Latest news with #CoreyForsythe
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A YOLO stock trade and a frugal lifestyle: One millennial's unorthodox — and risky — path to being done with retirement saving by 35
Corey Forsythe achieved financial independence in January and finished saving for retirement at age 35. Forsythe prioritized living a frugal lifestyle to maximize his investable income. He grew his initial nest egg with a risky investment in a satellite company. In January, 35-year-old Corey Forsythe stopped making automatic monthly contributions to his retirement account. After eight years of saving and investing, he said he hit $1.125 million across his investments in index funds, stocks, and a 401(k) retirement account. By his calculation, it was enough to fund $120,000 a year in retirement starting at age 60. Forsythe, a pharmacist, has reached Coast FIRE, a subcategory of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, meaning that he's saved enough for retirement and can now let his investments grow on their own while he focuses solely on covering his other expenses. "Coast FIRE always reminded me of when, in pharmacy school, I would try as hard as I could at the beginning of the semester so that by the time the final exam came around, I only needed to get above a 20% or 30% on the test," Forsythe said. "That's how I view Coast FIRE, try really hard and invest as much as possible so that later on you can coast and enjoy your life while you're still young enough to." At the beginning of his Coast FIRE journey, Forsythe aimed to invest $500,000 of his earned income relatively early in his career, which he broke down into a 70/20/10 split. He would allocate 70% of that $500,000 to a mutual fund tracking the broader stock market, 20% of it to an individual stock pick, and keep the remaining 10% in a cash emergency fund. After reaching his $1.125 million Coast FIRE goal in January, Forsythe has been putting his extra money into a savings account to build up his cash reserves. His total holdings across accounts have grown to surpass $2 million, documents viewed by Business Insider showed. While Forsythe certainly followed conventional Coast FIRE tactics such as living frugally and investing regularly, a key part of his success can be attributed to a single so-called YOLO bet — defined as an aggressive, high-risk strategy where an investor dedicates a large chunk of their portfolio to a single trade. Forsythe made his YOLO bet on AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), which he first came across on the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets in 2022. The stock has a niche following on Reddit and X, dubbed the "SpaceMob", which Forsythe has been monitoring along with company news and earnings reports over the last few years. Combining insights from the online community and his own research, Forythe said he built the confidence to buy 35,000 shares of the stock at $2.88 apiece in 2024. It amounted to a roughly $100,000 wager on ASTS at a time when sentiment was overwhelmingly bearish. The stock is now trading around $39, bringing Forsythe's ASTS holding to more than $1.2 million — and he says he hasn't sold any yet. He acknowledges the investment was a massive risk — and that other people shouldn't treat his good fortune as a replicable model — but it did work out well for him. Another unconventional strategy Forsythe employed was not prioritizing paying down his student-loan debt right away. "I have a lot of friends who are still trying to pay off their loans as fast as possible, even going as far as still living at home," Forsythe told BI. "After paying them off, their net worth was zero." To Forsythe, it didn't make sense to forgo stock-market returns to pay off his loans faster, particularly when early investing years are key to harnessing the power of compounding. Forsythe's strategy has been to pay off the minimum required balance while still prioritizing investing in the stock market. He's enrolled in the Pay As You Earn repayment plan, which requires him to pay 10% of his discretionary income monthly, which comes out to around $950. After 20 years of qualifying payments, his remaining student loans will be forgiven. Coast FIRE wasn't just the product of a risky, well-timed stock bet. Forsythe lived extremely frugally after graduating from pharmacy school. "I kept living like a college student," Forsythe said. "Keeping fixed costs under control is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated FIRE tools." Being a single person with a six-figure pharmacist income definitely made budgeting more straightforward for Forsythe. His monthly budget hovered around $3,000. Other than student loan repayments, Forsythe's biggest monthly expense was his $750 mortgage payment; he had snagged a 625-square-foot condo during the pandemic and locked in a low mortgage rate. Forsythe credits his low housing costs as one of the biggest factors that allowed him to invest aggressively in his brokerage account tracking the stock market. During his high-saving years, he invested between $42,000 to $50,000 annually. "All of the money that I'm earning now, I can just put away, use for travel, go to concerts. I've started to live life a lot more instead of being frugal my whole life," Forsythe said. "It's allowed me to have less stress at work because all I need to do is cover my living expenses." Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
14-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A YOLO stock trade and a frugal lifestyle: One millennial's unorthodox — and risky — path to being done with retirement saving by 35
In January, 35-year-old Corey Forsythe stopped making automatic monthly contributions to his retirement account. After eight years of saving and investing, he said he hit $1.125 million across his investments in index funds, stocks, and a 401(k) retirement account. By his calculation, it was enough to fund $120,000 a year in retirement starting at age 60. Forsythe, a pharmacist, has reached Coast FIRE, a subcategory of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, meaning that he's saved enough for retirement and can now let his investments grow on their own while he focuses solely on covering his other expenses. " Coast FIRE always reminded me of when, in pharmacy school, I would try as hard as I could at the beginning of the semester so that by the time the final exam came around, I only needed to get above a 20% or 30% on the test," Forsythe said. "That's how I view Coast FIRE, try really hard and invest as much as possible so that later on you can coast and enjoy your life while you're still young enough to." At the beginning of his Coast FIRE journey, Forsythe aimed to invest $500,000 of his earned income relatively early in his career, which he broke down into a 70/20/10 split. He would allocate 70% of that $500,000 to a mutual fund tracking the broader stock market, 20% of it to an individual stock pick, and keep the remaining 10% in a cash emergency fund. After reaching his $1.125 million Coast FIRE goal in January, Forsythe has been putting his extra money into a savings account to build up his cash reserves. His total holdings across accounts have grown to surpass $2 million, documents viewed by Business Insider showed. A YOLO stock bet While Forsythe certainly followed conventional Coast FIRE tactics such as living frugally and investing regularly, a key part of his success can be attributed to a single so-called YOLO bet — defined as an aggressive, high-risk strategy where an investor dedicates a large chunk of their portfolio to a single trade. Forsythe made his YOLO bet on AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), which he first came across on the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets in 2022. The stock has a niche following on Reddit and X, dubbed the " SpaceMob", which Forsythe has been monitoring along with company news and earnings reports over the last few years. Combining insights from the online community and his own research, Forythe said he built the confidence to buy 35,000 shares of the stock at $2.88 apiece in 2024. It amounted to a roughly $100,000 wager on ASTS at a time when sentiment was overwhelmingly bearish. The stock is now trading around $39, bringing Forsythe's ASTS holding to more than $1.2 million — and he says he hasn't sold any yet. He acknowledges the investment was a massive risk — and that other people shouldn't treat his good fortune as a replicable model — but it did work out well for him. Balancing student loan repayments and investing student-loan debt right away. "I have a lot of friends who are still trying to pay off their loans as fast as possible, even going as far as still living at home," Forsythe told BI. "After paying them off, their net worth was zero." To Forsythe, it didn't make sense to forgo stock-market returns to pay off his loans faster, particularly when early investing years are key to harnessing the power of compounding. Forsythe's strategy has been to pay off the minimum required balance while still prioritizing investing in the stock market. He's enrolled in the Pay As You Earn repayment plan, which requires him to pay 10% of his discretionary income monthly, which comes out to around $950. After 20 years of qualifying payments, his remaining student loans will be forgiven. Frugal living Coast FIRE wasn't just the product of a risky, well-timed stock bet. Forsythe lived extremely frugally after graduating from pharmacy school. "I kept living like a college student," Forsythe said. "Keeping fixed costs under control is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated FIRE tools." Being a single person with a six-figure pharmacist income definitely made budgeting more straightforward for Forsythe. His monthly budget hovered around $3,000. Other than student loan repayments, Forsythe's biggest monthly expense was his $750 mortgage payment; he had snagged a 625-square-foot condo during the pandemic and locked in a low mortgage rate. Forsythe credits his low housing costs as one of the biggest factors that allowed him to invest aggressively in his brokerage account tracking the stock market. During his high-saving years, he invested between $42,000 to $50,000 annually. "All of the money that I'm earning now, I can just put away, use for travel, go to concerts. I've started to live life a lot more instead of being frugal my whole life," Forsythe said. "It's allowed me to have less stress at work because all I need to do is cover my living expenses."
Business Insider
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Should you knock out student loans before investing for retirement? Here's how to decide.
Corey Forsythe graduated from pharmacy school with a degree and $200,000 in student loans. He's in no rush to pay them off. Forsythe, who is now 35 years old, has been chipping away at the balance by paying down $950 a month. But for the last eight years, a bigger priority for him has been investing in the stock market. It's a different approach than many of his peers. "I have a lot of friends who are still trying to pay off their loans as fast as possible, even going as far as still living at home," Forsythe told BI. "After paying them off, their net worth was zero." With President Donald Trump restarting collections on defaulted student loans, the question of how to manage student loan debt is once again at the forefront of many people's minds. It can be difficult to balance paying off student loan debt with other financial priorities like saving for retirement, and there's no universal answer. But in some cases, it can be beneficial to make smaller loan repayments and focus on other financial goals, experts say. Keep the following factors in mind when making decisions about student loan debt. There are programs to help reduce the burden of student loans, so be sure to check if you qualify for any of them, Rae Kaplan, the owner and head attorney at Kaplan Law Firm, told BI. Reducing the amount of student loans you have to pay will free up your resources to invest and save for other financial goals. There are several income-based repayment plans available. If you work in the public sector and have federal loans, check to see if you qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a US federal program that forgives the remaining balance on your student loan debt after 10 years of repayments. Forsythe is enrolled in the Pay As You Earn repayment plan, which requires him to pay 10% of his discretionary income monthly. After 20 years of qualifying payments, his remaining student loans will be forgiven. "For me, I'm paying the minimum to keep them at bay, but my main goal is to build my assets and invest in index funds," Forsythe said. In a case like Forsythe's, "the strategy there would be to keep your payment as low as possible on your federal loans while investing as much as possible into your retirement," Kaplan said. Compare interest rates and investment returns If your loan interest rate is high, it's smart to prioritize paying that off to prevent the loan size from growing. The S&P 500 returns around 10% on an annualized basis, or 7% after inflation. The interest rate on student loans depends on the type of loan and the individual, and the current federal interest loan rate is 6.53%. If your loan rate is close to or above your investment return, it's a safer bet to prioritize paying off the loan. Bruce Maginn, advisor at Solomon Financial, recommends extending the terms of your repayment plan to spread out payments over a longer period of time, making your monthly payment smaller. This frees up cash for living expenses, retirement savings, and other financial goals. "If your monthly payment is so much that you can't make your payments on time, you'll have late payments, and that's going to create a negative impact on your credit score," Maginn said. "So the next time you go to get a car loan, instead of paying 2 to 5%, it may be 18%." Kaplan suggests looking into refinancing your student loans for a lower interest rate, if possible. "If your credit is good, you can refinance a private loan with a different lender," Kaplan said. She suggests looking into private lenders like SoFi and Earnest. "If you can get that private loan from 15 to 18% interest down to 6%, that massively reduces your monthly payment and the overall cost of the loan, thereby freeing more money up for retirement savings," Kaplan said. Prioritize your 401(k) contributions Take advantage of your company's retirement benefits, Maginn recommends. For those who are too aggressively focused on paying down their student loans, they can miss out on contributing to their employer-sponsored retirement plan, and most importantly, getting the employer match, which can often be 5 to 6%, Maginn said. That's when, once again, it's helpful to extend the time horizon of your payment plan and pay smaller amounts each time. Your employer might also be able to help you pay down your loans. Under current law, employers can provide up to $5,250 in annual student loan repayment assistance. Under the SECURE Act 2.0, employers can offer a 401(k) match even if you're not contributing to your retirement account, as long as you're making student loan payments. Not all employers will offer this, but check in with your HR manager to see what benefits you might be eligible for.
