Early Retirement Extreme

Financial independence, frugality, self-sufficiency, ecology, capitalism, and voluntary simplicity

What I “pay” for health care

Published in June 18th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in health care, insurance

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Disclaimer: I have a decidedly unamerican attitude towards health. As a general rule I refuse to take pills for headaches, I don’t take pills for allergies, and I eat food I drop on the floor (rule: if it’s on [...]

Accident by construction - why technology and regulations increase risk

Published in May 28th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in culture, education, insurance, sub-prime

4 Comments

In retrospect it is amazing how subprime loans could go so wrong? Who in their right mind could believe that real estate always goes up? For that matter, what about the dot.com craze and the new era? What makes people appear so stupid in retrospect?
Here’s why.
Accidents does not happen by chance (by “accident”). They [...]

Precision, accuracy and the importance of using the right model

Published in February 13th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in culture, economy, insurance, sub-prime

No Comments

One of the things I think about a lot is the difference between precision and accuracy or from a modeling perspective the difference between verification and validation. The difference between precision and accuracy can be understood in terms of measuring tools such as a clock. A precise clock measures time very consistently. For instance, if [...]

Should I get insurance?

Published in December 13th, 2007

Posted by Jacob in insurance

No Comments

My position is to get insurance if I can’t afford to replace whatever I’m insuring. For instance, I don’t have a life insurance policy beyond the measly mandatory $25000ish (I forget the exact number) that is included in my employment contract. The reason is that although the money would be nice, our financial situation means [...]