I have $19k in liquid cash in a HYCA at 5.5% APY. No debt. My housing all in with all bills is $3600 because I’m paying my moms rent. She‘s elderly on a fixed income but helps with groceries in my 2 story house with a 2 bedroom full apartment in the basement. I just refi’d the house at 5.15%./30yr.
Robinhood account at $2700 and +96% since opening. Roughly $2900 in crypto with similar returns.
My $6250 pulls from money earned on roughly 1.1mil. I do plan on getting a job again but I’m not really in a hurry, I’ve been off work since July 2025. I realize this would greatly change my situation. I’d be around $30/hr and 30 hours a week.
I‘m looking for ways to maximize this. I realize that’s vague but thought I would ask. I’m singing up for a credit card with a flat 3.25% cash back on everything through the brokerage I’m with. Any other ideas?
In my 40’s, currently retire getting $6250 a month from brokerage account
byu/kott0n inpersonalfinance
Posted by kott0n
9 Comments
You’re not retired you’re unemployed.
$1.1m is not nearly enough invested for $75,000 annual expenses. You’re going to be sunk as soon as there is a bear market.
General rule of thumb for FIRE is that you need 25x annual expenses (so that you can live off 4% withdrawal rate adjusted annually for inflation.) This also includes taxes and healthcare in those expenses which you don’t mention.
The “4% rule” says that you should be able to safely pull about 4%/year from your retirement account without running out of money.
4% of $1,100,000 is $44,000. You’re drawing about 6.8%, which may not be sustainable long term.
Start working again ASAP and build more of a buffer. You’re one big problem away from wiping out your current cushion, and you’re also fundamentally depleting your long-term compound growth by pulling from your investments too soon. Minimize what you’re pulling out now so that when you’re 60+ you can completely coast on the returns with effectively zero worries.
I have no advice, but just wondering, where are you getting 5.5% interest for a HYCA?
It’s job time friend. Your situation is not sustainable.
I’m not knowledgeable enough to give real financial advice, but your bills definitely aren’t going to stay at their current level with how the world is going.
Expect your expenses to climb considerably so plan for that.
Jobs will only get harder to find as you get older and your unemployment gap gets larger. I’d flip that urgency around, focus hard on getting a job to build your net worth and then reevaluate every 5 years or so.
Hopefully you are accounting for taxes owed on the monthly income from the brokerage and paying quarterly tax payments.
As someone else asked, how are you getting 5.5% in a savings account?
Go log onto social security and see where you are at regarding credits etc.
It may open your eyes to another idea. At least work enough to be eligible for a decent SS check. Then when you hit retirement age you can start drawing something.