Investing

[Deleterious]

I thought you could already do this.

 

[oblong]

You could with a 10% penalty. 

[Screwball]

The funny part is people arguing they shouldn't be able to do this. It's your money, you should be able to do whatever you want with your own money.

[chasfh]

On 1/13/2026 at 10:50 AM, Deleterious said:

I know I shouldn't think this way.  But if you get scammed by meme coins now, you sort of deserve it.

 

Congratulations to Eric Adams, Trump’s next chair of the Federal Reserve.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, Screwball said:

The funny part is people arguing they shouldn't be able to do this. It's your money, you should be able to do whatever you want with your own money.

I’m fine with requiring people to keep money in their funded retirement funds or else pay a substantial penalty for taking any out, as long as they are getting government-provided tax benefits for the purpose of funding retirement.

[chasfh]

On 1/11/2026 at 4:50 PM, oblong said:

I have a lot of CC cards but zero CC debt. Just accumulated them over the years and they send me new ones. I have one affiliated with my bank that I keep just in case I have any issues with my debit card and I leave it home for my son to use in case or any emergencies that came up if we were gone for a few days. That way the balance is readily visible if I open my bank app.  The only one I use regularly is my delta Amex. The perk I get is one free flight a year and generous point allowances for purchases.  I pay it off each month and only use it for regular purchases.  Seems like every other year our flights are paid for and for the others I use points to upgrade to comfort plus. and I reached “status” and got an upgrade to business class once.  Don’t fly more than twice a year. Fine. But while the annual fee is below the cost of a typical flight it’s close enough where I have to think about it.  Don’t care about their clubs at the airports.  Not my scene.  Detroits a delta hub and I go with it. 

I’m with you on zero credit card debt. I’ve practically never carried any, training myself to avoid it by carrying Amex charge cards instead of interest-charging credit cards, and going without instead of going into debt. It’s been good training for managing my spending during retirement.

I have only one credit card, a high-quality Chase bank card, and again, I pay it off every month like a charge card and pay zero interest. I use the card for (1) convenience; (2) points (cash value of 1% of spend); (3) benefits like automatic warranty extensions; (4) protections in situations like travel and car rentals mishaps; and (5) running interference against dodgy vendors trying to screw me out of refunds, and I did so just this week against the streamer Britbox, which offers zero human contact on their side.

I don’t know how much longer Chase and the majors are going to provide these advantages, since the more powerful and concentrated industries become the less customer service they feel compelled to offer, but I’m going to take advantage of them while I can.

I would advise anyone to read the benefits guide that comes out with their credit cards at least annually and get familiar with what they are and when to leverage them.

[gehringer_2]

12 hours ago, Screwball said:

The funny part is people arguing they shouldn't be able to do this. It's your money, you should be able to do whatever you want with your own money.

I think you should definitely be allowed to borrow your own Roth since you've already paid taxes on it. There is a reasonable  argument to be made that the gov can tell you what you and can't do with your tax exempt money because they gave you the exemption to encourage you to use it for a particular purpose (ie retirement). I don't know how in favor  I am I of this idea without seeing the fine print, which we don't have.

[oblong]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

I’m with you on zero credit card debt. I’ve practically never carried any, training myself to avoid it by carrying Amex charge cards instead of interest-charging credit cards, and going without instead of going into debt. It’s been good training for managing my spending during retirement.

I have only one credit card, a high-quality Chase bank card, and again, I pay it off every month like a charge card and pay zero interest. I use the card for (1) convenience; (2) points (cash value of 1% of spend); (3) benefits like automatic warranty extensions; (4) protections in situations like travel and car rentals mishaps; and (5) running interference against dodgy vendors trying to screw me out of refunds, and I did so just this week against the streamer Britbox, which offers zero human contact on their side.

I don’t know how much longer Chase and the majors are going to provide these advantages, since the more powerful and concentrated industries become the less customer service they feel compelled to offer, but I’m going to take advantage of them while I can.

I would advise anyone to read the benefits guide that comes out with their credit cards at least annually and get familiar with what they are and when to leverage them.

I have a lot of friends and peers who retired recently so it’s a common topic. I have a few more years but I recognize time flies.  I’ve started making changes. One friend told me “you don’t realize how much you piss away when you are working”. He meant it as “it’s easier than you think”.  The hardest part will be keeping my wife still. Today’s a good example.  It’s cold. Nothing going on. It’s ok to just be home all day. But she has this restless need to “be productive” which I counter with “yeah but that usually means spending money”.    I once suggested we watch a show but she couldn’t wrap her head around doing something like that in the afternoon.  Like we are being lazy.  We worked all week.  It’s ok.  

[Screwball]

More on this from Bloomberg Law; Trump’s 401(k) Home Buyer Idea Requires Retirement Rule Shifts

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

I have a lot of friends and peers who retired recently so it’s a common topic. I have a few more years but I recognize time flies.  I’ve started making changes. One friend told me “you don’t realize how much you piss away when you are working”. He meant it as “it’s easier than you think”.  The hardest part will be keeping my wife still. Today’s a good example.  It’s cold. Nothing going on. It’s ok to just be home all day. But she has this restless need to “be productive” which I counter with “yeah but that usually means spending money”.    I once suggested we watch a show but she couldn’t wrap her head around doing something like that in the afternoon.  Like we are being lazy.  We worked all week.  It’s ok.  

She sounds like a true blue American! I'm like that, too. I never watch TV during the day except a sitcom during lunch. I too feel like it's being lazy!

[Edman85]

I assume you are paying taxes on any 401k withdrawals? Otherwise, that is some loophole.

[Edman85]

On 1/11/2026 at 5:50 PM, oblong said:

I have a lot of CC cards but zero CC debt. Just accumulated them over the years and they send me new ones. I have one affiliated with my bank that I keep just in case I have any issues with my debit card and I leave it home for my son to use in case or any emergencies that came up if we were gone for a few days. That way the balance is readily visible if I open my bank app.  The only one I use regularly is my delta Amex. The perk I get is one free flight a year and generous point allowances for purchases.  I pay it off each month and only use it for regular purchases.  Seems like every other year our flights are paid for and for the others I use points to upgrade to comfort plus. and I reached “status” and got an upgrade to business class once.  Don’t fly more than twice a year. Fine. But while the annual fee is below the cost of a typical flight it’s close enough where I have to think about it.  Don’t care about their clubs at the airports.  Not my scene.  Detroits a delta hub and I go with it. 

0 debt, paid in full every month.

Amex Blue Preferred for groceries, streaming services, and gas.

Amex Gold for restaurants and travel (and groceries once Blue Preferred hits its limit)

Fidelity cash rewards for the rest. (2% reward on everything, no fee)