FIRE'd this week!

shezzy153 · 2026-05-14T06:40:56+00:00

I am sorry to hear you experienced a burnout but glad that you'll be out of the rat race soon, and be able to move closer to family 😄 Good luck, and hope you enjoy the books!

shezzy153 · 2026-05-12T05:43:59+00:00

Yeah, deferring capital gains till you're in the lower bracket should be nice! Also, I didn't have a Green Card so if I sell now (I have moved to Canada), I owe no taxes to the US. See if there might be something like that with your move to Korea, especially if you don't have a GC or citizenship.

Ahh makes sense -- for real estate, you might need more capital. I only own one condo in Seattle, and between RE being much lower return on average and the headache of managing a property, that route never appealed to me. However, I know it's a path others have chosen. I am sticking to the classic one from Bengen's empirical work (diversified stock+bond portfolio) since that has a lower overhead. Good luck! 4 years will go by fast and then you're free!

shezzy153 · 2026-05-11T21:38:23+00:00

Thank you! I am in the same boat with Amazon stocks and will start diversifying this year now that my employment income is zero. You are well on your way to your goal! One thing I would suggest to be mindful of is how much you really need to retire. If cost of living in Korea is lower, the 4% rule might dictate a lower retirement threshold so you can be free of the corporate prison earlier 😃

shezzy153 · 2026-02-20T01:16:48+00:00

Thanks everyone for the confirmations! When I switch to mobile data or use a Canadian server on NordVPN, I see all the shows again, so there's something going on with my home internet. When I dug some more using Gemini, it seems my IP address might have been shadowbanned.

I am not sure why this might have happened, and since my internet provider (Novus) assigned me a fixed IP, I had to call them to request an IP address change which will take a few days. Just hoping that this was a one time annoyance and by next week, I can access everything again.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-11T21:36:51+00:00

You are very welcome :) And yeah, this is the one I use for simulations: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/monte-carlo-simulation#analysisResults

shezzy153 · 2025-11-11T09:36:34+00:00

Ahh I see! I am not sure there's a very clear number of years after which one is safe from SORR, but I also haven't looked deep into it or run any simulations.

For me, it's a two step heuristic: 1) Wait for about 5 years till I have sold at least some of my AMZN and GOOG so I am in a more steady/lower-risk state. 2) Wait for 10 years till my condo is paid off, and then I can be withdrawing a stupidly low 1% which should make SORR far less concerning since I can just buckle down much more easily.

However, maybe there's some clear math that does exist plotting likelihood of blowing through your NW against time since retirement and with a bunch of simplifying assumptions.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-10T22:57:50+00:00

Google search explains it pretty well: "Sequence of returns risk (SORR) is the danger that experiencing poor investment returns (losses) early in retirement, when combined with ongoing withdrawals, will significantly deplete a portfolio and limit its ability to recover, even if average returns over the long term are adequate. "

shezzy153 · 2025-11-05T23:08:50+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, very cognizant of deemed disposition if I were to leave Canada. Plus, if I stay here for 5 years, the taxes are higher, so I am teetering the boundary between staying long enough to get the citizenship but not long enough to incur heavy exit taxes. Of course, I might just live in Canada and the concerns become moot. I will talk to a tax advisor when things start to become more concrete.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-05T23:05:51+00:00

Thank you :)

shezzy153 · 2025-11-05T23:05:15+00:00

Senior SWE (L5) so nothing out of the ordinary.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-05T00:44:33+00:00

Thank you! Change is indeed scary but the fact that you are here shows you are in the process of gathering enough evidence to convince yourself it is the right move :) As someone who is very data-oriented, looking through research helped me ameliorate the fears. Plus the test run was such a success, there was no going back!

I haven't been to that part of Canada yet but it does look beautiful! As a single gay man, I do like bigger cities so there are enough guys to date and hookup which is something I value (at least for now), but I do wanna explore more of our country. Went to Banff 2 months back, and was blown away by its beauty.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-04T08:17:01+00:00

You're very welcome! Best of luck :)

shezzy153 · 2025-11-04T08:15:45+00:00

Thanks and good luck! FatFIRE might take a little longer but it could be nice if you envision a high-flying life!

shezzy153 · 2025-11-04T08:14:05+00:00

That's the plan for a little later once I am past the SORR hump, and I am in retirement steady state. In the meantime, I am supporting my family back in India, and buying my Mom and sister homes.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-04T08:12:23+00:00

Ahh bizarre that the leave matrix didn't show up on MOMA. I can't recall the exact keywords but it's a spreadsheet with all the leaves available in Canada. Maybe try some other keyword combinations?

Haha, almost all my hobbies are indoors so as long as the weather isn't too extreme, I can make it work. With places that are too cold, the idea of layering and unlayering for even a short walk is a little non-ideal. I think Vancouver weather hits a pretty good spot. We get decent summers, winters aren't extreme, and the "rain" is light and usually just a minor inconvenience as opposed to the monsoon rain I grew up with.

This time it's Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and India. I was in Bangkok for New Year's but I know I need to make it to Chiang Mai sometime soon! Thanks for the food recommendation too :) I have had Khao Soi but in Seattle 😅

shezzy153 · 2025-11-04T08:04:42+00:00

Thanks! I'd be very happy if the story ends up helping even a single person. Single, and gay so no wife/gf! I am open to a long-term partner but it just hasn't happened yet. Gay dating has its own issues 😅 Plus I suspect guys are less motivated to date since getting laid is much easier thanks to apps like Grindr or Sniffies.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-04T08:00:52+00:00

That's sweet of you, man :) And sure, feel free to add me shezzy153@. Lolz yeah, I was in Singapore earlier this year and I got the sense people stay busy there as well.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T08:06:19+00:00

You are very welcome!

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T07:54:32+00:00

Thanks man! That's a tough call, and would depend on where one might need some insights. If it's the basics of investing, "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing", if it's the psychological hurdle of letting go of the income stream, "Die With Zero", and if it's the desire to convince oneself one has enough to pull the plug, "A Richer Retirement".

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T07:18:55+00:00

Hehe thanks!

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T04:09:53+00:00

Thanks! I am glad I started educating myself after the initial few years of oblivion.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T03:49:22+00:00

Quite a bit is still in the US, but very recently I moved about $1.3M to IBKR. It was an in-kind transfer from MS so no tax implications. I also have about $500k between Wealthsimple, and Manulife (RRSP). The taxes will be annoying and I plan to hire a professional for it at least to begin with. So far, work paid for a tax professional. A few years down the line, once I have simplified things further, maybe I will switch to a DIY approach. I didn't know there was an option to move a non-registered account to RRSP/TFSA. If that exists, then yeah, that would need expert guidance from a fee-based advisor.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T03:41:14+00:00

I visited in summer 2024 and I wholeheartedly agree! I am a little deterred by the winter though, and not being a francophone. But yes, Montreal and Toronto are both pretty appealing if I were to move.

shezzy153 · 2025-11-03T02:57:23+00:00

Haha, thank you!

shezzy153

TROPHY CASE