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Thomas

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    • I'm hopeful that electric cars will dramatically reduce the expense and hassle of car maintenance. Unfortunately, I suspect cars may require subscriptions and hefty tech upgrades in the future. The frugal will always find ways of saving money on transportation, but I'm not optimistic that car manufacturers and dealers will stop fleecing the average consumer. One of my best tips to reduce car expenses is to live as close to work as you feasibly can and to use public transit when it's available. Yes, you'll almost certainly pay more for housing, but this added expense may be offset by time and money saved on commuting. Of course, with the housing crisis in the US, living in urban centers with robust job markets is becoming less financially attainable.

      Post: Driving Lessons

      Link to comment from January 17, 2022

    • That's scary! Before COVID, I biked to work many days. Fortunately, I have never been in a really bad biking accident, and I hope my good luck can continue. I tend not to ride particularly fast, though, and I also use a hybrid bike rather than a road bike. Incidentally, I've become a bit obsessed with bicycle infrastructure lately after watching the Youtube channel Not Just Bikes. It's insane how much safer biking is in countries like the Netherlands due to smart city and road design. Look how amazing this street looks to bike on!

      Post: Life Cycle

      Link to comment from June 5, 2021

    • Although the FIRE approach is certainly not for everyone (or most people), I think it's a nice antidote to the typical workaholic, status-obsessed, high-consumption American lifestyle. Personal finance is personal. What works for someone else will probably not work for you. And that's okay. Personally, I am aiming for somewhere between the FIRE and the typical American lifestyle. I'm probably not going to be able to retire early, but I still aim to keep my spending low and carve out time for the things I value most in life. And I think that the FIRE bloggers' advice has benefitted me much more than the advice I get from the traditional finance media.

      Post: Too Frugal for Me

      Link to comment from June 2, 2021

    • What are your thoughts on the Avantis International Small Cap ETF (AVDV)? Do you prefer VSS because it is passive?

      Post: What investment will perform best over the next 10 years?

      Link to comment from May 12, 2021

    • Really interesting analysis, thanks for writing it! How much regional variability is there in the HAI? I imagine there are some areas of the country where the HAI is rising. The HAI is based on the median family income. But not everyone has a family, and half the population has a below-median income. I'm worried that those at the bottom (or simply those that are young or single) are getting left behind. Another consideration is that paying the mortgage is but one component of the cost of homeownership. A big, expensive house is going to have higher tax, insurance, and maintenance costs, and it's also going to be more expensive to furnish, maintain the lawn, and keep updated. To determine how affordable a home is to the typical American, we would have to factor in all these additional variables.

      Post: Through the Roof

      Link to comment from May 12, 2021

    • Interesting, thanks for the reply!

      Post: Built for Ease

      Link to comment from May 1, 2021

    • People are also living longer than ever before. And the #1 predictor of getting Alzheimer's is age--the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's doubles every 5 years after age 65. Given changing demographics, it's entirely expected that the incidence of Alzheimer's is skyrocketing. Poor diets may play a role, but the evidence for that is still rather weak and tentative at the moment (in fairness, the correlational data are more supportive). And even the healthiest people can still get Alzheimer's. It's also worth noting that leading nutritionists have not advocated low-fat, high-carb diets for several decades now. Instead, they emphasize the importance of food quality rather than specific macronutrient ratios.

      Post: Built for Ease

      Link to comment from May 1, 2021

    • I'm curious, how has physician training changed over time? And are all the changes for the worse?

      Post: Built for Ease

      Link to comment from May 1, 2021

    • Answering this question gets super technical very quickly. I don't have any strong opinions on what the "right" safe withdrawal rate should be. I think it depends on lots of personal factors such as your age and willingness to reduce spending during a downturn, as well as factors outside your control like the CAPE ratio, interest rates, and inflation. I defer to the advice of experts since this is fundamentally a quantitative question. Here are a few of my favorite resources on determining safe withdrawal rates:

      Post: Should retirees use a 4% portfolio withdrawal rate?

      Link to comment from April 25, 2021

    • It absolutely can, although as other commenters have noted, money on its own does not guarantee happiness. Life satisfaction is correlated with income both across and within countries. These are only correlational findings, but they suggest that the money-happiness link is real. This is the most insightful paper I've read on the relationship between money and happiness. The authors note that although the money-happiness relationship has empirically been found to be weak, that may simply be because most people do not know how to use their money effectively. The authors offer eight concrete recommendations on how to use money most effectively to promote happiness:

      1. Buy more experiences and fewer material goods
      2. Use money to benefit others and not yourself
      3. Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones
      4. Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance
      5. Delay consumption
      6. Consider how peripheral features of purchases may affect your day-to-day life
      7. Beware of comparison shopping
      8. Pay close attention to the happiness of others
      And those old studies that suggested that winning the lottery doesn't make people happier? It turns out they are likely bogus. Winning the lottery probably does make most people happier.

      Post: Does money buy happiness?

      Link to comment from April 25, 2021

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