Plot twist: he started the year with $6 million in the account so only made 5%

> $40k in Robinhood

In brokerage accounts? You should stop pumping money into there and go retirement accounts instead. Let the tax benefits work in your favor.

I think based on your current trajectory I’d stay where you’re at employment wise.  There’s a decent chance your nest egg will grow faster than you’ve projected (so retirement may not be super far away) whereas risking a pretty cushy position for incremental gains doesn’t seem efficient.

Work 2-3x the hours to make 50% more?   Not a good tradeoff.

HRs won't even see your resume if you don't have a degree. it won't even get to them, your resume just gets filtered by the system.

You’re a little behind in retirement savings but nothing to lose sleep over. You have no debt, money saved, and great income so you’re doing great overall. Nice job. 

You have proved you can save more than you spend which is the hardest part! The 1x salary at 30 is a tough rule because you probably have increased your income last couple years and weren’t making 150k to start. Overall your total amount invested isn’t off track as your income was most likely stair stepped. I’d assume you started at like 50k then 80k then 120 now you’re at 150. You’ll also be making 200+ in short order in software engineering so keep at it if you enjoy it. 

Moving forward, put more in retirement, between 15-20% at a minimum and 25% as a stretch goal NOT INCLUDING MATCH. Your employer has a typical match program but that doesn’t prevent you from investing more. You would do this to take advantage of tax savings 401k plans offer. Deductions on traditional 401k and no future tax on Roth (you are losing money today by not doing this). At your salary you must max out your 401k each year, any additional income that can be invested should be directed towards a IRA or a personal savings goal (down payment on a house, engagement ring,) and then invest in a brokerage account with anything left over.

There is a great financial podcast called the money guy show that’s on YouTube. You should give it a listen!

You’re wise to not reduce your emergency fund. For the robinhood account what is that invested in? I’d look at low cost index funds if they offer it something along the lines of a s&p 500. Look at $VOO if it’s offered there.

Given you work in tech I’d assume your company and future companies have good investment options in your 401k. Just invest in a target retirement fund and you’ll have ideal diversification. (Pick the fund that matches your retirement year, a 2060, 2065 fund for you)

Best parting advice is keep things simple and remain disciplined. Budget monthly, don’t drive your net worth, trust your gut, enjoy life, and never ever ever ever buy whole life insurance.

Tech requires a degree more than ever. Freelancing is just a means for companies to avoid paying benefits. Entrepreneurship is very dependent on interest rates.

A degree is still an important investment. Women are going to college at rates far outpacing men and we're seeing the income gap shrink significantly as a result with women earning more than man in quite a few major American cities now.

Even in the growing field of healthcare, associates degrees are the minimum.

At your income you should be maxing your 401k out for the tax savings alone. That would mean contributing $23k this year. On your current track, you're only getting around a third of the way there.

Posts like this make me think we’re nearing the top and a wild bear is about to rip us a new one.

Impossible to answer without knowing how escalable your business is, revenue, your salary, etc.

I worked in real estate in the Bay, and selling agents are very much willing to take a cut in commission for a lot of business (ie 2.5->1.5%) when you’re talking >100k commission.

That said, it’s probably trickier to do if you aren’t in the business. 

Find a really awesome real estate investor in your area.
Buy them a nice steak dinner
Ask them for recommendations on great realtors who will give you a price break

Money isn't everything brother.

Don't work yourself to death to "retire early" and don't enjoy life along the way.

you know, that used to be what my life looked like when I was broke and working part time. Unlike these days where my weekends always seem to be filled with chores and social obligations, I used to just have random days off in the middle of the week and I would use that time to just... bop around

Man you’ve got it made!  I work 14 hour days 5 days a week and barely make over $100k.  You’re killing it!

Real estate agent here.  For the listing agent I’d find a flat fee listing service or someone who will do it for 1%.  1% of 10 million is still a whopping 100k.  That’s insane and if I were in Florida I’d take that for sure, hell I’d go get licensed now in Florida for a 100k listing.  The biggest things with listing a home are great photos, clean house (very clean) have professionally cleaned, and hire a handyman/gc to come and touch everything up prior to listing.  You can pay for a pre inspection to identify and possible issues.  

As for the buyers agent I wouldn’t prepare anything for them.  The new rules make it simple, make them include in their offer how their agent gets paid.  If it means they come down on their offer so they can pay their agent then so be it.  Now you can compare all offers equivalently.  With the new rules the buyers will have agreements with their agents prior to seeing the house.  So you don’t need to act in that space. 

Feel free to DM me for more advice.

Sounds ideal. 

Reality will probably be: roll out of bed, walk the dog, make breakfast, spend time on the phone doing b.s. life admin, intend to exercise and sometimes actually do it, watch a few eps of the wire. maybe a few more. deal with some family obligations. scrape together lunch from wilted lettuce and condiments in the fridge. watch just a few more. maybe one more. crap - gotta walk the dog again. spend half the day on reddit. naptime? wait, have to reschedule some appts. a few more episodes, getting late. taco truck still open? order too much. walk the dog again. promise self to do better tomorrow. sleep on the couch so you don't have to mess up the bed. repeat.

You can withdrawal penalty free via 72t.  I have a large sum tied up in mine and will begin drawing on it when i retire.  

I am 45 and it seems like the most you can draw per year is around .06 per per $1.00 in your IRA.

Just know that once you start the 72t you will have to withdraw that same amount annually and pay income taxes on it until you hit 59.

In corporate positions, a degree is often the bare minimum to apply. They have the opportunity to be choosy because so many applications come through the system.

I work in FAANG. For my prior position, over 200 people applied (this was 2 years ago). For my current position over 400 people applied (this was 1 year ago). For a position we are hiring for right now, over 1000 people have applied within the first 24 hours. There are many who are just applying for the sake of applying and shooting their shot, but of the qualified applicants although HR won’t admit it outright—guess who they can push to the bottom of the applicant pool? Folks who don’t have a degree.

You don’t want to end up like my friend who is 45 years old in healthcare industrial design, making 65K, and wants to move up into management but can’t because he doesn’t have a degree…yet (he is currently exploring options). I am 31 years old and make triple his salary with my degrees.

Keep the job and get a fulfilling hobby to fill the rest of the time !

We increase the number of patients for dentists

I feel you. I just landed a job after almost six months of unemployment. 

I made it to the final round about ten times, but someone a little bit better was hired. At one place, I was rejected after the final round because I was overqualified.

It messes with your head, and you want to give up. Unfortunately, I don't have any great tips for you; it's a numbers game. 

Keep applying, and see every interview as a possibility to do the next one better. You always get asked something new in each interview, review your answer, and improve it for the next time.

I hear ya. Let go 2 years ago,applied for hundreds of jobs, no luck. Have 15+ years full stack experience (Microsoft tech) with 10 years in the healthcare administration sector. Pre-covid, I had amazing success rate on applications, now it's down to 0%. 
Thinking of just walking away from tech and go back to school for medical.

This. Plus, for me, add some gardening during the less harsh hours of weekday mornings and long lunches with people I love is my retirement dream.

I sell laundry equipment for the American working man, because that’s what I am and that’s who I care about.

start from users .  There is a famous YC founder saying :  1) the hardest thing in startup is to build a product that people actually buy (persuade other people to buy );  2) the 2nd hardest thing is fund raising (persuade other people to give you money) . you see he never mentions product development is hard or not at all. 

If you can firstly find a hair-burning level strong requirement from users , you already set a solid starting point of your startup.  Otherwise , dont bother to create another product that people would not buy.

This is especially true for developers that we lay our heads on product first , users later (wrong!). You need to shift your mind set to users first , then may or may not create a product for it.

I am saving this. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I am constantly thinking about how to justify an idea and this helped me. Thank you.

So, here’s how I turned a boring EU directive into a goldmine. I built a no-code system to help comply with the whistleblowing law. In 12 months, I scored 200+ customers across 15 countries. We haven’t touched the system since March, and just got a €2M offer for it! Now, we’re dropping another system for NIS2 compliance, while chilling in Bali. 

Read more at KPMG, PwC (big 5) websites on upcoming topics, then build a solution better and cheaper :)

I’m on vacation after working for 7 days a week over the last 4 months. I desperately needed the break. Then, out of nowhere, I get an email with the subject line: Employment Status. I open it, and my stomach just drops. I’ve been terminated. Over email. One week into my 2 week long vacation.

I immediately call my boss, hoping this is some mistake. Spoiler: it’s not. She tells me this is some corporate way of “getting the truth out of people.” I wasn’t hiding anything! She just didn’t believe me or bother investigating further before sending a random termination email while I’m on vacation.

Here’s what started all of this: On Wednesday, October 9th, I covered a shift that wasn’t mine. When I was leaving, I noticed I hadn’t been clocked in. Normally, I’d text my co worker to fix it, but this time I used my company laptop to adjust it myself.

The next day, my boss asked me how I made the edit. I told her the truth—I did it. She asked more questions, but I didn’t think I did anything wrong. I worked those hours, so I edited the time. I assumed if she had a real issue, we’d have a conversation in person, not just text.

Fast forward 10 days—I’m across the country, enjoying vacation—and she changes all the company passwords. That freaked me out even before I saw the termination email. And that’s how I found out: via email. Fired.

Panicking, I called her immediately. Thankfully, she answered. I was barely holding it together and basically begged, “what’s going on? Why did you fire me?” She says that the way I edited the clock made her lose trust in me. Apparently, she thought I’d logged out of my account to log into someone else’s. I explained that I had used both my phone and my company laptop, which had automatically logged me into my coworkers account (not my own) without me realizing it.

Once I explained this, she seemed relieved. She even told me, “It makes sense. I still want you to work for me for years to come!” I thought it was resolved.

Then—30 minutes later—she calls me again. This time, she says she talked to her husband, co owner, and he still wants me gone. She says there’s nothing she can do and tells me I’ll “do great in life” and offers to write me a recommendation. Cool, right?

Here’s the kicker, I’ve been working for $15 an hour for the past four months, even though I was doing way more than my original front desk job. I took on the role of marketing, social media, and community outreach on top of front desk. No pay increase, no nothing. They promised we’d discuss my salary after I got back from vacation, so I believed them. But I guess they never planned to have that conversation.

What makes it even harder is that I’ve never been punished at this job—only praised. It gave me a false sense of appreciation, which is probably why I kept working for such a low rate.

This whole thing has sent me spiraling into self-doubt and confusion. I was so wrapped up in their lives—nannying their neighbor’s kids, working at her friend’s boutique, getting invited over for dinner—and they fired me over email, while I was on vacation. I just can’t understand how people can treat someone like that.

I just got fired from my dream job while on vacation. How do I handle this?

Is it just me or are we living the roaring 20's all over again?  Obviously 2020 was one of the worst years ever, but since then the market has skyrocketed and keeps hitting all time high after all time high.  GDP and GDP per capita are the highest they've ever been.  The USA's economy is crushing most all other nations.  Unemployment very low.  Restaurants are busy, attractions are busy, traffic is insane, there is a huge amount of hype with this AI thing and American companies are at the forefront of it.

But at the same time we are running up massive amounts of debt in pretty much every category.  Home loans, car loans, credit cards, and the budget of the federal government has a massive deficit that at some point you would think is going to cause major problems.  Also there are the effects of climate change and the costs associated with it.   
  
Are we repeating the 1920s and setting ourselves up for another major recession? (i'm not going to hyperbole and say we are going to have something like great depression).

Are we in the roaring 20's?

I’ve always been proud of my mom, but when I sit back and really think about everything she’s done, I’m just blown away. Here’s why:

* She lost her parents early, raised 3 kids as a single parent, and still went on to do amazing things.
* Worked as a school teacher, then opened her own school- which was acquired 35 years ago.
* Created *edible clay* for kids (because they might accidentally eat regular clay). Scaled it to $7k MRR around 25 years ago.
* Launched Disney dolls that helped promote movies like Dunston Checks In, Stuart Little, King Kong, and even some Indian films. It was one of the most popular brands in India back then. 
* At 45, she didn’t slow down. Instead, she studied psychology, opened her own counseling center, and helped over 2000 clients in 5 years.
* Ran free counseling camps for those who couldn’t afford therapy. 🙌

Every time I come up with a new idea, I talk it through with her because *she’s always got* the best insights. If this isn’t entrepreneurial, I don’t know what is. Proud doesn’t even cover it! ❤️

It's her birthday today and I wanted to share in public about her so I can reflect on my thoughts later!! 

My mom is 64 and she's more entrepreneurial than me

Earlier this summer, we moved into our dream home.  It's a new construction, fully custom, 7 figure project.  Love the house.  The process wasn't great.  

I've seen here previously ideas for what to include in the home for features.  We incorporated some of those, thank you. I have not seen technical suggestions, so I thought this would be a wise thread to start.  

To get this said initially, temper your expectations.  It won't go perfectly. But I think there are ways to make it go better which I missed.  I'd definitely do these things differently next time. 

First, I wish we hired a clients rep to be our advocate during the process and oversee the project.  The builder had a project manager who was on site almost every day but they were there more to manage and coordinate their subs.  They did some quality control but I wish we had a client's rep checking in each day, who knew the technicals of building, and would be perfectly able to spot building imperfections as they were happening.  The idea was the project manager would do this, but ultimately, they're looking out for the general contractor's business, margins, etc, not my interests.  The client's rep would be out advocate and look out for our best interest, regardless of the impact to the builder's bottom line.  They exist in the commercial building space, I'm sure some of them would do residential projects, especially if the dollar value was sufficient.

Second, the builder's contract called for draws at the initiation of each building phase.  Seemed logical going into it, they wanted us to cash flow the project for them.  However, it quickly became clear that once they were paid, we had little leverage to have issues resolved.   I would suggest putting the whole contact amount into escrow and only releasing the draw amount upon a successful phase walkthrough, meeting quality expectations.  The builder's rep from above would be clutch in this.  As we found out, most builders' quality control is only present if the client voices objections, and not self regulated, as I would have assumed.  

I would also suggest for best peace of mind, go into it expecting their warranty to be worthless.  We've had nothing but trouble getting warranty work done after we moved in.  Again, once they've been fully paid, you have no leverage.  I'd recommend leaving 8-10% of the contract price in escrow for the duration of the warranty period, ours is 12 months.  If they perform the warranty work, they get the last escrow release.  If not, that's your warranty holdback funding.  

The end result is good, but I think sweeter juice can be had with less effort squeezing. 

Anyhow, too much bourbon.  Hope this helps somehow.  Add other ideas if you have them.

Tips for building your fat house 

Edit for more clarity: This is not my first job. I was a funeral director for most of my life. I’m 41F with 3 kids. I know it’s only been two weeks, but at this point, I am being watched every moment of my day and specifically told that I cannot be working on my coursework. There is no time for me to focus on my studies. My best bet right now is to figure out their CRM system and do what I can with it and get out as soon as I can. This would be a dream job if I was permitted to do what I wanted throughout the day, but that is not the case. This is not an internship. I was hired as a full-time employee, salaried.


I’m currently a software engineering student with an expected graduation date of December this year. This was a midlife career change for me. I landed a position two weeks ago at a college as a junior data analyst. It pays very well and I thought it was a great opportunity. 

However, there’s nothing to do. My supervisor appears to have invented a job for himself. He works for about ten minutes a day, and spends the rest of his day talking to coworkers or working on “projects” that are dead ends. He considers them learning experiences. What I have learned is that he has no idea what he is doing. He doesn’t seem to understand the CRM they use, or SQL. He will send me things to do and tell me to “play around with it” to figure it out. I can finish them in a few minutes. 

I tried to casually bring up my school work. He was very excited that I was working on my bachelor’s during the interview. He explicitly told me that “we’re being paid by XYZ college, so we have to do work for them, sorry.” I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone. I can barely stay awake all day. My brain is rotting away listening to him drone on for eight hours a day about nothing. I stare at a screen and click random things.

My family has advised me to stick it out for the job title on a resume until I finish school. I don’t know if I’m looking for advice or just to vent. I know how difficult it is to land a job right now and now I feel stuck due to the paycheck. 

New job, no work 

I missed out on buying a house before rates went up, and I have been discouraged over the last few years with my search. The end of 2023 was the last time I was actively trying to find something. At the beginning of 2024 I resigned myself to not bothering to get pre-approved or talk with a realtor. I got a bit of a measly raise and decided to just bump my 401k from 15% to 18%. 

As the year is closing out, I am reaching the 100k milestone on my 401k but my downpayment fund did not grow as much as I would have liked. 

I am early 30s. I make 95k, I have just under 50k in a HYSA (20k is 6mo emergency, the rest is downpayment fund), maxing IRA every year comfortably, contributing to HSA, no debt, etc.. 

The type of home I am looking for in my area is ~230-275k. 

Is it reasonable for me to decrease my 401k contributions to say 15% and throw an extra couple hundred toward the downpayment fund each month? Or should I ignore my contributions and continue on my current savings path and maybe just be a bit more diligent about it? 

Edit: I really didn’t expect this to gain this much traction. Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like the most popular answer is to keep my contributions the same and focus on being a diligent saver. I will continue to do that. Thanks. 

Should I *decrease* my 401k contribution??

We all know the CS job market is bad, however, does anyone have any statistics on graduates not being able to get a programming job? 

Unemployment numbers don't say anything about the fact that some graduates are forced to work in another field.

% of Graduates who can't land programming jobs?

I'm nearing the end of my 1 year rental agreement, and my landlord has offered 2 options for renewing.

Option 1 is a 12 month lease at $1310 per month.

Option 2 is a 15 month lease at $1235 per month.

This obviously locks me in for 3 more months.  But don't landlords typically require 6-12 month commitments to reduce the rental rate?

I'm just wanting to make sure nothing fishy is going on.  Any thoughts?

EDIT: Thanks so much for all the responses.  I really appreciate your input.

Landlord offering much lower rental renewal for 3 more months. Anything fishy here?

There are a lot of people interviewing wealthy individuals with fancy cars and houses on YouTube. They claim to make money from dropshipping, Amazon FBA, affiliate marketing, etc. Are they telling the truth? Is their advice reliable? I've never purchased a course from them, but can we actually earn that kind of money through these opportunities?

I come from a humble background and currently have a job that pays my bills. I know people are making money online, and I want to learn those skills. I just want to know who to follow and what legitimate advice exists for earning money online.

Thank you!

I see a lot of people on YouTube claiming they make $10k or even $100k a month online. Is this real?

Hey everyone, I shared this story over on another subreddit and thought it would be relevant here too, especially for anyone launching in a crowded market or working on a SaaS project.

For some context, I’m based in Dubai, and in 2021, I launched a productivity app that, on paper, should’ve flopped. The productivity space is packed with tools like Trello, Notion, and Todoist, so it felt a bit insane to go head-to-head with them. But in that first month, we hit $50K in revenue with no crazy marketing budget or big-name influencers behind us.

Here’s how I managed to cut through the noise, even when everyone told me I was diving into a market that was already too crowded.

# Find your niche (and go deep)

I’ll be honest, when I first started working on the app, it was too broad. It was a basic productivity tool, nothing that would make it stand out from the heavyweights in the space. But after some digging, I realized that students and academic researchers were really struggling to find a tool that fit their workflow.

Other apps were too general, too focused on business users, or just didn’t meet the needs of people managing long-term projects like theses or dissertations. So I made the decision to pivot hard toward that niche. Everything about the app, from the feature set to the design and even the language on the landing page, was focused on students and academics.

Going deep into that niche meant I wasn’t just another productivity tool. I became *the* productivity tool for academic work. That was it. And once I found that core audience, the rest of the marketing process became a lot easier.

# Solve one core problem really well

In the early stages, I tried to include everything: project management, calendars, collaboration tools, you name it. But the feedback I kept getting from beta users was clear: too many features were overwhelming. So I stripped it all down and focused on solving one core problem: how to manage complex academic projects, like a thesis, with tons of notes, citations, deadlines, and to-dos.

Once I honed in on that, the product became much clearer and easier to use. Users loved that it wasn’t trying to do everything; it was designed specifically to help them with the main pain point of organizing their research. The simplicity of the offering also made it much easier to market. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, we were able to clearly communicate how we solved this one big problem better than anyone else.

# Lean into community-led marketing

Here’s where I got lucky: I didn’t have much of a marketing budget. I didn’t have the money to compete with huge companies on paid ads, so I leaned hard into community-led marketing.

I spent weeks just hanging out in Facebook groups for PhD students, academic forums, and Reddit threads. I wasn’t there to push the app right away, but just to engage in conversations, answer questions, and be a helpful member of the community.

Eventually, I started dropping subtle mentions of the app, like, “Hey, I’ve been working on this tool that helps with organizing research projects. Happy to give a few people early access for free if you want to try it.” I wasn’t selling hard, and people appreciated that. Pretty soon, I had a small group of early users who loved the product and started talking about it on their own.

Word of mouth became my biggest asset. Those early users started sharing it with friends and colleagues, and I didn’t have to spend a dime on paid ads to get my first wave of customers.

# Create urgency with a limited launch

When I officially launched, I didn’t just open the doors to everyone. I made it feel exclusive. I offered early access to the first 100 people, and I framed it as a limited opportunity: get in now, or you might miss out.

This worked way better than I expected. The first 100 spots filled up within a few days, and those early users were some of my biggest advocates. They helped build buzz around the launch, and by the time we fully opened to the public, the product already had a small but loyal community.

# Iterate fast based on user feedback

One of the best things I did was listen closely to what my users were saying, especially in that first month. I set up a feedback loop where early users could submit suggestions, and I made it a priority to update the product quickly based on their input.

For example, I had initially included a calendar feature because I thought it was a must-have, but no one was using it. What they really wanted was better note-taking and citation management. So I scrapped the calendar and doubled down on making those features the best in class for academics.

This built a lot of goodwill with early adopters as they saw that I was listening to them and improving the product in real time. That kind of responsiveness helped turn them into loyal customers who were excited to tell others about the app.

# Why this approach worked in a crowded market

Launching a product in a saturated market can feel like you’re screaming into the void. But the thing that worked for me was staying laser-focused on a specific group of people and their unique pain points.

I didn’t need to compete with big players like Notion or Trello. I just needed to be the *best tool* for students and academic researchers. By focusing all of our messaging and product features on that niche, we didn’t just survive in a crowded market; we thrived.

# What I’d do differently next time

Honestly, the biggest mistake I made was trying to do too much at first. If I could go back, I’d start by solving that one core problem from the beginning, rather than trying to add features I thought people would want. I also wish I’d leaned into community-led marketing sooner, as it was by far the most effective channel for growth, and it cost me almost nothing.

# Final thoughts

If you’re launching in a saturated market, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is this: *don’t try to be everything to everyone.* Find your niche, solve a real problem, and focus on building real relationships within your target community. It takes more effort, but the results can be huge.

If anyone’s interested, I’m happy to dive deeper into any of these strategies or answer questions about launching in a crowded space. I’ve been there, and I know it’s not easy, but if I can do it in the productivity app world, you can do it too!

How I Launched a Product in a Saturated Market and Still Made $50K in the First Month

Here's my situation:

I'm 38 with $1.1 million in retirement and taxable brokerage accounts. I basically work 2 jobs, a normal 9-5 with full benefits, and a side hustle that has worked its way to a full scale business. Married with 2 kids under 8. Own a home with ~500k equity. 

Over the last 2 years, I have started earning more at my "side hustle" than I do at my 9-5. I'm struggling with what to do: stay the course, shift my full-time to part-time and really try to scale my business, or quit my 9-5 and go all in. 

Would love some thoughts from others who have found themselves in a similar situation. 

Thanks!

$1.1 million at 38, working 2 jobs

Ezra Koenig was on Conan's podcast recently and right after the hour mark gives a description of how your day could look that to me is the perfect encapsulation of what I picture for retiring early. People here ask a lot what their day will look like without work. He described taking a long walk to a coffee shop, reading, walking back, trip to the gym, and start thinking about what's for dinner. In his case he was exploring Tokyo while there temporarily.

Sounds good to me!

Ezra Koenig gives a great description of how I picture RE

I have a nice gig going. 220k salary, 100% remote, barely 3-4 hours per day of work, and still exceeding expectations at work. I stumbled upon this job after failed entrepreneurship project. I guess I am benefiting from decades of experience. Any ways, I am struggling to decide on next steps.
After divorce, I am left with 2 million(50% of what it was) , kids education is separately funded already. Mortgage + property taxes is about 2k. Other than this, Expenses are about 7k a month.

I could motor along, work is not very interesting, but I am good at it. Based on my expenses ( and taxes, health insurance ) , I need 3.5 million to hit the safe withdrawal level of 3.5% . This means another 6 -7 years of working. 

I eat well, exercise, and in best shape of my life. I traveled solo in bits since divorce. I loved it. Other then this I don’t have any hobbies, or much social life other than kids and family .

Any advice on what I should do? Look for a job that pay 75k- 100k more to accelerate the retirement? It will need travel , more hours and pressure . Just coast along? Should I try something different? I guess some rambling and looking for purpose of my life. 

51, divorced , almost fire , but what next?

I’m tired of applying to every single job I see.
I know I’m equally qualified, but it’s so much competition that I’ll either getting overlooked or not looked at at all.

I’m doing gig work which is a good side hustle but does not pay full time bills.
I’m at the point now where I’m about to sell half of my stuff to make rent!

Having referrals aren’t helping, getting to the last stages of interviews aren’t helping, sending follow up emails aren’t helping, changing my resume 60+ times hasn’t helped… I’m helpless at this point.

I’m not sure what to do,

Laid off 7 months ago

Will be listing a home for sale soon, in Florida.  We bought the house only a couple years ago but have decided it doesn't fit our lifestyle.  If the home sells for \~$10M, 5% is obviously a very hefty commission BUT I also don't want to hold up the sale by turning off agents in the area (I'm seeing alot of homes sitting, even before the hurricane madness).  The luxury market in FL is probably not the strongest right now, and goal #1 is to get the equity out of this property, not argue over percentages.  I come from a commission background myself, so I know it doesn't feel great to have someone telling you how much you "should" make.  That said, on a commission of this size, and with the new buyer agent laws, should I do anything different to help offset loses a bit since we might have to sell for slightly less than we paid?  Or just stay with the customary 5%, simply because I don't want to put up any barriers to a sale?  About to start contacting agents. 

Selling $9-10M Luxury Home (under new laws)

Hey everyone,

With the rapid growth of industries like tech, freelancing, and online entrepreneurship, I’ve been wondering does higher education still hold the same value it once did?

On one hand, I see people thriving with degrees in specialized fields like medicine, law, or engineering, where formal education is a must. On the other hand, I’ve also seen a lot of people building amazing careers in tech, design, marketing, and business without traditional degrees—relying instead on bootcamps, online courses, and self-learning.

For those of you who have degrees, do you feel it gave you a solid return on investment? Or do you think there are faster, more efficient ways to get where you are now? And for those without a degree, how has that impacted your career trajectory, if at all?

I’m curious to hear your thoughts and experiences on whether higher education is still the best path to a successful career, or if we should be looking at alternatives. What advice would you give someone just starting out in today’s job market?

Looking forward to a great discussion! 

Disclaimer- posting on behalf of a closed one.

Is Higher Education Still Worth It in Today’s Job Market?

For context: 30M, $150k salary, no debt.

I’m sort of late to retirement planning and know little about it. I currently have ~$20k in my Vanguard 401K plan. My employer states that they provide company matching as follows:

> “[Company] matches 100% of the first 3% of colleague deferrals and 50% of the next 2% of colleague deferrals.”

My understanding is that I want to match this 5% contribution in order to maximize the “free money” I get from my employer, so I’ve had my deduction rate set to 5% of my paycheck. Is this correct?

I’ve read that, by age 30, the general rule is to have 1x your annual salary in your retirement. With only $20k so far, I’m pretty far behind. Should I be putting more of my salary in to catch up? Is there a point in going beyond the matched rate?

I don’t have any major expenses in my life at the moment, but I do plan on leasing a new car early next year. That should be the only major expense for a while. I work as a software engineer and the job market has been pretty rough; having been laid off twice before, I’m hesitant to reduce my savings unnecessarily. I’ve currently got $20K in my Savings account and $40K in Robinhood. I plan on dumping $1000 of each paycheck into ETFs, although I’m not sure if should just put that towards retirement instead.

Sorry if I included irrelevant info, not really sure what things need to be considered. Thank you in advance.

EDIT: Wow, a lot of info here. Thank you everyone for all the advice! Apparently there’s a lot that I didn’t know about. Reading through all the comments throughout the day. Thank you all again!

Should I be putting more into my 401K?

I came across this Twitter / X post a few days ago and honestly I've heard this for years in the incubators where I used to work with entrepreneurs. 

If you're reading this, it's because the title resonates with you, and you probably have your own vision of how to validate an idea. I got it?

A little background:

- I ran a startup for +5 years with 130k users and a valuation of 1 million in its first year.

- I've created and sold agencies (B2B)

- I've failed, a lot, more than your self-proclaimed gurus

- I've been lucky enough to work with entrepreneurs all over the world, and sometimes they found me useful.

**So I thought it might be useful for someone to know the plan of a guy who made his first dollar online 22+ years ago.**

Spoiler alert: I'll answer all your questions if you'll be so kind.

It's a plan that's worked for me and the best people I know, for years.

**Feel free to adapt as much as you need** and share it if you find it useful.

**Step 1**  
A product does not sell itself, a promise does.  
  
Start by writing ONE sentence that will be your pillar.  
It should be a punchline that speaks to and hits home the painful problem your product solves.  
  
Does your product not solve anything?   
Change product.

**Step 2**  
At the same time, open a Notion or a GDocs or a Note, and imagine that in front of you is the perfect end user.   
  
Write at least 700 words about him.   
  
What he likes, where he lives, his gender, his age, his favorite foods, what he hates in life, what motivates him, etc...  
  
Anything that comes to mind will be helpful.

**Step 3**  
Congratulations, you've done more marketing than 95% of entrepreneurs.  
  
Knowing your future user (called buyer persona segmentation) is key.  
  
Open a new document and write:  
- The problem you are solving (but in a formal way, without being punchy or shiny).  
- The 7 impacts it has on your perfect end user's life (use your notes for inspiration). One sentence per impact.

**Step 4**  
Add 2 sentences under each problem.   
  
The first to deepen the impact.   
  
The second to show the benefit of resolving this subject.

**Step 5**  
Go to Carrd (or other tool, whatever), sign up and create a basic website.  
  
(the free plan is enough if you're cheap, but the pro plan is so inexpensive you should go for it. Post without sponso)  
  
1 title (your punchline)  
1 subtitle (the formal style problem)  
A button (call to action, I'll come back to that later)  
7 sections (one impact part)  
1 CTA button per section (customized per section)

  
**Step 6**  
Create a Stripe account,  
then transform each CTA button  
in the Stripe Checkout button on your site.

**Step 7**  
To set your price, don't rely on the competition.  
  
Think about the most acceptable price possible and multiply it by 3.  
  
You will adjust later.  
  
Not everyone sells their products and services for enough, especially if these are your first.

**Step 8**  
Don’t deviate from the process.  
  
Sales promises are not sales.  
  
Idea is only valid if someone pays   
for you to solve their problem.

**Step 9**  
Go back to your document which talks about the habits of your future customers and determine 3 points:  
• Where do they waste their time (we all spend time online or offline unnecessarily)  
• That's all  
• That's all  
  
This place or this platform is your new hunting ground.

**Step 10**  
Still drawing inspiration from the document, write 7 messages like a friend, one for each problem/impact detected that your service or product resolves.  
  
See them as your soldiers.  
  
You have 7 knights who will be responsible for conquering the hearts of your future customers for you and expanding your kingdom.  
  
You got it?

**Step 11**  
By hand (DM… always in 1:1) go and try each of your messages 100 times with your ideal audience.  
  
Talk before you propose, we don't propose to get married on the first day.  
  
Why 100 times?  
Because if I piss while smiling at the top of a mountain and the wind is not in the right direction, I'm going to get a tooth full of it.  
  
However :  
There is no wind every day  
I won't always be against the wind  
  
Without volume, no statistics.  
Don't give up too soon.

**Step 12**  
The results are simple to analyze:  
How much to pay?  
  
This is the only validation KPI that matters.  
The waitlist (which I like), the likes, the followers, the promises… are worthless.  
  
If someone pays, they say: I need it.  
If someone speaks without paying, then it is not valid.

**Step 13**  
Optimize:  
  
No message resulted in a sale?  
- Change the message  
or  
- Change project  
  
Did certain messages lead to sales?  
- Double down on those, ditch the others.

**End \*Film soundtrack\***

Your questions are welcome if I can be of any help.

It's this plan (and no other) that I use in 9/10 projects.

*P.S. I used it in my last startup, 130k users, valued at a million in the first year.*





I'm tired of building stuff nobody wants. How did you validate your idea?

May be that can become your tagline? Who knows, but get as creative as possible.

I'll go first-

Selling Tees with a Meaning!

Describe your business in one sentence

This past year, I tried an experiment to see what would happen if I actively ran my IRA like a full time job since my former education was in Finance. I’m happy to say that I made over $300k and I am questioning if I should go back to my consulting career or continue making money in my IRA and living off some early withdrawals. 

Does anyone else have a similar story? What strategies do you use to draw down your money with the least impact from the IRS?

I made over $300k in my IRA this year. Does anyone have experience living off IRA in their 40’s?

Learn how to navigate job changes, maximize retirement benefits, and celebrate personal and financial accomplishments.How should you navigate job changes when it affects your retirement benefits? What options do military spouses have for saving for retirement? Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss managing unvested retirement funds to help you understand how to make the most of your employment benefits. They begin with a discussion of the importance of celebrating success after working towards a goal, financial or otherwise. Then Sean talks to Lacey Langford, an accredited financial coach and founder of MILMO, a platform to help the military community better their finances, about tips and tricks for financial planning for military families. Lacey helps Sean answer a listener’s question about changing jobs, discussing how vesting schedules work, how to negotiate benefits with employers, the challenges of frequent relocations, how to maximize retirement savings through IRAs and spousal IRAs, and the importance of tapping into community and government resources to build financial stability.In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: retirement benefits, 401k vesting, job changes and retirement, military spouse financial planning, saving for retirement, how vesting schedules work, spousal IRA, financial tips for military families, retirement savings options, navigating job changes, maximizing employer benefits, retirement planning, emergency savings, career transitions, negotiating with employers, military spouse benefits, financial stability, investment strategies, saving for the future, IRA contributions, how to handle job transitions, individual retirement accounts, and navigating career changes.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 how to navigate job changes, maximize retirement benefits, and celebrate personal and financial accomplishments. How should you navigate job changes when it affects your retirement benefits? What options do military spouses have for saving for retirement? Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss managing unvested retirement funds to help you understand how to make the most of your employment benefits. They begin with a discussion of the importance of celebrating success after working towards a goal, financial or otherwise. Then Sean talks to Lacey Langford, an accredited financial coach and founder of MILMO, a platform to help the military community better their finances, about tips and tricks for financial planning for military families. Lacey helps Sean answer a listener’s question about changing jobs, discussing how vesting schedules work, how to negotiate benefits with employers, the challenges of frequent relocations, how to maximize retirement savings through IRAs and spousal IRAs, and the importance of tapping into community and government resources to build financial stability. In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: retirement benefits, 401k vesting, job changes and retirement, military spouse financial planning, saving for retirement, how vesting schedules work, spousal IRA, financial tips for military families, retirement savings options, navigating job changes, maximizing employer benefits, retirement planning, emergency savings, career transitions, negotiating with employers, military spouse benefits, financial stability, investment strategies, saving for the future, IRA contributions, how to handle job transitions, individual retirement accounts, and navigating career changes. 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.

Vest Without the Stress: Mastering Job Transitions and Vesting Schedules

In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) discusses the formula used by some of history’s best investors to systematically beat the market averages. It’s not a secret formula for winning if you don’t have any investing edge, but it is a system for maximizing wealth over time by properly sizing bets based on your conviction in terms of how favorable bets are for you ( your “edge.”) You’ll learn about the great minds of Bell Labs behind the Kelly formula, how Ed Thorpe used the Kelly formula to beat the dealers in Las Vegas, which investors have used the Kelly formula and found success with it, how to define having an “edge” in investing and what that can mean for you, the controversies surrounding the Kelly formula, and why the Kelly formula isn’t better known, plus so much more!  Prefer to watch? Click here to watch this episode on YouTube.  IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN 00:00 - Intro 01:57 - The origins of the esteemed Bell Labs and how its research led to the Kelly formula’s creation 02:27 -How to define and use the Kelly formula 18:22 - Why the Kelly formula is helpful 23:40 - Why there are limits to the Kelly formula 25:17 - How Ed Thorpe beat the dealer and the markets with the Kelly formula 28:22 - How Claude Shannon’s approach to beating the markets with the Kelly formula differed from Thorpe’s 36:38 - What it means to have an edge in markets  38:52 - Why the Kelly formula is controversial 41:02 - How to think about your own edge in markets 41:44 - Why the Kelly formula isn’t better known And much, much more!  *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.  BOOKS AND RESOURCES  Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members.  Check out Fortune’s Formula by William Poundstone.  Check out Beat the Dealer by Ed Thorpe.  Read Beat the Market (free PDF) by Ed Thorpe.  Bell Labs’ history.  Read about the Information theory.  The Kelly Formula, explained.  William Thorndike's book The Outsiders.  Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here.  Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed.   NEW TO THE SHOW?  Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok.  Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs.  Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.  Try Kyle's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance.  Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services.  Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets.   Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts.   SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors:  Toyota  Facet  Fundrise  Public  Airbnb  Bluehost  NetSuite   Connect with Shawn: Twitter | LinkedIn | Email  HELP US OUT! Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a rating and review on Spotify! It takes less than 30 seconds and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (<a href="https://x.com/Shawn_OMalley_" rel="nofollow">&#64;Shawn_OMalley_</a>) discusses the formula used by some of history’s best investors to systematically beat the market averages. It’s not a secret formula for winning if you don’t have any investing edge, but it is a system for maximizing wealth over time by properly sizing bets based on your conviction in terms of how favorable bets are for you ( your “edge.”)You’ll learn about the great minds of Bell Labs behind the Kelly formula, how Ed Thorpe used the Kelly formula to beat the dealers in Las Vegas, which investors have used the Kelly formula and found success with it, how to define having an “edge” in investing and what that can mean for you, the controversies surrounding the Kelly formula, and why the Kelly formula isn’t better known, plus so much more! Prefer to watch? Click <a href="https://youtu.be/o7tSP_OL-90" rel="nofollow">here</a> to watch this episode on YouTube. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN00:00 - Intro01:57 - The origins of the esteemed Bell Labs and how its research led to the Kelly formula’s creation02:27 -How to define and use the Kelly formula18:22 - Why the Kelly formula is helpful23:40 - Why there are limits to the Kelly formula25:17 - How Ed Thorpe beat the dealer and the markets with the Kelly formula28:22 - How Claude Shannon’s approach to beating the markets with the Kelly formula differed from Thorpe’s36:38 - What it means to have an edge in markets 38:52 - Why the Kelly formula is controversial41:02 - How to think about your own edge in markets41:44 - Why the Kelly formula isn’t better knownAnd much, much more! *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES<ul><li>Join the exclusive <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/mastermind" rel="nofollow">TIP Mastermind Community</a> to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members.</li><li>Check out <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-Casinos/dp/0809045990?_encoding&#61;UTF8&amp;dib_tag&#61;se&amp;dib&#61;eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6-zze9KXIL7vAVwjDaivHD6BImOxB6Mw4_0sXx6vocN_ZPd6Nv2Y73NZFfgy_qqiPKO5SgcKk4x91Xw61_hT6ZDkqJgHhFusAh81isj9aCQh1ONGtyya149IdaBt0Q6KUbJWAA41zLTQrvpgPJIFB7H0-mGEcUUVJx6hapbPje7t3nmkp-fHbWGvYGVKzGgmOYKj1h45A39_l0Zm6JOZ9nUmleVidXSGU2uqxlTXeSM.3TK3hBzmzM6I35GsAJFQf1F_knEZixbrhva7IYjPh7g&amp;qid&#61;1723581596&amp;sr&#61;8-1&amp;linkCode&#61;ll1&amp;tag&#61;tipnetwork-20&amp;linkId&#61;db178fd374335135045330f9145098d1&amp;language&#61;en_US&amp;ref_&#61;as_li_ss_tl" rel="nofollow">Fortune’s Formula</a> by William Poundstone.</li><li>Check out <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beat-Dealer-Edward-Thorp/dp/0394416333?_encoding&#61;UTF8&amp;dib_tag&#61;se&amp;dib&#61;eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5SnTv3LlyH3GY_NaMHn_cmScZQjKRAP2T5HdgbT6KTZ_F8CoQGyAS9DR4NPcAADroy2tBArV9s0iOdSAQIptCmVB6S3nPZSEitEShUvdszeWpdk0KdRB_mypEV9l7VlYLZ-T9yfAqtb04-okBcbheQt8vJL3N6rwMEvnOe6EPpP97F219hV2fsdqgXtmXCHu3C4fIhq60fxvAGGptRnIYLS2cVPu4vB818nRB798LcA.kQzt20hUCJxHEJLthnD-0yGmnOVbWo9k3-qLbYkfbfo&amp;qid&#61;1723650208&amp;sr&#61;8-1&amp;linkCode&#61;ll1&amp;tag&#61;tipnetwork-20&amp;linkId&#61;5011e515a979c3c4bade24ed3e3c1092&amp;language&#61;en_US&amp;ref_&#61;as_li_ss_tl" rel="nofollow">Beat the Dealer</a> by Ed Thorpe.</li><li>Read <a href="https://www.economics.uci.edu/files/kassouf/pdfs/beatthemarket.pdf" rel="nofollow">Beat the Market</a> (free PDF) by Ed Thorpe.</li><li>Bell Labs’ <a href="https://www.bell-labs.com/about/history/" rel="nofollow">history</a>.</li><li>Read about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theory" rel="nofollow">Information theory</a>.</li><li>The Kelly Formula, <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/gambling-guides/kelly-criterion-gambling" rel="nofollow">explained</a>.</li><li>William Thorndike&#39;s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-Unconventional-Radically-Rational-Blueprint/dp/1422162672?_encoding&#61;UTF8&amp;dib_tag&#61;se&amp;dib&#61;eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wl45omIdZ11M4oUBqg_ZKZalTBIRU10Dsh42EWGeEQuQ-WulBYaqaeT5-IhLhuD75OBIXMFgNBkm9h8QlHWU1gzsNXUJMbpRkdW6rawQGoyJrXLeqcX41XaqGjoAoAwFSbyZ5Fbx07wQaXZuJtrr3RAYUBaST70wN-sj8Watm7N3pTxyZzx3-waGV59Y5XeWmEdtXyRVGxHF3_u0VWHUvhzGPl6kfDW14CWFD7_ZfT4.hrdTdo1T4EXJJwZ5xJ91BlhRhQH2LzVXFMK0swYchKM&amp;qid&#61;1724188612&amp;sr&#61;8-5&amp;linkCode&#61;ll1&amp;tag&#61;tipnetwork-20&amp;linkId&#61;0900387aa9ab5833b4995c23197535be&amp;language&#61;en_US&amp;ref_&#61;as_li_ss_tl" rel="nofollow">The Outsiders</a>.</li><li>Check out the books mentioned in the podcast <a href="https://prodcast.io/mi" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</li><li>Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our <a href="https://premium.theinvestorspodcast.com/" rel="nofollow">Premium Feed</a>.</li></ul> NEW TO THE SHOW?<ul><li>Follow our official social media accounts: <a href="https://twitter.com/TIP_Network" rel="nofollow">X (Twitter)</a> | <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-investor&#39;s-podcast/" rel="nofollow">LinkedIn</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theinvestorspodcastnetwork/" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheInvestorsPodcast" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/&#64;theinvestorspodcast" rel="nofollow">TikTok</a>.</li><li>Check out our <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/mi-starter-packs/" rel="nofollow">Millennial Investing Starter Packs</a>.</li><li>Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/millennial-investing/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</li><li>Try Kyle&#39;s favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/tip-finance/" rel="nofollow">TIP Finance</a>.</li><li>Enjoy exclusive perks from our <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/affiliates/" rel="nofollow">favorite Apps and Services</a>.</li><li>Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/newsletters/" rel="nofollow">We Study Markets</a>. </li><li>Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the <a href="https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/podcasts/20-best-business-podcasts/" rel="nofollow">best business podcasts</a>.</li></ul> SPONSORSSupport our free podcast by supporting our <a href="https://theinvestorspodcast.com/sponsors" rel="nofollow">sponsors</a>:<ul><li><a href="https://buyatoyota.com/" rel="nofollow">Toyota</a></li><li><a href="https://facet.com/" rel="nofollow">Facet</a></li><li><a href="https://fundrise.com/WSB" rel="nofollow">Fundrise</a></li><li><a href="https://public.com/" rel="nofollow">Public</a></li><li><a href="https://airbnb.com/host" rel="nofollow">Airbnb</a></li><li><a href="https://bluehost.com/" rel="nofollow">Bluehost</a></li><li><a href="https://netsuite.com/mi" rel="nofollow">NetSuite</a></li></ul> Connect with Shawn: <a href="https://x.com/Shawn_OMalley_" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-omalley/" rel="nofollow">LinkedIn</a> | <a href="mailto:shawn&#64;theinvestorspodcast.com" rel="nofollow">Email</a> HELP US OUT!Help us reach new listeners by leaving us a <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yJtgkwxTcMYZsdcbpjDYsnWh9tEGJWN-o_zEXbIbfKI/edit#slide&#61;id.p" rel="nofollow">rating and review</a> on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7dnn22EWyo6MLsPaR492BM" rel="nofollow">Spotify</a>! It takes less than 30 seconds and really helps our show grow, which allows us to bring on even better guests for you all! Thank you – we really appreciate it!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>Support our show by becoming a premium member! <a href="https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm" rel="nofollow">https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm</a>

MI374: Fortune’s Formula: The Scientific Betting System For Beating Wall Street w/ Shawn O’Malley

Maximize Your Wealth: Understanding Capital Gains Tax Strategies | With Cody Garrett This episode dives into the strategy of capital gains harvesting, explaining how it can help individuals minimize taxes on investments and potentially realize tax-free income. We break down how this approach fits into financial independence planning, including key comparisons between capital gains and ordinary income, real-life scenarios, and important health insurance considerations for early retirement.  What strategies can you use to reduce your tax burden during retirement? How can understanding capital gains impact your long-term financial decisions? What role does income management play in health insurance planning for early retirement?     Chapter Markers:  [00:00:00] Introduction to Capital Gains Harvesting [00:01:38] Understanding Income Tax and Capital Gains [00:05:22] Tax Rate Comparisons: Ordinary vs. Capital Gains [00:20:07] Real-Life Case Studies [00:49:34] Key Takeaways and Best Practices   Key Takeaways:  Understand your capital gains tax rates to optimize when to sell investments. Use capital gains harvesting to realize profits without tax penalties. Plan retirement income carefully to maintain eligibility for health insurance subsidies.   Links & Resources:  Measure Twice Money Measure Twice Money YouTube Channel      

<h3>Maximize Your Wealth: Understanding Capital Gains Tax Strategies | With Cody Garrett</h3> This episode dives into the strategy of capital gains harvesting, explaining how it can help individuals minimize taxes on investments and potentially realize tax-free income. We break down how this approach fits into financial independence planning, including key comparisons between capital gains and ordinary income, real-life scenarios, and important health insurance considerations for early retirement. <ul><li>What strategies can you use to reduce your tax burden during retirement?</li><li>How can understanding capital gains impact your long-term financial decisions?</li><li>What role does income management play in health insurance planning for early retirement?</li></ul>   <h3>Chapter Markers:</h3> <ul><li>[00:00:00] Introduction to Capital Gains Harvesting</li><li>[00:01:38] Understanding Income Tax and Capital Gains</li><li>[00:05:22] Tax Rate Comparisons: Ordinary vs. Capital Gains</li><li>[00:20:07] Real-Life Case Studies</li><li>[00:49:34] Key Takeaways and Best Practices</li></ul> <h3>Key Takeaways:</h3> <ul><li>Understand your capital gains tax rates to optimize when to sell investments.</li><li>Use capital gains harvesting to realize profits without tax penalties.</li><li>Plan retirement income carefully to maintain eligibility for health insurance subsidies.</li></ul> <h3>Links &amp; Resources:</h3> <ul><li><a href="https://www.measuretwicemoney.com/choosefi" rel="nofollow">Measure Twice Money</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1PZfEm7kEzPOCxaVIL3kRQ" rel="nofollow">Measure Twice Money YouTube Channel</a></li></ul>

517 | Maximize Your Wealth: Understanding Capital Gains Tax Strategies | With Cody Garrett

Daniel and Logan answer this junior question about how to set up investment accounts on auto pilot.

Daniel and Logan answer this junior question about how to set up investment accounts on auto pilot.

DIY Money Jr - Set It and Forget It

On September 18, the Federal Reserve kicked off the cutting cycle by reducing overnight rates by 50 basis points. Since then, mortgage rates have gone higher. This is not obviously an intuitive thing to happen. The point of a rate cut is to stimulate the economy by reducing the cost to borrow. And people generally know that interest rates and mortgage costs are linked. Well, it turns out they are linked, but not directly. And certainly not in some linear manner. On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Tom Graff, the CIO of the wealth management firm Facet, and a long-time trader in the fixed income space. We talk about the factors that influence mortgage rates, why the spread between a 30-year fixed and a 10-year Treasury fluctuates over time, and how rate cuts can be priced in before they even happen. We also talk about what we'll need to see for mortgage rates to move sustainably lower. Read More:US Mortgage Rates Climb to 6.52%, Highest Since Early AugustWhy a 'Broken' Mortgage Market Is Keeping Borrowing Rates Extra HighSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On September 18, the Federal Reserve kicked off the cutting cycle by reducing overnight rates by 50 basis points. Since then, mortgage rates have gone higher. This is not obviously an intuitive thing to happen. The point of a rate cut is to stimulate the economy by reducing the cost to borrow. And people generally know that interest rates and mortgage costs are linked. Well, it turns out they are linked, but not directly. And certainly not in some linear manner. On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Tom Graff, the CIO of the wealth management firm Facet, and a long-time trader in the fixed income space. We talk about the factors that influence mortgage rates, why the spread between a 30-year fixed and a 10-year Treasury fluctuates over time, and how rate cuts can be priced in before they even happen. We also talk about what we&#39;ll need to see for mortgage rates to move sustainably lower. Read More: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-16/us-mortgage-rates-climb-to-6-52-highest-since-early-august?sref&#61;frV97TwV?utm_medium&#61;referral&amp;utm_source&#61;podcast&amp;utm_campaign&#61;odd_lots&amp;utm_content&#61;article" rel="nofollow">US Mortgage Rates Climb to 6.52%, Highest Since Early August</a> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-27/why-a-broken-mortgage-market-is-keeping-borrowing-rates-extra-high?sref&#61;frV97TwV?utm_medium&#61;referral&amp;utm_source&#61;podcast&amp;utm_campaign&#61;odd_lots&amp;utm_content&#61;article" rel="nofollow">Why a &#39;Broken&#39; Mortgage Market Is Keeping Borrowing Rates Extra High</a>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener" rel="nofollow">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

Why Mortgage Rates Went Up After the Fed's Big Cut

"Does the FOO change if student loan balance is huge? My financed loan balance is almost $300k."    We'll walk you through that question and more in today's Q&A episode! Jump start your journey with our FREE financial resources Reach your goals faster with our products Take the relationship to the next level: become a client Subscribe on YouTube for early access and go beyond the podcast Connect with us on social media for more content Bring confidence to your wealth building with simplified strategies from The Money Guy. Learn how to apply financial tactics that go beyond common sense and help you reach your money goals faster. Make your assets do the heavy lifting so you can quit worrying and start living a more fulfilled life.

&#34;Does the FOO change if student loan balance is huge? My financed loan balance is almost $300k.&#34; We&#39;ll walk you through that question and more in today&#39;s Q&amp;A episode! <a href="https://bit.ly/3mB2p69" rel="nofollow">Jump start your journey with our FREE financial resources</a> <a href="https://bit.ly/3mxuhIt" rel="nofollow">Reach your goals faster with our products</a> <a href="https://bit.ly/2Y4TqQJ" rel="nofollow">Take the relationship to the next level: become a client</a> <a href="https://bit.ly/3gxyUOH" rel="nofollow">Subscribe on YouTube for early access and go beyond the podcast</a> Connect with us on social media for more content Bring confidence to your wealth building with simplified strategies from The Money Guy. Learn how to apply financial tactics that go beyond common sense and help you reach your money goals faster. Make your assets do the heavy lifting so you can quit worrying and start living a more fulfilled life.

This Debt Mistake Could Cost You MILLIONS!

Ken McElroy

If you are an accredited investor and would like to learn more about investing with Ken follow this link and fill out this form: ...

How the Election Could Drastically Impact the Housing Market

Alex Hormozi

Want to SCALE your business? Go here: https://www.acquisition.com/one Want to START a business? Go here: ...

You&#39;re Probably Not Gonna Live To 100

What Would Make This Awesome?

How I Master Any Course

BiggerPockets

Episode #1033 Episode Show Notes: https://link.chtbl.com/BPRE Join BiggerPockets for FREE ...

Making $100K+/Year From Real Estate After Quitting His $40K/Year Job

Practical Wisdom - Interesting Ideas

In a world obsessed with flashy displays of wealth, there's a quiet group of wealthy individuals who have mastered the art of ...

The Art of Stealth Wealth: Building Riches Quietly

Big Think

Your brain is wired to repeat the familiar. Change this wiring, and it will change your life. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ...

A neuroscientist’s guide to reclaiming your brain

Yahoo Finance

Third quarter earnings season is underway, and investors are eager to see how it will impact markets and whether it can drive a ...

Why election volatility should not be a top concern for investors

The race for campaign funding in the presidential bid between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump ...

Elon Musk pledges $1M daily to Trump voters

In recent commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan said she believes the central bank should lower ...

Find today’s top reddit posts
on financial independence and early retirement

Featured Podcasts

Featured reddit posts

Featured youtube videos

Ken McElroy

Alex Hormozi

Alex Hormozi

Featured FIRE Apps

Acorns

E*trade

Robinhood

Coinbase

Ignitefire

Find today’s top reddit postson financial independence and early retirement

Featured Podcasts

Featured reddit posts

Featured youtube videos

Ken McElroy

Alex Hormozi

Alex Hormozi

Featured FIRE Apps

Acorns

E*trade

Robinhood

Coinbase

Find today’s top reddit posts
on financial independence and early retirement