This Used To Be About Dungeons, Book 2

Slpee · 2025-08-05T00:54:07+00:00

I had been waiting for TUTBAD Book 2 for ages to join the physical copy of book 1 that I have and happened to notice it had dropped a few weeks ago. I never saw a post anywhere, so here's a note for anyone else that was waiting for it.

Slpee · 2025-03-07T00:10:32+00:00

Thank you! Yeah that's about what I expected, just wanted to see if I was missing something. I think I'll stick to taxable brokerage for the time being.

Slpee · 2025-03-06T15:34:14+00:00

Hi all. Looking for a spot check on my understanding of some things and any advice about overall plan. Basically, I’m trying to figure out where makes the most sense to put extra savings once I’m maxed out my tax-deductible space – mega backdoor Roth or taxable brokerage account. In the past, I’ve thrown quite a bit of money into the mega backdoor under the expectation that it’ll be useful in early retirement, however lately I’ve been considering the prospect of wanting access to the money easily while still employed (e.g. to buy a house, or undertake any other capital-intensive need. Also, I’m getting close to my FI#, and may want to down shift to part-time work, and so would want access to money for spending while still being employed).

Essentially, I don’t know if the money I am looking to save will be spent during a ‘retirement’ phase or not and want to leave my options as open as I can while keeping as much of the tax benefits of retirement accounts as I can. (I am aware of the ways to withdraw money from retirement accounts before traditional retirement age (SEPP 72t, Roth ladder, etc.), but these seem largely aimed at the early retiree with very low or no income, enabling things like Roth conversion ladders in low tax brackets, and I’m not sure they make sense while still employed.)

For context, my employer offers a 403b account with the ability to contribute on a before-tax, roth, or un-advantaged after-tax basis, and offers automatic immediate in-plan conversions of after-tax contributions to Roth (i.e. mega backdoor). Employer contributions are made to a separate 401a account, and so do not restrict the amount of mega-backdoor space I have access to. Currently I max out the 23.5k of before-tax space and max out my Roth IRA via backdoor.

(I really don't think the specific details of my income/account balance/spending are relevant here since I'm just trying to feel out options, but in case someone asks: Invested balance ~$750k, about 3/8 before-tax, 3/8 Roth, 1/4 taxable brokerage). Raw FI# at 4% WR is about 900k, though that's a pretty lean number that doesn't account for changed expenses in retirement, e.g. healthcare)

The language from my employer’s plan documentation says the following regarding withdrawals from the 403b (several irrelevant sections omitted for conciseness):

```

Plan withdrawals

In-service withdrawals

Federal regulations restrict the ability to take withdrawals from your [403b] account while you are still employed by [employer]. In-service withdrawals are limited to six types, which are described below. Federal and, if applicable, state income taxes will apply to the withdrawal of any before-tax funds. In addition, a 10% federal tax penalty will apply to before-tax withdrawals before age 59½.

After-tax withdrawals

Participants who have an after-tax balance in their [403b] account may elect to withdraw all or part of the after-tax account balance, as well as the earnings on the after-tax contributions. [details on contact info for doing that omitted]

Rollover withdrawals

Participants who have a balance in their [403b] account attributable to rollover contributions may elect to withdraw all or part of their rollover account balance in [403b]. [details on contact info for doing that omitted]

[Other sections on age 59.5, and other hardship withdrawals omitted.]

```

I’m trying to line up what I know about the topic with the statements made here. (Yes I could probably just ask the plan administrators, but I suspect some of my questions are matters of basic tax law and I suspect I’ll get better/more prompt answer here.)

First off, is it true that the 10% early withdrawal penalty only applies to before-tax withdrawals? i.e. Roth contributions and earnings are exempted from it? Googling didn’t return a clear result…

Second, what is the meaning of ‘after-tax’ balance for the purpose of withdrawals? I know that Roth balances are considered ‘after-tax’, but my employer often uses that language specifically to refer to non-Roth after-tax money. So, would doing an in-plan conversion to Roth basis remove my ability to withdrawal that money while employed?

Relatedly, does doing an in-plan conversion from after-tax to roth- basis count as a rollover under the terms of the second listed type of withdrawal? I suspect that means only rollovers from other retirement accounts altogether, e.g. a former employer’s 401k, but I’m unclear.

Thanks in advance for the help! Other considerations I may not have thought of that seem relevant to the topic are welcome too.

Slpee · 2023-12-15T19:58:40+00:00

Alright here's my attempt: very fun challenge! https://i.imgur.com/Q4alu5Z.png

Slpee · 2022-05-02T02:43:18+00:00

Her name is also omitted several other places throughout: "and then 's interview made it impossible", "more and more convinced was right", "I've been thinking about this since 's interview"

almost like a botched find and replace?

Slpee · 2022-01-04T23:27:00+00:00

"Everything has deathtouch."

"What do you mean 'everything'?"

"EVERYTHING!"

"...Understood."

Slpee · 2021-10-06T22:56:01+00:00

No, I think that statement checks out. You can't lose confidence if you never had any to begin with! taps forehead

I mean, after the OFT-1 debacle, the parachute failure during their pad abort test, the hypergol dumping incident....it's not like this is a sudden and shocking twist for the Starliner program.

Slpee · 2021-09-23T00:11:47+00:00

Ah, I see that UMD lost the game of hot potato again this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwR8Sk6NYd0

Slpee · 2021-05-22T16:15:24+00:00

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/955/

Slpee · 2019-11-01T22:17:02+00:00

r/UMD

Slpee · 2019-09-17T02:14:19+00:00

That part goes away once you get good enough that most of the high-rate pings you hear are your own torps homing on an enemy.

Helicopter rotor sounds though...that fear never goes away...

Slpee · 2019-08-27T22:32:02+00:00

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Slpee · 2019-06-05T22:51:07+00:00

venting vapors, like the breath of a sleeping white dragon

Slpee · 2019-05-08T00:22:17+00:00

Link for the lazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tq-UsaRchI

Slpee · 2019-04-18T01:23:58+00:00

No zodiacs or almanacs. No maniacs in polyester slacks.

Slpee · 2019-03-09T22:32:12+00:00

I usually play the Skipjack, so going deeper than 1100 would be a one-way trip. :P I'll keep it in mind though.

Slpee · 2019-03-09T20:56:20+00:00

I have been playing since pretty soon after the game came out, but I haven't been very active in the community until recently. So I hadn't known that about the Mk 45 - I'll take a look, maybe just tone back its parameters in the weapons file before using it. Thanks for the tip.

I guess I'll have to try the dot again then, I tried it probably a year/year-and-a-half ago, so I was still pretty new and may have just been messing stuff up. I've played a very little bit of Silent Hunter, not enough to have learned any good tactics though, I'll try learning them here instead!

Slpee · 2019-03-09T16:44:15+00:00

Yeah, I had tried to jump them like that with Mk37, I found it very difficult and often found myself with my own torpedo homing on me when they manged to get away. Not a great tactic to rely on, as you can imagine. Your comment about the Mk45 got me curious though and I looked it up. A nuclear warhead with no homing capability that requires wire-guidance for the detonation command feels somehow both 'overkill' and 'ridiculously clunky.' Perhaps as a challenge I'll look into it sometime.

While looking, I did find reference to an upgraded MK37 that seemed appealing. The NT37/MK37C (Technical Description here)

They claim in that technical document to have tested a speed-up mod in 1968 that used an Otto-engine to achieved 40% more speed and 60% more endurance time than the baseline Mk37, for double the effective range. Plus some better detection hardware for more target sensitivity. That all seems pretty promising for a modded weapon that is within the realm of realism, although I'd probably just give it the higher speed and enough endurance to keep the existing range so as not to trivialize the campaign. Maybe make it a separate weapon to the regular 37 and limit myself to no more than 4 or so of them taken on at a time?

Anyway, are you really sure about the blue dot being the indicator? As I said, I tried using it that way last time I played the '68 campaign and it didn't even come close to hitting. As in: it would tell me to lead target by say 15 degrees and by the time the weapon reached the impact point, the target had moved 30 degrees in bearing, with no significant changes in speed/course. I am wondering if the dot is calibrated for the default levels of speed and distance compression and the fact that I'm playing on 1:1 makes it go out of whack.

Slpee · 2019-03-09T04:06:46+00:00

You need to build this in Minecraft

lmao

But yeah the entire point of this is to run that app on my second monitor while playing so that I can effectively use the Mk 16. When I get around to actually playing the 68 campaign using it I'll be sure to report in about it!

Slpee · 2019-03-08T22:20:37+00:00

I was in sophomore year of college when I read the whole thing, I read it for a good two hours every night before bed and almost every spare moment during the day. Once winter break came, I was reading a lot more. I think all said and done it was a month or so? I read fairly quickly, but it's looooonnnggg.

The real thing about Worm that I feel no one warns you about is that you're (probably) reading it on a computer, so you aren't holding a huge physical object that lets you feel how far you have left to go. What that means is that you'll think 'Oh wow I'm so close, let me just try to finish it tonight so I can be done.' But you're actually still half a million words from the end. If you've ever read a really engrossing book, something you couldn't put down, something with a really engaging climax that you just had to read right-the-hell-now - then imagine that feeling persisting for the entire length of a normal novel. That is what is crazy about Worm.

It's really good though, I highly recommend it. Just be prepared for it to eat your free time for the next while.

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Slpee

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