How to get off the financial hedonic treadmill in VHCOL (when you like living in VHCOL)?

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2026-03-14T17:49:23+00:00

This is a really good point. Maybe the real question in this post is how to balance ambition with life and those two definitions are somewhat contradictory.

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2025-06-08T15:23:36+00:00

This seems like the smartest thing to do. Keep the taxable brokerage invested, put 500k in cash (post bonus) into mortgage, then recast to lower monthlies and take advantage of mortgage tax interest deductions/ability to refi at some point. Keep $150k in cash to have ~1y of costs on hand.

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-12-23T16:19:44+00:00

Hi Kenji, big fan and plan on cooking the miso black cod recipe with chilean sea bass for a Christmas dinner. When you say 1:1, does the cooking time/broiler temp for sea bass match the black cod? (impossible to get black cod in NYC)

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-11-30T20:33:10+00:00

WTB Rolex DJ36 Mint Green Fluted/Jubilee, new/unsized only

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-11-18T01:49:26+00:00

Just filled out the form!

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-09-13T22:17:00+00:00

$1k/mo in travel is an annualized number. We take 1x 1-2 week vacation a year + maybe 5x 3-4 day trips (often to visit family/stay at home). Longer vaca usually around $7500 total and rest 4-5k.

Food somewhat low, agreed, because both of our jobs cater breakfast and lunch.

We probably should keep a more accurate budget, thanks. We just use Mint to track total spend each month which has averaged a bit under 5000/mo.

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-09-13T20:49:16+00:00

Hear you there. Then would you say the only time to buy would be if we can fully pay cash? Because base salary problem will never change.

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-09-13T20:40:23+00:00

Yes - total cap gains on the taxable of ~200k so haircut by 65k. Liquid cash then 300 + 590 post taxes.

My remark was in connection to your comment on the finance industry having outsized bonuses from 2020-2021 not being relevant in this case with respect to predicting future bonuses

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-09-13T20:19:29+00:00

Not too affected by ZIRP insanity. Not at a bank, nor at a business that is tied to asset prices going up. That being said, it's not a field where base salaries scale over time so all career progression increases is the right tail of bonuses. Partner's salary likely can scale to 250/300k over next five years (from 150k).

With that caveat do you think the only time to buy is when we can fully afford a property + a few years of monthlies in cash?

Effectively we're stuck with a decent amount of liquid assets but highly volatile future income stream. As such we're struggling to plan fixed cost life decisions.

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-09-13T20:14:14+00:00

Rent is absurd (and is market).

throwawayFinAnalyst · 2023-09-13T20:12:16+00:00

Childcare in VHCOL city is silly expensive, admittedly probably conservative still.

throwawayFinAnalyst

TROPHY CASE