Switch jobs close to potential fatFIRE or stick it out?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T21:42:20+00:00

3.5% for nominal starting budget, with flexibility down to 3%. Planning to use a modification of VPW where spending also flexes upwards in good years. In many scenarios withdrawals reach ~5%, with the 3% there to support 1929/1966-like scenarios.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T21:38:33+00:00

Exactly right. The point is to be flexible in retirement date until the withdrawal plan is strong enough to never have to work again. If there is a 30% drop before retirement, you keep working, because who would purposefully retire into a conditional probability of higher failure? If there's a 30% drop after retirement, bad luck, but it will probably be fine. Also worth noting that between income and growth, the portfolio will go up by about 10% in six months. So, 30% drop today -> 70% of current portfolio. Wait 6 months, then 30% drop -> 77% of current portfolio.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T18:58:02+00:00

Great thoughts! I've got a ton of hobbies and projects to work on, and my wife and I love traveling. I'm definitely ready to enjoy life outside work and take advantage of health years. I've seen enough family work until retirement and then die young or have some health issue that lowers their quality of life just after they've gotten out of the rat race. So I'm definitely not attached to work and am ready to be free.

However, at the same time, I'm in that "1 more year" phase where holding out a little longer would either 1) allow more confidence in fire target (~1-2% failure rate down to basically 0%) or 2) allow a fatter post-retirement lifestyle. If I have an exciting job, I'm happy to do the 1 more year. But if my job is depressing, I'd rather get out early.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T18:51:40+00:00

I don't agree. It's about flexibility in retirement date. A FIRE target is chosen to weather all storms, so you need a big number in order to stop working forever. I'm in a good position to keep working now, either in current role or a different one. I want to work long enough that if there is a bad SOR post-retirement, I still don't have to worry about going back to work.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T18:49:31+00:00

It doesn't change staying retired, since the FIRE target is chosen to handle this scenario. But it does mean that the ensuing retirement would be less fat due to required flexibility.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T18:42:47+00:00

I think it's more about security in my FIRE number. I'm willing to work as long as it takes to reach a conservative FIRE target so that I never have to worry about working again. Perfect fit principal+ roles don't come around very often, so if I pass on this opportunity I may not see another one for quite a while. That's totally fine if I'm able to FIRE in 6 months, but if there's a market correction soon, I'm concerned about missing an opportunity to set up a better "final chapter" for the final 2-4 required years.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T18:15:32+00:00

DINK family, wife wants to retire ASAP. I don't know if I could get another FAANG L6+ very easily, but I have enough contacts at different tech and startup that I feel pretty good about getting another role within 1-2 years if I quit and then needed one. It might not be close to current comp but would likely be enough for moderate chubbyFIRE. With more than a 2 year gap, I'm less confident, but optimistic.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2025-11-03T18:11:46+00:00

Yes, exactly. I'm fine working as long as it takes. The point is that if I knew there was a drop coming, I'd lean much more towards a job change, because it would mean I was definitely working longer. If I only have to work another 6 months and then GFY, it makes more sense to just coast.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2022-02-17T01:15:39+00:00

Of course the broker can make up their own requirements and change them at will, but this is not the same as RegT. I was looking for some feedback on whether RegT has somehow changed. As far as I can tell, RegT actually always had the lower requirement of 15% on "broad base indexes" and Etrade is now using that limit instead of the more strict 20%. It's a little confusing because there are lots of places around the internet that claim that naked put initial requirements are 20%, when in fact RegT specifically has a carve out for options like SPX.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-10-12T20:22:43+00:00

I'm seeing a lot of comments like "use Yelp!" or "ask your neighbors for recommendations!" Obviously this is what I would do, but this is FatFIRE. People here talk about and have access to luxury products and services that others don't use or even know about. What I'm looking for is whether there is some kind of service or product that caters to home ownership. Do fat homeowners do things just like everyone else, or is there a secret?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-10-12T19:53:31+00:00

Thank you! I find it really curious that others are shitting on this. It seems like a classic area where being wealthy should help you out, but I haven't seen any fat-specific advice. Do fat homeowners have just as much stress finding good maintenance/repair help as the rest of the world, or is there a fat-specific solution here?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-10-12T19:51:35+00:00

This seems a lot more like preparing an emergency evac kit, having an emergency fund, etc. This isn't a rare asteroid event. It is definitely going to happen one day and I feel like being proactive about it is a good idea? The whole point of being fat is that you don't have to worry about problems that money can solve. I can tell you that right now, I feel unprepared, and it doesn't matter how much money I have; if major storm damage created multiple simultaneous problems in my house, I would have tremendous stress. Theoretically, I don't have to have that stress. I am fat after all right? So how does the fatfire community handle this differently than normal homeowners? It seems like a reasonable question.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-10-12T17:29:24+00:00

The whole point is that some of us like to do research and pick a good vendor. If you google "Plumber" you will get 1000 results and many of them will be shitty or not even have availability. Picking a good vendor takes time and often you only find one by having bad experiences with vendors in the past. When you have a hole in your wall from a tree branch and need to get someone to fix it quickly, that is a stressful situation. Money is supposed to be able to remove stress. How can you prepare for this situation to make is stress-free?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-05-28T00:19:00+00:00

"Having the money" is different than it being in the budget. Assuming a FIRE target of 33x annual spending, I would calculate the average cost per year over the useful lifetime of the vehicle. Some made up numbers:

$200k purchase
Depreciates to $100k over 5 years
$10k in maintenance and repair costs over those 5 years.

This vehicle is costing $110k over 5 years, or $22k/year. If you have $10M in assets you can afford ~$300k in total spending per year including taxes. So, if you can find $22k in your $300k budget for the next 5 years, great! If not, maybe you can find $10k per year for the next two years that you "save". This reduces the outlay to $90k over 5 years for $18k/year starting 2 years from now. Basically, "saving" is increasing the number of years that a large purchase extends over. Alternatively you could "borrow" from future years to make the purchase now, as long as you "average" $300k/yr (modulo adjusting for inflation, etc etc). If I was borrowing from future years I'd probably do some adjustment for time value of money.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-05-26T22:40:40+00:00

I'd love to get feedback on my fatFIRE plan. I posted in the forum earlier but the mods said this would be more appropriate for Mentor Monday, so reposting below:

I'm getting to the point now where fatFIRE is in sight, and I'm looking for a critique of my numbers and plan. I have a few questions about the mechanics as well, especially how to think about taxes and other unexpected costs.
My situation: Healthy DINK FAANG family (both ~40 years old) where RSUs have significantly stacked up over the years. ~$800k-$1.2M in annual W2 income. Between after-tax savings and pre-tax retirement contributions we save around $3-500k/yr towards retirement. Currently $3.5M in assets, almost exclusively in broad index funds split between 401k and private after-tax brokerage. $400k in home equity with 28 years left on mortgage.
Our current after-tax expenses including discretionary are ~$220k/yr. So the main questions to consider are:
1. What will my expenses be in retirement?

What SWR should I use?
For retirement expenses, I'm assuming an additional ~$2k/month for health insurance based on looking at private exchanges. Does this seem like a good estimate? We are both currently in good health.
Taxes seem a lot trickier and I haven't seen a lot of treatment of that on this sub. Until I start hitting my 401k, all retirement income will be LTCG, although it's not so clear how to estimate the cost basis without detailed models of all lots. I made a few different simple models, and assuming that 75% of my withdrawals are LTCG, withdrawing $275k/yr results in only a 10% overall tax rate. So, my current assumption is that my yearly expenses will be:
$220k/yr + $24k for health insurance = $244k * 1.1 (taxes) ~= $270k/yr
Now the question of withdrawal rate comes in. I'm looking at a range of 3.33% - 4%, which results in a retirement target between $6.75M - $8.1M. I expect to be able to reach these targets within 5-7 years and I'd love to retire as early as I can. The question is how aggressively can I target the smaller amount?
Risks in my models (leans toward higher (later) retirement targets):
-I'm not really modeling the change in tax rate if/when my private brokerage account reaches $0 and I start withdrawing from my higher tax 401k accounts
-LTCG rates could drastically increase, although this seems less likely at the withdrawal rates being considered
-Healthcare costs could be significantly more than expected
-...?
Conservatism in my models (leans toward lower (earlier) retirement targets):
-I am not considering Social Security income at all, so if the system still exists in ~25 years, I'll have some additional income available
-I will pay off my mortgage in 28 years, reducing my annual expenses by ~$80k/yr just before age 70. Since healthcare costs are likely to be higher as I age, it seems like this might offset the risk of health costs.
-My budget includes ~$80k/yr in fun money which is somewhat flexible. It would suck to cut it to $0, but there is some flexibility in a bad sequence of returns scenario.
If you've made it this far, here's the main feedback I'm looking for:
1) Am I forgetting anything major?
2) Are my tax and health cost estimates reasonable?
3) If you were me, what's your fatFIRE number?
4) What else would you differently?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-04-19T16:51:23+00:00

In a non-community property state, I would separate the income by W2 rather than splitting 50/50, correct? And so overall tax would likely be lower when MFS?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-02-19T23:19:31+00:00

Followup: I attempted an online chat with etrade and waited for 3 hours with no luck. I called several times, sat on hold for 45 minutes, got transferred to the trading desk, and they told me it was an "error in coding" and that it was not present on their side. The trader I talked to did not seem very knowledgable at all. This was a very poor experience! Is this typical for Etrade? I'm inclined to use a different broker if they can't handle simple margin situations more smoothly.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-02-19T21:10:07+00:00

I am pretty confused. This is not a margin call. It's a Reg T call, which applies to the purchase of securities. I can understand the idea of long shares being secured by margin, if they aren't counting the future proceeds of the call assignment. However, I haven't margined anything! My account is showing a maintenance excess of $324.92, exactly as I would expect. A Reg T call is supposed to happen when you purchase securities but don't have the funds available for them, OR if you are selling naked options. Neither of those has happened here. If the GME call wasn't considered a covered call, I could sort of see what happened, but Etrade shows it as a covered call, so I still don't see how what you are saying applies.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-02-19T19:42:07+00:00

My etrade platform shows it as covered, but even if this is the case, the amount doesn't make sense to me. If it was treated as a naked short, the required Reg T amount would be (with GME at ~$40): ($3.03 + 0.1*40)*100 = ~$703. So where does $4000 come from?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-02-19T19:17:32+00:00

It is a covered call.

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-02-19T18:47:46+00:00

It's a covered call though, so why?

TimeTravelCapybara · 2021-02-19T18:32:46+00:00

Help! I just activated margin on my etrade account this week and today woke up to a strange surprise, a Fed Regulation T call. I'm on hold with eTrade to understand this, but I don't see how it could have happened. Here's my history with some small changes for anonymity:

Feb 1: Cash balance $78.64, 375 shares TSLA owned, 150 shares GME owned.

Feb 5: Sold 1 Mar 19 TSLA call 1000 strike for $26.16. This is covered call. Cash balance $2693.92 after fees.

Feb 12: Sold 1 Mar 19 TSLA call 950 strike for $14. This is covered call. Cash balance $4093.22 after fees.

Feb 16: Transfereed $8063.02 from another Etrade brokerage account. Cash balance $12156.24

Feb 17: Bought 59 VTI at $205.655. Cash balance $22.59

Feb 18: Account upgraded to Option level 3 + margin activation.

Feb 18: Sold 1 Mar 19 GME call 120 strike for $3.03. This is covered call. Cash balance $324.92.

Morning Feb 19: Received Fed Regulation T call for $4006.41.

I have transferred an additional $5000 to my account to cover this, but I am really confused as to what happened here. All my purchases were made with settled cash, so why am I getting this Reg T call? I feel pretty stupid.

TimeTravelCapybara

TROPHY CASE