u/Poorassboy6969

Genuine question - VA disability now makes up roughly 3% of the federal budget and is growing rapidly. At what point do we seriously discuss whether this is sustainable ?

Also the clear fraud I’ve seen in personal life, shows like Caleb’s and communities here on reddit

I fully support taking care of veterans who are ACTUALLY disabled - key word actually

I personally know people who openly admit to gaming the system, collect ~$4,000/month tax-free for life (along with other benefits), still work full time job and brag about it

It’s insane my wife and I work our asses off, save, invest, have 500k NW and someone can just get out of the military, fake injuries and essentially double what we have (annuity worth a million plus)

The irony is seeing some of the same “conservatives” constantly rant about how terrible government is while happily collecting a government check for life.

Eventually, taxpayers have to fund all of this. And the more these programs grow, the more pressure falls on those actually contributing.

thoughts?

Title

What is better financial position in your opinion?

You can still work with either option

i’d lean more towards the 500k because it should historically grow at 10% and inflation is only about 3% - meaning the lump sum will seriously outpace the monthly tax free payment within a couple decades if not invested and just burnt

Plus don‘t love the idea of living off the government (just me personally)

My wife and I are 29 and 30.

$450k invested all in VOO, currently adding 5k a month (on low end - depending on side hustles)

Lean Fire number 1 million

We ran the numbers assuming historic 10% return. Staying at $5k/month gets us there in about 51 months.

Dropping to $4k/month (so we free up an extra $1k to not hate life and have wife leave me - joking - kinda) stretches it to 56 months.

That’s only five extra months.

We’re both a little shocked how little the delay is.

Compounding does most of the heavy lifting once you’re already at this size, so the marginal contribution doesn’t move the timeline as much as it feels like it should.

Anyone else been surprised by how flexible the last stretch of accumulation can be? Curious what others decided when they hit this kind of trade-off.

I keep seeing these posts of people in early 30’s hitting 1M invested through QQQ

I’m 29 coming up on 500k invested in VOO and these posts make me want to put the 5k I invest monthly into QQQ instead of VOO to hit 1M mark faster

Can someone explain the risk associated with this decision? I realize they have some overlap

Thanks in advance!

I’m considering getting the Fall and Winter GoWild pass for $200. I’ll be flying between Phoenix and Seattle pretty often and was wondering if anyone has experience using the pass on this route.

Do they usually have a decent number of direct flights, or is it mostly connections? My schedule is flexible, but I’d rather avoid crazy long layovers if possible.

A regular round-trip is currently about $200, and I need to make a trip in October for dad’s surgery anyway, so the pass is starting to look pretty tempting. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated

I’m 29, married, no kids, and currently have around $470k invested. Our household net income is about $10k/month, and our expenses are around $2.3k/month

I’m getting sick of being frugal.

It’s gotten to the point where I constantly think about every dollar I spend, even when I absolutely don’t need to.

For example, my car key is literally broken, and I keep putting off replacing it because I don’t want to spend the money.

We live in Arizona, where it’s been around 115°F, and I still won’t turn the AC below 85°F. And obviously it’s off when we’re not home.

I’ve gotten so used to optimizing every expense that spending money worries me, even when the spending would meaningfully improve my quality of life.

I don’t want to wake up at 45 with a huge portfolio and realize I spent my 20s and 30s worrying about whether replacing a $200 car key was financially irresponsible.

So for those of you who are further along:

At what age, net worth or breaking point life moment did you start getting burned out on being frugal?

Did you eventually loosen up and increase your spending, or are you still optimizing every dollar even with a high net worth?

thanks in advance .

I’m 29, married, no kids, and currently have around $470k invested. Our household net income is about $10k/month, and our expenses are around $2.3k/month

I’m getting sick of being frugal.

It’s gotten to the point where I constantly think about every dollar I spend, even when I absolutely don’t need to.

For example, my car key is literally broken, and I keep putting off replacing it because I don’t want to spend the money.

We live in Arizona, where it’s been around 115°F, and I still won’t turn the AC below 85°F. And obviously it’s off when we’re not home.

I’ve gotten so used to optimizing every expense that spending money worries me, even when the spending would meaningfully improve my quality of life.

I don’t want to wake up at 45 with a huge portfolio and realize I spent my 20s and 30s worrying about whether replacing a $200 car key was financially irresponsible.

So for those of you who are further along:

At what age, net worth or breaking point life moment did you start getting burned out on being frugal?

Did you eventually loosen up and increase your spending, or are you still optimizing every dollar even with a high net worth?

thanks in advance .

Mind you, I am a simple man - but I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

My parents make around $500k a year and still can’t retire at 60. Lifestyle creep ..

I have a cousin who’s rated 100% disabled and collects about $4k a month tax-free. He’s still in debt and doesn’t have a penny to his name.

I know a real estate guy who’s a paper millionaire but told me he can’t go on vacation right now because “he’s not liquid.”

And I have a friend whose parents are literal billionaires… but she can’t spend a dime on anything significant without getting their permission first.

This made me think- What does it actually mean to be “rich“ ?

in my opinion -

It’s not your salary.

It’s not the government check.

It’s not your net worth on paper.

It’s not your family’s money.

IT’S BEING ABLE TO ”WRITE A CHECK” (as a motto - not literally)

Car problems? Write a check.

Paying for a wedding? Write a check.

Emergency flight to see a sick family member? Write a check.

No stress. No payment plans. No asking permission. No waiting on the next disability deposit or payday.

Having no bad debt and a real emergency fund is FREEDOM… that’s what I consider rich

What I consider wealthy is when 3.5% of your investments make more than you spend yearly (36k for me and wife)

Thoughts?

I’ve been randomly thinking about this a lot lately.

My parents make around $500k a year and still can’t retire at 60. Lifestyle creep ..

I have a cousin who’s rated 100% disabled and collects about $4k a month tax-free. He’s still in debt and doesn’t have a penny to his name.

I know a real estate guy who’s a paper millionaire but told me he can’t go on vacation right now because “he’s not liquid.”

And I have a friend whose parents are literal billionaires… but she can’t spend a dime on anything significant without getting their permission first.

This made me think- What does it actually mean to be “rich“ ?

in my opinion -

It’s not your salary.

It’s not the government check.

It’s not your net worth on paper.

It’s not your family’s money.

IT’S BEING ABLE TO ”WRITE A CHECK” (as a motto - not literally)

Car problems? Write a check.

Paying for a wedding? Write a check.

Emergency flight to see a sick family member? Write a check.

No stress. No payment plans. No asking permission. No waiting on the next disability deposit or payday.

Having no bad debt and a real emergency fund is FREEDOM… that’s what I consider rich.

Thoughts?

Location: Scottsdale AZ

Long story short I was getting coffee - got into car - was backing up and checked to the right (the direction I was pulling out)

Then heard weird small bump (wasn’t loud - not even 100% positive I hit anything)

check to left and there was waymo blocking me into parking spot with warning flashers on

I waited to see it moved and it didn‘t (no one was in the car)

Took video of my damage and license plate of waymo (there was no damage to waymo - i was going 2 mph)

finally after a few minutes it moved forward and I left

Thoughts? could i be charged with hit and run? how does this work

Ive heard mixed advice.

Thank you in advance

Long story short I was getting coffee - got into car - was backing up and checked to the right (the direction I was pulling out)

Then heard weird small bump (wasn’t loud - not even 100% positive I hit anything)

check to left and there was waymo blocking me into parking spot with warning flashers on

I waited to see it moved and it didn‘t (no one was in the car)

Took video of my damage and license plate of waymo

finally after a few minutes it moved and I left

Odds they reach out to my insurance? anyone have experience with this?

location: scottsdale az

Long story short I was getting coffee - got into car - was backing up and checked to the right (the direction I was pulling out)

Then heard weird small bump (wasn’t loud - not even 100% positive I hit anything)

check to left and there was waymo blocking me into parking spot with warning flashers on

I waited to see it moved and it didn‘t (no one was in the car)

Took video of my damage and license plate of waymo

finally after a few minutes it moved and I left

Odds they reach out to my insurance? anyone have experience with this?

Long story short I was getting coffee - got into car - was backing up and checked to the right (the direction I was pulling out)

Then heard weird small bump (wasn’t loud - not even 100% positive I hit anything)

check to left and there was waymo blocking me into parking spot with warning flashers on

I waited to see it moved and it didn‘t (no one was in the car)

Took video of my damage and license plate of waymo

finally after a few minutes it moved and I left

Odds they reach out to my insurance? anyone have experience with this?

I was curious what other people think about this.

My brother-in-law is 32. Every so often he asks me for money advice because I'm pretty frugal and enjoy personal finance.

His situation:

• Receives about $4,000/month tax-free in disability benefits for life (“PTSD” from too much coffee in military)
• Works full-time making around $100k/year.
• Says he has nothing saved for retirement.
• Spends pretty much everything he makes.
• Also thinks his gun collection is his investment portfolio.

For context, I'm 30. I have about $450k invested in VOO, make around $10k/month net, and save roughly $5k/month and no debt.

He doesn't know any of my numbers. During a conversation he randomly said something like, "I'm probably in a better financial spot than you just because of my disability pay alone."

At first I was annoyed, but then I wondered if I was overlooking something. A guaranteed, tax-free $4k/month for life definitely has value.

Objectively, though, who would you say in the stronger financial position?

Does guaranteed disability income (among other benefits) outweigh having a substantial investment portfolio and consistently saving, even tho he has no retirement savings outside of his disability benefits?

Genuinely curious how others would evaluate this.

I have always enjoyed gambling occasionally (never extreme)

The last two weekends I have used sign up bonuses to bet on fights and won both totaling $550 in winnings

Today I felt the urge to do it again.. I know I shouldn’t do it but I wanted to.

I felt confident on even money Parlay and was researching sign up bonuses

I held myself back and watched the fights - and of course it hit… this annoyed me (would have been $200)

I’ve always been cheap and serious about building wealth - I know I have addictive personality and that this is one of the main things that could screw up my hard work.

Can I get some words to affirm this was smart? Or stories of how this is how addiction starts?

Thank you in advance

Please give your opinion and state why you believe this number is A+ grade NW for 30 years old

My answer is 500k - because that’s very comfortable coast fire territory for vast majority of lifestyles

For sake of discussion, The median net worth for households under age 35 is $39,000

Thanks in advance!

Married Couple almost 30 no kids

Husband Job - $6,300

Wife Job - $6,020 ($1678 in bonuses)

Dog/Cat/Housesitting - $1,700

Gambling - $550 (thank you sign up bonuses and friend winning UFC debut)

Babysitting - $200

Selling Random stuff from APT trash on marketplace - $150

CC sign up bonuses - $100

TOTAL = $15,070

Spending for the month was $2,550 (we rent and share paid off Honda)

NW 450k all in VOO - working on loosening up and spending more - growing up with overspenders/2008 crisis made me extreme cheapskate to be blunt

We usually net right around 10k a month - what is reasonable amount to spend? I know we are too cheap right now

Any general advice?

(Side note - I never gamble and think it’s #1 growing addiction … but my friend was making UFC debut and was confident he would win - so did sign up bonuses and bet)

Married Couple almost 30

Husband Job - $6,300

Wife Job - $6,020 ($1678 in bonuses)

Dog/Cat/Housesitting - $1,700

Gambling - $550 (thank you sign up bonuses and friend winning UFC debut)

Babysitting - $200

Selling Random stuff from APT trash on marketplace - $150

CC sign up bonuses - $100

TOTAL = $15,070

Spending for the month was $2,550 (we rent and share paid off Honda)

NW almost 450k all in VOO - working on loosening up and spending more - growing up with overspenders/2008 crisis made me extreme cheapskate to be blunt

i post this to keep history of what‘s going on and our progression - but also to show the power of side hustling

(Side note - I never gamble and think it’s #1 growing addiction … but my friend was making UFC debut and was confident he would win - so did sign up bonuses and bet)

i just check Whole Foods on the last day of their Amazon Prime ice cream sale (July 1st to July 7th, 50% off) hoping to score some Jeni’s… but every flavor I wanted was completely gone 😩 I wanted the double dough and/or salted peanut butter flavor

Is this normal or did my procrastination just cost me some cheap, wonderful ice cream?