u/grapecough

Quick note: we're Canadian. Everything converted to USD with US account names so it's easy to follow. Tax details won't map 1:1, so don't sweat those.

Us: 39M / 40F, 2 kids (7 & 10), VHCOL. House paid off (~$1.4M).
Income: me salaried ~$195k; wife owns a growing business netting ~$210k (draws ~$33k/yr personally).
Spend: ~$160k/yr. Net worth: ~$4.46M.

Invested (~$2.9M):

• Taxable brokerage: ~$1.37M
• Business / holding-co account: ~$700k
• Tax-deferred retirement: ~$400k
• Roth-style (tax-free): ~$225k
• Kids' college (529): ~$56k
• Private mortgage/credit fund (8-12%): ~$180k

Asset mix: ~47% equities (broad index, VTI/VXUS-type), ~45% cash ETFs @ ~3.5% (SGOV/BIL-type), ~6% mortgage fund, ~2% crypto

Here's the contradiction I'm living in. At ~$4.5M with a paid-off house, the headline number says we've made it. But ~$160k spend against the ~$2.9M that's actually invested is a ~5.5% withdrawal rate, which says the opposite. And the reason for the gap is staring at me: a seven-figure windfall I parked in cash ETFs "temporarily" and have been too frozen to deploy at all-time highs. If it's deployed and compounding, it could close the gap in a few years, but sitting at 3.5% it kinda never does.

Meanwhile our two incomes cover spend with room to spare, so there's zero pressure forcing a decision, which is exactly why I've made none.

For those who've been in the gap:

1. Did you count home equity and a working spouse's income when you called it, or strictly the liquid portfolio?
2. What finally got you to deploy a big idle pile: lump sum and look away, or a fixed DCA schedule?
3. Would you downshift the salaried job now and let the business + portfolio carry it, or grind until the liquid number clears on its own?

WWYD?

This ~$800k USD is windfall cash parked in PSU.U (USD T-bill ETF) yielding ~3.55% net. ~$280k USD of it is earmarked for a CAD tax bill next April.

USD/CAD is ~1.42, near a 1-year high (loonie weak). I need to deploy this cash into equities regardless... the open question is currency:

1. Convert USD→CAD now (Norbert's) and buy CAD-listed (XEQT, etc.), or
2. Keep it in USD and buy US-listed (VTI, etc.), accepting I'm structurally long USD?

I can also throw the $280k into a 9-month GIC for taxes at like 4.5%, but it'll be stuck in USD and exposed to all that drift.

I know ticker currency ≠ underlying exposure, but I keep circling. We don't earn much USD anymore after this windfall, but spend and will retire in CAD. What would you do at these levels? and would you DCA the conversion the same way you'd DCA the buy?

39M / 40F, 2 kids (7 & 10), VHCOL. House paid off ($2M).

Me: salaried, ~$280k.
Wife: owns a growing business (corp), nets ~$300k, draws ~$3.9k/mo personally.

Spend: ~$230k/yr. NW: ~$6.37M.

Invested (~$4.2M):
Non-reg (joint): ~$1.95M

Corp / holdco: ~$1.0M

RRSPs: ~$570k

TFSAs: ~$320k

RESP: ~$80k

Private mortgage fund (8–12% returns): ~$257k

Asset mix of that:
Equities (XEQT / VTI / VXUS): ~47%

Cash ETFs (CASH.TO, UCSH.U, etc.) @ ~3%: ~45% ← the problem

Mortgage fund: ~6% · Crypto: ~2%

Had a windfall, parked it all in cash ETFs “temporarily,” and now ~$1.5M sits at ~3%. I know lump-sum beats DCA, but I’m frozen dropping seven figures at ATHs. Two incomes cover our spend easily, so I don’t need this money for years.

Two questions:

1. How would you deploy the cash…lump sum, or DCA over how long? I know the research says lump sum. But i just can’t seem bring myself to do it at these prices. Even DCA is brutal.
2. On invested assets alone that’s a ~5.5% withdrawal rate (not FI yet), but could I start winding down my salaried job and let my wife’s business + the portfolio bridge it? WWYD?

39M / 40F, 2 kids (7 & 10), VHCOL. House paid off ($2M).

Me: salaried, ~$280k.
Wife: owns a growing business (corp), nets ~$300k, draws ~$3.9k/mo personally.

Spend: ~$230k/yr. NW: ~$6.37M.

Invested (~$4.2M):
Non-reg (joint): ~$1.95M

Corp / holdco: ~$1.0M

RRSPs: ~$570k

TFSAs: ~$320k

RESP: ~$80k

Private mortgage fund (8–12%): ~$257k

Asset mix of that:
Equities (XEQT / VTI / VXUS): ~47%

Cash ETFs (CASH.TO, UCSH.U, etc.) @ ~3%: ~45% ← the problem

Mortgage fund: ~6% · Crypto: ~2%

Had a windfall, parked it all in cash ETFs “temporarily,” and now ~$1.5M sits at ~3%. I know lump-sum beats DCA, but I’m frozen dropping seven figures at ATHs. Two incomes cover our spend easily, so I don’t need this money for years.

Two questions:

1. How would you deploy the cash…lump sum, or DCA over how long? I know the research says lump sum. But i just can’t seem bring myself to do it at these prices. Even DCA is brutal.

2. On invested assets alone that’s a ~5.5% withdrawal rate (not FI yet), but could I start winding down my salaried job and let my wife’s business + the portfolio bridge it? WWYD?