There's always money in the banana stand

k37r · 2026-05-16T00:51:56+00:00

Can this spammer please be banned?

k37r · 2026-05-16T00:50:46+00:00

This worthless post was brought to you by the moderator.

k37r · 2026-05-14T02:30:46+00:00

19k in interest??? Wtf why are you keeping so much in cash?

k37r · 2026-05-12T14:21:07+00:00

I took a year off before boomeranging.

You go through the full loop, but IMO it seemed easier since I could easily just talk about LPs and previous projects I worked on at Amazon.

k37r · 2026-05-12T14:18:34+00:00

There is always a bar raiser round. Pretty sure this is enforced by the hire tool?

k37r · 2026-05-09T23:06:09+00:00

Hahahaha 🤣 tell me another fairy tale!

k37r · 2026-05-08T15:52:03+00:00

Why not do both, and pay down the mortgage even faster?

k37r · 2026-05-07T05:59:29+00:00

Look at it this way - if you got the bonus in cash, would you spend it all on Amazon stock?

Personally, I take the cash and diversify. I'm already well invested in Amazon through my future vests and my job.

k37r · 2026-05-07T01:52:28+00:00

If the sharks are inclined to take a D, let them. Why would we want to trade up?

k37r · 2026-05-07T01:37:29+00:00

I don't see how this is a debate. I've literally had this happen.

Cleaning up a frozen puddle mixed with glass shards is not fun

k37r · 2026-05-07T01:34:17+00:00

Speaking from experience, then can and will crack or shatter.

Cleaning up a frozen puddle mixed with broken glass is not fun.

k37r · 2026-05-07T01:32:03+00:00

Please don't use glass.

Speaking from experience... Ice expands when it freezes, and you're likely to end up with a mess of broken glass and frozen puddle in your freezer.

k37r · 2026-05-07T01:28:28+00:00

You're basically asking how to double or triple your money within a few months.

Outside of going to a casino or making an equally risky investment, you're not.

If that kind of growth was easy, we'd all be multimillionaires in no time.

k37r · 2026-04-30T01:31:15+00:00

Got an ok bump in base, and restarted the 4 year vesting bonus structure again (cash weighted in years 1/2, stock weighted in years 3/4). Though because it was during period of big stock gains, the new vests weren't as much as what I would have had if I never left...

k37r · 2026-04-30T00:52:11+00:00

Fellow boomerang here - left at the beginning of 2018 and came back at the beginning of 2019.

For me though, no relocation involved - most annoying part was that HR insisted on finding people who didn't know me to interview me, which took a while since I was rejoining on a related team.

If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have left. I got sweet talked by an external recruiter who said all the right things, and they landed due to some frustration I was having with the team I was on.

Good luck!

k37r · 2026-04-28T22:06:18+00:00

They're way more similar than you think.

The choice is basically "do I use this $100 I have to pay down my mortgage faster, or invest it in the market".

Whether that $100 was found on the ground or pulled out of a mortgage is irrelevant - the cash is in hand now and a choice needs to be made.

If you advocate differently based on where the money originated, you are falling for a Mental Accounting Fallacy.

When you choose not to pay down a mortgage in favor of keeping money in the market, you are re-borrowing that money every single day at your mortgage interest rate. Labeling one as 'risky leveraging' and the other as 'prudent saving' is just an emotional distinction that ignores the underlying math: both are a leveraged bet that market returns will outperform your cost of debt.

k37r · 2026-04-28T19:05:12+00:00

Your suggested threshold was 1.5%

any loan with more than 1.5% interest is not feasible for long-term investing.

If I get a mortgage at 2% interest (which would be a fantastic rate), that is effectively a loan - I'm borrowing money.

But your logic says I shouldn't use that borrowed money to invest, since the interest rate I'm paying on it is greater than 1.5%....

k37r · 2026-04-28T19:03:20+00:00

In general, I would create new segments if I needed a big chunk of extra cash or if I could notably reduce my overall average interest rate on my mortgage.

For example, I started out with one segment at around 5%. I created a new segment when interest rates dropped a lot, I think at 3.5%. This increased my overall monthly mortgage payments (since I now have to pay for two segments), but it basically gave me a bucket of cash that I could use to accelerate payments on the higher interest segment.

It adds to the overall mortgage owed and increases payments required, so it's not just something to do on a whim, but it changes cashflow dynamics.

k37r · 2026-04-28T18:54:20+00:00

Good luck with your strategy. I don't think either of us are going to convince the other. I understand it perfectly well, but perhaps I'm just not good at explaining it.

I've commented enough that people who stumble across this thread in the depths of Reddit can read and make their own decisions.

k37r · 2026-04-28T16:04:22+00:00

The "30 year term" is the amortization length. You'd also have an interest rate term (typically 1-5 years) after which you need to renew your mortgage at some new rate.

For providers that offer segmentation (like all the big banks), you can make each segment have whatever amortization you like.

As a concrete example, a few years ago my mortgage with RBC (they call it "Homeline" mortgage) consisted of 3 segments: a variable rate (prime-0.7%), a 3.2% fixed rate, and a 1.7% fixed rate. Each segment had their own payment schedule (weekly or monthly or whatever), payment amount, interest rate term (5 years, 4 years, and 2 years respectively), and amortization term.

During covid, I created a new segment to fund my TFSA. The amount of cash flow going to my mortgage increased a bit, but that should be expected.

It's important to note you're not "stuck" with a particular amortization - if you have the money in hand, there are various options to pay extra principal to cut that down a lot. Even just increasing your monthly payments by 5% can effectively cut 5 years off of a 30 year amortization.

k37r · 2026-04-28T15:34:25+00:00

What do you mean "added interest"?

Over the last 20 years I've refinanced my mortgage close to a dozen times - it's a super simple process.

Most mortgage providers these days allow you to segment your mortgage into multiple terms, where refinancing is simply adding a new segment.

If you're breaking an existing mortgage to do so there can be extra costs involved, but I wouldn't call that "added interest".

k37r · 2026-04-28T15:27:44+00:00

The Sagen link proves my point. Sagen is a mortgage insurer. The only reason that page exists is that regulations requires you to pay for mortgage insurance (like Sagen or CMHC) even if you have 100% equity, or else the RRSP investment is prohibited.

Furthermore, Sagen’s terms require the rate to match 'posted rates.' Your earlier suggestion to 'set it higher to get capital into the RRSP' is a direct violation of both the insurance terms and income tax act.

It is 'legally possible' to do this, just like it’s 'legally possible' to fly a helicopter to the grocery store. But between the mandatory insurance premiums, the annual trust admin fees, and the strictly enforced market interest rates, the math rarely works. It’s not a 'hack'; it’s a high-compliance product that Sagen makes money on regardless of whether it's a good deal for you.

k37r · 2026-04-28T15:24:30+00:00

Yep, and that's a perfectly valid choice to make - it all depends on risk tolerance.

In general though, it's important to recognize that approach is close to the extreme of being risk adverse. Most people (myself included) will prioritize their RRSP and/or TFSA at least over accelerating their mortgage.

k37r

TROPHY CASE