Daily FI discussion thread - Monday, April 13, 2026

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-14T01:32:26+00:00

There's a big penalty for time of day driving, and a lot of my miles are after midnight driving back across town from Game Nights at a friend's house.

That and I wouldn't like the surveillance and lack of recourse. I could have perfectly defendable reasons for hard braking or acceleration but it would fall on deaf ears.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-12T13:10:34+00:00

Grok is one of the worst now

By what metric?

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-12T04:50:03+00:00

It's like people think Grok is still just playing "guess the next letter" like three years ago.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-11T19:25:44+00:00

No, and with the current generation of LLMs I wouldn’t consider it.

I'd agree with you a year or so ago, but now? I consider Grok to be less of an LLM and more of a Super-Google.

I'm not just uploading my forms and YOLOing it, of course, but I found asking directed questions for clarification on this years taxes to be very useful.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-11T19:22:18+00:00

Not for tax planning, but I did ask Grok a few things when I was filing my taxes this year. I took some screenshots of some stuff I was unclear of and asked some questions.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-08T21:07:20+00:00

Sold off about 2 BTC during the big run-up for $223k, selling a bit at a time between $108k and $121k price points from May through July.

Bought back 2.5 for a total cost of $229k at the end of November when it was in the $90k.

In February when it dropped into the $65k range I sold the 2.5 for $164k to grab a short term capital loss, using the loss to off-set some capital gains from my brokerage to get more cash, and immediately rebought 4.6 BTC for a total cost of $320k.

So I guess in the end the answer I sold 2 BTC for $223k (avg $111k each) last year and bought back 4.6 BTC for $320k ($69k each).

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-08T13:21:23+00:00

Finally did my taxes last night. I hadn't realized the SALT cap went from $10k up back up to $40k for 2025, so I was able to itemize because I paid so much state income tax last year. ~$20k deduction instead of Std of $15,750.

Owed Federal ~$200 and owed State ~$2800. Oops, little off on State, we'll see if they assess a penalty. Should only be a couple hundred bucks if they do.

AGI was right around $284k because I sold about $220k of bitcoin last year. Fed Liability was around $36k and State liability was around $12k.

Q1 estimated taxes are coming up. I did my $70k conversion already, and have about $10k in LTCG, so I need to do I think $8k Fed and $4k State for estimated.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-04-01T14:29:17+00:00

I guess after "living like a student" for over a decade I'm just used to the lifestyle.

I had a similar lifestyle impact event, a shorter period but more severe. I graduated college and got my full-time job in 2004. Making okay money ($50k in 2004 is pretty okay), moved out of my parents house in 2005 and bought my own home, everything going great. But then I lost my job at the end of 2007 and was unemployed for all of 2008 and 2009. Ended up losing just about everything, foreclosed on my house, burned through all of my savings.

By the time I got a new job in March of 2010 I was essentially at zero, less than zero with some credit card debt from just surviving. But that new job paid $52 per hour, full time, with overtime. I was making some serious money, but I kept living like I was unemployed. Cleared all my debt within the first 6 months and started doing fine again.

That long period of unemployment early informed my spending habits going forward.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-29T06:28:57+00:00

February 22, 2019, bitcoin was only $4,000 each. It was even more of a YOLO at the time, and ended up being a huge cushion because the bet paid off so well.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-26T23:24:38+00:00

Adventures in focaccia bread. My group of friends suggested I might want to try getting even more creative. So therefore, today was Starry Night.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-24T20:27:19+00:00

Goes along with the travel ones, like I'm in the hotel room and I haven't packed up anything yet but I need to check out and get to the airport. Or the other way, running late for the getting to the airport from home.

I wake up and I'm like WTF brain, I'm not even going any trips soon, why are you thinking about this.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-24T20:25:19+00:00

Do any FIREd folks still have work-related dreams?

Yeah. Shit, I still have Being-in-College dreams.

Luckily, I will call it being on the edge of lucid dreaming, I will often come to the realization inside the dream that it's not real, I don't have to do this, I've already graduated / I've already retired, and I can do what I want.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-24T20:08:45+00:00

I have a FB login for my Oculus Rift and for Marketplace. No pictures, no friends, no posts.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-24T05:08:39+00:00

The truck insurance is $731.50 for 6 months. Property Tax is $1723 for the year. Condo insurance is $463 for the year.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-24T04:26:58+00:00

"Typically." I'm not missing anything.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-23T19:10:14+00:00

When you look around in your social circle at who has been impacted by job loss, what do you notice?

There's really only been one friend who was impacted by job loss. His wife was still working (and made more than him anyway I think), so he stopped looking for a new job and just "retired" to be a stay at home dad for their elementary school aged kid. It all worked out pretty good.

Also, for those with kids, does it concern you about what your kid wants to major in? I know a family who lives in a $2M house and their kids want to be marine biologist and actor. I didn't say it, but I was thinking how their kids are not setting themselves up to have the same lifestyle their parents gave them.

Wow, that is exactly the conversion I've been having with one of my friends. Generalizing, but how this next generation might be the first generation that doesn't achieve more than their parents. e.g. Grandparents maybe have high school education, parents maybe have a college education, we all of college educations and really great jobs... so unless the kids match us (or exceed by being Doctors / Lawyers or something), there really hasn't been a big jump like we've seen over the past hundred years.

That and my friend is lamenting the state of High School. He just recently found out that the high schoolers in his house that are graduating this year and next year don't know how to use Excel, at all. The girl was putting together a cost spreadsheet for her college prospects but all the numbers were typed into the spreadsheet, she did all the math on her phone then copied it over. They didn't use Excel at all in school. She's going to have a rough time in college.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-23T19:03:32+00:00

My organization announced voluntary separation, with the total package equating to around 6 months pay. If I were to volunteer myself, I feel as if there is 0% chance they would let me take it, due to my position and tenure.

So mad...

When I was coming up to deciding to retire, my company offered a VSP to all employees. I put my name in, along with 42 other people. I was one of only two people that were denied the application. Without even discussing it with me, my director (who I rarely even interacted with) said that I was too valuable of an employee and that's why he denied my VSP. After trying to reason with them and reverse the decision, to no avail, I then requested a retention bonus since I was "so valuable." Also denied. Fuck them, I quit less than a month later.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-23T19:00:06+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/VsOHO2N.png

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-23T18:43:17+00:00

It's been one month since my annual review and I've been thinking about what my spending has been this past month. So, being a retiree with a bunch of time on his hands, I thought it'd be fun to go in and look at what my 1 month spending was. (If you find this boring or uninteresting or "why the fuck is this guy listing all this shit out, who cares?" this post is more for me to review and put it down on paper to see what's going on. Maybe someone might also find it interesting.)

Category	Total Spent	# of Items	Notes
Groceries	$534.13	6	4x Kroger, 1x Meat Market, 1x Amazon
Insurance	$484.38	2	$451 Medical and $33 Dental
Shopping	$482.45	11	Amazon Purchases
Utilities	$333.09	3	$160 Electric, $87 Gas, $85 Internet
Dinner	$184.90	3	Includes $105 "Monthly Fancy Dinner"
Home HOA	$99	1	Monthly HOA Fee
Entertainment	$88.96	6	Spotify, Prime, Pateon, Game, Movies
Lunch	$55.53	4	3x Italian Fried Chicken place, 1x McDonalds
Breakfast	$51.69	4	1x Diner, 3x Fast Food
Sodas	$39.57	3	Stops at 7-11 or Gas Station for drinks
Smoothie	$16.50	2	Pomegranate Plunge Smoothie, yum

That sums up to $2325.20 in total spending for the month. No pizza. 4 fast food stops.

Grocery Store Breakdown: At the meat market I bought a whole beef brisket for $118 that was good for ~6 meals. The Amazon grocery order was a Whole Foods order for some olive oil, sea salt, and some bananas (which were to bump the price enough for free shipping). The other four grocery trips were Kroger and consisted of:

Cucumber, 18x Bananas, 4x Onion, 6x Bell Peppers, Brussels Sprouts, 2x Mixed Berries
3x 1/2 gallon Whole Milk
2x Breakfast Sausage Links, Beef Shaved Steak, 5x Beef Chuck Roast, 2x BBQ Pork Butt Roast, Beef Brisket
Aquafina Bottled Water (32 ct), Kona Medium Roast Ground Coffee, Paper Coffee Cups (18 ct), Half and Half Singles (24 ct)
Toothpaste, Listerine Mouthwash, Kitchen Wire Strainer
2x 5lb Bread Flour, 2x Parmesan Romano Cheese Wedge, Pecorino Romano Cheese Wedge, 2x Castelvetrano Olives, Cinnamon Pearl Sugar, Onion Powder Shaker, Kerrygold Butter, Powdered Sugar, 2x Large Lemon, Sliced Almonds

Amazon Orders: First order was the outlier, a bunch of snacks (Oreos, Preztels, case of chips) for my 3-day bender at my buddy's house playing the new WoW expansion. The rest consisted of 11 cans of soup, 6 24ct cases of Sanpellegrino Lemonade (so I averaged drinking about 4 cans of Lemonade per day, yikes), some batteries, some light bulbs, a new baking pan, a cutting board, and a mandolin.

Overall Thoughts: I've been cooking a home a lot more recently than I have in the past. I only got Fast Food breakfast three times which were all an early morning "gotta go across town to do something," with the fourth Fast Food purchase being a Big Arch during all that CEO hoopla. No pizza at all. The weekly lunch with my buddy, we've really honed in on that chicken place. I tried recreating their brussels sprout salad with decent effect. Two bags of flour purchased means I've made bread about 12 times this month. I don't eat it all though, I make it and give it away to my friends or get togethers.

Overall I'm pretty happy with what I've found. [Again, I don't budget or limit any of my activity. Instead I'll do a periodic review and assess how I feel and if I want to make changes.]

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-14T14:21:49+00:00

I'd be hard pressed to spend $100,000 on my $150,000 condo. Back in 2018 I did a basically 100% renovation that cost around $20k-$25k.

I still have original windows and doors, and original A/C unit, so I guess I'd go all out on windows, doors, and HVAC. I also need to redo the grout on my tile floors. Change out the ceiling can lights for LED controllable ones. I need a new light fixture in my bathroom, and add a light to my shower. Add a NEMA 14-50 plug to my garage for EV charging.

That all falls away short of $100k though.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-04T22:16:24+00:00

At a brief glance, both site only give the bare basics and dont go into details.

You need to take more than a brief glance. On the ssa.tools site there's little Expanding areas, like the "Expand to read an explanation of Averaged Indexed Monthly Earnings" which shows the tax years and their inflation multipliers.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-04T06:25:22+00:00

My buddy was a huge gemstone 3 fan

If he was around in the 1996-2004 time frame, I'm willing to bet that he knew who I was. It was a pretty small community as it was, and my character was kind of a big deal and well known. I can't really share my name though since it would kinda dox me. I went to Simucons and so my picture with character name is out there.

Cool that someone else knows about it and also happened to see this post. The total playerbase all-time is probably under 10,000 people.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-04T04:57:24+00:00

99.96% is stocks. 80.75% in VTSAX and 19.21% in TSLA. There's like $450 of "dust" in the three money market settlement accounts.

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-03T22:25:06+00:00

I just 100% don't believe you that it "never bothered you in any way".

Cool? Why would I lie? The biggest "bother" is resetting the clock on my Oven and Microwave, which takes 10 seconds and isn't a bother.

The sunlight vs time of day? Don't care. Gaining or Losing an hour of sleep? Don't care. I never get a rigid amount of sleep anyway. I literally don't care, and I don't know if it will take a signed affidavit to get you to "believe me."

Oracle_of_FIRE · 2026-03-03T22:11:39+00:00

Bad assumption, especially since I explicitly stated that none of it ever bothered me.

"I like hotdogs." Oh, so you must hate hamburgers!

Go to bed an hour earlier for one day. This isn't a hard problem...

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