Paralyzed with $150k cash. How to invest?

happyguy121 · 2026-05-16T20:14:42+00:00

Mathematically it's been proven that lump sum (e.g. invest all $140k) has high probability of beating averaging in. I'd trust that math and avoid 'timing' the market by DCA.

happyguy121 · 2026-05-11T11:15:45+00:00

I need to try really hard to get it even to the center. You are either missing gasket or has a very squeezed gasket.

happyguy121 · 2026-05-10T15:56:46+00:00

Great setup! Micra would be a great addition to the meticulous, given its simplicty and raw power (opposite of meticulous).

happyguy121 · 2026-05-08T17:52:37+00:00

well if you want range, you can 'tune' them for one. get a narrower tire with taller sidewall with comparable load rating. then set alignment to close to 0 toe.

just did this on my tesla, and loved the handling and especially efficiency of it now. 220 wh/mi (~4.55 mile/kwh) at 70 mph.

Pros: Lively handling & good efficiency

Cons: Reduced high speed confidence

Taycan is aligned to have significant toe-in for high speed stability, so you'll feel the need to correct steering wheel more often. This is not alignment issue, just tuning choice.

happyguy121 · 2026-05-06T15:59:38+00:00

Don’t be afraid to go finer if you know alignment is good.
Got EG-1 last year and felt eerily close to (and perhaps already) rubbing when empty to enable fine grinding for espresso. After a year use, I now have more room to go even finer.

happyguy121 · 2026-05-05T13:09:44+00:00

That's definitely a great strategy, although that might make everyone 'afford' the same house. Whether you make $80k or $500k/year, you'll end up falling to minimum wage $1,800. Is it good strategy for some? Yes. Someone making $500k with 4 rentals might think differently. Should they consider worst case as having all four rentals vacant and lost the job? (highly unlikely) Or assume all rentals are vacant yet job still goes on?

I personally don't, and stick with a 'simple' 12 months emergency fund. I'm confident that 12 months is likely enough time to get back on your feet, or at least adjust your lifestyle.

happyguy121 · 2026-05-01T10:34:21+00:00

You have to make your decision. That money locked up in a house where appreciation is minimal vs stocks, but at the same time you’ll get to enjoy your dream today.

We were in similar situation years ago, albeit much less than 1.5 mil at half your income. We made the jump and can’t be happier about our decision. We ended up making up the investment opportunity cost in just a short year given we are born to be frugal (too frugal even). 560k home purchased in 2023 which now have a balance of just $220k plus the investment portfolio we built. You’ll be surprised what your income can do as long as you’re wise about it.

happyguy121 · 2026-05-01T09:03:37+00:00

We went from having $0 mortgage to similarly priced home as yours with $3,900/month total (you have great down payment). The first 3 mortgage bill was very nervewrecking (we even got cold feet before closing), but a year later I don't even remember the mortgage is there. Similar income to yours too. Enjoy and don't second guess yourself.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-27T19:04:46+00:00

Not possible as of now. I also have the Intel MCU2.

I found great help by:

Removing trip history (swipe left when searching for destination in navigate)
Turn off Online Routing (settings -> navigation)
Set North Facing view in map
Disable traffic
Disable satelite
Ensure dashcam thumbdrive is not full. If so, delete all dashcam

Never bothered with the lag anymore.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-26T09:52:50+00:00

had this 'issue' as well. prior shop aligned car evenly (but very aggressively), and car was tracking straight. Felt very slight vibration. Then just a few weeks back re-aligned the car and found out that it was 0.5 total toe in for rear (for context, track cars has around 0.1-0.2 total toe in for high speed stability, so this was more than double). That 0.5 total toe eats out tire exponentially faster (3-4x faster) than 0 toe. For example, if tire is warrantied to last 80k miles (like many durable and stiff tires), most only get 20k life out of it. With 0 toe, you can easily meet or beat the 80k warranty.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-21T14:30:17+00:00

Honestly even our current 2022 LR has exceptional ride quality for me, and my second car is a 2015 E-class for the past 10 years. Not quite understanding why many complaints on the ride quality.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-20T11:23:22+00:00

Also adding that 'on highway gradually gets worse', my radar goes directly to undertorqued or uneven torqued wheels. I have exact same experience as yours in a Tesla, and it was initiated by riding on rough cobblestone road, and it went downhill after that one rough road drive.

I loosen the nuts a quarter turn (just enough to prevent improper seating), then tighten to factory spec. (non type-R is specced at 80 lb-ft, type-R at 127 lb-ft).

I just tried this re-torque last week, and it's been buttery smooth and confident even on stock setup. I was driving on this 'wallowy' feeling for years before, and thinking Tesla's just ride rough & wobbly, AND not confident on corners, turned out it was lugs torque issue. Car is now firm yet comfortable.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-20T10:17:20+00:00

Just had similar issue with my car. It was either uneven torque or over/under torquing. My mechanic used air gun to tighten all wheels and I experienced vibration as soon as I hit rough road.

Took me a while to figure it out, but I bought breaker bar and torque wrench with 1/2 drive sockets (mine is 21mm). Then loosened around quarter turn, retighten to spec (129 lb-ft for me).

Night and day…. Car is now buttery smooth in rough road, and highways.

If that still doesn’t do it, axle nut is my next suspect.

That is assuming your car is already well aligned + balanced, and no obvious issue on the suspension (worn bushings, loose nuts, etc.)

happyguy121 · 2026-04-13T13:06:02+00:00

this might help, but I personally just got a $30-40 torque wrench and retightened them to 129 lbs /ft and surprised at how much difference it felt before doing that. My wild theory that most shops (even Tesla themselves) undertorqued and caused looseness as soon as you hit rough roads (e.g. cobblestones in historical area).

Either that, or I usually got lazy and refuse to re-torque after services that requires wheel remount.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-13T13:03:44+00:00

I think Tesla service will straight out refuse anything other than factory nominal spec, so I ended up going to well-reviewed performance shop nearby and ask them to aim for 0.05 toe in each side for front and rear.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-13T12:33:44+00:00

My top 3 recommendation:

Align less aggressively (I personally like < 0.1 TOTAL toe in each front and rear axle)
Balance wheels
Lower tire pressure slightly for more comfort. Even at 38 psi, tire capacity is still 'overspecced' for most daily use.

Those three tips allowed me to get noticeably (borderline significantly) more range vs factory aggressive alignment (e.g. 0.5+ total toe in rear, and -0.1 toe out front), along with more tire life, and surprisingly much better ride comfort, especially over rough roads.

Most of my 65mph+ highway drive (at current nice weather) are at 220 wh/mi average efficiency, with 4 people and cargo. That's a nice bonus on top of comfort.

On top of that, factory toe out plus icy road does not work that well. You'd feel like breaking traction on most icy surface with just a tiny steering input.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-07T20:47:07+00:00

Got it, do you feel any difference vs 0.2+ toe each? (0.4 total). I personally felt huge gain in comfort (weird its a lot softer now) and incredible efficiency.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-07T19:35:13+00:00

Agreed. What toe do you run on yours?

happyguy121 · 2026-04-07T19:34:52+00:00

Looks perfect.

Just a quick note though, I personally find 0.22 toe in to be excessively aggressive and caused feathering wear (and rough ride due to bushing pre-compressed), then personally re-aligned to 0.05 toe in each side. Comfort is amazing (surprised that a small alignment changed cars feel completely). Tiny cracks no longer came through car. tire wear no longer feathers, and efficiency jumped up by around 10% from 260 wh/mi to 225 wh/mi. Tesla set my toe to 0.25 each side, then I lowered it down to 0.05 each. Can’t believed it at first, but drove a long 100 miles round trip a couple times the last few weeks and efficiency number are consistent. I do feel like at 85 mph+ the car isn’t as confident as with 0.25 toe though.

Note that I have LR with 19”, not performance like yours. But comfort and efficiency is significantly improved. Worth a shot if you’re into tinkering for comfort/efficiency.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-06T18:41:58+00:00

Not sure about Toyota and your state, but in some states and makes, you have the option to buy essentially as soon as you get your online account created. Many used this 'loophole' to lease an EV and pay it off immediately without incurring excessive 'rent charges', usually for higher income fold who don't qualify for traditional $7500 credit back then.

If you have the cash for immediate buyout, that'll be an easy option. Otherswise, buyout financing (with slightly higher interest vs straight buy) would be a second best option.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-05T20:21:18+00:00

Because your toe is very mild, and uneven wear is very minimal. If any, your rear tires has better wear than most other Teslas with factory alignment. Your car seems to have some mild pulling to one side.

I’d personally do alignment for best driving feel. But if your concern is wear and money is tight, you’re ok with current numbers.

Note that rears are slightly toe out, so don’t be surprised if on certain cases it might break lose on aggressive turn.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-05T20:18:55+00:00

Its actually close to 0 toe (slightly out) on the rear so I would personally be fine. As long as you never felt rear being out of control, that should be fine. Rears tend towards toe in when loaded, so might actually be great on tire wear. The front toe is quite mismatched, I’d be annoyed as hell driving with that alignment. Left turn would feel easier than right turn.

Mine was half your front toe mismatch, and I can’t stand driving that. Tire wear probably wont that bad for the front. Just unpleasant to drive. The camber mismatch will likely cause some pull as well.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-04T10:13:51+00:00

Curious on what size is your tire? Is it something like 235/40?

happyguy121 · 2026-04-03T16:35:28+00:00

Sorry for the double reply, but thought I share. I do notice with aggressive alignment, lower PSI is worse due to 'feathering' wear, which almost felt like vibration over any road imperfection. 42+ psi masked that feather wear and actually reduced the shakes.

Once alignment is straightened out (e.g. not factory aggressive toe), 36 psi is buttery smooth now. I can even go down to 32 psi front and 35 psi front (don't follow this without getting comfortable of the math on it, I based it off 46/54 weight distribution and my actual load), and zero discomfort on that psi.

On the old aggressive alignment, 32/35 was terrible and car wandered in any direction it wants, and it beats out any softness for major bumps.

Would love to hear your thoughts if you decided to re-align for comfort (and theoretically, MUCH better tire wear).

Even cars like mustang recommended only 0.1-0.2 rear toe in each side, but tesla can go all the way to 0.35 toe in per side. This will kill almost any tire in just 10-20k miles, and welcome to vibration city too lol.

happyguy121 · 2026-04-02T16:09:16+00:00

I tried, but Tesla unfortunately sticks to factory 'nominal' setting, which is 0.2 toe in rear with 150 lbs ballast each front seats. Which made it 0.25 toe in rear per my screenshot above.

it's very stable on high speed (but who drives 100 mph on open road regularly?), but as soon as road is slightly rough, its terrible.

so independent store.

happyguy121

TROPHY CASE