A weekly thread to discuss financial matters - from personal all the way up to global.
Ground Rules
- Remember that we're all just Internet randos. Don't bet your life savings on a hot tip from this thread.
- Keep culture war in the culture war thread. Yes, global events may impact our personal finances, but that does not mean we have to incessantly harp on culture war aspects here. If you are going to discuss it, please stick to the practical impacts of it on an individual level.
- Be kind. Remember that everyone here comes from different circumstances. We all have different resources available and different risk tolerances.
- Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Better is better. Celebrate people when they take a step up and work to move their finances in the right direction. Don't flame out because they haven't followed what you consider the optimal path. Everybody has to start somewhere.
Jump in the discussion.
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Notes -
I'm not sure you'd be in a mood for negotiation arriving at emergency room at 3am with an acute condition. You'll probably go to the closest hospital and sign everything they ask you to. And then the bills will come. If you are judgment proof, you're in luck. If you have a comfortable middle-class life, which means having assets that can be targeted, there's a whole industry aimed at of separating you from those assets. Very big risk, IMHO.
You don't negotiate during the emergency. You negotiate afterwards when they send you the bill. Don't mention your assets, downplay your income as much as possible, threaten to go to bankruptcy, and see what they will let you get away with.
Admittedly, I'm working class rather than middle class, but it worked out pretty well for me. I got hit with a $40,000 bill for a hospital stay and I was like "lol, lmao even". It took months of negotiations and applying for financial aid, but I got it down to $600.
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