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How I live on $7,000 per year

earlyretirementextreme.com

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Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#191

Post by Zzzzzzzzzzzz »

sliverstorm wrote: post #122
tryitnow wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It disappoints me, but I have to agree with you (at least in part, I wouldn't call his story garbage). I say it's disappointing because his blog really inspired me to make some changes and I agree with the overall thrust of what he's saying. But the problem I have is figuring out how he accumulated his wealth. Of course, being a former physicist you'd think spelling that out in a simple spreadsheet would be a trivial…

He is a former physicist? Good god, the waste... He attended a public school for free. I wonder if he has factored in the price his government paid for only 10 years of physiking out of him... Companies allegedly don't recoup the cost of hiring you for at least a year. Public schools are offered because it is seen as a worthwhile investment in the future, and graduates help pay for the next generation's schooling. In…

I wouldn't call it a waste. Now we have someone with a scientific brain thinking and writing about more efficient ways of living, with less pollution and better use of resources. I bet many physicists are doing things that are much less important for our future.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#192

Post by erejacob »

rorrr wrote: post #190
fennecfoxen wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not surprised. This is insurance . You don't get car insurance after you've gotten in a wreck, and you should expect to pay more for it if you're more likely to get in a wreck (e.g. lots of speeding tickets, etc).

If you have a car wreck, your insurance usually punishes you only if it is your fault (which makes sense). Your sickness, most of the time, isn't your fault.

That's not quite accurate. Depending on how one measures somewhere between 40% and 70% of health care costs are used to treat lifestyle diseases (too much stress, too much food, not enough exercise) like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, tobacco, alcohol, avoidable accidents, etc. Those problems are not genetic. They're behavioral.

Of course one can suffer these things without having the risk factors. I presume the experts who calculated those numbers corrected for that.

So in about half the cases (half the cost to be precise), sickness really is your fault.

One of the reasons high deductible plans have such low premiums despite not screwing people over with small print is that they attract a more healthy segment of the population, because a high deductible creates some incentive to avoid those [preventable] diseases.

As it is, people are only hit on their regular expensive plans if they smoke. Imagine if they were also hit with higher premiums if they were overweight (BMI>25, 2/3s of Americans are overweight), drank too much, smoked too much, didn't engage in regular physical activity, etc. Then the premiums for those who have a lifestyle which wasn't likely to cause chronic diseases would only pay half of what they're currently paying. Those who engage in risky lifestyles would see their premiums increase by 50%.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#193

Post by dpatru »

icebraining wrote: post #182
dpatru wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You cannot make things without taken into [consideration] who would consume them and by how much. A business is based on how many people actually USE what it makes, and are ready to pay for it. Exactly. Perhaps a good way to view this would be to resrict the definition of supply to be only something that has a demand. So a fisherman that "supplies" rotten fish that nobody wants is not providing a supply, he is just…

You're just redefining terms without adding anything new. Parent's question is: what if people are stated, and like OP, they don't want different kinds of food, or anything else? What if, like OP, they're happy consuming only a small part of what can be produced by all those entrepreneurs?

The point of trade is to allow each party to get what they want at less cost than they would be able to get independently. If one party wants to sell, but the other party doesn't want to buy, then trade does not happen. This is not bad thing. In fact, per Micah, it's even idyllic: "every man sitting under his vine and under his fig tree." That is, every man having his own food supply so that he is not dependent on someone else.

Defining supply to require a corresponding demand makes this explicit. An entrepreneur can't just start producing stuff that nobody wants and then complain that there is no demand for his supply. He's not entitled to force a trade.

Examples make this clear. The auto industry has the capacity to produce many more cars than they do. But they will not be heard to complain that people should be forced to buy more cars so that they can produce more. Likewise movie theaters with empty seats are not allowed to force people to buy tickets.

By the way, there are industries that partner with government in order to be able to force trade. The money industry is the biggest one. See G. Edward Griffin's presentation of The Creature from Jekyll Island (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6507136891691870450).

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#194

Post by ctdonath »

gergles wrote: post #56
ctdonath wrote: post #40

The article comes from the same reason I'm running the A Buck A Plate blog http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com - doing it because so many think living well for cheap can't be done.

Living in an RV is not "living well". Flush toilets are generally a minimum standard for that.

Most RVs have toilets. And beds. And stoves. And refrigerators. And heaters. And other major amenities. Heck, the toilets even use _drinking_water_ to flush - such wasteful luxury. Never mind the ability to just pick up and go anywhere anytime.

Most RVs have AC, ovens, TVs, and other luxuries.

To much of the world, living in an RV is living well.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#195

Post by JoshTriplett »

asr wrote: post #141
nirvana wrote: post #10

I've been living on $13,754 per year for the past 4 years. (Average as of last month.) There are two of us, so, double that and you have the average cost over that period. While we've been doing it, we've been traveling full time, spent the last year in europe living in AirBNB pads, and doing our startup. We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed, with the old one going to the other per…

I think where I disagree with you (and the blog author) is your attitude toward work: Money is just a medium of exchange, right, but have you ever wondered what it is you're exchanging? It's life. Work isn't a waste of life. My goal in life is not to get to the end having worked as little as possible. Travel is fun, and educational, and good for you, but it's not the only thing. By all means live cheaply enough to al…

I don't think you've disagreed, there; you just haven't distinguished two kinds of work: the kind you do because you need money to get by, and the kind you do because you want to, for reasons such as "make the world better" or "build/accomplish something awesome". If you get lucky, those two kinds of work will overlap heavily for you. But still, minimize the amount of the former kind as much as you can to achieve what you want.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#196

Post by JoshTriplett »

jergason wrote: post #119
philwelch wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen a $3000 blood test. A family member got an exceptionally rare blood test this summer though; I'll try and look through his paperwork, but I'd be shocked to hear even that test cost so much.

It is actually really difficult to find out how much stuff costs at a hospital. That is one of my main complaints about the healthcare system. It is wasteful because the hospital environment makes you forget that things cost money, and that some tests have a very low probability of doing anything other than costing you money (not saying that was the case with your family member, just in general). Hospitals really mes…

While I do understand your arguments about rationality, I'd also point out that the prices cited by hospitals have very little relationship to reality and costs. Quite a few tests become far more rational when looking at cost rather than price.

(Not intended as an argument for any particular structure of healthcare, just an observation.)

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#197

Post by JoshTriplett »

stonemetal wrote: post #166
h6165 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really possible to do a startup while travelling? Don't people expect you to be sort of more stationary/accessible ? How has your experience been on this?

Define "people". I could see your bank wanting you to have a defined location so they can send you snail mail. Your customers don't really care. Take steam or amazon for instance. As long as I can login and play games or buy books, I don't care where they are or if where they are changes every week. Customer service is certainly easier if you are in the right timezone, but not impossible from others.

You might even be better off: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Perpetual_tra...

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#198

Post by sixothree »

rorrr wrote: post #25

Sorry, but this story is garbage. Rent/mortgage, retirement completely ignored. Plus he has the shittiest $82 health insurance plan he could find, and he doesn't calculate the costs of what will happen if he gets sick. On average people after 65 spend $2,920 per year on medical out of pocket expenses (Source: http://www.newretirement.com/Planning101/Rising_Medical_Cost... ) Then his food comes from his garden, which…

$270/month for my half of the rent+utilities $50/month for my half of the car $50/month for my half of the dog My wife spends a similar amount per year.

HE doesn't live on $7000, THEY live on >$14000. Those are two completely different scenarios. I'm also willing to bet his wife is taking up a lot more slack than he admits or realizes.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#199

Post by sixothree »

nirvana wrote: post #10

I've been living on $13,754 per year for the past 4 years. (Average as of last month.) There are two of us, so, double that and you have the average cost over that period. While we've been doing it, we've been traveling full time, spent the last year in europe living in AirBNB pads, and doing our startup. We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed, with the old one going to the other per…

No offense, but $13,754 is not extreme living. It's what millions of people in this country take home to support their families.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#200

Post by sixothree »

wazoox wrote: post #160
sevenproxies wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed I don't understand this. You could be saving you self at least ~$1,300 a year, all for what? A slightly improved OS or hardware you don't really need. I'm earning ~$20,000 a year, saving ~$900 a month and I still consider those purchases excessive. I almost purchased an iPad last month but once I really though about it, I realise it would have…

I suppose the answer is that an used macbook lose very little value. Last time I checked my 2008 Macbook is still valued 75% of its original price.

Your 2008 MacBook has already lost more in value than the entire cost of my Lenovo.
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