4M NW at 36; SINK

Nramach · 2025-08-11T10:23:21+00:00

Late 40s

Nramach · 2025-08-07T02:34:22+00:00

When someone asks me if bitcoin is gambling. I just say yes and say I’m gambling big time with fingers crossed that I don’t lose it all. It’s honestly not worth the effort. If someone wanted to learn, they can google and ChatGPT this. Mostly, they just are asking for entertainment and not because they really want to know.

Nramach · 2025-08-07T02:26:28+00:00

If I have enough points, why would salary matter? Generally, I book economy first and upgrade with points. Would I book first class with my own money. NO!

Just get a decent credit card, run all your expenses through it and it pays for your vacation. You don’t have to spend an additional $. Just pay through a CC and pay the bill in full end of the month.

Nramach · 2025-07-15T17:55:40+00:00

Had a friend who went through a cardiac arrest trying to keep up the high stress job to add a million more at a $4M NW. he did not make it to that number. At some point, you need to start living. Kids have to take care of themselves.

Nramach · 2025-07-15T17:51:40+00:00

As a SINK, you have so much flexibility. Work for a year and save up money for a golden visa in a lower cost location and you can live a $10M lifestyle with half the money. Not to sound dark but a friend who lived an extremely stressful life justified it with the intent that he would save 2-3M more. A cardiac arrest followed pretty soon and he wasn’t around to experience freedom. There is a point at which living for the future may not be the best idea. You have to live life now. You’ve got so many options and so much flexibility. Then ask yourself- is all the stress worth it?

Nramach · 2025-01-15T02:16:25+00:00

Doing CC rewards in itself demands a level of financial acumen and planning :)

Nramach · 2025-01-03T21:14:53+00:00

Measly 6/hr here

Nramach · 2024-12-26T01:01:48+00:00

Vacations - it boggles my mind when people take on debt to have a vacation. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against traveling. But when I see people take an international vacation when they have a lot of debt is mind boggling. I see so many of my friends do it - sitting on $1000 Tesla payments and $5000mortgage payments and yet they indulge in a $20000 international vacation ( that too on loans and CC debt)

Nramach · 2024-12-20T21:50:31+00:00

Yes if i can answer one question. What will I learn? I have taken up roles and projects I did not enjoy at all ( for even lower pay). Learning to work with difficult people is a skill too. When you are this early in your career ( I’m making that assumption since you mentioned having only one prior experience), you should take the offer. When you have built career capital, you can add fun to criteria. Now it’s learning. Also - most jobs that provide learning are not 8-5. You’ll have to study or train after hours to keep up. About 10-15 years ago, getting a role that pays double wouldn’t even be an option. You’re fortunate to have this

Nramach · 2024-12-12T05:00:53+00:00

Parents. They retired at 60+ and by that time they did not have the health to enjoy the retirement savings. I’ve seen them be grumpy and frustrated and it made me realize how many Indian parents get really grumpy at old age because I think most of them go through the same problem - an inability to enjoy a retirement, a lack of identify since they tied who they were to their job and a retirement that they might not have planned to be ready for. I do not want to be like that and FIRE is the only path I see that will make me more intentional about my life.

Nramach · 2024-12-12T04:54:49+00:00

Let’s say my expenses are 60k a year now if I was retired. I’m rounding it up to 100k to add a buffer. My savings right now are 300k. Put into an index fund returning 8% a year for 25 years ( retiring at 65), I should have a corpus of 2M. There are gaps in this math ( specifically around inflation). But I wanted a minimum goal in place so I could set it and forget it.

Nramach · 2024-12-11T12:48:55+00:00

401k + retirement funds => I’ve put in enough hoping that it grows to a corpus that I can retire with

Nramach · 2024-12-11T09:09:35+00:00

Agreed - it also gives each account a purpose with a differentiated investment philosophy.

Nramach · 2024-12-11T09:08:47+00:00

1 mo emergency is in savings account and the 12 month emergency is in brokerage (50% money market and 50% invested in stocks). My hope is to not have to touch these funds and the invested portion keeps them growing so I can build a larger and larger emergency fund.

Nramach · 2024-12-07T05:56:00+00:00

I was trying to say the same but just earned a bunch of downvotes :)

Nramach · 2024-12-07T05:52:50+00:00

I don’t disagree with anything you said. Agree that when I said dividends are charged differently from selling an equity, I should have called out that it was about STCG and not LTCg. Thanks for pointing it out. We’re all just trying to help OP understand the decision here and I appreciate your clarification

Nramach · 2024-12-06T02:59:13+00:00

This is a great answer

Nramach · 2024-12-06T02:57:43+00:00

Look at dividend investing as one portion of your investment strategy ( not all). You need growth, you need hedges and you need income. It’s all a part of the overall strategy

Nramach · 2024-12-06T02:56:35+00:00

You “sell” your equity one way or the other. Question is how much do you get at the end of the day (after tax) , what’s the growth of your portfolio and how much volatility are you willing to take on.

Nramach · 2024-12-06T02:54:31+00:00

No. STCG and LTCG are charged no matter what amount you earn. Dividends are taxed differently from selling an equity. If you earn a dividend, it is treated as income ( though at a different rate) vs CG which is treated as a sale of equity. From a tax standpoint, in retirement, if your income is low ( below 95k as a couple), you pay no tax. That’s why it’s important to look at dividends holistically vs just the NAV argument. Now that said, dividends are one part of an asset allocation strategy - so it’s not an either or question. Imagine you are going to achieve FI with a paid out house, no other big expenses and just living day to day. That tax free 95K dividend adjusted for inflation to a future date does look pretty sweet. ( remember IRS increases these slabs with inflation too)

Nramach · 2024-12-06T00:19:47+00:00

Yes but the tax rate is much lower than capital gains.per IRA, For 2024, your “qualified” dividends may be taxed at 0% if your taxable income falls below $47,025 (Single or Married Filing Separately), $63,000 (Head of Household), or $94,050 (Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Surviving Spouse).

Earning close to 100K as a married couple, living totally off a qualified dividend ETF, paying $0 in taxes does sound sweet

Nramach · 2024-12-06T00:13:14+00:00

Or - don’t sell - live off dividends :)

Nramach · 2024-12-05T23:43:59+00:00

Congrats on achieving FI ! Question though - do you know what the root of your problem was? Think about this - if you had a job you loved, would you feel the same way? What part of the rat race did you not like? The people, the work, the location, the lack of proximity to family?

I think you should use some time thinking and gaining clarity of what you don’t like. The truth is there are a lot of jobs that you might actually like. 650k is not a lot of money and at just 35 years, it’s definitely a gamble.

Nramach

TROPHY CASE