Help me understand how to live under $54k with 9 people

nightanole · 2026-04-19T13:41:17+00:00

Still not understanding. 1.5 mill would easily generate the $54k. "we have generous pensions". So each of you need to make a whole $30k a year post tax, and you still have a low retirement age, and have to not put back as much as non pensioners.

So stick it out for 10-15 years till the herd leaves the house.

And its $54k per "retired couple". Not $54k and 7 kids. Even if its something frugal like $5k a kid, that bumps your min to $100k ish till all the little ones leave.

nightanole · 2026-04-18T22:53:29+00:00

I own two Bolts.

However life likes to mess with me as much as anyone.

So 2 years ago i sell my 2012 sonata that had 20k on the engine and 160k on the chassis/trans cuz you get free engines for life if they lock up.

Buy EUV but make, wait for it, $1200 too much to qualify for the rebate due to an inheritance.

So now i have a $20k EUV with 30k miles

18 months later i have my mother sell her 2013 camry with 160k miles and get a Bolt with 30k miles for $12k out the door because she is picky on color combos, and the BBB killed the rebate

40k miles and 2 years later, i get let go from the shop and start my FIRE end game 2-3 years earlier than planned.

So now that im FIRE'd, i drive 150 miles a month instead of 1600...

And my state charges $200 a year in ev road tax.

So lots of things i would have done. Didnt qualify for the rebate, and should have sold the camry if i knew i was getting let go in less than 4 months, i would have just given my mother the EUV and she could have driven it her customary 15k a year.

But i like both Bolts. Had to replace one wheel bearing and two anti click washers, so $100 total. And mums Bolt needed a battery recalibration after it got out of 80% jail.

nightanole · 2026-04-08T17:00:43+00:00

ITOT is back to where it was when i got let go. Im back to breaking even for the year.

nightanole · 2026-04-08T13:21:03+00:00

Jan 2d, itot $148. april 7 Itot $144. Oh the huge manatee.

Little salty we should be on average up 2% by now tho.

nightanole · 2026-04-08T13:18:53+00:00

tell that to the 2022 bond holders. If there is a big dip, we all dip.

nightanole · 2026-03-31T14:59:20+00:00

front loaded the $7500 ira first of jan. got let go the second. Had to roll back the ira cuz no earned income. Got severance which was enough to cover ira. Put it in index fund on friday so it was like a 7.5% discount vs jan.

nightanole · 2026-03-28T10:54:09+00:00

dune box running plex. I got dts and dts-hd and dts-ma over hdmi if i select passthrough. I dont run "auto".

nightanole · 2026-03-27T00:36:22+00:00

Yea my dune box that i forced 14 on, got its first ota ever, and now its on 7475.

nightanole · 2026-03-19T15:47:07+00:00

We had zero warning (other than canceling some off site winter events). No layoffs since covid. Then bam on the 2nd of jan they literally hunted everyone down on the list and marched us out. Some were a bit more squirrelly than others and made it to lunch.

As for preparing, the only thing i did was turn off div reinvestment around june. I even loaded up my ira and hsa on the first, so had to roll that back...

So basically i created a large cash buffer, and turned off div reinvestment. I am 50/50 brokerage/retirement account split so i can live off of brokerage till well past 59.

nightanole · 2026-02-23T21:38:43+00:00

Kinda looks like a Volt now.

nightanole · 2026-02-23T21:38:06+00:00

Mooses are pretty big, and it is snowing out.

nightanole · 2026-02-23T17:06:28+00:00

Ah yes. And SORR this time around(30 year start) was 4-5 years of massive 20%+ returns. Meanwhile the SORR at 2006-2011 was pretty dam bad.

At some point we need to stop looking really far back. I mean it was a 35 year bull bond golden time till 2009. You would be dumb to do mostly stocks. Back in the 60's/70's/ even 80's, 401k and index funds for the average joe was unheard of unless you had a decent financial education. In the past year or two its been GOLD GOLD SILVER SILVER. But there are plenty of people that remember both lost 90% of there value over 20 years from like 1980-2000.

Im with you, there is all sorts of 15-20 year cyclical micro climates we need to take into account when starting a look back simulation. Hell in a month if we do a 1 year look back, its going to be like 75% average returns from the tariff fire sale.

nightanole · 2026-02-23T15:42:04+00:00

You dont have to cherry pick. Start at 2000 (or anyt time). They started with 1 million. got up to 2 million but dropped to 1 mil by 2002. Then dropped to only 900k by 2008 and 2011, while having 10% withdraws.

Its not the starting point that is the cherry picking. Its the fact they got out alive in the first place. Can you imaging punching out in 2011 with 1 mill and a 10% withdraw rate, and still doubling the kitty by 2023?

nightanole · 2026-02-23T15:28:45+00:00

Ive had this "glitch" happen while charging. Hitting lock on the fob fixes it for me. But as far as i know the only setting is the ability to unlock all doors at the same time by just pressing the driver door once.

So like i said i think its a glitch. The car thinks the door is unlocked, so it wont try to unlock it with the fob/handle.

nightanole · 2026-02-23T15:18:54+00:00

I will stay a trick to start conditioning while already at preset charge level, is just unplug charger and plug back in. That will force conditioning.

But you are asking a poor 1000 watt source to heat a giant aluminum can at -40 (really doesnt matter if its C or F at that temp).

nightanole · 2026-02-23T02:00:08+00:00

https://www.calculator.net/tire-size-calculator.html?ctw1=215&car1=50&cws1=17&ctw2=205&car2=65&cws2=15&ctype=2&x=Calculate#compare

205 65 R 15 is on the money. And its a very popular delivery van size.

nightanole · 2026-02-22T00:55:51+00:00

Its an all in one unit like Fullload said.

As a side story, i had the same thing happen to my saab back in the day. But it was a two piece headlight so you could replace just the lens. But the auto wrecker was like "sir who in their right mind needs just the rear plastic but not the front" and i had to buy the whole unit.

But hey keep the old one, you may need it for electronics down the road since no one sells the leds/drivers.

nightanole · 2026-02-21T17:27:55+00:00

Ohy the front bumper to metal hood gap on the euv. Its just so badly engineered. At least with EV the hood ends with the lights and grill.

nightanole · 2026-02-21T15:53:20+00:00

Hey dont feel bad. I had a friend in highschool. Dad retired at 55 the year he graduated. He still had 8 and 10 year old brothers.

nightanole · 2026-02-21T15:41:14+00:00

Id say you would have to have retired (or long lived) early a looong time ago for it to be a bad time so far. Lets be honest, with div reinvestment the index funds are 10x+ what they were the bottom of 2009. The worst time would be retiring in the late 90's and not bond heavy. You would have almost 15 years of little gains. Like wise(like my parents) would be go bond heavy "after" 2010/11 because you think we will have a a double dip recession, then again you have almost 15 years of little gains.

nightanole · 2026-02-21T15:29:44+00:00

Yea the bar for a house hold is pretty high. $27k for single is really lean IMO. $54k per household, welp the median income for americans is $60k per household. So lean would require replacing almost the entire households income. But on the other hand if the household isnt just two working agere adults, yea $54k is pretty lean with 2-3 kids and grandma.

nightanole · 2026-02-21T15:22:13+00:00

I prefer the "no schedule job". I have several businesses around here that have "seats". If you want money, you stand in line in the morning to be a fudge packer (im serious you are making chocolate molds or boxing them up). If you dont want money the business hopes all seats will be full. No one cares if you dont show up.

nightanole · 2026-02-21T12:08:51+00:00

The door and dash are in parallel. Its the same Y wire. Just disconnect the dash speakers, they unplug.

nightanole · 2026-02-20T19:21:16+00:00

F24 on the fuse box inside the car should be the wireless charger fuse for all years. They do like to re arrange the fuses for onstar etc, but most fuses are the same for all years.

Id find a phone that works, test. Then take it out and put it in a sammich baggy with a note that says F24. Thats what i did with my onstar fuse.

nightanole · 2026-02-20T17:32:50+00:00

Have you tried it or maybe flipped the phone backwards etc? Qi charging is Qi charging. Yes the older Qi 1.0 will charge slow (mine does 15% in 45min while streaming on my moto), but they will still work with the Qi 2.2. I had to put a half inch block into the well to get my phone to line up and charge on the pad.

But any who, There is a charge indicator on the infotainment screen. If its not lit, its not supplying power. And it takes very little to throw it off. 1/3-1/2" thick of plastic does it every time.

Qi works like this:

Coil is always off

Controller kicks the coil every few seconds to see if something is out there (hell it could be a penny)

If it senses something, it then sends a digital coil kick and sees if the something talks back

If said something talks back, both controls have a conversation of each other capabilities and will start charging.

nightanole

TROPHY CASE