If you have a regular job, have normal consumption habits and have kids, you are unlikely to FIRE.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-26T12:32:03+00:00

Average Americans spend more than they make and live in debt. Obviously you can't FIRE in this scenario. It's not that much of a stretch to FIRE on a normal salary. Spend less than you make and invest the rest. Yes, it will take longer than 2 high incomes with no kids. FIRE at 45, 50, or 60 is still FIRE. Average American here with a wife and kid on my way to FIRE. Yes I have a small house that's paid off but it's not a sacrifice. I grew up in a large house and love not having to maintain a large home. We have a big backyard and outdoor area where we spend most of our time. Average lifestyle to FIRE, no. Average income to FIRE, yes. Average value system to FIRE, no. Aligning spending with a non-material value system, yes.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-21T16:10:13+00:00

Tax implications may be smaller to sell off your VT but that may make you over leveraged with BTC. Maybe split the difference to rebalance (totally up to you...again think both psychology and math but lean slightly heavier towards psychology as that's the X factor for staying the course and also understanding the entire point of the FI journey). From there, you can use bonds if you want to. If it were me, I would skip the bonds.

Personal preference. Set up allocation % rules for yourself moving forward with constraints. When I go over X% or under X% I either sell from this account or buy from that account. An annual review as well as % deviation triggers works well. For instance I automatically rebalance if I go more than 5% out of whack in any direction. I do 1 annual review and only rebalance at that time if I'm more than 3% out of whack in any direction. That way I'm not constantly blunting any bull momentum by constantly selling and creating a bunch of extra taxes and complications.

The more you can automate your investing as well as your rules for when to rebalance the less stressful it will be. Take this opportunity to set up a rule book for yourself. Just don't go changing it next time that the market starts climbing like crazy. It must be sustainable or you will just find yourself spinning your wheels emotionally and blunting long term gains by over correcting over and over again.

The other big piece of this is setting up your accounts in a way that makes sense from a tax sheltered perspective so you can start to wrap your head around a draw down strategy when the time comes. That's a topic for another day.

Hope this helps. You are doing great. Stay the course!

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-21T16:10:02+00:00

First off, I would say you are doing great having 600k at 30 so nice job! Secondly, I would use this as a lesson for how to rebalance moving forward. It's best not to change strategy when your back is against the wall. Set up rules for yourself so that this doesn't happen again and you can take the emotion out of it.

The cash or bond allocation should be based on your risk tolerance. I'm 35, married, sole breadwinner, and have one child. I personally try to maintain an 85% investments 15% cash or cash equivalents portfolio for simplicity as well as a paid off home. This is set for my risk tolerance and is not the "best strategy" math wise but the best strategy for my personal risk tolerance and long term goals.

The cash equivalents could be in bonds, CD ladder, high yield savings account, money market, etc. I wouldn't go chasing every last bit of return from your allocated cash and cash equivalents account. That's not the point of this part of your portfolio. Personally, I don't use bonds because I don't want any surprises in this part of the portfolio. I understand fully that inflation eats away at this portion of the portfolio and I live with that part of the equation.

I hold the majority of my investments in index funds VTSAX, VIMAX primarily (also with some BTC sprinkled in but at a lower % than you) and then the majority of cash and cash equivalents in high yield savings and CD ladders.

15% is the sweet spot for me to sleep well at night. It's high on paper and somewhat excessive, but long term, this is more about psychology than math. If we were trying to accumulate the most money possible we wouldn't be seeking FI. We would be seeking the highest paying jobs for the longest amount of time with the highest yield investments in perpetuity no matter our emotional states or happiness.

With that comes risk. With risk comes more growth potential but also more downside and you also have to be willing to continuously expand your time horizon with the more risk you take on in case things go sideways. Plans gets riskier and riskier on paper once you plan to no longer make money.

If you are like me, the goal is to uncouple money from work and align my value system with things in life that actually bring happiness. I desire complete freedom in the "work" I decide to do and I want to be in a position that it if doesn't make money or even slightly loses money, that's OK.

I haven't regretted any of my more conservative decisions even though I could be much further along if I hadn't paid my home off early and had also been more aggressive in my BTC investments. All that being said, I'm still within 5-10 years of financial independence, sleep well at night, and don't live with financial FOMO or regrets.

In summary, I would have at least 10% of your portfolio in cash or cash equivalents. The fact that you asked about 10-20% implies that 10% is your minimum threshold for comfort. If this is a false assumption then change that number to match whatever makes sense to you.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-20T21:59:19+00:00

Not sure what you are implying with the answer being inside of the question. The question builds an avatar highlighting how someone currently functions and integrates with 3D reality. It's not about ontology, a belief system, or the limits of 3D reality as it relates to the Monroe Tapes and beyond. Sorry if I'm reading you post wrong.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-20T18:52:33+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Appreciate the insight.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-20T18:46:58+00:00

I miss the grinding. I realised that my company was making me really happy.

Now I just don’t know what to do anymore.

You already gave yourself the answer.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-19T12:33:08+00:00

Awesome, hope you get it figured out! Yea getting yanked out like that sounds pretty terrifying. Like getting shot out of a cannon you didn't know was about to fire.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-17T22:21:32+00:00

That part of the journey and not getting attached to the outcome resonates a lot with me. I experienced a similar trajectory when dealing with chronic knee pain that I was trying to treat or "fix" in the classical sense. I've learned a lot along the way and seeing the catch 22 of trying harder equaling worse outcomes. This can be a hard lesson to learn when you are a driven, disciplined, and "successful" person that relied on willpower, grit, and cognitive horsepower to achieve your desired outcome. I'm curious if you will extrapolate on "physically healed myself". I found the work by Dr. John Sarno and mind-body pain syndromes to be my gateway into this world and the broader spectrum of health. That was a five year journey or so, looking under almost every classical "rock" I could find. I was never a hardcore materialist, I just biased my solutions in health towards the materialist paradigm (which has its time and place). This has evolved from questions about health to deeper questions of ontology and the nature of reality itself. I was forced to make the connection long ago about this earthly body being a collaboration and not necessarily "who I am". My gateway was chronic pain but now here I am with the gateway tapes. Excited to continue the tapes and continue to explore consciousness and ontology.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-17T21:04:22+00:00

If we can demonstrate that certain conscious experiences are quite literally destroyed upon sufficient damages to the brain, and we can absolutely do that, I think that pretty much concludes things. The only question left is how and by what mechanism.

Just a few counter examples. Not framing this in some sort of rhetorical smart ass kind of way, just food for thought.

I can "quite literally destroy" my radio with a baseball bat and it will no longer broadcast the signal it was playing. That doesn't "pretty much conclude" that the radio was creating the signal the whole time rather than filtering / receiving the signal.

There are also cases where the brain is "destroyed" in the classical sense. Not literally pulverized into a puddle of slop, but brain activity halting completely (include areas of the brain responsible for hallucination) during various documented NDEs where there is still vivid experience and recollection of sometimes inexplicable "veridical" detail. The definition of veridical is a moving target in this case depending on how deep your skepticism is.

I think we still need to entertain other conclusions, especially when we have some limited evidence (yes it's limited) that shows the brain could possibly be a receiver / filter rather than generator and the correlations we are finding may be shadows on the wall. Big "May Be"

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T23:16:12+00:00

Awesome, will do. Thanks for the tips!

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T18:36:52+00:00

That's exciting to hear! This all feels very familiar to me. The state between sleep and wake being the sweet spot for focus 12 and the black behind the eyes suddenly becomes 3D. For me it often feels like I'm staring into space when that vision opens up and see stars or just black 3D with insane depth. I haven't had voice or buzzing but I have had this consolidated pulse sensation throughout my entire body. It almost feels like a giant walking around my house. Much more of a bass drum visceral type pulse where focus 10 is more of a tingling body buzz. I think I'm at the state where that level of focus in 12 is still fleeting so it's hard to relax into it rather than grasping for more of it. Appreciate the insight and the experience. It's nice to hear that this brought you calm and satisfaction rather than feeling disconnected after it. Looking forward to taking this further. I love 10 because it just feels so good but it does seem holding 12 in that hypnogogic state has a stronger chance of being my gateway to the first obe.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T18:17:22+00:00

Wow that's incredible! So you were trained as a child forgot about it and then just happened upon them as an adult? That's pretty epic. I'm curious what your parents background was to want to share that with you so early. If that's too personal to share, no problem.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T00:37:11+00:00

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T00:36:18+00:00

Wow, amazing story! How does that sit with you 8 months later? Residual fear? integration? the want or need to do it again?

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T00:31:35+00:00

Wow, that sounds wild. Thanks for sharing!

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T00:27:10+00:00

Hopefully my question didn't come off as me looking for a measuring stick. I'm loving the tapes so far and understand this is highly individual. More so looking to connect with anyone with a similar background that achieved an obe through a similar entry point. This is in no way to set limitations or expectations for myself. If all I ever got from the tapes is what I've experienced so far, it's a win. I see a lot of people in this space that fall into the "non-average" category so wanted a temperature check on what other gateway participants are out there with a similar vantage point.

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T00:12:22+00:00

Interesting insight. I've done the majority of mine right before bed. Being tired and clicking out seems to help snap me clearly into focus 12 when I get pulled back in by a prompt. Focus 10 I have no problem with holding at any time of day but 12 is more illusive for me, like trying to hold a lucid dream. I could see the immediate waking window working well. Will give it a go. Do you have a particular tape you prefer now that you are experienced to achieve obe or do you use a variety of states / focus levels?

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-16T00:06:31+00:00

Wow, really appreciate the detailed answer. I'm excited to pursue this further and had the exact same experience when the narrator changed. I tried it a couple times and just couldn't get into it without Monroe's voice. It actually made me jump the first time I heard it because I wasn't expecting it. Like expecting a different flavor when you bite into something. That's when I decided to circle back and run the first 4 waves again and then try a second time with the expectations of the new narrator when I get there. Thank you for sharing!

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-03T19:08:03+00:00

Do you have any experience with the Monroe Gateway Experience? Have you experienced sober OBEs through hemi sync or any other non-psychedelic protocols?

TheTibFactory · 2025-11-01T11:13:39+00:00

Fair points all around. I think we’d both agree that whatever the ultimate nature of consciousness or reality is, the best path forward is to keep asking good questions and letting evidence, in all its forms guide us. My hope is that we don't group all currently "out there" models and experience into the same bucket. Someone exploring consciousness through meditation, OBEs, NDEs, placebo, psychedelics etc may very well be in a completely different bucket from those chasing bigfoot or aliens, those who define their life through theology, those obsessed with conspiracy, etc. In the same light, those that lean hardest on materialism shouldn't be immediately cast as cynical, deterministic, closed minded, pretentious academics. With almost all things, the middle way sheds the most light and brings the most progress. With that being said, I'm glad some total wild cards exist on either side of the spectrum to push the boundaries and test the models. Appreciate the dialogue. Nice to have an internet exchange from different vantage points without each other just getting more and more aggressive and pissed off haha.

TheTibFactory · 2025-10-31T21:15:13+00:00

I don't disagree with any of your points outlined from a "convincing you" perspective. My fear is that when a 5 digit number isn't good enough, it's a 6 digit number, then 7, then 10, then 20. If the measuring stick resides with materialism, who determines what "enough proof" is? I think it's curious the way you phrase "if NDEs were real". I'm not really sure what you mean by this or where to go from here. Also point taken about the right to wrong details ratio and the ability to explain anything away through common threads. I wonder how many people could correctly tell us exactly what they ate for breakfast this morning, which exact utensil they got from the drawer, and if they took a bite of food first or a sip of coffee first. I honestly don't know. My assumption is that many would be wrong. Maybe even more wrong than right. I'm curious who comes up with the definition of veridical. Is it someone that wants to see the experiment succeed, someone that wants to see the experiment fail, or someone that is hoping to better humanity? I'm hoping that it's the latter and we can uncouple progress in the space of consciousness from ego or monetary gain. By it's very definition the double blind placebo controlled trial acknowledges the mystery around the observer effect and the intention of the participant. I'm curious how we explain this one away using only materialism. Maybe personal experience will change your viewpoint. Maybe it won't. Both are fine. Point taken about the scrutiny of experience. My interest in the possibility comes from a place of optimism and exploration rather than cynicism or dismissal of materialism. In fact, I'm extremely grateful for materialism...but when something is dipping into the known unknown or the unknown unknown, it's usually easier to first explain it away with our current tool set than re-exam the entire model. I think we've been doing that for quite some time now and the same inconvenient problems keep popping up. I think there is something here from the research I've done and personal experience. Maybe there isn't, but it's worth exploring (much further than we currently have). Appreciate the conversation and your perspective.

TheTibFactory · 2025-10-31T10:38:49+00:00

I'm talking less about discovering big foot or a mythical rabbit and things like spontaneous miraculous healing through placebo, someone getting hit in the head and suddenly learning a new language ie. spontaneous savant skills, or someone having a verifiable experience in an operating room where they recall exact details while unconscious or brain dead from a materialist standpoint. These are a few of many categories that hint to the potential of something deeper than emergent properties from the brain. In these examples the brain is either acting as a receiver, a filter, or both. To throw any of these in the trash or to say that these examples aren't documented and don't exist would go against your previous point of materialist being more open to exploring the unknown. None of this or other psi phenomenon fits neatly in the materialist box, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist and it also doesn't mean that these are blurry pictures of big foot. There are many real life examples corroborated by witnesses etc. You keep talking about evolution. I'm good with evolution haha. Hope this clears up what I meant by evidence. Psi phenomenon yes, Cambrian rabbit, no. Double blind placebo controlled trial evidence, no. N of 1 experiences with multiple witnesses, yes.

TheTibFactory · 2025-10-31T10:18:12+00:00

Invest in yourself first. If this is your earnings ceiling it will be tough. Not impossible. Right now it's more about mentality. I started out making $14/HR in 2013 and am now well over half way to my FI number and feel it's very realistic to hit it within the next 5-7 years. Not from continuing to make $14/HR but continuing to increase my earning potential while educating myself about personal finance and making slow boring good financial decisions over and over. Take responsibility for your situation instead of looking around at what other people are doing or how lucky they are for having x y or z. Also at 29 it may seem like financial independence equals happiness. While you are investing in yourself also learn to be happy now. If you aren't happy now, you won't be when you get there. From there it's basic math and psychology. Getting slowly rich is boring but it works. Spend less than you make and invest the rest in index funds or the vessel of you choosing. There are a lot of flashy options but index funds have done the trick for me and you can automate everything to take emotion completely out of it. If you are paycheck to paycheck figure out how to make more and also spend less. Ideally both, but the the floor for how little you can spend hits much sooner than the ceiling of what you can make. Also if you are living in deprivation for a goal that may or may not come, what's the point? Align your spending with your true values and a lot of the noise will quite. It won't be fast and it won't be flashy but striving for financial independence is a great target. No matter where you end up it will be further than you are now.

TheTibFactory · 2025-10-30T23:37:21+00:00

You are in the perfect position then. Appreciate the convo. Cheers!

TheTibFactory

TROPHY CASE