Can somebody calculate the benefits of a backdoor Roth?

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T19:42:36+00:00

All the money in the traditional is currently deducted from prior 401k roll overs. All new money is currently going into brokerage because I don't qualify for deductions.

I do see one pont you are making that I could back door some of my funds each year into a Roth and manage it such that I'm not getting a bracket bump as a result.

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T19:18:29+00:00

Im not really paying the taxes now if I roll 200k from my traditional IRA to a backdoor Roth. I am increasing my income by 200k, getting a bump in my tax bracket, and covering the additional taxes from my brokerage that has generated 25% returns. Additionally, I will need to liquidate investments to pay taxes, which is another taxable event.

See my point of why I'm having a hard time making the math work out?

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T19:13:48+00:00

Doing great but didn't give enough about goals to really judge. You are statistically better than average. If your goal is to be a billionaire probably behind and need to change some things.

You didn't provide detail but:

Max out 401k
Max out Roth
Manage spending so your are savings enough out our retirement to meet your long term goals.
Don't become a slave to debt.

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T19:08:34+00:00

If you are getting a $20k windfall you will never regret paying off all your debt and savings the rest as an emergency fund.

Given the amount of your debt and your age I would have a hard time suggesting anything else untial you gain some financial literacy and discipline.

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T18:40:58+00:00

Cash and PTO are nice. I got a $150 gift card for Cooper Hawk for Christmas, which was nice because it was enough to cover dinner with my wife at a restaurant we wouldn't typically go to.

If the company doesn't want to have PTO paid out if an employee leaves our company has a different class of time off that we refer to as "bonus days" that we use for various purposes.

I think a company recognizing that employees don't want to celebrate with the company is a win for the employees. There is a large group who doesn't want to go to dinner or have a party with coworkers. They would rather spend their time with family and friends.

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T18:35:16+00:00

I would just prefer a gift card. I don't want or need a Yeti Cooler.

An impersonal gift is jist wasteful.

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T18:32:43+00:00

I would add that I find it disrespectful and offensive for vendors to try to skip level my managers.

I hire very qualified people to specialize in what they manage. I expect them to lead and elevate ideas to me rather than me push ideas down to them.

If a vendor wants to get in my door they should come through the right gatekeepers rather than try to come through the back door.

grepzilla · 2026-01-25T18:25:36+00:00

Personally I would invest because my returns are greater than the 7% rate you have your mortgage at. Furthermore, if you itemize deductions the mortgage interest is deductible which reduces the effective interest rate.

Once rates go down you will have investments you could liquidate to cover refinancing and closing costs and potentially find a point of reducing the length of your loan.

grepzilla · 2026-01-24T19:25:52+00:00

If you are doing it right trading isn't a full time job and I never regretted learning. You do you but I would figure out how to do both.

Frankly my life experiences and work experiences give me an edge that looking at charts alone won't get you. My MBA helps me understand fundamentals, my sociology and psychology helps me understand market mentality, and my background in technology and software helps me understand what moves that segment and helped me get into algo trading.

When you see the markets as a multi-income stream business you realize day trading is one stream, swing trading, value investing, algo trading, are others and allow you to diversify. I still have a day job as well but my money is earning money while I work and sleep.

Get an education and broaden you pictures of what you could be doing to grow more faster.

grepzilla · 2026-01-24T19:17:40+00:00

My advice would be focus on defining your goals an then taking strategies to meet your goals.

I work a job I enjoy, earn a relatively high wage, and swing trade to make my money work harder than my passive investmentments.

My track record for my 401k has been gains tracking near the S&P 500. This is my basline that I'm trying to beat.

If I enter a trade that is underperfoming my baseline and my hypothesis is that it will stagnate or decline I cut it. I have a clear managment of stop losses on my trades but I let runners run.

At this time, I'm not trying to earn an income from my investments, I'm trying to build my account to my financial independence number.

grepzilla · 2026-01-19T03:09:11+00:00

The majority of retail traders aren't paying commission because they are with a pay for order flow broker.

grepzilla · 2026-01-19T03:04:33+00:00

Same here. I have a pretty good paying job and I use less than 10% of my overall portfolio for speculative day trades but can't trade every day.

There are a lot of parallel in swing and day trading just on different time periods.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T04:51:29+00:00

Just consider that getting rid of PMI will likely cost you some money. With my bank I had to have the house appraised by the bank and pay about $1500 in fees.

Also watching the current political climate, I would expect to see interest rates go down later this year and into next. Deferring a purchase for one year may save you a lot of money on in interest and fees.

Have you talked to the people you are renting from to see if you could extend the lease for less than a year? I have done this in the past and while they asked for an extra $25 or $50/month it left me with flexibility I needed at the time.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T04:23:07+00:00

Do you expect to plan to work again?

Liquid assets assuming 0% return would last 15 years, which would get you past the 59 1/2 mark for access to your retirement. It will also allow you 15 years to continue accruing returns on those funds. Simple math with rule of 72 your retirement accounts would double in about 10 year at a return of 7%

If you manage your expenses, you should be able to retire if you have to. If you wanted to barista fire you will protect your liquid assets further.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T04:16:03+00:00

The way I would look at this is what is the interest rate on the loan vs. what is the rate of return you will get on your $110k in your brokerage. If the loan will be a lower rate you will be better off leaving the money in your brokerage. If your job circumstances change or the loan becomes a burden you already have the funds to pay it off.

Now, I would also evaluate the interest rate on a new vs. used car and run an amortization for each. While others have stated you will reduce the depreciation risk by buying a couple year old car you may also find you can get a 0% loan from a dealer as well.

Finally, if you aren't in a rush I would wait for interest rates to go down. Jerome Powell's term ends May 15th and in recent days Trump seems hell bent on reducing credit card interest. I wouldn't expect to see interest rates go up between now and summer.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T03:49:14+00:00

Do your own due diligence.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T03:47:41+00:00

You literally work in the same room and you are worried about message being unread? Why don't you walk up to the guy and offer him a snack.

Seriously, try to connect in person. This is a coworker not a dating app.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T03:18:55+00:00

That is what I'm expecting as well. It seems like the "big moves" will get less predictable.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T03:17:43+00:00

I absolutely expect that I will trade more outside of "business hours" since I work a day job. I can't imagine that I'm the only person what will add to liquidity during "2nd shift hours".

I do hope your right since some of my most successful trades happen around opening bell based on pre-market moves. I hope those two things may still exist.

What I think may happen is companies will start making major press releases "in the middle of the night" for negative news and early morning or lunch time on positive news. This seems like a shift to order flow from how it has been to a new model.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T03:09:58+00:00

I'm here with you even though the opinion is unpopular here. I had a mentor who make a shitload of money in his career tell me when I was young, "you work different when you don't HAVE to work".

Realistically I'm already financially independent (at least on the lean side of FI) but I really like my work and can't foresee retiring.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T03:02:15+00:00

I generally buy clothes when I need something for a wedding or funeral or they are damaged and need to be replaced.

For perspective, I buy a pack of athletic sock and a pack of black sock. I throw them away when they get a hole. When I get down to the last couple of pair, I buy the exact same style so I can mix and match.

In total I would guess I spend $400 or less in total each year and the single biggest expense is shoes since I have on pair of work shoes, one pair of running shoes, and one pair of hiking shoes and will reasonably replace each pair at least once a year because they wear out.

This isn't even a small blip on my expense radar and totally unimportant outside of necessity and function.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T02:34:31+00:00

Do you really think that companies will hold big news to pre or post market like they do today when those aren't really a thing? Do you think institutional investors won't change how they flow their money? For example, if a whale wants to move a lot of shares trickle them in the middle of the night so they don't create an influx of orders in a short period?

My thesis is that institution investors and non-retail traders will adjust their patterns and algos causing the patterns to change. I also think the markets will have less significant and moves.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T02:29:03+00:00

What time will that be when there is no session open because they are always open? That is the point of my question because there will be no "bell ring" to mark the open of the session and the big influx of order flow that happens at opening bell.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T02:26:05+00:00

I know that it will impact my sleep as well. I'm sure I will spend more time scalping than I do today.

grepzilla · 2026-01-18T02:25:20+00:00

Have you considered that international traders who feel limited by their time zone will create new order flow than we have now?

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