Financial Independence Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 |
- Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, November 24, 2021
- Vent: I regret telling my relative how much money I actually have (and these are white collar doctor types)
- It really is lonely up here
- U.S. National Survey: $42.9% of American adults have less than $25k saved for retirement (48.9% of women and 35.6% of men); politically "red" states have less saved than "blue" states.
- Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - November 24, 2021
- How to maintain a 4% SWR without sequence of returns risk
- Daily FI discussion thread - Tuesday, November 23, 2021
- I FIRED'ed today - started late, but never too late to start!
| Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 Posted: 24 Nov 2021 02:02 AM PST Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! Have a look at the FAQ for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 09:01 PM PST So the point of this post is, well, you never really know who you can tell your real financial situation to. I have a decent sum, not retirement-level but decent, and thought I would be safe telling my relatives (within the appropriate context). Nope, there seems to be resentment and gossip now. Background: my relatives, including my father, are doctors and white collar types. My cousins and siblings are also mostly doctors and white collar types, with a few other STEM major/programmers sprinkled here and there. We have a few cousins who majored in art or something, but even they went to schools like RISD and USC. I was always the "stupid" one in the family, the non-achieving one. The only kid in the whole extended family who didn't have his college funded by parents, let alone graduated from a "reputable", known-name school. I am not saying this for sympathy, I am just saying this is the family dynamic. It is what it is. I joined the military (the first and only military member in the family), got a bachelor's in a STEM major from an online school, and cobbled up like 400k in investments (I deposited my savings into the market when all the stocks crashed during 2020 because my logic was that if SHTF, I have bigger issues than losing money in the stock market). I haven't spoken to my family or relatives in YEARS due to bad blood, and then separated from the military and came back to town (for my friends). Along the way I got back in touch with my relatives again. I have two uncles who are both doctors, one assumed I was unemployed and "destitute" before he found out I was in the military. The other told me I must've "been through a lot" not being financially supported by my parents. They both gave me some money as a gift, which I was grateful for. My dad claimed that he felt bad about not paying for my schooling and seeing how well I did for myself, wanted to buy me a house in the neighborhood (this never happened and the offer was pulled back). One uncle wanted me to come to his house so he can give me advice on that, so I took my little 10k used car and drove it to his 5 million dollar house, parked next to his BMW and Lexus. He sat me down and told me that buying a house isn't a good idea if I don't even know if I want to live in the neighborhood long-term, and suggested I rent in the downtown of the city instead. He had a point, but the whole time he was talking as if I've been poor and miserable my whole adult life, and with the assumption that I had no money saved. He then said that since I don't have a job yet (since I just separated from the military) I won't even qualify to rent a place, and asked me rhetorically if I even had savings. I said "I do" and when he asked how much, I said I have 400k in stocks so they're not liquid but I can cash some of it out. He said I should cash some of them out and rent in the downtown while I look for a job. He also asked me if I had a will and who the money was going to, and I said I had a few friends/battle buddies and the church that helped me as my beneficiaries, and he seemed upset and said I should change it as soon as possible to have family members in it instead. I shrugged it off, but thought the conversation overall went well. Well, turns out other relatives ended up knowing about my stash because the uncle told them in disbelief. I had another uncle call me up and tell me that he knows I don't have that much money and "that is bullshit", that I should be honest and how I "don't have to try to impress people". He even said that my other uncle who gave me advice about renting "was upset... I mean surprised" that I had 400k. He was like "I was a doctor for 40 years and I don't even have 400k. Your other uncle doesn't have 400k." and I told him it's not like I just have 400k sitting in cash, it was due to investments, and I never made much income in my life - nowhere near a doctor's income. Both uncles have homes that are multimillion dollar homes, one uncle is selling his house soon and he will get 5 million from it. My uncle who told me I was full of shit had like 159k just sitting in his savings account, that's a shit ton of money that's not working for you IMO. I pointed out that he and the other uncle had net worth tied in million dollar homes, retirements, and their children's educations so why is anyone so shocked let alone "upset" that I had 400k? My genuine assumption was that at the best, my uncle would be like "400k? not bad, great job" and at the worst, they would be stuck up and "unimpressed at only 400k". I DID NOT expect this response. I get it, I got to 400k without being a doctor or taking out loans to get into an Ivy. I am sure my cousins who are doctors with 200k in student loan debt will still do better than me financially in the long run because they are doctors and the income will keep adding up throughout the years. 400k really isn't that much in the long run, and here we are, "upset" that I have 400k on a military enlistee's income. I assured my uncle that I didn't gain my net worth through illegal means, and he pretty much said "I don't care how you got your money... so how did you get your money?" The family dynamics are awkward now and there were even some comments about how I should put them in my will in case I die. I haven't even talked to them in years and they didn't help me at the worst times in my life, and they're pissed that I have non-family members (friends) in my will instead. TLDR: Yeah no, you don't know who you can really tell. Just because someone is richer than you doesn't mean they will take it in stride. I thought my relatives wouldn't care, they would be happy for me, because they have high paying jobs and multimillion dollars of assets in homes, cars, well educated children, etcetera. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Nov 2021 12:24 AM PST I've seen posts like this before but I was never able to empathize with them until now. I'm in my mid-30s and I recently retired from an 8-5 job. I still have some consultancy gigs that take up about 4-6 hours of my week. My husband is still employed but that's because he loves his job and the work environment but he also plans to retire in 5-6 years or shift to a consultancy role, if circumstances allow it. Anyway, since sharing to my friends that I've retired, I've encountered some hostility and snarky comments. Some have also invalidated all the planning and effort I've put into this and reduced it to mere luck. Even my long-time friends have conveniently forgotten that I started work at minimum wage and their starting salaries were double or triple of what I used to earn 15 years ago. Even family members have shamed me for my early retirement and the few who made positive comments are now angling for a loan. It's not like we have a lot, it's just that we only need little to survive because our mortgages are paid off and we don't have kids. I know it's very trivial and a first-world problem but I can't help but feel ganged up on and invalidated over something that I've worked hard for (I've been planning on early retirement since uni days because I was working two jobs living paycheck to paycheck while taking my degree. I also introduced the FIRE movement to my now-husband when we started dating). And it's not like I'm announcing my retirement to everyone, just when people ask where I work now or what I'm up to. So my question is, how do you react to snarky or shaming comments about early retirement? How do you celebrate wins without looking like a braggart? Do you have close friends and family who are genuinely happy for you? What do you do when it feels lonely on FIRE-ing early? Do you avoid questions about FIRE so as not to be judged negatively? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Nov 2021 04:26 AM PST Hey all, Someone sent me this survey published earlier this month that polled 5,000 Americans about their retirement savings. I'm honestly pretty shocked by these results. It seems like we're headed off a fiscal cliff in this country, given that the majority of Americans simply don't have the means to support themselves after their working lives. Some key highlights:
What are your thoughts on this? For me, I'm also kind of surprised to see politically conservative states have such little savings, given the general ethos of looking after your own in these states. [link] [comments] |
| Weekly Self-Promotion Thread - November 24, 2021 Posted: 24 Nov 2021 02:00 AM PST Self-promotion (ie posting about projects/businesses that you operate and can profit from) is typically a practice that is discouraged in /r/financialindependence, and these posts are removed through moderation. This is a thread where those rules do not apply. However, please do not post referral links in this thread. Use this thread to talk about your blog, talk about your business, ask for feedback, etc. If the self-promotion starts to leak outside of this thread, we will once again return to a time where 100% of self-promotion posts are banned. Please use this space wisely. Link-only posts will be removed. Put some effort into it. [link] [comments] |
| How to maintain a 4% SWR without sequence of returns risk Posted: 24 Nov 2021 06:24 AM PST During a recent back and forth with u/retchthegrate, I had an unusual thought: if I withdraw 3.14% of my capital each year and borrow the rest on margin (upto 4%), would that enable me to maintain a 4% SWR without sequence of returns risk? I reached out to BigERN, who gave me a tacit thumbs up. He then proceeded to write an entire post about it! Sharing here. https://earlyretirementnow.com/2021/11/16/leverage-in-retirement-swr-series-part-49/ Seems like this strategy would have protected against our worst downturns - 1929 and 1965. A further evolution of this strategy - where you only draw on margin in down years - would make it even more bulletproof. Curious to hear folks' thoughts... [link] [comments] |
| Daily FI discussion thread - Tuesday, November 23, 2021 Posted: 23 Nov 2021 02:02 AM PST Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! Have a look at the FAQ for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments] |
| I FIRED'ed today - started late, but never too late to start! Posted: 22 Nov 2021 05:03 PM PST Today is my last day in the office as I negotiated a severance package from my company and I FIRE'ed (recently turned 50 in Oct). I began my journey on Oct 2014 (age 42) with a goal to save money for a house down payment. In 2018 (age 46), I realized that buying a home in S. California was a bad investment (for me), so I continued to rent. In 2018, I learned about investing in index funds, growth stocks, the power of compounding effect and discovered the FIRE community. I enjoyed my career and loved what I did, but I wanted to LEAVE & LIVE on my terms. Opportunity to spend time with my aging parents (84 & 81) and travel the world while I'm still young were my motivating factors. A little about me… I was poor in standardized testing scoring less than 1000 on my SAT and 24 on my ACT. In college, I majored in Psychology and took pre-dental courses graduating in 5 years. I began my career accidentally by accepting a summer job as a customer service rep for a computer retail store (I did not get into Dental School). I was curious about the world and people. By building genuine relationships, guidance from my mentors and through sheer grit/perseverance, my career blossomed over time (despite 3 layoffs and being fired once). I was able to land my dream job as a Sales Director with a global smartphone company. I am single and no kids (but supporting my aging parents). I started late in life. But if I can do it, you can do it too! I just wished I knew this when I was young - never taught in schools or by family/relatives/friends. If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know! Thank you & have a Happy Thanksgiving! My current finances… October 2014: $49k Net Worth November 2021: $1M+ Net Worth Yearly budget: $15,204 - $28,320/year Final salary: $150k+/year (yes, I really did quit that) Total taxed SS average earnings: $71k+/year 401k: $66k+ (growth) HSA: $11k+ (Index funds) Rollover IRA: $268k+ (Index funds) Roth: $38k+ (Index funds) Individual brokerage #1: $295k+ (growth, dividend aristocrats, blue chips) Individual brokerage #2: $30k+ (Index funds & thematic ETFs) Real estate: $303k+ (paying off my parent's HELOC debt of $36k, I have the title to their home) Cash: $7k+ [link] [comments] |
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