Now let’s name five rock solid companies that are no longer around.

Been retired for 6 months.  It definitely feels unbelievable.  Like, you’re sure I’m not going to get in trouble for this?

The gaps here are too large not to provide some kind of plausible explanation. 

If you say something like “I experienced a serious personal health issue that is now fully resolved, thankfully,” to explain the employment gap, people will tend to assume cancer at your age and shouldn’t pry, and you’re also not lying.

BRK.A is as close to an ETF you can be without being an ETF.

It's not always you, management often has unrealistic expectations. Especially startups.

  
Put it on the resume with a good sugar coat and start applying.

You are looking for pros and cons for a choice your wife is “adamantly opposed to” for you and uninterested in for herself. This seems much more like a relationship equation than a money equation. 

What does a stay at home dad to kids 16 and 10 look like? What’s your share of the household / planning labor now? Dr appts, school comms, activity research and execution etc. 

Real question, does she think you retiring means she’ll continue to manage her lot at home while working, skewing the balance. 

Evaluating how much of your leisure time is leisuring on your own, or instead is household projects, sports / outings with kids, cooking, planning, tutoring, etc may give some insight. 

Understand her true rationale outside of vacation timing is key (which is valid as you mentioned, so retiring isn’t gonna be more travel anyways)

My dad retired from the Army in his early 40s, when my sister and I were a little younger than your kids.

He did pick up and drop off every day. He helped with homework, made dinner.  If there was a field trip or school event he was there. We spent all summer swimming in the river or biking or taking little adventures.

When we were in school he volunteered at the church, ran kids programming.

It was the best. You will never get the time back with your kids, I say do it.

This is a tough one. The reality is that you need to earn more money. What did you go to school for? Is there a field it’d be easier to work your way up in? 

I don’t think the pension idea is a realistic one. Most of those jobs (and you’re right, there aren’t many of them to begin with) you have to work 20-30 years at, and if you can barely work a full time job at 57 it’s even less likely at 77.

My year (2011) in corporate tech support taught me how underhanded my industry was. I suggested we send out a memo for people to reboot their PCs weekly instead of yearly, and my supervisor (think Bill Lumberg) said "Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and uh, not do that."

I asked him why, and because he had no soul, he calmly replied, "We're paid per incident."

A few days later, it was Pizza Day. I picked up a pizza and walked out. I then went home and took my side gig full-time, which is doing in-home tech support for seniors. I protect them from pushy big box store bros who want to sell them a new $1000 PC every 2 years, and I remove any Norton/Webroot/etc. infections they have. I chop their ISP and cell phone bills in half, by removing any Xtreme overkill packages that some sales bro snuck in there.

It might be a good idea for you too, seeing as you have the tech skills and the desire to stick it to the man. You get to make money by protecing people from the circus. Feel free to pick my brain.

My definition never changes. Here are my thoughts on it.

LeanFIRE means more than 80% of your safe withdrawal rate goes to your needs

FIRE means 40% - 80% of your safe withdrawal rate goes to your needs

Chubby means 20% - 40% of your safe withdrawal rate goes to your needs

Fat means less than 20% of your safe withdrawal rate goes to your needs

Example: if your cost of living needs will be 40k/yr if you stay on a strict budget and you consider 4% to be a safe withdrawal rate then expected liquid networths would be:

1. LeanFIRE is anywhere from 1.00m - 1.25m
1. FIRE is anywhere from 1.25m - 2.50m
1. Chubby is anywhere from 2.50m - 5.00m
1. FatFIRE is greater than 5.00m

Degrees are dead after a year or two for most fields, even ones that are considered “safe” like engineering.

If you can’t secure a job in your field of study after a long time, companies will unfortunately see that as a big negative and you’ll also have to compete with new graduates.

After reading this, I do feel much better.
Actually, I researched other banks, and they start at 19-23 per hour with my experience. 

I'm going to refresh my resume and also look for a roommate. I'm staying positive!!

100% relationship issue, 0% financial issue. I’d say wrong sub

You all count your cars as networth? Interesting. Looking good. Half a million in a HYSA seems wild to me though. Why not have it in the market?

Healthcare and taxes are the two that are missed the most.

tldr; but politics exist in every profession and includes medicine. not trying to convince you to stay in tech, but also don't sugarcoat other roles.

You can work for government divisions like USDA where work is tied to something scientific

Or you can work at smaller companies with visions you believe, like mental health apps

Or you can work for hospitals and other non-tech-first companies.

Bailed 11 years ago at 33. 

Mechanical engineer to basically operating a solo engineering services biz. 

Know exactly how you feel. Look thru my post history in this sub and you might find some value in my approach if you opt to leverage your existing skillset doing things your own way.

If you do for lifestyle/freedom/flexibility over money, then I doubt you'll regret it.

That sucks, and take some time to grieve.

What I've been hearing a lot in here is that layoffs are a natural part of the process. They will come for plenty of us, sometimes indiscriminately. Saw something the other day about Microsoft laying off a key team that helped massively improve TS, and people were outraged. Sounds like you did your best, so you should be proud, even if it's hard.

Another thing – you are not your work. Maybe it's worth taking some time to consider how much of your personal identity is entangled with producing shareholder value. If you care a lot about that, you'll probably always be a little dissatisfied because shareholder value doesn't give a fuck about you. 

It's okay to feel bad for a few days, but after that, pick your head up and get back to it. You've got this!

Yup we did . Still at times worry it won’t be real. But we did pull the plug in our 40’s…..foolish they say as we had teens at the time .

You say you live in a pretty expensive city and go on international trips but also spend 40k on rent, food, and travel. This seems rather low for any actual HCOL city.

as a CS guy with a kid finishing MS3 medical school let me chime in. 

First of all, admissions are a lot harder today than even 5 years ago depending on your state. Need very strong science GPA, MCAT, and extracurriculars. 

Second, the way we're going with healthcare in this country, one has to wonder about the future. I am dealing with a very tricky health issue, get an appointment at our renowned medical school, only to find out I'll be seen by a NP (nurse practitioner). Not very confidence inspiring never mind my primary care provider is an NP or as my kid calls them, a noctor /s but it's the reality of where healthcare is going (i work software for a large healthcare administration company). 

Third, i get the meaningful part. Having worked in the automotive industry for three decades i had the same desire. It does feel meaningful to see your stuff in action.

Having said all that, I'd say try big pharma, some health tech, and medical devices companies. Or any embedded really, automotive or aerospace. My partner worked 15 years in big pharma manufacturing. Her software helped make many very popular meds. But if you're in a position where a physician salary will be a paycut for you none of the above pay remotely that.

What's your networking approach? If you have a nonconventional resume, having someone vouch for you is really helpful. 

Also, are there any volunteer roles you can pick up part time? ANY recent, relevant experience is better than nothing.

Sorry this happened to you. I was laid off from a company where I had 10 yrs service and was the first engineer hired. Sometimes winds change and your value isn’t a match. Try not to take it personally. You have value, even if it wasn’t a match. Apply for unemployment immediately, hold your head high and keep going.

It's crazy how much the US has left most of the developed world behind in what is considered a standard consumption level in this century. (see also https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1kngj4k/oc\_uk\_working\_households\_are\_now\_over\_30000\_worse/)

Just to give you a perspective from Germany, which has still a rather broad middle class, with the individual income 50% percentile (median) not considered poor by global standards.

It's important to note that the official purchasing power parity conversion between Germany and the USA for 2024 is 125% on top of the exchange rate. That means that 1 EUR is equivalent to 1.42 USD (PPP) in real spending / consumption terms at this writing.

The current individual net income 50% percentile in Germany is at 31800 EUR / 45 000 USD (PPP) per year. It includes a 10% savings rate at that percentile. Thus, the consumption is at 40 600 USD (PPP). 53% of the German population are renters, not owners. Thus, in the majority of cases at the 50% percentile, the 40k include rent. Given that the renters direct on average 27.8% of their spending towards the rent, this leaves 29 400 USD (PPP) for all other spending beyond housing.

To get from an individual to a 2-person household usually applies a factor of 1.7x. Thus, a couple would be exactly at 50 000 USD (PPP) under that assumption. Nice coincidence, 50%@50k.  
So the middle class lifestyle in the US-definition (including purchasing power parity!) obviously begins at 1.6x of the German one and is more likely twice as high.

The reason? Just different perceptions about what spending is "normal" from my observations. The utility level of comfort of many of the higher spending items is marginal. Much of it is just group think / group influence. For me, this insight results in looking towards regions of the world with even less spending and asking myself: what of my spending is just habituation, would look to them as I look towards US spending? And what of my spending has real value in contrast?

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It honestly doesn’t feel real! I set this goal back in May of 2022 when I had around $100k net worth and was 26. I never would have imagined then that I would hit half a million dollars by my 29th birthday. Years of working hard, doing overtime and extra jobs, and living with my parents as long as I could stand it, truly paid off and allowed me to invest every extra dollar I had.

Had a goal to hit $500k net worth by my 30th birthday. Today I turn 29 and my net worth is $501k!

If you look at MSFT's levels, they lag the pay of their main competitors like Amazon, Google, Meta, etc.

Ex: For a mid-level SWE, MSFT 62-level pays slightly over $200k, where both Google and Amazon pay close to that for a junior, and around $300k for a mid-level. The gap does not close as the levels increase.

 How are they able to attract and maintain talent if this is the case?

Why does Microsoft pay so much less than similar-tier companies?

President Trump said Friday the U.S. will unilaterally set tariff rates for many trading partners in the coming weeks, citing a lack of capacity to negotiate with so many countries simultaneously.

Why it matters: The U.S. already did that to some degree, on "Liberation Day" last month, then paused most of those rates after a global market panic sent stocks plunging and interest rates soaring.

Trump's original goal of making 90 deals during that 90-day pause has run into the reality of trade negotiations being far more complex than putting a number on paper.

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/16/trump-tariffs-trade-deal 

Trump: U.S. will set tariff rates in 2-3 weeks, walking back negotiations

I switched jobs about 4.5 years ago, and one of the incentives was getting a company vehicle or stipend. I have since had a vehicle (2018 GMC Sierra Denali) and all costs are covered by my employer. Gas, insurance, maintenance, car washes, etc. I am also allowed to use it for personal use, I just need to pay tax on the mileage at the end of the year.

Today our COO called me and let me know we are starting to get rid of our fleet and out everyone on a stipend. Mine will be $1K/mo and that is intended to cover everything they previously did.

The interesting part of this is that the way my employer is handling it is they will sell me the vehicle I've had for 4.5 years for $1, and they would cover half of the vehicle value and I'll be responsible for the rest through the stipend.

So they say my truck is work $19.5k. They would keep my stipend for about 10 months to cover the difference of half of the truck's value.

I'm not crazy about the change because I know I will end up behind in the end, but there's nothing I can do about it except quit. I've already had the discussion with our COO and he bumped the stipend up for me but it was the best I could get.

The question I have is, should I keep the truck and run it into the ground (which I think is the right move), or sell it now since it will only lose equity and get something else like a mid sized truck?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

  
Edit: After the 10 months I will received the 1K/mo stipend in my paycheck. For the first 10 months while I am paying off my equity portion, I will be responsible for gas, insurance, maintenance, etc. out of pocket.

Employer is replacing my company car with a stipend, but they are selling me the car for half the value. Should I keep the vehicle or sell it for another?

Ok so I finally did it. I deleted my LinkedIn account yesterday.   
For context: I'm 31, work in marketing and have a decent network. But I just couldn't take another:  
  
\- Congrats on your new job all the best to you!!!  
\- Happy to announce that I'll be joining

This shit is so fake it's incredible. So I'm just going old school like coffee meetups industry events and actual conversations with humans.   
My work buddy thinks I'm committing career suicide, but to be honest the jobs I've gotten over the last decade came through actual relationships not from random LinkedIn messages. Like I've been employed by just being friends with someone (I got referred by him) on the current job that I have.

Has anyone else done this? Or am I just being stupid?

Am I stupid for deleting Linkedin completely?

Ok so I'm writing this on a whim to keep my brain busy for a moment. My wife passed away on sunday and she made about 60% of our income. My current main bills are more then i can afford without changing something. 
The main thing i need help deciding on is if I should refinance the house ASAP or wait for better rates.

Mortgage 3030 monthly
Principal is at about 435k at 7.3%.

I currently have 50k in a HYSA at 4% and we have a 275k life insurance policy that I'll get eventually. So I'm looking at it like if I get the money and have 300k in the HYSA I'll get 1k per month I can use towards Mortgage and  The rest will pay for funeral and pay off the truck we just bought and the camper. She also has a ROTH but im. Not sure exactly what's in that but it's around 20k. 

There's obviously a lot of variables im leaving out to simplify this but I'm hoping to have something kinda nudge me a way since my brain isn't exactly working 100% at the moment. 

Suppose I should show my income too...im currently able to work overtime and I'm getting 105 per diem daily but those are extras so its not guaranteed. Otherwise I made almost 80k last year with some overtime using 4 weeks of  PTO. Currently taking home 1850 weekly but a normal week, 40 hrs no overtime or per diem at 35.11 an hour take home in the 1100 range. 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something important but let's start with this.

Widower finance advice after wife passed away and more then half income is gone.

Hi everyone,  
I’m currently 16 years old and still in high school. My parents recently told me that when I turn 18 on my birthday, they will give me $1.5 million in cash (after taxes? i have no idea about taxes and stuff). After that, they’ve made it *very* clear that I won’t receive any more inheritance, financial support, or gifts from them.

They said this is the money I get – and they hope I’ll be smart with it. They’ve already decided that the rest of their wealth, which is around $20-25 million (in real estate, stocks, ETFs, and other assets), They showed me their investments and my god its so many zeros.... and will be donated to causes they care about,. I respect their values, but it still feels like a lot of pressure on me to “figure it out.”

What do I have to figure out ? I have no idea what to do with my life. I am failing math classes and I don't like school. I am not the best student in my class. I'm very average in grades.

When I asked them for advice on what to do with the money, they simply said, *"It's up to you to figure it out."* That’s it.

I’ve started browsing Reddit as usual and decided to search some finance-related subreddits to try and educate myself, but honestly... I’m overwhelmed. I don’t want to waste this opportunity. I know $1.5M is a huge amount for me. They never gave me more than $500 a month. I usually spend that $500 on games and maybe buy food when i'm in school and that's it. I don't want to mess things up with a sum of $1.5m.

I’m still just a teenager with very limited real-world experience. I have no clear career path yet, though I’m interested in tech, maybe entrepreneurship, and investing, but I’m unsure how to proceed. That thing is stressing me out.

If you were in my position – what would you do at 18 with $1.5M and no further safety net coming?

Thanks in advance for any advice, book recommendations, or reality checks.

My parents are giving me $1.5M when I turn 18, and that's it – no more inheritance. No more gifts or anything.  I'm 16M and have no idea what to do with this money.

Hey all! I'm at a position in my business I'm unbelievably blessed to be in, though that's causing a big issue right now.

  
Basically, I've gotten TONS of interest and prospects coming in. The problem? I need a closer. I have the rest of the team built out (media buyer, manager, graphic designer, etc.) but when it comes to finding a closer, it's near impossible. I've tried Facebook, Fiverr, Upwork, etc with no luck :/

  
Where do y'all find your closers? I feel like I'm running out of options. Any advice is greatly appreciated (or if you KNOW a closer, that would be especially appreciated).

  
Thank you!!

Why is it impossible to find people to work

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/moodys-downgrades-us-aa1-rating-2025-05-16/

Moody’s had the US on negative outlook for a while. S&P has maintained a AA rating for several years. Does anyone consider this a catalyst for reducing US risk? Have seen a lot of posts discussing investing in non-US companies recently. Wondering if this news accelerates a shift out of US assets with investors preferring more international exposure.

US loses its last AAA credit rating with downgrade by Moody’s

Something that set you back on your FIRE journey that you regret?

What was your worst financial decision?

Im 29, working in IT as a cloud engineer. I enjoy my job on a technical level, and there is many opportunities within this field to further develop your skills and earn more money.

One thing I just can't get used to is the entire corportatism. More specifically, the working environments, the superficialness and shallowness of people. The smiling but not meaning it. I just can't stand the corporate world. It makes me hate life.

I am just wondering.. has anyone here ever felt the same?  
And if so, would you recommend me to start my own business?

I just can't see myself being in the corporate world for another 35 years.....   
And I'll never get rich while working in corporate anyways, so what's the point...

I feel like I need to get out of the corporate world. Not for the money, but for my sanity!

To be frank, a few of the engineers at my company did, not just me. It wasn’t a huge layoff because I was working at a small tech startup. Regardless, I’d always done my best. I worked hard. I thought I was doing a good job. I mean, sure, my manager was brutally honest a lot of times and was even sometimes visibly frustrated with me, but I did show improvement over time. But, ultimately, I got axed. And I know why. I just wasn’t good enough, and that’s fair. This is a company, after all. Doesn’t change the fact that it feels like shit to get punted out of a company because I didn’t measure up, even though I gave it my all. I wish I were better.

I got laid off

I retired from the military three years ago and took a job with a telecom company. It's a well paying job and I work from home. 

Between my military retirement, some rental house income, and dividends, we meet our monthly expenses with almost $2,000 of buffer per month. This is based on a comprehensive review and tracking of every cent we've spent over the last 12 months, including some vacations we took, splurges, etc. 

My wife is an OR nurse and loves her job. She has no desire to quit, but is open to going part time. 

But she is adamently opposed to me retiring. We have a 16 year old and 10 year old. 

I'd love to be a true stay at home dad, do more traveling, etc. 

She has some valid points like the kids being in school still, so our traveling would be limited to summer vacation, winter break etc, for at least eight more years until the youngest is out of the house.

Looking for advice. I'd love to retire and she work part time if she wants to, but what are some pros and cons of each? 



50 and want to retire. Wife is 46 and doesn't want me to.

Over the last few years I've done an annual post on how to look at what LeanFIRE, FIRE, ChubbyFIRE, and FatFIRE might mean. These annual posts have been well-received, so here’s the newest version. I’m running late this year because I finally retired for-real-for-the-time-being and moved to Arizona to be near my daughter. I got prompted to do it again because I saw a question about “What is ChubbyFIRE?” just a few days ago.

First off: your definitions **WILL VARY**! This is just a starting point for you to see how you might decide to judge things by looking at how your **PASSIVE** income compares to household incomes overall. The basic idea is to look at FIRE levels based on income levels versus income levels in U.S. households overall.

Data are sourced here: [Household Income Percentile Calculator, US - DQYDJ](https://dqydj.com/household-income-percentile-calculator/)

A very important part of my thinking on this subject depends on whether you own your home. I base my descriptions of the various levels of FIRE on the idea that you own your housing. Owning a home has traditionally been a HUGE part of being able to retire… much less FIRE. As such, my thoughts on the levels of FIRE \*do\* assume you own your home. Again, you might define things a bit differently. There are no authoritative answers on what the levels of FIRE are any more than there is agreement in the general population as to what it means to be "rich".

In these definitions, you don’t get to count your house as part of your portfolio. YES, it’s part of your net worth, but for these definitions of FIRE levels, it’s not part of your 4% SWR portfolio. You can FIRE and rent, but my calculations are all based on having paid-off housing. Again, there is no authoritative definition here, so this is just for your consideration in what you think the various FIRE categories are.

If you retire \*without\* owning your housing, you have a lot more uncertainty, and it’s a bit harder to define what the different FIRE levels might look like to you.

LeanFIRE: I define LeanFIRE as getting out of the rat race at the 25% household income percentile. It's lean, but it's still no small achievement. That gives you $40,000 per year in \*passive\* income. If you are frugal and have your housing covered, you can make this work and live comfortably. You're making more than 1/4 of the households in the U.S. *without working*. By this definition, you can LeanFIRE on a $1MM portfolio. (AKA… a million dollars ain’t what it used to be).

FIRE: I define FIRE as making at least the median household income passively. This is a middle-class lifestyle without working. Again, if you have your housing paid off, you're in a sweet spot. By this definition, FIRE begins at $80,020 in passive income annually. You need $2MM in investments to do this at a 4% SWR.

ChubbyFIRE: I'm going to say Chubby starts if you are in the top quintile \*passively\* (80th percentile). This corresponds to the idea of splitting society into three classes (lower is bottom quintile, middle is the middle three quintiles, and upper is the uppermost quintile). That's $165,068 per year. You're not living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, but you're a good example of the Millionaire Next Door. If you are pulling from investments at a 4% SWR you are sitting on over $4.13MM.

FatFIRE: If you are in the top 10% of households by income and getting that *PASSIVELY*... you're FatFIRE. That's $234,769 per year in passive income. You need a portfolio of $5.9MM to \*start\* at this level. Most Americans would say you are Rich. If you think "Fat" should be higher, check the numbers for 95th and 99th percentiles (below). The difference between rich and very rich is made weird by how the very, very wealthy are off-the-charts rich (e.g.: the difference between entering the top 10% and top 5% is about $80K, but the difference between entering the top 10% and top 1% is almost $400K). Break into the top 1% and you STILL likely don’t have your own plane and definitely don’t own a superyacht.

95th percentile: Income $315,504. Portfolio: $7.9MM at 4% SWR.

99th percentile: Income $631,500. Portfolio: $15.8MM at 4% SWR.

Again, those are \*my\* current and evolving definitions using income distribution statistics for US households... Yours will be different. This is simply my way of answering that constantly recurring question of what it means to be Lean/FIRE/Chubby/Fat. Hopefully you find it an interesting starting point with some good data and reasoning behind it. There is NO authoritative answer. All I hope is that you find this a bit of food for thought based on some good data and semi-reasonable definitions.

In the end, what kind of FIRE you are defined as is more about our need to attach status labels to ourselves than the reality of how you get to live. It scratches an itch for us, but the more important thing is that you reach a level of financial security that lets you live your best life – no matter how you define it! Best of luck to all of you on your journey!

Defining LeanFIRE, FIRE, ChubbyFIRE, FatFIRE (2025 edition)

Long term lurker of the reddit, posting on 2nd account for privacy :)

Recently I saw a few milestone posts so it feels quite surreal to now be able to post mine!

27M - In a relationship - Own Business (sales/marketing) 

I don't have a stable income, it is extremely volatile. Not for the faint of heart lol. 

**Earnings**:  
(Job) Salary 2023: $30K (I made a lot more from crypto and side hustles).  
(Business) Profit 2024: $250K (some months less than $2K, some months $50K+)  
(Business) Profit 2025 (YTD): $275K 

**Expenses**:  
I live in a pretty expensive city, I try to live frugally day-to-day but also go on trips abroad. Annual costs including rent, food, clothes, travel etc etc. is around $40K right now.

**Assets**:  
Stocks: $199K (about 66% S&P, 33% Realty Income // Ticker: "O")  
Crypto: $103K  
HYSA: $517K  
Small business valuations: $160K  
Dream Car (yolo): $50K  
Retirement acc: $0  
Total about $1,03M

**Context**:  
\- About the large cash position: I am waiting to buy a house that will come on the market soon. I also need to renovate this house but not sure how much it will cost so I am playing it safe. After I buy the house and renovate it, I will invest more into stocks and maybe crypto if the time is right. I don't mind sacrificing a year of bigger potential returns in exchange for peace of mind, even if it isn't the best decision financially. 

\- The "small business valuations" aren't the business that I make money from, that one probably has $0 enterprise value. They are small cashflowing businesses that I bought ownership in recently. I have no idea if this was a good move but maybe I will update you guys about this in the future.

\- I only started earning a lot in recent years after working flat out all the time for about a decade, when I started my professional career I was making very little because I was still learning the skills I needed to earn more. The best decision I made career wise (in terms of making money and work satisfaction) was to decide to go all-in on a very small set of skills and try to become great at it. 

\- I don't have any retirement account because I never made a lot of money working for a boss and the one job where I made $30K didn't have a retirement scheme because it was a small business. I might start doing this after I buy the house that I mentioned earlier. 

**Lastly**  
I want to thank all of you for the valuable insights from sharing your stories and posts over the years. Wish you all the best on the FIRE journey!

Just Hit $1M Net Worth!

I’m 46M married with two kids. 3.6M NW, mortgage paid off, kids’ college funded. I am completely burnt out from corporate life. This is going to be my last year in it. 

Everyone I know my age still works. They have good jobs and careers too. I doubt they have saved like I saved. What I struggle with is disbelief that I have really achieved this. Sometimes I think I must be missing something.  Anyone else ever feel this way?

Ever have disbelief?

Over 55, and need some advice I'm 57-year-old female with some health ailments. I am able to work a full-time job just barely.

Over 55, and need some advice

I'm 57-year-old  with some health ailments. I am able to work a full-time job just barely. I make $17.50 an hour at 38.5 hours a week. I just began 401k . I owe $65 in taxes this year . My rent was just raised to a $1002/month and I do receive a very small amount of rental assistance. My car is a rusty 2010 Hyundai. 
I have credit card debt, doctor bills and student loans which I haven't even begun to pay on.
I get paid biweekly and after taxes are taken I can barely buy food. I go to food pantries once a month but due to my digestive issues I can't really eat any of the things they give me.

I did go to HR and discuss getting a raise I work at a credit union (I have been in banking at least 4 years) and she said that she knows it's a very low rate of pay. She said she will work on something. I've been there one year and I'm debating whether I should search for something else. I'm hesitant because of my age but I would like to find a job that has a pension. If there even is such a thing anymore.

I am open to suggestion if anyone has any thoughts or ideas that I haven't thought of yet. I really am thinking that I do need to find a new job but that is scary to me. Thank you for your advice😊

I'm 55 plus working full-time just barely (health issues) and I'm not making enough money to survive. What can I do?

This isn't one of those nonsense posts like "even medicine is easier than tech," "medicine is AI-proof unlike tech," etc. Medicine is a difficult path and not one that should be taken lightly.

**This is more of a rant, and maybe a warning to the many CS students who frequent this sub about what big tech is really like.**

I'm a mid-level software engineer at a big tech company. I make a sizeable amount of money, I work hybrid, and I get plenty of vacation. And yet I'm miserable.

As the layoffs started, the company culture immediately rotted. I found myself pushing back on others' nonsensical, perf-driven demands. I was making decisions not for technical excellence but for less stressful approvals. I was constantly fighting off attempts to steal scope or credit. Then a coworker sabotaged my work and advertised to L7's how he already had a great plan to fix "my" mistakes. (He was promoted for this.)

**I realized that a career in tech is not about good work or good skills. It's about politics, and it gets worse the more senior you get.** I spoke to some mid-level and senior friends, and they've all told me the same, with many of them questioning their careers too.

I started not caring anymore about scalable architectures or sensible design decisions. I went looking for other jobs, then I realized nearly every big company is like this now, not just Amazon. I also realized quickly that all my cold applications were getting trashed without a look; only recruiter calls mattered. (Condolences to all the entry-level folks, it really is rough out there.)

**More importantly, I started questioning the point of it all.** I pursued tech because I liked coding and designing. I liked the idea of working with others to build great things. And I liked the prospect of working anywhere in the world, and not being tied to a single company.

But above all I wanted to make an impact. I wanted to build software that improved millions of lives. I planned to work my way up to senior in the private sector, save a lot of money, then take a pay cut to go work for the government or a public contractor. Then Elon Musk destroyed that path.

Now, I was studying so hard to get an offer to do... what? Squeeze out 0.02% more ad revenue? Get more people addicted to gambling? Exploit more vulnerable children? Or build tools to let other companies better do those things? Because that's what most big tech companies are, and why they pay the big bucks.

In college, I was a premed as well as a CS major. I had everything from lab research to volunteer hours, from the courses to the MCAT—all I had to do was send the med school applications. Then I chose to pursue tech instead. After years in the real world, I'm doubting my choice.

**I'm not building things that matter. Most times, I'm not building at all.** Most of my time and energy is devoted to navigating office politics. I didn't sign up for this. I certainly can't imagine 30 more years in this career.

I'm still searching for a new job. But if I don't get an offer in the next few months, I'll be studying again for the MCAT. (My old score expired—what a waste.)

Medicine will be a long and tough road. I'll be working longer hours with less flexibility for somewhat less pay. But at least I'll be doing something that matters, something that makes me proud to go to work every morning. I'll have stress that's meaningful, and a sense of professional fulfillment beyond just my TC.

And most of all, I won't have to deal with office politics, every day, every week, every year.

Pivoting from tech to medicine

Just wondering how hopeless the future is and how much I should regret. 

I graduated with my Masters in spring of 2022 from a well-respected university. The degree was multidisciplinary and focused on urban sustainability/design. I was involved with local real-world projects that I have on my CV. 

I was dealing with some wicked long covid I’d gotten right before my last semester and was in terrible health when I graduated — no energy to focus on anything but getting my thesis together. Graduated without a job lined up. Partner at the time didn’t want to move and had strict ideas of where I should be looking, even though I couldn’t find that first career job in our city. I ended up taking over a coordinator position at the farm I’d been working at for a year and stayed there until August 2023. 

This is the last professional work experience I have listed on my resume. After that I broke up with my long term partner, moved very suddenly back home to a different region back in with my parents, and had to start rebooting my life and future from scratch. I’d been job hunting before this in my previous area but only got two interviews with no follow up. While I lived at home I got two interviews, one denial, one ghost, and dozens of rejections. 

I’ve been waiting tables since 2024 while figuring out my life and moved to NYC this past fall, and had one interview that I got rejected from, but I’m realizing that my career may be dead in the water due to the choices I’ve made and the lack of a recent career. 

I just have so many regrets. Staying in a bad relationship for so long instead of moving to my current city — where there’s way more job opportunity in my field — like I’d dreamed of. Being stagnant and getting depressed. Waiting tables when I moved to NYC instead of getting a temp job to put names on my resume. Maybe going to grad school in the first place. 

I have two coordinator roles on my resume — one from 2019 before school, and the one after, as well as a TA position — and I’m applying to any program coordinator roles I see open that I’m a fit for, but I’ve heard that masters are useless after 2 years, and that my resume won’t even cross someone’s desk because of this. Add in my last professional job ending in 2023 in an entirely different region and I feel like there’s no hope realistically for anyone to consider my application against the competition. 

Are degrees really dead after 2 years? Got my masters 3 years ago, still looking for entry level position.

Even though single stocks are only 15% of my portfolio, I’m invested in way too many companies right now and want to narrow in on just 5 or 6. If you had to pick just 5 companies that you believe in long term which ones would be at the top of your list? I would probably choose AMZN,  BRK-B, COST, 

If you could only invest in 5 companies for the rest of your life what would they be?

#608: At age seven, Robert Rosenkrantz made a decision that would shape his entire life: he would take full responsibility for his future.As a child, Rosenkrantz watched his parents struggle financially. His father was unemployed for two years, and his mother worked as a drugstore clerk.Their financial insecurity was painfully obvious to young Robert. He never knew if the electricity or telephone service would be shut off.But rather than seeing this as an obstacle, he saw it as a path to self-reliance.By age 14, Rosenkrantz was managing investments for his family. By 35, he had amassed $400,000 — equivalent to about $4 million today. Then came the pivotal moment that changed everything: a negotiation with wealthy entrepreneur Joe Mailman.When Mailman expressed concerns about traditional investment structures that created a "heads you win, tails I lose" scenario, Rosenkrantz made a bold counter-offer. He put his entire liquid net worth at risk in exchange for a 50/50 profit split with no carried interest."First deal, we lost $100,000. The second one, we made $100 million," Rosenkrantz says during the interview. "So it averaged out."Now 82, Rosenkrantz joins us to discuss his book, "The Stoic Capitalist," and the principles that guided his career.For over 35 years, he's carried the same negotiation card from "Getting to Yes" in his wallet — a reminder that negotiation isn't about winning, but solving problems together.We talk about his counterintuitive investment philosophy: look for companies that require minimal specialized talent, like laundromats or self-storage facilities. He says these often make better investments than those needing exceptional management, like restaurants.This principle guided his first major success, a lawn and garden products business that essentially put dirt in bags — a simple operation that became a regional monopoly and eventually sold for $100 million.Today, Rosenkrantz funds scientific research on longevity and hosts debate programs that present balanced perspectives on contentious issues. His philanthropy includes backing a groundbreaking study that has extended worm lifespans from 15 days to over 250 days — potentially the longest lifespan extension ever achieved in any organism.When asked about retirement, he responds: "How do you spell that?"His advice for decision-making comes straight from stoic philosophy: focus only on what you can control — the present and future, not the past. This means disregarding sunk costs completely when making decisions and using reason to regulate emotions.  For Rosenkrantz, counting the zeros — focusing only on opportunities with enough potential impact — helps prioritize time and delegate effectively. At 82, he still practices these principles daily, considering himself "biologically more like 70 and getting younger." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#608: At age seven, Robert Rosenkrantz made a decision that would shape his entire life: he would take full responsibility for his future. As a child, Rosenkrantz watched his parents struggle financially. His father was unemployed for two years, and his mother worked as a drugstore clerk. Their financial insecurity was painfully obvious to young Robert. He never knew if the electricity or telephone service would be shut off. But rather than seeing this as an obstacle, he saw it as a path to self-reliance. By age 14, Rosenkrantz was managing investments for his family. By 35, he had amassed $400,000 — equivalent to about $4 million today. Then came the pivotal moment that changed everything: a negotiation with wealthy entrepreneur Joe Mailman. When Mailman expressed concerns about traditional investment structures that created a &#34;heads you win, tails I lose&#34; scenario, Rosenkrantz made a bold counter-offer. He put his entire liquid net worth at risk in exchange for a 50/50 profit split with no carried interest. &#34;First deal, we lost $100,000. The second one, we made $100 million,&#34; Rosenkrantz says during the interview. &#34;So it averaged out.&#34; Now 82, Rosenkrantz joins us to discuss his book, &#34;The Stoic Capitalist,&#34; and the principles that guided his career. For over 35 years, he&#39;s carried the same negotiation card from &#34;Getting to Yes&#34; in his wallet — a reminder that negotiation isn&#39;t about winning, but solving problems together. We talk about his counterintuitive investment philosophy: look for companies that require minimal specialized talent, like laundromats or self-storage facilities. He says these often make better investments than those needing exceptional management, like restaurants. This principle guided his first major success, a lawn and garden products business that essentially put dirt in bags — a simple operation that became a regional monopoly and eventually sold for $100 million. Today, Rosenkrantz funds scientific research on longevity and hosts debate programs that present balanced perspectives on contentious issues. His philanthropy includes backing a groundbreaking study that has extended worm lifespans from 15 days to over 250 days — potentially the longest lifespan extension ever achieved in any organism. When asked about retirement, he responds: &#34;How do you spell that?&#34; His advice for decision-making comes straight from stoic philosophy: focus only on what you can control — the present and future, not the past. This means disregarding sunk costs completely when making decisions and using reason to regulate emotions. For Rosenkrantz, counting the zeros — focusing only on opportunities with enough potential impact — helps prioritize time and delegate effectively. At 82, he still practices these principles daily, considering himself &#34;biologically more like 70 and getting younger.&#34; Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices" rel="nofollow">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>

The Stoic Path to Wealth, with Billionaire Investor and Philanthropist Robert Rosenkrantz

Quint and Logan talk about Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA).

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This is obviously an extraordinarily difficult time to make economic forecasts. Nobody really knows how tariffs will effect the US economy. And beyond that, nobody knows what the ultimate state of tariffs will be, or if they'll ever settle into a predictable rate. So how do you conduct monetary policy in this environment? On this episode, recorded at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, we spoke with Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic. He walked us through how he's thinking about the dual mandate right now, and why he has significantly dialed back his expectations for aggressive rate cuts since the start of 2025. Read More:For Exhausted Stock Market Pros the Choice Is Buy or Stay HomePowell Signals 2020 Fed Framework Language on Chopping Block Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlotsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is obviously an extraordinarily difficult time to make economic forecasts. Nobody really knows how tariffs will effect the US economy. And beyond that, nobody knows what the ultimate state of tariffs will be, or if they&#39;ll ever settle into a predictable rate. So how do you conduct monetary policy in this environment? On this episode, recorded at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, we spoke with Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic. He walked us through how he&#39;s thinking about the dual mandate right now, and why he has significantly dialed back his expectations for aggressive rate cuts since the start of 2025. Read More: <a href="https://bloom.bg/4m9lI2O" rel="nofollow">For Exhausted Stock Market Pros the Choice Is Buy or Stay Home</a> <a href="https://bloom.bg/3GVKdQS" rel="nofollow">Powell Signals 2020 Fed Framework Language on Chopping Block</a> Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — 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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