Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I misunderstood the reg-t margin requirements. It might not be as a risky as I thought. I had thought they were 50% over night and that translated to 1.5x total holdings but that isn't the right calculation -- it is really 2x total holdings as you need 50% as holdings and max 50% as margin overnight (with reg-t). I know this is kindergarten margin learning here but I'm new to the whole thing. At 1.5x, the risk was way too high but at 2x, the risk trends towards more comfortable levels (still risky in this macro of course).

After thinking about it quite a bit, I'm going to stay the course on our original timeline to the boat that I don't think I've shared here but it's basically 2-2.5 years with a max of 3 years and at that point I'd want to have a boat, have some experience sailing the boat and be ready to cast off. Ideally, already made at least one trip to the Bahamas (or the equivalent if boat is not in southeast USA). I do flip flop on this thinking and want to go sooner but logically it makes the most sense to follow the original plan for a number of reasons.

Pointless venting about a "good problem to have":

I really am tired of the low effort recruiters that constantly spam me. I haven't figured out a good way to reply that doesn't waste my time or cause them offense. For example, I'm currently contracting at $165/hour and would go on to another contract at $180/hour with some monthly guarantees. Although after some reflection, I've realized the current contract seems pretty sound in terms of continuing which has a high value to it so the extra $15/hour wouldn't be enough to switch. But I was curious so I tried replying to a recruiter with those details (who clearly didn't bother to read my LinkedIn or do the even most basic research about me) and they replied with $180/hour worked out to years salary and wished me "good luck with my career" -- clearly some kind of offended tone instead of a genuine reply. So far, I haven't figured out a way to cut the wheat from the chaff with recruiters and it might be all chaff (better to reach out to known good employers if I wanted to go full time).

The root of the problem is that many software developers make less than I do. I fit all the criteria for probably being one of those software developers due to my location. But my background/choices/career path has made it possible for me to get within spitting distance of FANG pay but while working as an independent contractor. So far, I like being able to steer my own ship to some degree although I do acknowledge I'm dependent on those contracting my services. But I feel like I'm less subject to random corporate decisions like cost cutting entire departments and such. Plus the solo/individual 401k plan is quite nice in terms of keeping a rough balance between tax deferred and post-tax savings.

For now, doing what I'm doing now, seems like the best way to keep going. I've got another side business that I joined that may or may not work out that is interesting and in a new field to me (same tech, different market). So that is interesting. Plus I'm trying to keep my own small profitable software company going and my partner is now done within a month or so and going forward I can change it to a more tax-friendly LLC and my income from it will go up as no longer splitting. So more effort is due there to make it grow -- the dream being it pays a chunk of our expenses while we do the boat life and the savings continue to grow.

I tried starting these conversations with "I'm only interested in positions that pay over $X" but all that resulted in is recruiters that are willing to lie to me. Recruiting seems to be a very high turnover position, it certainly seems to me that the average recruiter isn't necessarily bringing professional standards or experience to the position but is more like a telemarketer selling a really expensive product.

My limited experience with tech recruiters is that they are trying to put butts in seats for entry to mid-level positions. If you are senior or offer bespoke services, you’re better off talking directly with managers/senior developers/purse holders at a company that could utilize your services. I suspect this is also where having a network is helpful.

I'm experience so far aligns with both of yours.

Progress: 54% ($862,500/$1,600,000)

I'm accumulating cash at the moment for a couple of reasons. Probably most important being the slowdown might impact my current contract so I want plenty of cash on hand to cover expenses. I'm sure I can find another opportunity but it would be a good time to take a bit of time off. I already am fairly sound on that front but still going to focus on accumulating cash for a bit while observing. AMD has dropped quite a bit and I do want to buy more at these prices but not quite ready to do so.

Progress: 67.5% ($1,080,000 / $1,600,000)

Wow, 25% increase in net worth in July. What are you invested in that did so well?

2Birds1Stone wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:57 am

Wow, 25% increase in net worth in July. What are you invested in that did so well?

I'm long AMD. So it's more what really tanked and now is starting to pull back again. I also decided to try my hand at stock options (LEAPS) and um... Yeah, I'm just thankful I mostly bought 2024 expiration with some 2023. I have learned some lessons at the school of hard knocks and it'll be a while until I get the tuition bill (or squeak by). It is mostly stock but mentioning the LEAPS due to how variable they can be.

It looks like our health insurance is going to drop from $1,900/month to $693/month. We've reached the end of COBRA and are switching to a Healthcare.gov plan which has much higher deductibles. I was surprised to find we qualified for a bit over $1,000/month in subsidies. That seems too good to be true but if it is, we should have skipped COBRA and gone right to the marketplace. Another plus is we can contribute to our HSA again. We've been paying way more for health insurance than rent and utilities.

I started making pizza on our Kamado grill a while ago. I wanted to start with thin crust because I do like a really thin cracker crust sometimes and it seemed like a good place to start. Here is one with pepperoni (our kids favorite):



I started reading more about the craft at PizzaMaking.com forum and quickly went down the rabbit hole of sourdough (which I misunderstood until recently in thinking it was only applicable to sourdough bread). I got 3 starters going (all purpose flour, bread flour and bread flour with wheat bran) before learning about the trick of using pineapple juice to cut a few days off the beginning. I also sent off for the Oregon Trail 1848 starter flakes but realized after learning more that it was not necessary -- I'll give it a try when it shows up. For a while, it looked like bread flour + wheat bran was going to be the winning starter but all purpose pulled through at the end and is now doubling better with more bubble activity. Lone bread flour seemed to fizzle out so I added in some of the other two to have a battle of the starters and it's kind of picking up. I'll probably cull back to one at some point. Oh, and I started by feeding all purpose but then transitioned to organic whole wheat as apparently that has more good stuff.

When I fed the three starters this morning, I put the discards into big measuring cup and added a cup of unbleached all purpose flour and some water. That didn't double yet -- up to about 1.5x. I'm going to use that to get some dough going for a try at sourdough crust tomorrow although I won't have a good idea of my hydration levels and I'm used to cracker crust so it'll be an experiment. I do see the benefit of going by the numbers particularly when going for the higher hydration doughs.

Well done! That looks like a great result. I have been bitten by the pizza bug myself. For me, using sourdough in place of commercial yeast was one of the largest impacts on terms of taste/quality. The other was better ingredients, both with regards to flour and tomatoes. I started using 00 flour and found that it is more workable and serves up a better finished texture. FrugalChicos recommended the book "The Elements of Pizza." I got some good information out of it, you may find it worthwhile as well.

How hot are you able to get your grill?

I can get the grill up to around 850 degrees Fahrenheit according to the dome temp thermometer. I have an instant read thermometer but I misplaced it -- really need that as want to read the stone. It's tricky though because I can hit a really high temp with initial heating but then opening and closing the lid releases a lot of heat. Also, initially the pizza stone is too hot so I have to quench it with a wet rag. I got a bit rushed yesterday and I think I cracked the stone by quenching (it's a cheap $15 stone). I've gotten used to the temperature changes with cracker curst and can pretty much roll with the flow (and I think the stone temp stays more stable).

I'm using a Kamado Joe Classic I which went on sale at the end of last year ($450). I think it does work as a pizza oven but it is harder to use than pizza-specific ovens. The manufacturer does sell a pizza add on but it's made out of aluminum so it's not usable for Neapolitan pizza. I think the tricky parts with the Kamado grill as a pizza oven are:

• temperature swings due to opening the lid
• easy to get the bottom too hot and not enough char/crispy up top
• the seals don't like the super high temps and tend to wear much faster (not overly expensive on the basic model I have, the fancier models come with fancier seals which may last long or be more expensive to replace)
• not really a con but as most of the heat is coming from bottom and don't get the high tempt flow over the top of the pie, need to keep bottom not too hot by making indirect (I'll attach a photo -- I used an approach recommended in a vide of putting the ceramic diverter plates above the coals, then some small steel spacers and then a pizza stone)

I do like the versatility of the Kamado so I'm going to keep trying to use it. However, I have definitely thought about building one of these:

Little Black Egg: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index ... pic=4753.0

I'm trying to do most of my cooking around thinking about utilizing it while sailboat cruising and it seems like propane is more available (not sure how readily available lump charcoal is), the above would be lighter (compared to a smaller Kamado, wouldn't try to bring the one I have now!) and it would be more consistent. The tricky bits are trying to make one that is still versatile enough to be able to bake bread.

I did read about the 00 pizza flour and was all amped up to try it and I might one day but I'm hesitant for these reasons:

• I'm not sure I like Neapolitan pizza as I don't think I've actually ever ate it -- I do like New York-style (offensive to a native Chicagoan but basically we're dividing pizza into two groups -- Neapolitan and New York)
• as mentioned above, trying to keep things aimed at cooking in the future on a sailboat cruising and we'll have large stores of more typical flour

I think I will try it but I really want to hone the basics for a while without changing too many variables. I did realize I'm basically trying to bake New York style at or near Neapolitan temperatures and that isn't a good idea!

As mentioned, I did try sourdough crust yesterday however I made a number of mistakes with the process. It was edible but the dough was not window paning nicely -- it was tearing. So some of the pies were a bit too thick which lead to gummy dough under the toppings. The last pie I was able to stretch a bit thiner and it was better. We ate them all though!

Last pie:





I've got another batch of sourdough going that is more by the book and I'll try that soon (or have to freeze it). We normally don't eat pizza that often but I want to figure it out. I think my wife is more excited about sourdough bread (which I'm excited about too) so I'm going to try the dutch oven approach for that (in our electric oven probably although apparently you can do it on the Kamado too after making pizza -- it takes a while for all that ceramic to cool down).

Second attempt at sourdough pizza was better. I was dealing with the cracked pizza stone so ended up baking on top of parchment paper. Also kept the temps a bit lower and baked longer which I think worked better.



Consensus from the family was that it was good but they also like the cracker crust pizza. I'm going to go on to try sourdough bread. I do like the sourdough pizza but I also like the cracker crust. We'll probably make both going forward. It's nice to have cracker crust as an option because it's far easier to go from nothing to pizza in one period compared to the sourdough.

I use naan bread to make pizza. Super easy and it turns out really well.

sky wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:31 pm

I use naan bread to make pizza. Super easy and it turns out really well.

Tortilla shells also work nicely.

sky wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:31 pm

I use naan bread to make pizza. Super easy and it turns out really well.

jacob wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:10 am

Tortilla shells also work nicely.

An Italian pizzaiolo just lit himself on fire in an act of protest

LOL

Do you sometimes find eating pizza in other countries to be traumatic?