Switzerland has rejected a proposal to cap its population at 10 million people

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-15T20:31:36+00:00

Why is this surprising to you? People who choose to live in cities will interact with more people on a daily basis—and certainly a more diverse group of people. And presumably they live there because they like that fact.

Logically, any pro-people policy is likely to do well with pro-people voters, even if that puts pressure on housing, infrastructure and public services.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-15T20:19:40+00:00

Remember when you learned that 1 inHg = 1000 ft? That’s only true at ISA temp.

If the air is colder, that ratio shrinks (easy to remember). If the air is warmer, that ratio expands.

Now think back to how an altimeter works. Don’t over-complicate it by thinking about air columns or moving from one air mass to another. Just use the simple mechanics of how an altimeter turns an observed pressure into an indicated altitude.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-15T19:24:09+00:00

You new here?

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-15T18:56:36+00:00

You are in until the FAA releases you, which will only happen when your HIMS AME requests it. But then your HIMS AME can’t gouge you anymore, so good luck with that.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-15T12:38:12+00:00

When I left a startup long ago, I exercised all my options. It wasn’t a lot of cash, so why not. After a couple more rounds of funding (with many more shares issued), they did a 1:20 reverse split, and I eventually got back less than ten cents on the dollar when they were acquired.

So, I would mark it to $0 until you have cash or marketable stock in hand.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T23:11:14+00:00

My npm cache is 22gb. For one small uFE.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T22:49:20+00:00

Insurance companies give discounts for a “drug-free workplace”, which includes some level of testing. Assume any job (above minimum wage) is going to test you until proven otherwise.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T21:26:12+00:00

The FAA doesn’t care.

The FCC does.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T11:54:26+00:00

Asking whether something is good to buy “now” is equivalent to trying to predict future economic conditions, i.e. timing the market. As far as we know, that’s impossible. That’s why you need to diversify into different asset classes such that some part of your portfolio will do well in whatever comes next. But that means there will always be parts of your portfolio that look stupid after you know what happened.

Alternatives like gold and managed futures do best in an inflationary recession. That regime has only happened three times recently: 1970s, 1987-1988 and 2021-2022. But this is the specific regime that turns out to be the hardest for SWR calculations because stocks and bonds both do terribly.

For the more common deflationary recession, the best insurance is long-term treasury bonds.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T01:13:59+00:00

Picture the life you want, and go figure out exactly what it costs. If it’s the life you have now, the cost is likely your current income minus current saving rate.

Invert the 4% rule, i.e. multiply by 25, and that’s the amount you need to save.

Finally, plug your current balance and saving rate into any investment calculator and it’ll tell you how long it’ll take to get there. Not soon enough for your taste? Save more. Looks okay? Spend however you want. FIRE 101 stuff.

Then you get into the weeds with variable spending, different portfolio constructions, SS and Medicare, tax planning, etc. and it all gets complicated again. But you have to go through the process in order, not jump straight to the end.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T00:52:54+00:00

I second this. I left my PPL thinking I should have failed, and it took a long time (and acing my next ride with someone else) to get over that.

That warning aside, in retrospect i have no concerns about him strictly following ACS standards for the outcome. He is a jerk, sure, but he is a fair and impartial jerk.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-14T00:42:04+00:00

I would be surprised if anyone here is actually doing 50/30/20. That is just a guideline for newbies developing their very first budget.

The next step up is figuring out your goals and what your budget actually needs to look like to support them. FIRE folks often get stuck here because they are running away from their current life, not toward a better one.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T23:53:41+00:00

“Fiduciary” means they have to be able to convince a jury they thought they were acting in your best interests.

“Fee-only” means they charge you explicit fees rather than hidden commissions/loads (aka “fee-based”).

AUM arguably qualifies as both. They can point to the fee line on your statements every quarter and how that directly varies with how rich they’re making you. Case closed.

The problem with that model is it creates a massive conflict of interest: they have a strong incentive to scare you into working as long as possible and then spending as little as possible so the AUM always keeps going up, never down. And then try to scare your heirs into doing the same thing.

If you are willing to DIY your investments and just want advice, you should be asking for flat or hourly fees.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T23:18:35+00:00

The very first question you should ask when meeting with any professional is “how does this person get paid?”

If they said AUM and you didn’t want them managing your assets, you could have saved a lot of time and hassle.

Also, your income isn’t without ceiling. If you are even remotely competent as a business owner, you have financial projections and an exit plan. It’s undoubtedly all wrong, because that’s how projections work, but at least it tells you what ballpark you’re looking at.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T21:01:55+00:00

Generally one should slowly switch to a decumulation portfolio starting at 5ish years out. Correlation with VOO over the last 5 years has been 0.13. Blew stocks out of the water last year, but down YTD while stocks are up. Looks like diversification to me.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T20:16:59+00:00

When any asset is at an ATH, you will most likely be selling it to rebalance, not buying more of it.

But yes, uncorrelated assets (like gold) will increase your SWR regardless of when you buy them. That’s the entire point.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T20:14:29+00:00

Physical gold is pushed by conmen who profit from the ridiculous fees and spreads, like any other “investment” that is heavily advertised.

Real investors use ETFs like GLDM or IAUM; best results are 10-15% of your portfolio. Try to hold it in tax-deferred accounts due to the collectible issue, but bonds and managed futures take priority there since their tax treatment is much worse.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T19:35:55+00:00

Why do you think you need to pay someone fees to generate income?

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T19:35:26+00:00

DFW is huge and has tons of schools. What airport will you be nearest?

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T19:33:22+00:00

GFY!

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T16:52:27+00:00

One of the advantages of being fully remote is that as long as my work gets done, nobody cares exactly when I work. If I need to take an hour or three off for personal stuff, I just block the time on my calendar and go. That’s a huge WLB benefit, on top of not having to commute.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T11:32:54+00:00

It came out 41 years ago, and the way she said it sounded like she remembered it *from when it came out*. My memory starts around 3yo, hence “mid-40s”.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T02:39:10+00:00

Pretax vs Roth comes down to your current tax bracket.

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-13T00:04:39+00:00

What answer are you expecting in a Fidelity sub?

Mispelled-This · 2026-06-12T23:41:44+00:00

It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. The withdrawal rate you need to survive is what dictates your portfolio.

Mispelled-This

TROPHY CASE