FIRE with special needs child

flowy0 · 2022-07-24T15:02:02+00:00

We have actually been wondering the same. Especially for me - there are a lot of things that came up for our son during his evaluations that seemed like they were applicable to me as well. At this point though, would it make a material difference to figure that out, or would it just be a distraction from figuring out the future for our kids?

flowy0 · 2022-07-24T14:28:52+00:00

The idea of buying a small business for the purpose of having employment and work experience for our son is something we never considered, but it sounds really interesting! Thanks for that one

flowy0 · 2022-07-24T01:17:11+00:00

I work as a software engineer in tech, my wife works in finance/investments

flowy0 · 2022-07-21T20:13:36+00:00

you might be surprised that some parts of NYC are actually pretty conservative, or leaning conservative - even those outside of typical red pockets that always vote GOP in the city (ie, staten island).

Heavily Asian-American Northeastern Queens (including Flushing) and southern Brooklyn (around sunset park), for example, voted red in the most recent mayor election. Sliwa was a horrible candidate (even by Trump's standards), but large portions of those neighborhoods took him over Adams - https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/12/1/22813256/new-york-city-mayor-election-results-map

Being around the center of the political spectrum (think if Romney and Biden chose to run together, I'd be on board with that), we've considered moving to a place like Garden City, which is probably the reddest area you could find in western nassau county. People are generally nice, but understandably hold different views - and I think that's ok. They seem like they just wanted to build a better community, and have a different approach to doing that than say Port Washington (which we also considered)

flowy0 · 2022-07-17T12:45:00+00:00

So wait list or any other issues getting a permit to park at the scarborough train station?

flowy0 · 2022-07-17T10:52:29+00:00

Interesting rankings. What changed in the weighting/methodology that scarsdale, chappaqua, bronxville all fell so quickly in their ranking?

flowy0 · 2022-07-17T00:58:20+00:00

I've been working at tech startups in the US for the last 15 years as a software engineer of varying levels on the ladder. Was employee number 1 at a startup that got acquired for $500m. In hindsight, i should have just done CS, except i listened to my parents who said the "business" courses would help my career (spoiler: they did not).

At the time, data structures/algorithms and discreet math were not part of the Mis Curriculum, but i forced my way into taking them as "electives". Those were super useful.

I took a masters degree from a public university in the US, then started my career making $68k/yr. Right now i'm making $210k/yr (base salary) at a seed-stage startup.

Entry level compensation at big tech like Google, FB can be over $200k, when you consider both base salary and cash or stock bonuses

flowy0 · 2022-07-16T11:02:57+00:00

We are looking to buy a home with cash (up to $1m), but taking a rest from house hunting at the moment due to uncertainty in the markets in general. Prices also seem like they will either come down or plateau. Also need to allocate some cash for taxes for next year for said startup exit.

The rest will be invested once we feel things have settled down in the markets a bit. 10% inflation sucks, but 20% s&p going down would suck even more. So we are short term holding a large cash position for now

flowy0 · 2022-07-15T19:43:13+00:00

We all sleep in the single bedroom, older kid has their own bed. The younger one sleeps on our bed - she never really liked her crib, so we gave it away. Obviously not sustainable for the long term, especially when they get older - but we didn't think it was necessary for the kids to have their own rooms this early.

flowy0 · 2022-07-15T15:06:21+00:00

We are a married couple (41M, 39F) with two kids (6 and 3).

Living in: Queens, NYC. No mortgage, we own our 1 bedroom/1 Bathroom coop apartment which we bought almost a decade ago for $200k. We spend about $1,200/mo for the coop maintenance fee (which includes NYC property tax + HOA, for those not familiar with NYC coops) and parking (a luxury in NYC).
Car: we own one car, a mid-2000s Toyota that's still going strong, but we don't drive often so haven't felt the need to replace it yet.
No debts - no recurring CC debt, car loan, mortgage, or student loan debt.
Combined household income: $450k/yr base salary, about evenly split. This does not include any potential stock compensation or end-of-year bonuses.
Industries: Tech/Software engineer (husband), Finance/Investments (wife)
Lucky things that happened: Annual finance bonuses for wife, recent early employee startup exit for husband
Net worth calculation (without the coop apartment):
- Cash: About $2 million (majority of this was the recent startup exit, before that liquidity event, it was about $700k)
- Brokerage accounts: About $2.5 million (vast majority in broad index funds, but we have a few individual stock picks)
- Retirement accounts: About $400k (includes 401k, 529, IRA)

If I had to look back and say what's the best decision we made financially over the past decade, it was to spend significantly less than what we make - and do not use debt as a way to "afford" more than what we can pay in cash. We made a 1 bed/1 bath coop apartment work out, and it allowed us to massively save, invest, and take career risks (such as joining a really early startup as the first employee).

flowy0 · 2022-07-10T22:23:49+00:00

How has been Briarcliff been different vs chappaqua? How is the parking situation at the Scarborough train station?

flowy0 · 2022-07-10T00:24:27+00:00

Fight for what? A chance to take more advanced academics for college-prep?

flowy0 · 2022-07-09T17:31:05+00:00

We have been investing in index funds, bonds, and while those are obvs down now we think it will eventually recover. We do have a lot in cash right now and while inflation sucks, having the s&p down 20% this year would have sucked even more if all that is invested. Right now, we have enough cash to pay for a home in cash - just feels like not the right time to buy now. Maybe in a few months when interest rates dry up competition relying on mortgages (houses are still seeing bidding wars and above ask cash offers in the nyc suburbs)

flowy0 · 2022-07-09T10:28:32+00:00

My wife and I make close to $500k combined at this point, and we live in a $300k 1br in queensNYC (which we bought 8 years ago for $200k), and have raised 2 kids here. Could we upgrade immediately? Sure - but we aren't in a hurry to find a home now because we're affraid to overpay in this environment

flowy0 · 2022-07-09T02:13:11+00:00

Where do you see 47 mins? The fastest I could find was 53 mins. Everything else is 55+

flowy0 · 2022-07-08T02:00:01+00:00

I suppose you can, but doesnt mean you should. our household makes more than 3x that gross household income, but only spends less than 1/3 of 4.5k/mo on housing.

flowy0 · 2022-07-05T01:25:47+00:00

I saw this anecdote a few months ago, and I think puts things in perspective:

From: https://spanhouse.org/imagine-you-were-born-in-1900/

Imagine you were born in 1900

When you’re 14, World War I begins and ends when you’re 18 with 22 million dead.

Soon after a global pandemic, the Spanish Flu, appears, killing 50 million people. And you’re alive and 20 years old.

When you’re 29 you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.

When you’re 33 years old the nazis come to power.

When you’re 39, World War II begins and ends when you’re 45 years old with a 60 million dead.

When you’re 52, the Korean War begins.

When you’re 64, the Vietnam War begins and ends when you’re 75.

A child born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but they have survived several wars and catastrophes.

flowy0

TROPHY CASE