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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1449 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 18, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Have any of you thought about moving spending forwards vs saving for retirement with seemingly numerous multiple crises coming down the pike in the next few decades?

Thinking: AI Global fertility Global debt (insert other left or right-coded flavored crises here as desired).

Just seems like my desire to put away money for 35 years from now versus making memories with family and friends now has started to decline.

I guess option 1 would be just to cut 401k contributions down to the match level instead of maxing? I've had trouble saying no to the immediate tax benefits, but seems like the move.

Would love cash out refi if interest rates were lower, but not looking to add several hundred beeps to my mortgage.

Not in a principled way. I got a real adult job and a house because of the children, otherwise I would be working a more chill job, traveling more, and still not saving very much.

Just seems like my desire to put away money for 35 years from now versus making memories with family and friends now has started to decline.

I think to answer this question would require significantly more information regarding what the concrete choices you are thinking about are.

My life is set up in such a way that there is very little that I would spend significantly more money on were I spending freely or if I came into a windfall. Like Hercule Poirot, I have enough money for both my needs and my caprices. I don't particularly want anything I can't afford, the odd luxury goods that I theoretically could purchase vaguely disgust me as too extravagant anyway. I have trouble identifying a marginal "live for today" spend I would make if I valued today higher than 30 years from now. If anything I could imagine putting in less time on earning money, but I like my work and wouldn't reduce it given the option.

So like, what are we talking about here? Flying out to visit family more? Going on a vacation? Buying a boat? I don't think the decision is meaningful in the abstract, only in concrete details.

fair - the immediate concrete decision is how much to spend on finishing our basement (ie adding extra fun features) and how much to go on extra nice vacations the next few years (think ski trips with lessons to teach our kids).

Just staring at high 6 figure retirement account balances and wondering if I should be rethinking my allocation of present to future a bit more (early 30s, for reference)

tagging other repliers for visibility: @birb_cromble, @TowardsPanna, @Mihow, @stolen_brawnze

You're in very good shape. Sounds like you should focus a bit more on the present.

You sound like you're doing well. If you needed permission to finish the basement and go on vacations with your family, consider it granted.

Not really. It will be more important than ever to have capital and to be able to move to a liveable place if necessary.

I'm not living like a 100% Spartan at current though. You gotta have some balance because after all you might be dead from illness or sudden accident in five or ten years' time.

I'm not increasing my 401(k) contribution this year, but that's as far as I'm going. I'm already well past my employer match, and it seems to me that lowering my reported pre tax income by 1% is not quite as useful as putting that 1% in something like VTI in a brokerage account.

My case might be a little peculiar though. I am pretty sure I already have enough in my 401(k) and Roth IRA to retire at 62-65 if I don't have to do any early withdrawals, even if I don't contribute more. At this point it's mostly about building up sufficient reserves so that "early retirement" is an option if I get laid off in the future.

(I did increase my HSA contribution a little)

No not at all.

With my 401k + SS (which will be there) I should make do with about 70k a year from 65-85 - fiancé will be somewhere in the 55-60k range with a Roth. Plus a few other index funds here and there, maybe, with hopefully al almost paid off home … and maybe some slight inheritance from somewhere but I have my doubts.

I wish I were this excited ten years ago - if not 20 lol.

Everything has been and always will be bad - and the horizon is always bad and always will be. But that’s just the way it is - people keep living.

But also - we go on 1 larger and 1 smaller vacation a year and 2-3 small weekend things and there’s two teenage boys in the house and I make 65 and she makes 50 and we pay 2800 a month for rent because America is a joke.

I think the future is bright - just gotta stay healthy.

I don't quite understand the logic. You want to be dependent on your employer during the coming crises?

All extra cash in my household--all cash that survives my wife's Amazon purchases--goes into aggressively paying down our mortgage (6.5% rate) and VTI. I use the margin provided by the VTI holdings to sell options on other companies for more cash.

beeps

That's a new one for me, ha. (I'm assuming this refers to basis points).

correct, basis points

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