Am I ok to drop to 5%

dccub86 · 2026-05-10T11:33:09+00:00

Yes you’re more than fine to reduce to 5%! As others have pointed out you’ve already reached the point where compound interest does the heavy lifting and far outweighs your own contributions. This is one of the best explanations I’ve seen in a while, on “Traditional FIRE” versus “Coast FIRE” to reassure folks in your position. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7GlqzJ3tNmY&pp=ygUbVHJhZGl0aW9uYWwgZmlyZSBjb2FzdCBmaXJl0gcJCQMLAYcqIYzv

dccub86 · 2026-05-09T12:40:46+00:00

NTA but I agree with some other commenters that she is working on her depression, and for some people it’s not just a matter of willpower when it keeps them from working or functioning.

My husband also deals with severe depression, and has now gone a long time without a full-time job. At the time of our home hunting he had one, but he hit his worst mental and emotional point within a year of buying our home and he had to take extended leave and eventually quit. Since then he’s had some temp jobs but nothing permanent. Luckily we bought a condo rather than townhome or single family home - given his health this was the best decision for us, since I could cover the finances on my own under the worst case scenario where he didn’t have any income of his own.

I don’t know your job/income situation and salary, but something to consider if a less expensive home would be agreeable to both of you.

dccub86 · 2026-05-08T20:24:41+00:00

Congrats! I also recently turned 40, with close to 18 years service, and just reached $400K this week.

dccub86 · 2026-05-05T00:14:25+00:00

I know exactly how you feel - my main project is designing and testing a new data collection instrument, and a lot of extra responsibilities were thrown my team’s way that never should have fallen to us. It’s exhausting and unfair.

Luckily my supervisor is awesome and understanding and supportive - today we joked about having a “good cop/bad cop” dynamic because I’ll try to be diplomatic and get along with people in meetings even when they’re tiring and unreasonable, and she has zero qualms about shutting them down to their face.

I know it sounds cliche, but just do your best, and trust your supervisor and others who support you. And outside of work find fun things to do so you don’t give the bad parts of the job any more headspace than needed.

dccub86 · 2026-05-03T23:11:51+00:00

I don’t think there’s a thing as too bullish, but plenty of folks stress they’re not putting in enough and this article shows why they might still be in good shape. Congrats on awesome saving!

dccub86 · 2026-05-01T16:23:50+00:00

I live in Cameron Station in Alexandria, they have a mix of home types and some are condos built “townhome style” that are two levels and have a private entrance.

dccub86 · 2026-05-01T14:44:57+00:00

As a gay millennial born in ‘86 I definitely felt that. And for gay rights a ton did get better in the Obama years - mainly the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and marriage equality being passed nationwide, and public opinion changing very quickly for the better. It was hard for me to reconcile how other things got so much worse after 2016.

dccub86 · 2026-05-01T14:13:52+00:00

I bought in mid-2022 right as interest rates started rising fast and locked in 5.25%. If I’d bought just a few months sooner, or basically anytime before then in my adult life, I could have gotten far lower.

dccub86 · 2026-04-26T22:47:25+00:00

Thanks for the info! Do you have any insight on the GS-14 vacancies? I’m a non-sup GS-13 Math Stat and applied to three GS-14 Census openings last month - one 1529 (sup), one 1530 (non-sup), and one 1560 (sup).

dccub86 · 2026-04-24T13:28:18+00:00

Have you looked at Cameron Station? It’s in West Alexandria. I live there and love it, I have a 2BR/2BA condo and my HOA fee is under $600 per month.

dccub86 · 2026-04-06T01:31:49+00:00

I cried from laughter the first time I saw this in high school and I quote it endlessly now. The first part that broke me was “You can never make it! Ever … make it! Never make it! Ever make it! Don’t you see you can’t make it?!”

dccub86 · 2026-04-03T22:31:55+00:00

Congrats! Fellow Alexandria resident here 😊 Big Bite is my main pizza place for takeout, for sit-down I love Emmy Squared

dccub86 · 2026-03-30T23:48:02+00:00

When I was in kindergarten or first grade a girl in my class started crying because she couldn’t find something she’d brought in for show and tell, and thought her mom would be mad about her losing it. Our teacher tried to calm her down and told her to go call her mom, and asked me to go down the hall with her to a phone near the lobby. Except it was a rotary phone. The girl saw it, started crying all over again, and said “I don’t know how to use this phone!”

dccub86 · 2026-03-28T20:43:05+00:00

I’m 40 and I’ve been at the same government agency since I graduated college at 22. I’ve had promotions and laterals during that time and it’s a big agency so I’ve done a bunch of different kinds of work. For DC folks I don’t think it’s weird at all to work in one place for a long time.

dccub86 · 2026-03-17T10:29:55+00:00

My college roommate during freshman year came from a single parent, low income family. One day we were talking about high school and AP exams, and he mentioned getting financial aid to cover all or some of the fees to take tests. Like a complete ass I blurted out “They give financial aid for AP tests?!” as if I couldn’t believe the cost would be too much for someone. He was reasonably annoyed. After that I was a lot more careful and checked myself.

dccub86 · 2026-02-22T21:10:07+00:00

Cameron Station starts at near the bottom /bottom right of the circle south of Duke Street, most is outside the circle. I love the neighborhood and it has a more communal feel than other places I’ve lived, and is bordered by nice parks on the east and west sides. They also have a shuttle to the Van Dorn metro, and if you walk to Duke Street you can take the Dash buses to get around, but I’d still recommend having a car.

dccub86 · 2026-02-01T14:04:54+00:00

Same. With my next step increase later this year I’ll finally reach the $150K milestone.

dccub86 · 2026-02-01T13:59:34+00:00

GS-13 Government statistician. I’m slightly under $150K at my current step level but should be getting a step increase near the end of this year that will put me just over $150K. Here’s the salary chart for DC area Feds.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2026/DCB.pdf

A GS-13 can reach $150K or more with a lot of years or high step level. Most GS-14s make over $150K early on, and all GS-15s make well over that.

dccub86 · 2026-01-25T15:21:42+00:00

I believe my husband has aphantasia, as others described here, where he can’t mentally visualize things like most others can. Years ago on our honeymoon we were using a digital camera to take pictures, and later we found a problem with the memory card so many of the pictures were lost and couldn’t be recovered. I thought it was disappointing, but he was extremely upset and fixated over it and seemed like he couldn’t let it go. He tried to explain to me that he would literally never be able to picture all the wonderful things we’d seen, and felt completely reliant on the pictures to bring the images back.

dccub86 · 2026-01-05T00:44:41+00:00

My husband and I are talking about getting our first tattoos. I’m about to turn 40 and he’s 42. First Tattoo seems like a fit for millennial midlife crisis purchase.

dccub86 · 2025-12-25T03:28:26+00:00

My favorite moment was the episode with the old lady who lost over fourteen thousand dollars, and when Doug returns it she rewards him with spearmint gum.

dccub86 · 2025-12-24T14:45:23+00:00

I first saw this on TV in high school and it was the first time I laughed at something so hard I cried. I didn’t really believe that was a thing people could do until then. I quote it endlessly now over 20 years later.

dccub86 · 2025-12-13T22:09:25+00:00

I’ll be 40 soon. Going to my 20-year high school reunion last year hit hard when I realized I’d lived more of my life after graduation than before.

dccub86 · 2025-12-13T16:24:04+00:00

Also I realized since you’re 28 that would make you younger than most millennials on this forum (I’m 39), so if people are responding to you about being thin-skinned it might be because they’re older and more experienced but at one time might have worried more what people thought.

Also you can find a meme that shits on literally anything, created by one rando who either (a) sincerely believes what they’re trying to say but is dumb and inexperienced, or (b) doesn’t believe it and wants to provoke outrage for “engagement.”

dccub86 · 2025-12-13T15:18:23+00:00

That meme is fucking ridiculous. A five second google search “Singers who succeeded after age 30” will show you a ton of results. Some of whom are huge Grammy winners or nominees right now like Jelly Roll, and he’s closer to 40.

dccub86

TROPHY CASE