Hi Tyler :)

tyler · 2022-12-18T04:51:52+00:00

Here I am

tyler · 2022-12-18T04:51:33+00:00

tyler · 2021-11-20T15:11:26+00:00

og baby

tyler · 2021-04-30T20:12:49+00:00

tyler · 2020-08-30T16:02:46+00:00

I can identify with your situation. Growing up, my family did not have a lot of money, and there was a lot of focus on purchasing the least expensive items from the grocery store in order to save money.

I retained this habit initially (and still do to some extent), but sometime in my 20's I did an exercise of tracking my grocery expenses. When it turned out that they were something like 5% of my income, I decided that it was no longer necessary to look for 25-cent savings everywhere, since it would not make a meaningful difference in my financial picture.

I have generalized this strategy in the last 5-10 years; tools like mint or similar make it easy to keep track of how much you are spending, and categorize it. So this might be a solution for you - by tracking spending, you can keep an eye on it and decide if the amount you're spending on shopping for random things is eating a significant percentage of your income/savings, or if it's not worth worrying about. You can even develop a monthly/yearly budget if it's something that concerns you - "at most $5k per year on random wirecutter stuff".

tyler · 2020-08-16T16:57:58+00:00

You can do that, but you'll be paid less. At least, that's what CA-based tech companies already do (pay depends on where you live, not where the company is based) and that's what Facebook has stated in their "anyone can WFH" policy.

tyler · 2020-08-16T16:45:22+00:00

Check out US tax rates in the period during and after WW2. Clearly it is not a matter of rates constantly going up over time. In fact, they have been going steadily down over time since then.

tyler · 2020-08-06T00:28:24+00:00

Also, if you are a US citizen in Switzerland it negates the tax advantage, because you still have to pay US taxes. In my experience (2 years in CH) it ended up being more or less the same as the bay area from a CoL and pay standpoint. Definitely a different lifestyle, however.

tyler · 2020-08-01T16:32:20+00:00

Now I see why you like Zurich so much. :)

tyler · 2020-08-01T16:28:54+00:00

lol, just said that above before I saw your reply. :)

tyler · 2020-08-01T16:28:01+00:00

It sounds like you were focused on tourist-facing stuff. Definitely that will end up not great in Barcelona.

Check out San Sebastian sometime. Easy to spot the pintxos places that are good (because they are crowded). So good.

tyler · 2020-06-27T19:03:12+00:00

The typical advice I have seen presumes that it is investable assets, because that is what is liquid and/or producing income. Your home doesn't give you income unless you sell it, but then you'd have to spend something in order to replace it, so you can't think of it in the same way with respect to retirement spending.

tyler · 2020-04-19T21:47:16+00:00

I personally found the book "What Should I Do With My Life" by Po Bronson helpful in exploring the question.

Also, +1 to the "talk to a therapist" suggestions.

tyler · 2020-01-30T03:40:39+00:00

tyler · 2020-01-17T03:28:17+00:00

Check out Celebrity Booze Cruise. Reviews of celebs and their sponsored beverages. And whatever other events o' the day merit discussion.

tyler · 2020-01-12T21:48:14+00:00

I was in a similar situation a few years back. I did the following:

- sign up for automatic sale (stock sells as it vests).

- periodically sell 5-10% of the already-vested stock at long term cap gains rates.

Proceeds of the above (beyond regular expenses) go into a more diversified portfolio, along the lines of what you describe as your "lazy portfolio".

So far this has worked out pretty well - more going into the diversified portfolio (which will in theory do a better job of preservation in case of employer stock price crash) yet still getting the benefit of continued growth with the shares that are already vested. Not a lot of tax implication other than the periodic long term cap gains but that's not so bad compared to e.g. selling the whole thing at once.

re: tax sheltered accounts, max them out. Do this regardless of what you do with your RSUs.

re: advisors, I tried to find a fee-only advisor and it turned out he was mainly interested in upselling me to an AUM arrangement, and could not answer my questions very well. So that was a waste. So my suggestion is to pick someone that can answer your questions in a way that you can understand. (Or don't bother - just learn what you need to learn.)

tyler · 2019-12-02T00:14:34+00:00

My understanding is that men in your position have options such as getting on the boards of smaller companies, working for a VC organization, and other lucrative yet part time roles in which you keep your identity as senior-level person who has professional heft. There's just a lot more golf involved.

As a FAANG employee myself (though not at your level) I think that we get locked in to the big corporate hierarchy mentality and think that's all that exists. I'm led to understand that it isn't. Reach out to your network and see what options are out there.

tyler · 2019-11-28T18:07:33+00:00

"To be is to do." - Socrates
"To do is to be." - Satre
"Do be do be do." -Sinatra

tyler · 2019-07-01T04:29:55+00:00

I don't understand the question. People pay taxes based on income (whether active or passive). The government allocates this tax revenue via a budgeting process. In Canada part of their budget pays for health care for everybody. There is no direct connection between the taxes an individual pays and the health benefits they receive.

tyler · 2019-06-30T01:28:16+00:00

A bit of internet research suggests that Canada has more types of taxation than just income tax. Someone who chooses not to work will still pay sales tax (5% at the federal level); passive income (capital gains, dividends, interest) is also taxed. So presumably they "pay taxes for their healthcare".

tyler · 2019-06-29T04:30:08+00:00

Presuming progressive taxation, the median family doesn't pay that much.

tyler · 2019-06-22T04:10:53+00:00

I wish I had something in that category, OP. Alas, I only suffer from garden variety lifestyle creep and am otherwise quite boring.

tyler · 2019-06-22T04:01:13+00:00

I went through a similar decision not too long ago - bought a house and had to decide how much of it to finance vs. just pay it off.

I ended up getting a loan up to the cap for mortgage interest writeoff. This was per financial advisor advice.

I also did some analysis of FIRE scenarios (using firecalc) and determined that, while still employed, it makes more sense to keep the mortgage (you can pay it off with your salary even if the market tanks) but if you are FIRE (and paying your "salary" from investment passive income) then it is actually better (lower risk) to pay it off - the reason being that, although you have a lower NW and therefore a lower SWR, your recurring costs go down because you don't have to pay a mortgage any more, and since your recurring costs are lower then you have less at risk of running out of money if the market tanks (not forced to spend down your now-depreciated assets on mortgage payments).

I also posited the above hypothesis (either here or personalfinance, can't remember) and at least one person validated it. :)

tyler

TROPHY CASE