My point is that this isn't health insurance. You can't get sick or break your leg with this sort of insurance if you're on as tight as a budget as we're talking. 500/year won't even buy you great insurance in Canada (unless you're a student or part of a great group program).

I'm not suggesting that you can't find some sort of coverage - even if it's only "catastrophic care", which usually only covers uber illness like cancer - for 500/year...my point is that it's not "health coverage" like people are talking about.

There are free health clinics in the US. With no job, you have plenty of time to get in line and wait 12 hours to get treated for strep throat.

so i plan on being a "professional" poker player next year after i graduate... i know i can make enough cash to live off of just fine, should i not get health insurance?

Look at it this way:
In a 'real job' when you get sick, you usually get time off thats paid (well, in careers at least) so you're really not losing anything except watercooler gossip.

If you get sick as a poker player without health insurance, during your sick time you probably shouldn't be playing poker AND you're not making money AND you're spending even more to actually see a doctor.

Wife, kids, house, cars, insurance are all really expensive, but I guess if you want to die a lonely old cheap man you can not get any of these things and retire on a lot less.

third world baller


ok ok ok.... so you got $400k

you buy 2, $200k propertys, you live in 1 and live (survive) off the rent of the other 1.

Screw work forever yayyyy! - correct?

If you will buy to rent buy some apartments with a nice localization and easy to rent or sell if you want to you need to think on liquidity.

Last time i travelled to Rome i stayed in a hostel that was basically a rented room so you can rent some rooms in the house where you live too.

That's not the point.

Sure you can get a free medical exam and possibly some antibiotics if you are broke (or pretend to be), but if you have 400K in the bank and run up any significant medical bills they are going to come after you.

If you are trying to set yourself up so you never have to work again, you don't want to be 40 years old and have to try to re-enter the workforce because medical expenses have wiped you out.

my number is $10 million.

I think there are some folks in this thread who are assuming that once you get a lump sum, thats it.

Anyone who operates on a lump sum with nothing but withdrawals is asking for serious trouble down the line.

So everyone who retires without a pension is asking for it? Come on. It's what you DO with the lump sum that dictates how well you'll do.

1) You suck at reading comprehension or are just plain lazy.
2) The point about free health clinics was to cover the gap from catastrophic care to regular "health insurance". The little things like strep throat, etc etc. Though I doubt your risk of illness/injury is anything above virtually nothing considering this person doesn't have the money to leave their hovel let alone do any activity that could result in injury.
3) What is "the point"?

Thremp -- you really don't like people disagreeing with you, do you?

Catastrophic care will protect the 400K against a 100K medical bill, but those plans usually have 3-6k annual deductibles, meaning even with the catastrophic care, the 10k-per-year lifestyle would be threatened with 30-60% loss.

If someone is serious about living off a lump sum of money for decades, they need to think about this kind of crap.

Many people (myself included) are lucky enough to get through their 20s without much medical care, but, unfortunately, that changes over the years. Presumably OP would like to be 60 years old and reasonably healthy some day, and the odds of that happening without regular medical care go down significantly.

I think that a young person's views on health care are usually heavily distorted. Free clinics only work for people who don't get sick very often, and don't get very sick basically ever. As you go over 30, free clinics stop being a viable option for primary care. The point was that you have to protect against more than just 'little' things that require anti-biotics or drugs. You have to protect against real injury - which won't qualify for catastrophic care coverage.

And LOL@ assuming this person won't get hurt/sick because they don't have enough money to do a lot of things. Poor people fall in the tub, slip on ice, cut off fingers, etc. Your reading comprehension needs work. OP mentioned that it's the minimum required to not HAVE to work. He's not suggesting that he won't earn income by doing enjoyable activities, in order to finance other endeavors. Also, even if he weren't to do that, if all he did was take a daily 4hr walk...**** happens and you can get injured. Just because we're talking about bare minimums for survival doesn't mean that he becomes a hermit! Probably the opposite. Since he can't afford TV and such, he'd basically have to NOT spend time at home.

i'm in the UK, health care is free on the NHS for anyone

A better plan that the savings account option would be to buy blue chip dividend payers. If you are well diversified you can earn around 3%/yr right now and your capital and dividends will grow most years keeping pace with inflation.

No worries then.

Pensions aren't lump sums though. You usually don't have the option to take an entire pension in a lump sum and if you do, you generally get smacked with some huge penalty - or you simply can't by law.

I am talking about people being given a sack with cash in it or winning the lottery.

Personally I'd rather not think of a lump sum as a zero sum end game. I'd rather the lump sum throw off dividends to live off where if it became critically necessary I can use some of the lump sum straight.

I would like to say 1 quick thing about health insurance....no one is using real numbers, they're just pulling stuff out of their arse and saying it's ZOMG expensive.

My bill this month: $32

My wife's bill: $43

It's not that bad at all.

Under 500 a year????? WTF. I pay as a single more then that a month.

Details? I live in an expensive part of country but still wtf is this

Why? Pls cite.

LOL...I said it's what you do with the lump sum that matters. Pensions can be simulated a number of ways with lump-sums.

FWIW, my friends and I (all around 25) decided we'd need a lump sum of $10M USD, after taxes, if we wanted to retire now and never work again while maintaining a normal, active lifestyle.

10 mil is alot, you did factor in the amount of interest you would be getting right ?