tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29802462260763174532024-03-18T15:29:57.120-07:00Done by FortyDone By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-86809777914862441212022-02-07T05:00:00.007-07:002022-02-08T15:00:29.141-07:00Hoops for the Poor<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPacG0-EIGgTi0omTbZFvcur-kxdyfcvzLghQB1lxNTfijDdyaBqM7yS3VPI395d9Iyx9AIaoqwKhB60QWEu6Ak6aOnA18kHzUZ3BpBMJnAqR-RwKgtG1LmYSdgGahqrdZ4DYeAlSnw1cw6w9lcRLN70yks6qi9m8FQT0tUMG_n9ZR1pxdY5GKrgFs=s1024" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPacG0-EIGgTi0omTbZFvcur-kxdyfcvzLghQB1lxNTfijDdyaBqM7yS3VPI395d9Iyx9AIaoqwKhB60QWEu6Ak6aOnA18kHzUZ3BpBMJnAqR-RwKgtG1LmYSdgGahqrdZ4DYeAlSnw1cw6w9lcRLN70yks6qi9m8FQT0tUMG_n9ZR1pxdY5GKrgFs=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">It's tax time. That means it's time to wait anxiously for the mail each day, hoping that final W2 or 1099 will show up, and we finance weirdos can start in on the fun of entering figures into our favorite tax software.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I know I'm not the only one who enjoys this annual task. I imagine the five of you reading this blog look forward to the unpaid labor that so many other Americans, the normal ones, think of as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWZI_QaqBx0">special torture</a>. That's fine. Some people enjoy the time right up until the safe word, some of us like making an IRA contribution for the prior calendar year. It takes all kinds.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This tax year generated a large return for us, since moderate Democrats momentarily forgot <a href="https://pitchforkeconomics.com/episode/how-neoliberalism-captured-democrats-with-james-kwak/">their neoliberal principles</a>, and let the government actually send money to citizens in a time of crisis. Along with most Americans, we received a $1400 stimulus payment, and retroactively will get one even for twenty pound, six ounce Baby JC, who did not exist at the start of 2021. But thankfully she was delivered in time to get the stimulus payment in the tax return, along with a cool $3,600 in the expanded child tax credit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I'm struck with how little we had to do to get this money. There were no hoops to jump through whatsoever. One day the checks just showed up in our bank account.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When it came time to do our taxes, we just entered in the name & social for our children, and bam, our return shot up by thousands of dollars.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This is by design. Money from the government comes easy when you're wealthy or middle class. We get our tax deductions and government handouts without having to hand over our dignity in return.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Not so with poor people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">No, for them to get even small amounts of money back from the government they pay into the same as we do, there is a price to pay. Let's look a bit at that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You may not know this, but SNAP, the program that <a href="https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/explore-our-work/programs-target-populations/snap-eligible-households/#:~:text=The%20nutrition%20assistance%20program%20reaches,42%20million%20people%20each%20year.">provides food to over 42 million Americans each year</a>, has <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements">a damn work requirement</a>. A work requirement in order to receive food. So that you and your family will not, you know, starve and then die. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If you don't have any dependents, you have <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements">a second, harder-to-meet work requirement</a> on top of the general work requirement: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b;">If you are age 18–49, able to work, and don’t have any dependents, you might need to meet both the general work requirements and an additional work requirement for ABAWDs to get SNAP for more than 3 months in 3 years (the time limit)"</span></i></b></span></blockquote><span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1b1b1b;"><span style="background-color: white;">Why would the federal government impose such a work requirement? Why to teach the value of work, of course. From <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/work-requirements">the USDA</a>: "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b;">While SNAP is intended to ensure no one in our land of plenty should fear going hungry, its rules also reflect the importance of work and responsibility." </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But food is not the only benefit from the government that has hoops for the poor to jump through. At the behest of the Trump administration, <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/medicaid-work-requirements-implications-for-low-income-womens-coverage/">several states have tried to add a work requirement for Medicaid</a>, the federal program <a href="https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/index.html">providing healthcare to 76 million Americans</a>: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #393d40;">In January 2018, the Trump Administration issued guidance for </span><a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-waiver-tracker-approved-and-pending-section-1115-waivers-by-state/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #0075c9; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Section 1115 waivers</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #393d40;"> that impose </span><a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-waiver-tracker-approved-and-pending-section-1115-waivers-by-state/#Table2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #0075c9; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">work</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #393d40;"> and reporting requirements as a condition of Medicaid eligibility. Eight states have approved waivers with work requirements and four states have had such waivers set aside by courts....</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #393d40;">The Trump Administration made a significant change to the program by allowing some states to impose </span><a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/the-landscape-of-medicaid-demonstration-waivers-ahead-of-the-2020-election/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #0075c9; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">work requirements</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #393d40;"> for individuals covered by Medicaid. Currently, none of these programs are in effect as several have been blocked by court orders and other states have delayed implementation due to the coronavirus pandemic. Conversely, the Biden Administration has initiated a process to reverse the Trump changes."</span></i></b></span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">While many states have embraced the idea that citizens should not necessarily get sick or eat food unless they are working, that isn't quite enough for some states, who have decided that those receiving public assistance <a href="https://www.clasp.org/publications/fact-sheet/drug-testing-and-public-assistance">should also submit to drug tests</a>. From the Center for Law and Social Policy:</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></b></p><blockquote><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"<span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.176px;">In the last decade, numerous states began requiring those applying for and/or receiving cash assistance under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to undergo screening for the possibility of illicit substance use and, dependent on screening results, chemical drug testing. As of February 2019, at least 13 states have such policies.</span><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.176px;"> More recently, states have tried to apply similar rules to other programs, including food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance (UI)...</span><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.176px;">In states that have implemented drug testing policies, few applicants have been identified as likely users, and even fewer have tested positive (in most cases, less than 1 percent of applicants).</span><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.176px;"> This practice is based on erroneous stereotypes which, among other things, suggest that people with low incomes are more likely to use controlled substances than those with higher incomes. </span><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.176px;">Such testing is an unwise use of state taxpayer dollars since operating costs far exceed the money saved from denying people benefits.</span><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.176px;">"</span></span></i></b></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Besides being a waste of taxpayer dollars based on an erroneous bias, such drug test requirements <a href="https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/welfare-drug-testing-legality.html">may not even be legal</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But all that is beside the point. Perhaps due to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/28/five-stereotypes-about-poor-families-and-education/">a bias against the poor</a> in America, <a href="https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-work-requirements-cap-toll-medicaid.html">some polls have found</a> that a majority of Americans support work requirements for public benefits like Medicaid. There's a notion that certain benefits (i.e. - those designed to help the poor) must be safeguarded, to ensure these precious programs are only utilized "by those who really need them" or those who, by evidence of their hard work and clean urine, are shown to be deserving.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Still, I wonder why this logic does not extend the much larger government benefits given to the middle class and the wealthy. Let's take a look at <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/06/the-biggest-u-s-tax-breaks/">the largest federal tax breaks</a>, from the Pew Center:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjo7b8142FoKFMcBuyvMJfKYf-ya8cjPHQCifs_IGUVQoHsmTH0NxadS7seDX8hqrsxQRS9u_1i79_LghXtniKfQcvJ3MLTDv7jqBhAqczXQE5p9uyb_03DNQC-x409nHBZ7jddhoSFoUNR2FwJxsxST6KGpFvO9mZFPVsJ89OFgAfd6aa2O3h21ZRN" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjo7b8142FoKFMcBuyvMJfKYf-ya8cjPHQCifs_IGUVQoHsmTH0NxadS7seDX8hqrsxQRS9u_1i79_LghXtniKfQcvJ3MLTDv7jqBhAqczXQE5p9uyb_03DNQC-x409nHBZ7jddhoSFoUNR2FwJxsxST6KGpFvO9mZFPVsJ89OFgAfd6aa2O3h21ZRN=s16000" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I wonder what percentage of Americans would be in favor of employees submitting to random drug tests in order to receive their tax-subsidized healthcare insurance?</span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When well-off homeowners are doing their taxes, would they be open to losing their mortgage interest deduction if they had also lost their job or retired in the past year? After all, the government should encourage citizens to learn the value of hard work.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When senior citizens get monthly Social Security checks and universal healthcare from Medicare, should they be required to work twenty hours a week in order to receive these generous benefits? Do we not worry about an entire generation of Americans getting hooked on free money from the government?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">These are facetious questions. Politicians wouldn't dare mess with the generous tax benefits given to homeowners or senior citizens. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And giving drug tests to any employee receiving tax benefits on their health insurance would be immensely wasteful. What would be the benefit of such a punitive, wasteful program? Surely these citizens already know that working is a good thing.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But there's a different set of rules for the poor. We have no problem with the double standard, because the poor are in need not just of money, but of valuable life lessons, too.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The difference, it seems, is that when the wealthy & middle class get a stimulus check or subsidies helping to pay for their huge mortgages, it is not a handout. The government is giving just a bit of our own money back to us. It is <i>our </i>money. So means testing or work requirements or drug testing would be absurd. If anything, the government should be sending us even <i>more</i> checks and tax breaks. All that money is ours in the first place, right?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But when the poor get a box of groceries, or take their kid to the doctor, & the government pays for it, that is a different thing. <i>That</i> is a handout.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">At the root of this difference is a belief that, in this country, the poor are different. A different class. A different kind of people. An other.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But they don't have to be. With some hard work, maybe some education, they can change their lot in life. We're even willing to give some help. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">We just have to make sure they really need the help first.</span></div><div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sonstroem/48075849816/sizes/l/">sonstroem</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></p></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-27676929114328107262022-01-24T05:00:00.005-07:002022-01-24T08:14:54.362-07:00Solar Panels or an Electric Vehicle?<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjw5erjqpBolIH55VD2X_gg6nJn20vUcHm49VggOYoIbV8CoVVKcLAsWb-zVUZ7TnXwj7LovyDm3P_Io-jDpdkTlHd95SOtMTb2TC7EnNK6-didW-J8T2ZQaiByTGKJTrdmFaHAfVFvrRWrAQzmxzfaj6VfqR1IwhpfG3FRBs5JJ4dzLclIy_kg8Vsw=s800" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="800" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjw5erjqpBolIH55VD2X_gg6nJn20vUcHm49VggOYoIbV8CoVVKcLAsWb-zVUZ7TnXwj7LovyDm3P_Io-jDpdkTlHd95SOtMTb2TC7EnNK6-didW-J8T2ZQaiByTGKJTrdmFaHAfVFvrRWrAQzmxzfaj6VfqR1IwhpfG3FRBs5JJ4dzLclIy_kg8Vsw=w400-h268" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondot/3049032681/sizes/c/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Last week we noodled over which <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2022/01/noodling-electric-vehicles.html">electric vehicle</a> might replace one of the two gas burning cars in our garage right now. But I was underwhelmed by how little cost or even environmental savings would be gained from most of the options. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The new EVs wouldn't break on costs for hundreds of years. Okay, fine: we're not really trying to save money with a new vehicle. We're trying to save the atmosphere from having even more CO2 dumped into it every year. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But even on that front, a new Tesla would take five years just to break even from the environmental impacts of building the car. Mining the steel & lithium to make a new vehicle, and shipping that stuff all over the globe, has some pretty material environmental impacts.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The catch is that we just don't drive that much. While neither of our cars gets great miles per gallon, a fill up lasts each car about two months. So we use about 7 gallons of gas per car per month: or 14 gallons per month total. That tilts the math on EVs for our household more than it would for a family that, you know, drives to work. *</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But what about the environmental impacts of just living in our home? Might we get a bigger environmental (or economic) bang for our buck by using that money to put solar panels up on the roof instead?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Let's look at one estimate of what it would cost to install solar.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHZ-ugh9G2wY2GOKTyZhX1fNXtqrTv-n1cxB6ceMBGyzalGW_opRBBRXJA7q2bwtkDDhr1Svol7577Mi_JsjlnI7wcrCxxAiBNv720v2_GFL09Sfub0kC7DWt5wgIbyML5g9SWY6wp0kKnQIWNM46P72mQOj1rDICUs9xOEm-SVWX8jcUyUPxhKup6=s1123" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1123" height="405" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHZ-ugh9G2wY2GOKTyZhX1fNXtqrTv-n1cxB6ceMBGyzalGW_opRBBRXJA7q2bwtkDDhr1Svol7577Mi_JsjlnI7wcrCxxAiBNv720v2_GFL09Sfub0kC7DWt5wgIbyML5g9SWY6wp0kKnQIWNM46P72mQOj1rDICUs9xOEm-SVWX8jcUyUPxhKup6=w534-h405" width="534" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Click for bigness. Source: Solar-estimate.org</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br />So, twenty two thousand dollars if we bought the system outright. We might get some tax incentives but, now that our household income is lower, we might not want to count on those just yet. And the system would hypothetically generate 13,600kWh in a year. </span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here is some more data from the estimate. Please take it all with a big grain of salt. Actual quotes would have to come from contractors, which we're not going to bother with in the middle of a pandemic. And the true energy generated, as well as any savings, will likely be different than those estimated. (Especially as our utility company can, <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2021/03/19/srp-charging-high-rate-customers-rooftop-solar-antitrust-violation/4674743001/">and has, changed rates charged to customers with solar,</a> to cover costs associated with the grid.) <br /></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3uLPv_6gaxYKuz8Vii_HBuWBBfYRfVMIX_O2v8vo7Fv0IqKDj4ELiVVo5qwrL8U6cyfckOyAIBjeHIEgK3DLK2L5PT9LGlTyMHTvRpzAyInJaGOVu2hHcbMO9jpUDCrnJKgBDmepkVH5W5EcH6TSX02rYKP1jNi88SpSZ-jiX5DqnzuHBp-NnlA3U=s1130" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="1130" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3uLPv_6gaxYKuz8Vii_HBuWBBfYRfVMIX_O2v8vo7Fv0IqKDj4ELiVVo5qwrL8U6cyfckOyAIBjeHIEgK3DLK2L5PT9LGlTyMHTvRpzAyInJaGOVu2hHcbMO9jpUDCrnJKgBDmepkVH5W5EcH6TSX02rYKP1jNi88SpSZ-jiX5DqnzuHBp-NnlA3U=w529-h236" width="529" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvcgQSgj_y-hCblgbsUkYFU7eIFIyriwqyIedMOG1yNPfqfjVtgSHMw0G01kZVUoZi9iAHLcboSXGvcUMdSNdRQeC9Khz5I4nTgq6R3UrLFfJ-SQqhLWxKDOZAIndDbkgvOm86HpiFLwpgI7ciCrQ8llWA66X9iolxfUaJ_fcD7v7rVz_ebHcJidlH=s1133" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="1133" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvcgQSgj_y-hCblgbsUkYFU7eIFIyriwqyIedMOG1yNPfqfjVtgSHMw0G01kZVUoZi9iAHLcboSXGvcUMdSNdRQeC9Khz5I4nTgq6R3UrLFfJ-SQqhLWxKDOZAIndDbkgvOm86HpiFLwpgI7ciCrQ8llWA66X9iolxfUaJ_fcD7v7rVz_ebHcJidlH=w529-h246" width="529" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgM6mGGqao4UPZMnISMiYy5LfLeQDrxVCfWKzdKHSRyZV6daC6cBcjVdGDQqeWHVtaVXGh6BmHE2hp9w9j3j7znHr2k31E_GHzgjK0m9Y8WW9iITeGjCX4PWfDDM2oz3uqX2j9_P6bGe98VYx7w3tpUN8NMjaJbUUq6C6LM2ocybDHiJw_iTlEmmSqm=s1132" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="1132" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgM6mGGqao4UPZMnISMiYy5LfLeQDrxVCfWKzdKHSRyZV6daC6cBcjVdGDQqeWHVtaVXGh6BmHE2hp9w9j3j7znHr2k31E_GHzgjK0m9Y8WW9iITeGjCX4PWfDDM2oz3uqX2j9_P6bGe98VYx7w3tpUN8NMjaJbUUq6C6LM2ocybDHiJw_iTlEmmSqm=w532-h191" width="532" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrI-lhUvHf4kACp0Dmbd4VV8nl5sr_-noC79VUoM7CPuDsyBK_N_FgGPjDm1VWpxdDzi27E6MSwngGOpfvMxA3iTbqFmCnvlNHMRRashVrSaIhP0i-wK-quTfeyRaWR7iSbJYEzVlRKwimYQ3pGEs2NonUYv1LBt_vW3B7WxIe1tUAXU-IpTF20itc=s1138" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="1138" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrI-lhUvHf4kACp0Dmbd4VV8nl5sr_-noC79VUoM7CPuDsyBK_N_FgGPjDm1VWpxdDzi27E6MSwngGOpfvMxA3iTbqFmCnvlNHMRRashVrSaIhP0i-wK-quTfeyRaWR7iSbJYEzVlRKwimYQ3pGEs2NonUYv1LBt_vW3B7WxIe1tUAXU-IpTF20itc=w531-h125" width="531" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfy7ev0c7JeBmlxayrkJf7CENPSDNIFsDJOIC5oMItasWi-Kk4CzIlhAI8x3NTUz78QrLaEladBwJgXw1ZbexbRjpGID7ceyqEBqaFRytx0dsUg0XYghShUSUGzuxTW6LfEF8AIJx6VLqXRngewA5QuaxQ2gH7KcW60FFGc7csxLF_a3UKnR1EDPkz=s1131" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="1131" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfy7ev0c7JeBmlxayrkJf7CENPSDNIFsDJOIC5oMItasWi-Kk4CzIlhAI8x3NTUz78QrLaEladBwJgXw1ZbexbRjpGID7ceyqEBqaFRytx0dsUg0XYghShUSUGzuxTW6LfEF8AIJx6VLqXRngewA5QuaxQ2gH7KcW60FFGc7csxLF_a3UKnR1EDPkz=w531-h159" width="531" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Some initial takeaways from these figures:</span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The estimator is saying our electricity bill would be reduced to nothing, but I'm sure that's not the case. For one, SRP charges a "demand charge" to customers with rooftop solar who still draw electricity from the grid at any point (which is just about everyone, due to the need to run the air conditioner at peak hour prices in the summer). </span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">On top of that, the system size wouldn't seem to cover our entire energy usage over the course of the year (likely for the same reason: using the air conditioner/heat pump in the summer).</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here is what our actual energy usage looked like in 2021:</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6anHHnnFr7gi0eBcCyiBhjq4pExCSMfzWKzkLLj-C-MRCbGdokd2EOoGOWnttHgcA86M7Al9ClJ4J793eKlgXKgf9_7pH5mNdggrELmWOyvOeQjP-AqICb1CFb1kiM0eOIwHtXCB85C-EJy_cCewbAJlD2PSRnthdLfE_FD7U6EiMhuHO4nC-axBE=s1230" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1230" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6anHHnnFr7gi0eBcCyiBhjq4pExCSMfzWKzkLLj-C-MRCbGdokd2EOoGOWnttHgcA86M7Al9ClJ4J793eKlgXKgf9_7pH5mNdggrELmWOyvOeQjP-AqICb1CFb1kiM0eOIwHtXCB85C-EJy_cCewbAJlD2PSRnthdLfE_FD7U6EiMhuHO4nC-axBE=w517-h335" width="517" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Click for bigness.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Our energy use peaks in the summer, when both the AC and the pool pump are running. We don't have any natural gas or any other power source like heating oil, so everything in the home runs off of electricity. Some summary figures:</span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Our total electricity usage in 2021 was 18,892 kWh</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The annual cost was $2,310</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The costs were atypically high this year as we had Baby JC, who can't have a blanket or anything else in the crib. We kept the thermostat low in the summer and high in the winter, and we didn't play any of the games we used to, like letting the temp creep up in peak hours in the summer to save a few bucks. Not worth it.</span></li></ul></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So, if we were to believe the figures in this estimate, what sort of savings would we see? How long until we broke even? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A breakeven analysis that contemplates environmental impacts is complicated by the fact that our utility company, SRP, is <a href="https://www.srpnet.com/environment/sustainability/2035-goals.aspx#:~:text=Total%20delivered%20carbon%20emissions,fiscal%20year%202005%20base%20year.">reducing its carbon impact over time</a>, and is set to <a href="https://media.srpnet.com/srp-to-more-than-double-its-utility-scale-solar-to-2025-megawatts-by-2025/">more than double its solar production by 2025</a>. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZAvcgSLcoTvLZdDMmC0jZ6r1S1U8j3uOqPybmys5GS1BQIzE_eOExfR6BAlM10eOvxdXslmo41g3fziZ3XqgKI_hVm1c6OqNnzu-h7ZZ2kd0ripL8mlIS4XKfgs1SguVHE1Ut2SNlkxxGQkz1dKpeXrqcgSxmp74zjXrbJBTISsMqcAer2bxmWg98=s1200" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="1200" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZAvcgSLcoTvLZdDMmC0jZ6r1S1U8j3uOqPybmys5GS1BQIzE_eOExfR6BAlM10eOvxdXslmo41g3fziZ3XqgKI_hVm1c6OqNnzu-h7ZZ2kd0ripL8mlIS4XKfgs1SguVHE1Ut2SNlkxxGQkz1dKpeXrqcgSxmp74zjXrbJBTISsMqcAer2bxmWg98=w521-h352" width="521" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.srpnet.com/environment/sustainability/2035-goals.aspx#:~:text=Total%20delivered%20carbon%20emissions,fiscal%20year%202005%20base%20year.">SRP</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Regardless, we can at least work with today's figures. With its current mix of power plants & renewable energy, SRP claims to be releasing 922 pounds of CO2 per MWh of electricity generated (1MWh = 1,000 KWh). Would spending on solar have a better impact than spending that money on an electric vehicle? Time for some math. </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">As we used 18,892 kWh of electricity in our house in 2021, that would mean we're responsible for 18,840 pounds of CO2 released into the atmosphere.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Using the estimates above, a solar system could generate 13,600 kWh in a year, hypothetically preventing 12,539 pounds of CO2 from being generated per year, at a cost of $21,675.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Going back to <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2022/01/noodling-electric-vehicles.html">the post on electric vehicles</a>, we currently emit 1,645 pounds of CO2 per vehicle, per year. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A new EV would actually take five years just to break even on the environmental impacts, given how little we drive. But from that point forward, an EV would prevent those 1,645 pounds of CO2 from coming straight out of the tailpipe...but without solar panels, <i>more</i> CO2 would now be generated again by the increased electricity usage needed to charge the car. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A used EV would start saving on net emissions immediately, as any environmental impacts from the car are sunk costs.</span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The big takeaway for me is that our house generates way, way more CO2 than our cars do, even if it does so indirectly. Even if a solar array wouldn't completely cover all our energy usage, the 12,539 pounds of CO2 such a system would keep out of the atmosphere every year is roughly 8 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from one of our cars in that timeframe. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And while twenty two thousand dollars is a lot of money, it's still a fraction of what a new EV costs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So, at least for our house, it looks like solar panels give a better bang for the buck. Which is kind of a bummer, because electric cars are really fast and a rear wheel drive Tesla is a good bit more fun than solar panels that just, you know, sit there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Of course, this is a false dichotomy. While solar is maybe a better value prop than a new car, there's no reason we couldn't buy both.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Come back for a future post when I try to convince Mrs. Done by Forty that buying solar panels <i>and</i> a fancy, fast new car is what we need to do. You know, for the environment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">*(A small caveat: the pandemic is a weird time so who knows what the future holds for our driving. But our gas consumption in the past two years is remarkably close to what we did in the pre-pandemic times. With the Matrix, we drove 5,000 miles a year on average from 2011-2019. Assuming 30 mpg in mixed driving, that works out to 13.9 gallons a month.)</span></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</span></b></i></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></p></div></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-12282248877889404722022-01-17T05:00:00.479-07:002022-01-17T07:44:42.326-07:00Noodling Electric Vehicles<div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHaTCfAcjePYDHzV0BNilOgx3HdxEl75OFMVrMaTVhHoU3g-FY_Xn6Aqc5L5E2bsJNAzHcduGLAMk7zSarbBXKVQZhUoYf_HSI4yeFtcpGMxcUndjF1Munp39QLNUJ7lw5qi2rGO20ZYksa5xLll0gusTjH-oaGLkQZDAPx2l9ssderC-fxrXVPRZr=s1024" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHaTCfAcjePYDHzV0BNilOgx3HdxEl75OFMVrMaTVhHoU3g-FY_Xn6Aqc5L5E2bsJNAzHcduGLAMk7zSarbBXKVQZhUoYf_HSI4yeFtcpGMxcUndjF1Munp39QLNUJ7lw5qi2rGO20ZYksa5xLll0gusTjH-oaGLkQZDAPx2l9ssderC-fxrXVPRZr=s320" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/26344495@N05/50724040756/sizes/l/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I'm in the middle of <i><a href="https://tanjahester.com/wallet-activism/">Wallet Activism</a></i> right now and it's changing the way I think about things. How we spend our money, sure. But also how we think about things. How do we make decisions, even with things that are free (or "free"). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When I click on the free shipping option to save a couple bucks, what else happens before that package arrives at my door? What happened in a factory or sweatshop overseas a few months earlier?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">When we spend airline points to get on a flight to Europe, and maybe write a blog post bragging about our fancy ass travel, we didn't spend any money. But what costs are still borne by...someone?<span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Along those lines, Mrs. Done by Forty and I are starting to think about ways we can lessen our negative impacts. Something we're talking about now is looking at our vehicles, both of which are non-hybrid, gasoline cars, a 2015 Lexus RX 350 (3.5L naturally aspirated V6) and a 2006 Saab wagon (2.0 L turbocharged inline 4).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here's what <a href="https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle">an EPA article</a> estimates the environmental cost of our current cars: </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; font-weight: bolder;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; font-weight: bolder;"><i>"How much tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) is created from burning one gallon of fuel?</i></span></div><ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1b1b1b; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 3ch; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1);"><blockquote><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: revert; margin-top: 0.5rem; padding-left: 3ch; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1);"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.25em; max-width: unset; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1);"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>CO<span style="bottom: -0.25em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">2</span> Emissions from a gallon of gasoline: 8,887 grams CO<span style="bottom: -0.25em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">2</span>/ gallon</b></i></span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: unset; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1);"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>CO<span style="bottom: -0.25em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">2</span> Emissions from a gallon of diesel: 10,180 grams CO<span style="bottom: -0.25em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; transition-duration: 200ms; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-box-shadow, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 1, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">2</span>/ gallon"</b></i></span></li></ul></blockquote></ul></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #1b1b1b;">Each vehicle goes about two months between fill ups, so as a household we're buying about 14 gallons of gasoline and lighting it on fire every month. </span><br /></span><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">According to the EPA, this means our cars emit about 124.4 kilograms (or 274.3 pounds) of carbon dioxide every month, working out to 1,493 kilograms (or 1.4 metric tons) of carbon dioxide per year for our two cars combined (or 0.7 metric tons per car per year. There are other gases released by burning gasoline but we'll focus on CO2 for the sake of this post. </span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The EPA estimates that the average American vehicle emits 4.6 metric tons of CO2 per year so we're somewhere in the neighborhood of 15% of that average per car. Still, we're contributing to the problem and we'd like to improve that. As the twelve steppers say, progress, not perfection.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So we're looking at different vehicles (namely, to replace my beloved Saab wagon, with a stick, a thing I'll probably never have in another car again and I'm sad about it) for an EV.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In order of most ridiculous to most frugal, here are some options we're considering for making our passenger vehicles more electric.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtTjBlBH7lSNaWydcq7Mj94yF04vaX4dNDGLhxhTpAQRtiMhXkPUQDDPPqKbZNjB2FKwwJ7mHN7EeZAAtEU7aPwyjw_JxRTWeVW43we5E8U4zbYbEN8cAp1aq5pdjYvZmXhht52rM21Y//" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="980" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtTjBlBH7lSNaWydcq7Mj94yF04vaX4dNDGLhxhTpAQRtiMhXkPUQDDPPqKbZNjB2FKwwJ7mHN7EeZAAtEU7aPwyjw_JxRTWeVW43we5E8U4zbYbEN8cAp1aq5pdjYvZmXhht52rM21Y/w495-h279/image.png" width="495" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>Cost:</b> A preposterous $133,000 (or 57.8 Saabs), and that's just the starting cost. Options push that higher. We wouldn't gain any tax benefits from an EV credit so I won't factor that in to juice the numbers in our favor.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Breakeven point from gasoline savings*</b>: 648.3 years</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Environmental break even point**: </b>4.9 years.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Initial thoughts:</b> My heart wants this ridiculous super wagon. It's fast, it looks good, and it has all the wagon goodness that my dad soul cries out for. Just think of what you can fit in the back when you fold the seats down. But the price is pure nonsense. Our first house didn't cost that much. It's a no. My heart will go on.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Tesla Model 3, RWD</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgioCcgBFInKKH_XDoOYnFQfT4DooKznnMcKo7IFEpiWDhkcHj9_WKP7QkON86aq0Aad7XIh4d0SCdnBdSM1n_O82mlYNHNBF7gD6BOq0YrTWvxQ-YOQWdm40dBah_eJRgg9Wku4wGxa3xCuHUMYG-f3oMlU6jdDBnzo1exNpg5OulLEAbKfo2AQjB8=s799" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgioCcgBFInKKH_XDoOYnFQfT4DooKznnMcKo7IFEpiWDhkcHj9_WKP7QkON86aq0Aad7XIh4d0SCdnBdSM1n_O82mlYNHNBF7gD6BOq0YrTWvxQ-YOQWdm40dBah_eJRgg9Wku4wGxa3xCuHUMYG-f3oMlU6jdDBnzo1exNpg5OulLEAbKfo2AQjB8=w493-h328" width="493" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/97202111@N03/50719608277/sizes/c/">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Cost: </b>$45,000 (or 19.6 Saabs)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Breakeven point with gas savings: </b>211.8 years</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Environmental break even point: </b>4.9 years. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Initial thoughts: </b>While Teslas are very fast, very nice cars, I've never been a huge fan. The Model 3's styling just doesn't do anything for me, the cars have terrible build quality, fit, and finish, and Elon Musk is a jackass of the highest order who runs a company that has been accused of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Tesla,_Inc.#Anti-union_efforts">a range of misdeeds</a>, from worker safety and anti-union efforts to racism & worker harassment. The idea of handing this guy money just doesn't sit right at all. But this is about having less of an impact on the environment, not about keeping money out of the hands of terrible people or trying to look cool via a car. When you're faced with imperfect choices, you just pick the least bad one, right?</span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Used Tesla Model S 85</span></b></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlZoIjcxnTutzLrNc8-ERhe-kAFgIerNaw2UdkmtQmNBDfS9J-0y9g1dNIEg16lv-kGClZSguYols4AAu28fu3mqFSQjETmpTUQSU1xuvIondKMGbZUte-WtxwIOe8oVd8ngvaJSN-WH3A0dCh3JUW-WeD2vAQCDnkP5xTry_nHMPyC0kqTFErcIJE=s959" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="959" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlZoIjcxnTutzLrNc8-ERhe-kAFgIerNaw2UdkmtQmNBDfS9J-0y9g1dNIEg16lv-kGClZSguYols4AAu28fu3mqFSQjETmpTUQSU1xuvIondKMGbZUte-WtxwIOe8oVd8ngvaJSN-WH3A0dCh3JUW-WeD2vAQCDnkP5xTry_nHMPyC0kqTFErcIJE=w495-h373" width="495" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/242994647900961/?ref=category_feed&referral_code=undefined&referral_story_type=listing&tracking=%7B%22qid%22%3A%22-7041235629528555817%22%2C%22mf_story_key%22%3A%224577415382346394%22%2C%22commerce_rank_obj%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22target_id%5C%22%3A4577415382346394%2C%5C%22target_type%5C%22%3A0%2C%5C%22primary_position%5C%22%3A8%2C%5C%22ranking_signature%5C%22%3A2317224801397112832%2C%5C%22commerce_channel%5C%22%3A504%2C%5C%22value%5C%22%3A7.0458305961215e-6%7D%22%7D"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Cost: </b>$28,800 (or 12.5 Saabs)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Breakeven point with gas savings: </b>131.4 years</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Environmental break even point: </b>Immediate. Since this is a used car, the costs of producing the car are sunk (as are those for the Saab). We'd see an immediate environmental benefit by switching.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Initial thoughts: </b>This was the cheapest, non-salvage Tesla within 500 miles at the time of this post. It's a 2014 model though, which means the build quality would be even worse than with new models and, of course, it's now eight years old. Reliability issues aside, it's obviously cheaper than a new car (though not as cheap as they were in 2019 and not as depreciated as I think they ought to be). And there are some other benefits of buying used: no additional environmental impacts from mining more lithium or steel & transporting parts all around the world, and no additional money given to Elon. Still, would we buy thirty thousand dollar eight year old Tesla for those savings & benefits?</span></div></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Used Nissan Leaf</span></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3tf_wgu4-Mhn01GtG0v-Tw_MY9DVBu3YEsjk9Q_CiOm8g51AsNmzKrC-2pjuvvqZgk3cRJ3_MfflFkzeSGRqzmUtll0enE88kU4b2Nkp1t8M5Kwtpqgl6RdQRmxBEcQBE_tMtp9eESu6oh5r6Gun2BsXbboCMgYJInckclGfRXE486aQcOBCvLMq3=s960" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj3tf_wgu4-Mhn01GtG0v-Tw_MY9DVBu3YEsjk9Q_CiOm8g51AsNmzKrC-2pjuvvqZgk3cRJ3_MfflFkzeSGRqzmUtll0enE88kU4b2Nkp1t8M5Kwtpqgl6RdQRmxBEcQBE_tMtp9eESu6oh5r6Gun2BsXbboCMgYJInckclGfRXE486aQcOBCvLMq3=w494-h371" width="494" /></span></a></div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Cost:</b> $5,495 (or 2.4 Saabs)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Breakeven point with gas savings: </b>15.8 years</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Environmental break even point: </b>Same as with the used Tesla, the break even point for environmental impacts is immediate.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Initial thoughts: </b>From a financial perspective, this one makes a lot of sense. Almost 100% of the driving we do is within the 50ish miles of range a 10 year old Leaf has at this point. And this EV makes a lot of sense as a second car, since we could hypothetically use our other vehicle for the once or twice a year road trip to see family in Southern California.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The rub is that I don't really love the car. It's slow and small and, you know, not cool. But as I need to remind myself, what's the goal here? To seem cool or reduce impacts? Once the whole family is vaxxed, maybe a test drive is in order. Who knows, maybe I'll like the little thing.</span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Saab EV Conversion</span></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivPai7afRHJoNThYkOmE8Nku7rTlAlgApeGewHBVSQ5Pzd4hWorNWIvF_y7Oy6m0hbRGbPE4jJFE1XNzQMnY8DogORo-YDeTTPwOIQQvjixyARErgE3mu2TXLpcoQt8Q3zKZWKBGAKNpLDQ7S3nAw3CYSrNT0vf8ZDG8LCEf_UwbFU365Soc_I_EKb=s960" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="960" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivPai7afRHJoNThYkOmE8Nku7rTlAlgApeGewHBVSQ5Pzd4hWorNWIvF_y7Oy6m0hbRGbPE4jJFE1XNzQMnY8DogORo-YDeTTPwOIQQvjixyARErgE3mu2TXLpcoQt8Q3zKZWKBGAKNpLDQ7S3nAw3CYSrNT0vf8ZDG8LCEf_UwbFU365Soc_I_EKb=w492-h251" width="492" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Cost: </b>$5k (or 2.2 Saabs) if I stick to a strict budget & buy everything used, ala <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRnFzklXi4o&ab_channel=RichRebuilds">Rich Rebuild's MiniCooper budget build</a>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Breakeven point with gas savings: </b>24.8 years.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Environmental break even point: </b>Again, immediate since all the components would be used.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Initial thoughts: </b>This is kind of what I <i>want</i> to do because I would not only get to keep the Saab wagon goodness, but also get to keep the manual transmission (even if shifting becomes pretty rare once converted), <i>and</i> I'd get a ridiculously cool project.</span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But I'd also get a ridiculously hard project, one involving pulling the engine & transmission, fabricating a transmission plate & motor mounts, welding (which I don't know how to do yet), and an ungodly amount of wiring. This is like a year of work and the sad reality is that the vast majority of EV conversions don't get finished. The smart money says that once the engine is pulled and I'm staring at a big empty space in the engine bay, the project may die. Am I one of the fortunate few who takes a fully functional car, tears it apart & ends up with a mostly functioning car at the end of it?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Probably not.</span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Converting a Bike to EV</span></b></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWG3z_UTdnRB7qrrm3xbct3dT1wCLEmq71OpTmRmypWDoIBHxTk2VyxN-VkpoVSpZ8QAWO3wURje6XrYyhZvuszxWof5ixzXyHOJPATo8oEoq4gkA42lipsNW0DAqGJh3xkYRJYsWVA8HdYLI0T05g5voRwUUS2W5AeJWRPFgY6Prut403kaLaXY-I=s799" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWG3z_UTdnRB7qrrm3xbct3dT1wCLEmq71OpTmRmypWDoIBHxTk2VyxN-VkpoVSpZ8QAWO3wURje6XrYyhZvuszxWof5ixzXyHOJPATo8oEoq4gkA42lipsNW0DAqGJh3xkYRJYsWVA8HdYLI0T05g5voRwUUS2W5AeJWRPFgY6Prut403kaLaXY-I=w483-h322" width="483" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/conalg/13929485086/sizes/c/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Cost: </b>$150 (or 0.07 Saabs) using <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r12IrYTqvas&t=6s&ab_channel=jehugarcia">Jehu Garcia's YouTube explainer</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Breakeven point with gas savings: </b>Immediately if I actually sold the Saab & replaced it with a bike; 9 months if I kept the Saab & just put all its miles on the bike.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Environmental break even point: </b>Nearly immediate, since the bike would be converted with mostly used parts.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Initial thoughts: </b>This project may be more in line with my level of handiness. And before the pandemic, I would run errands & get groceries with my bike more often than not. At least for half the year.</span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And there's the rub. Because our little city in Arizona tries to kill us with weather for about half the year from May to September. And I have had some close calls riding my bike with drivers on their phones, or pulling a rolling stop at an intersection. So while this is the most frugal option by far, I'm not sure I'm down with the other potential costs.</span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So what to make out of all this? None of the options jumps out as a perfect fit. My heart sings out for the Porsche but maybe the kids should go to college, you know? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The Tesla seems cheap by comparison but fifty grand is a lot for a car that I don't even like that much. Maybe when they come out with that $25k hatchback I'll feel differently. I love a hot hatch.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The used options make a lot more sense financially, especially the Leaf. But I just kind of assumed the EV would be faster than my old Toyota Matrix, you know? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Still, once we can get everyone in the house vaccinated, maybe it's time for some test drives. I bet a Tesla looks a lot cooler, and the instant torque of a Leaf feels faster, once I'm behind the wheel.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And yet, I wonder if we're barking up the wrong tree. We really don't drive much at all, so the environmental impacts of a brand new car take a little while to offset, even with an all electric vehicle. Maybe we should be looking at the other big driver of carbon in our lives: all the energy we use in our house. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Would the money we'd use for a new EV have a better impact if we spent it on solar panels? We'll take a look at that next week. As always, thanks for reading.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Assumptions:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">*Gas breakeven point assumes 84 gallons of 91 octane purchased for the Saab per year at $4.00/gallon, and cost of electricity for those miles traveled to be 40% of that annual cost. Working out to $201.60 of gas saved per year, which is added to the $2,300 assumed to be gained by selling the Saab (in all scenarios except the Saab EV conversion). Maintenance costs excluded due to uncertainty: current cars are maintained DIY and it's unclear whether a new/used EV would decrease or increase those costs.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">**Environmental breakeven uses <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/lifetime-carbon-emissions-electric-vehicles-vs-gasoline-cars-2021-06-29/?taid=60dadff1fdc7d30001f53a35&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter">a Reuters' analysis</a>, that a new Tesla Model 3 would need to be driven 13,500 miles before it would do less harm to the environment than a Toyota Corolla. Assuming the Corolla is 24% more efficient than the Saab (31 mpg city vs 24 mpg) then the Tesla would only need to be driven 10,260 miles to do less harm than the Saab. Current miles driven per year are approximately 2,100.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">***One caveat to mention is that I'm way outside my lane and all these figures should be taken with a big grain of salt. All of this is meant to be generally illustrative on which options would have positive environmental impacts, but the smart money says I will have made several errors, and they are great.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-66346288576506506462022-01-10T05:00:00.202-07:002022-01-10T05:00:00.371-07:00Way Too Transparent: All the Money We've Made (2022 update)<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAlt-f-uxNHNdOhfE0zS3ChSJKZGsrkwuumxpECGTLkIiDIi1yM9ktdyVRHeiSxlKZiiAI3i6UMoYXTtTi1hztyMAj7gF0EswkqEBsEpldY-39LEl5wMpSIPO81tBe63-Q2KLagmftHvB2qLVuC-isPrrJY1v1zS0_PvyBixrstIK-M1pjBijvpzF9=s799" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAlt-f-uxNHNdOhfE0zS3ChSJKZGsrkwuumxpECGTLkIiDIi1yM9ktdyVRHeiSxlKZiiAI3i6UMoYXTtTi1hztyMAj7gF0EswkqEBsEpldY-39LEl5wMpSIPO81tBe63-Q2KLagmftHvB2qLVuC-isPrrJY1v1zS0_PvyBixrstIK-M1pjBijvpzF9=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/waffies/2725895907/sizes/c/">Source.</a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Another year in the books, another year of the pandemic to endure. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Welcome to 2022, what promises to be the longest seventy three months in memory. Supply chains are stretched, we've collectively stopped trying to avoid giving each other COVID, inflation is rampant, and Tom Brady will win another Super Bowl in a few weeks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">One bright spot is wage growth, which is <a href="https://www.atlantafed.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker">greater than any point since the great recession</a>.</span><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwPqqwFloSygclpUWAV0_1-f6IT9s7Hri_NsWFqIk9sFkpeu0HCNjsHb17Mmqs5TlpsGvdSfVzwpmzSbYVWsvQ5j40z1A559TlqgxWqPyY3nBfQ8H1Y6j74u-MPIoSrrpPUc-t2zMLxNbDJFQn9uuxV4-jESBksmIXkvamLw8fiEHOld2R3muzW212=s684" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="684" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwPqqwFloSygclpUWAV0_1-f6IT9s7Hri_NsWFqIk9sFkpeu0HCNjsHb17Mmqs5TlpsGvdSfVzwpmzSbYVWsvQ5j40z1A559TlqgxWqPyY3nBfQ8H1Y6j74u-MPIoSrrpPUc-t2zMLxNbDJFQn9uuxV4-jESBksmIXkvamLw8fiEHOld2R3muzW212=w508-h372" width="508" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Source: <a href="https://www.atlantafed.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker">Atlanta Fed</a>. Click for bigness.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As usual, we don't fit the trend as our household income fell in 2021 when I retired early. As Baby JC arrived, Mrs. Done by Forty called an audible as she found she actually likes her career, especially as it gives her a chance to work in her field and from home for the time being. And she got a raise, too, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X48G7Y0VWW4&ab_channel=SayaBencong">which is nice</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With all these changes in our income, it's probably time to update our three-year-old post on income transparency. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So dig in, voyeurs. Here's all the income we've ever made in the Done by Forty household.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm6FUnOIhuSEJLz6VnZrIpF7FKtjWbakTei3Q9kZ51NVYzFPQ1JWsCnDS5arIRa2oq3_6B9PQQXnlvv_qm4Gh0MTl6aFd1yQH62dN3Ms0rWe1KCXR-xEa9jBSlxE-pfHDfp5JPIsf7pH4//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1515" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm6FUnOIhuSEJLz6VnZrIpF7FKtjWbakTei3Q9kZ51NVYzFPQ1JWsCnDS5arIRa2oq3_6B9PQQXnlvv_qm4Gh0MTl6aFd1yQH62dN3Ms0rWe1KCXR-xEa9jBSlxE-pfHDfp5JPIsf7pH4/w541-h325/image.png" width="541" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click for bigness.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Here's a bit of context:</span><p></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">These figures come from Social Security records, updated to include our contributions to our HSAs. (Money you contribute to an HSA is not taxable for Social Security.) And these numbers don't include any 401k matches, stock plan benefits, or rental income.</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">After two years in undergrad I dropped out in 2000 to move to California, working at the Red Cross during the day and Hollywood Video at night for a year, until I got a job at the state university in 2001. The job didn't pay much but did have amazing benefits, like completely free tuition. The school accommodated working students, so I was able to take 12 class credits in the evenings to finish my bachelors degree (thanks to once-a-week, three hour classes).</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I stayed in this job through 2009, earning my teaching credential along the way. I figured staying at the same job was a good thing, not realizing the significant opportunity costs of staying with the same organization, especially when my starting pay was so low and raises at a government job were hard to come by. </span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">After dating for a couple years from 2007-09, yet-to-be-Mrs. Done by Forty and I moved to Arizona so she could pursue her PhD. After teaching in Arizona for a hot second, I moved to the private sector and immediately saw a jump in pay. </span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">After a promotion, our combined salaries got over $100k, well above the median household income in 2012. This just happens to be when we stopped listening to Dave Ramsey's advice, and started getting curious about financial independence.</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Mrs. Done by Forty and I both briefly had full time paid jobs from 2019-2021 as we approached our FIRE number. After I retired and we approached the time that Mrs. Done by Forty would as well, she realized she wanted to keep working (at least while she can work from home) which is both good for her career and our finances.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Even as I'm writing this, I start to wonder why I'd want to share these figures with the handful of folks who read the blog.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I think it's a bit of a gap in the personal finance community, to be honest, though an understandable one. It's uncouth to share your salary, right? It's gauche. Your salary is the one thing you're never supposed to say out loud.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And yet sharing net worth in personal finance blogs is acceptable and fairly common. It's funny how sharing the amount of our wealth is no big deal, but sharing the income that got you that wealth is almost entirely off limits.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Besides, I've always thought <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/02/the-wage-gap-sharing-salary-with-women.html">sharing my income with team members</a> at work was one of the good things I did in my career. It helped a team member who trained me realize that she was being paid less than the person she was mentoring and showing the ropes. It led to her getting a much deserved raise. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">While I'm not lucky enough to work with you kind readers, I think there's still some benefit to transparency. We're all trying to do the best we can with our money. I assume nearly everyone wants to retire someday. If our household is retiring later or earlier than someone else, is that due to making different decisions or just earning more?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I figure if I'm going to blog anonymously about retiring at forty, then maybe I ought to be open about how that happened. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Income's a big part of the story of how we reached financial independence: not much reason to leave that part out.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As always, thanks for reading.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/waffies/2725895907/sizes/c/">waffries</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></div></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-82034270563359140632022-01-03T05:00:00.011-07:002022-01-05T20:26:58.604-07:00Mediocre Advice for Dads Who Somehow Know Less Than Me<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixg_cIxSOIUVDPhCGRN-Pk2hcJ0HC0tLxwED3XPzImDDxE-sKFp7F9GGHAodGDBcM-45CvfWg4XC5mtaOMoBoSlxTII_r8azlnboWdTd_NMRXsAWuxl-DVDBD8b9grCN1oUVNnVuyHiZqLmgJQXtKw0Psu7E401NJ8uTFj4LgSQeYXPAeLcCI7BqN5=s800" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="800" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixg_cIxSOIUVDPhCGRN-Pk2hcJ0HC0tLxwED3XPzImDDxE-sKFp7F9GGHAodGDBcM-45CvfWg4XC5mtaOMoBoSlxTII_r8azlnboWdTd_NMRXsAWuxl-DVDBD8b9grCN1oUVNnVuyHiZqLmgJQXtKw0Psu7E401NJ8uTFj4LgSQeYXPAeLcCI7BqN5=w386-h385" width="386" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/01/and-im-out.html">When I first left work</a>, I imagined I'd be writing multiple posts a week again like I did in the early years of the blog. Without the forty hours and ongoing stress of corporate employment, I'd be able to write a post on Monday and another mid-week, for sure.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As usual, I was both too optimistic and missed some key details. Like how raising a newborn is time consuming, and how two children take more labor than one.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/04/no-job-new-plan.html">With Mrs. Done by Forty deciding to continue working</a> instead of joining me in early retirement, there's a heavier lift than if we were both retired and tag teaming the kids during the day.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Parenting is harder than a desk job in a lot of ways. Take the deluge of meetings. I used to roll my eyes at a morning of back-to-back meetings, many of which I was invited to for no good reason. But those hours where I only had to be partially present allowed me some much needed mental downtime. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There's no downtime with Toddler AF or Baby JC. One or both want and need some attention at pretty much every minute they're awake. Even when we break into our daily Mr. Rogers or Sesame Street episode, Toddler AF doesn't like it when I'm not watching with him. He wants it to be something we really do together. He wants me to be present. Which is great, and he is right. But you know, breaks are good, too.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In our house, I do the cooking and dishes, and our children have the nerve to ask for multiple meals. Three of them. Every day. These people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There's the yardwork and cleaning and floors and the laundry. These are normal things and, though I'm doing a bad job of it, I'm trying not to complain. We're are lucky on every front. But leaving a job can still leave a lot of work to do.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It's also a lot of trial and error. So I thought I'd share some of the things that we've found to work for us, in case a new dad out there might benefit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>Skip the cloth diapers</b>. I know, I know. This is a dangerous place to start. We did cloth diapers for the first six months of Toddler AF's babyhood. (Infanthood? Babiness?)We dialed in the right number of inserts to handle night time, got a routine of washing and hang drying that kept us in clean diapers when we needed them, found the right detergent & wash cycles got good results no matter the poop sitch. I stitched new velcro and elastic into hand-me down diapers from relatives. Figured out which brands worked best for the day and which we saved for night time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But all that ignores the fact that cloth diapers can be a never ending pile of work, and the last thing we needed with a newborn and full time jobs was more work. Once we took a week off of cloth diapers, we realized, oh, disposables are way easier. And easier was what we needed with a new baby.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>Embrace takeout & delivery. </b>When Toddler AF was only Baby AF, we tried cooking almost every meal ourselves. We thought it would be healthier. More nutritious. Something. I don't know, but the constant preparing of meals for us, of blending baby food for him, it put too much on our plates. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With Baby JC, we've made takeout & delivery a big part of our diet for the first year and we couldn't be more thankful for it. Our personal finance blogging friends generously donated to a takeout fund for us and we gloriously did not have to cook very much at all during the haze of those first three months. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So, please, order the pizzas. Order the curry. Eat the ramen. Have the peirogies delivered.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>Try to give each other breaks.</b> This might not be something everyone else struggles with, but a lot of the time, each of us is occupied with one kid. Or, all four of us are together. While this is a nice and even joyous state of affairs, what this often leads to is every waking hour being "on" as parents. It can be exhausting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So rather than each of us being on 24/7, we try to have give each other breaks, where one of us will watch both kids and the other can, you know, take a shower. Maybe read a book or zone out on the phone in peace for thirty minutes. Take a short nap. Go to the bathroom without a toddler present, asking about what you are making, in detail.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">How can you make these breaks happen? Our tricks are a one-parent led walk, time in the backyard, or, if you can swing it, baby napping in the carrier while the toddler watches TV. (Gasp, yes, we finally allowed ourselves, & Toddler AF, to watch an episode or two of Sesame Street or <a href="https://www.misterrogers.org/">Mr. Rogers</a> a day. It is a good thing). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Oh, and if your budget allows, please do get a baby carrier. (<a href="https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/ergobaby-trade-adapt-three-position-baby-carrier/5235360?skuId=46606662&mcid=OS_googlepla">This is ours</a>.) With our little ones, that was the only way they'd nap with me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>Consider therapy.</b> It's a weird one, I know. But we were wholly unprepared for the stress & tension that maybe is just inevitable in that first year. Mrs. Done by Forty and I struggled in those early months with both with Baby AF and Baby JC, individually and in our relationship. Friends, there were disagreements. And fights. A lot of them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So we went to counseling. A lot of it. Like, multiple times a month a lot.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Your budgets may not allow for that. (Though do check with HR to see if there are free sessions via an EAP program or similar.) But if you do have a way to talk to someone, please do. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">_________________________________________</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There is surely more and better parenting advice from dads who know more and have more experience. As always, I only know enough to be dangerous. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But just like science tells us that due to the billions of planets out there, surely one of them must be inhabited with intelligent life, then with all the new dads out there, someone out there must know less than me, who can read this and make the next year easier. Thanks for reading, friend.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ktylerconk/3402434239/sizes/c/">Kathleen Tyler Conklin</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></p>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-5110698015056726312021-10-18T06:00:00.218-07:002021-11-06T18:25:16.310-07:00Government Makes the Market<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLcmSIRn26EBxu1k2RLowHw8rB2TMC9iqf-neAhH7FTj6WnAGKAjEgEpM628Mio8cqz9Sti6CZY8mZY2LF0Cvq9Rixkc38hxiuDeGh9BcjdLXveIZ6zh91o_YWWlClWXo05vGTEBcORv5/s800/Damien+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="800" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLcmSIRn26EBxu1k2RLowHw8rB2TMC9iqf-neAhH7FTj6WnAGKAjEgEpM628Mio8cqz9Sti6CZY8mZY2LF0Cvq9Rixkc38hxiuDeGh9BcjdLXveIZ6zh91o_YWWlClWXo05vGTEBcORv5/w400-h268/Damien+at+Flickr.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Early retirement has been a blessing in these long days of the pandemic. Our days went from a non-stop juggling of work, parenting, cooking, and cleaning to, well, a leisurely juggling act of the same things. Mrs. Done by Forty decided she wanted to keep working and it's been a very good thing for both of us: she's happiest when she gets to put her PhD to use and getting to do so from home is kind of a dream scenario. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">My time is filled with puzzles, toys, crayons and walks with Toddler AF, along with diapers and eye gazing and coaxing Baby JC to sleep. In the breaks, there are a lot of online board games and yard work.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There's also time for reading, which is proving to be a complete joy. The hours after Toddler AF goes to bed are precious. After the dishwasher is loaded and cold brew is started for the next day, I can lie on the couch and get some time alone with a book from the library. It's the best way to end the day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I finally finished Robert Reich's <i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/books/review/robert-reichs-saving-capitalism.html">Saving Capitalism</a></i> and so much of it rings true to me. But the part that broke my brain is the realization that the traditional framing about government and the free market (that the free market just exists and thrives and then government regulation comes along and hampers it) is a complete falsehood. In fact, the free market doesn't exist without government.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">(I'll pause so my three conservative readers can yell at the screen.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">From <i>Saving Capitalism:</i></span></p><p></p><blockquote><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> "There can be no 'free market' without government. The 'free market' does not exist in the wilds beyond the reach of civilization. Competition in the wild is a contest for survival in which the largest and the strongest typically win. Civilization, by contrast, is defined by rules; rules create markets, and governments generate the rules." </span></i></b></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In other words, competition in the wild is anarchy: literally anything goes because there are no rules. You can assault and kill your competition for resources. You can kill your competition and turn them <i>into</i> resources. It's all on the table.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thankfully, civilization and economic markets are not like that. What we think of as a free market is not this sort of wild free-for-all but, rather, a competition with many rules and mechanisms, all of which are established by government. Without government, there is no free market as we know it today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">For example, let's say that you invent a new mousetrap and want to sell it for money. In a market without governments, what is stopping someone from simply stealing your idea and copying it? (In a market with government, a patent is that thing.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What is stopping someone from literally stealing all the mousetraps you made? (In our markets, it's government entities like police departments, courts, and jails that stop that.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But let's say you aren't convinced yet. You believe the conventional wisdom: governments don't <i>create</i> markets; free markets simply exist in the world. Further, things would operate best if government regulation didn't interfere. So let's dive in to those assumptions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Reich argues there are five building blocks to capitalism, and government is essential to each:</span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"></ul><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"PROPERTY: what can be owned</span></i><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">MONOPOLY: what degree of market power is permissible</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">CONTRACT: what can be bought and sold</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">BANKRUPTCY: what happens when purchasers can't pay up</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">ENFORCEMENT: how to make sure no one cheats on any of these rules"</span></i></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Let's quickly run through these building blocks, to illustrate how government is not only a key component, but a required one, to make capitalism and free markets work.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>Property:</i></b> what can be owned. Who gets to decide what can and cannot be owned in the first place? Can an idea be owned? A person? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">And can all people own all types of property? Can a child own and sell land? Can women or people of color?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Government is the entity that answers these questions and provides guiderails for what can be owned in free markets. Though they often make huge mistakes in these areas (e.g. - two hundred fifty years of American slavery), the larger point is that government has an essential role in legislating what can be owned and by whom.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b style="font-style: italic;">Monopoly: </b>what degree of market power is permissible? Often, monopolies are rightly thought of as bad for competition. But they're also sometimes necessary to bring ideas to market. For example, in this country an artist has a specified time when they have a monopoly on a book or song they've created before it enters the public domain. But without that period of monopoly, artists and businesses would have <i>much</i> less incentive to create the product in the first place: their intellectual property could be pirated and sold by rivals immediately. This concept applies to everything from the written word to new prescription drugs. The limited time of protected monopolies, like patents, create incentives for business to invest in research and create new products.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">These monopoly protections are only possible because of government. To what degree and length a monopoly can exist is determined by lawmakers. In some cases, businesses buy up competitors to create a monopoly: then governments can break up that entity, to create competition. But in all cases, the role of governments is clear: to strike a balance of market power that will spurn innovation and competition.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b><i>Contracts:</i> </b>what can be bought or sold. So let's say your company just locked up some new business after an RFP. You negotiate a contract for a specified number of units over the next three years and, after delivery...the payment never comes. Your calls to the buyer go unanswered.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What keeps the buyer accountable? Well, the contract does.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But what keeps the contract from just being a piece of paper that can be ignored by an unscrupulous business partner? Government does. Courts and judges do.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Bankruptcy:</i> How much risk would you be willing to take as a business owner or consumer if you were on the hook for any and all debt, regardless of circumstances? How much would you be willing to borrow to launch new products or expand to a new facility?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Bankruptcy, <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy">the ability to seek relief for debts that cannot be repaid</a>, encourages businesses to take measured risks that have positive expected returns, and also encourages lenders to perform due diligence to ensure that those risks truly are measured. Indeed, without bankruptcy, lenders would have less incentive to perform such due diligence: bad loans to unqualified borrowers would not matter, since the loan couldn't be forgiven.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Again, this building block of capitalism exists because of government.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Enforcement: </b>On the most basic level, what keeps criminals or rival businesses from simply stealing products from stores at gunpoint? What keeps organized crime from taking over businesses entirely? Despite their overwhelming downsides, police and courts and jails do. While they do <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html">a terrible job at protecting citizens</a>, these institutions do a fairly good job of ensuring the gears of capitalism keep turning. They're good for markets.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">All this omits the myriad other ways that government is crucial to business. The public roads and airports and postal service integral for moving goods. The public utilities like water and electricity and gas that all businesses rely on. The seed money for companies like Tesla and SpaceX. The publicly funded schools and universities that train the workforce and management. It goes on and on. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But the old criticism from conservatives, that the free market would do so well if only government would stay out of things, is both hopelessly partisan and undeniably false. Government makes the market.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">**Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/7347837@N08/4283077148/sizes/c/">Damien</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></i></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></div><p></p></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-5147240451209383242021-09-20T05:00:00.002-07:002021-09-20T13:33:44.385-07:00Wealth Quartiles, and Who Is Rich, Anyway?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixZ8-7lkQugGNfRwY4okxJZ2S97JRWFFowINI7LKqNO16Vk_dKDBrckT4SBNhrtbpdizAE4BIAB97pX5yINuGHk00ijwzKyjWpq8W3dUU0Z5MBG0GYzbnIb35FtWwAhZxXF_GOTCi2SPmh/s640/ToGa+Wanderings+at+Flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixZ8-7lkQugGNfRwY4okxJZ2S97JRWFFowINI7LKqNO16Vk_dKDBrckT4SBNhrtbpdizAE4BIAB97pX5yINuGHk00ijwzKyjWpq8W3dUU0Z5MBG0GYzbnIb35FtWwAhZxXF_GOTCi2SPmh/w400-h268/ToGa+Wanderings+at+Flickr.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The other day, a question came up on my Twitter feed. <a href="https://twitter.com/IndexandC/status/1438481727660376074">Do you consider yourself rich</a>?</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I like this sort of question. Ideally, it inspires a little introspection and gets me to step back and get some perspective. Do I understand where we stand financially? Do I appreciate <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/04/thinking-in-bets-about-fire.html">how lucky we are</a>?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">To get that perspective, it helps to understand what kind of money the average family has. We've written a lot about average incomes and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2015/03/middle-class-how-about-middle-quintile.html">income quintiles</a> with this in mind.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">But income is only part of the story. And when it comes to asking whether someone is rich, income isn't really what we're after. Lots of people have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-earning-henry-millennials-six-figure-salaries-feel-broke-2021-6#:~:text=It%20found%20that%20about%2054,said%20they%20live%20that%20way.">good incomes but not a lot of wealth</a>. And the wealthy love reducing their income on paper. So <a href="http://www.wipsociology.org/2018/10/29/income-and-wealth-are-not-highly-correlated-here-is-why-and-what-it-means/">it's not like there's always a strong correlation between the two</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">To make things worse, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/02/middle-class-wealth-2020-update.html">finding good data on wealth</a> seems a good bit harder than income data, at least for this English major. Thankfully, the Federal Reserve conducts a <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm">Survey of Consumer Finances</a> every three years, which collects information on family income and net worth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So what did the median household have as a net worth in 2019? </span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOrSPOVR4M1uxcmRXt5ZWnEp33915c8AxhoipZM4LGb_Dtn9uSvnGqgdSfCCILaH0GB5q3EoGVgBtZlX6CN5jDqUbRn2b9bAVed41lIt8dCb5yRGbbR6JDkVVTf2pfE5jlAMH8YoJOf0jB//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="702" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOrSPOVR4M1uxcmRXt5ZWnEp33915c8AxhoipZM4LGb_Dtn9uSvnGqgdSfCCILaH0GB5q3EoGVgBtZlX6CN5jDqUbRn2b9bAVed41lIt8dCb5yRGbbR6JDkVVTf2pfE5jlAMH8YoJOf0jB/w528-h347/image.png" width="528" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Source: <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm">2019 Survey of Consumer Finances</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Here we can see that the lowest quartile barely has a positive net worth at all. The median net worth of this group, which represents a full quarter of US households, was barely over three hundred dollars in 2019. And this was before the pandemic hit.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The median household in the country is doing better with a net worth of $121,547. However, since this includes equity in primary residences as well as all other assets, the average family isn't rolling in it, either.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Even the net worth of households between the 75th and 90th percentiles seemed lower than what I was expecting: the median net worth from this group was only $654,063.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Somewhat unsurprisingly, the people we might consider truly rich are in the top ten percent of US households. Their median net worth was $2.6 million. </span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Is this top ten percent what people mean when we say 'the rich'? Sure. I think this kind of wealth certainly qualifies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There are other interesting findings. The survey breaks down median net worth broken down by age:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV87kUDlRdAosJlJ1iT2AmnIyNwnTqDcOsOtevHJFGKZWNj2OOn_xFtmIAhDkZmJA50WZp1NK7koHHWa1ZpRWPsb1qM8Vpv3y53IaN02vQDHLDmhgIUhndHLAa5G8udecbkOmXDNQ-5go//" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="702" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV87kUDlRdAosJlJ1iT2AmnIyNwnTqDcOsOtevHJFGKZWNj2OOn_xFtmIAhDkZmJA50WZp1NK7koHHWa1ZpRWPsb1qM8Vpv3y53IaN02vQDHLDmhgIUhndHLAa5G8udecbkOmXDNQ-5go/w525-h368/image.png" width="525" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This is how the survey data breaks down by education:<br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFT1Zrs-vvSV1W9rh1zrDr4gJ577OpOv0UHXT3QgXed34e-d1U3u3KHSWk5A2xkjgej-RYLCKvIESByZP1oy6WsJ5PtNgtdrV7xQcZVW1A-ycJ3c86QXXnQFZPCVxD48jm_RWKD4bpNcX//" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="702" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFT1Zrs-vvSV1W9rh1zrDr4gJ577OpOv0UHXT3QgXed34e-d1U3u3KHSWk5A2xkjgej-RYLCKvIESByZP1oy6WsJ5PtNgtdrV7xQcZVW1A-ycJ3c86QXXnQFZPCVxD48jm_RWKD4bpNcX/w523-h319/image.png" width="523" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><br />And perhaps most interestingly, the survey also broke down net worth by race or ethnicity. (Though not including Asian as a survey option is an odd omission.)</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCBePrfwhAjpZ_Bb3UeXsWGmJj8DFXu4Bqx1gUES72t3zZv2A2QYPeYQG2Y4GfgpAK-kWaYi5Sq0AbydzCwnoI-BfSIkuszkInH2FaNGzbO4VTp7FP4BfvoMj681e9BDKVWMGDF5wQHYw//" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="702" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCBePrfwhAjpZ_Bb3UeXsWGmJj8DFXu4Bqx1gUES72t3zZv2A2QYPeYQG2Y4GfgpAK-kWaYi5Sq0AbydzCwnoI-BfSIkuszkInH2FaNGzbO4VTp7FP4BfvoMj681e9BDKVWMGDF5wQHYw/w522-h319/image.png" width="522" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The data was eye opening for me. We have considered ourselves rich for some time, but taking a look at what the median household, or even the households in the 75-90th percentiles average, is humbling.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Of course, the word rich comes with some connotations. While, increasingly, <a href="https://www.consumerismcommentary.com/millennials-want-to-be-rich-more-than-anything/">more of us want to be rich</a>, somewhat ironically, people who would almost universally be considered rich don't actually see themselves that way. From <a href="https://www.demos.org/blog/why-rich-dont-think-theyre-rich-and-why-it-matters">David Callahan</a>:</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"...<span style="background-color: white; color: #000e18;">one </span><a href="http://business.time.com/2013/07/24/what-it-means-to-be-wealthy-in-america-today/" style="background-color: white; color: #000e18;">recent survey</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #000e18;"> found that 'Of those with investable assets worth $1 million to $5 million, only 28% answered yes to the question 'Do you consider yourself wealthy?'" </span></span></i></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #000e18;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Can this mismatch come from the wealthy simply not understanding how much more they have than everyone else? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe. I was surprised to see the difference between our household and the median household, or the average household of someone our age. Why couldn't someone else be surprised, too?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Still, I think there's something else in the mix. Most millionaires are not born with that kind of money. They spent most of their lives <i>not</i> being rich. They still remember the shared apartments and clunker cars of their youth. They have money now, sure, but deep down they might feel like the middle class or working class guy or gal they were decades earlier. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Does <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/09/fire-buys-you-classwhether-you-want-it.html">money change us</a>? Can we still be Jenny from the block?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Sure. That's rich.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/togawanderings/5899676716/sizes/l/">ToGa Wanderings</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></p>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-21347026818568414222021-09-13T05:00:00.049-07:002021-09-13T07:27:14.265-07:00I Guess I Like Cars Now?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgjnx4AeAnrRcTIwm0vRUV88c7H2aknT-4xhDTDpVw4deqrUlSNAi4i9K-3DM9O4VfGfHPgTY1b5XMVevw4CU02ZZf7sEUF2VTVe7obIFAseX71sLkpOdDn88_5zGIsYeCeos_cQPY0Ig/s800/Mic+V+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgjnx4AeAnrRcTIwm0vRUV88c7H2aknT-4xhDTDpVw4deqrUlSNAi4i9K-3DM9O4VfGfHPgTY1b5XMVevw4CU02ZZf7sEUF2VTVe7obIFAseX71sLkpOdDn88_5zGIsYeCeos_cQPY0Ig/w400-h225/Mic+V+at+Flickr.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So there was a slight omission in our last annual "<a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/08/zero-days-outwere-we-on-track-for.html">are we on track for FIRE</a>" post. Okay, two small omissions, that totaled twenty thousand dollars. Unintentionally following a trend that swept America while we were cooped up in a pandemic, we bought not one, but two, used cars: a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLx6Bh0xPbk&ab_channel=savagegeese">2015 Lexus RX350</a>, and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSEsdrnlGJQ&ab_channel=0andix">2006 Saab 9-3 2.0T wagon</a> (or "Sportcombi" for Saab nerds).</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What would have possessed us to buy two additional cars, mere months after writing an ode to the Matrix and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/01/making-one-car-work-and-hidden.html">the happiness of making one car work</a>?<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As always, I blame our children. Our Matrix was the most reliable car we've ever owned. Being as light as it was and having a five speed manual, also was surprisingly fun to drive (even if it did only have 130 horsepower). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But rear facing car seats posed a problem. The Matrix is a small car. With just one car seat squeezed in the middle, both front passengers were fine. But if we tried to fit two car seats in the back, both the front seats had to be pulled forward a good bit to make it all fit. It wasn't exactly a dangerous driving position, but it wasn't a comfortable one either.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So we went shopping for a bigger car, one with good safety ratings and some reliability. There were a lot of contenders: a Prius V station wagon, Rav4, Highlander, maybe a similar Honda like a CRV or Pilot. We ended up settling on a Lexus RX350, because it's a Toyota Highlander under the hood with nicer finishes and, thanks to removing the third row, more room for everybody.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Plus, I didn't want a third row. I didn't want to be the dad carpooling a bunch of Toddler AF's and Baby JC's friends around. One friend at a time, thank you very much.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So we got our new family car and we loved it. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTAz8MZnZ51tg_6yKBiaW9IIhee-X0BAXX_VzOfhTfOUeSH8d-PG5NbY5k6jiuJORxqSDX-8EzoflhWoI8-VmGizWC7LlqveiCyvPcE7DTLiD6XbfIHqLjMFZj8yPS8LaCxInYENSR2-q/s1155/PXL_20201012_214250108.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="1155" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmTAz8MZnZ51tg_6yKBiaW9IIhee-X0BAXX_VzOfhTfOUeSH8d-PG5NbY5k6jiuJORxqSDX-8EzoflhWoI8-VmGizWC7LlqveiCyvPcE7DTLiD6XbfIHqLjMFZj8yPS8LaCxInYENSR2-q/w467-h350/PXL_20201012_214250108.jpg" width="467" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But suddenly the Matrix, with its peeling clear coat and lack of torque, felt slower. Less nice to sit in. A little less fun. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Still, every time I got into it and drove it, I started feeling guilty about trying to get rid of it. It was good to us and never once let us down. What did our beloved little car ever do to make us want to replace it? Sure, it wasn't fast. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.turbokits.com/turbo-kits/toyota/matrix-turbo-kits.html">Maybe a turbo kit would fix that</a>?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">After looking into the cost and the amount of work required to turbocharge our little Toyota, with a non-zero chance that the <b><i>definitely-not-designed-to-accept-forced-induction </i></b>engine could immediately self-destruct once the additional power was pushed through it, <strike>Mrs. Done by Forty</strike> we decided that maybe this was a bad idea.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So we could live with our two reliable Toyotas, or I could look for something else that would meet my ever-growing wish list:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">manual transmission</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">wagon </span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">somewhat quick</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">rear wheel drive or AWD would be nice, but not a must have</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This list unsurprisingly eliminated almost all existing modern cars because hardly any cars even have manual transmissions, even as an option from the dealer. Our list consisted of BMWs (<a href="https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2006-bmw-325xit-wagon/">3-series estates</a>), Audis (<a href="https://www.motortrend.com/features/1609-audi-b5-s4-guide-to-buying-a-legend/">B5 S4</a> or A4), a good selection of Subarus (<a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15144229/2008-subaru-impreza-wrx-road-test/">WRX</a> or <a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15132808/2005-subaru-outback-25xt-limited-road-test/">Outback XT</a>), Saabs (<a href="https://www.newcartestdrive.com/reviews/2006-saab-9-3/">9-3</a> or 9-5), and Volvos (<a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15149879/2001-volvo-v70-t5-road-test/">V70, ideally a T5</a>) from 10-20 years ago. If we wanted to go back another decade into the 90s, <i>maybe</i> an Accord or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gwd6EqHfsc&ab_channel=RegularCars">Camry wagon</a>...but these are anything but quick.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I began searching online for cars that fit the bill and after a while, an old Saab caught my eye. It needed a good bit of work: the radiator & power steering pump were leaking, and it had paint damage, too. But it was cheap, and the turbo got the car to scoot pretty well once you got out of first gear. From ten feet, it wasn't too bad to look at. And our research pointed to them being <a href="http://www.dashboard-light.com/vehicles/Saab_9-3.html">more reliable than you'd think</a>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPk3lgp8h3f0UCu20b9UJivasN4jBo0Eyo-1Ew2lWefD98oD31_bIAKAPw7TN1KgZn335PLvlT_uKYZ3lYcMQsWbsWSTIx_eWV5qmh8w9jolO7AOGcfH7uZQ2K2kCnGyDT5x6Cbq0por8f/s894/InkedPXL_20201206_0029388861xx_LI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="894" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPk3lgp8h3f0UCu20b9UJivasN4jBo0Eyo-1Ew2lWefD98oD31_bIAKAPw7TN1KgZn335PLvlT_uKYZ3lYcMQsWbsWSTIx_eWV5qmh8w9jolO7AOGcfH7uZQ2K2kCnGyDT5x6Cbq0por8f/w468-h340/InkedPXL_20201206_0029388861xx_LI.jpg" width="468" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The guy was willing to negotiate on the price: we settled on a remarkable $2,300. He had a new radiator & power steering pump he'd throw in, too: all I'd have to do was install them. He even gave me a new set of tires (including the cost of installation) and some ignition coils & spark plugs to boot. These were all things he was planning to put on the car before selling it, but they were mine if I took the car off his hands.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So I got myself a project car, and my niece got our old Matrix for her first car. (Keeping it in the family lessened the guilt as it rolled off on its way to the Pacific Northwest.)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Saab's old radiator fought me the whole way since every possible screw was rusted in place. The power steering pump reminded me it needed attention, too, by leaking its guts onto our driveway. But after a month or so, it was running tip top. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So I started looking for other things to fix. The parking brake needed adjusting. A misfire showed up & one of the coils needed swapped. The ignition switch module failed & locked the steering column, but just needed disassembled and its copper contact points cleaned. I installed a new steering column module so I could finally program a second key. Then bought a software tune so we could up the horsepower to 250 and the torque to 270 ft pounds.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Maybe a 3M repair kit could fix the rip in the driver's seat leather. Next weekend I could bleed the brakes and install a strut bar. God help me, I am actually looking forward to changing the oil.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When the kids take their naps or go down for the night, I sometimes find myself in the garage if only to tinker, to inspect a bit, and add to the list of future maintenance items I ought to do with these cars we now own. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It's a weird hobby and not at all what I thought I'd be doing with my time. But it's something I like.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I think the pleasure comes from finally figuring out how to maintain these things, these cars we own. Slowly learning, and reading through shop manuals when I can't sleep at night.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif35-aJN_TLeGYo2XIeMYVi5wxehXXceC_rv_7v-LAXnJnjNOCZKSs7uGt15SYHfngXV-50qjG-AZFMYbJTxGswpZ0VgsdG9EbPVP_gxpxshk1WVmv0KF7Bb-aR705R1-EE-Xhw6VWgyFt/s1040/PXL_20210913_043841237.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1040" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif35-aJN_TLeGYo2XIeMYVi5wxehXXceC_rv_7v-LAXnJnjNOCZKSs7uGt15SYHfngXV-50qjG-AZFMYbJTxGswpZ0VgsdG9EbPVP_gxpxshk1WVmv0KF7Bb-aR705R1-EE-Xhw6VWgyFt/w464-h348/PXL_20210913_043841237.jpg" width="464" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It's like homeowners enjoying their homes more, as they learn how to maintain and improve them. I'm finding a little joy figuring out what goes wrong with these cars, taking out the bolts and hoses in the way, installing something new (or, at least "new" from a junkyard) and hopefully getting the thing to start once I manage to get it all back together. Like Legos, for grown ups.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Still, another odd hobby that has also stuck from the past year around is <i>looking</i> at cars for sale, even though I clearly do not need another. I spent so long searching for these two vehicles that the searching itself has become a habit. But I don't need another car.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I do not need a third car, dear readers. Right? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We only have two adult drivers. What on earth would we possibly do with a third vehicle, getting beaten in the Arizona sun since we do not even have room in our garage for another car.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And yet, I find myself on Facebook marketplace every day, searching for cheap manual cars that I do not need, and should not be looking at.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Maybe I need a new hobby.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">*Volvo photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/micsworld/22484445201/sizes/c/">Mic V</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Safari</span></a><br /></p></div><p></p>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-77702366668522866752021-08-30T08:27:00.003-07:002021-08-31T07:02:33.770-07:00Stuck in the Middle with You<p><a href="https://www.theringer.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast"></a></p><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5JEMlVIcrdg4qfoib_8ttPrf500phyygY0hbZ8KNkJt9PjuwEb11T40uCBA94zntUYwYpCvlz2D2UsvOYolC1oTxjtWTh9wb-lT0GRIysyOqYrx8pS9w4xtA23Po3vAdFPnlaoXCiaIX6/s799/Jamesy+Pe%25C3%25B1a+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Stuck in the Middle with You" border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5JEMlVIcrdg4qfoib_8ttPrf500phyygY0hbZ8KNkJt9PjuwEb11T40uCBA94zntUYwYpCvlz2D2UsvOYolC1oTxjtWTh9wb-lT0GRIysyOqYrx8pS9w4xtA23Po3vAdFPnlaoXCiaIX6/w400-h266/Jamesy+Pe%25C3%25B1a+at+Flickr.jpg" title="Stuck in the Middle with You" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Bill Simmons once mentioned that people have a weird quirk when it comes to talking about weddings. No matter how many people you had at your wedding, if someone had twenty more people at <i>their</i> wedding, then they had a huge wedding. If someone had 20 fewer people, they had a small, intimate ceremony. Your wedding, though, was pretty normal: just enough loved ones to celebrate your beautiful day.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's stuck with me, and now I notice this sort of relative comparison everywhere. People with homes larger than yours, or with things like workout rooms or finished basements that you don't have, are too big. Who could even use all that space? Can you imagine what it's like to clean that place?<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">People with homes slightly smaller than yours, or without the spare bedroom or office you have, are downright tiny. We could never live that way, and we marvel to ourselves at how they must step on each other all throughout the day.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Families with more children than we have are literal circuses with countless children tumbling out of tents. Families with fewer children than we have in the Done by Forty house are a bit sad, and lonely, their plaintive solitary cries echoing throughout the empty rooms. Don't they worry about their little one growing up without a sibling?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We do this with cars, tabs at restaurants, and seemingly all things related to money. Our salaries, the hours we work, our vacation and clothing budgets. We <a href="https://elearningindustry.com/the-goldilocks-principle-6-tips-creating-just-right-elearning-content">Goldilocks</a> our comparisons.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a limited zone of what is reasonable and prudent, which just happens to straddle whatever we personally have chosen in our lives. Things that stray too far outside that zone are foolish and extreme. All these people around us, these well-meaning but mistake-prone people, are wasteful or miserly, unabashedly extravagant or pathetically frugal.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5d42w4ZcY4&ab_channel=LukePacchiana">When will they learn</a>?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As always, we are right in the middle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Over time, we have found people in our lives who tastefully also land within this ideal zone of consumption. Friends who, like us, have two cars, but not outrageous ones. Yes, they bought a new home and it's very nice, but the neighborhood and schools pretty similar to ours. The people in our lives are doing well, sure. But so are we, right?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-04/how-americans-self-sort-themselves-by-age-and-class">sort ourselves</a>, often with <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ending-gerrymandering-wont-fix-what-ails-america/">unintended effects</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Even within the tiny niche of the financial independence, retire early movement, this sort of comparison and sorting happens. Without formal definitions, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/leanfire/">Lean FIRE</a> might be best understood as financial independence for people who spend at least $10,000 less than you each year, and thus would rather part with comfort and dignity than money. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/">Fat FIRE</a> is for people who spend more than you, and thus have more money than sense.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes I wonder if, despite <a href="https://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/04/12/selling-out/">pop culture's insistence that we be endlessly unique</a>, deep down, we just want to be average. Looking at the weirdos at the extremes makes us feel normal. Accepted.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Maybe this is why everyone, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/03/is-400k-middle-class-income-quintiles.html">even someone earning $400k</a>, tries so hard to convince himself he's middle class. We have a drive to squeeze towards the middle of the herd and blend in. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But saying you're middle class doesn't make it so. Feeling like your financial independence budget or your home purchase is pretty typical doesn't mean that it is. You need data for that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The rub with finances is that they're taboo to talk about. We can see the cars people drive and the houses they pull up to, but we have no idea if they're bought with credit or owned outright. We might know where our peers and neighbors work, but it's not like people are out here sharing salaries. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">To the degree that we do share some of this intimate info, it's usually only the people we're close with: friends, family, coworkers, maybe the neighbors. The catch is that, thanks to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-04/how-americans-self-sort-themselves-by-age-and-class">socioeconomic factors</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/how-the-big-sort-is-driving-political-polarization">a desire to be around those with similar beliefs</a>, we're sorting ourselves into more homogenous groups. The people we're connected end up being pretty similar to us, not only in beliefs, but in income and class. And that's not a recipe for understanding how typical or average any of our choices are.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Maybe this stuff doesn't matter too much. Who cares if wealthy people walk through life thinking they're middle class, or if an underpaid factory worker is convinced they make good wages for someone in their field? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">For one, the opaqueness about what constitutes middle class income or median wealth ends up hurting workers, who could use that information to negotiate higher wages. This misunderstanding also masks economic privilege: ideally, getting a better understanding of how wealthy or high earning someone is would change the perspectives of the well-off and they'd support charities, policies, and politicians that could better spread that wealth. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If nearly everyone already thinks they're middle class, there's little motivation to make changes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, maybe you shouldn't be listening to me. Who does this rich fuck think he is, anyway? Living like a pauper just so he can retire at forty, over here dispensing advice. Like he understands how normal people live.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Maybe if he lived more reasonably, learned to spend a bit of those riches and enjoy himself, he might have a leg to stand on.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">*Photo is<span style="background-color: white;"> from<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpena35/8740442485/sizes/c/">Jamesy Peña</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i></span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Safari</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></p>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-3784206968613294692021-08-23T05:00:00.014-07:002021-08-29T20:18:51.940-07:00Zero Days Out...Were We On Track for Financial Independence?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWntf2LCJatzYmJIIakAnHLdiO9JepwPk0ubN-epJCq2B8GFIE4res1y-atey0Av-g3k9tOdaPX0p-3FYyeAmzjItzzKk8h85HTcZ6jkuule2FRUpFktCXQ66xw8_BI7jaB3U7qfsVKYsN/s799/Suman+Chakrabarti+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Zero Days Out...Were We On Track for Financial Independence?" border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWntf2LCJatzYmJIIakAnHLdiO9JepwPk0ubN-epJCq2B8GFIE4res1y-atey0Av-g3k9tOdaPX0p-3FYyeAmzjItzzKk8h85HTcZ6jkuule2FRUpFktCXQ66xw8_BI7jaB3U7qfsVKYsN/w400-h266/Suman+Chakrabarti+at+Flickr.jpg" title="Photo from Suman Chakrabarti at Flickr Creative Commons" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I turned forty one a couple weeks ago, which was kind a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m9WgAdflY&ab_channel=ShpongoLoid" target="_blank">bummer</a>. I've never been a big fan of my birthday and this has only gotten worse with age. I'd like to stop commemorating it altogether, but I have these people who love me and reminding me is a way to show that love, which is great. It's also a bittersweet reminder that, yes, I have less time now than I did last year.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It doesn't feel like I have so little time, to be honest. I don't feel forty one. And I don't feel old. I feel like I did all through my twenties and thirties: I just feel good, and I feel like the same guy. Yes, I have kids now and, sure, my body isn't as taut. But I'm me.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So I feel young, even as I get old. I'm okay with the trade off. Though I wonder if I stopped counting all these years, maybe I'd feel even better.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Back when I was thirty two, I started writing with the goal of reaching financial independence, and retiring early, on the last day I was still forty. I stopped working back in February, so I guess I can check off the early retirement part. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Did we actually reach financial independence?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Let's let the numbers do the talking, and start with the easiest scenario. Did we hit financial independence with the metric that I used back in 2012: <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/four-percent-rule.asp">the 4% Rule</a>? Here's what the Mad Fientist's laboratory calculated:</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpFwTEIbOr2091p8u_na0thR7bmCYMAxXYqvzg6i5Ml2iRG-jT1pIE05D3L8UOWMLzKbfTrks7eZzvSnJ3gJFSFAsCEUMLBPL_xdEnMuYiSRJSPkaa-A2JD9J18_mo3FhEeMkX4JK5EL9V/s1829/4%2525+Aug+2021.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img alt="Zero Days Out...Were We On Track for Financial Independence?" border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="1829" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpFwTEIbOr2091p8u_na0thR7bmCYMAxXYqvzg6i5Ml2iRG-jT1pIE05D3L8UOWMLzKbfTrks7eZzvSnJ3gJFSFAsCEUMLBPL_xdEnMuYiSRJSPkaa-A2JD9J18_mo3FhEeMkX4JK5EL9V/w544-h243/4%2525+Aug+2021.png" title="Financial independence progress at a 4% safe withdrawal rate" width="544" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">FI Progress at 4% SWR. Click for bigness.</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A couple caveats for these charts:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Our spending for the past 12 months was $42,324. But that number is weird for a couple reasons.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">One, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/07/so-were-going-to-pay-off-mortgage.html">we paid off the mortgage</a> a couple years ago. Our spending would be in the neighborhood of $57,000 if we kept it around.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We also purchased two used cars in 2020 for a total of $20k or so (a post to come on those purchases), and gave <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/01/making-one-car-work-and-hidden.html">our old Matrix</a> to our niece for her first car. I didn't know how to include this "one time" (okay, two time) spending in the calculations while still having the spending & FI calculations make some sort of sense. So I omitted these "one offs" but still include the cost of registration, insurance, etc.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So with the original goal we set out for back in 2012, things are looking okay. But <a href="https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/ISGFIRE.pdf">we're not huge fans of the 4% rule</a>. What if we went down to 3.75%, maybe the most aggressive safe withdrawal rate we'd actually roll with in reality. How do we fare then?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLNt6zyNN0OzCSiqWYtWvxDEf3-NUk4SYSCs25yrSt_OvL5f-gFwtHf3TRIJTKiaU1moTtE0v-NRxoc8vX2Ju1kJznvcWYTF4wKsfHeS65BWb5tEnr5SwTJVVHWq4xhTGbW3naXaNegvl/s1834/3.75%2525+Aug+2021.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img alt="Zero Days Out...Were We On Track for Financial Independence?" border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="1834" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLNt6zyNN0OzCSiqWYtWvxDEf3-NUk4SYSCs25yrSt_OvL5f-gFwtHf3TRIJTKiaU1moTtE0v-NRxoc8vX2Ju1kJznvcWYTF4wKsfHeS65BWb5tEnr5SwTJVVHWq4xhTGbW3naXaNegvl/w546-h244/3.75%2525+Aug+2021.png" title="Financial independence progress at a 3.75% safe withdrawal rate" width="546" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">FI Progress at 3.75% SWR. Click for bigness.<br /></span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Okay, not too shabby. $3,832 a month covers our expenses over the past year, with some room to spare. But 3.75% isn't quite as conservative a withdrawal rate as what we'd like.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Our latest plan called for a 3.5% SWR. Would we be able to swing that?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS32Ja6zPEbKosJWoMxlYM7LpR7yVHmgzk834mXi5x11FlDVMfoK00hknVkzONP2kZhXMyTdlSVsuWO8rBXhmD3l_d8cycRxyyLSGx_o5ZLVEJS3g81nGREhYWFaIYl-CEgUwWl-_hv5n_/s1828/3.5%2525+Aug+2021.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="1828" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS32Ja6zPEbKosJWoMxlYM7LpR7yVHmgzk834mXi5x11FlDVMfoK00hknVkzONP2kZhXMyTdlSVsuWO8rBXhmD3l_d8cycRxyyLSGx_o5ZLVEJS3g81nGREhYWFaIYl-CEgUwWl-_hv5n_/w551-h249/3.5%2525+Aug+2021.png" width="551" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">FI Progress at 3.5% SWR. Click for bigness.</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With the smallest of margins between that purple and green lines, we seem to have made our goal. Parenthood has taught me to take wins wherever you can get them, so that's what I'm going to do here. We did it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Very little of our financial independence journey has gone exactly to plan. We've <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2014/03/opportunity-costs-are-sunk-costs.html">paid off mortgages</a> just to do <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2016/06/oops-we-have-mortgage-again.html">cash out refi's</a> and invest, then gone <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/03/our-mortgage-swoop.html">right back to debt payoff</a> all over again. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The original plans sometimes centered around not having kids; we ended up having one and then another for good measure. We thought <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2014/11/house-lust.html">rental properties would be the foundation of our FIRE plans</a>: turns out we didn't like being landlords, sold the houses and got the kids college funds instead.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">At first we decided both of us would stop working at the same time to spend time with the kids; for now, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/04/no-job-new-plan.html">one of us will be working</a>. (And with that twist on work plans, I should probably mention that we never planned to have ongoing encounters with the internet retirement police. But maybe we should have.)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">While so little of our plans worked out like we thought it would, we got the big picture right. The midwesterner in me doesn't allow bragging or self-congratulations and it makes for terrible writing, but I'm going to do it anyway. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We did the thing. There was <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/04/thinking-in-bets-about-fire.html">a lot of luck</a> and half of the time we didn't know what we were doing but, as always, better to be lucky than good.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sumanch/27438424684/sizes/c/">Suman Chakrabarti</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white;"><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Safari</a><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></div><div><p></p></div></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-90550731600794946712021-06-28T05:00:00.138-07:002021-07-02T21:00:04.527-07:00For Me, it's the RE<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-BBzP6uKpN10YUPRlv_0jhqHJ2IDI3tsIJEXO4qhDOqXENCBOdY6MslsjGajr2urn4hbahWaaRq7vw4I0Pw8BsA8GRIlP6otj4g86n_SAwVv9WP6GYFaqjH8kRr1ic6sbd6CspJ8QOV7U/s800/fuzzcat+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-BBzP6uKpN10YUPRlv_0jhqHJ2IDI3tsIJEXO4qhDOqXENCBOdY6MslsjGajr2urn4hbahWaaRq7vw4I0Pw8BsA8GRIlP6otj4g86n_SAwVv9WP6GYFaqjH8kRr1ic6sbd6CspJ8QOV7U/w400-h300/fuzzcat+Flickr.jpg" title="For Me, it's the RE" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The correct thing to do in FIRE is to focus on the financially independent part: the freedom you gain from having financial security. If you no longer needed to work for money, what would you do with your one and precious life? Would you travel the world full time? Write that book you've been thinking about for decades? Start a business or non profit?</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I feel some shame for not having great answers to many of those questions. Or, maybe I should say that the things I'd choose to do are not all that different from what I'd already been doing while working: playing board games, writing and reading, hanging out with my friends, watching the kids, cooking, tending to the house and the cars, taking some tasty naps. But these are mundane and totally ordinary pleasures. None of them require retirement. The only somewhat impressive thing we'd like to do once financially independent is travel more abroad, and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/08/baby-af-goes-to-europe.html" target="_blank">we were</a> <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2016/07/our-trip-to-africa.html" target="_blank">kind of</a> <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2017/06/our-trip-to-asia.html" target="_blank">doing</a> <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2017/08/icelands-ring-road-in-kuku.html" target="_blank">that</a> <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2015/02/central-europe-travel-hack.html" target="_blank">already</a>. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Besides, having children slowed our travel down far more than work ever did, as there's a nine month window on either side of the birth where we don't want to get on a series of planes and trains.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Rather than the financial independence itself, retirement was always the thing I longed for. While there were parts of my job I enjoyed, I'd known for a while I didn't like doing it for forty or fifty hours every week. I wanted to stop. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I know I'm supposed to retire "to" something but maybe I'm just wired differently, because cutting bad things out of my life has always worked pretty well. Some of the best decisions in my life have come from subtraction, not addition. Ending toxic relationships with significant others, friends, and even family has brought some legitimate peace. Leaving my first university, and the small town in Pennsylvania where I just did not fit in, was a good decision, even if I barely knew what awaited me on the other side of the country in San Diego. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Was there something really magical about San Diego? Or was getting out of that college town the thing that did it? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">There are other things that made my <span style="background-color: white;">life better just by removing them. While I never wanted to write about this much while I was working, I spent my early twenties addicted to meth. What started out as a casual habit on the weekends with friends ended up nearly costing me my job and several friendships, along with twenty pounds or so. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">I started out just staying up all night on a Friday, and then catching up on sleep over the weekend. But after a few years, I'd be up from Friday morning all through the weekend. And then Monday morning would show up and I'd either have to call in to work sick or try to tough the work day out </span>and pass out as soon as I got home from work on Monday. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">One day I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror coming out of the shower and was shocked by how thin I'd gotten. I wish that I could say I moved "towards" something, but the truth was that I just needed to cut that out of my life. It didn't matter what goals I had if I didn't take that step.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I rented a room in a new house, which got some distance between me and my old housemates. I ended up substituting with other drugs, which is not a great idea, but it worked. After a year without meth, it stuck. I was able to start doing normal things, like working out, joining a kickball team, getting my teaching credential at night after work, going on some dates. I haven't touched meth since June of 2006. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Sure, maybe it wasn't as noble a solution as sticking around and learning to face my temptations head on, but my life got better when I got out of that house. I tried to quit a lot of times before, and I never had much success. But leaving, with a little physical distance and the ability to put my phone on ignore, that did the trick. Other things I wanted, like a better (and better paying) career, finishing my education, getting my finances together, those things only seemed possible after I was able to get away from meth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">For better or worse, I think work ended up falling into the same sort of pattern for me. I don't know how common this is, but I ended up burning out at whatever job I had: teaching, procurement either in government or with a big corporation. I'd change jobs and things would start out fine. I'd try to bust my ass and keep up with the work but, as the years went on, more and more projects piled up until I couldn't keep pace. Work was terrible for my mental health, but I didn't see many solutions other than leaving: for another job to start fresh, or eventually to retire.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I know there was supposed to be some sort of job out there that didn't feel like work, or some sort of system of organization and email management that would finally make the mountain of work manageable. If that career or system is out there, I never found it. But I did find the FIRE movement. And for me, financial independence wasn't a path to something specific: it was a fire escape.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I've always heard that escape is not a worthy goal. But I don't need to sit down and solve every problem or forever endure every terrible person in my life: sometimes the right move is walking away. Like with habits that bring more pain than happiness. Some relationships. Maybe a job, or an entire career, too.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Our culture values facing problems head-on, and then conquering them. <a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-the-upside-of-quitting/" target="_blank">Quitting</a> is a four letter word, because it is seen as giving up or, worse, running away from your problems. We are supposed to face our fears, and then emerge victorious, with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXw8CRapg7k&ab_channel=QueenVEVO" target="_blank">Queen</a> unironically blaring in the background. We admire the fight, not the flight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Like a lot of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/why-are-americans-so-ideologically-united/243951/" target="_blank">American ideology</a>, I think this is too simple and encourages us, maybe intentionally, to keep toxic things and people in our lives far longer than we ought to. At least that's how I felt about our relationship with work. For the last year and a half, we were all just supposed to keep plugging away during a pandemic like nothing else was going on in our lives. How is that healthy? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span>I'll never get used to how America seems so </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/" target="_blank">obsessed with work</a><span>.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Work wasn't an addiction for me, but it was pretty toxic. Maybe I was just unlucky with the jobs I had. I was bad at telling bosses "no" or speaking up when things got to be too much. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">I don't want to put all the blame on work culture: a lot of this must just be due to how I was made and how I deal with stress. I had some pretty great bosses throughout my whole career, too: this wasn't on them, either. Work was just not something I had a healthy relationship with. I let things pile up, let the stress get too bad, to the point that I'd stop sleeping and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/01/and-im-out.html" target="_blank">start having bad thoughts</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">So I walked away. I quit and FIRE was always about quitting, at least for me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Maybe it's that way for you, too. I'd like to let you know that you can still find some happiness when you retire <i>away</i> from something. The first step can just be getting away from whatever is causing you harm, even if you don't have the next steps all figured out yet. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If financial independence is about freedom then it's okay for that freedom to be the choice to cut out the bad. You don't always need to know what is going to replace it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">**Photo is from <a href="file:///C:/Users/tanny/Documents/Done%20by%20Forty%20Blog/Flickr%20Creative%20Commons/fuzzcat%20Flickr.jpg" target="_blank">fuzzcat</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white;"><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Safari</a><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br style="background-color: white;" /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="background-color: white; color: #016f77; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></p>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-31291057116218829012021-06-15T05:00:00.006-07:002021-06-29T13:23:06.054-07:00And Then We Were Four<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-sjfLB3Op1gTrAm5b2gJgQE3L1XA8udfSUe2wZxYRDa-8in7xAHrjdjEnaa6Yyd5Mh6Uc7Gx_bROHLhxQDj86b_EmHCAoIdheji0_TxmjVY4bXS7P1DYI5qK_jzkVwIFOf22VlZ5Zi3Z/s4032/PXL_20210612_151849348.PORTRAIT.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-sjfLB3Op1gTrAm5b2gJgQE3L1XA8udfSUe2wZxYRDa-8in7xAHrjdjEnaa6Yyd5Mh6Uc7Gx_bROHLhxQDj86b_EmHCAoIdheji0_TxmjVY4bXS7P1DYI5qK_jzkVwIFOf22VlZ5Zi3Z/w400-h300/PXL_20210612_151849348.PORTRAIT.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">We left for the hospital just before midnight. The on-call OB said that if Mrs. Done by Forty's contractions were five minutes apart and consistent, then it was time to go. We called our friend to come over since Toddler AF was asleep, grabbed the suitcase, and drove off. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">At the hospital though, the nurses weren't so sure Mrs. Done by Forty was in labor. Early labor, sure. Regular, intense contractions, yes. But not "labor labor". After being told "let's wait another hour and see where we're at" the entire night, they finally released Mrs. Done by Forty at 9 am, nine hours after we arrived, and told us to come back when we were <i>really</i> in labor.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"But I feel like I am in labor."<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">"But you're not. So..."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">She suffered through a full day of contractions on no sleep at all, with Toddler AF demanding her attention because I'd foolishly told him he needed to leave mommy alone today. But we got through the day, shoved some food in Toddler AF, and put him to bed. We'd both finally be able to get a good night's rest.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As we were crawling into bed, she felt a sharp kick. Her water had broken. Our friend rushed over again, and we were back on our way to the same hospital for the second night in a row.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Mrs. Done by Forty, as always, was a champion. She is stronger than me, and as proof she made it to seven centimeters before the epidural. She is tough and she is my person. Mrs. Done by Forty brought our little one, our six pound, fifteen ounce Baby JC, into the world early that morning in late April.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The doctors kept us in the hospital an extra day to monitor Baby JC, which meant Toddler AF got to eat pizza and spend more time hanging out with his new buddy, our friend who was kind enough to drive in from Tucson to watch him for two whole days. We were worried that Toddler AF would freak out without us there, but it turns out he was just happy to hang out with someone new for the first time since the pandemic began.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">After eating our way through the hospital's menu, seeing a never ending train of nurses, doctors, and specialists, it was time to face the outside world again. Mrs. Done by Forty's sister was able to stay with us for a week, which was a huge help, even if a bit stressful. (I've never been good at having guests at the house for any length of time, and a week is the longest stretch we've ever tried.) She was able to watch Toddler AF, cook, and allow Mrs. Done by Forty and me to get as much sleep as we could. Baby JC only complied so much: every few hours, she rose again.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The past six weeks have been a blur of takeout meals and GrubHub deliveries (thanks again to the online friends who gifted us so many free meals), books and screen time with Toddler AF, tantrums, loving moments with the family, cooing and cuddling with Baby JC, surprising and draining fights with Mrs. Done by Forty, and all on too little sleep. Never enough sleep. There is a lot good, but a lot of stress, too.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Because we can never settle on a plan for very long, we are rethinking the work plan yet again. Seven weeks into life with our newborn, Mrs. Done by Forty is not sure she wants to work while Baby JC is so little. The reality of having her in our life, how often she needs fed and burped, and how little sleep we are operating on, is causing her to reconsider why and how she would go back to work if she doesn't technically have to. There's just no room left on the plate.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We'd just settled on <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/04/no-job-new-plan.html">a new plan</a> pretty recently. Right before Baby JC came, the idea was that she'd work from home most of the time but perhaps go into the office three or four hours a day. I'd watch the kiddos, and maybe after we can get a vaccine into Toddler AF's little arm, we could send him to preschool. Maybe we'd use the Microsoft app that came with the chip to check in on him, just to make sure he's safe.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But now that Baby JC is here in all her big eyed, cooing glory, Mrs. Done by Forty isn't <i>quite</i> as sure she wants to go to work after her twelve weeks of maternity leave ends. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I, too, am not in a great position to know if this is truly what she wants long term, or if sleep deprivation and the overwhelming everything that comes with newborns and toddlers is just making work seem like one thing too many. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The loose plan now is to approach work in a series of short-to-medium term trials. Try a month of working full time from home and see if it's a good fit. Try a month of going into the office part-time and see if she wants to continue. If she decides she'd rather just be home with the fam for a while instead of working, or if the stress is too much and she doesn't want to keep going, she'll put in her notice or ask for a leave of absence, and that'll be that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/04/no-job-new-plan.html">I already wrote</a> about all the challenges inherent with leaving work so I won't tread over all that again. But there are questions we don't know how to answer. What if this isn't the right call but we can only know that in retrospect? What if she can't find a position in her field again after taking several years off?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We have no good answers here, only tradeoffs. I've never thought personal finance taught many great life lessons, but one that I like is that <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2014/03/opportunity-costs-are-sunk-costs.html">everything has opportunity costs</a>. Whatever we choose to do with our time, that means there's something else, a lot of something elses, that we can't do at the same time. We're inevitably going to miss out on some things.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The pandemic proved to us that we cannot work and raise very young children at the same time. At least, Mrs. Done by Forty and I specifically cannot. Not <i>really</i> work, or not <i>really</i> raise the kids. The best we could manage was <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2021/01/and-im-out.html">some sort of unsustainable compromise</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now that I'm no longer working, a different compromise is possible. I can be the stay at home dad while she works. It's appealing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But there's still an opportunity cost. While she'll obviously be here for Baby JC's first year of life if she works, and would still parenting and still getting to be here for precious moments and all of that, there are <i>some</i> things that she won't be there for. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">She might want to be here for it all while they're still young.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's weird to frame it as such because what I'm describing is just a normal, totally situation which is "being a working parent in modern America". Still, we can also probably acknowledge that America, with its general lack of parental leave and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/08/americas-dumb-approach-to-childcare.html">dumb approach to childcare</a>, makes it <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/only-one-country-in-this-survey-scores-worse-than-the-united-states-when-it-comes-to-raising-a-family-2020-07-29">unusually difficult on working parents</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now that we've stumbled our way into financial independence, we have choices on how we want to spend our time. We're in the very lucky position to do things differently. We can choose not to work, if that's what we want. We just have to figure that out.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWu7cMSxdcpd7SsHuZFdB6E0AhCjylHY69_HqNqjHwYsw0WFmDLna8uqK1srYYfIvmbiraLtBmIzmJvSsnPZsM3bZjgZVs_S96zRj2GH2d-yzoyYKJNT04cu44oL065fHhaS2QuldpKAiR/s4032/PXL_20210428_165740089.PORTRAIT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWu7cMSxdcpd7SsHuZFdB6E0AhCjylHY69_HqNqjHwYsw0WFmDLna8uqK1srYYfIvmbiraLtBmIzmJvSsnPZsM3bZjgZVs_S96zRj2GH2d-yzoyYKJNT04cu44oL065fHhaS2QuldpKAiR/w300-h400/PXL_20210428_165740089.PORTRAIT.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br /><br /><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari">Change cookie settings on Safari</a><br /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></p>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-58207223290465146092021-04-19T05:00:00.041-07:002021-06-29T13:23:20.163-07:00No Job. New Plan?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoTyDwVwcNlTDAs0_kktu9cUrduT7raZOqrPJT6Bu4gLjrFhlI_2GDi6Y2M4B5JdbUvQvnVqKaXYf2sKhIVfp_mOckh446pHjzRuh3FUrZ1bSmBnzYmmwJnO7Q24EShGGJM5MNqOs_Ppgm/s799/xddorox2+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoTyDwVwcNlTDAs0_kktu9cUrduT7raZOqrPJT6Bu4gLjrFhlI_2GDi6Y2M4B5JdbUvQvnVqKaXYf2sKhIVfp_mOckh446pHjzRuh3FUrZ1bSmBnzYmmwJnO7Q24EShGGJM5MNqOs_Ppgm/w259-h400/xddorox2+at+Flickr.jpg" width="259" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;">It's been a couple months since <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">my sudden retirement</a>, readers, and the days have been calm. Rewarding, even. This is the type of balance I need, at least while the pandemic drags on, Mrs. Done by Forty continues to work, while nearly nine months pregnant, and Toddler AF seeks our attention every moment. It's a lot, but it's a balance we can live with. For me, taking the corporate job out of the routine has added by subtracting. I'm happier. Calmer. More at peace.<br /><br />What am I doing with my days? The short answer is spending a lot of time with Toddler AF, which means coloring (and buying packs of coloring books when I can find them on sale), reading children's books (and flying through the library's recommended reading lists), teaching him how to type out words on the laptop, squishing playdough into shapes, finding science experiments to do online, and getting all the time in the backyard we can before Arizona's sadistic summer drives us back inside or into the pool.<br /><br />When he finally, thankfully naps around one, I catch up on reading, ride my bike (though that is not working the past few weeks as it's already too hot by the afternoon), work on the cars a bit (oh yeah, we bought, um, two used cars since I wrote that post about <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">making one car work</a>), taking my <a href="https://www.motortrend.com/cars/saab/9-3/2006/review-2006-saab-93/">new-to-me Saab station wagon</a> out in search of highway onramps, and catching up with friends on the telephone. <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2014/04/what-are-you-going-to-do-when-you-retire.html">Or nap</a>. Sometimes I just nap.<span><a name='more'></a></span> <br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Mrs. Done by Forty is again able to work a normal number of hours during a normal part of the day, which is way better than each of us shuffling back and forth between childcare and work until Toddler AF goes to sleep, and then catching up at night. She's calmer, too, and even in the last days of pregnancy, is enjoying the newfound work-life balance that was missing the past year.<br /><br />It's been such a welcome change that our early retirement plans might be changing, too. Turns out that when we're not both saddled with the stresses of full time work and childcare at the same time, then Mrs. Done by Forty kind of likes her job. At least well enough to maybe keep going for a while, hypothetically, after MC Baby drops this month. She might want to work until the end of the year, or end of the academic year in 2022. Maybe even longer. <br /><br />At least that's what we're talking about today. Who knows how we'll all feel once we double the amount of demanding children in the house.<br /><br />She likes the adult outlet as a change of pace to Toddler AF time, and one that lets her use her PhD, too. It's a good fit, and one we never thought we'd be able to find in this city. If she hops out of the workforce now, neither of us are sure if another job will appear in her niche field when both kids are in school sometime around 2026, at least without us having to move to a new state. <br /><br />And there are some other inherent challenges with this new, half baked plan. The big one, if I'm being honest with myself and with you readers, is that the big benefit of our early retirement was that we'd all have free time to do fun stuff together. We imagined we'd play board games and read books, team up on watching the kids and play together in the backyard. We'd go on excursions around the city, walks and hikes and maybe do some slow traveling internationally too, once MC Baby was old enough and the kids could be vaccinated.<br /><br /> With the caveat that we can never really know how things will turn out until we give them a try, I assume our early retirement day to day will be pretty different if Mrs. Done by Forty is working, maybe going into the office three or five days a week, and I'm home watching the kids. <br /><br />I think I can get behind the idea of being a stay-at-home dad while my spouse works. I love and support her career choices, and spending time with family was always the big goal in FIRE for me. It's just a change to be doing the parenting alone during the day. A big one, maybe.<br /><br />If I'm being honest, there are some not so great feelings attached with this change. We've been working towards this goal for about a decade. We talk about it a good bit. Now, there's this new change at the eleventh hour, after I've already left work. And I tend to have a tricky time handling changes. <br /><br />That said, I'm sympathetic to the reality that, sometimes, when you're right on the precipice of a big decision, it looks different. It's hardest to take the leap when you're standing right on the edge. <br /><br />In Mrs. Done by Forty's case, it's harder than usual. For one, it's way different for a woman to jump in and out of the workforce than it is for me. The <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">motherhood penalty is real</a>, and re-entering the workforce is <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">harder for parents who leave to care for family than it is for parents who were laid off</a>. <br /><br />In academia, there are some <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">known biases against mothers</a> already. It's common in Mrs. Done by Forty's field for women to take off their wedding rings in interviews, so the interviewee doesn't immediately assume that she is married and therefore might be having children. She's been given well-meaning advice from professors to wait to have children until after getting tenure, because at that point the department can't discriminate against you if you decide to have them.<br /><br />We hit a small lottery of sorts by getting a job in Mrs. Done by Forty's field in this city. We'd always assumed that we'd have to move to get a job like that, but we somehow lucked out. Now that she has the job it's harder to give it up, even if doing so was what we'd intended to do all along. Sure, our plan was to take five years off and work again once MC Baby is in school. But what jobs will be available? <br /><br />More to the point, what jobs will be available to her? I likely can re-enter the workforce in procurement if I wanted to, even after a multi-year hiatus. I'll probably even get a fatherhood bonus of sorts in the interview, being viewed favorably as a parent who decided to spend time with his children. <br /><br />Will she?<br /><br />I know this post is already running too long, but there's also a less charitable problem I'm having with this change, too. But hey, if you can't be honest on your blog, where can you be? <br /><br />I have some <a href="https://goodmenproject.com/parenting/the-stigma-surrounding-stay-at-home-fathers/">hang-ups about being a stay at home dad</a>. It's stupid, but it doesn't feel the same to say, "We both retired early," as it does to say, "I stay at home watching the kids while my wife works." This is my own insecure, fairly sexist shit that I have to deal with. There isn't a man alive who doesn't have some sexist tendencies. We're all living in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/why-the-patriarchy-is-killing-men/2019/09/12/2490fa7e-d3ea-11e9-86ac-0f250cc91758_story.html">patriarchy</a>: this is just one way it fucks with my thinking. <br /><br />There's some status seeking wrapped up in this, sure. It's cooler to seem independently wealthy. But there's some plain old sexism, too: I'm worrying about how other people will maybe not view me with as much esteem or whatever, based on the fact that my wife works and I don't. <br /><br />It feels weird to type this out. But, as always, I'll need to face my problems if I'm going to deal with them. <br /><br />I like the boost of self esteem I feel if people know that Mrs. Done by Forty and I are both able to retire at a young age. If Mrs. Done by Forty works and I don't, some people will view our situation differently. They're not going to assume, "Oh, those people don't need to worry about money and one of them is just working for their own fulfillment." They'll assume we, like the rest of humanity, work because we need a paycheck. And that, maybe, there is something not so great about me, since I'm not out there working, too.<br /><br />Of course, male insecurity is not a good reason to make major life decisions. It's just something to talk to a therapist about, and to wonder why it matters so much to me what others think about the fact that I am working. And why, in my weak moments, why it isn't enough that Mrs. Done by Forty just wants to do this thing, just because she enjoys it. <br /><br />No one ever said money would make us better people. In fact, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/09/fire-buys-you-classwhether-you-want-it.html">it likely does the opposite</a>. Whatever the reason, leaving work has shown me there's some not-great stuff in between my ears. Looks like I have something new to work on when the kids are asleep.<br /><br /><br /><i>*Photo is from <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">xddorox</a> at Flickr Creative Commons<br /><br /><b>**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</b></i><br /><br /><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari">Change cookie settings on Safari</a><br /><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a><br /><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></span></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-1666265424333219002021-03-22T06:00:00.003-07:002021-08-24T07:37:36.174-07:00Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrli1TagtDkul04zwDQUnlZQfDlNOMokUd_7JVpiV7N9vMPNzV5Z5HEcLzBGMoWA9iNZG0GVotAKc7hjy7CvKflMd_lYSKuibj-7H3EKVDw43fMkW30FjOXpY3h2JoC0zaz5cK9tqABvp/s799/soomness+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrli1TagtDkul04zwDQUnlZQfDlNOMokUd_7JVpiV7N9vMPNzV5Z5HEcLzBGMoWA9iNZG0GVotAKc7hjy7CvKflMd_lYSKuibj-7H3EKVDw43fMkW30FjOXpY3h2JoC0zaz5cK9tqABvp/w400-h266/soomness+Flickr.jpg" title="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />2021 is determined to deprive us of nice things, so some tired click bait has been making the rounds again: claiming that a $400k income somehow qualifies as middle class in some coastal cities. <br /><br />I don't have to link to this junk, right? No, I don't. We won't. We don't have to give wealthy misanthropes the attention they thirst for.<br /><br />Still, anytime that popular media goes off the rails with definitions of the middle class, it's a good time to center our understanding on what people actually earn in this country. As always, I'm using my favorite, easy to understand method: income quintiles.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">When I first published <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2015/03/middle-class-how-about-middle-quintile.html" target="_blank">an income quintile post in 2015</a>, the most recent data from the Census Bureau was from 2013. Below are the most recent income quintile figures, from 2019, right before the start of the pandemic and ensuing recession which likely wreaked some havoc on a lot of household's income. [<a href="https://www.blogger.com/#" target="_blank">Source.</a>] </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">As a reminder, each quintile has a full 20% of all US households in it. Here is how the income quintiles broke down for 2019: <br /><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1st Quintile (“Lower Class”): $0 - $28,083 </span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2nd Quintile (“Lower Middle Class”): $28,084 - $53,502 <br />3rd Quintile (“Middle Class”): $53,503 - $86,487<br />4th Quintile (“Upper Middle Class”): $86,488 - $142,500<br />5th Quintile (“Upper Class”): $142,501 or more in household income <br />The lower limit of top 5% of all households was $270,002.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJI4v54GdVsNR1-Lm9k1ncj6o-lCbXgFJULVgNRZnmxXZE4iHVMy91C07Fyw7Kl5asYr_ai3UsEWA0_R0SA_SvWHl-Tl3ZxQiOwS6x4TFItjiCZ8H01xvb2WZyz42sVaxEz9loxt4oBSw7//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="854" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJI4v54GdVsNR1-Lm9k1ncj6o-lCbXgFJULVgNRZnmxXZE4iHVMy91C07Fyw7Kl5asYr_ai3UsEWA0_R0SA_SvWHl-Tl3ZxQiOwS6x4TFItjiCZ8H01xvb2WZyz42sVaxEz9loxt4oBSw7/w566-h192/image.png" title="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" width="566" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Click for bigness. [<a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-hinc/hinc-05.html" target="_blank">Source</a>]</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Honestly, the figures for the middle quintile initially made me somewhat optimistic, as they're so much better than those from 2013 (when the Census Bureau estimated the same quintile earned only between $40,188 and $65,501). But this all is in the before-time: prior to COVID, and the horrific unemployment numbers we're still seeing.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But all these income figures are a far, far cry from $400,000. This income would place you in the top 5% of all households. (One estimate places this household income in the top 1.8%.)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The common counter when viewing aggregated data is that things are very dependent on where you live. Sure, a mid-six figure income might seem very high to you, a frugal deadbeat wasting away in flyover country. But jetsetters in coastal cities have high rent, and suffer outrageous costs for everything from gas to childcare to groceries. Come to the big city, and you'll see that half a million a year doesn't get you very far.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Still, I'm not interested in the fabricated budget of a hypothetical family that's having a hard time making it work on just $400,000. Income is more telling. Let's look at <a href="https://www.incomebyzipcode.com/" target="_blank">the median income for a zip code</a> in the Bay Area: San Francisco, zip code 94117. This is an undoubtedly a high cost of living area, and is apparently where <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EL65KLdEHE&ab_channel=JanSchmelter">the painted ladies from the intro to Full House</a> are located. So it's, you know, fancy.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o1i_GTzih9Q1jlcxT8rEbvN1Du52j5AkFs59YNPXZwoUY_UDOB-bFf3k4z9oTuWEwBcP7UK7173pGwUtlhAIafrF7uhmcv57MrWD7Hiafwlf25mtBeDsjZNpLY95OAfugz03wO9GcDUR/s1187/94117.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="1187" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o1i_GTzih9Q1jlcxT8rEbvN1Du52j5AkFs59YNPXZwoUY_UDOB-bFf3k4z9oTuWEwBcP7UK7173pGwUtlhAIafrF7uhmcv57MrWD7Hiafwlf25mtBeDsjZNpLY95OAfugz03wO9GcDUR/w490-h366/94117.png" title="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" width="490" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Click for bigness [<a href="https://www.incomebyzipcode.com/california/94117" target="_blank">source</a>]</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">What is the median income in this zip code in San Francisco? $170,211. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">And for San Francisco as a whole? The family smack dab in the middle of the income spectrum is grossing $112,449. Good money, but not four hundred grand. Again, these are<i> household</i> median income stats: not for an individual. <br /><br />So even here in ultra expensive San Francisco, $400,000 would be well over triple what the median household earns in the city. <br /><br /><br />How about Manhattan? Zip code 10065, on the Upper East Side. What's the median household income here? </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5BISpvhMlM-tqMWkmPFR-hPXHGXNsiZeCaGxB4ZwU4Nadl8oMGoz8WsnyTLMeBTUb3eoFqcBKBy1aht_uNeOip4nAgoJ1UAHSJmkgZubaZNXv0zabUu3Ko2kdM5YcWbl0TSzw6OQ7SdyX/s1173/10065.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="1173" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5BISpvhMlM-tqMWkmPFR-hPXHGXNsiZeCaGxB4ZwU4Nadl8oMGoz8WsnyTLMeBTUb3eoFqcBKBy1aht_uNeOip4nAgoJ1UAHSJmkgZubaZNXv0zabUu3Ko2kdM5YcWbl0TSzw6OQ7SdyX/w495-h366/10065.png" title="Is $400k Middle Class? Income Quintiles: 2021 Update" width="495" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Click for bigness [<a href="https://www.incomebyzipcode.com/newyork/10065" target="_blank">source</a>]</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The median household in this part of Manhattan is earning a healthy $148,441. So, as with San Francisco, $400,000 would put you between <i>two or three times</i> the median household income.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />So why is it that some wealthy people insist that such high salaries place them in some mythical middle class that exists only between their ears? </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Are they simply crafting disingenuous headlines to draw readers and news media to their blogs? Perhaps. <br /><br />I think that's too easy a take. Let's assume these wealthy fools are not making ridiculous arguments just to get traffic, but honestly believe this is a "middle class" income. What would lead a rich person to such an error? <br /><br />Somewhat ironically, I think their high cost of living locale may be to blame. Not the surrounding city or suburb that they live in, per-se. But the hyper-local: the neighbors on their street, their friends and coworkers. Their jerk boss at the end of the hall. The immediate community the high earners interact with: this is the basis of comparison that matters when you're considering how well you're doing. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Making half a million seems great when everyone you know is making a fraction of that. But if a good chunk of the people around you are making <i>more</i> than that, say, high six or even seven figures, then the four hundred grand feels different. When you know people who are making less, while seeing that others are making more, well, look at that. You're right in the middle, aren't you? You're not struggling to make ends meet like Jim across the street, but you're not doing so well as that jagoff Brad, either. <br /><br />We're all subject to these sort of comparisons, no matter how much or little we earn. We see the houses our friends and family rent or buy, the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, the vacations, the schools and universities that are available to their children. And we use these things as proxies to see how well everyone else is doing, because one of the last remaining taboos in our society is <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/02/the-wage-gap-sharing-salary-with-women.html" target="_blank">sharing your salary</a>. <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/10/way-too-transparent-all-money-we-made.html" target="_blank">It's uncouth</a>. So we're left to use consumer purchases as a proxy, or, if we're unlucky, we read the nerdy blogs of people screaming income quintiles into the wind.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />So what ultimately determines your socioeconomic class? While some like to think of it in absolute terms (the ability to buy a home, a car, and a vacation every year, stuff like that), I think that misses the point, and allows for patently absurd arguments like $400k affording a middle class life. <span style="background-color: white;">Instead of hanging class onto definitions bound by consumer purchases</span>, I think a socioeconomic class is best represented by money: how much your household earns, and how much it has.<br /><br />But so long as we keep salaries secret, our socioeconomic identities will continue to get bound up in our consumer purchases. Did we take a vacation this year? Should we upgrade the car? Maybe the wardrobe could use a refresh. As always, trying to buy ourselves some class.<br /> </span></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div><i><span style="font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/143850343@N06/25267941258/sizes/c/" target="_blank">soomness</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></i></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">**</span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</i></b></span></div><div><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Safari</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</span></a></li></ul></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-24588117837488822122021-02-08T04:00:00.276-07:002021-06-29T13:24:03.350-07:00A Kinder Means Testing<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sINhL3OBrii1wo7EovOdYPbC2KZZORZKogusuQaIGPPQNJXcYfocB675SFzzWPZvvY9Gh38qQ4MSxRdCEj_wQt1mBUsmsDq0PXI4TJs-XeiaYgyxFRYZ9mwsW7ls1DF3r0Y57V6TBGOx/s799/Senate+Dems+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="Don't Means Test Stimulus Checks" border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sINhL3OBrii1wo7EovOdYPbC2KZZORZKogusuQaIGPPQNJXcYfocB675SFzzWPZvvY9Gh38qQ4MSxRdCEj_wQt1mBUsmsDq0PXI4TJs-XeiaYgyxFRYZ9mwsW7ls1DF3r0Y57V6TBGOx/w400-h266/Senate+Dems+Flickr.jpg" title="Don't Means Test Stimulus Checks" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Now that congressional Democrats have moved past the Republican's latest political showboating (this time in the form of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/4/22266922/senate-vote-a-rama-covid-19-stimulus">a twelve hour vote-a-rama</a>) the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-party-trump-pence-embraced-history-american-fascism-2020-10">non-fascist party</a> can move forward with a COVID relief bill. They'll likely do so through <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/04/democrats-might-use-reconciliation-pass-bidens-pandemic-relief-package-whats-reconciliation/">reconciliation</a>, a process that allows certain bills to pass with only 51 votes in the Senate instead of 60. Since it's apparently not possible to get ten Republicans on board with a relief package if they don't control the White House.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The catch with reconciliation is that it can only be used <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/what-budget-reconciliation-explainer-fast-track-process-covid-relief-n1256592">once per fiscal year, and only for laws related to taxes and spending</a>. Who and what determines whether a bill is related to taxes and spending? <a href="https://archives-democrats-rules.house.gov/archives/byrd_rule.htm#:~:text=Under%20the%20Byrd%20rule%2C%20the,resolution%20or%20conference%20report%20thereon.&text=The%20Byrd%20rule%20is%20enforced,reconciliation%20bill%20or%20conference%20report.">The Byrd Rule</a>, named after West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, provides a six pronged test of the bills. And the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/537269-little-known-senate-referee-to-play-major-role-on-biden-relief-plan">Senate Parliamentarian</a>, Elizabeth MacDonough (the first woman to hold the position), will deem which parts of the bill adheres to the Byrd Rule.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Okay, now that I've scared off most of the readers with parliamentary wonk links, the three of us can get to what I really want to talk about: what's being reported about the Democrats' misguided plans to provide relief checks to fewer Americans than was provided under the Trump Administration & the prior split Congress.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Word is out that the Democrats' may <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/537691-sanders-criticizes-democrats-willing-to-pare-down-eligibility-for-stimulus">try to lower the income cap</a> for who will receive stimulus checks: from $75k per individual and $150k per household, down to $50k and $100k per household. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Why would they do such a thing, especially now that they have control of both Congress and the White House?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's a bit of a mystery. <a href="https://crooked.com/podcast/party-of-q/">Maybe Joe Manchin simply wants the cap lowered</a>; and with the slimmest of possible Democratic majorities, any Senator can potentially veto any aspect of a bill they don't want. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But rather than discuss the merits of lowering the income cap so we can reduce benefits to teachers and healthcare workers making $50,001 a year (or why <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/01/04/bidens-final-pitch-to-georgia-vote-blue-and-2000-checks-will-go-out-the-door-immediately/?sh=36dadfd5744d">$1,400 is not the $2,000</a> Democrats ran on and promised <i>one month ago</i>), I want to outline why means testing is a poor tool to achieve these aims in the first place, and what ought to be done instead.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://prospect.org/economy/fight-means-testing-really/">Means testing</a>, looking at one's means (usually income) to determine eligibility for benefits, often relies on reports of past income: in this case, income tax returns. But since hardly anyone has filed their 2020 taxes yet, means testing for COVID relief relies on <i>2019 </i>income tax returns to determine eligibility.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The year 2019 was either two decades or thirteen months ago, depending on your circumstances. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-infectious-diseases-california-3dcd7ecda72b30501220ae9c2d2e40ee">Some things</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/05/economy/january-2021-jobs-report/index.html">have happened</a> <a href="https://www.blackenterprise.com/the-insurrection-was-a-return-to-jim-crow-era-violent-voter-suppression/">since then</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If conservative Democrats truly want to ensure that our country does not live through the horror of firefighters making $51,000 receiving a check for $1,400, there is a better way to ensure that working class Americans don't get some of their tax dollars back. Moderates can give stimulus checks to the same group who received the prior two, and then claw back the dollars by tackling the terribly misguided Trump tax cuts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In the halcyon days of 2017, our Republican forefathers used the same reconciliation process that modern Democrats now plan to use. But instead of using it to help people survive one of the worst health and economic crises in history, Republicans used reconciliation to <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2018/11/29/461579/rising-deficits-falling-revenues/#:~:text=The%20TCJA%20was%20the%20primary,to%2016.5%20percent%20of%20GDP.">grow the national debt to unheard of levels</a> so they could cut the corporate tax rate and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/789540931/2-years-later-trump-tax-cuts-have-failed-to-deliver-on-gops-promises">give the vast majority of the tax benefit to top earners</a> who didn't need the money in the first place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So here we are again, with the prospect of giving money to people who "don't need it". Whether you're a corporation or a librarian risking her life so kids at home can read books, it does not matter: we are earnest about our desire not to give money to folks who don't need it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, is there a better way to keep this librarian from getting this $1,400 than using 2019 income? There is! Rather than oppressing the middle class via outdated income data, we can ensure these fifty-thousandaires suffer by looking at their <i>current</i> year income and clawing back the $1,400 they did not deserve when they do their taxes in April 2022. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">How could this be accomplished? If congressional Democrats use this reconciliation opportunity to repeal the tax cuts in the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/taxes/trumps-tax-reform-plan-explained/#:~:text=Income%20Tax%20Rates&text=The%20top%20rate%20fell%20from,35%25%20bracket%20was%20also%20unchanged.">2017 TCJA</a>, they'll not only address the deficits that Republicans created over the past four years, but by adding in language stating the stimulus would need to be repaid by the fat-cats earning between $50k a year $75k, they can ensure only those who truly suffered from this recession get the stimulus.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Looking at news reports, it appears Republicans are <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/527197-republicans-ready-to-become-deficit-hawks-again-under-a-president-biden">once again sincerely worried about the out of control national debt</a>. Naturally, they will be in favor of reducing the fiscal impact by raising taxes on top earners and corporations in order to make this stimulus budget neutral. And this can be the way to get bipartisan support for the stimulus bill: pair it with tax reform and, returning tax rates to where they were in 2016, say, for those individuals earning above $157k.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Even if Republicans choose not to support this common sense legislation that would lessen the stimulus' impact on the national debt, the Democrats actually don't need a single vote from the GOP. Just as tax cuts can be passed via reconciliation, so can tax increases.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The rub is that congressional Democrats can only do this once a year. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">While the Trump administration's failure to deal with this pandemic means that Democrats may have to use their once-a-year shot on pandemic relief, they should realize that it's also their one opportunity to address the ill-conceived and fiscally disastrous Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as well.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And if moderate Democrats get to take away a $1400 check from an unemployed teacher in the process, who says there aren't silver linings?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">**<b><i>Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</i></b><br /></span></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Safari</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</span></a></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">***Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdmc/26229171156/sizes/c/">Senate Democrats</a> on Flickr Creative Commons.</span></span></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-25743466671035224652021-01-25T06:00:00.003-07:002021-07-02T21:00:40.992-07:00And I'm Out<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnaJzUvog-D-YTDzm8iSUBUbQW922wiCPx-6v2rbEDVDG2OozCgKCwvbuPw3KvvwHOvNMGPPL0nXlA9X2Nn1xKbvLYLRCBe6eKigQiNfGB4H3v-v_53ogGidT7K78Gl-YRR7SHE0F2WCL/s867/PXL_20201202_010110162.MP.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnaJzUvog-D-YTDzm8iSUBUbQW922wiCPx-6v2rbEDVDG2OozCgKCwvbuPw3KvvwHOvNMGPPL0nXlA9X2Nn1xKbvLYLRCBe6eKigQiNfGB4H3v-v_53ogGidT7K78Gl-YRR7SHE0F2WCL/w300-h400/PXL_20201202_010110162.MP.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">I wasn't sleeping, and for the usual reason. I was so stressed from work most nights, thinking about deadlines I wasn't able to meet and the series of conversations I'd need to have explaining when we could deliver, that I couldn't turn my brain off enough to relax & doze off. Sometimes I'd be up just to one or two in the morning, sometimes I'd be up through the night. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">After that, being productive at work the next day was more or less impossible. I'd end up even further behind by the end of the day, even more stressed out about how everything was going to be done in time. Lather, rinse, repeat.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">COVID certainly wasn't helping. Mrs. Done by Forty and I were juggling full time work and Toddler AF, trying to make sure the kid was engaged and learning (or at least not running face first into furniture) all while sticking to our rule of no screen time. Throughout the day, we'd take turns stepping away from the laptop to relieve the other, swapping our employee and parent hats, and using nights and weekends to catch up on work. And we have a new baby on the way in April, which just added to the anxiety.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On some nights, the stress got so bad that I'd start to have bad thoughts. "Why not just shoot yourself?" I'd think. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I know this is a terrible, preposterous thought, and I knew it at the time, too. Usually it would take a few minutes, maybe a half an hour of self-talk, to realize that suicide was a terrible solution to the problem of work stress. For one, I don't even need to work. We have a lot of money and are pretty close to our financial goals. I could just quit. Or find another job. Or go to part time. Or just one of us could work while the other watched the kids.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But what about financial independence? And our plans for the future? And health insurance, and on and on and on. What about the people who know you've been working towards this 40-year-old retirement plan? What is everyone going to think when they find out you threw in the towel like some loser?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Why not just keep going for a bit? Gut it out. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Turns out that the things that make me good at sticking to plans and achieving my goals also make it hard for me to change those plans, even when they're no longer good for me. I worry about failure, and more about perceived failure.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But I wasn't struggling with these thoughts alone. Mrs. Done by Forty and I were able to talk about this, because pretty much everything is on the table when we talk. She'd been thinking I should quit for a while. And all through 2020 I've been seeing a therapist once every week or two, sometimes both my own therapist as well as one Mrs. Done by Forty see together in the same week. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Once these thoughts got more persistent and intense around December, the busy time for procurement, and it became harder to shake these bad thoughts (especially since there is <i>a literal gun store </i>I walk by when I pick up chlorine for the pool) my therapist finally said it was time to stop working. Mrs. Done by Forty and I both agreed. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So about ten days ago, I put in my two week notice. My boss was understanding and agreed it was the right call. I'm amazed at how everyone seems to agree that my health and family should come first. I don't know what I was expecting, but not that. Maybe because I'm still not very good at understanding that health and family should come first.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, this wasn't the way I thought I'd leave work. I'm dealing with a lot of weird emotions now. Shame, mostly. Shame that I decided to just drop out of the race so close to the finish line. I would have gotten a bonus in March, and four weeks paid parental leave in May. My therapist and Mrs. Done by Forty tell me differently; but in bed at night, I don't feel relief. I feel failure.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Besides missing out on money and some paid time off, the way I feel about how I'm leaving work seems tainted. Am I even retired? Since Mrs. Done by Forty is still working (for a few more months, at least) am I a stay at home dad? Will I pass the tests of the Internet Retirement Police? (No, probably not.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">My emotions are still a bit of a mess. I guess that's okay for now. Leaving work was never going to solve all my problems, even if it reduces the stress I feel from a job.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And money's a poor salve for these sort of problems, too. I know money isn't supposed to deal with what's going on between my ears. Still, since I'm feeling guilt about how my decision to leave work early is impacting our financial independence, I guess we should look at where we really stand at the moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's where the Mad Fientist had us sitting at the end of December, assuming a 3.5% withdrawal rate, and our 2020 spending:</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW6a12FBNQsA-B8awm_oAJn9NN_uk4DoBD7BZ_MEFLb5TNjmZRSOw943XcwCWFarwWeVCRyHm6R5NzTS5wN55kDfDPQmVaQRFuclIPBhLfpf2XnPYXW9EVoe05WYl-JZ6uve4gVra025bX/s1836/MadFientist+3.5+Dec+2020.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1836" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW6a12FBNQsA-B8awm_oAJn9NN_uk4DoBD7BZ_MEFLb5TNjmZRSOw943XcwCWFarwWeVCRyHm6R5NzTS5wN55kDfDPQmVaQRFuclIPBhLfpf2XnPYXW9EVoe05WYl-JZ6uve4gVra025bX/w400-h184/MadFientist+3.5+Dec+2020.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Click for bigness</span></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;">So, we were at least on pace to hit FI with a 3.5% withdrawal rate if we stuck around until June as planned. To give some details:</span><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Our spending for 2020 was $40,244 </span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">This includes only three months of daycare, from Jan-Mar</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">We had some higher medical bills & giving because 2020, but things might stay in this range in FI</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;">We are not exactly where we need to be for a 3.5% withdrawal rate with our 2020 spending. But what if we took out daycare: an expense we could hypothetically eliminate with me staying home? Here's where we would stand at a 3.5% withdrawal rate, but taking out the $3,500 or so we spent on daycare.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfA-mRjlLB70cW3eLzdNbDDhUqZwzTMlGlZQL_J5EDMLY1rmTjXAUEKgMViPKVTiS9pqo3dnhks7K5tkFpM78FRaarEWa_QBMqLw-xJREIyloyVaMBPibhp7cU85p3uK7qRDjbmVID6h4g/s1849/MadFientist+3.5+no+daycare+Dec+2020.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="1849" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfA-mRjlLB70cW3eLzdNbDDhUqZwzTMlGlZQL_J5EDMLY1rmTjXAUEKgMViPKVTiS9pqo3dnhks7K5tkFpM78FRaarEWa_QBMqLw-xJREIyloyVaMBPibhp7cU85p3uK7qRDjbmVID6h4g/w400-h179/MadFientist+3.5+no+daycare+Dec+2020.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Click for bigness.</span></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Well that makes me feel better. I suppose if we just assume we won't need daycare then maybe we're FI.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The rub is that we're going to have to pay for some things, like preschool, which cost less than daycare but, still, something. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">What if we wiggled a bit on the withdrawal rate, but kept the partial year daycare expenses in the budget? I know the 4% rule isn't necessarily all that safe, but what if we assumed a 3.75% SWR instead of 4% or 3.5%?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJedekCJ0dYMgi9R-sYvre8evt_fW9Snc9tKyURb7SpHJQA0ac3nWcEVGYfLU1ivBj28bcf3ebFWiBQqY6c0g6l0leXyAhrllkbKYtFY8F4nUEBDi8EgdAv-JZ-PcyRpdi9Ca0inf1PwH8/s1847/MadFientist+3.75+Dec+2020.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1847" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJedekCJ0dYMgi9R-sYvre8evt_fW9Snc9tKyURb7SpHJQA0ac3nWcEVGYfLU1ivBj28bcf3ebFWiBQqY6c0g6l0leXyAhrllkbKYtFY8F4nUEBDi8EgdAv-JZ-PcyRpdi9Ca0inf1PwH8/w400-h181/MadFientist+3.75+Dec+2020.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Click for bigness.</span></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">So at least on paper, maybe things aren't<i> that</i> bad regarding financial independence. We're close, maybe close enough. <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/11/baby-baby.html">The plan</a> was always to work a bit once the kids are in school. Maybe this is good enough?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">There are still some unknowns. While we're on Mrs. Done by Forty's health insurance through June, that's when her contract ends. At that point, we'll have to pay for health insurance in the ACA exchanges, or possibly buy short term health insurance for the next six months.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The original plan was to save up an additional $12k in cash to cover the cost of health insurance for the latter half of the year, along with setting aside more cash & investments so we had more of a buffer early on in early retirement. But, yeah, none of that is happening now.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">There's also the cost of having MC Baby, along with the possibility of there being some unexpected health issues after she's born. The plan was, in that worst case scenario, that I would keep working, keep our health insurance, and allow Mrs. Done by Forty to stop working. Now that plan's flipped on its head.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">On some level, none of these details really matter. What Mrs. Done by Forty and I were doing, juggling work and parenting, wasn't sustainable. The thoughts I was having, with their frequency & intensity, meant something had to give. That something should be the job, right? We were at least close enough to our financial goals that sticking around for another six months might not have been needed anyway.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">So why do I feel so bad?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I guess I thought this moment, leaving work, would be some sort of triumph. I'd do what I set out to do, in exactly the way I set out to do it. I thought writing about it would be this cool moment. A success. But life had other plans. I guess my working career ends with a bit of a whimper.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, better than a bang.</span></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-41939862294486751342020-11-23T06:00:00.182-07:002021-06-29T13:24:28.336-07:00Baby, Baby<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4en9HeX1GtisnDme_PANiqJO9WDAjgUWE8kkpm2oaQYCC0QCHJhPtxJcF3AJrGaOac4ZjVeBrWajhmtiKbOca0hF-7PtN7PhhfD_jkgHCY_n7sq3rDAZhglXCbL4GFKBgvm8cGufekhAL/s800/Sandro+Ducceschi+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4en9HeX1GtisnDme_PANiqJO9WDAjgUWE8kkpm2oaQYCC0QCHJhPtxJcF3AJrGaOac4ZjVeBrWajhmtiKbOca0hF-7PtN7PhhfD_jkgHCY_n7sq3rDAZhglXCbL4GFKBgvm8cGufekhAL/w400-h300/Sandro+Ducceschi+at+Flickr.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Like so many other Americans, we celebrated a bit these past couple weeks. We felt some relief that a (too-small) majority of Americans made a choice for competence, decency, and democracy. And because of that, we're allowing ourselves to feel a little hope, too.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's premature. The primary <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/sarah-kendzior-interview-hiding-in-plain-sight-donald-trump">problem with voting an authoritarian into office is that they're hard to get out</a> by the same method. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/66a2a22a-052d-459b-897f-c06c2fcd2d72">Trump was never going to go quietly</a>. He's already using the office of the presidency <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-past-exploring-legal-options-hes-using-lies-and-chicanery-to-try-to-undo-his-defeat/2020/11/19/3199e8ec-2aa7-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html">to spread outright lies</a>, misinformation, and blatantly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/05/trump-record-lies-us-election">trying to incite chaos and violence</a> on behalf of his supporters. By the time we're reading this on Monday, Trump's legal team will file even more <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-trump-campaign-cant-find-a-judge-who-will-ignore-facts-but-its-trying">baseless lawsuits in the hope that one of the cases might make it to the Supreme Court</a> that he's stacked with unqualified allies.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Which all goes to say, it's not over. When you're facing a political opponent without morals or an allegiance to our country, it never really is.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, I believe that our fragile systems are able to withstand the underhanded tactics the current president uses. I am hopeful our democracy can overcome the administration's daily misinformation and attempts to corrupt the courts. I believe that, at least for this election cycle, the will of the people will stand.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Like most of the country, we've been learning the past few years about the kind of country we actually live in - one just barely on the side of democracy - and the kind of world we have brought our children into. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In a bit of stressful and happy news, we'll be bringing another person into this world this coming April. Mrs. Done by Forty is pregnant, which is the best thing that's happened in our household in 2020.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There are stresses, for sure. Like everyone else with two braincells to rub together, we are taking COVID-19 seriously and this baby sure kicks that worry up a notch. We're trying to figure out how best to handle logistics: like how to deliver a baby in a hospital while also somehow having someone take care of Baby AF at home.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Oh, on that front, the artist formerly known Baby AF shall now be referred to as Toddler AF, since he's two years old now, and reminds us that he is, in fact, a very big boy, not a baby. So the mantle will fall to the tentatively named MC Baby, dropping this April.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The baby news has also brought financial independence into sharper focus, mostly because the first year of life with Baby AF nearly wrecked us. It was by far the most stressful year of our lives, especially the first six months. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We're trying to do things smarter the second time around. Being willing to just sleep when the baby sleeps rather than, you know, trying to write a PhD dissertation as Mrs. Done by Forty did a couple years ago. Being willing to use disposable diapers instead of constantly washing and folding and sewing new elastic into hand-me-down cloth diapers, like I was doing. And takeout. We're going to get takeout every damn day if we feel like it, instead of insisting that we cook healthy homemade meals.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I'd say we're going to get more sleep this time, but Toddler AF probably has something to say about that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The main difference is that we don't think either of us will be working this time. Our plan is for Mrs. Done by Forty to take her parental leave, let her contract lapse at the end of June, and then after my month of parental leave in May, I'll put in my two week notice.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Will we be financially independent by then? Well, for a brief moment this past week we became financially independent on paper. (Yay, right?) So long as the market just treads water over the next half year, we should be good to go.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But even if there's a big market correction next year, even in that worst case scenario, the plan right now is just to put in our notices and peace out of work once MC Baby drops her first single. The last time we tried to get through those first few months post baby, while holding down a stressful job and finishing a PhD program, we barely made it. Our marriage was honestly in some trouble. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This time around, we have Toddler AF in the picture and, thanks to the coronavirus, no daycare to help us out. Sure, there is no PhD dissertation to write, but Mrs. Done by Forty has data showing that a toddler is more work than a doctoral program.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So, come next summer, we're pulling the plug no matter what the numbers say. Probably not the most graceful financial independence plan, but it's the one we have. Here's to hoping the market makes us look smart next year. But even if it doesn't, something tells me I'll have a smile on my face anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As always thanks for reading.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">P.S. - We'll dive into more details in future posts but I'm anticipating there may be some basic nuts and bolts questions about how we're going to make this work even if the numbers don't support it.</span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">How will you pay for health insurance?</span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We'll buy a plan on the ACA exchange. And due to the fact that we'll both be working that first half of the year, we won't qualify for any subsidies: which means saving extra cash for those six months of premiums.</span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">What if the market corrects in 2021 or 2022? Won't you run out of money eventually?</span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yes! That seems to be the case. Our very loose, not-to-be-followed plan is that we'll both probably want to work part time or full time when both Toddler AF and MC Baby are in school, at least for some of those years. So if we've veered off course financially, we'll try to get back on track during those years. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But priority number one is being in a good spot stress-and-family wise these next few years. And, honestly, we just kind of want to spend a lot of time with the kiddos before they head off to kindergarten. Which is only in like two and a half years for Toddler AF! Aaaagh! </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandro_/2338381811/" target="_blank">Sandro Ducchesi</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium;">**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:<br /></span></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Safari</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</span></a></li></ul>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-20415803108894891332020-09-21T05:00:00.374-07:002021-06-29T13:24:41.082-07:00The Justice We Choose<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKku-d1e8ARFeuoUkpSjKPtGZkdK9ZroKOnEKbd-jkgMeP5CCYqrTKgTDlIrhs-uOXqsynnavsgFn9n1KuEH71Tj0e01xuXDgok9613nH2Ayuutz7cYxTOG-VVm6kE8nK7seEnndbT7k_W/s800/beltz6.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="800" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKku-d1e8ARFeuoUkpSjKPtGZkdK9ZroKOnEKbd-jkgMeP5CCYqrTKgTDlIrhs-uOXqsynnavsgFn9n1KuEH71Tj0e01xuXDgok9613nH2Ayuutz7cYxTOG-VVm6kE8nK7seEnndbT7k_W/w400-h265/beltz6.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't know what to write about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passing. I only know enough to be dangerous about her tenure on Supreme Court, the significance of her service, or what this will mean for the nation.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I think I know what will happen next in the Senate. Republicans will prove once again that they stand for nothing besides power, and they will give a new justice <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/19/us/ginsburg-vacancy-garland.html" target="_blank">the hearing and confirmation they would not grant to Merrick Garland</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">These GOP senators listened to <a href="https://time.com/5415027/christine-blasey-ford-testimony/" target="_blank">Dr. Christine Blasey Ford</a>'s testimony, and then listened to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QpXVV6qLk&ab_channel=AssociatedPress" target="_blank">Kavanaugh's unhinged response</a>, and decided to confirm him anyway. It seems naive to pretend these same Republican senators are going to suddenly find a conscience, or be shamed into decent behavior by pundits pointing out their hypocrisy by reading <a href="https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2016/2/graham-no-hearing-no-vote-on-obama-supreme-court-nominee" target="_blank">their own quotes</a> on Merrick Garland.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Senate Republicans will confirm <a href="https://twitter.com/Nate_Cohn/status/1307644552698830848" target="_blank">the justices they want and will refuse to consider justices they don't</a>. It's as simple as that. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And it's their choice to do so. That's what the power of the majority affords them: the ability to simply act on their choices.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So much of our legal system hinges on the choices of just a few people. Whether a handful of senators will break with their party and honor recent precedent. Whether the Supreme Court chooses to accept a case in an election year. Whether a district attorney decides to press charges or not.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This whole thing reminds me of <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace/02282019/" target="_blank">a riveting episode of Marketplace</a>, where Kai Rysdall examines one of the curious decisions from the last financial crisis. Why weren't criminal charges brought against any executives?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Unlike in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/were-bankers-jailed-in-past-financial-crises/" target="_blank">past financial crises</a> that resulted in <a href="http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/saving-and-loan-scandal-of-80s-and-90s-102-high-level-executives-convicted-2008-financial-crisis-scandal-1-140914?news=854255" target="_blank">criminal convictions against fraudulent corporate actors</a>, why didn't anyone go to jail? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Why did our legal system choose not to bring charges against those who'd caused so much harm to the economy, to housing in particular, when <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/chart-book-the-legacy-of-the-great-recession#:~:text=Job%20losses%20in%20the%20Great,the%20start%20of%20the%20recession.&text=Nonfarm%20payroll%20employment%20was%206.6,the%20start%20of%20the%20recession." target="_blank">so many millions lost their jobs</a> and <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2018/12/17/what-we-learned-housing/" target="_blank">their homes</a>?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Rysdall's interviewee, <a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/paul-e-pelletier/" target="_blank">Paul Pelletier</a>, who served in the Justice Department for 25 years as a federal prosecutor, had an answer.
<iframe frameborder="0" height="240px" id="mp_98777" src="https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace/02282019/popout" title="Marketplace Embed" width="100%"></iframe><i></i></span></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: medium;">From 4:44 in the interview: "People didn't get prosecuted during the financial crisis...simply because of a lack of commitment, competence, and courage by the political leaders in the Department of Justice. That's what I observed. That's what I saw. That's what I felt. And that's why I left the Department of Justice."</span></i></blockquote><p></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Ryssdal notes that James Comey, with an irony that can now barely be described, called these sort of prosecutors, "The Chicken Shit Club."</span></div><div><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: medium;">From 5:36, Pelletier again: "The SEC brought a case against Countrywide's Angelo Mozilo for Securities Fraud. And that complaint, if you read it, sets forth some pretty heinous activity by Mozilo and by Countrywide, in the falsity of their representations with respect to their mortgage portfolios. Within twelve months of Mozilo settling that case with the SEC, the Department of Justice declined criminal prosecution. That's impossible if you're competent. That's impossible if, in fact, you have commitment. And that's impossible if you have courage. Because if you read the complaint, [it] read criminal all through it. Criminal fraud: all through it."</span></i></blockquote></div><div><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: medium;">From 6:29: "Look, I was a hockey player growing up. I learned very early that in order to enforce fair play on the hockey rink, sometimes you just got to punch the cheater or the bully in the nose. Whether you're going to win the ultimate fight or whether you're going to lose. But sometimes that's right, and that's just what you have to do to enforce fair play. And that's what people expected of the Department of Justice as well. You're not going to win every case. But you have to show the American public that there's a cop on the beat. And that people who have wealth, who have money, who take advantage of the criminal laws, and violate those criminal laws, need to be prosecuted. That didn't happen in this crisis."</span></i></blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;">As Kai Rysdall notes, in the Enron scandal, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/02/business/us-indicts-11-former-enron-executives.html" target="_blank">indicted nearly every top executive</a>. There were <i>over 5,500 investigations, and <a href="https://billmoyers.com/2013/09/17/hundreds-of-wall-street-execs-went-to-prison-during-the-last-fraud-fueled-bank-crisis/#:~:text=In%20that%20crisis%2C%20the%20savings,by%20the%20Department%20of%20Justice.&text=They%20involved%20roughly%20300%20savings,of%20those%20people%20were%20prosecuted." target="_blank">over a thousand</a></i><a href="https://billmoyers.com/2013/09/17/hundreds-of-wall-street-execs-went-to-prison-during-the-last-fraud-fueled-bank-crisis/#:~:text=In%20that%20crisis%2C%20the%20savings,by%20the%20Department%20of%20Justice.&text=They%20involved%20roughly%20300%20savings,of%20those%20people%20were%20prosecuted." target="_blank"> <i>prosecutions</i></a> occurred after the savings and loans crisis. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">In the financial crisis from the past decade, the Justice Department made the choice to not prosecute...<i>anyone</i>. And that approach, it needs to be stated, was a <i>choice</i>.<br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Our government, with evidence of criminal misconduct in hand, and with millions of its citizens out of work and millions of others out of their own homes, chose not to even try to convict a single person responsible. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Another way of putting that was that our government chose to simply let those responsible to just get away with it.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It's fairly infuriating to me that the corporations who wreaked such havoc on the economy and the nation would not even have their day in court. It makes me question our system of justice in a way that I can't adequately express. I just feel angry. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I know something is not right but I don't know what to do about it. I especially don't know what to do about it since this all happened during the Obama administration: we apparently cannot even count on our own party's representatives.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't like the feeling of powerlessness. That so much of what we think of as justice is determined by the decisions of just a few people. That so much damage can be done and that the consequences never come. That we don't have a true system of justice: we have a system that dispenses criminal justice to everyday people, but not to wealthy elites.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Maybe we have some degree of influence over the decisions that will occur in the next few weeks. Maybe four of these senators can be swayed: maybe they have not have made their choice yet. I don't know.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But I'm sick of the fact that political and economic elites can seemingly do whatever they want, and just keep getting away with it. That Dr. Blasey Ford can come forward about Kavanaugh, and he just gets away with it. He can rack up six figures of debt for <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/new-strike-against-kavanaugh-season-tickets/565022/" target="_blank">baseball games</a>, of all things, and the debt mysteriously is paid off within a single year, and we are all supposed to accept that as normal. That this is a typical thing that is expected to happen with a candidate for justice in the highest court of the land.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Whatever happens in the Senate the next couple weeks, if these powerful Republicans decide to do what we all know they're going to do, there need to be consequences. If the senators who denied Garland even a hearing in 2016 confirm a lifetime justice in 2020, we need to ensure there are consequences at the ballot box.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">If Democrats take back the Senate, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/19/how-democrats-could-pack-the-supreme-court-in-2021-418453" target="_blank">there</a> need <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/07/why-senate-filibuster-could-be-gone-2021/614278/" target="_blank">to</a> be <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenrobinsonjacobs/2020/09/19/why-ginsburgs-death-may-create-a-push-for-dc-puerto-rico-statehood/#2556cc452f1c" target="_blank">consequences</a> for broken agreements and precedents that only apparently apply when it's convenient. We need our party's representatives to stop bringing a smile and a handshake to a gunfight.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Even if we lose the ultimate fight, I'm sick of the other side thinking, <i>of knowing</i>, they can do whatever they want and they'll just always be able to get away with it. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Someone has to punch the bully in the nose.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/n28307/46955927024/sizes/c/" target="_blank">beltz6</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:<br /></span><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Safari</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</span></a></li></ul></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-28897593729179606862020-09-14T05:00:00.125-07:002021-06-29T13:24:57.376-07:00FIRE Buys You Class...Whether You Want it or Not<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir08tzvLEsVDHRGIieun7gA0yNEc-aGVJKjLg5WWw78N5Rz5PVSPm4PlvkMb5FPTZ79EqrrgjD4u9dERF4nZGsLO-qxVXjVeYGSL1t2VoC7OfKF5yCBJJwu1eWKuKLT3vp7_xECWkDEw54/s800/mSeattle.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir08tzvLEsVDHRGIieun7gA0yNEc-aGVJKjLg5WWw78N5Rz5PVSPm4PlvkMb5FPTZ79EqrrgjD4u9dERF4nZGsLO-qxVXjVeYGSL1t2VoC7OfKF5yCBJJwu1eWKuKLT3vp7_xECWkDEw54/s320/mSeattle.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Pursing financial independence is an exercise in class mobility. No matter what economic class you start in, or what class you like to tell people you're a member of, when you have enough money <i>to never have to work again</i>, you're functionally wealthy: you're now part of <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/02/middle-class-wealth-2020-update.html" target="_blank">the upper class</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Doing so at an age so young that it can barely be understood by friends and coworkers just underscores the point. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">You're not just wealthy, you've become part of this new class at an insultingly young age, and everyone around you would appreciate it if you would at least feel a little bit bad about it.<span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitCx0j4BDzst-3zx24V4b9mxBfkQPM-44Lglv1QZo-73_z0m3ucHja1wiy6hWvaQkhBIruUXp1P4WzExdHsQCp6fdNs9euh5xzdQg7Q07g-7mBeWuhuTBFCmBG6mibKv_IWO-bG8Yiiij/s220/tenor.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitCx0j4BDzst-3zx24V4b9mxBfkQPM-44Lglv1QZo-73_z0m3ucHja1wiy6hWvaQkhBIruUXp1P4WzExdHsQCp6fdNs9euh5xzdQg7Q07g-7mBeWuhuTBFCmBG6mibKv_IWO-bG8Yiiij/s0/tenor.gif" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Minnesota "Fuck You"</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Now, there are people who will disagree with me. There are people who will say that FIRE can be achieved while maintaining one's position in the oh-so-coveted middle class, because you're still spending and living like a typical middle class family. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">These people are wrong. A wealthy person doesn't magically become middle class just because he climbs into a Toyota or cooks some meals at home.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Still, I understand why the newly rich cling to this fiction. While <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/05/us-inequality-poor-people-bad-choices-wealthy-bias" target="_blank">no one wants to be poor</a>, the irony is that few people truly want to be <i>seen </i>as rich, either.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Why? Because <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2015/03/middle-class-how-about-middle-quintile.html" target="_blank">everyone</a> <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/why-americans-all-believe-they-are-middle-class/278240/" target="_blank">wants</a> to be <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/06/naires-say-theyre-middle-class.html" target="_blank">middle class</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">To be middle class is to have enough, but not to be spoiled. To find dignity and meaning in your work, but not in an elitist way. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">To be middle class is to have community: to be part of the esteemed-<a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-we-define-middle-class-has-broad-implications" target="_blank">but-never-defined</a> class of workers that is responsible for America's greatest achievements. The middle class also receives a larger share of benefits than the lower class: tax subsidies for everything from our retirement plans to the interest on our homes, and political power at every level of government. And, most of all, the middle class enjoys status. The status that comes from being <i>just right</i>: right there in the middle.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The catch with FIRE is that it's essentially a movement that takes above-average earners, at least nominally from the middle class, and turns them into people who now qualify as upper class, whether they want to or not. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The average middle class family can only retire from work late in life, if at all, and typically only with <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbiggs/2020/01/27/factcheck-do-40-of-retirees-rely-on-social-security-for-their-entire-income/#7b49f47a2db4" target="_blank">a reliance on taxpayer funded social welfare programs like Social Security</a> and Medicare. By definition, early retirees are achieving this milestone, well, earlier. And often they do so without any reliance on Social Security: a common utterance among FIRE adherents is that <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-myths-fire-haters-perpetuate-about-the-early-retirement-movement-2019-02-01" target="_blank">anything they get from this program will be 'a bonus'</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">And then there's, you know, the wealth that allows someone to be considered financially independent and to make work optional. One might call a person with that amount of wealth, "wealthy", as opposed to middle class.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But what does it matter the class we consider someone to be in? Isn't it a matter of semantics?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">We spend a lot of time in personal finance focused on how we can change something about our money. How can we earn more of it? How can we invest it more optimally? Most of personal finance is centered on changing our money situation for the better.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But little to no attention is paid to how <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-money-behavior-piff/how-money-changes-us-and-not-for-the-good-idUSKCN0VP1QQ" target="_blank">money, in turn, changes us</a>. Are we better people for it? Even if we're better off overall, are we better in a<span style="background-color: white;">ll respects? </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Or as <a href="https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/piff/" target="_blank">Paul Piff</a>, assistant professor of social psychology at UC Irvine asks, does money make us mean?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJ8Kq1wucsk" width="560"></iframe>
</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">If we become wealthy, <a href="https://inequality.org/great-divide/many-super-rich-despise-poor/" target="_blank">do we view our friends and family the same way</a>? Do they view<i> us</i> the same way? </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20161014-loneliness-often-follows-sudden-wealth" target="_blank">our relationship with our neighbors and community actually improved</a> when our finances are improved?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I try to ask myself these questions because I notice that a lot of the worldviews of the world's most wealthy people are <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-164403/" target="_blank">fairly abhorrent</a>. They seem consumed with matters of finance and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/us/politics/how-wealth-plays-into-politics-at-a-personal-level.html" target="_blank">support any policy</a> that grows or protects their wealth. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Becoming wealthy might provide a lot of advantages, but becoming a better person isn't necessarily one of them.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Joining the wealthy's ranks is perhaps not without risks. As we approach our financial independence figure, will I start embracing the viewpoints of the people I despise? Will I game the Medicaid system to get free healthcare for my kids, all the while railing about government waste and handouts? Will I cease caring about policies that help the less fortunate, in favor of policies that help me minimize the taxes I pay?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Hopefully, <a href="https://ournextlife.com/2020/06/29/fire-without-harming-others/" target="_blank">financial independence gives us the space and time to try to change the world for the better in a small way</a>, in our little corner of the country. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But it might change us, too.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/27305863@N07/6023390537/sizes/c/" target="_blank">mSeattle</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</span><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><ul style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Safari</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</span></a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</span></a></li></ul></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><!--more--></span><span><!--more--></span><span><!--more--></span></span>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-18467063262384734972020-09-08T05:00:00.347-07:002020-09-09T09:35:07.166-07:00Equality or Equity?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7n2P_7nQZhuzPQ-gLtz880ZjiIV8LSPceap47LALCdFR53pWe3PHaw0S3dKDZfglY-f-cFsVl1VAMdE7jH46GujGSTCCOC8a8N9FpoLvQsbXe-elUnKQoupyY3aMmUQaSkfKy2I8i1_kp/s640/Floris+M+Oosterveld.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="640" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7n2P_7nQZhuzPQ-gLtz880ZjiIV8LSPceap47LALCdFR53pWe3PHaw0S3dKDZfglY-f-cFsVl1VAMdE7jH46GujGSTCCOC8a8N9FpoLvQsbXe-elUnKQoupyY3aMmUQaSkfKy2I8i1_kp/w400-h233/Floris+M+Oosterveld.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />We Americans, it seems, are at the end of our pandemic ropes. Whatever collective actions we were going to take to whip this virus, it sure looks like we've already taken them.<p></p><p>We are tired, tired of all of this, and we want to return to some sort of normalcy. Return the kids to school because we're told we have to return to the office. We want to return to our favorite restaurants and vacation spots. To sports. To campus. To the way it was before.</p><p>Safely, of course. With masks and distancing. We don't want anyone to get sick. We are good and caring people, but we can't stay inside forever. Life must go on.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>But until things are back to the way they were before, we have to struggle through. Mrs. Done by Forty and I are still trying to figure out how to juggle work and watching Baby AF long term, while also trying to use the online & print out resources we can find to make sure he's learning things, something, anything, while he's here with us instead of at daycare. I watch Baby AF for an hour in the morning & an hour in the afternoon, so Mrs. Done by Forty can get some work in. And we both try to do as much work as we can from noon to two thirty or three, while Baby AF naps. That's our crunch time, where we can put our heads down and get some deep work done.</p><p>I will be burning through my vacation time the rest of the year, taking 6 hours off each Monday. Mrs. Done by Forty is trying to convince her employer to keep letting her work from home. We sometimes put in some hours at night to catch up. </p><p>We're making it all work, if only barely. It seems like an endurance race. The key is to keep going.</p><p>I read <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/technology/parents-time-off-backlash.html" target="_blank">an article by Daisuke Wakabayashi and Sheera Frenkel</a> about tech companies that tried to help working parents deal with the added stresses of the pandemic. Salesforce & Facebook, realizing the extra burden being placed on parents, gave six and ten weeks of paid time off, respectively, to workers with children. Twitter allows unlimited time off, which parents could now take more of. And Facebook recently announced parents could take an <i>additional</i> 10 weeks off next year. From the article:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><blockquote><i>That angered some nonparents. A few wrote openly about how isolated they felt, living alone and not seeing anyone for weeks at a time. The company, they said, seemed less concerned about their needs....</i></blockquote></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Resentment from employees without children about extra parental benefits existed at companies before the pandemic, of course. But the health crisis has amplified that tension. </i></span></blockquote><p>Being a new parent, I can understand the non-parent position because I shared it not too many years ago. Why should parents get additional time off, while non-parents on a team are left to shoulder additional responsibilities in their absence? We know what happens when a colleague goes on an extended leave, or a long vacation, or unexpectedly leaves the company: someone has to pick up their work. </p><p>When a worker takes ten weeks off, that cost is born by the workers who remain. It's the same dynamic that is impacting the parents themselves: when the childcare worker is no longer there to provide childcare, when the school is no longer there, that work has to fall to someone. </p><p>When that work falls on you, it might not seem fair. Why should you work more? They chose to have children, not you. Shouldn't they bear the entire cost of that? </p><p>And by the way, this pandemic is not easy on non-parents, either. It's hard to be in isolation for months on end, staring at the same four walls every damn day with no one to talk to. No one to hug. And, yeah, it's really hard to take on extra work from colleagues because they're taking ten weeks of paid time off. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why shouldn't non-parents get ten weeks off as well? </span></p><p>There's a logic to this. Maybe benefits should be equal: everyone just gets the same time off.</p><p>Perhaps parents shouldn't be the only ones getting six or ten weeks off during the pandemic, or even immediately after the birth of a child. Shouldn't all workers get this sort of time off, if any of them do?</p><p>What we're running into is a conflict of ideologies: <a href="https://medium.com/@leong.richard212/the-problem-with-that-new-equity-vs-equality-cartoon-youre-sharing-f1ebdfc793e8" target="_blank">equality versus equity</a>. The approach aiming for equality says that if something is being given to someone, it is given to everyone. The pie is divided equally. We have a pizza and a family of six people, everyone gets exactly two slices.</p><p>The approach aiming for equity is different. It looks at each individual's need and might give decidedly <i>unequal </i>shares to each person, based on their needs. The family of six has three babies: each only needs a slice. The adults & the teenager need more to feel full, and each get three.</p><p>In America, a country that is an outlier in how we approach benefits of all sorts, we are closer to an approach that, at least superficially, aims for equality. <a href="https://inequality.stanford.edu/publications/20-facts-about-us-inequality-everyone-should-know" target="_blank">Not actual equality, of course</a>: that would be absurd. But we prefer an approach that nominally aims for <i>equal, universal opportunity and access to benefits</i>. The common example is that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/opinion/democrats-green-new-deal.html?auth=login-email&login=email" target="_blank">everyone gets access to Social Security</a>, even the rich retiree with the fat portfolio who has no need for that monthly check.</p><p>An approach aiming for equity is more targeted: giving greater benefits to those with greater needs, and perhaps none at all to those who don't have that need. These sort of targeted programs are under constant attack. SNAP, Medicaid, housing vouchers, disability benefits, Affirmative Action: with any program that aims for equity for a targeted population, the question is always, "Does this person <i>deserve</i> the benefit?"</p><p>No one ever asks whether a retiree deserves Social Security, because we <i>all</i> get Social Security.</p><p>That's why the programs that are never really on the chopping block are those with universal access, like public K-12, where everyone can go and get an education. Or <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla" target="_blank">FMLA</a>, where anyone can take twelve weeks away from a job for a medical reason, even though it's completely unpaid.</p><p>We prefer these sort of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2017/05/31/rethinking-the-universalism-versus-targeting-debate/" target="_blank">universal programs over targeted ones</a> because they tap into the American version of fairness. It seems fair that everyone pays into Social Security, and then everyone gets a retirement benefit: even the guy who makes a million a year, and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/04/our-truly-regressive-tax-social-security.html" target="_blank">who technically paid a lower tax rate into Social Security than someone earning minimum wage</a>.</p><p>The rub is that this American idea of fairness makes it harder to achieve certain policies, like universal paid parental leave, because they aren't truly universal. Parents who no longer have very young children and those who have no plans to have children, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/technology/parents-time-off-backlash.html" target="_blank">the New York Times article</a> notes, aren't going to be enamored with policies that only benefit other workers, while increasing <i>their </i>workload at the same time.</p><p>Simply put, we Americans hate the idea that someone else might be getting a benefit that we don't get.</p><p>When it comes to paid parental leave, or any leave specific to parents with young children, this is a benefit that many employees can't access in the near term, and maybe not ever. And that makes it an uphill battle to institute these sort of policies in our country.</p><p>The sad part is that when we are talking about paid parental leave, we're specifically talking about a benefit that primarily helps women, since they <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319687" target="_blank">take on a disproportionate amount of the work raising children</a>.</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">When we look at how many more men work at the technology companies that are seeing employee push back, another possible explanation emerges.</span></p><p></p></span></span></div>
<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/311827/facebook-employee-gender-global/" rel="" target="_blank"><img alt="Statistic: Distribution of Facebook employees worldwide from 2014 to 2020, by gender | Statista" src="https://www.statista.com/graphic/1/311827/facebook-employee-gender-global.jpg" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; height: auto; max-width: 1000px; width: 100%;" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/313560/twitter-employee-gender-global/" rel="" target="_blank"><img alt="Statistic: Distribution of Twitter employees worldwide from 2014 to 2019, by gender | Statista" src="https://www.statista.com/graphic/1/313560/twitter-employee-gender-global.jpg" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; height: auto; max-width: 1000px; width: 100%;" /></a></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: center;">Salesforce Figures from December 2018:</b></div></blockquote></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/12/salesforce-equality-annual-update.html#:~:text=Women%3A%20Women%20make%20up%2031.6,up%201.4%25%20from%20last%20year." style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="110" data-original-width="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-2L23w9hZN7FDBpIjoW7FCQ6kOh3LEZ9roZBLqIjOYsOhojSgPwF3MG4qZ2kqJ1YWlmct9uT3jM9mNGR-sY6b7W-LUMBJKowR_zTucmDLCivwcDiAk0XTVrGkMEjq7Cir-sJ50TnDtAg/s16000/Salseforce+men+women.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/12/salesforce-equality-annual-update.html#:~:text=Women%3A%20Women%20make%20up%2031.6,up%201.4%25%20from%20last%20year." target="_blank"><br /></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Within this context, one has to ask whether we should frame the criticism of these parent-focused policies as primarily from "non-parents", or whether the criticism is just primarily from men. If it's the latter, then the resistance to policies that aim for equity takes on a different meaning.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In that context, the desire for policies that equally distribute benefits might not actually be aiming for any sort of equality at all. Rather, when faced with a policy that might primarily benefit women, a policy that might partially address the existing inequalities in the workplace, perhaps the male dominated workforce prefer to leave well enough alone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Because why would they want to materially address that sort of inequality, if that just means more work for them?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/floris-oosterveld/9788359545/sizes/l/">Floris M. Oosterveld</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block. You can change your settings here:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Safari</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: georgia, utopia, palatino linotype, palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia, utopia, palatino linotype, palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px;">***<b>It appears all the blog comments from March on have been deleted. I suspect this is user error. I'm so sorry! I'm going to go through my emails and manually copy & paste them back, at least as much as I can.</b></span></span></div></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-7431918104214995962020-08-17T05:00:00.402-07:002020-08-17T07:33:23.537-07:00One Year Out: Are We On Track for Financial Independence?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVDTehg4FfySkAj_Gdytm0SKn15bMSfRPEqQek9HEdElfXie-9ocJmteiQ3g1jOG5vAEct9SEJQfn81rdeWm1GBbEQN3NEgHCOjuL1yIIMQEYWKt43xG2h0KYDkZM9ZswtQbmA8h3Z7uN/s609/twbuckner+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="609" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVDTehg4FfySkAj_Gdytm0SKn15bMSfRPEqQek9HEdElfXie-9ocJmteiQ3g1jOG5vAEct9SEJQfn81rdeWm1GBbEQN3NEgHCOjuL1yIIMQEYWKt43xG2h0KYDkZM9ZswtQbmA8h3Z7uN/w400-h218/twbuckner+at+Flickr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I turned forty last week. It felt weird.</p><p>But my birthdays always do. I've never been a big fan of the day. The attention, the singing, the taking stock of the past that is supposed to happen: all of it feels odd to me. I appreciate the sentiment that I am loved and that people care enough to let me know it. But the bad feelings tend to outweigh the good. I'd just as soon pretend it was a normal Wednesday, have a beer or two, and call it a night.</p><p>To add to the pressure, there's this whole financial independence goal that thirty-two year old Brian thought would be a good idea to write about, you know, before actually doing any math to see if it was possible. As the date gets closer, my pessimism grows. And the goal is public, which just adds to my anxiety.</p><p>We're a year out from the deadline. Will we be financially independent by then? And even if we are, will we feel confident enough to leave work by then?</p><p>Let's take a peek at the numbers and see what's what.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>A little over a year ago, we decided to take whatever cash we could find, sell a big pile of stocks, pay some capital gains taxes, and <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/07/so-were-going-to-pay-off-mortgage.html" target="_blank">pay off our mortgage</a>. Eliminating our biggest monthly expense obviously changed our monthly spending, but it's a bit of a shell game: we also took a big chunk out of our assets at the same time. Still, by our math, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/07/wait-did-paying-off-our-mortgage-kind.html">paying off the mortgage actually accelerated our progress to financial independence</a> and, at least according to the 4% Rule, made us <i>technically</i> financially independent at the time, based on what we <i>thought</i> we'd save by eliminating the mortgage.</p><p>Life had other plans for our spending, as Mrs. Done by Forty started a new job after getting her PhD, and Baby AF enrolled in the most expensive daycare his baby ass could find.</p><p>So how did we do over the past year? Here's what the <a href="https://lab.madfientist.com/" target="_blank">Mad Fientist's laboratory</a> says about our situation according to the 4% Rule, if we take the last twelve months of mortgage-free spending ($43,250) as our baseline.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOVGYlqefNX9Lyq6rxp1aF8Him9yrFOL2gzTRTG31G6irJ9T_MrgP_sMaUekPn-70eM33tGzXVgSEj2BU6cWEiw2246oRJBrEukH1yaMyK_HbO8kyZc_G9ZCvLEJqchGrafIETQ8EFSJXr/s1823/Aug+19+to+Aug+20+Actual+Spending+4%2525+Rule.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Are We On Track for Financial Independence" border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="1823" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOVGYlqefNX9Lyq6rxp1aF8Him9yrFOL2gzTRTG31G6irJ9T_MrgP_sMaUekPn-70eM33tGzXVgSEj2BU6cWEiw2246oRJBrEukH1yaMyK_HbO8kyZc_G9ZCvLEJqchGrafIETQ8EFSJXr/w400-h183/Aug+19+to+Aug+20+Actual+Spending+4%2525+Rule.png" title="Are We On Track for Financial Independence" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click for bigness</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Six months to FI! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjQtzV9IZ0Q" target="_blank">That'll do</a>.</p><p>But Mrs. Done by Forty and I are too conservative to actually run with the 4% Rule, thanks primarily to the excellent <a href="https://earlyretirementnow.com/category/safe-withdrawal-rates/" target="_blank">safe withdrawal series at Early Retirement Now</a>. Instead, we want to aim for a 3.5% withdrawal rate, which unfortunately extends our path to financial independence by one metric fuckton.</p><p>Here's what the Mad Fientist's lab predicts for us using a 3.5% SWR:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIW7ET7uHBZZZsBZ0QtMlizRkTtuPYQcIGoBDHBqGJ07lvWDkMZS_DdhTsESFX_4NlCeNXB4tFY7kzFCFiQ7pKRi2DVy7wLJDnuajApBNkdfOueaGJcj00sj9brLI6Kxo2MWMvG3a9dadQ/s1821/Aug+19+to+Aug+Actual+Spending+3.5%2525+Rule.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1821" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIW7ET7uHBZZZsBZ0QtMlizRkTtuPYQcIGoBDHBqGJ07lvWDkMZS_DdhTsESFX_4NlCeNXB4tFY7kzFCFiQ7pKRi2DVy7wLJDnuajApBNkdfOueaGJcj00sj9brLI6Kxo2MWMvG3a9dadQ/w400-h184/Aug+19+to+Aug+Actual+Spending+3.5%2525+Rule.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click for bigness</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Well, that's less exciting. That extra half a percent of safety pushes the anticipated date out to December 2021, missing the goal by four months. Not the end of the world but, you know, still a shameful failure that I should beat myself up about endlessly.</p><p>The catch with any of these projections is that the last twelve months were anything but typical. For one, we paid for daycare for only five of those months (November - March) and then pulled Baby AF of there when COVID hit. </p><div>And then there's that whole pandemic thing. We haven't spent a dime on restaurant food or a pint at a bar since the first week of March, while our spending on groceries has ballooned.</div><div><br /></div><div>Should we assume that we're going to go back to normal date nights & restaurant spending?</div><div><br /></div><div>And what about daycare? After Mrs. Done by Forty and I leave work, we can somehow both see us taking care of Baby AF on our own, and also see us sending him to pre-school or part time daycare, just to keep our sanity. We don't really know what 'normal' is going to look like in the future, especially until we figure out what's happening long term with this pandemic.</div><div><br /></div><div>Basically, the last twelve months have not been average, so it's tricky using them as a spending baseline for the next fifty years. Still, the problem with assuming that our future spending will be lower because this year isn't average is, well, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2015/03/this-year-is-not-average.html">no year is really average</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, let's look at this a different way. Our spending the past year, sans mortgage, was about $43,250. (Rounded to nearest $50.)</div><div><br /></div><div>What if we ignored those five months of full time daycare? If we assume that Mrs. Done by Forty and I will take care of Baby AF full time and don't incur other daycare-like expenses, then we drop down to $37,350.</div><div><br /></div><div>We also had a few thousand in unexpected dental bills. Take that out, and we're around what we expected to be at this time last year: below a $35,000 budget.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">At this point, I'm tempted to run the numbers with that lower figure, $35,000 and the 3.5% SWR. (Spoiler, it estimates we'd hit financial independence next month under those assumptions.) I'd get to put up a graph showing we're going to hit the goal in September, pat myself on the back, and could wrap up the post talking about how I'm lucky and privileged and all that.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">But then I remember that we'll no longer have employer-subsidized health insurance once we tell our employers to suck it. While we could purchase insurance through the ACA exchanges, who knows if Republicans will be successful in their never-ending quest to destroy the program and fulfill their goal of taking away healthcare from as many citizens as possible? They are inept imbeciles, sure, but they are determined. One day they might succeed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">A safer play might be to just assume our daycare costs would shift to insurance premiums. Is the daycare expense enough to cover our insurance costs? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Who knows.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Eight years into our financial independence journey, I still don't have an accurate way to predict what our healthcare costs will be for our family in early retirement. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">No one ever said I knew what I was doing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So I headed over to <a href="http://Healthcare.gov" target="_blank">Healthcare.gov</a> to at least estimate what we could expect to pay. And, yikes, it looks like the cheapest Bronze plans are about $1,000 a month, just for catastrophic coverage.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">On the plus side, under the current ACA rules, we would only have to pay the full coverage price for one year: after one year of early retirement, our income (& MAGI) would be a lot lower, and we should qualify for some level of ACA subsidies in open enrollment the following year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">According to the <a href="https://www.gocurrycracker.com/aca-premium-calculator/" target="_blank">ACA subsidy calculator on Go Curry Cracker</a>, if our MAGI dropped to $40,000 in early retirement (i.e. - from investment income and moving 401k money to Roth IRAs), then subsidies would cap our maximum contribution at 4.36% of income, meaning we'd pay an<i> annual</i> insurance premium of $1,742 for the second lowest cost Silver Plan: $145 a month. This subsidy represents an amazing 85% discount over what we'd pay for a Bronze Plan the prior year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This is both preposterously good for our early retirement plan and totally guilt inducing, because it means we'd be paying far less for for the same plan, as millionaires, than most American working families would. We'd be paying less for that "2nd Lowest Cost Silver Plan" than every family with a modified gross income of more than $40,000.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I don't know what to do with this information. A part of me thinks we should just refuse the subsidies on principle, though I don't know how possible that is. Our MAGI in early retirement is going to be whatever it is: we're not going to have any control over whatever dividends the mutual funds happen to give out every quarter. Once that figure is entered into our healthcare.gov application, I believe your modified monthly premium is set based on the established formula, and that's that. You just get charged the lower figure.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">There's also a part of me that thinks this preemptive guilt I'm feeling is just a bi-product of our American system. Only in this country are we supposed to feel ashamed about healthcare being subsidized by the government. In just about every other country in the world, this would not be a moral dilemma, any more than getting a public education or driving on public roads would be a dilemma. Healthcare is something (at least outside this country) that taxes pay for, for all citizens, and that's that.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So that's one way I can look at it. Governments can, should, and usually do, provide some sort of subsidized healthcare to their citizens. That's the way it should be.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Then there's the way it is, at least in this country and at this time. And in America, either your employer subsidizes your health coverage, or you pay full freight, or in some circumstances the government helps out...if your family doesn't earn enough.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And there's the rub. Sure, on paper we would not earn enough. But our "so wealthy we don't even need to earn income anymore" family clearly wasn't who lawmakers had in mind when they were devising this system of subsidies. For us, in this current reality, taking the subsidy seems...not great.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And yet, if I'm being honest with myself, we might do it anyway. The same way we take the tax deductions available to us. If the system's going to be based on income & ask nothing about our wealth, I'm not sure we'll actually pass up a five figure subsidy that the system says we're entitled to. Maybe that means we're not great people. We can at least try to be honest ones.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Mrs. Done by Forty and I talked about this subsidy this weekend, and the thing we keep coming back to is that she might want to keep working regardless of when we hit financial independence. If that turns out to be the case, we'll both earn too much to qualify for much of a subsidy in the first place, and we'll have great healthcare available through her employer. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">That would end up fulfilling her career aspirations while also saving us from dealing with a potential moral dilemma. If not, well, I guess we'll see how future us decides to handle it: taking the subsidy & running, or working longer to take the high road.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Those are problems for another day. For now, it looks like we have a rough plan. Save an additional $12,000 more than we planned for, so we can cover the full cost of insurance for a year, and then decide whether financial independence also means an early retirement or not. By our latest estimates, we have until the end of next year to figure it out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here's to hoping some wisdom comes in my forty first year. As always, thanks for reading.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div>*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/twbuckner/3889379923/sizes/c/">twbuckner</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.<br />**Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger's comments require cookies from third parties, which your browser may block (especially if you use Safari). You can change your settings here:<br /><ul><li><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari">Change cookie settings on Safari</a></li><li><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a></li><li><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></li></ul></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-35475384784912647832020-06-29T05:00:00.004-07:002020-06-29T08:59:54.643-07:00What Number Is It?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDOvkWv9L5OZP_SQ5JsWAcfapsZb8lsoDnvCw1rwSxzquPSipjJ3Ug2zsbbfhaez6FbJIaKhHny7G7jAQDrDaYXLjI0xOVVZoxWrvbADJCsnB6YSmHSaiSv4q6hF4IrbEl43vD2RL3iJA/s800/fdecomite.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="What Number Is It?" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDOvkWv9L5OZP_SQ5JsWAcfapsZb8lsoDnvCw1rwSxzquPSipjJ3Ug2zsbbfhaez6FbJIaKhHny7G7jAQDrDaYXLjI0xOVVZoxWrvbADJCsnB6YSmHSaiSv4q6hF4IrbEl43vD2RL3iJA/w400-h300/fdecomite.jpg" title="What Number Is It?" width="400" /></a></div>Sometime this past week, our kitchen sink started draining really slowly. None of our usual tricks, like plunging the sink, or running the garbage disposal or dishwasher to try to push through the clog, had any real effect. If anything, they made things worse.<div><br /></div><div>By Thursday, the water wasn't receding at all. I resorted to scooping the water I could out of the sink with a big mason jar into a bucket and dumping that into the backyard. </div><div><br /></div><div>I disconnected the pipes under the sink to get the rest of the water out, and tried to snake the drain with a little manual snake from Amazon. The thing kinked up and turned on itself (behold my DIY skills) so after an hour of that, I did what I hate doing: admitting I can't fix something myself and calling a professional.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>While I was waiting for the snake to come in the mail and, later, for the plumber to arrive, we kept making dishes. So I had to fashion a system to keep us in clean plates and silverware. Behold, our camp-style dishwashing setup.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfDObvRtUg2IOndb2HBPneTYfMxnhDRMMpN6Qiiv_Pivvv2d2pTTQ-naP_hgLPoIENKCP8p6Va6Ahx7uiJIqsZSW0pjnHEc4YkrDrVlxJQC2x2L7Huzd7hgExS-B-twEiA7TNUHj0i67C/s4032/IMG_20200628_133105.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="What Number Is It?" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfDObvRtUg2IOndb2HBPneTYfMxnhDRMMpN6Qiiv_Pivvv2d2pTTQ-naP_hgLPoIENKCP8p6Va6Ahx7uiJIqsZSW0pjnHEc4YkrDrVlxJQC2x2L7Huzd7hgExS-B-twEiA7TNUHj0i67C/w400-h300/IMG_20200628_133105.jpg" title="What Number Is It?" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>It worked better than I thought. And like with the greywater setup we have for the washer, I got a weird bit of satisfaction pouring out a plastic container of dishwater under our tree. "Here's a drink, buddy. Yeah, we were going to just throw this away but thought, hey, why not give it to our tree friend?"</div><div><br /></div><div>I hit a low point after I couldn't get the snake to work: mostly because of some toxic ideas I have about supposedly being able to fix all this shit on my own. </div><div><br /></div><div>Plus, the cast iron pipes in this house are fifty years old now. We knew from a prior plumber that we might already be on borrowed time. Maybe the main had collapsed. </div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe we'd be looking at a five figure bill, along with having to tear up the tile and concrete all throughout our house, and during a goddamn pandemic, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why didn't I have someone run a camera during the inspection period? </div><div><br /></div><div>Why didn't I look into doing one of those trenchless sewer repairs <i>before</i> this shit happened?</div><div><br /></div><div>Why can't I finally grow the fuck up, and deal with shit proactively instead of waiting for problems to show up?</div><div><br /></div><div>I had a bunch of unhealthy thoughts the past few days. I'm not particularly good at dealing with failure, or what I perceive to be failure, at least. My therapist gave me a technique years ago. I am allowed to feel bad emotions all that I want, but before I give in to them I need to put the situation on a scale of 1 to 10. A one is being a few minutes late for a meeting, a ten is the house being on fire and needing to get my loved ones out immediately.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I try to scale my emotional reaction to whatever the number is.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most everything in my life these days is a one. A minor inconvenience that temporarily interrupts a preposterously cushy life. Maybe it always has been that way for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>The rub is that the ones don't feel like ones, at least not initially. They feel bigger. Sometimes something tiny feels like an eight or a nine. I don't have perspective, at least not until I remind myself to put things on a scale.</div><div><br /></div><div>The plumber came on a Sunday, & wheeled in a motorized snake that blew right through the clog. It was probably grease that built up. (Like any good Filipino son, I keep a jar of the kitchen grease we create in a cupboard. So, logic be damned, I'm blaming this problem on the prior owner. Even though we've lived here for three years.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, after an hour of work, he'd fixed what I struggled with for the better part of a week, and was gone. He didn't think our pipes were necessarily in any kind of bad shape but we could run a camera and take a look, if I felt like spending $350 to get it done later in the week. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which I should. That's what an adult would do, right?</div><div><br /></div><div>The thing is, this whole plumbing problem was a one. I just thought it was like a five or a six for a few days, and I let it kind of fuck with my head that whole time.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it was a one. The whole thing cost $59. </div><div><br /></div><div>So why stress? Even if we ran into the worst case scenario, maybe ten or twelve grand to excavate and install a new sewer line, it's not like this an expense we could not handle.</div><div><br /></div><div>So many of my problems stem from this one root problem. I think small things are actually big, and then react accordingly. Work life, personal life, social life: I reliably make the same mistake. Lather, rinse, repeat.</div><div><br /></div><div>The catch is that I can get the numbers wrong the opposite direction, too. I end up mischaracterizing big things as immaterial ones. Things like global warming end up seeming like a one most of the time: something I can just, like, deal with later. Sure, this climate thing is urgent, but I am also hot <i>right now. </i>So I crank the AC.</div><div><br /></div><div>I imagine it's the same for a lot of people with the pandemic. Unless you know someone who's died from this, and maybe you don't because the disease is <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/30/865413079/what-do-coronavirus-racial-disparities-look-like-state-by-state">disproportionately killing Black Americans</a>, I can see how someone can come to the conclusion that maybe this is no big deal. You feel healthy. No one you know is sick. The media lies all the time so they're probably doing the same with this COVID nonsense. To you, maybe it's a one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Same with Black Lives Matter. Sure, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/1/18/14296126/white-segregated-suburb-neighborhood-cartoon">you may not know very many Black people</a>. But from where you're sitting: is it really that big of a deal? Is it worth all this protesting? Maybe, when you think about it, this whole policing thing could be a one, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because I, too, have this recurring problem of placing a situation on the wrong part of the spectrum, of not properly understanding how important something is or is not, I try to be sympathetic at the times when others get it wrong. So, so wrong. As always, <a href="https://youarenotsosmart.com/">we are not so smart</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, the problem is different when I'm taking a small thing and making it seem big, than when it happens in the other direction. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I freak out about a clogged drain for a few days, the main consequence is that I feel embarrassed for overreacting. A few dollars down the drain and some feelings of humiliation later and I end up with, hopefully, a little better perspective on my emotions.</div><div><br /></div><div>But when I minimize a big thing, like when I end up going <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-usa/update-1-crowds-pack-arizona-river-as-us-posts-record-covid-cases-for-three-days-running-idUSL2N2E504X">tubing on the Salt River</a> with my friends but without my mask, because I think this whole coronavirus thing is overblown, then the consequences are different. I might feel the same feelings of embarrassment later when I realize I was wrong. But the cost is different.</div><div><br />It doesn't just cost us $59 and a few days of frustration, does it?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/2711556860/sizes/c/">fdcomite</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-1424845952228811052020-06-08T06:00:00.020-07:002020-06-14T23:09:45.765-07:00Your Tax Dollars, Hard at Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JYdKhkTflt880E0xrD9tD96niwbZgTbBhOEgCdN9frJJmogeCPIrVY30QEO9WDrpTpG8HETJ-tE2Pq28UdWJbhWbHWDzCzTni1cuwiVIU5BbcpYBT0J7WwXFhFiontnVoFE4ddgFB9TT/s799/dsgetch+at+Flickr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Our Tax Dollars, Hard at Work" border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JYdKhkTflt880E0xrD9tD96niwbZgTbBhOEgCdN9frJJmogeCPIrVY30QEO9WDrpTpG8HETJ-tE2Pq28UdWJbhWbHWDzCzTni1cuwiVIU5BbcpYBT0J7WwXFhFiontnVoFE4ddgFB9TT/w400-h266/dsgetch+at+Flickr.jpg" title="Our Tax Dollars, Hard at Work" width="400" /></a></div>Like a lot of you, I'm dealing with emotions right now. Anger, and sadness, and frustration at the terrible violence Black people have been suffering at the hands of police, and the continued violence the police and national guard dole out to citizens who dare to protest that violence.<div><br /></div><div>I am dealing with these things as someone who is not Black, which is to say, I am dealing with a tiny portion of the issue, and in an easy, superficial way. A way that raises my awareness just a bit, but I can put the whole thing away whenever I like. I can feel bad for a week or two, donate some money, and then put the issue on the shelf if I want and go about my day.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's a convenient way of dealing with it all. <span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm the son of a Filipino immigrant from Manila and a white man from Massachusetts so, growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I've had some experiences with racism, sure. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I don't understand a bit of what it's like to be worried for my life if I get pulled over. I've never experienced the full brunt of racism that America has to offer. I don't even know what it's like to be systemically underpaid just due to my race. Because my father is white, a lot of the time, I can pass.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which all goes to say I just don't know a whole lot about what it's like to be Black in a country that has always been racist and violent to Black people. I can't speak to any of that, and can only point to <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/">others</a> <a href="https://www.theroot.com/a-timeline-of-events-that-led-to-the-2020-fed-up-rising-1843780800">who</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CA1YImjJOUY/">can</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>As a half Filipino, half White person, I think the part that hurts me is the fact that we are supposed to be able to trust the police who are beating and killing Black citizens. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's a social contract at play. When we elect a public official and grant them the power to govern us, that power is given with the understanding that it will be used to <i>help</i> the community. To serve it. To serve <i>us.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>And that means all of us.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Our</i></b> tax dollars pay for the jobs, and the equipment, and the guns, and the vehicles, and the salaries and the generous government benefits, and the lifetime pensions, too. All of this is given to police departments with the tacit agreement that all this power is to be used to <i>protect us citizens</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Police officers work for us. Just as it is with all public employees, the citizens are their employers. Every dime that department gets comes from citizens and the purpose of those funds are to keep us safe. </div><div><br /></div><div>We are paying these people to do a job: a very important job. One that comes with a whole lot of power, and that power <i>requires restraint</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>So when the police systematically target Black citizens, when they attack and brutalize and kill them, it first and foremost racist, criminal, and abhorrent. </div><div><br /></div><div>But as the bitter cherry on top, this violent behavior from police breaks the contract between the civil servant and the community he is supposed to serve. It breaks the public trust in a way that can't easily be fixed. </div><div><br /></div><div>When the people we hired use the equipment we purchased to hurt and kill the very citizens they are supposed to serve and protect, it's a fucking brutal way to break the social contract.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because who exactly are Black citizens supposed to go to when it's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/study-finds-police-fatally-shoot-unarmed-black-men-at-disproportionate-rates/2016/04/06/e494563e-fa74-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html">the police who are doing the killing</a>?</div><div><br /></div><div>In the instances where charges are even brought against police officers, where are Black citizens supposed to turn when the courts have <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/police/uspo31.htm">systemic flaws</a> that <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2079&context=ulj">repeatedly</a>, commonly prevent justice from being served? When the same district attorneys who rely on their relationships with police departments are asked to potentially prosecute those same police officers, how are Black citizens supposed to accept that justice will be served with such an obvious <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1868&context=faculty_scholarship">conflict of interest</a>?</div><div><br /></div><div>The answer seems to be that they are not supposed to expect that justice will be served. They probably should not expect most of these police officers to even be suspended or fired. Even fewer will ever be arrested or charged. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fewer still will be convicted, thanks to <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-qualified-immunity-and-what-does-it-have-do-police-reform">qualified immunity</a>: a judicially created doctrine that protects agents of that same government from prosecution in its own courts. Isn't that convenient?</div><div><br /></div><div>Given all the ways the government has broken the social contract, and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-reform-training-george-floyd-death-effectiveness/">how ineffective decades of police reform have shown to be</a>, it's not surprising that communities are pushing to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/05/defunding-the-police-us-what-does-it-mean">defund police departments</a>, or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/us/minneapolis-police-abolish.html">disband them altogether</a>, rather than throwing additional millions of public dollars at reform programs which have not yielded lasting change.</div><div><br /></div><div>And why not? If these public safety departments are violating their most basic oath, to serve and protect, and doing so while taking <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/05/22/la-budget-nyc-police/">ever and ever larger shares of public budgets</a>, why isn't it reasonable for the community to take away some of those funds?</div><div><br /></div><div>When police departments won't listen to the citizens of their communities, or the outcomes from reform initiatives, or even the edicts of the politicians they serve, one has to wonder if they'll finally listen to the sound of a budget being cut. </div><div><br /></div><div>Because sometimes money is the only language people can hear.</div><div><br /></div><div>In that vein, I'd like to try something new here on the blog. If you're still reading and would like to do some talking with your money, we'd like to join you.</div><div><br /></div><div>Send me a note at donebyforty@gmail.com, or <a href="https://twitter.com/Done_by_Forty">tweet me</a> a screenshot of your donation to a charity of your choice, and we'll make a matching donation to <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019">the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation</a>. Mrs. Done by Forty and I decided we will donate $1,000, but thought maybe others would want to join in if they knew their donation would be multiplied a bit.</div><div><br /></div><div>In addition, my employer will be making an additional matching donation on top of that. So if our dear readers can find a way to donate a thousand dollars, a total of three thousand will be donated.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's a small thing. Mrs. Done by Forty and I aren't out there protesting, lending our voices, and I doubt either of us will be. Our hope is this is another way we can make our voice heard. Money talks.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Update: </b>Thanks to the generosity of the community, we ended up fully meeting the goal. Thank you all so much for chipping in and making this happen. You all are the best. Love ya.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBHlF5VK7zSRhgETUKzjCVHpvMfwuuKHmK3rGLDi00Yn1a47m8IGQ843h1VkTeJa8wli1M7MJoM2mOnC_ugZBypH_CbCS16XDp2b4UfVlFzgw9T2SFmYlE29SLrFmfNSiHJEjE4EvfCIe/s1649/image001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1649" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBHlF5VK7zSRhgETUKzjCVHpvMfwuuKHmK3rGLDi00Yn1a47m8IGQ843h1VkTeJa8wli1M7MJoM2mOnC_ugZBypH_CbCS16XDp2b4UfVlFzgw9T2SFmYlE29SLrFmfNSiHJEjE4EvfCIe/w400-h203/image001.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sierralupe/49965367271/sizes/c/">dsgetch</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">**</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>Having trouble leaving comments? Blogger requires cookies from third parties for comments, which your browser may block as a default (especially if you use Safari). You can change your settings here:</b></i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Safari</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></li></ul></div></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-46668439348235876162020-05-26T06:00:00.022-07:002020-05-28T21:18:07.819-07:00In This Together<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dDTpkK8fGwCPUofO_qD2ouZwmujoyiJG1C0D36K_d2EyEM4seSHhPjdPv5zqvCKmm1GSOzRkkGrR5PkRo9rMMkdZtuwnGAfZv7aZarmdIHJ7Y9d_5SZVeJUmpwwygcTdQ5Evsbz68jqY//" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="In This Together" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dDTpkK8fGwCPUofO_qD2ouZwmujoyiJG1C0D36K_d2EyEM4seSHhPjdPv5zqvCKmm1GSOzRkkGrR5PkRo9rMMkdZtuwnGAfZv7aZarmdIHJ7Y9d_5SZVeJUmpwwygcTdQ5Evsbz68jqY/w400-h300/andrechinn.jpg" title="In This Together" width="400" /></a></div>Sorry for staying away so long, friends. I've always found it weird when bloggers apologize for not writing, but I do feel a kind of guilt for being away for two months. I wish I had a better excuse other than the fact that I've been busier than I've ever been, either at work or at home. Now I'm experiencing both, so something has to give and that something is writing.</div><div><br /></div><div>My category space at work is collaboration: the software and related hardware necessary for collaborative apps, video conferencing, whiteboarding, instant messaging, soft phones, virtual conferences, and the like. The increase in work in this space is completely unprecedented. It has me working some nights throughout the week. Even headsets, the supposedly easy commodity in my space, are eating up a lot of time, as we work through a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/millions-work-home-online-buyers-shortages-price-jumps/story?id=69980213">global shortage</a>.<span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Work has not only reached a frenetic pace I've never seen before, but Mrs. Done by Forty and I, like so many other parents, have taken on second jobs as full-time child care providers. We've thankfully found a time split that we can live with, but it leaves very little after work, childcare, cooking and cleaning are all accounted for. Throw in even a bit of yard work and chores, and there suddenly aren't enough hours or minutes left.</div><div><br /></div><div>Baby AF wakes up at five, we're out the door for our morning walk by six before the Arizona sun forces us back inside, and then we're off to handle emails, meetings, powerpoints and spreadsheets before switching back to coloring, ABCs and flash cards, dance parties and songs and whatever else we think will keep Baby AF entertained and, maybe with a bit of luck, at least a little enriched.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's a lot. And it certainly doesn't leave time for writing. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's an excuse. I know it. I could find time to write after Baby AF is asleep for the night.</div><div><br /></div>But who knows what to write about at a time like this, anyway? Something that might be helpful, for finances, or loneliness? <div><br /></div><div>Maybe just a personal account of what things are like for us in our house?</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps I should just write reminders of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html">the best practices we should all be following</a><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html"></a>, since there's so much <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-confusing-uncertainty/610819/">bad information being spread</a> on places like Medium?</div><div><br /></div><div>But I'm no expert: I can only point in the general direction of one. Maybe instead of writing about this disease or what to do about it, I could just try to lift a reader up a bit?</div><div> _______________________________________________</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd heard that you were juggling childcare along with your job, and I just wanted to let you know you're doing a fucking fantastic job at both. </div><div><br /></div><div>I saw online that you were cooking and baking up a storm, now that we're all cooped up at home. That's cool that you're learning & gaining skills, and making something yummy to eat at the same time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Someone told me you were struggling a bit with loneliness during all this isolation. I am, too, friend. I'm down a lot these days. I think that's normal, honestly. We're all just doing the best we can with this. You're not alone.</div><div><br /></div><div>So you're a part time teacher and tutor these days, too? I can imagine how tough that is. Just know that you're doing good work. Your kids are lucky to have you as a parent: someone actually invested in their education.</div><div><br /></div><div>If your hours have been cut or you've been laid off, I can imagine how stressful that must be right now. Things can get dark pretty quick when there isn't money coming in. Please reach out if you want to talk or write about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>So your partner has been getting on your last nerve with all this time together. I get that. We've had some days (...maybe...some weeks) where we've been fighting, too. It's tough being on top of one another all day, every day, for so long. I hope you two get to a good patch sometime soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think we're all going through some things these days. A lot of stressful stuff is getting mixed in with, hopefully, some of the good, too. </div><div><br /></div><div>As isolated as we are, I like to think that we're all in this together. That this weird ass time is not normal, and we're all going to struggle a bit because it's so not normal. But the fact that we're all in the same boat gives me a good feeling, too. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm happy to be able to look across from me, and see that you are in the boat with me, too, friend.</div><div><br /></div><div>We're going to make it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks, as always, for reading.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrec/8564224210/sizes/l/">andrechinn</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">**</span><i style="font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>Is my blog eating your comments? To leave a comment, Blogger requires cookies from third parties, which your browser may block (especially if you use Safari). You can change your settings here:</b></i><br style="font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><div style="font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.clubrunnersupport.com/article/710-enable-third-party-cookies-for-safari" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Safari</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://support.cloudhq.net/how-to-enable-3rd-party-cookies-in-google-chrome-browser/" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Chrome</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.technipages.com/ie-enable-disable-cookies" style="color: #05828c; text-decoration-line: none;">Change cookie settings on Internet Explorer</a></li></ul></div></div>Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2980246226076317453.post-51745373703997751992020-03-16T05:00:00.000-07:002020-03-16T05:00:02.012-07:00It's Been a Minute<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1EogRd5ONZOIQXBE_AfcW9aZZHc2nq4e3Jtw6KtJNmIAjhXtUSmLRSrWYrzlxLO8PSrDgyOBUGenX3vukFcC4SCM3FKLZLPgdsZ30igUZyEIzkUxWoRfcBy5BwQ4s0S9KKMhDVUtPnZm/s1600/Presidencia+de+la+Repulica+Mexicana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="800" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1EogRd5ONZOIQXBE_AfcW9aZZHc2nq4e3Jtw6KtJNmIAjhXtUSmLRSrWYrzlxLO8PSrDgyOBUGenX3vukFcC4SCM3FKLZLPgdsZ30igUZyEIzkUxWoRfcBy5BwQ4s0S9KKMhDVUtPnZm/s400/Presidencia+de+la+Repulica+Mexicana.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I've been sick, dear readers. For the past two plus weeks, I've had something that feels a lot like the flu. Though I was tested for the flu and it came back negative so I guess that means it was something...other than the flu. But the only test available was the flu test, so that's all I really know.<div>
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Mrs. Done by Forty and Baby AF had it, too, but got better quicker than I did. After the second week, I got a nasty (viral?) rash all over [photograph redacted], and that's what finally got me in to the doctor. </div>
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They took a biopsy of a piece of skin on my left arm, I got my very first stitch, and we're still awaiting the results. I'm on a steroid and some sort of antihistamine pill, and, thankfully, as of today I'm feeling mostly better. I just have a bunch of weird tiny scars all over me.<a name='more'></a></div>
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In any case, we're isolating the best we can. And I'm finally feeling well enough to read and write some again. With Baby AF and Mrs. Done by Forty taking a nap, I figured this is probably the best time to sneak a little writing in.</div>
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So, about that stock market.</div>
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The standard advice is to simply not look at your account balances during downturns. And that's good advice, since a lot of us are going to be tempted to make changes. Like, bad changes. To sell or reduce contributions to retirement accounts.</div>
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Mrs. Done by Forty and I are odd ducks. We not only want to continue to buy investments during a downturn, but are actively looking for ways to invest more during these times. (We don't have a great way of doing so other than being a bit more frugal than we normally are, and investing the difference.)</div>
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Plus, <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/01/2019-spending-in-done-by-forty-house.html">we're pretty close to our financial independence number</a>. I don't want to be the person who puts my head in the sand right now. If there's going to be a big change to impact our FI plans, I want to get the information and try to understand it, so we can deal with it. Why not face problems head on?</div>
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So how much did the most recent downturn impact our FI plans? Let's play with some numbers and find out.</div>
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When we looked at <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2020/01/2019-spending-in-done-by-forty-house.html">our 2019 spendin</a>g earlier this year, here was our FI projection from <a href="https://lab.madfientist.com/">the Mad Fientist's laboratory</a>, based on a 'no-mortgage, but yes, daycare' figure: probably the closest to our current reality in 2020. </div>
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Looking at where we were at through 2019, our projection was to hit financial independence by January 2021 (assuming a 3.5% safe withdrawal rate.)</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DsufQ0ACEqRBepTIqO0yET6-eR4wSMJwX2AQ2nlzQOS-CXLXwv1CTbLwA24rj_rjFgRAu_JG1tqiZ8XanfV2VZkZwmtc4n8_kqsnsXY1rAwqZquXbmLsW10IXJBhjmMVm8RkW3YKoOCE/s1600/2019+Spending+-+Mad+Fientist+37k.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1600" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DsufQ0ACEqRBepTIqO0yET6-eR4wSMJwX2AQ2nlzQOS-CXLXwv1CTbLwA24rj_rjFgRAu_JG1tqiZ8XanfV2VZkZwmtc4n8_kqsnsXY1rAwqZquXbmLsW10IXJBhjmMVm8RkW3YKoOCE/s400/2019+Spending+-+Mad+Fientist+37k.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Click for bigness.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And here is what the Mad Fientist's lab is saying our new FI date is, pulling our current investment figures (as of 3/15/20):</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-1xWVyNmW6gzOH1jGM9e_bgkzwqw8vpUmqLWNoEjUV8BV9Nc8seayz6zu1pa8d8YyVb4CR-oih-akBZSCYLixtltWrZIZd81_8LXWAE5Sa95TGB5WE0ncBQJJO5ecnRiYuDcAU3JB04E/s1600/Mad+Fientist+March+15.2020+mid-month.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1600" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-1xWVyNmW6gzOH1jGM9e_bgkzwqw8vpUmqLWNoEjUV8BV9Nc8seayz6zu1pa8d8YyVb4CR-oih-akBZSCYLixtltWrZIZd81_8LXWAE5Sa95TGB5WE0ncBQJJO5ecnRiYuDcAU3JB04E/s400/Mad+Fientist+March+15.2020+mid-month.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Click for bigness.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Even with two pretty bad months in a row, and our portfolio dropping 12.5% from the figures at the start of 2020, our financial independence date is only pushed out about eight months. So what gives?<div>
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A few things seem to be helping us mitigate the impact of the downturn so far. </div>
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One, we have bonds in our portfolio. We use Bernstein's Simpleton's Portfolio (sometimes referred to as the "<a href="https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolio/no-brainer-portfolio/">No Brainer Portfolio</a>") which calls for 25% of the investments to be in short-term bonds. These bonds are not only smoothing out the bad part of the ride right now, but are also giving us some dry powder that we can allocate to buy <i>more</i> stocks, via <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rebalancing.asp">rebalancing</a>.</div>
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A second thing that is helping keep at least somewhat on track is the fact that we're investing more now than we were a year ago. One, Mrs. Done by Forty is working full time and is <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/08/even-out-tax-benefits-for-all-workers.html">maxing out both the retirement accounts available to her</a>. And, two, since <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/07/wait-did-paying-off-our-mortgage-kind.html">we paid off the mortgage last year</a>, we just have more money available each month to invest, without that monthly payment.</div>
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And I think the third, somewhat more sinister answer is that the market really hadn't gone down <i>that much</i>...yet. It seems like a big drop because of how quickly it came. But prices for the S&P500 are basically where they were at in February 2019: roughly one year earlier. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJEgl4YqfpHyg5GDJUXThao4UGeMyZQqaQ20sGz60zNklfW4OOVW0ntcYH9j2mFKOB9SpRg4Q8FQ8ZMGRwGy5g5yq2fTirDVXKnvM5tJifvsLDXiOzuNAvBcwWvO-Bplgmj6i8496xBp2/s1600/S%2526P500.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="949" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJEgl4YqfpHyg5GDJUXThao4UGeMyZQqaQ20sGz60zNklfW4OOVW0ntcYH9j2mFKOB9SpRg4Q8FQ8ZMGRwGy5g5yq2fTirDVXKnvM5tJifvsLDXiOzuNAvBcwWvO-Bplgmj6i8496xBp2/s400/S%2526P500.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's bad, but not <i>that bad</i>. I suspect that the financial impacts of COVID 19, whatever they will be, are just starting to appear in the US. I have no crystal ball, of course. But if I had to bet, I'd wager that more bad news is coming.</div>
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Which all goes to say that we're not trying to dump in a bunch of money into the market all at once, because we have no idea where the bottom will be. The nadir will, like it always has before, come and go without us knowing that that was the "right" time to buy. </div>
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Instead, we're just going to keep investing into our retirement accounts every paycheck. We'll maybe try to be a bit more frugal and maybe squeeze in a couple hundred bucks more into mutual funds than we would have normally.</div>
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The reality is that we don't have a lot of other options. We have no desire to leverage up, to say, take a mortgage out against the house and invest that. No, thank you. We've played that game once before <a href="https://www.donebyforty.com/2014/03/opportunity-costs-are-sunk-costs.html">when we paid off our first home</a>. And we don't have the stomach to leverage up again, so close to FI</div>
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The only move we probably will make is rebalancing: taking some of the money in our bonds and buying the stock index funds that have cratered, bringing our asset allocation back into alignment. We usually do this just once a year, but our plan allows for more frequent rebalancing if our AA gets off its path by more than 5%, which is happening now.</div>
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Other than that though, I think we're going to just keep steady as she goes. Not like we have much choice about it.</div>
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I'm just happy that, at least as of today, all three of us are feeling better than we did a couple weeks ago. That we have enough food in the pantry for a couple weeks, and we have employers who are letting us work from home. </div>
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Due to a cancelled trip and Baby AF not being on the schedule for daycare today and tomorrow, we're going to do a test run of a plan to share child care & work duties, trading off and on for an hour at a time. I'll watch Baby AF for an hour while Mrs. Done by Forty works, and then we'll switch. We'll catch up on work during his nap & when he goes down at night. Sure, it's going to be hard to juggle Baby AF and our jobs. But we also know it's a real blessing to be able to do this, when so many other people are being told to go in to work, even though <a href="https://www.azfamily.com/news/continuing_coverage/coronavirus_coverage/arizona-schools-to-close-statewide-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/article_fb8ac574-670f-11ea-a276-03421aafcc83.html">schools are closed </a>& there's often no child care available.</div>
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I'm trying not to focus too much on our portfolios and our personal financial situation right now. No matter how bad it gets for us, I know we're preposterously lucky. We are two of the very last people who should ever complain. With so much else going on around us, the least we can do is just feel a little gratitude, right?</div>
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As always, thanks for reading.</div>
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*Photo is from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/presidenciamx/23552071843/sizes/l/">Presidencia de la Republica Mexicana</a> at Flickr Creative Commons.</div>
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Done By Fortyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06246597867355460723noreply@blogger.com5