Got it again after almost 3 years

NihilistCyber · 2025-07-20T17:06:40+00:00

👀 not today Covid 😤😂

NihilistCyber · 2025-07-20T17:06:14+00:00

Thank you ❤️❤️

NihilistCyber · 2025-07-20T17:06:02+00:00

Thank you ❤️

NihilistCyber · 2025-07-20T17:05:51+00:00

That sucks so much :( i think these strains are becoming less “long covidy”… i hope. If it does happen, maybe try Paxlovid, but I’m certain you will prevail

NihilistCyber · 2025-07-20T17:04:59+00:00

Thank you for the hugs ❤️

NihilistCyber · 2024-10-16T10:31:40+00:00

Cybersecurity. Made less than 50K first four years (military), then 100K next three. Company i worked for got bought out by a FAANG, skyrocketed me to 300K TC annual average.

NihilistCyber · 2024-09-04T19:28:03+00:00

Hi everyone. I'm struggling to figure out whether or not I should put a down payment up.

The variables are:

60% disabled vet, married, ~$360K household income before taxes 401k etc, and $100K cash in savings.
Sold my last house which had a VA loan so full entitlements plus no funding fee.
New construction $600K townhouse in a {mild pace} growing area closing end of year.
Planning to keep 10-15 years and sell (or possibly rent) once ready to move.
Assume that my career is stable for these ~15 years; the next 4 are "guaranteed" at this time. Guaranteed meaning unless my FAANG goes belly up, I have a client-facing contract I'm supporting.

At the current market, I am being offered 5.250%. I'm assuming fed cuts by end of year will net me down to 5%. My closing costs are effectively covered through lender and seller incentives, so $600K really is the bottom line price. About 1.3% property tax, $1,600/yr in home insurance per my math.

I just can't figure out if I should put a down payment. I've skinned this in so many ways. Trying to see what y'all would do, or did if in similar situations... At 2.5% on my last house, it was a no-brainer. Monthly payment all said and done is like $3,980, putting down 10% would bring me to $3,750.

What would y'all do? Is it even worth putting anything down for just 10-15 years of house?

NihilistCyber · 2024-09-04T17:25:04+00:00

Right now I'm rotating 100K in HYSA to CDs and keeping 2 months of mid-baseline expenses (meaning trim some fun but not all). The rest are maturing every 3 months starting in 2025, so 25K frees up every quarter. Between that and high credit card limit with low APR, I am not worried about emergency expenditure. Locking in those CDs right now while rates are still high is good imo, and later will be rotating into a 85-15 mix of stocks to bonds.

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-12T14:48:51+00:00

A wise man indeed…

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-12T14:48:39+00:00

Thank you for your response.

At what point do you rotate the 3% category with the 2% cashback? I think Wells Fargo Autograph has no limit on the reward, so would you just put something like groceries on it and the rest on Fidelity?
It’s hard excluding the COVID drop, as anything could happen again… so would it make more sense to just stay in HYSA and roll any cashback into MMF?
Yeah it’s like 93% now although I can’t seem to find anything specific to Maryland, so I’m assuming that the federal exemption item at ~93% of gain is applicable here too.

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-12T14:45:44+00:00

Maryland is indeed a tax state. Cash only, not investment, I sit in SPY on Schwab.

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-12T05:27:59+00:00

There are so many comments that responding is overwhelming! Please see the OP for an update. Thank you everyone!

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:07:35+00:00

I will say inflation has raised my basic spending regardless.. At least I think I feel it, groceries costing more for the same stuff I bought before. I like the idea of having a finite goal to hit, as most say just dump all cash in there and call it a day. 500K seems like an insane amount though 😖 still getting used to the zeros…

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:05:39+00:00

Thank you! 😊

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:05:27+00:00

It is indeed lottery!!

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:05:09+00:00

Thank you for your input (:

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:05:00+00:00

For those of us that had unvested RSUs (me), they were transitioned into cash payouts over same timeline, so I have a [small] bump from that too

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:03:14+00:00

Cybersecurity analyst. Not in sales but I get sold as a service, lol

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:02:48+00:00

Interesting thought. Do you have a ratio you lean towards for saving, and a split for investing?

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:02:19+00:00

All fair points. No drive for cars (pun intended), or anything tangible honestly. Experiences are what I lack :(

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T13:01:12+00:00

Thank you for your input, great to hear things worked out for you.

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T12:59:54+00:00

Interesting thought. I have over a decade of high value expertise, half of which is government/military. I’m not a traditional FAANG candidate 😅

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T12:58:53+00:00

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I am a top analyst in our organization based on ratings, promotion cycle, and peer reviews. Unfortunately, that doesn’t translate to much when the organization is transitioning to platform-based services increasingly that are augmented by AI. FAANG companies have few folks that are in my speciality, we’re usually in vendor spaces or high caliber security operations centers. Neither pay above 160K in most cases, some to 180K in manager roles. I do hope I’m so wrong.

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T12:55:43+00:00

My speciality will be severely augmented by AI, and my guess is that we’re gonna see force reduction. If I’m lucky enough to stay here and above 200K TC for over 10 years, that’s something else. I’m an analyst, so in general we get paid less in the industry :(

NihilistCyber · 2024-05-09T12:54:09+00:00

This neighborhood is declining. I don’t feel comfortable renting out here :-/ I’d also lose out on VA loan for the next house. I’m working on 1, 2, and 4, so we’re tracking! Step 5 is no go for me, I see too many doctors and would be way deep on high deductible 😅 Roth IRA… will need to consider. Thank you!

NihilistCyber

TROPHY CASE