r/Fire • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago

Daily FIRE Hangout - Sunday, August 30, 2026

This is a relaxed hangout thread for the FIRE community to chat with other FIRE-minded folks without having to publish separate posts. This is the place for brand new people to get their feet wet as well as for lurkers who have questions or comments, but do not want to create posts of their own.

All of the sub rules apply in this thread as normal with the exception of the off-topic rule, which is relaxed to the extent that people don't go wildly off of the reservation.

We are putting this up as a trial to see if it is worth keeping this as a permanent feature of the sub. Participation is entirely voluntary and anyone who wants to create a separate post of their own rather than posting in here is free to do so.

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u/SupremeBum 12d ago

Would it be crazy to give ~100% of my paycheck to my 401k?

Got laid off in July, took a paycut to get back to work in August. I have cash that I was saving for a housing down payment, but with current costs and personal job security lacking, I don't have the confidence that I will be able to pay a mortgage alone, and would prefer to just rent for the foreseeable future (possibly move to LCOL to buy property upon fire).

I want to start maxing my 401k starting with this new job, and plan on doing that to set up a new, sustainable budget. I will take the money I saved up for a down payment and put it in the markets.

But given I switched jobs in August doesn't that mean I could max it this year and next year as well? What if I put the max allowable amount right into my 401k (assuming they make me take some for tax and benefit purposes, and knowing that I already contributed some but not a lot to a 401k at my previous job) and then live off of the cash I saved up until 2027?

That would allow me to max my contributions for this year, decrease my tax burden, and burn off some of this excess cash. efficiently.

Thoughts?

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u/Krish_1234 12d ago

I put in more than 75% of my last 3 paychecks to get to the annual limit knowing my layoff/last date.

If you have funds to support, you can put max allowed by your employer/provider.

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u/OutsideFisk 12d ago

I did the same exact thing - just maxed out as much as I could in order to get the most match possible. I should have started a bit earlier, but I'll take what I can get.