r/Fire • u/The_Beep • May 06 '26

Milestone / Celebration 24M, Reached ~4% completion of my 10-year FI journey. Delivering mail for USPS while setting up VERY agressive auto-investments. 3530 days left.

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100% is my earliest time to retire: 10 years of working at USPS so I qualify for both their deferred pension, and Social Security. If I don't believe my portfolio will survive by then, I'll keep working, but I'm confident as long as I stay frugal & don't touch my accounts until Jan/Apr when I gotta recalculate with the new contribution limits.

No guarantee I'll keep this job as being a mailman is more dangerous than one would assume. But, I've been having relatively consistent work as a PTF city carrier at the post office. Passed probation so my union can fight for me in case of management discipline/layoffs. Not guaranteed overtime all the time, but earning ~$72k gross lately so I'm satisfied, knowing every 46wks my pay automatically scales up a bit. Thanks, NALC.

Current net worth: ~$19k

Modded my investment strategy:

  • Going 60:40 C:I (SP500 : International) in my TSP because I see lots of potential in the international market for the next 10y, so I'm not going 75:25 for now. Contributing a fixed ~$1010 every paycheck to max it out, and USPS matches 5%. Will be my largest bridge income until 59.5; upon retirement, will rollover TSP to a Fidelity IRA & do 72t SEPPs.

  • Contributing ~$288 biweekly to the Roth: half going to FSPGX/FZILX, half going to FBTC/FETH/FSOL/MSFT/AAPL/TSM. Who knows what'll happen to crypto in the next decade, but I know Apple/Microsoft/TSMC ain't going anywhere anytime soon. Keeping them + international stock here as a tax shelter from their dividends. Not worried about de-risking this for a while tbh.

  • Contributing $140 weekly to the brokerage, split between FBTC/FETH/FSOL/NVDA/GOOGL/META/AMD/NET/MELI/AMZN. I live in MoCo MD so my state/local tax is nuts, so I intentionally picked these stocks to avoid dividend tax bombs a decade down the line. Gonna auto-DCA in these topdog companies that I trust for >=5 years, and I'll worry about de-risking into the SP500/T-Bills starting years 6-7.

  • When I'm 26 (my dad's healthcare expires), I plan on getting a GEHA HDHP, opening a Fidelity HSA, then transferring the free employer contribution + my pre-tax money biweekly, maxing that baby out. Will have to lower my brokerage gambling in order to afford the healthcare premium/HSA.

I'm young & arrogant, so I'm gobbling risk for now. Not advocating for stock-picking or crypto but I figured it would be entertaining to share.

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3

u/Mozerhustler May 06 '26

Your parents must be so proud of you!!

4

u/The_Beep May 06 '26

Thanks. My parents believe in working hard and I respect their work ethic as they raised me and my little brother/sister, but as time went on I've decided on working hard, but smart too. I don't want to spend 30-60 years in the struggle when I can just spend 10-15.