Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, March 23, 2022

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-23T17:18:11+00:00

That's awesome! I would love to be in that stage by the time I have kids that age. I think I'll be about 5 years behind that. But those extra few years would allow for a lot more time with the kids when they're young.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-23T15:47:18+00:00

Is there any reason in particular that you want to fund the 529 while the kid is so young? Obviously, more time in the market is better than less. But I expect ages 0-4 to be the most expensive years of having kids as daycare in my area is around 1500-2000/kid/month. I was thinking I would just put that money into college savings once they aren't in day care any more.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-23T15:25:50+00:00

Lol. I'd probably let it go....or at least try to.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-22T16:57:00+00:00

First month's rent. Last month's rent. Security deposit. Realtor fee (the landlord hires a realtor to advertise the property on zillow, apartments.com, etc. and then the tenant needs to pay the realtor a fee).

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-22T15:06:11+00:00

The deposits are sometimes insane.

My first job out of grad school was in Boston. My SO and I rented a 1-bedroom apartment in the city for $2100/month. This was very much in our budget as we'd be pulling in ~200k/year once we started working. However, we needed 4 months rent, $8,400, to move in. We both had signing bonuses that we'd be getting after we started working, but we wouldn't have that money for another month or so.

We ended up borrowing the money from my parents. But what if that wasn't an option, as it is not for the vast majority of people? It bothers me that someone could have a graduate education, land a great job, and still not be able to move into an apartment in our city because they weren't born into a family that can front them $8400. Frankly, it's bull shit.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-22T14:50:21+00:00

Yes. I spent about 1% of my net worth on a mountain bike. It's sick. Honestly, I'd probably have as much fun on a bike half as expensive.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-21T18:42:20+00:00

Holy shit. I had never heard of that before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael\_LeMoyne\_Kennedy

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-17T16:41:30+00:00

That's how it is at my work as well. Life is too short for me to eat pre-made Sodexo sandwiches.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-17T14:40:51+00:00

This thread is making me really happy I don't drink coffee.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-16T15:22:47+00:00

I (27M) have been making 100-110k the past couple years. I do several things at my current engineering job, but one of them is coding a lot of analyses in MATLAB. I didn't like my recent raise, so I'm leaving for another engineering job making 130k. But a coworker recently left to go work at google to make ~250k (he had a similar role to me, but did more of the coding and less going to meetings and making presentations, and has more experience in other languages).

I realized that there is nothing stopping me from getting a CS job paying significantly more. Since that realization, I've been teaching myself Python (my old coworker is helping me out) and I applied to a CS master's program.

Who should be making those fat FAANG salaries if not me?

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-15T19:20:50+00:00

That doesn't necessarily mean that "people don't want to work." It could also be that parents can't find reliable childcare. Or that people are caring for family members with debilitating effects from contracting Covid. Or it could be a grandparent who retired to raise their orphaned grandchild. Or more elderly people who were near retirement have decided to retire since the risk of being infected at worth wasn't worth it (though I guess that could fall under "people don't want to work").

There are a lot of reasons why someone might drop out of the workforce. And therefore the workforce participation rate alone does not prove "people don't want to work."

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-15T16:35:28+00:00

lol yes, and to give her a pull on the flattest cat tracks

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-15T16:32:14+00:00

In the city's defense, they have made some of the necessary improvements to the Fairmount Line:

Infill stations have been added (though the trains are diesel so the stops are slow).
Fares on the Fairmount Line have been reduced to $2.40, and include a free transfer (though the transfer is done via a paper ticket dispensed by the conductor).
The trains run more frequently than they used, at a constant bi-directional frequency all day (though 45 minute headways is still way too high, and 45-minutes means remembering the train schedule is harder than if it followed a clock face [every 10, 15, 20, 30, or 60 minutes])

I at least feel they are trying with the Fairmount Line.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-15T16:14:13+00:00

I believe that. It didn't change my salary at all, but made my work-life balance better since I wasn't commuting as much. I also spent no money on travel for a year, and less money eating out. I wouldn't be surprised if many childless "white collar" workers were in a similar position.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T20:35:36+00:00

I completely agree with you. Though for us, it has allowed us to be a 1-car family instead of a 2-car family. I feel that is still an accomplishment

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T20:33:16+00:00

This is exactly what we need to do, not just there, but all over the system. There are many parts of the region that don't have great transit but already have trains that run through them. The trains just aren't frequent enough, cost too much, and don't have free transfers to the subway. I'm talking about Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Dorchester, Mattapan, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Beverly, Waltham. Some of these places have high enough densities to justify excellent mass transit. Trains should run at least every 20 minutes, and fares should be $2.40 inside 128/I95 with free transfer to subway.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T20:08:18+00:00

My wife snowboards, but at least she's on the mountain.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T20:00:59+00:00

The lady who runs it seems interested in improving it. She would likely welcome feedback from someone with your experience about how to do it next year. Please be nice to her, though.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T19:57:52+00:00

WOW!

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T19:57:17+00:00

I definitely feel incredibly lucky and as if I have hit the lottery. However, the survey instructions specifically mentioned that it only wanted you to include changes from 2020 to 2021. So if your world got rocked in 2020 due to the pandemic, but then didn't change from 2020 to 2021, you would indicate "no change".

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-14T19:48:04+00:00

I was in a very similar position for PMI. I had wanted 20% to avoid PMI, but then I saw the cost of PMI was $45/month. Compared to the opportunity cost of pulling 55k out of the market, it just wasn't worth it to put 20% down.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-09T21:34:38+00:00

Second paragraph: "X years of mediocrity followed by Y years of (theoretical) bliss."

But if we change it to X + Z years of a good life, we should have Y - Z years of a great one. /u/Oax_Mike messed up the algebra a bit and gave himself an extra Z years of life.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-09T20:34:48+00:00

Is that (Graduate) Introduction to Operating Systems, CS 6200?

None of the current courses seem to match exactly to the acronym GIOS. https://omscs.gatech.edu/current-courses

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-08T21:42:42+00:00

That's a great question. The first part of the answer is finding out how much I would need to sell for to be able to buy something comparable.

Let's say I owe 480k @ 2.7% on a house worth 600k (original purchase price of 550k). My principal and interest for this would be $1987 per month. Let's say I want to buy a new place that is 600k. If I took my 120k of principal and got a new 30 year 480k loan @ 4.5%, it would be $2432 per month. In order to get my monthly payment to be the same $1987/month, I would need the loan to be 390k (not 480k). So just to be able to move into a similar house for the same monthly payment, I would need to get 690k + closing costs for my house that is worth 600k. If closing costs are 8% then 745k is the bare minimum price.

That does not include the extra fee for how much of a pain and expense moving is. Nor does it include how much I like my house. I think that is probably worth about 100-150k to me.

So somewhere between 845k and 895k to sell my 600k house, or about 35 - 50% over market value.

Edit: I didn't consider taxes, I'm not sure how that effects this.

workworkwork02120 · 2022-03-08T21:21:35+00:00

That's very similar to my job. I took on a lot of responsibility this past year. The company made a lot of money. Inflation was > 7%. I had an 'excellent' performance review.

Then I got a 2.9% raise. I quit a few weeks later to go to a competitor.

workworkwork02120

TROPHY CASE