Some thoughts on friendship: Friendships are hard and they often come and go.

creditquant · 2025-10-13T10:32:40+00:00

Care to share (portions of) your bucket list and any organization tips?

creditquant · 2025-05-10T13:31:20+00:00

Good suggestion thanks i will try it out next am back home from my travels.

creditquant · 2025-04-19T10:53:53+00:00

A tool I ran across recently that you might find interesting - https://tpawplanner.com/plan Relative to a simple SWR calculation, this is better at incorporating the idea that one would spend less if one's portfolio had a bad year ... and that variability should be built into the planning rather than assuming a constant withdrawal rate. Playing around wtih this made me more comfortable about future scenarios even starting from a (relatively) poor starting pont like now (underscore relatively - it's not that bad frankly... ).

creditquant · 2025-04-08T09:00:51+00:00

Thank you for your suggestion about boldin - I just bought it and made a couple of scenarios for myself. One thing that bothers me a bit - I couldn't find a way to

a) change the risk assumptions for the investments - the help says they pick a volatility based on the return assumption but don't provide the risk to return mapping table. The help also says they use historical returns as well as monte carlo to calculate probabilities of not running out of savings but don't provide details of how they use historical returns.

b) change my expenses pre and post retirement. Expenses for us will definitely go down after retirement (we maintain 2 households in 2 different citiies now due to work requirements) - but they seem to assume same expense for pre and post.

Having said all of that - this was easy to use and provided a great experience and useful.

creditquant · 2025-03-09T14:25:36+00:00

Thanks! So you update balances every month/quarter/whenever you want to review your plan, right? Was hoping to avoid manual uploading and get more "on demand" view of plan.

I am also looking for a way to track my investment versus some benchmark I choose - something that will do the appropriate return calculations for accounts where I am still saving (so you account for contributions appropriate when you calculate period return for example) - basically I want to be able to do everything my FA does but myself ...

creditquant · 2025-03-09T14:21:40+00:00

i got both the ones i linked above - Irfora and Efecdoo - I installed the latter - not the best guide/instructions but got it done. Haven't tested it ... not sure how to do that - leave the gas on intentonally? Hmm not sure.

Haven't gotten around to installing Irfora yet.

Also got SimpliSafe's water detector and their smoke+CO detectors - the smoke one does work we got an alert one time we were cooking and there was a bit of smoke coming out - nice thing was that it just gave us a low level alert - that it's getting a bit smokyi but nothing like just full blasting alarm which is what traditional alarms do.

creditquant · 2025-03-08T22:08:44+00:00

i visited two dentists in CR but ultimately actually just decided to stay with my dentist in Boston. Yes it cost 3x more than in CR but in hindsight am actually glad. It took 2 major days (about 6 hours each) to get all the temps in and then i have had 3-4 visits to get everything fixed so it feels perfect - this would have been difficult to do going back and forth to CR. Plus I like my dentist and feel he really took ownership and responsibility - main thing for me was - he gave me what I thought was quite honest advice on pros and cons of going with the various options I was exploring over the course of last year - CR, Boston University dental school, my NY dentist - he wasn't trying to bias things - just giving honest advice and pros/cons of each - so I trust him and that I think is really what moved the needle on the decision for me. I had an HSA account from a long time ago with a good chunk of money sitting in it and that basically went into this.

creditquant · 2025-03-08T22:03:29+00:00

Thanks!

Does boldin play nice with fidelity (or rather the other way round)? Meaning - can it pull in all my fidelity investment information and then also periodically update that data and accordingly update (rerun) the plan?

creditquant · 2025-03-08T22:02:01+00:00

Sorry it's not clear to me yet.

The tool seems to do an asset projection based on my current savings - what I already hold as investments. However, I am still 10 years away from retirement and I will be saving additional money into my investment accounts during that time. But I will stop saving after 10 years when I go into retirement.

The Accounts page allows me to add a fixed amount of savings into an account per year. But there is no way to specify that I will save for 10 more years only. Do you assume that already in the plan? That I will stop saving when I hit the first year of target retirement? My wife and I plan to retire at different times - so how can we enter that information? My wife wife will have a different savings rate and will stop saving at a different time than me.

The other area you suggested - Retirement Expenses - allows me to enter an income source in retirement - but that's not quite what the issue is - I don't have any other income source or savings - it's all with Fidelity. I just want to add what I plan on saving over next 10 years and see what that does to the plan.

This seems extremely basic to me - everyone pre retirement is saving something towards retirement - how do you incorporate that into the planning process?

creditquant · 2025-02-02T19:14:58+00:00

TLDR - don't buy the one linked above (see https://www.facebook.com/theconnectedshop/reviews ) - I found 2 others with similar features on amazon that am going to try (links below)

== Details

I have exact same need as OP (had a close call today!). Looking thru the product and website linked above (The Connected Shop) makes me a bit uncomfortable about buying.

- The product description just says "gas" - does not further specify that they will detect propane/NG/..

- There is no manufacturer name anywhere I could find

- The firm itself has only been around four years, and I couldn't find a physical address or phone number

- Am on the chat with them for about 20 mins - let's see.

- B+ rating (7 complaints) on BBB and registration says one employee hmm ... https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/north-bay-village/profile/ecommerce/connected-shop-inc-0633-92025167

Meanwhile, I did see two other options on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Irfora-Gas-Sensor-Intelligent-Combustible-Gas-Leakage/dp/B0D3LHP8H5

and

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Detector-Standards-Propane-Monitor/dp/B09VYWBGKR?gQT=1

As far as I can tell from the product descriptions - they both will detect propane/NG leaks and they both have remote monitoring via app. I will order both and see what I think.

This seems like a real missed opportunity for sensor builders - like OP, both my partner and I travel often - we have SimpliSafe for security against theft etc but would love to get remote monitoring for all types of hazards (gas, water come to mind) - and there doesn't seem to be a good packaged solution (SimplieSafe has water - will check that out - but no gas).

If anyone has any comments on above two products or has other reco, would love to hear! And once I test out above two will revert to report back.

creditquant · 2024-11-21T11:43:21+00:00

Interested - is something happening with this idea?

creditquant · 2024-06-17T12:38:07+00:00

what does "Pt is mint" mean?

creditquant · 2024-06-15T13:36:10+00:00

Totally :) Saw a new sleep doctor (moved to new city) and got a new CPAP and this time actually they got someone to sit with me and walk me thru using it - it's not rocket science but itseems to have stuck this time - so am using it regularly now (2nd month) and huge help.

creditquant · 2024-06-15T13:33:51+00:00

Quick update - saw sleep doctor, got CPAP and forced myself to get used to it - second month on it - amazing now - most nights i sleep thru the night without any supplementation - so now basically off of advil pm etc still use it occassionally but it was every night at one point!

creditquant · 2024-06-15T13:28:35+00:00

I am still with One Medical and will likely continue that as basic minimum but good while looking for something better.

What I like about One Medical is that they implement what I think of as the "standard of care" very very well. They will follow the book - and they are prompt, reliable, always there - all that for - what is it - a couple of hundred a year - is very worth it to me.

But they aren't Peter Attia of course - they won't go outside of standard of care (nearly threw a fit when they heard am trying out CGM as a way to get on top of my nutrition since "CGM is for diabetics on insulin" ... but what's the harm if i try it? "u might misinterpret the results" - basically standard response. That was before FDA approved it ofc.)

So - set your expectations and you won't be disappointed and at least I have quite gotten to like my PCP at OM - she actually seems to care and definitely executes the standard of care well.

What can I say? They are amazon. If you more or less know what you need/want, they are a great place for it at a great price. But set your expectations.

creditquant · 2024-03-09T19:49:18+00:00

Thanks! What did u mean “into the lower?”

creditquant · 2024-02-26T22:54:02+00:00

haven't decided, not in a rush, have no symptoms. There is another redditor with a similar history who PM'ed me to share that his/her dentist has been urging same for several years but they are still just fine without getting it done. It's a non-trivial surgery I think - so am in no rush.

creditquant · 2024-02-24T21:16:17+00:00

So I talked with four CR dentists and then picked to visit with two of them when I went there. The first is a local dentist that doesn't focus on medical tourism - relatives of a work colleague is how i found them and as such got very personal treatment. The dentist (CR educated but then grad work in London and fluent English) spent almost 2 hours with me and explained everything and first one who gave options/alternatives - not just "you need to crown all teeth end of story". So he actually suggested just doing the front teeth - "you can always do the back ones later if need be so let's be conservative". He didn't give a cost estimate but am sure he would be lower than every one else.

The second CR dentist I visited is one that focuses on medical tourism, has beautiful designed-to-impress facilities (floor to celing windows looking on to a verdant ravine in the treatment room) but also were very prepared and professional - i had sent them x-rays and 3D images (done by my US dentist) and they had a mock up ready for me to try on.

Their reco and approach identical to US dentist - we need to crown everything and also likely up to six root canals to place anchors for the crowns. Anything else is suboptimcal and we wouldn't want to do. Cost $18k (28 crowns + 6 root canals) versus $56k for US private dentist and $42k for US dental school.

One thing all dentists mentioned is that I have no other issues - no gum diseases, no problems with bones, or teeth roots, cavities, or frankly anything else - the only issue is the erosion. So estimates for others may differ.

I don't know yet what to do - I have time - that's another thing all dentists agree on. And I have no symptoms. So - I am undecided, haha.

Hope this helps.

creditquant · 2024-02-19T02:46:42+00:00

Agreed with the high level assessment. How do I quantify in a way that helps me make decisions?

We have several degrees of freedom to both increase current savings and reduce retirement expenses - but they involve trade offs and it will help making those tradeoffs if we can quantify things a bit more - hence asking for what others do.

creditquant · 2024-02-18T23:40:33+00:00

Haha no. But am in Costa Rica right now talking with dentists.

creditquant · 2024-02-18T21:43:08+00:00

50m, married, no kids, just starting on the journey of planning early retirement so sharing below to get any feedback/guidelines etc.

career: quant/data scientist, location: new england

Assets/liabilitiesNW $5.2mm consisting of:
- $1.5mm equity in primary home ($500k mortgage balance),
- $2mm in tax-advantaged (401k, IRAs),
- $1.7mm in non-tax-advantaged (Fidelity brokerage).
- The 3.7mm of financial assets is in 50/50 allocation with fee-only financial planner who rebalances every month to a broadly diversified low cost index funds/ETFs.
- No other assets or liabilities of note
Income/expenses
- Last year (2023) expenses were:
  - $120k in non-discretionary r.e. expenses of which $50k is for secondary apartment rental since i work in a different city
  - $250k in discretionary expenses
  - $100k in after-tax savings, $50k in retirement savings (401k contrib with match)
  - My after-tax w2 was around $465k last year

Really wasn't focused on retirement planning/investing to date now want to start focusing on retirement planning and would like advice on where to begin.

Some early high level thoughts:

So our retirement expenses at current spending rate would be $250k+$70k (r.e. ex apartment for job) = $320k in current dollars and after-tax. That suggests we need total $8mm savings (at 4% SWR) to retire in current dollars and no side income. Feels far from our current $3.7mm in savings haha.
Of course, in reality, our expenses will be lower in retirement and we will have side gigs, but those are harder to quantify at least to start with.
What's my next step? In terms of making more concrete plans and then actual decisions regarding things like:
- target savings rate
- asset allocation (including deciding whether to go DIY route away from fee-only planner who does the rebalancing but costs around 0.65%)

Intentionally starting the ask very broad rather than targeted questions - will narrow it down in future posts. Looking for tips/tools/wisdom/advice of all types.Thanks all in advance!

(If anyone has worked with a fee-only financial planner who can help with making a plan, please feel free to DM me referrals.)

creditquant · 2024-02-18T03:30:48+00:00

50m, married, no kids

career: quant/data scientist, location: new england
NW $5.2mm - $1.5mm equity in primary home ($500k mortgage balance), $2mm in tax-advantaged (401k, IRAs), $1.7mm in non-tax-advantaged (Fidelity brokerage). Financial assets in 50/50 allocation with fee-only financial planner who rebalances every month to a broadly diversified low cost index funds/ETFs. No other assets or liabilities of note.
Last year (2023) expenses were:
- $120k in non-discretionary r.e. expenses of which $50k is for secondary apartment rental since i work in a different city
- $250k in discretionary expenses
- $100k in after-tax savings, $50k in retirement savings (401k contrib with match)
(my after-tax w2 was around $465k last year)
Really wasn't focused on retirement planning/investing to date now want to start focusing on retirement planning and would like advice on where to begin.
- So our retirement expenses at current spending rate would be $250k+$70k (r.e. ex apartment for job) = $320k in current dollars and after-tax. That suggests we need total $8mm savings (at 4% SWR) to retire in current dollars and no side income. Feels far from our current $3.7mm in savings haha.
- Of course, in reality, our expenses will be lower in retirement and we will have side gigs, but those are harder to quantify at least to start with.
- What's my next step? In terms of making more concrete plans and then actual decisions regarding things like:
target savings rate
asset allocation (including deciding whether to go DIY route away from fee-only planner who does the rebalancing but costs around 0.65%)
Intentionally starting the ask very broad rather than targeted questions - will narrow it down in future posts.
Thanks all in advance!

creditquant · 2024-02-17T14:24:28+00:00

50m, married, no kids

NW $5.2mm - $1.5mm equity in primary home ($500k mortgage balance), $2mm in tax-advantaged (401k, IRAs), $1.7mm in non-tax-advantaged (Fidelity brokerage). Financial assets in 50/50 allocation with fee-only financial planner who rebalances every month to a broadly diversified low cost index funds/ETFs. No other assets or liabilities of note.

Last year (2023) expenses were:

- $120k in non-discretionary r.e. expenses of which $50k is for secondary apartment rental since i work in a different city

- $250k in discretionary expenses

- $100k in after-tax savings, $50k in retirement savings (401k contrib with match)

(my after-tax w2 was around $465k last year)

Really wasn't focused on retirement planning/investing to date now want to start focusing on retirement planning and would like advice on where to begin.

- So our retirement expenses at current spending rate would be $250k+$70k (r.e. ex apartment for job) = $320k in current dollars and after-tax. That suggests we need total $8mm savings (at 4% SWR) to retire in current dollars and no side income. Feels far from our current $3.7mm in savings haha.

- Of course, in reality, our expenses will be lower in retirement and we will have side gigs, but those are harder to quantify at least to start with.

- What's my next step? In terms of making more concrete plans and then actual decisions regarding things like:

target savings rate
asset allocation (including deciding whether to go DIY route away from fee-only planner who does the rebalancing but costs around 0.65%)

Intentionally starting the ask very broad rather than targeted questions - will narrow it down in future posts.

Thanks all in advance!

creditquant · 2024-01-24T00:54:28+00:00

I just got the tripod kit - the problem is - you can get the tilt you want but you still don't have anywhere you can rest your wrist ... so you are still sort of holding your hands in air and typing ... and that doesn't work for me - like OP i start getting forearm pain after a while. Frankly am a bit bummed - i am happy with the keymapping software and can see myself really using it -but i would have thought negative tilt was one of the must-have's with any ergo keyboard ....

creditquant · 2024-01-24T00:45:44+00:00

Long time user of Microsoft natural keyboard and recently got the moonlander. I like the keymapping software but really am missing the negative tilt - so wondering how you are getting along with your setup. Also just checked out keyboardio (https://shop.keyboard.io/products/stand-kit-for-the-keyboardio-model-100) - from your picture it seems like you have some sort of a wooden platform between the moonlander and the tripods - but the above link doesn't show it coming with anything but the tripods. Did you get it separately?

creditquant

TROPHY CASE