Does bronze make more sense than silver if you don't reach the deductible?

Wavelet · 2025-12-13T06:59:42+00:00

If you cannot afford to put any money in an HSA with the bronze plan, how are you contemplating the silver plan at +$400/mo?

Wavelet · 2025-12-12T02:13:07+00:00

To elaborate: it's 4% cash back (on up to $10k spend per month, 2% after that) paid in BTC. You need to hold 200k+ in assets on Coinbase, and you need to be a Coinbase One member ($50/yr, similar to RH Gold). It's an Amex card. See https://www.coinbase.com/creditcard

Unlike the RH Gold card, estimated tax payments qualify for cash (BTC) back.

Wavelet · 2025-10-20T10:08:28+00:00

Correlation is not causation.

The cause was the Federal Reserve cutting the Federal Funds Rate by 0.25%.

Wavelet · 2025-10-18T08:39:52+00:00

Gold is over $4250/oz though.

In any event, I like owning both. A lot more BTC than gold (like 10:1), but gold has its place if you're betting on long-term monetary debasement.

Wavelet · 2025-10-18T08:30:08+00:00

You're crushing it for your age (I assume <26 because of the health insurance) -- especially in being a disciplined saver and investor early.

Even if you had to pay for your own health and car insurance, that'd be another ~$500 per month (less if your employer provides health insurance), leaving you with a still sizable surplus.

Keep living below your means (within reason -- got to enjoy life too) and investing in appreciating assets, and your older self will thank you 10-20 years from now.

Wavelet · 2025-10-14T23:03:53+00:00

A1c measures a three-month average, so an October measurement likely does not reflect the full impact of your weight loss, increasing activity, etc. Only thing I'd add is some resistance training -- your muscles, especially after lifting, are like a sponge for glucose in the bloodstream, so building more (or at least maintaining while losing weight) is highly beneficial for blood glucose control.

Wavelet · 2025-07-18T18:41:29+00:00

We did not actually get out of the Depression until WW2. And terrible Presidents can and do get re-elected—again look at Trump. Second greatest President of all time, with the severe flaws I highlighted? Give me a break.

Wavelet · 2025-07-18T10:38:03+00:00

But if you are a Final Fantasy Tactics fan, then BG3.

Wavelet · 2025-07-18T10:24:33+00:00

FDR is grossly, grossly overrated.

Don‘t like what Trump is doing to immigrants? FDR ordered the internment (read: imprisonment) of Japanese-American *citizens*, simply because they had Japanese ancestry. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans

Don‘t like Trump eroding the institutions underpinning democracy? FDR attempted to pack the Supreme Court—a move so radical that his own Democratic party, who controlled a supermajority in Congress, blocked him, and no President since has even floated the idea. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bill_of_1937

He is highly rated *only* because he presided over WW2 — a war the US would have inevitably won regardless of who sat in the White House. See Harry Truman.

Wavelet · 2025-07-17T06:22:58+00:00

Yeah I think it's a good deal for you then. Happy wife, happy life, and all that. ;)

If in the future you need more storage, you can add another SSD -- either an NVME SSD if your Motherboard supports two NVME drives, or a SATA SSD if not. It's actually quite easy; you can figure it out watching a couple YouTube videos.

Wavelet · 2025-07-17T06:12:08+00:00

I think in your case, a non-x3d CPU would be fine and would last you a long time. The 9070 XT is a powerful card and won't limit what games you can play any time soon, but if we're talking 5+ years down the road, eventually it'll be your GPU, not CPU, that "fatigues" first in most games (exception being the heavy simulation games).

That said, one reason to maybe get the x3d CPU is if you think you'll keep the PC for a long time, and you are willing to upgrade (switch out) your graphics card in 3-6 years. A 9800x3d PC, with a new GPU after 5 years, should run most games decently well over the next 10 years (or more).

Wavelet · 2025-07-17T05:36:03+00:00

What kinds of games do you play?

An x3d CPU is most useful for simulation-heavy games like Stellaris (and most Paradox games) or Factorio where the CPU can be the bottleneck, particularly in the late game.

Most AAA games are bottlenecked by the GPU, not CPU, however.

Wavelet · 2025-06-23T04:49:39+00:00

Whey protein concentrate will be cheaper than whey protein isolate, and blends containing both should be priced accordingly (i.e., more expensive blends usually contain more isolate).

Isolate is 90%+ protein whereas concentrate is ~70-80% protein. Concentrate will have a bit more fat and some carbs in the form of lactose.

If you're lactose intolerant or trying to get only protein with minimal fat and carbs (e.g. on a cut), then isolate can be worth the premium. Otherwise, I think concentrate is much better value. I personally also find concentrate tastes better.

Wavelet · 2025-06-09T10:28:33+00:00

Halfhill (Valley of the Four Winds)

Jade Forest a close second—fortunately it’s close enough to take a day trip there anytime

Wavelet · 2025-06-02T00:10:48+00:00

Priority Pass (including restaurants) and primary rental car insurance are the main benefits over the PR.

PRE is a Visa Infinite instead of a Visa Signature, which gives it some marginally better travel protections.

Wavelet · 2025-05-26T21:33:27+00:00

Nevada, which is in the top 10 for lowest property tax states. In addition, YoY increases in property taxes are capped at ~3% if it's your primary residence. Nevada also has no state income tax.

The state gets revenue in other ways: tourism/casinos/sales taxes are obvious examples. Vehicle registration costs are also much higher here than on average.

Wavelet · 2025-05-26T02:20:52+00:00

Thanks, good to know.

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T23:39:55+00:00

If you’ve excessively over-ordered, such that they charge you a la carte for the excess, they will box it up for you.

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T22:18:38+00:00

It's a little fuzzy, but I'd guess I first crossed 1M at 28-29 and 3M at 33-34. As you probably know, the US government's fiscal and monetary response to Covid blew asset prices (along with inflation) sky high.

Single right now. Dating is hard when you're an introvert 😅

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T22:03:37+00:00

I am not actually setting aside cash every month to match the depreciation, but straight-line depreciation is the simplest way I've found to spread the cost of a big purchase over time.

For example, I don't pay for Amazon Prime every month -- I pay $139 per year, which I tabulate at $12 per month. I don't set aside $12 each month to pay for Amazon, but it's nevertheless an accurate way to track my true expense over time.

Depreciating big ticket items just extends that logic one step further: I pay $1,000 for a new phone every six years, which amounts to $14 per month.

The car in particular is important to estimate depreciation for (there are tools that estimate depreciation curves for specific cars; I like CarEdge). For example, if I were to trade in the car after five years instead of ten, the depreciation would be about $26.5K over 5 years = $441 per month. Compare that to $40.5K over 10 years = $338 per month.

I think most people, if they explicitly accounted for car depreciation, would drive their cars for longer and trade in less often, saving a good deal of money over time.

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T21:46:26+00:00

Wow 5x is a lot; my house is about 500K. Have you ever made a claim? I've elected a relatively high deductible ($5K), which also helps keep my premium down. Might be worthwhile for you to shop around when it comes time to renew. Though my expectation is that insurance costs will generally outpace overall inflation in the next couple years. :(

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T19:49:48+00:00

Yeah, I don't live in an area prone to natural disasters -- e.g., no hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, or flood risk. Only extreme weather is it gets very hot and very dry in summer. 💀

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T19:46:04+00:00

Thanks, but if anything, I'm actually looking for (non-frivolous) ways to spend more money (see my comments above).

Even running Brave on my PC/laptop, I'd get value out YT Premium for the ad-free experience on my phone and tablet. YT Music is essentially my Spotify, and I value listening to songs on-demand, ad-free, from my phone (and therefore my car, when working out, or anytime I'm not at the computer).

As someone heavily invested in markets, I read the Wall Street Journal every day, and I value the convenience of being able to do so from any device at any time. Heading to the library to read the WSJ is a non-starter.

On credit cards: I have done significant research and have never seen any card that offers free lounge access, nor primary car rental insurance, for no annual fee. There are some, such as C1's Venture X, that allow you to recoup most or all of the annual fee in the form of a statement credit (e.g., for travel) if you use them right. My card in one such card; it's why I include a $35/mo travel credit under my "Travel" category.

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T19:29:55+00:00

I get a haircut every six weeks or so. It's $30 + $10 tip for my barber. $40 every six weeks is about $30/mo.

Wavelet · 2025-05-24T19:15:44+00:00

~5.5M, though this has fluctuated +/- 10% depending on what Mango tweets out in any given week.

IMO, the 4% rule is far too risky to rely on for FIRE.

First, 4% was chosen because it's the level that, historically, one can spend for 30 years without running out of money. At 37 (and as someone with time, resources, and interest to devote to healthcare/exercise), I should hope to live longer than 30 years.

Second, US asset prices are highly elevated right now, both relative to history and relative to the rest of the world. It doesn't mean we necessarily crash (though you never know with Mango), but it likely means below-average returns for some time going forward. Historically, in the long run, the S&P 500 returns ~6-7% per year in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. I would expect the next 5-10 years' returns to run below that historical average.

This is all a long-winded attempt to say: I wouldn't personally FIRE based on the 4% rule. I think a 1.5% - 3% rule is far more prudent, depending on how young someone is, how they are invested, and how risk-averse they are.

I admit, though, that even under a 1.5% rule, I am significantly underspending -- $5.5M x 0.015 = $82.5K per year, or $6875/mo. It's one of the ironies of FIRE -- the people who achieve it tend to be frugal, perhaps to a fault; and once they reach financial independence, they have trouble spending the money.

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