Lemur Journal!

Where are you and where are you going?
white belt
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Post by white belt »

I’m in agreement that stimulants are best reserved for special occasions, not daily use. Caffeine does have legitimate performance enhancing benefits, especially when it comes to exercise performance, however a sedentary desk jockey isn’t typically doing any sort of physical activity that would benefit from such boosts in performance.

In the Army I’ve seen people (over)use stimulants, but I’ve also come to understand that there is a time and a place for such things. The nice thing is that if you get off of the daily caffeine habit, on the rare occasion you do need a boost, you can use a very small dose because your body will be so sensitive to it. I drink caffeine occasionally (maybe some tea once a week or so) and have never experienced any withdrawal symptoms.

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Lemur
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Post by Lemur »

Yep - that is where the caffeine addiction started was when I was in the military. Very common for folks to have a monster energy drink in the morning before/after physical training...and sometimes during lunch too haha. I worked in construction so the extra boost was always nice.

But I don't need adrenaline when I'm a sedentary laborer that has multiple meetings a day ....

+1 White belt as well. There may be a time and place where I really need a boost so when that does happen, the stimulant will actually work again. Right now it is definitely just the opposite - I need it to function properly. No bueno.

Off topic to caffeine discussion but saving this link for later reading:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10897

I think I joined this forum at level 4, became a level 5, and been stuck there since. Getting to level 6 would be the next step. I have the savings rate % of a level 6er but that is mostly due to an unusual high income and not a 20k spending level. I'll have to read through that whole scale thread - I've only saved the table and not really done a deep dive into that particular discussion.

LiberateMind
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by LiberateMind »

Reading your journal from the start today (actually after reading your post on quitting caffeine) , yet to complete.. Wow I am also learning python, machine learning, researching food forest ,calorie counting and weight loss, how to be a individual contributor and be in a specialist track.. and then the personal growth.. lot of similarities to the path I am trying to lead.. oh how did I miss it..

Anyways just wanted to say nice journal and nice of you to share your resources and reading also with us.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@LiberateMind: Have fun. This journal is getting long.

April 2, 2021

Investments:
Invested - $391,000 (Up $26,500 :shock: . Spy up all-time high will do that)
Cash Savings - $1,000 (Down $4k to pay taxes)
Total - $392,000

Financial - Our net-worth is just increasing exponentially and seeing it in real time from month to month is something I just keep looking forward to. For this particular month, my Spouse had an all-time high for quarterly net income from her business. If she keeps it up, she will actually earn more then me this year which is so damn impressive lol. Meanwhile, despite this large increase in net-worth, I actually have two stocks that are down an almost combined $30k (MAC & NOK). It is initially shocking to see that red ... but then when I do the math it is like ... not even 10% of all the investments...

Current watchlist: Continuing to plow after-tax savings into SPG. Continuing to sell covered calls on NOK/MAC to reduce cost basis and sell CCs on all my other positions and roll when necessary.

Physical Health / Diet: Gained Weight. 187lbs. 2 pounds above my healthy BMI limit. Gotta focus in April. Quitting caffeine made me look for energy/dopamine elsewhere .... namely carbs. I'm getting much better sleep since I quit caffeine cold turkey.

Mental Health: Good for once. Its been crap the past few months. Some normal work stressors but dealing with those as they come.

Job: Far better than last 5 months. I am invested in my new role and so far things are going smoothly but I am seeing new problems that are going to be very difficult to solve since I've never been great at people politics. We also lack resources for my particular product and I'm sort of doing dual roles as not only a PM but also an execution person. Not only my client work is getting tougher, but I also got brought in to help stand up an Artificial Intelligence institute for our firm ... way far above my pay grade and I don't know sh*t about AI but I was just told that my job is to coordinate and lead and we will "find the smart people" to do the technical lifting. Maybe outsource writing to professors at Universities or something. Okay I guess lol. This work is not billable - it is extra duties that all consultants "have" to do to be in good graces of leadership .... especially ones like me who have been here a few years and can't really avoid it at this point without ending up on some list. I figured this can be okay from web of goals standpoint - I get more practice coordinating, helps me make case for promotion (more money), and I may even come across AI tech I wasn't aware of which could enlighten me on investment opportunities. I've never tried up into this point to gun for promotion but we're in an up or out culture so its time now I guess. The good news is the next level up (manager)- one can stay at that level for nearly a decade and many don't make it past that point (the funnel get real narrow). So as long as I can get to that platform I can hang out and hold on till I'm ready to go.

Gardening: Cabbage seedlings died. :? Cold front came through and wiped them out. I guess I started too early. I've other greens that are growing slowly.

Reading / Other: Haven't read much this month. Just been too busy with work but I did want to pick this up at some point: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Th ... 0385528752

Goal: I succeeded last months goal here: "Don't get fired this month". I failed at this one: "Keep up the recent health eating habits...eating a lot of yogurt and split pea soups. Mostly whole foods." Goal again this month is don't get fired lol. At this point, I'm doing "whatever it takes" to keep the cash flow running in like it has recently....we should eclipse $400k by next months update.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Started playing tennis every Tuesday with my good friend. Slowly but surely trying to build a life that is outside work. Second week in a row I went for Sunday one hour jogs.

In interesting home life...my younger brother who I've not seen and barely talked to in 5 years and his spouse who I never met plus their son (going on 3), will be moving in with us temporarily next week. My brother's spouse is also pregnant and expecting in May.

Well it was my sister's decision since she owns the home. Not sure how long they will be here but it adds a very interesting dynamic lol. This will be....interesting. Brother and I have some things in common so I'm looking forward to catching up. On the other hand, we don't really get along well. It is more like an armed-distance relationship (like I have with most of my family which is a really long story). Plus it will be nice to have my son have a cousin to play with for a while. This might be a few months or a year ...who knows. The cons is ... obvious. Reduced privacy and my brothers wife is bi-polar. I have never lived with a bi-polar person but apparently they (Brother and his spouse) fight A LOT. And they're financially broke right now (hence why they're moving in)...umm...yeah this is gonna be interesting.

My spouse surely did not sign up for this and she is feeling a bit disrespected my Sister did not talk to us before making this decision. Great...a good thing might be coming to an end. I hope my brother has matured a bit over the years and we can all handle things like adults but I'm not counting on it.

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How-DoesThisSound
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by How-DoesThisSound »

Lemur wrote:
Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:21 pm
Started playing tennis every Tuesday with my good friend. Slowly but surely trying to build a life that is outside work. Second week in a row I went for Sunday one hour jogs.

In interesting home life...my younger brother who I've not seen and barely talked to in 5 years and his spouse who I never met plus their son (going on 3), will be moving in with us temporarily next week. My brother's spouse is also pregnant and expecting in May.

Well it was my sister's decision since she owns the home. Not sure how long they will be here but it adds a very interesting dynamic lol. This will be....interesting. Brother and I have some things in common so I'm looking forward to catching up. On the other hand, we don't really get along well. It is more like an armed-distance relationship (like I have with most of my family which is a really long story). Plus it will be nice to have my son have a cousin to play with for a while. This might be a few months or a year ...who knows. The cons is ... obvious. Reduced privacy and my brothers wife is bi-polar. I have never lived with a bi-polar person but apparently they (Brother and his spouse) fight A LOT. And they're financially broke right now (hence why they're moving in)...umm...yeah this is gonna be interesting.

My spouse surely did not sign up for this and she is feeling a bit disrespected my Sister did not talk to us before making this decision. Great...a good thing might be coming to an end. I hope my brother has matured a bit over the years and we can all handle things like adults but I'm not counting on it.
the
Woah, that sounds pretty heavy/hectic. Tennis (which in my experience can be really aggressive (in a good way) combined with the one-hour jog should be a huge relief with that temporary living situation you have going on. Hopefully, you find a silver lining and some mutual ground with your brother. It sounds like you're a bit more grounded than he is. Maybe he and his spouse living with you and your wife will be a bit grounding for him! Best of luck Lemur. Looking forward to keeping up with your journal.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

May 1, 2021

Investments:
Invested - $432,000 (Up $41k)
Cash Savings - $600
Total - $432,600

Financial - Unreal progress for one month but a few catalysts: One of my stocks in the deep red, Nokia, rose 15-20% this month? And I have 8000+ shares of that. MAC also has started recovering. These were the two "memes" I bought in January that tanked immediately after I bought them. Thankfully, I had some good trades selling covered calls and I was able to reduce my cost-basis considerably. Both appear to have bottomed at some point and have started the steady upwards climb. Also my Spouse has continued shoveling money into her Solo 401(k). She has been since beginning of this year fully onboard with just saving as crazy as I do. We're planning our future so much together nowadays because it seems real - will we move out of the United States to her Country Philippines? What will do do with our time after full-time work? Our son - will he be better off in the US going to public education here or going to a private school overseas with other expat kids? Are we sure we even want to leave the U.S. while the money is flowing in like tap water? We went from thinking 5-10 years from now to holy crap we might be at target financial numbers <2 years at this rate... This bull market is insane.

Current watchlist: I stopped selling CCs on MAC/NOK. I think they've bottomed and I am here for the ride. I was assigned 1000 shares of PLTR - selling covered calls probably but earnings are May 11 so I might wait till then to take advantage of high IV. Continuing to plow after-tax savings into SPG.

Physical Health / Diet: I am the same weight but haven't focused too much on that. Just trying to be active and eat generally healthy. I have played a ton of tennis in April and will continue to May.

Mental Health: Good but I do have this existential crisis thing going on. Not a crisis in a bad way - just too many thoughts about the current state of the world and my life and stuff. In fact, a part of me is really looking forward to having my brother here a few months despite our past of not getting along. We've both changed over the past 5 years and became Fathers over the years ... maybe we will have more in common. He is also a neuroscience graduate; a fellow INTJ I believe.

Job: Despite being in a much better position then I was earlier this year, I find work to be that annoying thing I have to do from 9-5pm + some extra hours occasionally. The no fear Lemur continues. My career/job just bugs me now ... it's like a mosquito. I can't shake away this mindset unless I'm deep into some sort of problem / analysis I'm doing that keeps me engaged. I have to rationalize every Monday Morning to find motivation and I still dread every Sunday evening.

Gardening: 1 tomato is growing. I filled up a 50 gallon bucket for compost - just layers of shredded wood from a dead tree and grass clippings. Started tossing in leftover /scrap veggies. I planed all varieties of peppers - jalapeños, yellow peppers, habanero's, bell peppers, etc. I may plant some squash and pumpkin soon but need to prep.

Reading / Other: Really need to get back into reading. I have 1 dose of the COVID vaccine and my local library just recently opened up to allow visitors. Maybe it is time to venture out.

Goal: Funny, my goals have been for months "Don't get fired." That is not a way to think though - they call that "catastrophizing." I don't fear that now. Fire me? Don't tease me with a good time! Unemployment insurance plus investment withdrawal would cover all of our expenses LOL. Hell - I bet our net-worth would just keep climbing fast too; its outpacing any contributions I make...Maybe I'll take a vacation or start that community garden I've always wanted to start. For real though I don't want to get fired in May. We've bonuses coming very soon and would suck to miss that.

On a serious note - about the topic of motivation. Throughout my life, I have always just been motivated by building my wealth so I can escape 9-5 grind. Only a few things came about to help me build my character differently - I started focusing on other goals like workplace skills, project management, health goals etc...but these have had varying rates of success. Also Tennis - my friend is 2-1 on matches haha. I'm the more athletic one but he is beating me through skill.

What are my long-term goals? What do I really really want to do for the next 30+ years of my life. These are important ... wherever we go there we are and it would be silly for me to think that once I quit working I will have eternal happiness and comfort. Should I find something to struggle for?

Afterall ... I like to believe that the purpose of life is a life with a purpose...I am not a nihilist.

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fiby41
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by fiby41 »

I like your outcome independence mindset (emotional state which is independent regardless of outcome) on the goals front.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@fiby41

I've spent some time cultivating that mindset without realizing there is somewhat of a term for that called "The Batman Effect."
https://lsa.umich.edu/psych/news-events ... ermination.

I don't have a full-blown alter-ego per say but something that helps me a lot at work (and reduced my anxiety greatly in the past months) was not seeing my self as "Lemur the employee for client A" but as a literal "Human Resource." Should I fail my current project which is starting to look likely, I won't take things so personally when the job description in the first place called for a human resource with 10+ years of experience as a product manager when this is my first time being a product manager and I've only generally been in the corporate world for 5 years or so lol. I also don't even have a real team and any real authority either due to various politics :?

They get what they pay for but that also does not mean that I am not trying....I may fail this project but the experience has been invaluable that the next lateral move or even a position slightly "lower" than the one I'm doing now is going to be mentally a lot easier to handle because my stress threshold has gained from the position itself.

Kind of like playing an RPG. One doesn't grow by whacking level 2 boars all day but one can gain a lot of experience by taking on an enemy that kills them over and over again. Eventually you'll kill this enemy and then one day you will wonder how that enemy even gave you a problem to begin with.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

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Started ripping up all of our cardboard by hand and tossing into compost bin. I didn't know that the ink on most cardboard (for instance like from cereal boxes or something) are non-toxic and mostly vegetable based. This opens up the possibilities a bit.

After much nagging, my sister is letting me Garden in the front yard behind the walkway lol. I'm planting corn, beans, and squash in two small plots. Perhaps over some months / years, I'll convince her to turn that useless front yard into a full blown garden. First the vegetables I'm planting now...then I'll persuade some flowers along the driveway...then a spot way off to the side over that spot no one sees anyway. Next thing you know, whole front yard is a garden haha. For real though - I do not understand this image of just having a front lawn of grass and a white picket fence.

There is one guy in our neighborhood who has quite a few beds in his front yard. Its nice to see. At least one person here in this quite suburb has some personality.

In other news...I've less time to think about my existential crises from work with my brother, sister-in-law, and Nephew living here now. Privacy is of course decreased which sucks...on the other hand, we're getting our social fix lately. It is also neat to have my 5 year old be able to play with another kid. It keeps him occupied and actually helps me focus more during work. I'm generally more exhausted though - my sister-in-law is also pregnant and expecting in a few more weeks which is going to make this dynamic even more busy.

My brother and I get along so much better than I hoped for - yep, turns out we've much more in common and he did turn out to be a lot more mature then we last met 7 years ago! Life matures everyone...Could also be an empathetic thing right? We're both fathers working full-time jobs over the years...there is a mutual understanding and respect. It has also helped that we're both educated and have developed our personalities and interests over the years.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Crashed riding my bike downhill with my son. Long-story on that lol. But I am really surprised I did not break anything...very sore though in my shoulder/clavicle area. I kind of rolled a lot which seemed to have lessen some of the impact.

Work - Surviving. Actually for once feel like I'm thriving a little bit.
Garden - Pepper plants are coming up. Moved my pots from back deck to front yard where there is more sunlight.
Diet/Health - Not good. Overeating again. Not sure why. Weighed 185.8 which is 0.8 above my 'hey buddy you getting fat now' so need to tighten the belt now.

Having my brother here has been cool. Nice to have someone IRL to talk about all sorts of topics from philosophy, brain science, motivation, why people do people things...no one else in my life I have these conversations with in person. Really appreciative of this. Still getting along well - the kids keep each other occupied for the most part ...at least when they're not doing destructive things.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

Reading this lately:
Red victory - A History of the Russian Civil War by Bruce Lincoln

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by mountainFrugal »

Glad you are okay on your fall! I took a bad fall (abrasions) last year on my MTB trying to "roll" some jumps. Totally biffed over the front handle bars in front of a group of cackling teens. My first thought was not embarrassment, but that my partner was going to be mad at me for pushing it too hard. Hopefully gave them a good story to tell. Lol. I guess it is a good lesson for aging... I am old enough to no longer care what teenagers think, but that does not mean I should be doing the same activities teenagers are doing.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

^ Slowly getting better. Have full range of motion in my shoulder. Bruising subsided. Still painful and can't sleep on the injured side but I think I'll be recovered in 2-3 weeks or so.

Neat channel :
https://youtu.be/mEmOn05_1QA

"Struggle Meals"

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

May 29, 2021

Net-worth:
$443,000 (Up $11,000)

Financial - I am now in the green on my 2 January meme purchases: MAC and NOK. For both, I'm technically looking at a unrealized loss but when added up the covered call premiums gained since January, I am at the break-even point for MAC and slightly in the green for NOK. I still plan on holding NOK for the long-term but want to get rid of MAC when the price point gets to around $24-$25 or by end of year whichever comes first - I am expecting management at some point to dilute shares again. I continue to boost returns using covered call writing strategy. This strategy is starting to work well again but was giving me mixed result at the beginning of the year.

Current watchlist: As with the past few months, all after-tax savings and premium incomes goes towards building up my position in SPG. Once I own 100 shares of SPG, I will start selling covered calls on that and I will move towards building another position - maybe JNJ. Sort of my own stock building covered called snowball.... :D

Physical Health / Diet: My shoulder injury blows but I am back to doing pushups at least. Its an odd injury - forward motion presents no pain such as punching or pushing. Pulling my shoulder back causes pain as well as I am unable to sleep on my right side where the shoulder injury is. I don't believe it is a rotator cuff injury thankfully - I can test that using this motion: https://myrehabconnection.com/wp-conten ... oulder.jpg . Pull-ups on the other hand is where I have trouble - can only do 1 or 2 before my body just refuses to do this...I am usually able to do like 15 in a row. A mystery .... the pain presents in the front of the shoulder deep in the anterior deltoid / middle deltoid but it is the pulling motions I am having trouble with. :? Giving this a few more weeks. I weigh 185.4. Again started a caloric deficit diet. I am literally the same weight as I was in January. I'm not anything but consistent at least. Still want to get to 165 lbs.

Mental Health: Good. Took family on a small vacation during the week. I've used some PTO - the first I've used for taking a break since January. Planning another work break in July.

Job: Great. Really finding my rhythm being a product leader. I still have trouble navigating workplace politics. I had a situation where I had asked some other managers (competitor company) for assistance reaching out to some government contacts....I figured they had more background information or relationships that can be used to get something I needed. I did not get any response (as per usual as I am the only contractor from my company and on my own island) so I took it upon myself and reached out to these government personnel for insights / data request. Then I get the emails saying "I should've collaborated before reaching out to so and so? " lol. Okay... whatever. These guys love playing hero and team whenever I make a mistake or step on an eggshell. In the end, I got what I wanted from the government POC...and my client is happy with me so far so why should I give a shit generally what the other contractors / product leads think when they never help me out anyway? Oh well. Despite this drivel, the normal stresses are there but as long as things are moving forward and I'm hitting my self-imposed deadlines then I need not to worry about politics too much. Sometimes I wonder if the real pressures at work are non-existent and most of this stuff is self-imposed and just in our heads.

I still occasionally apply for other jobs. Time to test the market - I could probably make $20-$50k more than I do now; on the other hand...this is the devil I know so far.

Gardening: Tomatoes, Peppers, Squash, Corn, Beans are still growing. I may lose the ladder 3 if landscapers decide to re-grade my Sister's front home. The house has a grading issue where water gathers at the front of the house where I'm planting at the moment. Glad I don't own a home - the upkeep is expensive.

Reading / Other: Still reading History of the Russian Civil War by Bruce Lincoln. There are some startling information about the daily calorie estimations of some Russian peasants during the war times - some as low as only 350 calories a day! Most were surviving on bread lines and rations until those started running out...then they were boiling tree bark in the dead of Russian winters. Geez...brutal stuff. I find it interesting that things had gotten so bad that Lenin had no choice but to compromise a bit on the strict socialism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Economic_Policy Russia had a tsarist government overthrow through a revolution, a lost war with Japan, a losing war in World War I against Germany, brutal winters, and then a civil war after the October Revolution of 1917, etc...many compounding factors to make it a hell on Earth in the 1910s and 1920s.

Goal: Fix my shoulder. Drop fat again. I'm determined now - I dusted off the old food weighing scale. Really want to get down to 165 lbs. Newly motivated by my vacation and swimming at the ocean. Spouse & I took some pictures - we aren't obese by any means but were both like "damn...we need to get back in gear." Shoulder is not fully healed but I'm probably good enough to get back to Tennis.

No existential crisis stuff this month. Just remembering the importance of Living.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/im-21-live-7 ... 02837.html

Damn that is a tight space but actually does not sound terrible if you're single and have a high paying job in one of these VHCOL situations. Your room would literally be the place you sleep/shower. You'd own very little possessions and you would be outside a lot. Get a ERE friend in one of these "micro" apartments and you could split the place ~$700 a piece. 72 Square feet would be tight for 2 people but could be done...if 2 people share the same goal then its possible. You would want a bunkbed for sure. Presumably you could just walk to work and grab food from here too.

Imagine making one of those $100k salaries in NYC in a tiny apartment. Housing is $8400 a year. Round up to $10,000 to cover utilities and you're looking at $90k leftover to save. Probably more like $70k or so after taxes / health insurance and minus another $1800 for food ($150 per month). Contributions alone in 5 years would be $68.2k * 5 = $341k.

white belt
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by white belt »

Lemur wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:03 pm
https://www.yahoo.com/news/im-21-live-7 ... 02837.html

Damn that is a tight space but actually does not sound terrible if you're single and have a high paying job in one of these VHCOL situations. Your room would literally be the place you sleep/shower. You'd own very little possessions and you would be outside a lot. Get a ERE friend in one of these "micro" apartments and you could split the place ~$700 a piece. 72 Square feet would be tight for 2 people but could be done...if 2 people share the same goal then its possible. You would want a bunkbed for sure. Presumably you could just walk to work and grab food from here too.

Imagine making one of those $100k salaries in NYC in a tiny apartment. Housing is $8400 a year. Round up to $10,000 to cover utilities and you're looking at $90k leftover to save. Probably more like $70k or so after taxes / health insurance and minus another $1800 for food ($150 per month). Contributions alone in 5 years would be $68.2k * 5 = $341k.
That apartment seems manageable. I lived in a 300 sqft studio which was enough for a complete bathroom, full kitchen, dining area, queen bed, and office area complete with treadmill desk. I also didn't have any modular/multi-use furniture, but if I had something like a murphy bed setup or other furniture that collapses into walls I could have easily gone down to something this size. If I was that person and working from home then I would probably put the twin mattress up in the loft (just ask the landlord what kind of weight it can support), then make the couch area usable as an office and/or functional kitchen. You can actually see the person didn't maximize the storage space because the wall above the couch doesn't have any shelving, just decorations.

But damn does NYC expensive housing still not make sense. This year I'll make something like $105k living in a VHCOL metro that usually falls somewhere in the top 5 on "most expensive metros in USA" lists. I pay $800 a month (utilities included) for a room that is probably 3x the square footage of that example, my own bathroom with tub, and a shared kitchen/living area with 2 other roommates. It's also a normal house with backyard patio and yard space.* My area is probably just as walkable as that location in NYC and I'm a 5-10 minute walk from subway stations, bike share, bus stops, groceries, bars, restaurants, etc. Granted, I'm not in an entry level position so if I worked a similar job straight out of college my salary would be closer to $70-80k, but even so I can't ever seem to make the math work for living in NYC unless we're talking extremely high salaries (>$200k?).

* = For those wondering, the landlord lives in a unit with a separate entrance in the basement and Zillow puts the house value around $1.1 million.

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by Lemur »

@White Belt

I lived in military dorms for 4-5 years or so before finally getting enough rank to have my own place outside base. Also lived in small spaces / tents overseas. Wasn't all bad actually. It was nice to be able to clean your shelter in less than 10 minutes. :) Having confined spaces also forces you to not have too many possessions. Utility bills are decreased as well. Right now I live in a whole basement so the space is nice with a kid running around.

So today was cool - annual raise was in. Was given 7.5% plus a $13k bonus. I now make over 6 figures. Never thought I would make this amount of money but it is what it is. The golden handcuffs just got a little tighter. Market is on a tear again lately - I've 5 positions that have hit covered call strike prices! So I have some rolling to do or some crossing fingers in these next 2 weeks.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Lemur Journal!

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Lemur wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:03 pm
Imagine making one of those $100k salaries in NYC in a tiny apartment. Housing is $8400 a year. Round up to $10,000 to cover utilities and you're looking at $90k leftover to save. Probably more like $70k or so after taxes / health insurance and minus another $1800 for food ($150 per month). Contributions alone in 5 years would be $68.2k * 5 = $341k.
This is nothing too special. I was paying $550/month for my half of the rent/utilities in a nice 450 sq/ft apartment with huge yard for 7 years. Granted my income wasn't $100k/yr for the entire time, but surpassed that for 4 of those years. Contributions to savings/investments over the later 5 years in that spot totaled just over $400k.

I traded off not paying NYC taxes for owning a car and living an hour outside of the city. Someone making $100k in NYC is paying ~3.5% in NYC income tax, 5.5% NY State Tax, 15% Fed Tax, and 7.2% FICA......after you deduct ~$250-500/month for health insurance it's not all that much left over.

ETA: congrats on the raise/bonus. Wouldn't the higher income make the handcuffs come off sooner?

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Lemur
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Re: Lemur Journal!

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@2Birds1Stone

Perhaps. But you know with corporate jobs its always the next carrot. I thought about job-hopping to get in the $120-$130k salary range but I don't think it is worth it at this time...

- I work fully remote from home.
- I get complete creative control over my product.
- I am not micro-managed.
- This is the devil I know right now.

Financially - We're not there yet at the famed 3/4% SWR yet but we're heading there fast! At the least we've a ton of options. I posted this somewhere else comically but we're at "UnemploymentFI" meaning if I was let go I could combine unemployment insurance, options premiums, and withdrawal to cover all expenses in the 3-4% range...

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