u/The_Maroon

It’s AP reporting time so we’re l going in and looking at our scores and I…. couldn’t care less about how my students did.

Of my 38 eligible students for my class (Spanish), only 11 decided to take the exam. I encouraged them all not to in the first place for a number of reasons and I fully believe AP is a racket and they’re all getting 8 college credits for the semester anyhow but alas.

One 5, One 4, two 3’s, six 2’s, and one 1.

Barely any of the strongest students opted to take it, none of them are committed enough to actually put in the work it takes to score well, and the whole idea of teaching to any test kills any joy in teaching.

Teachers, if your district, your students, or your own definition of success is wrapped up in a high AP pass rate then please become unburdened and just have fun with your class and let the chips fall where they may.

As I sit here and reflect on my 16th year of teaching and 12th at this particular public high school I started to realize that I'm now part of the machine that is our district outside of the typical classroom. This is different from the system that we all teach teach in in my view. What do I mean?

Recently had a conversation with another veteran colleague about how years 1-3 or so are just tough, no way around it. But around year 4 or 5 things start to level out. You've got your bearings, your lessons and your process are less embryonic and more fully formed but at the same time you're still kind of new, so not much is expected outside of the typical classroom stuff. Then around years 8 or 9 things really start to change.

For me, that meant becoming a mentor teacher, a department leader (5 years going on 6 now), a union building rep and then union leadership, the guy with knowledge about how to navigate the particular ins and outs and personalities in our building and district, working contacts and relationships to pick up some extra stipends, stepping in on behalf of new teachers in the department to help them, more meetings and emails than I know what to do with, sitting on all number of interview committees from teachers to administrators to central office administrators, being part of the back and forth conversations and initiatives that shape the district for years to come, contract negotiations, and living in that space between "just a teacher" and "not an admin but still widely able to move and be respected in those circles".

It's not all necessarily more work, it's just naturally learning how to manage all of that flow better. The easiest part of my day is when I close my door for 50 minutes to teach my classes. It takes me minutes to plan or adjust my lessons, so my prep/before/after school contract time is taken up with all of those other things I mentioned.

I imagine that as I get nearer to retirement some of those responsibilities will naturally fade away or be passed of to the next generation, but in some ways it feels good to know that I am/have been picking up where some other veteran left off before leaving and that hopefully some other new teacher in our building is starting the same process that will land where I'm at.

Anyone else feel like you're part of the machinery of your district outside of the classroom? I feel like I'm in classic mid-career mode right now.

Where are my fellow teacher FIRE people at? Jumping the gun a day early on my semi-annual check in (Jan 1 and July 1), but we just put it all together and have finally crept past the 1M mark! 40M/40F, both teachers, no children, I would say high-ish COL western state that exploded after Covid. Gross combined income has been in the $200k range the last 3 or so years. Have been serious and disciplined on saving since opening our first 403b accounts in November 2018 to help manage our AGI to lower our student loan payments. We've had a very solid tax advantaged savings rate of between 38-42%.

Here's the breakdown:

Total NW (excluding home equity): ~1.002M

Invested (~891,028):

• 403b #1: 146,062
• 403b#2: 137,829
• 457b #1: 135, 908
• 457b #2: 228,973
• Roth #1: 30,735
• Roth #2: 98,977
• Pension #1: 84,554
• Pension #2: 100,501
• HSA #1: 17,991
• HSA #2: 11,136

Cash Savings (~111,449):

• HYSA #1: 60,000
• HYSA #2: 23, 058
• HYSA #3: (Mortage/Home Projects): 28, 390

Liabilities:

• Mortgage: 46,978 (3.48%, finished in 3021, ~495K sale value)

We got very lucky to have bought a more than sufficiently large house back in 2013 and did a 15yr refi in 2016. We travel internationally at least twice a year, have fully paid off old cars, all student loans recently forgiven. I know that we have a bit too much liquid cash at the moment across the HYSA accounts, and I'm working on getting those set up in a sustainable CD ladder. We are comfortable with that cash because there is a bit of a one-time sword of Damocles that would potentially make us drain about half of that cash savings should we need to, but still is unlikely.

Pension Fund #1 will likely be rolled into a personal IRA and self managed after separating service as to get a full benefit from it it would have to be a 30 year commitment which isn't going to happen. Pension fund #2 receives a lifetime benefit of around $3,800/month in today's calculation starting in 11 years (age 51). That calculation will likely go up as it's COLA'd each year by the state. I value Pension #2 at around $1.1 million in today's dollars, but don't include that value in our overall NW and instead just use the raw total of the account.

We are, by nature, pretty frugal so any extra raises we get usually gets diverted to pre-tax savings. Our combined net income has been hovering in the 80-90K range, which we use to max our Roths and HSAs. Current plan is to go full retire/pension collection at 51, reassess where we're at financially and likely have a flexible side job (like subbing) to stretch out the nest egg. Of course the 457's will be doing the heavy lifting until 59.5.

My wife has a Roth with approximately 1300 shares of ANWPX totaling around $95,000 that her parents set up for her ages ago and it's just been sitting there growing. We recently transferred it out and moved it into Fidelity but it's still sitting in that fund. Knowing that the American Funds are a generally bad deal due to expenses, any advice on how to divvy that back out into lower cost funds would be great.

Pertinent info: 40M/40F, 12 more years of work until one full pension kicks in along with a partial pension or self-managed pension after separation of service. Could not previously contribute to the Roths due to filing status/student loan/AGI management.

Already have a combined 630k spread across two 403b's and two 457b's (we are both teachers), another Roth sitting at 30k (FXAIX/SMH 75/25 split), and two pension accounts. Maxing out 3 of those 4 pre-tax accounts each year, maxing out my Roths for the past 3 years and maxing our hers starting this year, and maxing out both HSA's.

I am curious where folks are parking their emergency funds these days or what the best long term strategy is. I keep an emergency fund of $50-60k in a HYSA that’s currently at 3.1%, but with rates consistently dropping since the post-COVID spike I’m wondering if there’s any better strategies here.

Looking at things like SPAXX or SGOV but curious if there are better options.

Of note:

I rarely dip into this as I keep another smaller $3k) cash on hand in a bank savings in addition to my checking account that gets my monthly paycheck if I really need something quick and I don’t have a credit card on me.

I’m dropping $250/week into the high yield via auto transfer. On Jan 1 each year I use that to max out my Roth and HSA.

This is the level of emergency fund that works for our situation, I’m not really looking to throw a significant portion of it into the broader market.

I'm here with the rest of the May PSLF Gang! After a long, long journey of forced forbearance, crickets on buy back, and pins and needles waiting for my final ECF to process out it happened. I got green banners a couple of weeks ago and then I got my Mohela letter today. I've never been happier to leave a subreddit behind me.

This sub has been instrumental in keeping me updated, keeping my sanity in check, and being a nationwide shoulder to lean on when things were tough. Even though I should have been done in July 2024, I got hit with the SAVE forbearance with only two payments remaining and it took me until January of 2026 to get out of it and back to paying. I paid two final payments of $875 and got out. Since 2020 though, I think I made fewer than 10 payments so it wasn't all bad. I was also aided by the TEPSLF and lookback during the Covid years to get an additional two years of payments added back in.

Godspeed everyone, it can be done. I'm leaving this sub for good.