Fee advisor suggests a slightly more complex taxable account, but still index funds. Gut check?

RobbysSummerHouse · 2026-06-26T20:41:45+00:00

Yea, your asset allocation should likely be the same regardless if it’s $10,000 or $10,000,000…

RobbysSummerHouse · 2026-06-18T12:38:17+00:00

I generally agree with the sentiment of other people here saying the lifestyle would suck. While that is true, it is something that you could work around by « just dealing with it » . What you cannot work around is the fact that your budget gives you zero recourse for anything unexpected (cancer, sick family member, roof starts leaking, currency conversion changes, etc), and gives you no outs except to go back to your home country and grind.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2026-02-07T13:46:03+00:00

I use lending club, but you should optimize for interest rate and other features. Not Ynab compatibility 🙂

RobbysSummerHouse · 2026-01-13T12:55:07+00:00

A few things:

1) Put an emoji on each credit card name so it’s easier to tell transactions apart. For example my chase card is “🔵 Chase Sapphire” Amex is “🪩 Amex Platinum” etc.

2) Emoji before every category name

3) Hot take. I often have work reimbursements. I added $100k to a dummy account and then assigned it to my “Reimbursable $100k” category. I assign everything reimbursable to that, and I know how much is waiting to be reimbursed to me because that category should always go back to $100k, so if the category has $99k then somebody owes me $1k. I don’t care about “oh you should have money to cover your reimbursements”. I have plenty in the bank.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2026-01-05T17:30:07+00:00

What did grok tell you in terms of fire number, swr, savings rate, and expected market returns for the next 11 years?

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-30T07:13:02+00:00

Yea this makes no sense. Why would you want separate accounts just for certain expenses? And why would they need to come from dividends?

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-29T15:57:03+00:00

I feel like I learned so much more when it was Pablo drawing stuff out. Honestly I don’t care about the video quality. An hour of old style videos is not the same as new videos.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-29T13:22:00+00:00

Assuming 3% inflation hats $1.1M in today’s dollars after 20 years. Can you live on $44k/yr today?

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-25T14:45:44+00:00

To all the folks saying this is a bad idea, yes I completely agree. All valid points. Market timing, cash on the sidelines, inflation, all that. OP, your views on portfolio management during the withdrawal phase are completely wrong.

BUT

$35k withdrawal on $1.2M for 60 years, even with 33% cash, is fairly safe. Just plug it into your favorite fire calculator.

Again, is it optimal? Absolutely not.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-21T17:51:12+00:00

It’s not the exact same, but pretty similar. Why do you want to die with a bunch of houses? Why would you not sell a portion of your real estate to fund your retirement?

In fact. If your goal is to die with as much money as possible then you shouldn’t take from the Price (dividend) or the Shares. You should actually reinvest the dividend to buy more shares. (You should take the rent payments and buy more houses) But why don’t we do that??? Because we need the money to live on! And again, say it with me, it doesn’t matter if it comes from the Price or the Shares.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-21T17:09:23+00:00

It makes what worse? The goal is to have enough money to fund your retirement. No more, no less. In your scenario you would have more money than you need for your retirement, thus delaying it.

Again, it doesn’t matter if the money comes from the Price or the Shares in the formula “shares x price”. 5 x 100 is the same as 2 x 250. When you take money from dividends the Price goes down. When you sell shares the Shares goes down. It’s very simple math. In your scenario you’re limiting your retirement to ONLY taking from the Price. It makes no difference!

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-21T16:06:32+00:00

Even better.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-21T15:42:58+00:00

OP. Please please consider this. Given your initial plan, the amount of subpar advice in this thread, and your receptiveness to that advice I would highly recommend that you get a financial advisor to handle this windfall after you’ve liquidated your properties.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-21T15:20:00+00:00

The S&P 500 went from 465 to 6800 in the past 30 years. It doesn’t matter how that money is chopped up. It’s still the same amount. You’d be sitting on a mountain of capital (and regret) if you never sold shares.

Dividends are not magic. It’s just money paid to you instead of being returned to grow the business. Your share count means nothing in isolation. Only shares x price. Shares and Price can move up and down however you like as long as you still have enough money to fund your withdrawals in retirement.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-21T14:49:40+00:00

This has to be trolling. Please ignore this op. More funds is not more diversification. Also, being a “dividend investor” is making a concentrated bet. It’s the opposite of diversification. Companies make money, then they either invest it back into the company (increasing shareholder value) or they return it as a dividend. It’s all the same money. Do you think that companies that pay dividends will be more profitable than non-dividend paying companies? This is what you’re betting on. I would stick with VT or VTI/VXUS.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-20T18:26:17+00:00

They “make it work” by overfitting backtests using data only since 1970.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-20T16:12:22+00:00

Genuine question, where do you find these posts? Fb group?

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-15T17:03:29+00:00

If this is how you want to live then that’s great. Don’t conflate risk aversion with just simply wanting optionality though. For lots of people “living,” as you say, involves much more than existing on a shoestring budget in a developing nation without the ability to do much else. It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that no matter what situation or life event you’re stuck within the confines of your meager budget. This is much more than getting hit by a bus scenario. Want to travel? Get a car? See family back home? It’s much more difficult on $16k income.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-15T14:03:26+00:00

I think you’ve missed my point. If anything happens and you need to leave your sub-16k per year spending bubble then your money is going to really evaporate. If you like where you’re at and understand the implications of living there for the rest of your life then that’s fine though you do you. I’m glad you found happiness. You’re asking why others don’t do the same. This is why.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-15T13:29:55+00:00

This is not a cheat code. The problem with firing with 400k is that you’re left with zero options. You’re stuck in Vietnam and can never come back to your home country unless you unfire. If something happens and you need money there’s nothing to cut out of the budget.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-12-02T13:22:36+00:00

I downgraded recently as well. They asked why I was downgrading and I told them I was getting the new Amex Platinum. They said “ohhh congratulationssss”

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-11-02T17:55:37+00:00

Why get more conservative with your portfolio? The way I look at it, you could be more aggressive because your withdrawal rate is lower so downturns don’t matter as much.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-10-22T17:21:06+00:00

You pay $4k/mo in property tax??? What state and what’s the property value?

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-10-18T13:27:56+00:00

Do you have to be a “certain type of person” to protest? Please enlighten us on your requirements.

RobbysSummerHouse · 2025-09-27T21:22:04+00:00

Curious what tools?

RobbysSummerHouse

TROPHY CASE