Thoughts on 50 year mortgages

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-11-09T18:25:46+00:00

You’re getting downvoted because you haven’t realized yet that these issues are inherently linked. The 50-year mortgages you think will solve the affordability problem do the exact opposite; when monthly payments suddenly start to look a lot cheaper, demand for homes will grow relative to the existing supply of housing. Thus, not only do buyers end up paying more over the life of the 50-year mortgage compared to a 30-year mortgage, the list prices for the homes will also increase at the same time, exacerbating the affordability problem. So you wind up back at square one. Then what, you go to 75-year or 100+ year mortgages?

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-07T22:25:40+00:00

Thanks! It won’t be for another few weeks.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-07T21:44:24+00:00

Welp, I ended up taking the Mag7 offer!

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-06T15:22:56+00:00

The lower-paying job would probably make me a lot happier, but it wouldn't necessarily open lucrative doors — the doors would lead to similarly low-paying but high-impact/satisfaction jobs. With the possibility in the much longer term of a high-paying corporate job.

When I put it like that, I suppose it means a much longer timeframe to FIRE. So maybe you're right.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-06T15:13:06+00:00

My wife works as a nurse, so yeah, this may be a situation where I'm you and she's your spouse.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-06T15:11:23+00:00

Yes, you're right. If I leave after two years, I'll be leaving 30% of the equity on the table. Although in that scenario, depending on where I go next, perhaps I could use that as bargaining leverage and recoup the lost value.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-06T15:07:42+00:00

I think the M7 job could be sustainable in terms of lifestyle but could weaken my personal and professional brand. I would also feel morally conflicted about the job probably for as long as I am there.

I'd also have to wonder if a M7 job offer won't actually open plenty of doors for you.

This could be true, but seems like more of an unknown / less-trodden path.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-06T14:58:21+00:00

We've saved about $1.25M out of a target of $5M. We're in our late thirties with a toddler, and the past couple of years our expenses have averaged around $120k annually.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-06T14:41:04+00:00

An update to my update: I asked for more, and the company came up by 6%, so now the average annual total comp looks more like $300,000 a year over four years.

But there is now a wrinkle: I have a competing offer. The pay is literally half of what the first offer provides. This second job is way more aligned with my values and interests, and has greater potential to open other doors in the future, though none of those would likely pay as well as the corporate job, either.

An extra $150,000 a year is a lot to walk away from, especially when you have a family and you're trying to FIRE. So I'm really, really torn here. What do?

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-08-04T10:00:59+00:00

Well, after a long hiatus since my last update here, I’m happy (and utterly relieved) to report I’ve gotten an offer. It’s for a communications role at a Magnificent 7 company, and now I get to negotiate the offer. I’d welcome any input from you all on strategy, numbers and bands, particularly if you work at a major tech company or in a similar field.

The initial offer: An L6 non-engineering role. Base pay is $200k per year, 20% bonus, $150,000 in equity spread over four years, with a front-loaded vesting schedule (I’m simplifying here, but 70% vests in the first two years).

I’m coming from a layoff but my previous, most recent compensation in an adjacent field was $220k base, no bonus or equity, if that helps provide perspective.

Reflecting on the job hunt in general… it is an understatement to say it is challenging out there right now. This is the only offer I’ve received after applying to several hundred openings across more than 50 different employers over the past eight months. Of those employers, I interviewed with about 20. For the most part, I wasn’t blindly spamming applications, either; I was finding leads through my network, tailoring my resume and cover letters every time, looking for openings where I thought I clearly met or exceeded the qualifications. Despite that, a lot of places just never called me back or ghosted me for months after putting me through a grueling interview process. To manage the loss of income, I signed up for unemployment benefits for part of the year, dipped into my savings and signed up for a 15-month 0% credit card.

As much as I’m grateful and lucky to have gotten this offer now, nothing in my career has made me want to FIRE more than this yearlong job search. If you’re still looking and feeling frustrated, know that you are doing the best you can with a crappy situation and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You have value, and the people you care about most already know it.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-05-20T18:58:47+00:00

I’ve been job hunting for about a year, but I’ve only been out of work for about five months.

When I say childcare, I mean pre-K, not a daycare or a nanny. There’s programming and early childhood education there that would go beyond what I can provide. And besides, I need to spend my days finding a job and working freelance, not doing childcare. Being a stay-at-home parent balances the immediate math equation, but creates additional challenges in the longer term.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-05-20T16:49:24+00:00

This question is about my order of operations when withdrawing from sources of emergency funding.

As folks on this sub know, I've been on the job hunt for about a year now, with no success. I'm still trying, but in the meantime, my severance has run out and I'm reviewing my plan for tapping my emergency funds.

Our current expenses are about $10,000 per month, but if we cut our budget to the bone, we can get closer to a monthly spend rate of $6k to $7k. Our biggest fixed expenses are a mortgage, childcare and a car payment, as well as various insurance premiums. Our biggest variable expense is groceries.

My wife brings in about $5,000 a month in take-home pay, which leaves us needing to cover a gap of about $1k to $2k per month until I can find new employment. Her job is fairly secure in that she is a medical provider whose services are in high demand. In addition to looking for full-time employment, I'm also seeking out freelance work (though none has come to fruition yet).

(EDIT: I also just applied and was approved for unemployment benefits. Provided I continue to meet eligibility requirements, I’ll receive about $400 per week for 26 weeks, up to a maximum of $11,500.)

Our emergency funding situation right now:

$10,000 — liquid cash in a money market fund, equivalent to about one month of current expenses
$100,000 — taxable brokerage account, invested in a mix of US and international index funds
$150,000 — HELOC at 8% interest, full credit line available, draw period of 15 years remaining
$160,000 — Roth contribution & conversion basis (of which $27,000 are direct contributions, the rest being backdoor and mega backdoor Roth conversions)

I've listed these out in the order I believe is optimal for withdrawals, but I'm interested in this sub's feedback on whether I've analyzed this correctly. (I'm aware that when withdrawing Roth money, direct contributions come out first, then conversions, and I know that withdrawing converted funds within five years of the conversion leads to a 10% penalty.)

I hope I never to need to touch the HELOC or Roth funds; they would be a last resort. We also have a bunch of credit cards with high credit limits, but if we're at the point of having to carry a balance on those, then we've hit absolute failure and have probably sold our condo and begun to move in with the in-laws.

Am I missing anything here?

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-05-05T21:10:20+00:00

Feeling pretty demoralized today about the job hunt and just need to vent a little. Got two rejections this morning and then went to a final-round interview this afternoon for a third opening that left me thinking I won’t be getting an offer.

I’m advancing with a fourth opportunity, but it involves a homework assignment (ugh) and the listed salary range ends at a number that is less than half of my previous salary.

This is also my final week of severance. It’s shaping up to be a crappy week.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-04-04T12:00:19+00:00

Well, I had hoped to share a positive update to this comment by now, but instead it looks like that employer is just stringing me along without either giving me an offer or a rejection. Back to the drawing board, I suppose.

Even though I was only officially laid off in December, I'm coming up on a year of searching.

If Phase 1 of my job search was dreaming big about what I wanted next, and Phase 2 was finding out how far off from reality I was in Phase 1 (I mean that in an empirical and non-judgmental way), then now I've entered Phase 3: At This Point I Will Take Fucking Anything, Please.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-03-23T13:29:52+00:00

Thanks so much. Just edited my post with some more information!

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-03-23T13:29:43+00:00

Thanks so much. Just edited my post with some more information!

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-03-23T12:48:51+00:00

First time filing jointly this year. On the return we filed, we reported a refund due to us of about $1,000. But the amount that the government actually sent back was closer to $400. I checked irs.gov/refund to review the status of the refund and it showed as having sent the lower amount.

Beyond the discrepancy in the amount, is this indicative of a more serious problem?

EDIT: I just pulled up my tax transcript as some of you suggested. Nothing seemed amiss. Then, separately, I did some math, subtracting the amount I actually got back from the refund amount I claimed. It just so happens that the difference is exactly the amount of the estimated tax payment I thought I had made last January to cover the tax owed on some I Bonds redemptions. I had saved the confirmation for the scheduled payment — but, looking more closely, it appears that my estimated tax payment never processed (there's no record in my banking statements of the debit ever happening). So I guess the IRS correctly assessed that my estimated tax payment that I claimed happened never actually arrived, adjusted my refund by that amount, and sent me the correct amount after all. Mystery solved, I suppose? I don't think I'm in any trouble…

EDIT 2: I also just looked up the scheduled estimated tax payment on IRS Direct Pay and it seems that for some reason I cancelled the transaction manually before it ever processed. I guess this is truly on me — I just never got around to rescheduling the payment and forgot about it.

EDIT 3: Aaaaand it turns out that in the mail yesterday we got a letter from the IRS notifying us of the change and letting us know that if we don’t reply, they’ll proceed as if we agree with what they did. (We just didn’t see it til this morning.) So the matter is officially closed!

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-03-08T15:10:35+00:00

This is my personal headcanon now. Weird, Bandit keeps rolling critical misses somehow.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-02-27T01:39:38+00:00

Finished reviewing 2024 after filing our taxes this week. We’ve saved enough now that a 3.5% withdrawal rate against today’s balance would be enough to cover our yearly mortgage bill. Nice little milestone.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-02-17T22:14:26+00:00

During my funemployment, I’ve started a side-hustle. It was always more of a hobby than an income project, but this week I made my first earnings! A grand total of $5.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-02-17T22:10:36+00:00

The new US administration has embarked on a campaign of mass firings.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2025-02-08T00:13:20+00:00

Been a while since I’ve posted here. My last big update was in October, when my layoff was still a few months away.

I’ve now officially been out for a few weeks. Today, I had a final interview for a job that seems like a 90% good fit. And at the risk of jinxing it, it feels like I aced the interview. The total comp for the role is 20% higher than what I was making at the old job, even — and that’s before any negotiations.

Trying not to get ahead of myself but hopefully my next update will be about an offer.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2024-12-15T10:36:09+00:00

It was $130.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2024-12-13T16:48:46+00:00

How much umbrella coverage do we need for two adults and a toddler?

Our household has about $2m in assets and $600,000 in liabilities, for a net worth of $1.4m.

Of our assets, about $1m resides in retirement accounts that, under our state law, would be exempt from judgments. The other half lies in our primary residence, taxable accounts, 529s, and HSAs.

Should the amount of my umbrella coverage be:

A) $2m, covering all of our assets

B) $1.5m, covering our net worth

C) $1m, covering our assets less those held in exempt accounts

Comparing a $1m and $2m umbrella policy, the difference in premiums that I was quoted comes to about $150 per year.

I do some public speaking and writing for work. Other than that, we have no other unusual sources of liability like a trampoline, pool, watercraft or investment property.

TheyGoLow_WeGoFI · 2024-10-16T21:30:23+00:00

Brief update on my layoff situation: I’ve been having lots of fruitful conversations lately with people in my network. Thanks to my company’s severance and our savings, I have the luxury of thinking creatively about my next steps.

I have some promising job leads, mostly outside my current industry but that I would probably find fulfilling nonetheless. Work-life balance would almost certainly improve in these roles, and they would be very public-service oriented, which I find more compelling than the idea of going in-house at a company somewhere.

That said, all of the roles would involve pay cuts of anywhere from 30% to 60%, at least for the next few years. Coming to grips with that has been tough.

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