401k Tracker

Purpose: Sam's stated goal is never pull from 401k again unless for compounding investment. This tracker (a) reconstructs what's been pulled 2022–now from Fidelity statements, (b) categorizes by purpose, (c) makes the opportunity cost visible, and (d) writes the future-pull criteria down before the next opportunity shows up. Rule-based, not feeling-based.

1️⃣ Withdrawal History (Sam to fill from Fidelity)

Block 30 min with Fidelity statements. Sum withdrawals per year. Round to nearest $100 is fine.

Year	Amount pulled	Confidence	Notes
2022	$________	⚪ PLACEHOLDER	VSP year — possibly clean
2023	$________	⚪ PLACEHOLDER	Sabbatical year — bridge pulls likely
2024	$________	⚪ PLACEHOLDER	Hyundai partial + transition pulls
2025	$________	⚪ PLACEHOLDER	Full self-employment year
2026 YTD	$________	⚪ PLACEHOLDER	—
TOTAL pulled	$________	—	Baseline crutch usage

2️⃣ Purpose Breakdown

For each pull, categorize. Helps identify whether any past pull would have met the future criteria below.

Category	Total $	Comments
Living expenses (rent equivalent, utilities, groceries)	$________	Should drop to $0 going forward
Emergency repairs (home, vehicle)	$________	Should move to HYSA buffer
Tax payments	$________	Should move to quarterly reserve
Health insurance premiums	$________	Now a fixed monthly cost
Investment / business equipment (compounding)	$________	These were strategically fine
Other (one-offs, gifts, lifestyle)	$________	—

3️⃣ Opportunity Cost (lost compounding)

At 7% real return:
$1 pulled 5 years ago = $1.40 lost today
$1 pulled 3 years ago = $1.23 lost today
$1 pulled 1 year ago = $1.07 lost today

Once amounts are filled above, compute:

Total opportunity cost ≈ Σ (year_pull × (1.07)^(years_ago))
Estimated total opportunity cost: $________

What this number is for: Not regret. It's the visible cost of the bridge. Once you know it, the rule "never pull again unless it compounds" stops being a vibe — it has a price tag attached to past pulls that you can compare against the cost of a new compounding opportunity.

4️⃣ Future-Pull Criteria (rule, not feeling)

Pull is OK for:

Investment that compounds — positive ROI, ideally documented (rental property cap rate, business equipment payback period, asset that produces cash flow)
Business equipment with <12 month payback — printer that nets income, tool that unlocks higher rates, software that scales hours
Real estate with rental income > mortgage + maintenance reserve — cash flow positive from day 1
Equity stake in a venture that's been independently evaluated (dad's garage, friends meeting business, etc.) where Sam has visibility into financials

Pull is NOT OK for:

Living expenses — use earned income; if earned income is insufficient, the answer is to scale Same Solutions, not pull
Emergency cushion — build a separate HYSA buffer (3–6 months expenses)
Lifestyle purchases — not investments
Tax payments — build quarterly reserve from each invoice (set-aside %)
Repairs — sinking fund for home + vehicles
"Just this one time" — past Sam already did that; the price tag is in section 3

5️⃣ Bridge Closure Milestone

The goal isn't "stop pulling from 401k tomorrow." It's "Same Solutions monthly profit consistently covers expenses, so pulling stops being necessary."

Sam's monthly expense baseline (TBD — needs cash flow session)	$________ /mo
Same Solutions monthly profit target to close bridge	$________ /mo
Current avg monthly profit (last 3 months)	$________ /mo
Gap	$________ /mo

How the bridge closes: Once Same Solutions monthly profit ≥ expense baseline for 6 consecutive months, the 401k bridge closes permanently — no more bridge pulls, only compounding-criteria pulls. Until then, every "small bridge pull" gets logged here so the trend is visible.

Cross-reference: → Cash Flow for expense baseline · → Revenue Tracker for Same Solutions trend

6️⃣ The Long-Run Math (untouched scenario)

$350K at 7% real return, 25 years = ~$1.9M at age 60–65
$350K at 7% real return, 30 years = ~$2.7M at age 65–70

If $20K/yr pulled for 10 years to bridge: ~$200K depleted + lost compound ≈ $600K reduction vs untouched.
Net retirement floor: $1.3M instead of $1.9M.

Why this matters: The 401k is BOTH the safety net AND the bridge fund. Bridge pulls are sometimes the right call (sabbatical, transition). But pulling carefully extends runway and compounds the cost. Tonight's recalibration commits to the rule: pull only for compounding, not for surviving.

🎯 Concrete Next Actions

Block 30 min with Fidelity — pull statements 2022–now. Fill sections 1 + 2.
Set expense baseline — needs cash flow session (3 months bank statements). Once known, fill section 5.
Lock the criteria in section 4 — these become the rule for every future pull conversation.
Build the qualifying-opportunity log — when an opportunity appears (dad's garage, real estate, equipment), evaluate against section 4 criteria before any 401k pull.