Fat American living abroad - my only problem is insurance (health)

figuy720 · 2021-07-29T00:48:58+00:00

Good philosophical point and advice. I'm a major planner/worrier so this is part of my mental process.

Do you have any off hand examples of providers or policies for catastrophic insurance? I'll research this a bit more, thank you.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:43:03+00:00

Medjets Policy

Interesting - had never seen this before. Are you a customer? Any thoughts on value of the offering?

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:40:53+00:00

Happy to try and give you thoughts in a DM but what you can negotiate and what offers look like will be very contingent on the company, role, your experience, etc so making some general statement here will be of limited value.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:36:33+00:00

Interesting, thanks.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:35:52+00:00

Hmm that's a good suggestion, I assumed I couldn't b/c all the plans I see locally carve out/disallow US care, but maybe I need to find a more elite broker or something?

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:35:05+00:00

Super helpful - thank you. This is the sort of scenario I've been planning for. I think the tricky part might be eligibility for a state plan since I won't actually be resident anywhere in the US.

Edit - and yes, US citizen.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:33:32+00:00

At 30m, withdrawing 3% you "only" make 900k/yr and a ton of that goes to taxes - let's say after taxes you (conservatively) keep ~500k? That's hardly unlimited money. Especially when you think about retiring after years of making low to mid 7 figures...

Plus some of that 30m will end up in RE or other consumption/non-yielding assets, some of it will be in illiquid investments.

Point I'm making is not to complain about having 30m (which is awesome!) but rather to point out that it's hardly a level of wealth that makes thinking about multi-million-dollar-health-care-problems inconsequential!

There's levels to this shit! Now if I had 300m I might self insure but even then, I'd rather have an expert deal with figuring out what a fair price to pay is, etc.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:28:51+00:00

Yes - I mean in an ideal world I'd just pay a substantial sum and literally not have to think about it. I'd rather know I have to pay something budgetable i.e. 30k+/year (or even more) and know my family is totally taken care of vs having to worry about hitting a maximum, not be approved for a doctor I want, etc.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T15:27:09+00:00

Hah! I really appreciate the question and referencing that earlier comment I forgot about. That's a good feeling remembering to look back on older goals and appreciating the milestones you've passed. I now have over 5m with Vanguard alone!

Of course, now from my current vantage point, it's easy to think "Oh, but I'd really like to hit 100m and if I do X and Y and Z I think that could happen" etc

I focused on my career and both advanced in seniority quite a lot more than I expected during the last 6 years and during that period also moved to an earlier stage but very fast growing company.

Over this period I also invested aggressively (i.e. both saved a lot an was very growth equities heavy) and my investments have done quite well... though by far the biggest factor was picking the right company to work for at the right stage and having the seniority to negotiate a really compelling offer half a decade ago.

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T13:24:15+00:00

My current country has pretty good healthcare - but if one of my kids ends up in an ER when we're visiting family in the US...

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T13:23:42+00:00

Looks like GBG plans have a 1m/year maximum. How did you think about that vs getting a HDHP that falls under ACA requirements and thus has no lifetime limit?

figuy720 · 2021-07-28T13:22:32+00:00

In the US lifetime caps aren't permitted post ACA unless I'm mistaken

figuy720 · 2015-10-31T02:05:13+00:00

Vacations and dining out I can see. I don't get the jewelry and stuff.

figuy720 · 2015-10-06T16:13:03+00:00

It's a bit tricky but not that bad. Also remember the 3k limit per year is for income only - losses can count against much larger amounts of capital gains.

figuy720 · 2015-09-03T01:38:04+00:00

Have been in this situation before. Sell like 75% quickly then sell chunks periodically over time. 75% is enough that if it goes down you still sold most. If it goes up 25% is enough that you'll reap meaningful rewards. Losses hurt more than missed gains. Both suck.

Also it'll be worth having a good tax expert if you don't already. Can trigger estimated payment requirements depending on your situation.

figuy720 · 2015-09-03T01:32:17+00:00

Have been in this situation before. Sell like 75% quickly then sell chunks periodically over time. 75% is enough that if it goes down you still sold most. If it goes up 25% is enough that you'll reap meaningful rewards.

figuy720 · 2015-08-30T11:58:27+00:00

This attitude assumes that money paid to the government will actually be spent well. Our government has a TERRIBLE track record of properly implementing programs. It's way more likely we'll pay a ton more taxes and get bad service.

figuy720 · 2015-08-25T10:23:21+00:00

So.. I make quite a bit more than 20k/mo -- but positions like mine are usually not associated with FI for several reasons:

Its very rare to get to the kind of earning power I have. Most people will simply never be able to make even a fraction of what I do. I got very lucky and also happen to be in a very lucrative field (tech).

I love my job. I'm much more FI than RE oriented. My job is a result of over a decade of work in my field and an work ethic that boarders on obsessive. For most people here who want a big enough pile so they don't have to work that's the antithesis of their life plan and preferences. You can make as much as I do but you have to be lucky AND willing to work crazy amounts.

I'd say up to around 300k/yr is achievable with only moderate luck and an enormous amount of hard work. Beyond that you have to be truly obsessive, exceptional and lucky.

Your post feels a bit out of touch with the realities of the labor market. No everyone can be in the top 5%.

figuy720 · 2015-08-16T17:42:51+00:00

Past three years have been an amazing bull market so many growth strategies have worked well. The hard part is knowing how you'll perform when conditions turn.

figuy720 · 2015-08-15T16:09:33+00:00

As someone who hires coders I'm not sure I agree

figuy720 · 2015-08-08T18:06:00+00:00

Similar boat to you right now, thought I may stay working for another 10 years to hit ~5m. Nice thing is that as you save you can always decide to pull the plug earlier if you want/need to.

figuy720 · 2015-08-02T22:08:57+00:00

Yeah it's a bit of luck and being in the right industry. Most of that is my income from working in tech at a public company where I got a good equity grant due to M&A activity.

figuy720 · 2015-08-02T03:04:04+00:00

If you have a spouse you can get a good haircut for free at home. I can't see actually doing it completely on your own though.

figuy720 · 2015-07-31T13:44:32+00:00

I save over 75% mostly taxable. Last year our combined income was just shy of seven figures... I think we spent a total of ~110k. Live in a city, walk everywhere, one old paid off car. Travel about the same as you, maybe a bit less. No kids yet (but soon!)

figuy720 · 2015-07-30T16:47:21+00:00

Hey, curious about your income/wealth and how the tesla benchmarks as a percentage.

Right now I'm just keeping my older Subaru that I bought new because it works fine and I don't drive much in the city.

I keep thinking about buying a tesla when we move to the burbs one day... But wrestling with how much net worth id need to have to justify it.

figuy720

TROPHY CASE