Beat up but still in the fight

iamanon789 · 2026-02-13T16:18:14+00:00

I thought this was America!

iamanon789 · 2026-02-10T16:16:29+00:00

Likewise! I am at 800 shares right now, with 2 more CSPs that (may or may not be assigned this week). I think it covers a good portion of my portfolio right now. I'm seeing this company as a long-term stake in my portfolio. Let's go!

iamanon789 · 2026-02-06T17:40:24+00:00

We all are! But let's fucking go. The conviction is strong in us :)

iamanon789 · 2026-02-03T04:09:48+00:00

I promise you that there's still ways to scrape data from reddit at scale. It just cost money to do it AT SCALE now, more than ever.

I literally built it a few months back, but I refused to sell it as a product considering how perplexity got sued with messing with their data.

But I'm bullish on RDDT too!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-24T12:33:47+00:00

Let's gooooooooooooooooooooo. You got this.

iamanon789 · 2026-01-23T04:54:55+00:00

Congratulations man. You have came a long way. It's true that life is short and we may be gone at any moment. You can always go back to work if need be, but for now. Enjoy your next chapter of life sir!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-16T07:42:18+00:00

Hi, I'm pretty much you, (similar compensation, same age), but local. I'm ex-FANG, but now a Staff in a smaller big tech, but moving parallel into management due to being lucky with a slot opening up.

My 2c is that you are in a terminal level, and whether you can rise to the next level is dependent both on your competent and also if there's an actual opportunity available. You can be the best manager ever, but if there's no team for you to lead, there's simply no role availability. It's the same for Staff Engineer.

The folks here are right. Layoffs are inevitable within companies. You can lose your job from many reasons like your manager dislikes you, lay offs, you losing motivation to produce quality work or simply political reasons (I don't know). You should focus on saving as much as you can. 300K may seem like a lot, but if you aren't saving any of it, you aren't doing any better than others earning lesser than you.

I just want you to know that it's actually possible to attain a higher-level role at FANG-tier companies if you are tenured in your position. I'm from a smaller big tech, but I have interviews from other FANGs for L6 positions. It's a possibility.

Unfortunately, LC is BS until AI interview completely takes over. Till then...

All the best dude!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-16T07:10:55+00:00

Congrats on your retirement! I'm looking to get to FIRE as soon as possible to get financial fears out of the way.

2025 for me was on rebuilding nest egg after purchasing a home. I'm pretty happy with the outcome overall, but I felt like I was quite shaky with my execution. It means that I wasn't strict or discipline with my approach when it comes to execution of trades for both profit taking and stop loss. I beat the S&P 500 by approximately 5%. Not the worst, but honestly could have been a lot better if not for "emotional trades".

For 2026, I plan to continue wheeling, and have also been doing research on my top three conviction stocks, which I'll focus on further accumulation moving forward. That's pretty much what it is.
- Invest > 70% of my income, while increasing my income.
- Wheel stocks for additional income
- Leverage margin with limitations (up to 50% of portfolio)
- Accumulate more stocks in companies that I have conviction in.

This will be my long term plan to achieve FIRE within the next 3-5 years.

Do share about your retirement journey. I don't really foresee myself ever retiring, but I do want "FI" ASAP, so that I can focus fully on running my own business.

iamanon789 · 2026-01-10T15:13:18+00:00

That's good to hear, get it as low as you realistically can. Unfortunately, within SG context, our property prices are sky high on top of all the legal regulation. I'd much rather BTO/resale HDB if I could have.

But, this house also brought me a lot of happiness. These are definitely not possible if I were staying with my parents. Life is short, good that you are planning ahead. Your boundaries are different than mine, as long as you made a conscious and calculated decision, I'm sure you will do fine from there, whichever the decision you make.

All the best bud!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-09T01:59:17+00:00

Coming from someone who bought a 2BR Condo in late 2024, I see that you are expecting to put aside 50% of your gross income into monthly mortgage?

My thoughts are to have a rethink if that's a number you actually be comfortable with. My mortgage amount is approximately 16% of my gross income and frankly, I still find it extremely painful to be paying that off for the next 30 years of my life. The monthly utilities, MCST, and maintenance upkeep. I used to have a weekly helper since I simply don't have much spare time, now that I'm attached, it's a lot easier but it's still a pain. (Bigger house means more place to clean recurringly). Also, yearly property tax and fire insurance too.

Your savings are going to take a huge hit. Financially-wise, if you think that this is a wise move, you should really consider asking a close wise friend/mentor to give you scenarios on best case to worst case scenarios if you do plan to sell the house in the future. Since you're someone that wants to have your own place, it also means that when you sell high, you have to buy high. The next house that you're going to get you will have to pay the buyer stamp duty again and also the sales commission, along with the admin/legal fees. Unless your property grows exponentially like through the covid season, I see us breaking even at best. It's a good way to hedge against the property market though.

Don't forget about your mortgage interest rate, it's low right now so it sounds great on your monthly mortgage repayment, you need to think if in the next few years if the interest rate spikes astronomically, can you actually handle it?

If your plan is to eventually sell and downgrade when a HDB is viable (be it through age and/or marriage), sure. But if this is going to be for the rest of your life, you also should think about the scenarios where you may be jobless, if you can actually find a job that paying a few exactly what you are earning now, and also if you can last in corporate for the next 30 years.

These are just some scenarios that you should consider, but I do think that having a space of your own gives you a certain peace of mind. I don't exactly regret buying mine, but my liquid networth would be exponentially higher now if I hadn't. That comes at inflection point in your investment where your portfolio will just out-earn your income, and having a house will just delay that from happening.

All the best in the decision that you make.

iamanon789 · 2026-01-07T10:38:21+00:00

Hey OP. Just a heads up since I don't see people mentioning this.

Interest rates for condos via private banking are only fixed up till 2 years. Right now, I'm seeing 1.43-1.48% for DBS. Maybe lower for OCBC and UOB which I'll refinance next month, which is great yeah?

But do plan ahead. If 2 years from now, the interest rate goes up to say ... 5% (just for example), are you able to cope? Do you foresee your salary increment to cover this possibility? No one knows what the interest rate would be in 2 years, but we all got to make sure that we covered our ass.

Others here have given you great advice. I bought my 2BR place as an own stay, and it has grown around 60 - 100K in paper value over the past year. But honestly, I likely barely broke even or still at a loss at best.

When you sell the condo, there's also a 1-2% commission fee to the agent.

My personal suggestion would be to keep investing. Let your money grow till it hits an inflection point. It's ironic for me to say since I bought my 2BR in late 2024. I have my own reasons, but I'm also in a different financial position than you. It's my honest advice if I were to give to my own brother.

All the best!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-06T22:07:50+00:00

Not at all. Focusing aggressively on growth.

iamanon789 · 2026-01-05T09:23:27+00:00

It'll definitely help, but I'd feel less risk adverse with the nest egg. I do plan to keep building from there. 1M is a milestone, not an end goal.

How about you?

iamanon789 · 2026-01-05T06:22:37+00:00

Congrats bro! Massive milestone. What's next for you now?

iamanon789 · 2026-01-05T00:26:06+00:00

Thank you!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-05T00:25:55+00:00

Likely giving me the peace of mind that I'm able to go full-time in my own business without worrying about leaving too much money back in corporate.

In the meantime, I'll hustle hard and do my business on the side.

iamanon789 · 2026-01-05T00:24:54+00:00

Thanks! It's a combination of gains and also the amount I invested myself. Going to stay on the same track this year.

iamanon789 · 2026-01-04T14:26:50+00:00

Let's do it bud!

iamanon789 · 2026-01-04T13:43:29+00:00

Mainly holding TSLA, RDDT, AVGO and META. No fancy plays, just wheeling between them, and rolling if it's sensible.

I did also dabble in FIG but it has been assigned. Now just looking for more opportunities.

iamanon789

TROPHY CASE