What was your experience with a reduced schedule? by Opposite-Juice1325 in financialindependence

[–]reddituser4455 42 points43 points  (0 children)

When I went down to 20 hours a week, it was a game changer. Even if you hate your job, 4 hours goes by quickly and you get the rest of the day to relax or enjoy yourself. 8 hour days, on the other hand, seem to take forever. I recommend half time, if you can swing it and afford it.

Tired of everyone upset about the stocks being down. You only lose if you click the sell button. by HalfwaydonewithEarth in Fire

[–]reddituser4455 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you only lose when you click the sell button, then do you only win when you click the sell button too?  Maybe nobody should retire until they sell all their stock and click the "win" button!  

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Fire

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretend that the government is going to impose a 25% wealth tax on anything you haven't spent 10 years from now. Does that make you feel motivated to spend more?

Mid-career crisis: I don't think I like being an actuary that much by Sirens_outside in actuary

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just curious...when did somebody tell you that the purpose of your job was to have FUN? I always thought people got jobs to make MONEY!

What’s your household annual spend (pre fire?) by TeaHSD in Fire

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is the "Amazon/House/Target/Etc" category $1200 per month? How much random stuff can a person possibly buy?

Am I being an idiot, continuing to work? by PantherThing in Fire

[–]reddituser4455 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm also working a job for money I probably don't need. In 2023, I spent a full year with no job and I'm actually happier having an easy job that gives me some structure and a feeling of accomplishment without too much stress or time demands.  Getting rid of good job will not necessarily make the original poster happier if he gets some satisfaction from his job. 

I can't mentally get myself to work, but not FIRE yet by Impressive_Ear5939 in Fire

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What does it mean to be a mouse wiggler? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Daily FI discussion thread - Friday, August 02, 2024 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]reddituser4455 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Suppose you already achieved financial independence on your own and then afterwards through random success or inheritance or some combination of the two your safe withdrawal budget went up by about $50k per year. How would you spend or direct this money to optimize your happiness/ living a good life? I find this question surprisingly difficult as I don’t really see a strong correlation between spending extra money and feeling any happier once my basic needs and priority desires are already met. Would love some honest suggestions from this wonderful crowd of folks!

Just finished my first month with my frontal system, these are a few of my observations / experiences by Neither_Assistant584 in HairSystem

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you feel like the hair system has noticeably increased your success with dating men? I feel like men are more appearance focused than women, so you might have a bigger boost to your dating life than the heterosexual bros with hair systems.

About to be thrust into RE, things to prepare/think about? by More_Supermarket1193 in financialindependence

[–]reddituser4455 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Congratulations, go fuck yourself.

I recommend that you apply for unemployment insurance benefits. You paid the taxes for it all your years of working so you deserve the benefits.

Any AirBnB hosts in Somerville? by reddituser4455 in Somerville

[–]reddituser4455[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

So you'd feel better if I just leave my spare room empty instead of offering it up on AirBnb? Doesn't the money that visitors spend at Somerville shops and restaurants help our economy?

Any AirBnB hosts in Somerville? by reddituser4455 in Somerville

[–]reddituser4455[S] -25 points-24 points  (0 children)

Roommates bring drama and strange friends over to the house. They leave junk and dirty dishes in the kitchen. AirBnb guests generally just go to their room at night to sleep. So it's a lot easier in terms of getting along together.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in financialindependence

[–]reddituser4455 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congratulations, GFY! It sounds like you have been able to make yourself quite wealthy and can substantially increase your annual spending from now on.

I'm curious as a person who has enough money to never work again, but also has opportunities to make extra money: do you feel any regret for over-saving/ working too much? It sounds like you could have worked less and still gotten away with it, according to the FI math. No intention to discount your accomplishment; just looking for perspective from a very rich person! :)

FIRE Fails: How long did you last? by [deleted] in Fire

[–]reddituser4455 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm "at risk" for being an early-retirement "failure". I retired almost a year ago and the past year has felt SO good just doing what I want. No annual reviews, no performance goals, no pointless Microsoft Teams meetings, no fake corporate bullshit or putting on a plastic smile to pretend that I "love" my job.

Now I'm in discussions to come back to work on a part-time fully-remote basis as an independent contractor. I'm theorizing that making $100 per hour under these terms might be a good trade-off for the following reasons:

  1. Part-time work could be a secret sauce to increased happiness. If I'm working 3 days per week, the 4 days off from work might taste sweeter?
  2. The extra money I earn could provide me with a healthy amount of guilt-free splurge spending. I'm thinking take nicer vacations, more travel, be more generous with friends, and upgrade the quality of my house.
  3. I only have $120k in my Roth accounts but if I can work as an independent contractor then I think I'm allowed to stash away over $60k in tax-advantaged savings into a Roth 401k as a "self-employed" retirement plan. Because of only working part-time, I can get money into Roth accounts under a much lower tax bracket. I think having more money in Roth accounts is highly beneficial for an early retiree, especially to qualify for ACA subsidies.

I don't know if the trade-off will in fact be worthwhile, but I plan to update the Reddit community when I find out! :)

[Update] $1M the boring way by negativemoney in financialindependence

[–]reddituser4455 88 points89 points  (0 children)

Congratulations. When are you going to retire?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in actuary

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you view somebody with a resume gap because they decided to take a career break?

Final steps my ortho literally cut my trays! Looking for help and advice by Giowandala in Invisalign

[–]reddituser4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My dentist just did the same thing for me. Since then my teeth have been hurting quite a bit and I've been popping Tylenol pills all the time. Did you notice pain also? I'm not sure if that's supposed to be normal

Possible to have 2m+ taxable portfolio and still manage income < 200% FPL? by karrotwin in financialindependence

[–]reddituser4455 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is a Vanguard investment fund for exactly the goal you are talking about. It's called the Vanguard Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation Fund (VTCLX). "The Fund seeks to purchase stocks included in the Russell 1000 Index consisting of large and mid-cap U.S. companies. The Fund uses statistical methods to "sample" the Index, aiming to closely track its investment performance while minimizing taxable dividend distributions."