Thought Experiment/Question

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Seppia
Posts: 2016
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:34 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by Seppia »

BRUTE wrote:
Tue May 23, 2017 10:08 pm
brute would consume more of things he currently limits on price, and no increase in consumption of item where he already doesn't care about the price (tooth paste). so his consumption curve would shift towards higher quality / pricier items.

said differently: a reduction in monetary cost would increase consumption of things currently limited by monetary cost (steak), but not consumption of things not currently limited by monetary cost (tooth paste). sounds almost tautological.

I'm with you.
Definitely would increase the amount of scuba diving related trips/purchases, by allocating a similar total amount to what I do now.
And watches, I love watches, the only non necessary objects that I'm fascinated by together with paintings. I love the refined efficiency of automatics especially, they have something almost magical to me.
Diving and watches are the two main items where I actually limit myself because of price, the rest, I already consume as much as I want/need

Fish
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:09 am

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by Fish »

A cell phone plan with more data. The underutilized gym membership might also make a comeback. Aside from these items, I have a hard time thinking of an area where I'd care to increase consumption. It would also take me from 10% SWR to <2%, but I'm not even sure that level of wealth would immediately compel me to pull the plug on the job. Web of goals and all that.

I think the converse is much more interesting to think about (prices increasing 6x). In our case, it would be more cost-effective for one of us to become a stay-at-home parent instead of paying childcare for 2 kids. We could balance the budget by eliminating exotic vacations and being Pareto-efficient with food purchases and entertainment. Additionally, we might drop a car and grow more of our food. Social capital skyrockets in (relative) value. The resulting lifestyle would look a lot like MMM. Early retirement would be out of the question because we would be relying on earned income and living paycheck to paycheck. I guess it works as well as it does because our starting point, in terms of income AND expenses, is already somewhat extravagant. The bright spot is there are no services to insource; we're self-reliant in that aspect.
Solvent wrote:
Tue May 23, 2017 3:08 pm
I'd eat more fish.
I already eat fish nearly every day. :D However, if the price of fish increased 6x, it would become a special treat, instead of being the staple it is now.

oldbeyond
Posts: 338
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:43 pm

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by oldbeyond »

I'd go for a triple A location for housing, and I'd want more outdoors space(larger balcony/terrace), but keep the size the same. And I'd make sure both the building and it's interior were beautiful.

I'd source all my food from local, small-scale producers and focus more on quality, fresh fish instead of frozen, always fresh pasta etc. I'd get fancier cheeses and condiments and the like but not really change my diet. It is determined by health and environmental concerns along with practical ones more than by money already. I'd get fancier beers and liquor, fine wine would be wasted on me.

As for stuff, I'd get a tailor to do my shirts/jackets/pants. There is some furniture I might upgrade and I would buy more art, but that's about it.

I would pay for expert instruction in fitness and language learning, perhaps even for a tutor in the liberal arts. I might start spending more in this category even now, but with an 85% discount I'd go for more of it and with higher quality instructors.

Hankaroundtheworld
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

I also had a similar question in mind, but raised as "if you now had 1M USD extra as wealth, what would you do differently?" As I am already ER, and we do not consume much (I guess, we have what we need/want), it would mean just adding to luxurious or wasteful choices (if you want to use the 85% discount or the reverse idea of using the extra cash). Of course, I can think of luxurious choices, but it would not add a lot of value to my existing life. I can think of one category, helping some of my Family members, so create some value with others.

enigmaT120
Posts: 1240
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:14 pm
Location: Falls City, OR

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by enigmaT120 »

Riggerjack wrote:
Wed May 24, 2017 1:17 pm
Hearing nieghbors drive up, or talking is very distracting, because I am not used to having people around me doing anything but visiting me. If I hear you talking, I expect you to be talking to me.
Ugh, me too. But sometimes the acoustics work weird and I can hear (but not understand what they're saying) my neighbors across the canyon, at least a quarter mile away. And chain saws, and gunfire. It's still quieter than town and I can see the stars at night, 3 months out of the year.

Riggerjack
Posts: 3182
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:09 am

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by Riggerjack »

My nieghbors on the island are close enough that if someone drives up to their house, I don't usually hear it. But when he comes out and greets them, I can, if I'm outside, but not understand what he is saying, just volume and tone. I think that is about right. If I did something stupid, find myself pinned under a tree, perhaps, I could yell long enough, and if he was outside, eventually, he'd come find out what the fuss was about.

More land wouldn't actually get me more privacy, but allow me to import the friends I want as neighbors. Yeah, I'm that level of control freak.

George the original one
Posts: 5404
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
Location: Wettest corner of Orygun

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by George the original one »

Consumption: more internet bandwidth and more transportation fuel.

Real estate: serious consideration to a second residence on the Kilchis River; only needs to be a fishing shack that would not creep out the spouse.

Cars: it's nearly time to replace our weekly driver (not daily since we're retired, right?) and I'd possibly add a new car for autocrossing and trackdays.

Boat: small fishing boat with electric motor for the local bays... one will eventually find its way to me, but I'm taking my time now because price matters; at 85% discount, price becomes nearly irrelevant.

Greenhouse: more greenhouse space is desired.

***
In a similar vein, the "what would you do if you won the lottery" question came up recently in regards to homes, whether we'd move. I concluded the current property would not be swapped for some overpriced home, but I'd be strongly inclined to rebuilding the current house.

brighteye
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 4:02 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by brighteye »

I would buy forest land.
Learning and skills: Get back into horseback riding. I keep putting off getting lessons because they are expensive and I would have to drive 30 min to get to a good place. Attend a Permaculture Design course and hire a Permaculture designer to help me get started with my garden. Go to another WAPF conference.
And travelling: Visiting Sepp Holzer's farm, a Savory hub or Joel Salatin. And diving in Raja Ampat.

wood
Posts: 355
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:53 am

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by wood »

Going through the list below, I see myself buying more time and health. I would likely retire within 2 years and use the time before that to figure out what to do with all the extra time.

Some ideas:
- Hire a part time maid for house chores
- Upgrade my home to one with garden space
- Upgrade my eating to more organic/more healthy/more fresh vegetables
- Hire a firm to manage my real estate investments
- Maybe get a dog
- Help friends and family more (buying stuff they need)
- Double my book consumption
- Occasionally pay to learn stuff quicker

A large part of the extra time would likely be used for tending to my garden, reading more, focus more on workouts, occasionally living abroad and be lazy.

SustainableHappiness
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2016 6:39 pm

Re: Thought Experiment/Question

Post by SustainableHappiness »

Crap. Today I realized that I am actually faced with this experiment/question IRL through work and I also realized that I completely lied that not much would change in relation to buying goods (although the real life situation is somewhat modified).

Through my work I have access to packaged goods that are close to code that will never hit the retailer floors and they regularly hit 15-20% of the retailer price. Granted the biggest difference is that the products are of limited quantity and not necessarily all goods are on sale for 15% of final price at any one time.

Anyways, as a sample size of 1, I have purchased... Candles for DW (these were more like 5% of the final price), laundry detergent, various stir fry materials (oils, hoisin sauce, soy sauce), vinegars, nutrition bars (for bachelor parties where nutritional content is at a minimum), pre-natal vitamins for DW, pasta, protein powder for workouts at work, Ground decaf coffee.

Judge away.

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