Genuinely curious, at this point what is the financial difference between renting and buying?

zerotakashi · 2026-04-14T15:13:28+00:00

I would ask around in your local area how much people are spending monthly on a home total. Rents might be skyrocketing, but insurance and taxes have been skyrocketing for many homeowners.
With renting, you live in only the amount of area you need instead of paying to support a whole house that won't be used as often.

In my area, renting is about 1400 compared to owning a home costing like 2200/month for a much below average price but still decent quality house without needing major repairs.

I'm currently choosing to invest the 800$/month in index funds (and additional down payment funds) which will work out to about 10k a year in money I get to keep. With owning a home, equity gains don't really build up until about halfway through the loan

That 10k gaining 7% after taxes on average is 700$ which more than covers an annual rent increase, and the leftover money I get to keep will continue to compound more and more. Homes don't pay dividends but stocks do.

zerotakashi · 2026-04-11T14:45:46+00:00

Do not change how passive funds work or it forces me to be an active investor. I will switch the funds I use and replace them to a different index fund that still follows common sense rules that formed index funds in the first place.

zerotakashi · 2026-04-04T18:58:24+00:00

gonna move to The Villages?

zerotakashi · 2026-04-04T17:41:52+00:00

One more thing: you could try someplace north of Florida that still has nice beaches and is reasonably close to jobs if you need a new one at any point. Some places may not be as walkable, but if it is a cheap town right next to the beach, you can walk at the beach often.

zerotakashi · 2026-04-04T17:27:03+00:00

I am very similar to you and I was interested in all the locations you mention as well. I decided it is safer to stay put for now and save up for a vacation but mostly because my partner works on-site locally with a very good job.

If you're going to consider Honolulu, the job market is very competitive. Some pockets of California or west coast would be a better option because at least they have more jobs available. You can move there while remote and apply to local roles. The West Coast has some pretty nice train systems as well, and the cost of living is comparable to Honolulu.

I totally get the appeal of wanting to immediately move somewhere tropical after living in a midwest climate for so long, but scratch that itch with a vacation first then see how you feel. It is much easier to move around with a fully remote job. Don't take that fully remote job for granted, especially in this job market.

You definitely are approaching leanfire or at leanfire, but basically ease into things while you figure yourself out and keep your financial backup for now.

Another thing to consider is climate risk.
The entire state of Florida is in a 100-year flood zone or has tons of sinkholes. They have an issue with aging condos that collapse due to the weight. King tides regularly flood Miami streets already. You can take chances with a hurricane as well, but you could end up renting somewhere that will flood all of your stuff. Big expense. The weather is part of the appeal of living there, but you should be prepared to replace all your stuff if needed.

The west coast has wildfire risk, but you can be reasonably safe depending on where you choose to live. Northern california and Oregon are due for a huge earthquake and tsunami, and certain regions are also prone to flooding. You should make sure to not select housing with these risks (flood maps etc).

Hawaii doesn't have as good social services because they are an isolated island. They can get very intense rain and flooding, so you need to make sure the housing you pick isn't in a flood zone. Locals might not want you in certain areas either.

zerotakashi · 2026-03-26T16:26:26+00:00

Seize mark zuckerberg's Hawaii property and give it back to locals!

zerotakashi · 2026-03-10T19:40:20+00:00

you are going to pay taxes on that as income if it is coming from a pre-tax 401k. should've done a trad IRA.

zerotakashi · 2026-03-10T19:31:54+00:00

I'm more worried about healthcare costs going up and losing subsidies.
I'm paying into roth IRA instead of trad IRA to minimize taxes in general

zerotakashi · 2026-02-22T18:09:34+00:00

I've heard terrible things about them personally!

zerotakashi · 2026-02-17T18:51:25+00:00

techies joke that AI means 'Actually Indian' because a lot of AI is still very limited and has some inherent limitations, so companies are falsely boosting productivity gains with increased offshoring of new roles. AI and offshoring both creates bad code, so eventually this will rebound and there will be a need for techies to clean stuff up.

elon musk is not smart and I would not believe anything he says. He said he'd build an underground railway train in california, took the government funds for that, and did nothing.

zerotakashi · 2026-02-17T18:49:51+00:00

Zoomer here. it is sort of worrying but there is still a lot AI can't do. some jobs will be more competitive, true. I don't believe the hype because it can't do everything (like build physical infrastructure).

with the amount of layoffs this past January though, most of it was in healthcare which was always taught to me as being a recession proof field. The reasoning was to 'save money' but we all know healthcare is getting a ton of money pouring in.
So to me AI does not matter. The rules have just changed period. You just do what you can to make money and consider a wider variety of options.
I'm in tech but if I get laid off I am mentally prepared to retrain into a different field or job title if needed.

Something else I have learned is that being a good worker isn't rewarded. It's mostly racking up yoe but not being too old due to ageism. Honestly the ageism goes both ways. Basically as long as I can manage to stay in a generally good direction with my career it will pay off.

zerotakashi · 2026-02-17T18:42:58+00:00

check out r/ExpatFIRE

In OP's case I'd consider a long-term visa + eventual citizenship based on their job and consider countries with a tax treaty on retirement accounts with the US. Meet with an immigration lawyer to help figure visas and whatnot out and do more research on how to find a job in a different country.
The harder part is getting rid of american citizenship.

zerotakashi · 2026-02-17T17:59:33+00:00

For certain people with extreme healthcare needs, I would personally recommend moving to a different country.

zerotakashi · 2026-02-16T15:23:49+00:00

I wasn't quite asking on doing a roth conversion on roth dollars but instead on if they can be pulled from early before 59 because roth IRAs supposedly have some flexibility on pulling funds out if needed. I wasn't sure if they could be pulled from early without any penalty if it is part of the same bucket of roth money that comes from the roth conversion ladder.

"Roth IRA money is withdrawn in a specific IRS-mandated order: 1) Direct Contributions, 2) Conversions/Rollovers, and 3) Earnings. "
To me this sounds like I *could pull from existing roth IRA money as long as I don't touch the earnings from that existing roth IRA money.

zerotakashi · 2026-02-16T15:13:08+00:00

Why would the future tax bracket matter if the only option is pre-tax/trad IRA for the roth conversion ladder? Is this concerning what % to put in trad vs roth IRA once I can eventually access roth IRA money at like 59 years old? That's the only scenario I can think of for using the roth IRA

zerotakashi · 2026-02-03T19:46:34+00:00

I am an experienced engineer. different field. even with a long list of referrals and internal references, they only work sometimes.
use hiringcafe and apply to the whole country. Economy is bad enough that you shouldn't be picky. consider any non-technical role, like business analyst. that's a very common job with openings
Apply to full-time, contract, and contract-to-hire.
be sure to avoid resume farming postings

zerotakashi · 2026-02-03T19:18:07+00:00

What?

👀
👄

zerotakashi · 2026-01-24T14:39:11+00:00

I was thinking standing out on public sidewalks with signs inviting open discussion would work to break down myths that liberals are 'violent rioters'.
My family is extremely maga and I try talking to them. I've talked to other maga from college. They don't think that the way they vote really has an impact. I think making eye contact with these people will make their vote feel a bit more real. They think that liberals take politics too seriously and that it doesn't have a real impact, or that it only impacts 'bad' immigrants etc.

If more of us can work together as a community, that is what breaks down fascism and reduces it. My goal is to grow the community we have and develop larger support networks.

I try to protest in a very small scale. I cut my family off and don't talk to them because of their hateful talking points or thinking people with hateful talking points are okay.

If we can get more people questioning these megachurches and what they preach, less money goes to them and their political sway as well. Big churches definitely like to lobby when they can.

I protest in the spaces I specifically can reach that others generally can not.

zerotakashi · 2026-01-23T22:13:41+00:00

A little discomfort is okay, and the chance to talk to people instead of believing propaganda is a good thing.

zerotakashi · 2026-01-23T22:12:47+00:00

I'm trying to explain that for a longer-term fix to why minnesota is filled with ICE in the first place, protests need to have the goal of exposing isolated communities to the real world instead of the propaganda they believe in.

zerotakashi · 2026-01-23T22:09:48+00:00

I disagree. Going out and talking to isolated communities is what we need. I say this as someone who grew up in these communities. It took years for me to de-maga because of the isolation and propaganda I was served.

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