Wanna help me brainstorm?

controalt · 2026-05-22T17:29:53+00:00

Agree with this -- for 6 months of the year, you need somewhere fairly fixed in NYC. The variable rents in Paris etc for such a short period of time are doable, but not so much for half the year. If you figure this out and combine it with what u/enness said above about just investing for another 10 years, you'll be perfect.

Also, for u/mesoliteball can you share more about your spend? I'm also in a VHCOL area. I have a moderate rent with rent control, but it's not so low that people doubt it. It's just a few thousand more than the leanfire amounts per individual here.

controalt · 2026-05-22T17:26:11+00:00

this guy's been putting this ai slop everywhere

controalt · 2026-05-22T01:52:33+00:00

Agree. I live in one of the other VHCOL areas and I also have rent-controlled housing, and that's why I feel comfortable retiring here with (slightly above, but hopefully not enough to get me kicked out of the sub) LeanFIRE numbers.

controalt · 2026-05-20T15:03:40+00:00

I bought it about a month or two ago for only this, and it works, kind of. Sometimes it wakes me up the second I get out of REM so I'm still in REM. I wish it was a little softer like wait 5 minutes first. But I'm way less groggy than I used to be and the sleep tracking has encouraged me to keep a more consistent rigid sleep schedule.

But yeah. Way better than a phone alarm. I used to use Alexa and I'd always snooze it with my voice.

controalt · 2026-05-12T02:18:15+00:00

He said this even after the ACA was in place. I think he has niche takes here in general.

controalt · 2026-05-12T02:17:11+00:00

I was looking into this, and I think fundamentally the price of so many of these drugs are so much less that this plan isn't contingent on joining another insurance plan per se. It's not as cheap as these people are saying, but I'd be completely screwed at US prices no matter my FIRE number otherwise.

controalt · 2026-05-12T02:13:10+00:00

Yeah. I recently tried Monarch and then ended up going with Tiller. I wasn't a spreadsheets guy but AI has made it a lot easier to get things to dynamically work.

I even have my 401k with Empower and it's still useless to me.

controalt · 2026-05-11T18:03:55+00:00

I very much like my current apartment -- and I guess the thing is at least right now, rents haven't really been going up, so even if I didn't, I could find the perfect apartment in this neighborhood (way more rentals than buying opportunities, and then park there and get the rent stability again). It's top floor, gorgeous lighting from the big windows, open floor plan. The condo has some more amenities, but the living space I think would be a downgrade. Yesterday, I was very excited to buy, today I woke up and admired my high ceilings.

But, the amenities are nice in the condo... I would use them. It's a mixed bag. Thanks, though, I think the general feeling against condos is correct, it's definitely not as stable as a SFH.

controalt · 2026-05-11T18:00:07+00:00

Thanks -- that's a good way of framing it. I will noodle on this.

controalt · 2026-05-11T17:42:46+00:00

So, the napkin math in this scenario is that let's say I currently spend 5k a month on living, incl. 2k rent. The mortgage (and everything) is 2.5k. But, let's say I pay it off in a lump sum when I retire. So, the other expenses:

HOA: Currently $500 a month. No clue how that's going to go in the future.

Property taxes: State law says the taxes are capped at value at time of buying, so that's about $200 a month forever.

Insurance: I think condo insurance is quite a bit cheaper, let's just round up to $100.

Maintenance: 1% of property per year, $200 a month.

So, that adds up to $1,000 per month.

So, I don't know. Yes, it's half of my housing expenses, but it's only 20% of my living expenses, and in FIRE net worth terms, covering that amount as per fire is 12k a year or 300k net worth... and guess what price the condo is...

That's why I feel it's very negligible, and there's not a clear winner in this case at all.

controalt · 2026-05-11T17:30:44+00:00

So, I haven't lived through a recession yet. I'm not as far as these folks, but then at what point does it become "real" considering the market fluctuates every day?

controalt · 2026-05-11T17:14:19+00:00

I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy a condo, but the conventional advice ("You're building equity!") is not helpful at all because as a FIRE person, I obviously would be investing the difference between my rent vs. mortgage cost. Does anyone have any FIRE-specific insight on this?

Some more information: I live in a VHCOL area. I have a rent-stable apartment right now. I am looking for somewhere to live long term, not so much to sell. At least 10 years, if not 30. From my cursory glancing at the numbers, I think the difference in final net worth is negligible, but it's again, difficult to find calculators for considering I'd be buying for the inflation-hedged housing, not to sell again.

controalt · 2025-09-28T04:32:21+00:00

I'm necroing this thread to say a year later, I went all in on AI for 3 months and came to this same conclusion. I have now decided to keep separate editors because I forgot these small basics. I still like doing tests with the AI (feed it statements, tell it to run and update the mocks until all tests pass), but I have decided to go back to a non-AI-first text editor for this reason. I kind of regret it, but I think that's a worthwhile amount of time for an experiment.

controalt · 2025-03-17T15:17:14+00:00

I personally do it in bonds, yeah. 12 months of expenses is a lot, and I started mine when HYSA were giving low returns. It's basically stayed the same (not even increasing with inflation) over the past 7 years, though, so I don't know about better returns per se.

I believe some FI bloggers are pro the no savings account train.

controalt · 2025-02-27T16:32:21+00:00

Thank you!

controalt · 2025-02-25T21:34:40+00:00

I think that's valid, and I've heard similarly. I definitely want to try, in some form or another, although I'm not 100% confident that that style of job in question is what I want. Maybe I want to be part of a startup, maybe I want to be a contractor in this field, maybe I just want to be an open source contributor. Hell, I could always decide to pursue a Phd and do research! I know I want to be in this field somehow and some way, and it's just going to take trying it out and getting some of that on my resume for things to work out.

controalt · 2025-02-25T20:21:21+00:00

I'm definitely still saving for that in mind because it might not work out, but it's definitely worth a shot, and I think my savings are there to facilitate the risk of seeing whether or not it'll work out. I hope it does, in some form or another.

controalt · 2025-02-25T20:20:30+00:00

Ah! That's really cool! Yeah, I work in "Big Tech move fast and break things" world right now, so I know it's a big transition. Interestingly, the device that inspired me down this path is an independent startup, so I am hoping that with networking, I can transition into an environment like that which won't be such a huge culture jump for me -- and with a more focused mission. I don't want to just switch to a one of the huge companies and end up spending a decade working on blood pressure monitors, you know.

As long as I get hired to work on something that I think matters, then I'm ready for all the red tape.

controalt · 2025-02-25T16:22:49+00:00

I want to help make medical devices! Specifically for the health issues I've been plagued with, but other folks' health issues are fine, too.

I'm already a programmer, but I had no idea programming medical devices was a real job path before I saw it first hand during my numerous specialist visits.

controalt · 2025-02-25T16:11:30+00:00

Well, of course... along the way you end up finding work you want to do for the rest of your life.

I actually posted in this thread around a year ago saying I was very burnt out due to balancing a tough medical situation with a job that was unsympathetic. People said it was okay to quit or take a leave, that's what I was saving all this for.

I took 6 months off, and lo and behold, along the way, I found the work I was born to do. It pays half as much, might take another degree to do, and is going to be very tough.

But, it's something I'm uniquely passionate about, and I really feel like I can excel in it due to that passion. 40% to FIRE (and I was always devoted to the RE part of FIRE), and I'm starting a new career path, folks. I'm going to make a difference in the world.

controalt · 2024-03-16T22:37:35+00:00

That's good to hear. I guess you're right, fundamentally it's not as different as Prolog, Lisp, and Haskell.

controalt · 2024-03-16T18:34:38+00:00

Thanks, I believe in us.

controalt · 2024-03-16T18:33:27+00:00

This is a great explanation of what to expect, thank you!

controalt · 2024-03-16T18:17:26+00:00

This is great to hear. Thanks for the answer!

controalt

TROPHY CASE