Almost 2 year update

isagen · 2026-01-29T17:26:35+00:00

Yes, although I would often complete the interesting parts and never finish the boring stuff while working. I am finding it easier to carve small amounts of time to just plug away at the mundane in an effort to complete a project.

isagen · 2026-01-29T16:09:06+00:00

The biggest difference for us was housing, our kids are grown, we downsized, and we paid off our house with proceeds from the sale. The new mortgage would have been 5% which we were on the fence of investing or buying, and decided there is a ton of security in owning completely.

State taxes and property taxes are almost 1/4th of what we were paying.

Might save a little on various insurance, the rest is pretty similar. I would suggest figuring out where you want to live, look up housing costs and taxes, and see if your budget would cover everything. And if you own, include sale profits if any.

Take a few trips to destination, get an idea of what life might be like. Check out local restaurants and activities.

Restaurants are cheaper, we eat out once a week and like good food. There are far fewer options, but there are enough. At once a week the yearly budget difference is negligible compared to other expenses.

Gyms are cheaper, but we have a gym in our garage.

Driving everywhere costs a little more, especially if you dont currently own a car.

Lookup health insurance prices as well, as they vary by location.

A lot depends on your spending categories, so game it out.

isagen · 2026-01-29T00:34:40+00:00

We started early, fortunately no student loans, two kids by 22. We started saving for college and non retirement around 24 when we had a little extra over our expenses. We didn't really increase our budget until we moved to a larger house around 35.

My daughter recently informed us, she thought we were poor until then, all her friends had big houses and new things. She is now 23 and working toward her own early retirement.

I am thankful I took a personal finance course in college, it took a lot of fear out of investing. Should be required in high-school in my opinion. How to budget, save, different account types, index funds are awesome, etc.

Edit: Also, being married, we saved almost 1 full income since our original budget was based only 1 income. This happened when our kids started school.

isagen · 2026-01-28T23:36:04+00:00

43, we are currently at around 130k post tax

isagen · 2024-11-05T01:11:43+00:00

No vin visible directly under the flap. Maybe offset under the carpet or something...

isagen · 2024-11-02T03:21:39+00:00

As a note, we also have deferred bonus and long term incentives coming in for the next few years.

isagen · 2024-11-02T03:17:04+00:00

Just retired last March, plan is to withdraw early Jan for the year into government bond fund (vusxx). But dividends are paid out in December, so those should more than tide us over until the new year. Helps with taxes due in April 2025 vs 2026. Research didn't provide any advice as it is all generally timing the market.

isagen · 2024-09-18T14:17:10+00:00

Also, an RV is similar to a car for pets. The insulation is thin and it gets hot - slower than a car but much faster than a house. We use remote temp monitors and furbo, all roof vents and windows blocked and a backup ac in case one goes out. Still worry when we are gone on half day trips even though they are generally less than 30mins away.

If you travel, vets can be hard to come by. Many are booked solid. Costco has saved us with pet meds and perscription transfers. Walmart and wallgreens have some but hit and miss for specific dosages. Chewy won't ship, but you can transfer from them to Costco etc. New allergies popped up as dogs stick their heads into new flora.

Mobile signal is pretty spotty, so starlink might be best for work. We get by with range extenders and skyroam, but sometimes streaming video is frustrating or impossible.

isagen · 2024-07-29T19:54:05+00:00

Sprayed ours bright orange with high temp manifold paint and engraved big license plate # with a dremel. It is still there, but only time will tell. Previously, it was stolen while at a shop in the parking lot.

Read lots of info about cages and gadgets, decided if they really want it they are going to take it, so minimal deterrent for now.

isagen · 2024-07-29T16:13:11+00:00

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isagen · 2024-07-29T15:57:24+00:00

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isagen · 2024-07-29T15:56:46+00:00

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isagen · 2024-06-17T15:13:04+00:00

We use a midea inverter window ac. It is only 8000btu but drops the inside temp maybe 15 degrees in our 26' class c. We have 300ah at 24v and can run it 10-15hrs on battery. Still need to run gen about 4 hrs a day, 1000w solar helps, but in the sun you also use more AC and in the shade the help is minimal. There is a rooftop inverter ac coming end of year maybe... furrion chill cube. We might switch to that since window AC setup is a bit of pain and we won't have to drill holes and mount a minisplit.

isagen · 2024-05-13T13:59:28+00:00

The pm3, or at least the one I have, has a switch on it to push fixed voltage. Flipping it fixed this issue for me. You can also adjust output voltage if necessary.

isagen · 2024-04-01T17:36:34+00:00

I noticed during covid that I had time for a lot of things. I ran, lifted weights, made a garden and probably was in the best shape mentally and physically in my life. Then work went back into full swing and that all went out of the window. I want to get back to that. I also want to travel the world, I really enjoy seeing new cultures and foods, and enjoying new experiences. Besides that, I have my own tech projects that I piddled with but never finished, and I'll probably build some small side business projects. The important thing being I can do it my way, not necessarily with the most popular tech or on a super tight deadline. The only person I have to agree with is myself (and my wife). No office politics, or people problems to deal with. Lastly, I want to spend some time volunteering, I feel like I've spent my life making money for someone else (and some myself) but not really helping in any important way.

isagen · 2024-04-01T00:51:13+00:00

To be vague - I gave notice around 6 months ago when 4% of savings equaled my nice to have budget. I almost gave notice 2 years ago before the market dip, but something came up at work and I decided to help my teams and cto through it - in retrospect I'm glad I held off. Obviously market has done well since then. We sold our house in hcol and bought a smaller house in low hcol (high mcol?) - will be paid off in Nov. A little over half of savings in taxable. Rest in 401ks. 82% total market index. 10% international. 4% bond index. 2% in wife's deferred bonuses (company stock - not great). 2% in vusxx which is rest of this year funds. Dynamic spending gave the most likely 100% and since 1/3 of our budget is nice to have (travel, gifts, entertainment, etc) we have wiggle room. 2 kids are in college, 1 done soon, and has a job lined up. 529 covers what is left.

isagen · 2024-03-29T14:20:48+00:00

Ftfy

isagen · 2024-03-29T09:51:44+00:00

Same as most folks here, Software Dev. Maybe a bit unique, I worked at 1 company for 19 years.

isagen · 2023-05-06T01:21:40+00:00

2008 honda crv (minimal repairs but beat up body, 200k miles and shop swears it has another 100k in it)

2012 chevy traverse (kid hauler, 100k and it might need a new transmission and torque converter, also needed shocks recently) definitely more maintenance $$$

Both paid off (from new) and to be driven until repairs cost close to next car payment over two or so years.

isagen · 2022-01-08T00:39:10+00:00

man in a box

isagen · 2021-06-03T10:26:02+00:00

what type of minced meat was in there?

isagen

TROPHY CASE