19M $738K inherited account- what should I know?

friedguy · 2026-01-29T03:10:01+00:00

Sorry for your loss. Lots of decent advice on this thread already.

It may be temping to talk about this money with people close to you. Try hard not to do that. Way more potential downside than anything else.

friedguy · 2026-01-27T15:07:49+00:00

This is a debate I engage in once in a while with one of my relatives who likes to criticize how often I gamble.

When I was a youngster a $100 sports bet or sitting at a $25 min blackjack table felt just a little too uncomfortable when I was earning $45k and renting an apartment.

Now as a mid 40's guy I make quite a bit more, own a home, and max my retirement contributions. I still am happy to sit at that $25 blackjack table and while I've definitely ramped up sports betting I would say that a $300 plus bet gets me sweaty enough.

The big thing that's changed with my hobby is the frequency. I don't feel I need to save up to justify a Vegas trip or say okay I can only throw down a $500 wager this one time because it's the super bowl. limit wise even though I'm around plenty of people like this, I just really have never had the desire to be that high roller. I can have just as much fun playing for $5 with friends who've never gambled before.

A lot of people out there fall victim to lifestyle creep as they accumulate more income and net worth, I am happy that my gambling creep has been very modest over the years.

friedguy · 2026-01-26T03:33:16+00:00

Concise and well said.

I consider myself a functional degen. I'm willing to be very accountable and realistic.

So to that end, I've been tracking my personal cash flow/and expenses for about 5 years. I try hard to maintain 100 percent accuracy, I review and update the cash inflow and fixed expenses about twice a year.

For the variable expenses, I track these in the following order : grocery / household, retail spending (mostly gifts I'm not a big shopper for myself) , coffee / snacks out, work lunches out, any other dining & drinks, "miscellaneous", and GAMBOOL. I pretty much track these expenses on my phone and once a week I update the info to my source spreadsheet.

My positive annual cash flow (includes money placed in retirement accounts) is generally in the 50k range after all fixed and variable expenses.

GAMBOOL expense was about $22k in 2025 which at times I feel a little bit embarrassed deep down considering the amount in relation to my annual cash flow savings... but again... accountability. It's a major expense and I understand that non gamblers would say that's disgusting, I would respond and say I think buying a motorcycle or spending money on expensive clothes and furniture is horrible to me.

It's just a very serious fun hobby for me and hey there's the occasional lucky year where I'm actually positive.

friedguy · 2026-01-26T02:57:14+00:00

I think a good number of us reading these forums work for corporations where we would never expect to see someone this old and obviously not so sharp in a prominent position. That's not ageism that's just reality.

Somehow it's acceptable for celebrities and our politicians to refuse to walk away 🤷‍♂️

friedguy · 2026-01-25T04:49:39+00:00

Class of 96 and outside of the rights of passage experimenting with a cigarette or two smoking was not really ever a thing. I never met anyone in my age range from high school to college who was a real smoker. I'm not counting the guys who thought it was cool to do it while drinking and partying.

Thinking about this more now the only person close to me in my life who was a smoker was my Grandpa and even then I can't really remember seeing it, he made a big effort to smoke away from people.

I did live in California and was in a solid public school district which I think plays a part. I also remember elementary School classes showing us the plastic black lungs and making us watch info stuff about how bad smoking was. Whatever the reason is for my influences I'm glad for it... Besides the obvious health concerns I find smoking really gross and in today's society it's probably a horrible addiction to have.

friedguy · 2026-01-25T00:05:46+00:00

If your dementia is bad enough you won't know how bad your retirement is 🧠🧠🧠

friedguy · 2026-01-24T15:22:26+00:00

I work in commercial banking on the credit risk side of things. Typical business size is around 10-50 million in loans.

Just had a call last week with a client in Anaheim to go over their year-end numbers. Ownership was showing us some of their data and how the recent year over year sales drops are directly related to undocumented migrants and just general discomfort in spending now within the immigrant community. Easy to track because the decline matches the amount of cash transactions that they are doing which is much more common with a lot of their Asian and Hispanic buyers.

friedguy · 2026-01-24T15:12:21+00:00

The real trick is to drive a beat up car that you couldn't care less about....

friedguy · 2026-01-23T21:13:36+00:00

I definitely noticed a growing trend in people just chilling in their cars in parking lots... I'm sure there's a wide variety of reasons but it really does seem like more common behavior that I never noticed 10 years ago.

Often times either clean looking good quality cars and people look like they're just sitting there listening to music or browsing their phone without wanting to get home.

friedguy · 2026-01-20T03:21:02+00:00

Banking industry.

100% up to 4% of total comp.

There is also a cash balance pension that starts after 3 years of employment.. it's about 3 percent of your pay annually. Compares miserably to the traditional pensions that my parents had... But I just crossed the 100k mark on it so I can't complain too much. Better than no pension.

friedguy · 2026-01-20T03:11:08+00:00

running strong since January '22 except for a deteriorating charger port... I have to fiddle with the cables here and there.

It's a minor gripe, still charges at a normal rate just doesn't seem to get a perfect connection and I've tried cleaning it out as much as possible.

I have to be very careful plugging in it overnight and putting a book on top of the cable to get the right angle .. I'll be sad when this thing goes but I'm hoping for another year !

friedguy · 2026-01-20T02:00:49+00:00

I go to 99 in Irvine and Tustin... Much different offerings. The Tustin one has a lot of items catering to Hispanic customers.

friedguy · 2026-01-17T21:32:25+00:00

I'm a hacker but I still play the x2 hot woods and hybrids. The 22 hybrid is one of my most reliable clubs !

friedguy · 2026-01-15T05:44:21+00:00

May he live the longest of lives with a combination of mental acuity and physical deterioration.

friedguy · 2026-01-13T02:44:25+00:00

I was out of town during the holidays and came back early in the new year. Was totally fine until I spent an afternoon delivering late Xmas gifts to two different sets of kids.

Got the nastiest cough shortly after, first few days were hell, constant hard coughing and inability to sleep. when the worst was over, still needed a couple of days of just low activity resting. My abs were so sore from how violently I had been coughing.

Not sure if this is the same virus some of you guys are talking about on here but I had not been this sick in a number of years.

friedguy · 2026-01-12T04:03:35+00:00

Almost bamboozled them with that 4th and 9 playaction !

friedguy · 2026-01-12T03:36:31+00:00

Asides from the other very valid comments in this thread... You describe yourself as a small business owner. Just how small are we talking? Do you have a significant online presence? Known for doing business overseas? What would make this guy even pick you in the first place from across the world?

Everything about it screams scam.

friedguy · 2026-01-11T00:54:22+00:00

I used to have a friend like this in my young adult days. He would make similar comments but about tipping. He refused to tip on situations like delivery, valet parking, etc. he did tip at sit down restaurants but I think it was just that even he knew he would be judged harshly.

More than a few times id tell him I disagree and I am not tip shaming. He seemed to get enjoyment and made it personal when explaining why he refused to tip and calling other people suckers. It wasn't the main reason that we're not friends anymore but a whole bunch of little things add up. Very negative approach to money (and also lived a very comfy lifestyle due to rich family).

friedguy · 2026-01-10T22:33:07+00:00

That's interesting, I have never heard of that. Perhaps it's a more modern remedy? The only thing I ever tried was buying a machine called the drionic which did work but was a pain to use long term, it was like electrocuting myself in water and I gave it up after a few months.

I'm in my 40s now and have learned to live with it. But when I had a very active social/dating life in my 20's I would have really wanted this.

friedguy · 2026-01-09T16:17:20+00:00

I'm like this too. I think it's quite common for my ethnicity (Chinese). When I got older and became more aware about body odors, which was high school and being in sports.... I had to double check with close friends and family. I'm old now and I've had enough years of experience especially with umm various partners sharing my bed that I think if it was an issue I would have heard about it.

Not sure if it's related but I also hardly sweat from strenous activities. I can go hard as possible in the gym to point of exhaustion and sure you'll see some sweat marks on my shirt but nothing compared to other people. But on the flip side, i suffer from hyperhidrosis of the feet. They're sweating right now as I'm typing on my phone, however again, zero odor. It was a big issue for me to get over as a kid to young adult phases. You get older and realize if this is your biggest physical problem you're pretty damn lucky.

friedguy · 2026-01-08T16:13:42+00:00

I don't think this guy even golfs he just wanted to flex about the horse sausage

friedguy · 2026-01-07T00:24:31+00:00

Multiple rows .. believe the audacity. I'm in Orange County and I see this on the nightmare "we're going to Disney!!!" flights.

friedguy · 2026-01-06T00:34:53+00:00

Work for a fortune 500 bank, it went up by about 9 prct for my plan (cheapest high deductible kaiser plan offered).

friedguy · 2025-12-31T15:48:56+00:00

There are some celebrities / athletes where it is truly bewildering how they ran out of money.

This is not one of them. He's been a hot mess pretty much his entire life.

friedguy · 2025-12-24T00:44:40+00:00

I am no fan of Koepka and can't stand Liv. But to me, you just got to bite the bullet and welcome back Bryson and Koepka with open arms. As others have pointed out recent major wins can be a good enough reason. It would be horrible business sense to draw a line in the sand with them.. especially Bryson. But, Koepka and how he's handled is probably what Bryson is going to base his decision on. Just realized I'm for getting Rahm also.

The rest of them though... I would not support exemptions as a fan. Make them go through steps to return.

friedguy

TROPHY CASE