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Posted
4 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

My parents always worried about having sufficient retirement savings even though they did fine financially.  A few months after my dad passed away I asked my mom if she was doing ok.  She said when she takes the required minimum distribution from their 401k, she winds up sending almost the entire amount back to her financial advisor. 

The dad of a guy I work with got caught up in a layoff about 10 years ago and had a real tough time finding another job so he said screw it, I'm done.  He said he's making as much if not more in retirement off his investments and wished he had pulled the plug years earlier.

Guess that's a good thing for you and her other heirs if she basically withdraws low amounts from a net standpoint. I find it sad though that someone perhaps sacrificed along the way, and does very little with those savings. Who knows, maybe peace of mind is worth it to some.

I'm not a YOLO person at all but now in my mid-50s there are experiences or purchases that I wouldn't do now that I might have in my 20s. I would have to guess that the same will occur when I'm in my 70s and looking back on my mid-50s. Nothing wrong with living life now, if you can.

Posted
On 9/1/2025 at 1:29 PM, Brisketexan said:

I mean, it sure seems like it comes down to that.  Where is it going to earn me the most?  One of the wildcards is the currency arbitrage: if I park $200k in a propery valued in pounds, and the pound keeps gaining on the dollar, plus the property appreciates, plus it earns rental income, it seems I CAN come out ahead.  But that's betting that we can beat the market.

And my concern is....I think the market is irrationally high right now, and we're heading for a fall (no CR, I just think too many forces are aligning at once: tariffs, inflation, stagflation risk, softer employment, recession indicators popping up, etc.).  So, my lean is "if I can park some real value outside the American stock market (and outside of stock markets in general), there's value in that as a risk mitigation part of our portfolio.  I mean, worst case scenario....long run, it's a paid-off piece of property that we can actually use as a residence for half the year.

The answer to the question is obvious to any financial professional. Any debt you have is risk free to you. So the correct comparison is the risk free rate of return. Currently and for the near future there is no risk free rate of return that will give you 5%. If the mortgage cost isn't tax deductible then it makes the decision even more obvious because the 5% is after tax money. So you pay off the mortgage. 

Posted

I think my wife will retire in the next two years. She will be 47. I will keep working until the kid is mostly done with college. He’s 14 and a high school freshman, so that gives us a few more years. I think I will be done in 7 years and that should allow our investments to almost double. From there - I will find a fuck you job in something that interests me or provides discounts.

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Posted (edited)

Wife and I are eyeballing the next 18 months.  I just can't do the grind in DC anymore and I'm FIRE-able right now.  I worry about currency depreciation, but I don't know what to do about it. 

Long term, we are looking at Europe. Although I don't mind the politics, the idea of having to drop 25-40K a year in Obamacare is eyewatering.  I'd rather take advantage of the French tax treaty and cheap healthcare. We started hatching a plan last year while in Normandy and Brittany, and we are going back in the spring to look at Montepellier-Nimes-Avignon, Touluse, and Bordeaux.

 I can fuck up some Gigondas, but I look like trash in a beret and french navy shirt. 

Edited by Bateshorn
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Posted
30 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

Wife and I are eyeballing the next 18 months.  I just can't do the grind in DC anymore and I'm FIRE-able right now.  I worry about currency depreciation, but I don't know what to do about it. 

Long term, we are looking at Europe. Although I don't mind the politics, the idea of having to drop 25-40K a year in Obamacare is eyewatering.  I'd rather take advantage of the French tax treaty and cheap healthcare. We started hatching a plan last year while in Normandy and Brittany, and we are going back in the spring to look at Montepellier-Nimes-Avignon, Touluse, and Bordeaux.

 I can fuck up some Gigondas, but I look like trash in a beret and french navy shirt. 

Weird Movie Brothers a X: "We love 'European Vacation' Rusty! He's our  favorite Rusty of all the Vacations. The dude has swagger and style.  https://t.co/N8SqwrjNYv" / X

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