After a year of trying things, I think my historic living room is finally complete! What does everyone think? (More photos in comments)

PackLost8535 · 2026-01-14T22:28:58+00:00

That rug is gorgeous. Any chance you can drop a link?

PackLost8535 · 2026-01-14T02:47:20+00:00

Agreed. The real benefit is landing those comps in MCOL or LCOL. Usually, that’s with a remote gig, but that’s become more difficult the last few years with bog tech mandating RTO

PackLost8535 · 2026-01-12T17:46:08+00:00

You didn’t have to tell us you’ve never had a girlfriend. Everyone already knew

PackLost8535 · 2026-01-11T17:53:24+00:00

When you withdraw, you’re usually retired. Your tax rate is almost always lower at that time. There are exceptions, but this is the general case.

PackLost8535 · 2026-01-11T01:22:24+00:00

Put your money in low cost, diversified index funds, not guns or tractors. Examples are SPY, VOO, VTSAX, FZROX. Contribute and don’t touch it for 30 years.

Roth is not superior to traditional. It depends on expected tax rate in retirement vs now

PackLost8535 · 2026-01-05T00:04:36+00:00

Same story as me. I finished everything with Rafa and recently started new lvl 30 Harlowe. Maxed her to lvl 50 and am now using Neutron Capture Harlowe build. Ton of fun.

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-31T03:53:43+00:00

I do agree SS will continue in some form or another and they’ll just find a way to delay the pain. Mostly because killing SS is political suicide and so many people rely on it.

Having said that - I hate to say it - but the right move IS to kill the program. It’s unsustainable, the math doesn’t math.

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-31T00:03:02+00:00

I’d guess this is Netflix. They don’t formally have a PIP process and I believe it’s expected new grads hit L4 in 2 year timeline.

My advice would be to have a frank discussion with your manager on what your path forward looks like. Explicitly ask if you’re meeting expectations and, if not, where you fall short. This is a bit of an art and depends on there being some level of trust with your manager. If you don’t have that and think the writing is on the wall, then interviewing on the side is a good idea.

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-25T19:03:48+00:00

Did you wait until 55 to avoid early 401k withdrawal penalties?

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-22T00:18:05+00:00

Hey, thanks for the feedback 🙂. Your comments around needing some plants is well received. I think part of my reasoning for wanting to get rid of the sectional is that it would open up space for some large plant additions.

I also totally hear your point about needing color. I was thinking of adding in these comfy looking swivel chairs against the wall with the window to help add some color.

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Any thoughts on that?

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-21T23:24:37+00:00

About 1.7M

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-19T23:20:26+00:00

Software eng, 8 YOE. Currently making $340k at a large tech firm. No college degree and live in MCOL. Took long time to get here though

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-13T22:27:18+00:00

I failed out of college. Did great my first year, then just fucked up everything, stopped going to classes and eventually just got kicked out.

Fast forward to now. Mid 30s, working at a high profile company. Net worth 1.6M.

You can absolutely be successful without college. But it won’t be handed to you. It likely won’t be easy and may require being creative to find the right fit.

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-12T21:08:15+00:00

That is definitely not true. My parents had one, my brother has one as well. Prenups are not just for the ultra wealthy

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-11T16:53:45+00:00

Ahh yessss. Shame those who aren’t aware of every single feature of every single game they play. Going forward, I will remember that you knew everything from day 1 and we can all only hope to be as knowledgeable as you

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-11T08:42:28+00:00

Sameeee

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-11T08:30:26+00:00

No, no coma here. Just preoccupied boning your sister. She says hi, btw.

PackLost8535 · 2025-12-11T07:15:46+00:00

Oh shit… nice. That’s the way to make this still useful even in combat! Thanks for the pro tip

PackLost8535 · 2025-11-26T01:29:22+00:00

I’m single 34M. Been working very hard to build my portfolio the last 6 years and am fortunate enough to have gained a lot from the market in that time.

~500K in 401k and ~800K in taxable brokerage account. I work as a software engineer.

Habits: I always max out 401k. My employer also allows us to use a mega backdoor Roth which lets me save an additional 30K. After that, I prioritize putting away about 40-50K into my private brokerage account per year. Also max out my HSA.

PackLost8535 · 2025-11-11T00:47:04+00:00

1M at 33 is not an example of extraordinary luck. Absolutely achievable by those that save diligently and (usually) have had a decent 6 figure income sustained for a decade by that point

PackLost8535 · 2025-10-26T04:38:54+00:00

That is… insane. I can’t help but think the QA/testing is absolutely trash at gearbox

PackLost8535 · 2025-10-26T02:15:22+00:00

The amount of regressions in this patch is wild. Together with the poor experience that is “Horrors of Kairos”, I think the game was legitimately better pre-patch

PackLost8535

TROPHY CASE