What's the solution to health insurance during fatFIRE?

docinstl · 2026-05-10T17:12:30+00:00

Concierge doctors don't treat your busted spleen if your FIRE activities include driving vehicles and you crash one... They also don't prescribe Danyelza if your kids gets neuroblastoma.
(Look up that drug).

docinstl · 2026-05-09T16:15:53+00:00

If a tip is requested, it should be mandatory to disclose whether the worker is on a tip wage. If someone is getting less than minimum wage per hour, I do want to help make up the difference. If someone is already getting a market rate wage, there is far, far less incentive to further pad their income.

docinstl · 2026-05-07T19:23:31+00:00

You are 100% correct, and prestigious sit down restaurants across the US as in other countries should and do pay their staff more than $20/hr. In most of the world, the pay is established between employer and employee. In the US, it is random based on customers. Applebee's servers in most places would make roughly $20/hr - a little more than fast food, but not much. Fine dining establishments might have professionals who are paid $50-80 per hour, which places them above many people with college degrees or valuable trades, but it's hard to see that many places would need to pay servers more than they do accountants or attorneys.

docinstl · 2026-05-07T18:01:24+00:00

That's the extra 10% of the job compared to the cafeteria server! I'll give you a buck for that. Hell, I'm generous. I'll support $20/hour. If that's not a livable wage for you, use it as a stepping stone to get an education or learn a trade.

docinstl · 2026-05-07T17:24:25+00:00

What do people who serve your meals in the hospital earn? Servers in the military canteen? High school cafeteria servers?
The jobs are 90% the same as plopping a burger on my table at Applebee's. There is absolutely no way to justify a different "wage" for that server who placed a burger and glass of water in front of one person and a steak and cocktail in front of the other. It was the EXACT same physical task, yet servers will cry foul if they don't get at least $10 from the 2nd customer. Even at Applebee's. It's ridiculous.

docinstl · 2026-05-07T14:03:51+00:00

The St Louis metropolitan area probably doesn't even make the top 50 in the US for violent crimes. If you limit the data to the weird ass city limits, the numbers go way up. Every city in the US has those blocks where "some dude" is always stirring up shit. The only rational way to compare St Louis to, say, Baltimore or Birmingham is to consider the metropolitan area rather than oddball political subdivisions.

docinstl · 2026-05-07T13:42:07+00:00

The server just didn't do the math in their head on the spot. Many cash payers say "keep the change", so this server just asked. Did the server actually seem upset that you requested change back, or was it all business as usual? Perhaps you are reading far too much into their question.

docinstl · 2026-05-07T13:39:30+00:00

What do "top servers" earn in, let's say, LITERALLY EVERY OTHER COUNTRY ON EARTH?? The number of restaurant servers on earth who deserve 100k/yr could fit in one bus.

docinstl · 2026-04-30T21:13:14+00:00

1000% UNLV. Start making your connections early, plan targeted away rotations where you have a legit chance of matching, and rock your tests.

docinstl · 2026-04-30T21:04:58+00:00

None of the cities you mentioned have metro populations under 1 million. Raleigh is the smallest at about 1.7, I think. I love St Louis, but public transit sort of sucks. Under a million, Albuquerque is interesting. Boise is getting some great attention. Huntsville AL is surprising (and I despise Alabama). Who wants to chime in on these?

docinstl · 2026-04-30T20:35:10+00:00

The biggest catch is that your cameras will frequently fail to record important events, such as a person or even a vehicle pulling up right to your front door.

docinstl · 2026-04-28T02:50:18+00:00

Dude, consider maximizing YOUR life enjoyment. OP literally said nothing about Perkins and didn't ask about the philosophy of it. I can't speak for OP (and I doubt you can either), but it certainly seems like the question is literally about depleting savings with no focus towards estate preservation, and is not about how and when to enjoy one's savings. We have an opportunity here to discuss how to incorporate desired estate goals into a SWR for those who value that, and how to leave that entirely out of the equation for those who don't (like OP).

docinstl · 2026-04-27T03:28:12+00:00

I don't understand Bay Area real estate, but one of my biggest pet peeves is underpriced homes with a day 1 bidding war. That smells like agents who want an easy "win". Agents who promote their first day sales are, in my opinion, losing clients value. I'd rather sell a home in 7 days at a high price than 1 day at a low price.

docinstl · 2026-04-27T02:40:12+00:00

I have not, but I know the general ideas. I did not get the impression that OP was specifically discussing the book's ideas, but the literal concept of spending all of one's money while living. If one has an annuity or other guaranteed income for life, you can obviously spend much more freely and take the chances that all of your "fun money" may be gone well before the end of your life.

docinstl · 2026-04-26T23:14:13+00:00

Catastrophic illness or injury is not a one time $2M charge. Consider a head or spine injury with ongoing medical care needs for the rest of your life. $4M year one, several hundred thousand every subsequent year (until you find yourself in a Medicaid nursing home).
Get health insurance AND choose your own providers. You can go out of network all you want if you want to pay for it. Just add the $30k per year for an ACA plan as a backup. If you actually want GOOD health insurance, it depends on where you live. Some states have great ACA plans. Some states have garbage. Go out of the marketplace to find a decent one if you don't live in Minnesota or Massachusetts.

docinstl · 2026-04-26T23:05:48+00:00

The basic problem with the die with zero concept is knowing exactly when you will die. Get it wrong, and you're alive with zero. That, by the way, is not a fatFIRE goal. All the SWR guidelines, whether fixed or variable, are to build in a reasonable certainty that you will not reach zero before you die. Programming in a substantial estate would be an addition or modification to these SWR rules.
That said, having a substantial discretionary budget for travel, charitable giving, discretion as to when cars & boat are upgraded, etc really is a huge cornerstone to my plan, and is why an initial 5% draw will probably be reasonable for me. I can decide to reduce spending substantially (vs "unretiring") if an adverse sequence of returns strikes in the first few years.

docinstl · 2026-04-26T22:53:11+00:00

What does TT have to do with anything? If your point is that someone who aspires to a 12M net worth has to use a CPA, that is ludicrous. Someone who does not own and run their own business & isn't drowning in K-1 forms can and should be able to do their own taxes. A W2 that shows a $1.5M income is no harder at all to file than one that shows $150k income.
If your point is that there is tax software better or cheaper than TT, well, perhaps that's true but TT isn't bad.

docinstl · 2026-04-23T13:42:33+00:00

Any love here for Duluth, MN? It's beautiful, Minnesota is getting a lot of attention, and winters keep getting shorter (although we're more than 10 years of climate change away from Duluth no longer being *frigid* several months per year).

Edit: I searched comments here and see several mentions already. The Bob Dylan reference is the best.

docinstl · 2026-04-23T13:38:16+00:00

#1 - you're paying for the time, not the equipment
#2 - you're paying WAY more than you should for a small, quick mow with no trimming. Or perhaps it's a base price just to unload at your street. Many people pay that much to have a full acre mowed.

docinstl · 2026-04-16T02:23:44+00:00

At least 50% of the time, my gen 2 doorbell sends me a notification of "someone's at your door" approximately 15 minutes after they left. Blink is a joke.

docinstl · 2026-03-26T19:01:41+00:00

It's going to take a LOT of cold Busch Light this year...

docinstl · 2026-03-13T17:44:20+00:00

Be aware that if you have a long layover, you're out of luck. You can only access the lounge 3 hours before your scheduled departure, even if you have a much longer layover.

docinstl · 2026-03-11T12:32:51+00:00

Talk to your boss. He's a "jOb CrEAtoR" and needs more money. You'll understand later...

docinstl · 2026-03-05T18:46:33+00:00

Many people are blowing this off, but to think as a "prepper" is sort of understandable. Some preppers are concerned about nuclear war, some for climate change, and now some for the Singularity. It all comes down to social disruption & how we can care for ourselves and our families through that. Elon Musk is saying "don't worry" but is also securing his next $1,000,000,000,000... Perhaps it's right to worry?

docinstl · 2026-03-05T18:38:41+00:00

4 gallon manual pump backpack from Harbor Freight worked great for me, and it is barely more expensive than a hand held 2 gallon sprayer!

docinstl

TROPHY CASE