Thought experiment: What would you do if you had to double your current annual savings?
(My answer threaded)
1/10
We're (family of four) already pretty strong savers, so doubling would mean considering pretty big things.
1) Moving to a lower-cost city/area...we live in the DC area, so most cities are cheaper (I could move to a few different cities and still keep my current job).
2/10
2) Leave a job I love for one that I'd like less if it paid more.
3/10
3) My wife going back to her outside-the-home career (she currently stays home with our two small kids) and us using childcare. Bank the delta plus take advantage of additional 401k account and match.
4/10
4) Housing...buy a cheaper house in that lower-cost area. Currently have a renter...would look for a duplex or the like to increase percentage of rental income. In an extreme case, consider living multi-generational with one set of our parents.
5/10
5) Reduce food costs. We get a LOT of takeout and eat at a lot of restaurants outside of pandemic times. It's our favorite everyday luxury, but there's room to cut.
Plus, less Whole Foods, more Giant.
6/10
6) Take fewer trips or less expensive trips. We mostly travel to see family, but almost any trip with a family of four is costly, so there's room to creatively cut fat (likely fewer trips for longer duration or more folks coming to us).
7/10
7) Kid costs...once both are school-age, both would be public school, so not much there. But could trim clothing and toys a bit without much loss of happiness.
8/10
8) Ditch one of our two vehicles. Pretty cheap cars at this point (one's 15 years old, the other 9 years old), but it's something. Would have to pay for more Uber/Lyft.
9/10
How many of these are we going to do?
Frankly, none of them...it's just a thought experiment, and we're happy with our level of yearly savings (partially b/c of thinking about stuff like this).
Regardless, I find it helpful to consider the possibilities.
10/10
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I'm pretty good with money but awful with desserts.
To save me, cookies need to be (in order of effectiveness): 1) At 7-11 instead of the house, so I'll be too lazy to get them 2) Hidden by my wife 3) In a cupboard vs. counter
Here are three similar money tactics...
1) Hide the password if you shouldn't touch it
A friend once gave me his brokerage password and told me to change it.
When he wanted to do something ill-advised, he'd have to sheepishly ask me for it.
Not generally advisable unless it's a spouse. But maybe a safe deposit box?
My 8 key takeaways from Buffett's annual $BRK shareholder letter...
Including the best line and the best number...
1) “A Berkshire Number that May Surprise You”:
Berkshire owns the most American-based property, plant, and equipment of any US company: $154B
#2 is $T with $127B
2) Buffett’s “my bad”
The $11 billion write-down of his 2016 purchase of Precision Castparts.
As usual, he praised management even as he badmouths himself about overpaying: "No one misled me in any way – I was simply too optimistic about PCC’s normalized profit potential."
Bonus baskets:
$ARKG
A basket of the @chamath alphabet SPACS ( $SPCE, $OPEN, $IPOC, $IPOD, $IPOE, $IPOF)
iRobot ($IRBT) – Ceiling: So much optionality in home robotics + AI to boost growth. Floor: Premium brand, profitable, good balance sheet.
Upwork ($UPWK) and Fiverr ($FVRR) – Marketplaces that win as freelancing and the gig economy take off. Upwork has more sales now, but Fiverr has more recent growth.