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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1450 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.

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)

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