A few months ago the story of a Google employee who lived in a truck(*) in the company’s parking lot went viral. Rather than pay $2,000/month to share a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 other people, he chose to sleep in a 16-foot box truck.
I love it! Great choice! A few years of following the road less traveled will ensure a strong financial future. By not paying rent, an additional $24,000/year can be applied to debt and investments.
But what if there was a way to double that savings with one easy change? And in fact there is. (Hint: taxes.)
Chiang Mai is a great foodie city, with a wide range of dining options and an even wider range of price points. It is possible to spend a single dollar on a good meal, and is seemingly difficult to spend $100.
For a guy who could eat Thai food every day for the rest of his life, I am in food heaven. Noodles, many different curries, tons of fresh tropical fruit, and Thai style tea and coffee are always within an easy walk.
We’ve done our best to explore the breadth in our 10 days and counting. This is what we’ve enjoyed so far.
We’ve recently hit the road again with an open-ended itinerary.
First stop: Chiang Mai, Thailand.
In our wild and care free days without a child, we would just arrive at a new destination and hunt for housing. We’ve found some incredible apartments in multiple countries this way. This time around Google did the heavy lifting, finding us a new studio service apartment 5 minutes from the Chiang Mai Gate.
For $375/month, we get everything on our list: roof top pool, well equipped gym, outdoor space, regular cleaning service, kitchen, great shower, and central location.
Optimizing Obamacare vs Minimizing Taxes presents a classic trade-off.
On the one hand, it would be nice to maximize Obamacare subsidies. Easy! Simply don’t generate a lot of income.
On the other hand, we want to minimize taxes. We do this by offsetting income with standard deductions and personal exemptions, and generating (a large amount of) income that has preferential tax treatment.
But for the ACA, there is no preferential tax treatment. There is no standard deduction, no personal exemptions.
In this post, I explore how to navigate this complex environment in order to optimize health insurance premiums, out of pocket medical expenses, and taxes. Can we find the balance?
In all likelihood, an early retiree in the United States is going to purchase ACA (Obamacare) compliant Health Insurance on the Federal or a State Health Insurance Marketplace.
Even though the ACA has provided common standards, Health Insurance is still a complex topic with numerous trade-offs. Coverage levels and premiums vary. Every insurance company has a different approach to cost sharing. Each State has a slightly different implementation, maybe a different website, and wildly different prices.
Subsidies may pay nearly all of your premium, or they may cover nothing. It isn’t always clear which will apply until after the fact. As a result, some will get an extra large tax bill at the end of the year, while others will pay too much each month. They may even provide a disincentive to earn a higher income.
But much like the Income Tax, those who understand the the system can optimize their income and investments. Knowledge is power. Optimizing Obamacare starts with understanding the system. Then we can make choices to minimize costs and maximize coverage.
