That sounds like a fabulous deal for the company - they no longer have to pay for all that office space, *plus* they don't have to give out bonuses or raises?

Unless going into the office 2 days a week is something you really hate doing, I don't think it's worth giving up annual raises.

You are going to find your best chances in a marketing heavy job where your coding skills are a nice "add on" that distinguishes you from other applicants.

Then do a lot of coding in this marketing job and try to transition into a pure play CS job saying you were actually doing coding and have the experience.

It could be your boss is saying you don’t think “big picture” or plan into the future enough. Or it could just be your boss being an asshole and not wanting to lose your support on the team, therefore holding you back from promotions.

My gut reaction is that you are on a sinking ship and should be looking for a new job yesterday. What they are essentially saying is "if we can pay you less and spend less money on your salary, we will also stop spending money on renting an office."

They're trying to massively cut costs and spin it as a perk to you.

terrible but no longer my problem since I was part of the 30% of staff they laid off

Well Indeed just laid off 1300 today including myself so 🙃

If you're tall and good looking, go into sales.

Otherwise, SOL. Most devs move to manager or go into sales.

 Alot of new grads and AI want your seat, so you won't be missed. 

Just quiet quit.  Do the bare min.  Collect a paycheck.

Is the interest being paid to you annualized (i.e. 5.5% per year paid twice).  If you're getting 11% per year, you're not going to do much better anywhere else

5.5% in a checking account is very decent

I took it at my current company with the understanding that I will work 10% less and quit within 2 years to find a better paying job

Congratulations 

But I hope everyone reading this notes that there is victors bias at play here. 

For every NVDA there are several QCOM, COMS, CMRC, QWST, and in my case, LU. 

I’m not even sure half these tickers still exist anymore.

Edit: HLTH, EXDS, AGRA, AVYA, CSCO, MCI

Definitely the first time I’ve ever come across someone tracking their NW in terms of pi but my math obsessed self is loving it. Congratulations!

Your use of the word "mum" suggests you may not be in the USA.

The audience in this sub is heavily US dominated.

Consider a more local sub.

* https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/country_index#wiki_united_kingdom

You are getting all of this feedback 3rd hand. You need to talk to your boss about promotion and what he thinks you need to do to get there.

Some key things that impact Strategic Thinking:  
Prioritization: Do you just take on all projects, or are you able to sequence them properly and more importantly, gracefully reject work that doesn't align to higher level priorities.

Project Planning: Are you just a worker bee or can you actually plan and lead a project.

Root Cause Analysis: Are you just executing on what other people tell you to execute, or are you taking a step back and evaluating what the right solution to the problem (And whether the problem they say they has is the true problem) so you can solve it once, rather than bandaid solutions.

Ultimately, only your boss can tell you what they think you are lacking. A lack of strategic thinking is not uncommon in top individual contributors. It's a skill like any others and a lot of people haven't been given the time and training to flex those muscles. Don't admit to the feedback you heard through the grapevine but start those conversations. "I know promotion opportunities are coming and I'm really interesting. What do I need to improve on to make that happen?"

Have you read the prime directive in the sidebar? That's a great place to start.

Other resources would be investopedia and Bogleheads.

EOSE grid scale energy storage. Uses zinc bromide instead of lithium. Safer, cheaper and more stable than lithium with the same MwH and extremely scalable. Can be housed close to people and critical infrastructure and is almost entirely American sourced. Huge backlog and getting production up to par right now.

FNMA. Wait until they are unshackled from gov't rule.

Are you able to pay your necessities, put money into savings, and still have a little fun? If so I would say maybe embrace the marketing field.

That being said, yes, 4/5 years without experience compared to people with 4/5 years of experience or people fresh out of college is going to make it extremely difficult to break into the field. I personally think it’s unlikely the projects will have a lot of value in regard to getting a job. Might be better to just master leetcode and focus on job that lean heavily on programming interviews.

Do you have plans for further education? Masters degree, professional designations, etc? Maybe moving to another country to pursue further studies or work?

It would be an advantage to already have funding for whatever program you intend to pursue.

Further to that, if the program or work takes you to another country, obviously there are associated costs with moving and having these funded gives you time and options.

Hence, if there is a likely “near term” need for the funds, I think a safe 5.5% return would be sufficient rather than chasing higher returns in exchange for the consummate risk.

Dude don’t listen to anyone here saying it’s career ending. I have a CS degree and have switched careers from journalism , to video/sound production, system admin, and have been offered jobs at competing companies. 

I’m going to pivot into video game production field as that’s is what I’ve always wanted to do and I’ll either make it in 6-9 months or I’ll take a job that puts me into that trajectory. 

I’ll never understand people quitting before even trying. Graduated in 2012 from a foreign college had to redo my degree in the US and finished in 2018. Mid 30s have zero fear about being able to break into a CS related job even though it’s been 7 years.

I get how you feel. Not sure where you work but one thing i've expereinced in CS is that many jobs are more chill than others. 

Big tech/FAANG, you will expereince what you are saying. Layoffs, managers who expect impossible tasks to be done, burnout etc. But there are fields where things are more chill, you can get 20 hour weeks and not make as much but you'll have a work life balance.

I worked at defense industry my first job (RTX, Lockheed martin, BAE, etc). This was widely known as the chill job for SWEs. I worked 20 hour weeks and was an overperformer and I did Scrum master duties on the side. Had I stayed i'd probably be considered a Sr Level 2, or a Principal by now and im only 7 YOE. 

I left due to pay (started at 75k and made close to 90k after 4 years) and lack of work tbh. But if you can get in one of those jobs, quickly get a security clearance, you are all set. They try to retain people in these jobs because of the clearances. So even in down years at most you might just be thrown in some repetitive maintenance project until better projects come. 

It sounds like you are lookiing more for this type of work. DOnt get me wrong, there are things that you mentioned that still happened, like managers expecting impossible tasks to be done but tbh, most people barely bat an eye when it takes you forever to complete a task. Id knew people who had tasks in their platesfor 2 months that should've taken 10 days to complete.

Measurably hit rock bottom two years ago and hasn't recovered since. We use anonymous surveys.

Congrats!

50% in one stock sounds scary, but it's after the astronomical growth of the past 4 years of NVDA.

Is it available to everyone, and if so, what is it called?

damn this is awesome. love how it all came together from something you just built for fun.  
how was learning Lovable? was it actually beginner-friendly or did you run into stuff that slowed you down?

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Today marks perhaps my greatest investing milestone of all time!  The short story is I bought $36,000 worth of Nvidia over the course of 8 years. Last year I told myself once my account breaks $1m profit, I will sell the entire position, lock in the gains, and have a hell of a story to share for life.  Well today Nvidia hit a new all time high and I made that dream come true.

Below is a long version of how it all came to be: 

I first acquired Nvidia back in Feb 2017 and in a few lump sum purchases wound up with a total of 6,500 shares of NVDA.  My first purchase was for 1080 (in honor of my GTX 1080 I bought that year) and the share price at the time was a whopping $2.77!  My total investment around this time was $4000.  

Back in 2017 all the talk was about Crypto mining and I naively thought Nvidia was the way Bitcoin would be mined forever so I bought into the mantra “during a gold rush, buy the company selling the shovels”.  This was around the time BTC hit $20,000 for the first time but it quickly collapsed and I was introduced into the volatility of the crypto world.  But I still held my Nvidia because I believed crypto was still at an early adoption stage.  

Over the next few years I continued to buy small amounts of Nvidia, in chunks of 100 shares here, 900 shares here, and eventually had 6,000 shares by 2019.  The average cost of all of these were around $2-$8 in today’s value.  

2019 is a significant milestone for me because I made a major life decision to move to Puerto Rico. 

I remember somewhere around 2019-2020 starting to think that GPUs and Nvidia specifically weren’t going to be tied to crypto as much as it would be the hardware needed to power self driving cars.  The hype around Tesla was growing and crypto mining started moving away from personal computers and I learned GPUs were falling out of favor for more powerful ASIC mining rigs.  So my mentality moved from Crypto to Electric Vehicles.  Keep in mind, I really didn’t know a lot about any of this and I view my Nvidia convictions at the time more as luck looking back.  

Then in 2020 the Pandemic hit and we saw major sales of GPUs for gaming, virtual reality, and supply chain disruption and of course massive inflation.  Stocks across the board were super volatile but in general things went bonkers in the tech sector.  Tesla was killing it and Nvidia might have doubled during this time.  It still had not gone parabolic yet but I still just kept holding onto my initial position.  My portfolio wasn’t really moving in any major way yet and in early 2019 I was actually slightly negative in my total Nvidia investment.  

Then in 2023 we saw the first mainstream use cases for Ai started popping up.  I’m in the photography and videography world so I noticed how disruptive image and video creation would be as soon as it hit.  All my colleagues were making images in Midjourney when the majority of my non photo friends had no clue what Ai image generation even was.  It ballooned quickly and that’s when my mind set changed a third time. Now Nvidia was going to be needed for data centers and personal computers to power this new Ai revolution.  It wasn’t about crypto or self driving cars anymore, it was about perhaps the biggest innovation humanity has seen since the internet was launched and the iPhone was revealed.  

Seemingly overnight my portfolio was sky rocking.  Where just a few years prior, Nvidia was in the red for me, it quickly started carving out a large portion of my portfolio.  Once a liability, Nvidia now made up 10%, 20%, and 30% of my entire investment account and retirement funds.  There were days when I would log in to see I had made $100,000 that day and a week later it would swing down -$105,000.  It was pretty crazy to see a full year’s worth of income bouncing around day by day in my account.  The temptation to sell had always been there since 2017 when I was up 20-100% but now I was up 4,000% and the temptation was even greater.  Every single one of my friends was telling me I had to take profits off the table.  I wound up holding.  

The last major purchase I made was in July 2021. I bought 400 shares for $14 which at the time was 3-5x what I had bought previously.  

Jump to June 2024 when Nvidia hit an all time high of $130.  My wife and I had just had our first child and my Nvidia position was hovering around $800,000 in total gains.  I knew I only had to make it to $160 per share to break the $1m mark and I told myself I would sell everything if that happened.  Of course the next month Nvidia corrected pretty hard and the reality of hitting $160 didn’t seem possible until July 3rd 2025, nearly a year after I made my original decision to sell.  

I should have sold everything on July 3rd but I didn’t realize the trading day was shortened for the 4th of July holiday coming up. I also didn’t setup any automated sell triggers since I wanted to ceremoniously do the trade myself.  It worked out in my favor as I was able to sell today at $163 and make a little more than the $1m cutoff I originally set to sell at. 

Here are the raw numbers:

Total invested: $36,352
Total sale: $1,059,591
Total gains: $1,023,238
Average cost per share: $5.60
Time to materialize: 8 years and a lot of emotional rollercoasters!


I know a lot of people get caught up in fancy investment options that feels more like gambling but hopefully this success story inspires those of you who are like me and just what to buy shares, hold them, and eventually offload them when the time seems right.  



Today I made $1m gains by selling my entire Nvidia portfolio

Got ripped off by too many courses so took matters into my own hands

I scraped 112K total comments from Facebook Groups, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and X on discussions related to side hustles.

Used Grok and Gemini 2.5 to filter the ones with most sources reporting success & least upfront investment. Sorted into offline & online.

Offline side hustles:

1. Odd jobs on Taskrabbit like assembling furniture, mowing lawns or pressure washing. People say the leads are consistent and they can set their own schedule.

2. Dog sitting / walking on Rover then building your client list for long term stays which pay way more as some people avoid doggy day cares. With multiple dogs, people are making a solid income.

3. Being a senior companion through Care or Nextdoor / Facebook Groups. You don’t need medical experience. Just offer rides, company, or light errands. People are making a full time income with just a few clients per week.

4. Organize & promote local meetups related to specific interests. You find the venue and sell tickets through Facebook Events or Meetup. People host business networking, senior events, or dating advice seminars this way and make thousands per event every week.

5. If you live near even a semi-touristy city make a listing on Airbnb experiences for things like walking tours, food tours, bar crawls, couples photography, or other experiences. Earnings vary widely.

Online side hustles

6. Create an online newsletter for your city or county using Beehiiv. Write a bit of local news and feature ad spots for local businesses. Promote the newsletter by running Facebook Ads at very low daily spend that are geo-targeted to your city. Depending on population people report making more than their corporate job.

7. Make quiz videos & Reddit story videos using VUBO and post them on TikTok and YouTube shorts. Until you’re eligible for adsense & TikTok creator fund payouts, you can sell your own digital product, an affiliate offer, or get paid by brands to feature their logo/product in your videos. Several people in a Facebook Group report earning a full income doing this.

8. Write and publish ultra specific books on Amazon KDP and rank for long keyword searches. “First Time Mom Guide to C-Section Recovery” or “How to Train a Rescue Greyhound”. People report using AI to help them outline and write books and claim that you can make serious money once you publish many titles.

9. Sell Print on Demand products on Etsy. People are using ChatGPT to make designs then putting them on mugs, tshirts, bottles and candles, and listing them on Etsy. Get inspired by best sellers and don’t reinvent the wheel. Most report using Printify for fulfillment.

10. Make UGC (user generated content) for brands. Find clients through Billo, Collabstr, Fiverr and X. Film some portfolio videos with products around your home. People are making more than jobs by doing this part time and the secret is to craft your niche. Example: health and wellness products.

Hope this helps! Now go make that bread!

I scraped 109K comments to find the best side hustles

Just find it really weird they’re putting in this camera. We already have tons of cameras around in the area not sure why he wants to monitor me so closely. I feel like I’m being micromanaged like a child. 

My boss is putting a camera in by my desk and has full visual of my computer screen since it’s right behind me. Do I just quit without notice?

The title is definitely clickbait, but the story is true. 

Last week, a letter arrived in the mail letting me know that my Retiree Health Reimbursement Arrangement (RHRA) account was switching to a new provider. I have since separated from the employer that offers this benefit, but I worked there for almost 7 years and had no idea this account ever existed. Turns out they were putting a hundred bucks a month into this account, invested in a target date fund, and it's turned into $19k. 

It just so happens that my net worth was almost exactly $19k shy of seven figures 😂

It's a dumb story, but hey, maybe this can serve as a reminder to make sure you haven't forgotten that 401k from that job you worked for a year out of college, or the savings account your grandma opened up for you 30 years ago. 

The journey towards FI continues!



I discovered an account I didn't know I had and instantly became a millionaire

Hey everyone,
I just bought a preowned Toyota RAV4 from a dealership in Kansas. The price we agreed on (excluding tax) was $28,588, but the final cash price on my contract shows $31,435 — and with taxes ($3,733), it totaled $35,168.

I questioned the dealer about the $2,847 difference between the agreed price and what’s on the paperwork, and they told me it’s “preloaded money” added by the lender (Credit Union of America) to the principal. They claimed it’s normal and part of how financing works.

I’ve never heard of this before — does that explanation make any sense?
Do lenders actually add extra money to the principal like that without my knowledge? 
Any advice or similar experiences would be really appreciated.

EDIT:
My FICO credit score is 780+ but my credit history is just 2 years. The dealer told me I had to take a $7,500 extended coverage plan in order to get a 5.99% interest rate, otherwise the rate would be 12.99%. They also told me this $7,500 can be fully refunded after 3 months, and I would still get to keep the 5.99% rate. The initial tax also includes the tax for this coverage.

Should I call the lender to confirm if they actually preloaded any money into the principal, or was this just the dealer inflating the loan amount?

Edit 2:
Thank you everyone. I called the lender, and they confirmed that they did not preload any amount into the loan. They also told me that my interest rate will stay at 5.99% even if I cancel the extended coverage today.

I then went back to the dealer and confronted them. After some back-and-forth, they finally agreed to refund both the $7,500 + tax for the extended coverage and the $2,800 they had labeled as “lender preloaded amount.”

Looking back, it’s clear they were just trying to scam me into paying thousands extra under misleading terms. Really appreciate all your help, your advice gave me the confidence to push back!

I will post the name of the dealer soon, once I confirm that the full refund has been processed and the money is back in my account. Beware, everyone. There are likely many others being misled like this, especially first-time buyers or those with limited credit history. Innocent people are being taken advantage of.


Car dealership added thousands to my auto loan — called it “preloaded lender money”?

I'm loving reading all these success stories. Super inspirational.

So please don't take this the wrong way. I'm  totally left wondering, without taking the piss, can you tell me to what end though? $4 million at age 40 and retiring early sounds amazing. But if you've never touched a cent of savings, how did you still live the good life?

I'm 48 and have nowhere, anywhere near 1 million, assets or networth! But I have two beautiful kids and a good house over their heads. My wife and i took turns being stay at home parents for a few great years. I've seen elephants in Africa, swam with seals in Galapogas, and climbed Machu Picchu.

We're now breeding adventure into our kids and just took them snorkeling on great barrier reef.

There's no version of my life where I could've done all this and had a million dollars. But it makes me so happy I burst thinking about it. 

To what end are we just saving? Is this just rich at the expense of living a rich life. Or am I missing the point, and it's work hard, save everything, then spend swaths of it while still relatively young and healthy?

Are you learning how to spend wealth, or become evermore fixated on just growing it?

Of course, if you've done all this too and have $4 million, I bow down to you ser. I seriously should've started saving earlier 🤣 

To what end is this savings thing?

I started this new position in March and I'm still lost like full on lost. Everyone assumes I know what I'm doing because I have experience in a similar field, but this company does things totally differently compared to my old place like different apps different structures everything is different. I've been nodding along in meetings and googling everything when I get back to my desk. I'm too embarrassed to ask for help now because it's been so long and everyone thinks I'm competent. I spend hours trying to figure out stuff that probably takes my coworkers 5 minutes. The weird thing is that I'm pretty much doing all the tasks and they all think that I'm doing a good work. At what point do I just admit I have no idea what I'm doing? Or should I not discuss this at all?

I've been pretending to understand my job for 3 months, do I admit it to the folks at work?

Listening to The Next Millionaire Next Door. If I understand the author correctly, he's saying that if you spend, you won't be wealthy. Which makes sense. But then I wonder, what's the point of wealth, if I'm not spending it? 

I grew up very frugally, and would say I still live frugally (for my income). I'm wealthy by the formula of the author (age \* annual income / 10). I do have some luxuries like a house keeper and gardener. But I don't go out to eat, I don't buy fancy clothes, my furniture is Ikea, and most of my groceries are from Aldi. I don't have a boat, truck, sports car, or vacation home. My hobbies are social but frugal. Disclaimer: I travel for work every 6-8 weeks, so I get to experience business class flights, decent hotels, and eating out. 

It is comforting to know that if laid off, I could easily keep my lifestyle for several years, if not forever. But I wonder, are the Joneses living a more fun life? With their boats, cars, vacation homes, and Whole Foods grocery shenanigans? Like, yes, I have a higher net worth, but are they having more fun? 

Would love to hear your perspective on saving and accumulating wealth vs spending a lot of money on things you truly enjoy and why you chose to save instead. 

What's the point of wealth?

I've always been conscious about my finances. This has lead me to reach a net worth of $600k today at 30 years old. $175k of that is in cash which I need to address...but that's a separate issue.

Anyway, when I look at the data I know I'm doing well compared to my peers and theoretically I should be able to relax a bit. That being said, I left my secure corporate job a couple of years ago to work for myself in a completely different industry. This industry is super unpredictable and every day it feels like I could be out of a job tomorrow. That's part of the reason I've been hoarding cash.

When I run the numbers I take some comfort in realizing I could basically barista-FIRE at this point, but for some reason I still find myself in constant fear that I'll be out of a job and crash and burn tomorrow. I'm 30 so I still have a lot of life left to get through. 

I know a lot of this is mental (and yes, I have therapist lol) but I guess I'm just curious if anyone here has felt similarly. You get to a number that should make you feel comfortable and give you some breathing room but it doesn't. What if anything changed that for you?

When did you start to mentally relax?

I was in a general conversation with someone yesterday and while bouncing from topic to topic I asked, “so do you do any investing in stocks?” The answer was, “no I don’t.” After digging deeper, I discovered that they have their retirement fund through work, and any “extra” savings they have, they stick in a high yield savings account. 

This type of conversation happens quite often in my experience. Most people I’ve spoken to about money say they just keep their extra money in some form of a savings account, but I hear all the time how everything outside of your 3-6 month emergency fund should be invested. Is that 3-6 month rule only followed by a select, small community? Because in the real world, that doesn’t seem to be the norm, as most I have spoken to have way more cash than that. 



Do people actually invest their “extra” savings?

Is this a new trend? Company wanted us in office two days a week. Now they are offering fully remote to employees willing to give up raises and yearly bonuses. Don’t know it makes sense for me to give up a 10% annual bonus and 3% annual. Any thoughts?

Current hybrid company is offering fully remote if we forgo raises and bonuses.

Basically, I have been in this field for 6-7 years now. Mostly as a full stack developer. I am not new to this field and even with that I am just tired of this field.

I felt it might get better, but I feel it has only gotten worse. Started in this field a little before COVID hit and heard that is when things started going downhill in this field (outside that window of massive hiring for 1.5 year) around then. My experience backs this.

The expectations in this field are insane and none of my friends in other fields come close to putting up with this. The interview process is out of control and much of it has nothing to do with on the job stuff. So you have to learn on your own these things to do the interviews. The expectations while you have a job are insane. You are mostly led by non-technical people who fail to grasp how complex what they are asking you to do is and unrealistic deadlines because they are too scared to tell their managers no.

Also, endless learning new stupid languages and stacks because someone in the world just has to create "another language" for their own ego, that ultimately does not make anything easier. Just makes it a new thing you have to learn.

Nevermind the horrible job market in tech specifically. Endless layoffs, one of the highest unemployment rates of any white collar job field (we are higher than the average now), and clear attempts to send any new jobs overseas. So you can't even get a chance to compete for those jobs that go abroad.

Ultimately I'm just over it. I'm done. I want out. I just don't see a future in this field anymore.

What are some realistic paths I can take to get out of this field given my CS degree and experience? I'm ok with going back to school or pay for some training if it means there is a realistic path to getting employment. As long as it won't take more than 2 years. Ideally 1 year. Open to any idea though. I'm ok taking a paycut too, anything in 80k-100k pay range is ok with me.

I'm just over it. What are my options? Does anyone have any suggestions?

I want out of this field. I'm a experienced developer who has had enough. What are my options? What have people seen work now to leave this field?

Considering nothing is impossible, what’s the outlook of a career in CS 4-5 years out of college with no relevant experience.

I’m currently 2 years graduated, and circumstances gave me marketing jobs. I want to get back into tech, and have been working hard building projects to get to that point. Markets harder than ever though and I think I’m a few months out from having any realistic chance.

I just got a new opportunity in marketing and would be contracted for 2 years. The pay isn’t life changing but it’s almost double what I’m getting paid now. I don’t think I would have any interest in this career path after those 2 years. Would I completely throw out my odds of tech, given I don’t back to college for a masters? Is it any different than where I currently stand at 2 years out.



Is 4-5 years out of college year with no experience career ending

My company did layoffs last fall/winter. Ever since then, it has seemed like morale is really in the basement. Communication within the team has been pretty poor lately, and a lot of people seem to be just phoning it in: blowing past deadlines, not following up on things, etc. Anyone experiencing this at their companies right now?

How is morale at your company?

When I was 15, my dad passed away. Since then, I’ve been receiving a monthly government pension of about 1,600 JDs (around $2,250 USD). I haven’t really touched it, and it’s been sitting in a bank account earning 5.5% interest every 6 months. I now have around 85,000 JDs saved (about $120,000 USD), and I’ll keep getting this monthly payment until I turn 23.

I’ve never worked a day in my life, not out of laziness, but because I never had to (going to school/Uni). My mom worked for the UN and earned around $150k a year. With her job covering 80% of my university tuition (and my sister’s, who’s graduated now), it was almost like she was earning $200k in value. She was the one handling everything.

For the past 2 years, I’ve been studying in the UK, paying international student fees. My uni charges around £28,000 per year, but with the UN benefit, we only paid 20% — around £5,600/year.

The situation’s changed recently. My mom hasn’t been able to secure a new UN contract for the past 5 months, so unless things change, I’ll probably have to pay full tuition myself next year. Luckily, I’m currently on a placement year, which only charges 20% of the full fees anyway.

This year, I’ll be earning around £26,000 (closer to £30k with overtime), and I’ll be paying £860/month in rent. This will be the first time I’m earning my own income.

I know I’m in a rare and privileged financial situation — especially considering the average salary in Jordan is around 500 JDs/month (\~$700 USD) — but I genuinely have no clue what I’m doing with this money. It’s just sitting there. Should I invest? Save more? Try to start something?

20 y/o with 85k JDs saved, never worked, and still getting paid monthly — how do I not mess this up?

I’ve consistently delivered results, supported biz teams well, and even rewarded many year end best awards. A chance to promote to higher is comming.
But just received a message from my closely HR friend, my boss said with HR Head:
“He is excellent at execution, but you lack strategic thinking.”
No real examples. No clear next steps.Just stuck.

For those who’ve been through this: how do you learn to think more “strategically” in your career?
Or is this just a ceiling some people never break?

Doing great work, but boss says I’m “not strategic enough” to get promoted. What now?

**TL;DR** \- Guy with too much in one stock at all-time highs is excited and reads too much into it.

But really, it's finally happened! DOUBLE CIRCLE (4π = 2 revolutions).

I've tried to be consistent in posting every π milestone on this sub, and while this may not be that impressive, this one feels special to me. I think it's because:

>A - It's an 8 digit number that I never thought I'd reach (feels more FatFire than ChubbyFire), and

>B - It happened despite not working, *the plan is working?*

**Me**

Late 30's, semi-retired 4 years now, prior FAANG, gifting & lucky stock picks. HCOL Renter.

**Portfolio**

* \~40% VTSAX
* \~50% NVDA :\\
* \~10% Cash/Bonds

This post is not about how to replicate my situation (high income + rash choices that luckily work out), it's just a π update/reflection post for those who have been in it over the last 5-6 years (hi again!).

**Right now**

I'm excited, happy, *and still have a hard time believing it.* It's going to drop back down anytime, though I've felt and said that every single time I've posted, so hmm.

In fact, it has dropped down before, my portfolio dropped **$2.2M (!!)**, from $11M -> $8.8M (\~20%) at one point in April, *yikes*. That wasn't fun to see happening, the dangers of single stock exposure, there's been several versions of this that I've lived through in the last 15 years, but the scale grows alongside the portfolio, this latest swing was larger than my original FIRE number :|

**Past + Posts**

|Year|Net Worth|Post|
|:-|:-|:-|
|2010's|$0 - $2M|FAANG/MANGO times|
|2020|$1.9M - $3.6M|[Milestone π ($3.14M NW). Will eat Pie.](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/il9zo2/milestone_reached_pi_million_nw_314m_nw_will_eat/)|
|2021|$3.6M - $5M|[Milestone ($5M NW)](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/qlxw2d/milestone_pi_guy_reached_5m_nw_transitioning/)|
|2022|$4.9M - $3.7M|*Some dark ages*|
|2023|$4.1M - $6M|*Tech run-up starts again*|
|2024|$6M - $9.43M|[Milestone 2π ($6.28M NW)](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/195a7ry/milestone_reached_tau_2_pi_million_nw_628m_nw_not/) and [Milestone 3π ($9.43M NW)](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/1d2vpv5/milestone_reached_3_pi_million_nw_943m_nw/)|
|2025|8.8M-$12.6M|Lots of up and down this year so far, the rollercoaster ride continues.|

That's right, I skipped the $10M milestone. π or bust.

**Spending**

As has been pointed out before, my spending is not the classic FatFire numbers, I've spent \~$80k a year like clockwork, 2024 and this year I'm trying to relax more, so it's more like $90k/yr. I think a lot of it has to do with renting instead of owning, as the limited space keeps me from getting into more expensive hobbies.

I don't feel rich, but I can feel the difference between $6M and $12M, it mostly shows up in how I approach impulse purchase decisions. One-time things under $1K if I'm fairly sure will make me happy I don't second guess. Monthly things under $200/mo I don't care about anymore.

Before, spending $5K one-time was a big deal that I'd spend weeks thinking about, now its days. Things like new skis, graphics cards, etc. The value of not having to think about it outweighs the money savings in my head now. This only happens maybe a few times a year so far.

The idea of spending $200-300k/yr (\~2.5% SWR) still feels dangerous to me, I'm stuck in the mindset that I'm at $3M. Has anyone experienced this? *is it even worth changing my mindset on this?*

I've been thinking of moving from Vanguard to Schwab since they provide a pledged asset loan (PAL), which I'm thinking about for buying a house since I don't have classic income for a mortgage anymore. Also that amex platinum card fee waived, though that's just for fun. If anyone has tips on this or things to do ahead of time I'd definitely appreciate it.

**These Days**

I have many thoughts about the market, economy, and politics, but I don't know anything unique so I won't talk about that.

I originally had planned on FIRE with \~$3M. Since then, that concept of exponential growth / taking off the runway has manifested hard, it's weird to see it, it makes money feel so arbitrary and disconnected from effort or societal concepts of worth.

In the last post an interesting comment/conversation was about how far my portfolio has deviated from bogleheads, and the undue risk of single stock exposure. It's very possible that this post will become a cautionary tale in the future of my hubris. It's mentally hard for me to rebalance. I've made some small steps, finally selling off the last of my crypto, that felt hard too.

I started doing some light tech consulting this year, and this has been surprisingly fun and fulfilling, and it makes buying small luxury purchases feel 'free'.

Even though it's only 1-3 hours a week, I really like how this lets me flex that part of my brain.

As the years of semi-retirement go on, and my distance from full-time work go on, I'm happier and happier with my decision.

Probably an obvious statement, but I love not working full-time. I find myself easily filling the time with personal projects, relationships, exercise, other things to be anxious about, etc.

**Whats next**

I know it may sound silly, but I'm trying to focus on staying grounded, reminding myself of my luck and privilege, and being thankful for my situation.

I've been getting a bit deeper into some of my creative hobbies like videography, open source coding and woodworking. Really looking forward to next ski season, I may splurge on experiences there.

The open-source work has been particularly fulfilling, as I get to help/share with students/postdocs from several countries, it's a nice way of feeling connected to a community since I 'lost' my work one.

If you read this far, thanks! And since 4π is 2 circles, does this mean eating two pies or four?

Milestone: Reached 4π ~ $12.57M NW! Semi-retired 4 years now.

Curious to hear what everyone’s holding (or eyeing) that feels undervalued now but could be a big win in the coming years. 

Not talking about the obvious giants, but something under the radar be it in semis, biotech, energy, or whatever. 

Would love to read your takes and why you believe in it.


What are your sleeper bets for the next 5-10 years?

**The Accidental Market Research:** For over a decade, I've been running Big Brother fantasy leagues using an impossibly complex Excel workbook. Friends loved it so much they kept asking me to sell the spreadsheet. I always said no because I knew it was a fragile mess only I could maintain.

Turns out I was accidentally doing 10 years of market research:

* Proven demand (people literally asking to pay)
* Deep understanding of user pain points
* Clear feature requirements from user feedback 
* Validated user base who loved the product
* Annual recurring engagement (every Big Brother season)

**The Pivot Moment:** Had to launch by July 10th (Big Brother 27 premiere) or wait another year. That deadline forced me to stop overthinking and just build.

**8-Day Sprint to SaaS:**

* Day 1-2: Learned no-code development (Lovable platform)
* Day 3-4: Built core features (auth, leagues, scoring)
* Day 5-6: Advanced features (admin tools, payments)
* Day 7-8: Beta testing with existing users, bug fixes
* July 10: Launch day!

**Key Insights:**

1. **Your "hobby" might be disguised market research**
2. **Sometimes your users see the business before you do**
3. **Deadlines kill perfectionism**
4. **Having existing users = built-in beta testers**
5. **No-code platforms can handle real complexity now**

**Current Status:**

* Multiple active leagues running
* Tip jar revenue model (experimenting with monetization)
* Zero marketing spend (organic growth from existing community)
* Planning expansion to other reality shows

**The Lesson:** If people are asking to pay for something you've built "just for fun," listen to them. Sometimes the best businesses solve problems you didn't realize were problems.

Check out Poolside Picks if you want to try it out and run your own league!

Anyone else stumble into entrepreneurship through a personal project?

Accidentally spent 10 years doing market research - turned my Excel hobby into a SaaS in 8 days

I'm 48 years old and came from a very dysfunctional family. My mum was on government benefits and we never had any money. I'm now realising that I know absolutely nothing about money - how it works, how to make it work, options for making your Super work for you, investments etc. I just earn my wage, pay my bills, rinse and repeat. There has to be a better way. I can't afford a financial advisor. I wondered if there are any courses I could to.. something Money for Dummies or for a complete beginner. It's embarrassing but I want to learn.

I know nothing about money

Understand how Buy Now, Pay Later financing options affect your credit and learn smart strategies for using a six-figure inheritance wisely.  How does Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) affect your credit score? What’s the smartest way to invest or use an unexpected inheritance? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss the evolving credit implications of BNPL services and break down how to manage a money windfall responsibly. Joined by NerdWallet’s Anna Helhoski and Jackie Veling, they begin with a deep dive into BNPL, including how it works, why it’s becoming more prominent in credit reporting, and how it can either help or hurt your credit depending on your habits. Key takeaways include how new FICO scoring models treat BNPL loans, tips for avoiding pitfalls like loan stacking, and whether BNPL is a wise tool for building credit.  Then, investing Nerd Alana Benson joins Sean and Elizabeth to help answer a listener’s question about what to do with a $124,000 inheritance. They walk through thoughtful allocation strategies across emergency savings, debt payoff, investing, and even making room for some guilt-free fun. Topics include how timelines impact where you park your money, differences between IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts, when to use a robo-advisor, and how fees can quietly erode returns.  Use NerdWallet’s free expense ratio calculator to enter your initial investment, future contributions, time horizon and projected annual return in order to compare two expense ratios and find out how much you could lose by choosing the more expensive fund: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/mutual-fund-expense-ratios   Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header  In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: BNPL credit score, FICO 10 score, how to use BNPL responsibly, BNPL and credit bureaus, new FICO credit model, inheritance investing, what to do with a windfall, best way to invest $100k, pay off student loans or invest, CD vs high-yield savings, high-yield checking account, IRA contribution limits, Roth IRA or brokerage account, how to use a robo-advisor, best robo-advisors 2025, IRA vs brokerage, investing after inheritance, compound interest calculator, how to build credit, down payment savings tips, investing timelines, financial planning after inheritance, robo advisor fees, expense ratio impact, credit building strategies, high-yield CD rates, traditional vs Roth IRA, 457 plan investing, state employee retirement options, financial windfall tax strategy, 529 college savings plan, credit score and BNPL, and BNPL late payments impact.  To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email podcast@nerdwallet.com.  Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Understand how Buy Now, Pay Later financing options affect your credit and learn smart strategies for using a six-figure inheritance wisely. How does Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) affect your credit score? What’s the smartest way to invest or use an unexpected inheritance? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss the evolving credit implications of BNPL services and break down how to manage a money windfall responsibly. Joined by NerdWallet’s Anna Helhoski and Jackie Veling, they begin with a deep dive into BNPL, including how it works, why it’s becoming more prominent in credit reporting, and how it can either help or hurt your credit depending on your habits. Key takeaways include how new FICO scoring models treat BNPL loans, tips for avoiding pitfalls like loan stacking, and whether BNPL is a wise tool for building credit. Then, investing Nerd Alana Benson joins Sean and Elizabeth to help answer a listener’s question about what to do with a $124,000 inheritance. They walk through thoughtful allocation strategies across emergency savings, debt payoff, investing, and even making room for some guilt-free fun. Topics include how timelines impact where you park your money, differences between IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts, when to use a robo-advisor, and how fees can quietly erode returns. Use NerdWallet’s free expense ratio calculator to enter your initial investment, future contributions, time horizon and projected annual return in order to compare two expense ratios and find out how much you could lose by choosing the more expensive fund: <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/mutual-fund-expense-ratios" rel="nofollow">https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/mutual-fund-expense-ratios</a>  Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp&#61;header" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp&#61;header</a> In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: BNPL credit score, FICO 10 score, how to use BNPL responsibly, BNPL and credit bureaus, new FICO credit model, inheritance investing, what to do with a windfall, best way to invest $100k, pay off student loans or invest, CD vs high-yield savings, high-yield checking account, IRA contribution limits, Roth IRA or brokerage account, how to use a robo-advisor, best robo-advisors 2025, IRA vs brokerage, investing after inheritance, compound interest calculator, how to build credit, down payment savings tips, investing timelines, financial planning after inheritance, robo advisor fees, expense ratio impact, credit building strategies, high-yield CD rates, traditional vs Roth IRA, 457 plan investing, state employee retirement options, financial windfall tax strategy, 529 college savings plan, credit score and BNPL, and BNPL late payments impact. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email <a href="mailto:podcast&#64;nerdwallet.com" rel="nofollow">podcast&#64;nerdwallet.com</a>. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Buy Now, Pay Later Comes at a Price: Credit Score Risks You Need to Know (Plus: $124k Windfall Tips)

For investors, geopolitical risks are always lurking as a factor that could upend trades for obvious reasons. When war breaks out, it's crucial to have some kind of understanding of what it will mean for various markets (such as oil or grain) and how long the conflict can persist. But is there any way to analyze these things scientifically? Many people are paid by investors to try to do exactly this. On this episode, we speak with Andrew Bishop, the global head of policy research at Signum Global, about what he does, and how he attempts to forecast the future. We use the recent conflict between Israel and Iran (as well as other sources of global tension) to get a better understanding of how he goes about forecasting, how investors use his research, and what he sees going forward. Read more:Israel Is Now Peerless in the Middle East and MarketsIsrael Emerges Stronger From Iran War, But Risks Blowback Only Bloomberg - Business News, Stock Markets, Finance, Breaking & World News subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlotsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For investors, geopolitical risks are always lurking as a factor that could upend trades for obvious reasons. When war breaks out, it&#39;s crucial to have some kind of understanding of what it will mean for various markets (such as oil or grain) and how long the conflict can persist. But is there any way to analyze these things scientifically? Many people are paid by investors to try to do exactly this. On this episode, we speak with Andrew Bishop, the global head of policy research at Signum Global, about what he does, and how he attempts to forecast the future. We use the recent conflict between Israel and Iran (as well as other sources of global tension) to get a better understanding of how he goes about forecasting, how investors use his research, and what he sees going forward. Read more: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-07-09/israel-is-peerless-in-the-middle-east-and-markets?utm_medium&#61;referral&amp;utm_source&#61;podcast&amp;utm_campaign&#61;odd_lots&amp;utm_content&#61;article" rel="nofollow">Israel Is Now Peerless in the Middle East and Markets</a> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-29/israel-emerges-stronger-from-iran-war-but-risks-blowback?utm_medium&#61;referral&amp;utm_source&#61;podcast&amp;utm_campaign&#61;odd_lots&amp;utm_content&#61;article" rel="nofollow">Israel Emerges Stronger From Iran War, But Risks Blowback</a> Only Bloomberg - Business News, Stock Markets, Finance, Breaking &amp; World News subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots?in_source&#61;oddlotspodcast" rel="nofollow">bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots</a>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener" rel="nofollow">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

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