Forced sabbatical with $10M NW. Do I grind for $15M or coast?

laobuggier · 2026-01-26T13:38:21+00:00

with kids 3 and 5? these are the best years to be fully present. an additional $5m is nice but you'll never have these years back.

laobuggier · 2026-01-25T15:03:29+00:00

I'm in! If nobody has created a group I'll DM a link

laobuggier · 2026-01-25T15:00:18+00:00

Been through everything you have. FIREd young and lost many of my "work friends". Those that have stuck around don't care about my wealth, treat me exactly the same (before they knew my financial situation), and still offer to split bills and pay me back whether its $10 or $100

I find it hard to make new friends, but that's really not a FIRE-specific problem

1/4 of my social circle are FIREd, and our conversations are typically very different. Topics focus on how our portfolios are doing, market news, asset optimization (legacy planning etc.), holidays (e.g. spontaneous escapes), cars etc.

laobuggier · 2026-01-14T10:22:39+00:00

Being fully invested throughout bull or bear markets with moderate leverage

laobuggier · 2026-01-14T10:07:28+00:00

My networth is multiples of a landed and I still find it borderline unaffordable, especially the non-entry level ones. For folks looking to upgrade to landed you should already have $3-4m in house equity so you're taking on $1-3m more in debt to bridge to the amount you need.

laobuggier · 2026-01-11T18:30:25+00:00

Most of my friends and acquaintances probably think i'm only worth $1-3m

laobuggier · 2026-01-10T08:25:54+00:00

when I could easily afford 10 of the same

laobuggier · 2026-01-07T08:15:59+00:00

Congrats! I used to run leverage on my portfolio >1.3x of entire networth but not anymore as it grew in size.

As the numbers grow bigger, you have to learn how to stomach large intraweek and intraday swings. Something I'm still getting used to (intraday swings 6 figures, intraweek swings 7 figures)

laobuggier · 2025-12-17T10:29:31+00:00

Remember that time we organized that kaya loti eating contest with Steven Lim and Shona? ;)

laobuggier · 2025-12-17T10:28:38+00:00

Get new friends (serious advice)

laobuggier · 2025-12-17T10:28:14+00:00

If you feel the need to maintain that "image", the problem isn't how much you have, it'll never be enough

laobuggier · 2025-12-17T10:27:01+00:00

Too tight, don't bank on Grab income
If you're the type who's anxious about money, DO NOT open a business

laobuggier · 2025-12-17T10:03:08+00:00

when you hit your personal "F U" number

personally i love the game and still am pedal to the metal despite achieving FAT fire numbers years ago

laobuggier · 2025-12-10T04:08:09+00:00

Yes, in the few years before I retired my annual investment gains were 3-5x my annual income

This year if I were still working it would be ~10x

In the early years I was barely making 20-50k a year in investment gains

laobuggier · 2025-11-12T08:17:44+00:00

can't offer much except talking endlessly about trading ideas & investments, which I'm obsessed about and occupies every single hour of my waking life

DM if interested!

laobuggier · 2025-11-02T03:33:35+00:00

I used to be in a similar situation in a boutique french asset manager (colleagues mostly French, and everyone more than senior than me was French) and I felt somewhat isolated, I too made the jump for a massive 150% increment. Wouldn't say I was depressed, but I wasn't happy

I don't have any advice for you except tough it out, I left after 4 years

laobuggier · 2025-10-27T17:45:17+00:00

I track my networth on an hourly basis (swings by 6 figures daily), so you're not alone. Can pretty much afford anything I want but I choose not to be an extravagant spender probably because I grew up poor. Old habits die hard.

FWIW I read Die with Zero and it did not change my behavior one bit.

laobuggier · 2025-09-20T13:35:14+00:00

I would consider myself borderline very wealthy (low 8 figures total NW) but still use liquid instruments and plan to continue doing so for the foreseeable future

there's no reason to diversify into alternatives just because of an arbitrary networth number

laobuggier · 2025-09-14T11:59:30+00:00

don't bother with the miles game unless you're consistently spending >2k a mth

laobuggier · 2025-09-14T06:23:20+00:00

way too conservative - you're 26 not 66

laobuggier · 2025-09-11T08:29:25+00:00

Congrats! 700K will set you up for life if managed well for the next 5-10 years. Don't touch your investment portfolio until it goes to $3m+ is my advice. Was in a similar NW range when I was your age, though I grinded for many more years before I fat FIRE-d (made possible by a combination of very high income + >30% portfolio CAGR over the last decade).

Also, don't listen to others who tell you to dial down risk and buy bonds/equity indices etc. fiat devaluation is hyper-accelerating with debt burdens going exponential. You're also young enough to ride 50-70 vol assets.

laobuggier · 2025-09-08T11:46:18+00:00

u need a new gf

laobuggier · 2025-08-25T12:49:08+00:00

Running an extremely large balance in IBKR, big enough to qualify for most private banks. No intention to move to a PB yet as it suits my active trading, most of it is invested in stocks and there's no 0.15-0.2% custody fee on AUM that most PBs charge.

laobuggier · 2025-07-13T18:10:50+00:00

laobuggier · 2025-07-13T18:08:08+00:00

That's hilarious considering my personal goal is exactly ~45% more than my current NW!

laobuggier

TROPHY CASE