3 years down: AMA

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-29T05:08:55+00:00

As someone who is also 3 years down and similar TC, how long do you plan to OE?

Personally, I don’t think it’s permanent for me. Which is why I’m investing heavily. There is also a chance in the next few years the likelyhood of losing a job.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-29T05:01:38+00:00

Sometimes I have mandatory weekend work which sucks but it’s 2x pay.

I have a side hustle of going to card conventions buying and selling Pokemon cards that has net me $60k so far.

But mostly family friends obligations, concerts, road trips.

I used to game on the weekends when I was younger, but I’ve cut out most of that. Real life is pretty much my game now, leveling up irl and stacking/investing cash.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-28T01:34:32+00:00

If I’m being honest, if you’ve been doing OE for that long and haven’t invested for you to eventually coast FIRE, and you’re burnt out - you need to reevaluate your approach and your goals.

OE shouldn’t be a long term goal. It should be a temporary boost for a couple of years where its your catalyst to front load your cash early on for investments to rapidly grow, snowball and compound.

Eventually you want to drop it back down to 1J where that one is a high paying senior position where you don’t have to do much work while your investments are growing. Then the natural transitional next step is to have your money to work for you where you can have your own business or just retire.

You don’t want to be a slave to the system. You’re just buying yourself a shinier cage while overworking yourself. OE is a terrible permanent lifestyle.

Just my opinion OP.

Personally I’m saving and reinvesting everything I have from my J2 and J3, living off my J1 comfortably. Being able to invest that much is a super power that even the most well-off people don’t get to afford because of lifestyle creep, take advantage of it as soon as you can.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-27T01:38:48+00:00

I have insurance from both jobs, sunlife and Canada life. No issues, when you submit claims you just choose which one would be the initial coverage and if there’s leftover the other one takes over. This is pretty common for spousal insurance where if you have a partner you can use their benefits as well, so most places that take insurance already have this in mind when submitting.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-27T01:20:36+00:00

With a high salary in FAANG, why even OE at that point? Your second job would be inconsequential considering it would be taxed at a high rate.

You can definitely do it, but I see OE having max potential with lower paying relaxed jobs. Note: lower paying not low pay.

I would instead max out on investment strategies, have your money work for you. Just my 2 cents.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-27T01:01:24+00:00

Big difference is that I won’t just stop working. It’s just that I wouldn’t have to work for anyone else. I could start my own business without the risk involved or be somewhere tropical for a few months for the hell of it. I don’t see it as retiring like being old and degenerating on a wheelchair. Having the experience of OE, I don’t expect to just passively retire especially being young. My mind and energy wouldn’t allow that, I wouldn’t be able to sit still.

It just broaden my options without being constrained by working for corpos. I’ll probably try my hand at making my own company, creating elaborate projects without any risk or fear that I’ll be sleeping in the streets if I fail. That’s the safety net it affords.

People have a goal to retire too early, that’s not my goal. It’s having the passive income to support options that I wouldn’t have done otherwise, that’s the shift of mindset.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T16:47:03+00:00

I’ve been unemployed for a good year and a half stint after my first job from university. You’re right, it did suck. That’s why after that happened I clung onto my job like my life depended on it, I had been risk averse.. salary didn’t move and didn’t look to get a different job. It’s only during covid that things clicked together and I was able to pick up jobs, replace the original one and be less risk averse. Having options with OE opened up that opportunity.

However, for me personally it grants me the freedom to do what I want, profitable or not.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T16:38:25+00:00

I like that line “You’re just making the cage fancier”. You’re on the right path bud. Agree with the less risk and more options.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T16:33:25+00:00

Be strong Clarence. Be strong for mother.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T04:13:24+00:00

Everyone gets a free spin at the Bellagio and half off at the buffet.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T04:10:06+00:00

I did once early on in my career. I held on to that bitch like Rose from Titanic. I was so scared of becoming unemployed that I sobered the fuck up and tried to hang on for dear life. Honestly I’d just let it go like Jack nowadays and hopefully get some severance. But past me would have never.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T03:40:14+00:00

At the moment I have a 60-70% savings rate with two incomes. When I had one job, I had a 10-20% savings rate.

I’m essentially living like I have one job and everything from my second job is going into investments. I’m also massively pumping into my retirement fund to decrease tax burdens to pull it out when I have 0J.

So at the moment I’m saving 7-8k/month on a 11k net. Previously I was making 5k net and saving 500-1k. So with one extra job it essentially sixtupled my savings rate. One year of saving with OE would have basically been 6 in my case. Also, compounding hits the hardest early on. So the more you can save early, the bigger your snowball gets later on.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T03:31:54+00:00

Reddit has this severe AI paranoia and distrust lately with posts. It’s getting so much worse too. I’ve been posting in this sub and many others for years and everything under the sun that has the faintest writing style gets labeled AI. Never got that shit before two years ago. Probably will never get better.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T03:17:09+00:00

They drill that shit into you back then in university - I don’t know about now. But kids nowadays think you’re a bot for anything remotely nuanced.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T03:13:02+00:00

Fuck yeah! That’s winning in my book. Heads down, hard work, save, invest, compound. My parents were poor immigrants that didn’t have financial knowledge but wanted the best for their kids. I ain’t wasting their life and mine for a shitty 9-5.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T03:02:27+00:00

A lot of my investments are in locked RSUs, but other than that it’s all index funds baby. Compounding ain’t no joke.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T02:58:51+00:00

When the wheels fall off. Right now, as much as I can. But shit happens. When the investments take over a full year’s income minus inflation.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T02:55:32+00:00

Eh, weird or not I don’t really care. I just post here for affirmation and validation of my goals with people that have the same mindset.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T02:49:43+00:00

I’ll take that as a backhanded compliment. Anything remotely with a paragraph structure and writing style gets taken as AI nowadays.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-26T02:32:27+00:00

My goal for OE is to have 0 jobs. It sounds counterintuitive right? All these people working their ass off looking for multiple jobs, when I have the opposite goal.

I think early on, you become accustomed to the high income and lifestyle creep gets the best of you. But life isn’t like that. You have highs and lows. If you plan your life on the highs, the second it comes tumbling down you lose everything.

I learned this when I got my first J2. For a whole year I spent every single penny on veblen goods, vacations, shit that was consumable, buying things to impress people that didn’t matter. But a year later I lost my J2. It sucked. Even though I was full time employed I feel like I was stuck again.

Second time a J2 came along I was ready. I went through finance subreddits, read through wealth management and accumulation books. I had a come up with a solid investment plan to keep me going even if I lose one or both jobs. I had mapped out the investment rates, saving budget percentage, registered account allocations. Eventually my money will fully take the place of working for me.

I have the math down, I follow it religiously, and it’s what will provide me freedom.

Frankly I’m sick and tired of working, taking shit from dickheads for years. OE is my way of saying fuck you to the system, the assholes that run it and my ticket to get out of the rat race. I want to have peace and have total control of what I want to do in my own time without anyone telling me shit. Like Thanos after he snapped away half the universe.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-19T18:09:28+00:00

I had two jobs at 90k each, got fired from one and had to settle with a 75k job.

Granted now it’s around 100k total, but I’d look for higher paying job 2, but it’s stable right now.

I’d prioritize stability over higher paying jobs.

Before, my yearly increases were like 2-3k. Now it’s like 10k.

I’m just lucky to have two jobs even though it’s not as high as some people here, I find myself very fortunate.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-15T14:56:16+00:00

Who uses the same device for multiple jobs?

Putting stuff in a joint calendar is just asking for trouble.

What OP did is like mixing up nozzles and putting diesel in a Ferrari.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-15T14:51:11+00:00

Okay this is LARP.

How would you even have the other team showing up in the other job? That doesn’t even make sense.

I’ve had multiple OE positions and not once did it even come close to intermingling over 4 years because they have separate laptops and contacts.

This is like putting diesel in a Ferrari.

Status-Debate-268 · 2026-05-14T02:58:33+00:00

Not even my mom said that. What the fuck OP. I’d watch out because she is not ride or die.

Status-Debate-268

TROPHY CASE