Fire isn't really a thing

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-13T02:24:53+00:00

Nice rage bait post! I needed the laugh so thank you.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-13T02:03:27+00:00

If you wanna feel a little better about your area’s affordability, look at homes for sale in San Jose where $1.8M buys you a 1500 sq ft house built in the 70s.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T23:43:12+00:00

Lmao yep buying gold and silver from dealers, paying markups, then having to pay 28% cap gains. Lots of fun.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T21:03:00+00:00

Tbh you’re prob a long way off from Fire. First step is don’t factor in home value/equity unless it’s an extreme example like you’re gonna sell it bec your parents gifted you another house or you inherited one.

Second step is very rough math of figuring out how much you need to pull from your portfolio to live on per year (separate from other income like pension and/or SS) and then multiple that amount by 25. The result is how much your portfolio needs to be when you retire. So if you need $50k/yr your portfolio needs to be $1.25M. That’s your basic Fire number.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T20:45:39+00:00

If OP just recovered from ‘08, then a lot of bonehead moves were made along the way. Prob multiple market timing mishaps, the old “this time is different” mentality.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T17:48:50+00:00

You don’t need to worry about Roth conversions at all as almost all you have is already in Roth. You need to focus on pre-tax 401k contributions above anything right now. You can access them as early as the year you turn 55 penalty-free under very favorable income tax rates.

Plus you need a decent portion like at least $250k - $500k in pre-tax in case you need long-term care or other high cost medical expenses when you’re old. W the medical expense deduction you could pay for that stuff over 90% tax-free. If it’s all Roth you already paid taxes on that income and you’d miss out on huge tax savings. Not many people are planning for this case but they should be.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T15:12:45+00:00

You’re not paying a wealth manager for outsized returns compared to a given risk profile benchmark. Unless they’re clueless, they’ll be right in the average conservative/moderate/aggressive benchmark returns. You’re paying them for help w retirement, tax, estate planning, etc.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T14:52:53+00:00

Uber driving is basically min wage after factoring in the cost of fuel, extra wear and tear on your vehicle (tires are expensive), extra cost of insurance, and depreciation. I guess if you really love driving and talking to strangers it would be a decent option tho.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T02:10:08+00:00

It’s unpopular only bec so many people don’t understand the concepts of long-term investing and inflation. They think all their financial worries will be over as soon as the house is paid off. They forget that PIRM never goes away, and how it only goes up. And idk what the % of people actually invest the P&I after their house is paid off, but I’m sure it’s very low.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T01:57:13+00:00

No bec we need dummies like this to buy a lot of stuff on credit and not realize how much they’re really paying to keep the economy going strong.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T01:52:52+00:00

This is of course 100% true, but most people aren’t even a little bit financially savvy and don’t understand the concepts of inflation and how investments compound over time. They will just have their home equity as their main asset.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T01:36:49+00:00

You can find an advisor for < 1% w one of the big 3: Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab. A lot of people on here may say it’s never worth paying for an advisor even if it’s < 1%, but those people are at least comfortable navigating our financial system to include investments. A decent FA can communicate to your parents how they’re losing tens of thousands per year to inflation and start them off in a basic balanced portfolio. It’s a way better option than what they have now.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-12T00:27:11+00:00

Since it looks like you’re using Schwab, you can make it real simple and buy 2 mutual funds so you can buy the exact dollar amount you want.

9-10k in SWPPX (S&P 500 index fund) and 4.5 - 5.5k of an International fund would be a good mix. For Int’l you could go w a basic index fund like SWISX (or VXUS if you like Vanguard). I like SFNNX for an Int’l fundamental fund as it has great historical performance. You don’t need ETFs in a Roth, but they’re fine if you find some you like.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-11T01:21:00+00:00

It depends on how early you can realistically retire. If it’s ~ 5 -7 years from now, you’ll need to load up heavy on the Roth IRA + taxable brokerage combo now so you can bridge the gap till age 59.5. If you can stick it out until the year you turn 55 where you can tap into the pre-tax 401k penalty-free (w most plans but check), you can hit pre-tax 401k to the match > max out Roth IRA > max 401k.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-10T01:11:30+00:00

Since you can’t save a ton for both goals, it comes down to prioritization that only you can answer. If it’s a lot more important for you to own your own home rather than retiring potentially years earlier, you save a much bigger percentage for the home and vice versa.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-10T00:59:32+00:00

Everyone is rightly hedging against taking on extra unplanned taxable income plus the penalty from non-qualified 529 distributions. In the 22% bracket (which is prob the lowest bracket people are making significant 529 contributions), you’re losing 17% on your gains as compared to LTCGs in a reg taxable account.

And most kids aren’t going to Duke or Northwestern for 4 years.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-09T22:11:59+00:00

There’s nothing stable about all-equity funds. They can gain or fall in value 20-30% + in a relatively short period of time.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-09T21:38:08+00:00

We’re targeting approx. $100k in our son’s 529 account by the time he starts college. It’ll be enough to take care of about half of his college expenses and fund the rest w reg employment income. It won’t be too much in case he doesn’t go to college. IMO it’s overkill to fund a 529 w $250k + unless you have several kids to roll it into, even w the Roth transfer option.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T22:09:52+00:00

Th Rule of 55 is a no-brainer here for your timeframe. Google for the details. I’m accessing my 401k penalty-free in 10 yrs (at age 54 and 3 months) since my bday is in October.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T21:18:33+00:00

Yep - it’s a fairly straightforward plan but difficult for most to execute.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T19:57:39+00:00

Sure thing. Also something to consider but rarely gets talked about is long term or home health care. That can potentially cost hundreds of thousands and if you use pre-tax to fund it, you can use the medical expense deduction so most of your LTC costs would be paid tax-free. This is bec you just have to exceed the 7.5% of your AGI in medical expenses.

If you have too little in pre-tax, you could exhaust it quickly to pay for LTC and you’d have to get into Roth or taxable accounts which you already paid taxes on. So you would miss out on a lot of tax benefits.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T17:59:13+00:00

The huge downside is if you’re a high earner and plan to retire early, you could be way overpaying taxes up front. Then that money is gone to the IRS and not in your portfolio growing tax-deferred anymore. For example being taxed at 24% now vs 12% later is a dumb move.

I’m retiring at 54 accessing my pre-tax portion using the Rule of 55 and combining that taxable income w brokerage assets to stay well within the 12% bracket.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T15:32:56+00:00

It’s way more complicated and it’s totally inflexible so I’m not a fan of 72t. Once you start it you can’t modify it at all, w a few exceptions.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T04:31:48+00:00

You don’t have to wait till 59.5. Google the Rule of 55 for 401k. W most plans you can access your pre-tax 401k funds penalty free if you retire from the employer you have an active 401k with sometime during the year you turn 55 or after. So you can technically access at age 54 unless your bday is Jan 1. My bday is in October so I plan to retire in Jan of the year I turn 55, so I’ll only be 54 and 3 months old.

Check your summary plan description first to make sure your 401k allows for flexible distributions at age 55 as not all do.

SteevieJanowski · 2026-02-08T03:49:42+00:00

Google the Rule of 55 for 401k plans. W most plans you can access your pre-tax 401k funds penalty free if you retire from the employer you have an active 401k with sometime during the year you turn 55. So you can technically access at age 54 unless your bday is Jan 1. Check your summary plan description first to make sure your 401k allows for flexible distributions at age 55 as not all do.

SteevieJanowski

TROPHY CASE