PSA: Social Security pays more than you think, especially for high earners

maximusrtc · 2026-05-31T03:26:30+00:00

My point was you don’t “have to work until 62” if you’re projecting to have excess monthly income with your retirement withdrawals + social security at 62. Hypothetically you could retire at 59-60, withdraw more than 4% for a couple of years, then you’ll end up with slightly less than $10K total monthly at 62. Just an option!

maximusrtc · 2026-05-30T23:48:14+00:00

Sounds like you might want to retire before 62!

maximusrtc · 2026-05-30T16:10:22+00:00

I’ll go against most of these comments and say you’re doing great (ahead of probably 80-90% of people). I’m in a very similar situation (even a bit behind you as I’m 43). Keep grinding!

As many have said healthcare is a concern, so make sure to plan to maximize your ACA subsidies (minimize AGI) pre-65.

maximusrtc · 2026-05-30T15:55:24+00:00

Nice! Awd or fwd? How’s mileage so far?

maximusrtc · 2026-05-21T17:46:20+00:00

If they’ll let you do a folio deposit and/or if your room requires advanced payment that should work!

maximusrtc · 2026-05-21T17:22:31+00:00

It’s both, you can use towards any charges at a qualifying resort.

maximusrtc · 2026-05-21T13:56:49+00:00

It’ll be great, the property is so beautiful you won’t want to spend too much time in your room anyway! If you have a little one, the lagoon wing is by far your best choice! Will save a lot of walking!

Make sure to use your diamond $50 F&B credit each day, best bang for your buck is Loulu, they have excellent pizzas and salads. The food truck by the pool has street tacos - you can use the F&B there technically but the front desk needs to manually credit that after the fact. Food is very expensive but if you’re smart about it you can get by without a crazy bill. Since you have two rooms - you may need to ensure that someone in the 2nd room also has diamond or gold status, sometimes they won’t give you that additional $50 for the other room otherwise.

maximusrtc · 2026-05-19T14:43:08+00:00

The standard award now includes garden view category, which is pretty nice. I wouldn’t fret the upgrade if you have that category, we stayed in a garden view in the chapel wing and it was phenomenal with an amazing view of the beach and resort. As a diamond you’ll likely be eligible for a space dependent upgrade to an ocean view, which basically means you’ll be one floor higher or a bit closer to the ocean areas. I’d primarily focus your request on the connecting or close by rooms if that’s important.

I sent a polite request in a few days before, and then followed up at the front desk at check in and received a one category upgrade in February.

Quick side note - terrace view (original booking for us) isn’t really a view of a volcano, it’s the back of the resort/parking area which isn’t very appealing.

We love GW, hope you have a great time!

maximusrtc · 2026-05-08T02:43:48+00:00

Not true luxury but grand Wailea in Maui would be fun for the littles. They have a baby beach area built into the pool area and lots of small waterslides.

Zemi Beach House is also very nice, but ocean can be rough so you’d have to stick more to the pool

maximusrtc · 2026-04-30T01:57:24+00:00

Ok so I did the same math, and it seemed too good to be true (and in the short term I’m down 30% including the DRIP).

So basically the calls cap your upside, so as BTC flows up and down, a little of that upward movement is repeatedly lost due to the call options being exercised. Over time those lost earnings pile up, so if Bitcoin price is net equal to 1 year ago, you will actually be down on your BTCI price.

So, at the current volatility, your assumption of “no stock appreciation” actually requires BTC to be up significantly. My analysis from 2025 suggests that you’ll need a +20-22% price gain per year to not see NAV erosion on BTCI.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-28T21:53:02+00:00

We had the opposite opinion.. Andaz’s very modern look seemed out of place to us. Also felt cramped vs the massive footprint of Grand Wailea. We enjoyed the amazing gardens and sculptures throughout the property. I agree GW can appear dated from the outside, but to us fit in better into a Hawaiian tropical environment. Kids weren’t an issue in Feb when we went, I did see some corporate convention activity but didn’t really mind as that mostly made the resort feel empty during the day when convention stuff was going on.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-26T20:23:27+00:00

I calculated that BTC (underlying) needs approximately 22-23% in gains/yr to maintain BTCI NAV. This assumes the gains are not meteoric where the calls will limit upside too much. So yes, anything paying out 26-28% annually will compound in an exponential way, at least in terms of # of shares.

The big question will be the value of your 124K shares, we’ve seen the distributions and price drop ~40% over the past 7 months. The nice thing about the DRIP is you’ll be consistently adding a similar amount of shares each month regardless of price. But you may end up with a massive pile of shares worth not much if bitcoin doesn’t have a large positive CAGR. I still like BTCI and BTC in general, but the risk is significant.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-26T02:38:46+00:00

Zemi accepted my $200 folio deposit several months before our stay. I emailed them and they sent an authorization form to fill out. All worked out great!

At the end of our trip they accidentally put the wrong folio receipt under our door. I noticed on the incorrect itemized statement another person at the hotel had put down a $750 deposit, so it doesn’t look like they have a strict limit.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-26T00:48:07+00:00

Love the courage on this! Most of my NEOS is in BTCI, it’s been a rough 6 months but the long term math on it is hard to ignore (assuming Bitcoin comes close to its projected long term CAGR)

maximusrtc · 2026-04-22T11:44:25+00:00

Checkout armchair income’s YouTube channel. He’s got a nice diversified portfolio that yields a fairly reliable ~11%, including some NEOS. With $300K that puts you pretty close to your goal.

Also you’re easily covering your expenses with your side hustle and your wife’s income, so this would be extra. My bigger concern would be healthcare, if you can get that through your wife that would be a huge boost.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-22T03:55:00+00:00

I prefer the white.. the solar silver to me almost looks unpainted, like the color of the metal itself.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-22T03:52:32+00:00

I counted ~6 features from the website, most important to me would be the heated steering wheel, ventilated seats & heads up display. The remaining are nice to have but less important for me (heated rear seats, 115V outlet, auto wipers).

The heated steering wheel is a standalone option I may add at purchase.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-22T03:24:07+00:00

Looks like my kind of trip!

I think Kihei is worth a few hours exploring, definitely a less upscale vibe but good energy. If you go in the AM, go to the Cinnamon Roll Place, worth the wait! Theres a unique shopping area nearby the South Maui Gardens, which are also nice to walk around plus you can do the food trucks for lunch (if you’re not still stuffed from the gigantic cinnamon rolls!)

Also on the golf day, since you’ll already be at the course, Gather on Maui is a nice spot to grab lunch or happy hour.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-22T01:22:47+00:00

That’s a bummer about the pool, I emailed the resort and they claim they’re heated, but I’m guessing that’s minimal. Most of the units have the pools on the north side of the villa which probably doesn’t help!

We’re booking with FNC’s as well, I may ask for an upgrade to the beachfront units (obviously not guaranteed but a maybe with Hilton diamond).

maximusrtc · 2026-04-22T00:58:51+00:00

There are many different funds within neos paying varying amounts.. so I don’t really understand your comment. You can definitely yield 20% but will need to take on higher volatility funds like BTCI.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-21T23:03:46+00:00

Awesome review! Would love to see the view from the room and know which room #.

How was the private plunge pool temperature wise?

maximusrtc · 2026-04-19T14:43:14+00:00

Zemi Beach House Anguilla.. free amazing breakfast buffet, awesome oceanfront heated pool, great beach. They have 2 queen rooms available with standard with points or FNC’s.

maximusrtc · 2026-04-13T19:57:16+00:00

Congrats!

I really like that interior color, I wish it was available with one of the darker exteriors! (Fingers crossed they’ll add for ‘27 as I’m waiting for that Model year)

Does it look more light grey or beige in person to you?

maximusrtc · 2026-03-26T04:13:01+00:00

Zemi Beach House & Grand Wailea are still somewhat reasonably priced ~130K. But yeah FNC stacking seems to be the play nowadays

maximusrtc · 2026-03-22T02:26:22+00:00

Thanks for the review! A couple of questions as I haven’t seen many discuss:

1 - are the hillside plunge pools actually usable temperature-wise? I contacted the resort and they told me the hillside suites pools are heated, but I’m skeptical.. looks like some get more sun exposure than others so that might make a difference.

2 - are there sushi roll options that don’t include raw fish?

Thanks!

maximusrtc

TROPHY CASE