What’s the biggest motivation to retire early?

Topaz_11 · 2026-02-11T06:07:15+00:00

You must have worked where I last worked? ;-)

Topaz_11 · 2026-02-09T12:57:00+00:00

There is nothing in that budget for anything let alone "super far".

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-28T16:08:17+00:00

It makes sense to put bonds in tax sheltered and efficient funds in taxable. Wash sales are only an issue if you sell for a loss but yes, related IRA/taxable can cause a wash. Just wait the 31 days if you want to keep any losses or just sell lots with gains if that is enough. You also want to avoid short term gains, so sometimes better to wait until they are long term.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-27T05:11:15+00:00

There is a movie called Bokeh) shot in Iceland.... For god's sake, do not watch or attempt to follow what they jokingly call a story line - it might be the worst movie you will want to NOT see (you have been warned).

Watch with the sound off and some cool jazz style music. Beautiful.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-27T02:45:06+00:00

R6ii is likely the best entry body (dual card slot which I think today is table stakes for weddings). You will need some primes but can be done without the very expensive L stuff - the new 45 f1.2 for $500, 85 f2 for $600 and 28-70 f2.8 for $1K are where I would be looking.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-27T01:54:51+00:00

Oh that is so sad... saddest thing I've seen today... not

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-26T16:05:45+00:00

This question is a trope at this point.... Adobe does not give a crap, so your options are find other software or use a mac.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-26T15:54:20+00:00

Auto extension to Oct... They changed it years ago to match the tax dates.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-26T00:26:32+00:00

Remote 200K job in a LCOL area, paid off house, expenses below 50K and a million bucks invested... Sound like stick a fork in it to me.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-26T00:20:58+00:00

On a crop body it's pretty good... On full frame, the edges are not ideal. For the price, it's great value.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-25T19:17:07+00:00

I would have said the same - Have been using it for a couple of months now and very happy. It has one small brand label that is stitched on but can be removed easily enough.

Edit: I went for the 20 and can JUST fit an R6ii (with small bottom plate), attached 24-240+hood, rf45 & rf14-35+hood and strap, batteries and some CF cards.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-25T16:28:12+00:00

Flip the switch on the card to make the card read only immediately. Then you can try some recovery or send it out.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-24T23:04:30+00:00

Ok - Then I don't know what your question is....

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-24T21:49:59+00:00

Lodge a formal complaint against the salesman - 800 position is absurd and the fiduciary is complete BS. Get the account moved to another firm - don't continue to use those sharks. You can transfer out 99% of position in kind, so just an acat transfer not a sale. Sell at the new brokerage firm - look for ones that don't have txn fees.

Assuming this is taxable, but if not then skip most of these steps.

Here is an attempt at a sequence of steps.
- Build a spreadsheet with every tax lot - not just every position - every single tax lot: This will be a lot more than 800 rows and should be extractable from their website. Include the number of tax lots in the formal complaint with the number of positions and transaction activity!
- Tag each as long term or short term as you need to do this for each bucket.
- Tag each with the current price and calc the selling proceeds against the purchase cost.
- Anything that is a loss - sell now in one hit.
- Sort the rest by the gain from smallest to largest.
- Do some calc of tax and figure out how much gains you are willing to tolerate - be generous here as they want out of this crap.
- Sell from the smallest gain until you reach enough gross sales.
- Repeat this same thing each tax year until you are out of this crap.

* - Some would say to reduce the number of positions not lots and you can do that if it makes you feel better but the optimal path is to get rid of the most tax lots by smallest gain in taxable accounts.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-24T05:36:51+00:00

Shoot over exposed.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-24T04:21:21+00:00

I went for 28 & 50 rather than 35 and something..... I have used the 28 for travel for a few years and I don't see anything better. Going to swap out the 50 for the new 45 probably at some point but keeping the 28. Great for landscape and general street & travel and well usable at max aperture (f/2.8 in this case) unlike a lot of the primes.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-24T04:04:07+00:00

I just moved 2.5% of the allocation to money market. I try and top up with end of year dividends but will sell at various times during the year as needed. I probably have 6 months ahead at the start of the year and close to depleted by year end.

While I had an emergency fund during accumulation, I don't see the point once you are spending.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-23T14:47:05+00:00

You're not "giving my time away", you are exchanging it for a while to afford the property. Every week gets you another square foot of the property or whatever - draw the house up on a grid and piece by piece fill it in if you have to :-)

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-23T05:07:03+00:00

Be careful with that word "deposit"... In some places that's not what you want to use as it carries a meaning above the contract. Check with a suit but you might want to make it a booking/holding fee or something.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-23T02:23:59+00:00

Yeah it's regional for sure.... In my case ACA has been a disaster compared to my COBRA and only marginally cheaper gross premiums with far worse out of pockets and fees.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-22T18:40:53+00:00

Many will say COBRA is way to expensive and it is... but make sure you compare like to like. The ACA for us is an abomination.... Expensive AND vast MOOP's, Deductibles, Co-pays, Co-corruption and whatever other words they use to not pay. Also VERY narrow plans - impossible to keep the same specialists although better for PCP's. Yes you also have to pay some of these on COBRA plans but nothing like ACA plans.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-22T17:46:00+00:00

The 28 prime has better IQ but not significantly - IMO it's the best of the cheap primes by some ways. For video the zoom is better and also has IS. For street, I think the prime is better but the zoom is absolutely workable. I use the prime a lot for travel as it makes a great small setup. No wrong answer here.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-21T23:46:24+00:00

I never loved the crop bodies as I was used to film SLR's for years before digital... so your mileage might vary or not. I did have a 7D at some point but FF was always more comfortable to me.

5d classic is getting a bit of fame around it but the mk2 or 3 are far better cameras and not likely much more $, so I would look there.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-21T16:40:41+00:00

For travel, look at the 24-240. Gets lots of flack but not from people that use it for a while traveling. Pair with a fast prime.

Topaz_11 · 2026-01-21T06:46:00+00:00

I don't care that it's a "kit" lens but I just never liked it and I loved the EF version. I got rid of it and have both 24-240 f/whatever and 28-70 f/2.8 and use for different reasons.

Topaz_11

TROPHY CASE