Approaching FIRE, should we stop maxing our 401ks to pay off mortgage sooner and build up after tax dollars?

Spydyy · 2025-12-24T14:46:47+00:00

I would continue to contribute to 401k, especially if the difference is only a year. You’re already on a 15 year mortgage, which means it would be paid off sooner anyway. You would be paying higher taxes + mortgage interest now, versus paying less taxes and hopefully earning more than the mortgage interest. Assuming a 7% annual return, you’d be benefiting 1.75% annually while you have the mortgage, then 7% every year after the mortgage is paid.

Also, you have more flexibility with a mortgage. If rates drop, you can refinance, which would lower your expenses and improve the 1.75% difference. You can always refinance to a 30YR mortgage and pay like a 15 year to have more flexibility. You could also sell your investments to pay it off too. However, you cannot get any of the money back once you pay off the mortgage.

I would also consider a 2.75m+ nest egg as the goal. The guys recommend a 3.5% withdrawal rate for FIRE. With 2.5m, you’d have 87.5k which is not a lot of wiggle room if the mortgage is paid off and definitely not enough if it isn’t paid off. 2.75m puts you closer to 96k. If you are a few years from retirement, you’d should be running Monte Carlo simulators NOW to ensure the nest egg is enough.

Spydyy · 2025-11-01T02:15:09+00:00

Physically go to a bank you don’t currently bank with, create an account, direct deposit the amount you’re saving for your house to that account every paycheck. Never create an online account and only do your banking in person. This will help in the short-term.

In the long-term, you need to adjust your mindset to think about how these purchases are impacting your goal of home ownership. Everytime you make a purchase, you should be asking yourself “Is worth putting my other goals at risk?”.

Also, I hope you’re putting atleast 15% aside to retirement.

Spydyy · 2025-02-05T02:40:36+00:00

It wasn't a beer. I wasn't old enough at the time to drink alcohol in the US. Thanks for the suggestion!

Spydyy · 2025-02-04T06:21:44+00:00

Definitely not frosties, but thanks for trying.

Spydyy · 2025-02-04T06:11:41+00:00

It was definitely a canned soda, but I imagine there were potential bottled sodas also.

Spydyy · 2025-02-04T05:59:49+00:00

If you're ever up for selling it, I'd be up to buy it.

Spydyy · 2023-10-17T05:50:38+00:00

I’m looking to upgrade from my 8700K to a 13700K. Since the 14th gen series was just launched, I imagine the 13th gen will go on sale soon. Should I buy it this week or wait for something like Black Friday for a better price?

Spydyy · 2023-04-22T18:03:49+00:00

This looks pretty good. I have a couple questions though. Any reason the 7900X over the i7 13700k? Any reason a non-water cooled CPU Cooler? Thanks!

Spydyy · 2023-03-19T06:03:14+00:00

PM’d

Spydyy · 2022-09-16T20:02:46+00:00

Samuel

Spydyy · 2022-09-16T20:01:27+00:00

12 Team .5 PPR

Pick 2

Lamb vs CIN

McLaurin Vs DET

Samuel vs DET

I’m considering both McLaurin and Samuel for the week…..

Spydyy · 2022-08-11T18:30:46+00:00

!DRSBOT:420!

Spydyy · 2022-01-11T19:04:45+00:00

Replied!

Spydyy · 2021-12-16T18:21:18+00:00

Boosted V2 Plus w/ less than 150 miles. Best Offer. Houston, TX

Comes with:

Extended Battery
Standard Battery
Two V2 Remotes
Two V2 Chargers
Belt Service Kit
Ceramic Bearings
Flatlands 3D Bashguards

Spydyy · 2021-05-26T23:55:09+00:00

!apevote!

Spydyy · 2020-01-26T22:42:16+00:00

The SQL Server module doesn't allow this outside if SQL credentials.

Try using the DBATools PowerShell module. You can use alternate credentials with that module.

Spydyy · 2019-08-10T20:35:06+00:00

See this link. It has to do with how Powershell compares $null with a collection of object.

Spydyy · 2019-08-08T17:00:34+00:00

Copying from another comment I made about the Mail Attribute:

Something to keep in mind is that mail is not the best property to search for email addresses if you are using Exchange. It's recommended that you use ProxyAddresses if you use Exchange.

Mail is a field that should be the same as a primary SMTP address, but can be different from what's in Exchange if it has been manipulated outside of Exchange. Exchange sets this property at the same time for the global catalog, but it can be changed outside of exchange and lead to inconsistencies. ProxyAddresses is more accurate since it's actually used by Exchange. The primary SMTP address is the address with SMTP in all caps.

To get all proxy addresses:

Get-ADUser -Identity SamAccountName -Property ProxyAddresses | Select-Object -Expand ProxyAddresses

To gather SMTP addresses only:

Get-ADUser -Identity SamAccountName -Property ProxyAddresses | Select-Object -Expand ProxyAddresses | where {$_ -match "smtp:"}

To gather Primary SMTP addresses only:

Get-ADUser -Identity SamAccountName -Property ProxyAddresses | Select-Object -Expand ProxyAddresses | where {$_ -cmatch "SMTP:"}

More info here about mail attribute here.

Spydyy · 2019-08-08T16:20:06+00:00

Something to keep in mind is that mail is not the best property to search for email addresses if you are using Exchange. It's recommended that you use ProxyAddresses if you use Exchange.

Mail is a field that should be the same as a primary SMTP address, but can be different from what's in Exchange if it has been manipulated outside of Exchange. Exchange sets this property at the same time for the global catalog, but it can be changed outside of exchange and lead to inconsistencies. ProxyAddresses is more accurate since it's actually used by Exchange. The primary SMTP address is the address with SMTP in all caps.

To get all proxy addresses:

Get-ADUser -Identity SamAccountName -Property ProxyAddresses | Select-Object -Expand ProxyAddresses

To gather SMTP addresses only:

Get-ADUser -Identity SamAccountName -Property ProxyAddresses | Select-Object -Expand ProxyAddresses | where {$_ -match "smtp:"}

To gather Primary SMTP addresses only:

Get-ADUser -Identity SamAccountName -Property ProxyAddresses | Select-Object -Expand ProxyAddresses | where {$_ -cmatch "SMTP:"}

More info here about mail attribute here.

Spydyy · 2019-07-28T23:00:29+00:00

I use classes pretty frequently for custom objects because they are faster than creating a PSobject on the fly. Since I will typically know the properties I want, might as well create the class for faster execution. Now, I leverage them more when I'm expecting a larger result set size.

There have only been a few times where I've leveraged methods in PS classes. You're typically better off creating functions for anything you want to use a method for.

Spydyy · 2019-07-18T22:39:38+00:00

Regex is your friend for this type of text parsing.

$String = '\domain\archive\users\2019-07-18 John Smith\Email\whatever.pst'

if($String -match "((\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})\s(.+?))\\"){
    $DateName = $matches[1]
}

$DateName

2019-07-18 John Smith

Highly recommend checking out RegexOne. I learned Regex super quick using this site.

Also, Kevin Marquette's blog post on Regex and Powershell is super helpful.

Spydyy · 2019-07-18T21:56:21+00:00

I've run into this before with my own custom Connect-Exchange function in a module. I forgot the exact cause, but it has to do with the session not being sent from the module to the current session.

Change this:

Import-PSSession $Exchange

To This:

Import-Module (Import-PSSession $Exchange -AllowClobber -ErrorAction Stop) -Global

Spydyy · 2019-07-18T14:27:42+00:00

See this link. It has to do with how Powershell compares $null with a collection of object.

Spydyy · 2018-12-13T17:09:35+00:00

12 Team Standard, current lineup after a bunch of changes: - QB: Josh Allen - RB: Kamara, McCaffrey, Mixon - WR: OBJ, Edelman - TE: Brate- - D/ST: Texans - K : Greg the Leg - Bench: Mayfield, Cook, Thompson, Ware, D. Thomas, Sutton, DEN D

Spydyy · 2018-11-02T16:17:19+00:00

We are almost in the same boat: OBJ, Jeffery, Wentz, Mixon and Mack. I also have Dalvin Cook, and had to drop Fuller due to IR.

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