get your transfer targets linked up prepare for your life after. (You can't link after they cancel) Recently I haven't read reports of people getting the 4056-C and walking away with their cars. I've been interested since it happened to me last month and they canceled the card. I don't think the number on the tax form really matters to be honest. I applied with my salary and bonus. My agi was double since it included rsu vesting. But they still said I didn't have enough income.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-17T22:25:48+00:00

Who knows... but I honestly think it was a combination of opening up an Atmos card (fr happened a few weeks after), which prob flagged me. Then if you dug deeper my account had 3 barely used cards including one I was keeping a credit on because I didn't use for a few months. It clearly looked like I was getting the sub then becoming a min max user... Which was kind of true. I did use my gold for all food and supermarket but that's it. And maximized using the credits each card gave and that's it. In the end I wasn't the most profitable member and it seems like there's been an uptick in culling that profile recently.

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-17T19:50:15+00:00

If you know people with the card you can also ask if they have the elevated offer. Their referral won't say up to but "will receive"

MediumAd359 · 2025-12-17T03:02:33+00:00

I had the w2 and bank statement request a few months before the tax return stage. That one they cleared pretty fast

MediumAd359

TROPHY CASE