So cool to hear that you like selling stuff online PJ! OfferUp is a new app i’m using a lot locally where certain items sell much fast in my area. Not sure if you’ve tried it?

Wishing you a good new year and let’s hope it’s a little less dramatic than last! :)

Good luck with the selling/reselling thing. When my parents died last year, I “inherited” all of their remaining possessions, which inadvertently turned me into a part-time eBay reseller (I always have had an account but only used it occasionally to sell off old comics or collectibles). In the last 90 days, I’ve sold more than $1100, and now I’m kind of addicted to it! It’s also inspired me to clear out some of my long-unused items around the house and sell them as well, which has had the extra benefit of freeing up space (much needed now that my mother-in-law has moved in with me and my wife).

haha that’s awesome! Yes I can see how you’d learn a lot about a person by seeing the gifts they buy themselves :) Happy New Year Jennifer!

My family did a “zoom” Christmas. Each of us bought ourselves a gift ($20 max) and opened together on a meeting. Everything from soup to nuts (literally!). Provided amazing insight into what siblings like.

I agree Yvette. It’s difficult to plan because the year can throw all sorts of unexpected events at us (like 2020 did). So in addition to goals I’m trying to work on myself so I can better adapt to whatever surprises the year brings. Be more open to change, think long term, set up a contingencies, forgive more, help others, etc. These traits will make my year successful no matter what happens. :)

Chris – please send me that post when it’s written! Because I am finding myself in nearly the same situation… I just paid 0% capital gains for a huge chuck on growth in my after-tax brokerage simply by capital gains harvesting. If I can get free growth in my regular brokerage, why do I need a ROTH anyway? (I still pay state taxes in my state). Anyway, I’d love to see your other reasons why having a massive Roth isn’t really that great :)

Happy New Year to you guys too!

Yeah I feel the same. It’s harder and harder each year with less and less emotions.

My Mum came up with a good idea for our next family Christmas… We’re doing a secret santa, but all the gifts have to be either hand-made, or re-gifts. It’s just for the adults (kids still get new toys or whatever) but it adds a bit more from to the year. I’m looking forward to it!

I feel like we might wind up having a post in the near future about the opposite side of Roth IRAs—why they suck!—ha. We focused on funding them in the early years, too. In recent times, we’ve come to some realization that they’re not great for people in a FIRE trajectory that is similar to ours (where you intend to earn less in retirement). We did Roths because we made too much for traditional IRAs years back, though if you can fit the income requirement, it seems like a much better deal to save taxes up front. The primary problem with Roths for us these days is that we just won’t earn enough in early retirement to pay taxes anyway.

I think the further in the future retirement is, the more they can make sense since they can help with some unpredictability of potential tax changes or income/goal adjustments down the road.

Happy new year Joel! Hope 2021 is off to a good start and thanks for sharing your goal process.