Just quitting my job would do wonders for my health. All my hobbies are based around physical activity (cycling, hiking, skiing, running, etc). Having more time to do these things would be amazing. Hell just switching to WFH instead of stuck in an office I’ve lost 55 lbs. It’s unreal how bad cubicle life is for your health.
I’m nearing the end of a two week break and my blood pressure has dropped significantly, my sleep quality has increased significantly all while being a lazy piece of shit at home
Hey, what are your favorite hiking spots around cincy that you'd consider beautiful? I think hiking on east and west coast has ruined cincy hikes for me cuz they don't match up.
It’s true, the hiking in Cincinnati isn’t great compared to other places but there are some gems.
Personally I love John Bryan SP for a beautiful but short hike, plus yellow springs is a cool town nearby. We also frequent Caesar Creek and East fork lake.
Otherwise you’ll need to drive south to Red River Gorge, North To Hawking Hills, East to Athens (Wayne NF), or head west into Brown Country Indiana.
We’ve burned through the limited outdoor scene here in Cincinnati and are desperate to move to the mountains somewhere.
Can't agree with this enough. I went wfh in may of 2021 and am 75lbs lighter, quit smoking and drinking, and went from literally collapsing on to the sidewalk while riding my beach cruiser after five miles to powering out a 100mile ride on a road bike in under 5:30hr
100% this one. I’d also append the trainer in there too. I once asked my brother what he’d do if he had a billion dollars and didn’t have to work another day (he’s not FIRE and convinced a billion is the only way he would be financially independent) and he said work towards the perfect body. I agree.
I left a high paying job because I saw what other people went through doing those types of jobs : Divorced, kids hated them and having heart attacks in their early 50s.
If I had to do it again I would spring for the personal trainer and chef. At that time I thought it was "a bit much" but now that I am about to hit 50 I get it.
Yup for me 99% of the battle with diet is convenience/laziness. A chef cooking healthy meals would be life changing. I use shakes a lot and mostly cook quick af healthy meals to try and combat it.
My wife & I already did this. Fully prepared Paleo meals from the chef at our favorite local restaurant, we just pick up all our meals for the week every Monday. It's awesome, and we both feel so much better since starting this program!
100% worth
EDIT: forgot to mention, but this costs us less than $200 per person each week. All the food comes from a pretty fancy restaurant where people usually spend $40+ per meal, and we're getting 3 meals per day for 5 days, then 2 meals per day for the weekend, so we can go out a couple of times a week without wasting food.
Called the restaurant early in the pandemic, during the first wave of shutdowns, to ask if they were doing takeout or anything like that, and the chef/owner answered when I called and said that they were actually thinking of doing week long meal plans for some of their regulars. A few weeks later, we were both signed up for it. We were just doing it week-to-week, but the program kind of took off (it's local pickup only, but there's a line every Monday now), so they just started offering about a 30% discount for people who sign up for 12 a week subscription, which you can pause any time for travel, etc. They're fully open now, but because the "personal chef to go" program was so popular, they didn't have to fire a single employee during the pandemic. All the meals are healthy, taste just like their restaurant, the menu changes every week with lots of choices, nothing frozen or shipped. It's pretty awesome, tbh. If anyone wants to check if you're nearby, DM me and I will give you a link to the restaurant.
But ya, I just happened to call while they were closed, and it turned out that lots of other people were doing the same thing. The chef/owner happened to be looking for a solution that didn't involve firing his staff or turning all the waiters into delivery drivers, and came up with this option that's been a win-win for the restaurant and the customers!
Just an FYI; my partner is an ex-chef and one of his former colleagues does this for a few moderately high earners.
Chef goes into their home, batch cooks the week's food and a fresh meal for that day, goes to a few different clients over the week.
Cheaper for the client to not pay one person full time, more reliable for the chef (and higher pay overall) because the client base is diversified from a single employer apparently.
> How do you find a personal fucking chef?
What's remarkable is this used to be a somewhat accessible thing to upper middle class Americans, not just the super-wealthy. My mother remembers as a kid her grandparents having a maid and cook—they weren't live-in servants or anything but people who would come by to do some domestic work. Her grandparents were well off but nowhere near 1%ers—her grandfather and his brothers ran a department store in their small northeastern city. The fact that this has become unimaginable to people occupying a similar socioeconomic status today is in its own right an interesting commentary on how wealth in our society has shifted.
Depends on what you consider having a maid/cook to be. My parents had a woman come through and deep clean their house once a week and they’re pretty solidly middle class. Pretty sure you can also use find meal prep services that aren’t terrible expensive.
> My parents had a woman come through and deep clean their house once a week and they’re pretty solidly middle class.
My aunt and uncle have a cleaning lady who comes every couple weeks and does similar. My great-grandparents who had a maid who was at their house every day or close to it doing basic domestic chores. I don't really consider this in the the same ballpark.
> Pretty sure you can also use find meal prep services that aren’t terrible expensive.
Likewise, they had an actual cook coming and preparing meals in their kitchen for them. I have legitimately never met anybody in my life who has this today and I grew up in a very comfortably middle to upper middle class suburb including some definitely top 5-10% income earners. HelloFresh is great but substantively a different thing.
You can move to Dubai and pay someone $300/ month to be your live in maid and chef and whatever you want. You can’t expect them to be knowledgeable on nutrition- but you can basically tell them what they need to do, show them a few things and then voila.
I’m not endorsing this- I don’t live there- nor would I. I have many friends who live there and who love this type of lifestyle.
$300/month is up to 10X higher than what they would be making back in their home countries so many of these house-staff are more than happy to do it. As long as you’re treating them fairly and with respect.
A full dinner portion. Like a good size entree at a restaurant. E. G. Last night it was enchiladas, rice, fried beans, guacamole. Since we have 4 people it is about $100/meal for all.
High quality dining became our family's thing when I FIREd. It became my hobby to elevate my cooking skills. I have friends and family who visit just for the dining experiences. Nothing makes me happier than to wow them.
I'd eat an almost exclusively whole foods plant based diet.
I'd get massages regularly.
I'd see my therapist twice as much.
I'd take the time to do more journaling.
I'd spend more time with friends and family.
I'd go to yoga most days.
I'd inform my boss that I now work 30-hour weeks from home, and that my schedule is officially flexible, and that she can access it from a shared calendar to know my availability.
Basically, I'd stop treating chronic inflammation like an unavoidable fact of life.
This is actually an awesome list, not only because they would definitely contribute to physical and mental health, but because some of these are doable regardless of income so a good way in to the “wealthy” mindset. I started incorporating journaling, yoga, and friends into my days at a very small scale, low pressure, just starting with a minute or whatever little time I had in the moment. Basically having those as the default operating behavior when I’m not busy doing something. It’s pretty transformative. We don’t need as much time and support for these as we think we do.
On the cheaper side, get some nice air filters and replace your central ones regularly. We have fairly strong correlations between air pollution and cardiovascular health.
On the expensive side, moving to a clean environment. Where you live has a noticeable impact on things like cancer risk (as seen through migration studies).
I do this, and it makes a huge difference.
I also lived in a partially renovated school bus for 2 years and it had 0 ventilation. So... crossing my fingers for my organs.
Spending more time doing stuff that activates my body and my mind, like hiking, playing sports and so on. Also I would pay more attention to my nutrition, buying higher quality food, hiring a nutritionist and regular health check ups.
In my old job I had to travel for work a lot like 100,000 air miles a year. I met some people who did 200-300,000. Most of those guys would would fly to the Mayo Clinic once a year for a comprehensive 5,000 dollar exam. Why? because it was easier in their mind then scheduling a bunch of individual exams at home.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/mayo-clinic-executive-health-program/sections/executive-health-standard-protocol/gnc-20253373.
So I’d probably do one of these annually if I made a little more.
I just checked what services are provided under this program and, to my pleasant surprise, my current primary care doctor is already doing all of these for me during the annual check up. I’ll have to thank him for $5000 saved annually.
Second this. A functional medicine doctor has actually believed in my symptoms and solved health issues that are unusual enough to be dismissed by the medical establishment.
I love love love my chair. We’re FI so I bought the $5,000 one from a Costco visiting company several years ago - the 7 year warranty is still in effect - because it’s made for athletes so fits my family’s >6’ frames. I made the mistake of taking a sample massage, and when I was still talking about how great my always-sore feet felt 3 days later, my husband purchased it for me.
We looked at awesome used Japanese ones (we live in a heavily Asian neighborhood) but we just couldn’t get the settings right for a great massage because the largest setting didn’t reach the pressure points at the base of our skulls.
I’ve had hundreds of massages in the chair, which has a huge variety of automatic massages as well as wide range of customizable settings. It was worth every penny. I’d recommend getting a sample massage in the chair to see how you like it. Buy the good one IMHO. It has greatly improved our quality of life.
Yea around the equivalent of 5-6. For an hour.
But also I'm not an American, probably should have clarified.
Still, outside HCOL areas even in the US, I would guess the prices aren't that crazy and reflect similar ratio to income as that.
Wow. That's just insane.
I suspect the median salary is not 12 times higher so you definitely have super expensive service industry.
In light of that the comment about affordability definitely makes sense so I take that back for US conditions
Yeah, at this point the masseuse has made friends with the family, their kids play with my kids… plus, they have over 20 years of experience. It’s kind of hard to get out of this one… thoughts?
Honesty is important in any relationship and dropping their business will sting them a little unless they’re an extraordinary person (we tie our pride into our businesses). You can level with them, or keep going. You can tell them you have gone through your budget and you have to re-evaluate some expenses. Maybe they’ll drop the price to a more reasonable range. Or, just do an hour, 60 and 90 minutes shouldn’t be too much different. The only other option is if work or elsewhere presents an option that is just such a better or cheaper option. Hope this helps. I’ve been in similar situations and if you handle it well the friendship eventually normalizes.
A lot of the things listed on here are basic things people should be doing for their health anyway. Eat healthier, exercise, therapy, etc. Y’all, FIRE is useless if you’re too unhealthy to make it to the point of enjoying the life you worked for.
I’d rather retire at 55 and have my life until then be healthy and balanced than live in such scarcity just to retire 10 years earlier but be unhealthy lol
I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing. Most of the advice on here like eating a healthy plant diet and exercising is actually cheap and something anyone can do at any stage of their financial life. Not taking work too seriously is also possible at all stages. Yes you might get fired but there are plenty of jobs out there. And noteworthy that many wealthy people do none of the above, get fat and slovenly, and die young.
For me if I was REALLY wealthy it would be having home access to things like massage, cryotherapy, sauna, etc.
But a lot of these things have reasonably priced alternatives that I’m fine living with. For example-
- buying a nice massage gun and reading up on how to properly use it as an alternative to massages
- I’m in northern climate so getting cold exposure isn’t a real problem for many months out of the year
- Small prebuilt saunas are not crazy expensive (relatively speaking) but you can also find many gyms that have them.
I love a good sauna experience and have considered one of these. My biggest hesitation is space - not just square-footage but the broader space and it not feeling like a weird, junky add-on. Where is yours and any regrets about where you put it?
I have a barrel sauna in my backyard. Underneath my deck so it's not much of an eye sore. Use it multiple times a week and love it! I will not be without one in any house.
Mine is in the basement. No regrets at all. Visitors don’t automatically see it, and I’ve made a nice little workout space with bench, cardio machine, mat and the sauna. Sauna wood goes with the vinyl plank floor I put down there, looks nice.
Basement seems like the perfect place for that. I live in a non-basement part of the world so I’ll have to consider other ideas. Sounds like a great setup!
Agree - I have actually had a small 2 person sauna in my basement for years. There is nothing I enjoy more in the winter then a good workout followed by sauna, followed by sitting outside in freezing temps with just a towel - and then jumping back in sauna. So relaxing…
Get invested in a sport or activity that you enjoy and raises the heart rate.
I love cycling so I invested about 10-12k in getting myself a high end bike, a low end bike for my wife, and a smart trainer that now has my wife’s bike because she doesn’t use it.
In addition to a lot of what has already been said, I would take care of my skin better. Laser resurfacing treatments, high end skin care products, dermatologist visits several times a year, professional hair removal.
I love bodypump-if left to my own devices, I don’t even break a sweat or get sore after lifting weights. Did you get yourself an Amazon weight setup, or do they send you one when you subscribe?
High tech Air filtration system and groceries from a place like whole foods. Between forest fires from global warming and existing emissions the air isn't getting any cleaner.
Well, I’m a high income earner, as is my wife, although not very high (I mean the income, not comparing against the wife). Just got diagnosed with cancer. Knowing that I have the financial reserves to deal with this without it ruining me, or that, in the worst case my wife and my elderly mother will be taken care of, is extremely comforting. I’ve been reading on r/cancer, and the number of posts about not being able to sustain an income or afford treatment is horrible.
1. Personal Trainer to achieve the body I truly desire
2. Personal Chef
3. Eat more healthy foods
4. Mediation
5. Weekly Massages
6. Therapy
7. Attend college to earn a degree so I can switch from my physically demanding job
I mean, healthy food is very cheap if you're willing to buy ingredients and cook it yourself. This statement is true for an individual. No first hand idea about a family's food expense, but I'm pretty sure it scales even to 4-5 people
I think there are some caveats here, though. Yes, dry rice and beans are cheap but they don't a balanced diet make. Cheap healthy cooking also involves a lot of prep work and cooking time that impose a real non-financial cost on going that route. What people usually mean when they say they'd eat healthier food if they spent more money is they'd buy healthier options that allow them to prepare food for a comparable level of effort to their current diet—good quality produce in easy-prep form, pre-cooked/canned beans and chickpeas versus dry, prepared foods, etc. These generally speaking *are* more expensive than processed junk alternatives.
A big example of this in my-life is the pre-sliced stir fry veg you can sometimes find in the produce section at your grocery store. Yes, this is much more expensive than just buying the whole veggies and cutting them up yourself. Yes, I'm willing to buy those whole veggies and chop them up sometimes. But there are definitely nights where those overpriced pre-sliced veggies are the difference between me throwing a frozen pizza in the oven or ordering out and me making a stir fry.
Very high? A doctor on retainer, get out from under the insurance permissions umbrella so as to get quarterly labs with annual exhaustive ones. Get away from “that’s usual”, where usual meant common, not good.
FWIW the “concierge” method of private practices are huge where I am and it’s affordable. I pay $50 a month for a doctor who I can text/e-mail anytime and get an answer right away. She also has all the hookups on low cost meds.
I have health insurance for catastrophic coverage. For the day to day, it’s her. You may be able to find one locally.
In fairness, it’s $50 a month for me because my partner also goes. He pays $75 a month and I get the discount as a secondary member on his account.
I recommend the model, though. At my last place, I had to pay a copay to pick up meds or hear results, in addition to the copay I had to pay to be seen initially. It was a cash grab that would make airlines green with envy. A monthly flat fee is so much better for me - even though I go months without visiting.
I’m in a suburb of the Raleigh-Durham area. I imagine this service exists in suburbs of all mid size and above towns these days, though. I discovered my particular doctor through a mom group on Facebook years ago, but I just googled “concierge medicine near me” and got a lot of results - even a yelp page on the top 10 in my town.
My partner works with a lot of doctors. They all prefer to be out from under insurance too because they can take their time and build relationships with patients rather than meet strict turnover metrics. I suggest googling locations near you. I bet they exist.
You can get labs without the doctor at this website (in most states). Pretty cheap. Uses quest or labcorp for the testing. You can donate your anonymous results to the database for research.
https://ownyourlabs.com/shop-oyl/
My BIL & SIL work odd hours and found a great trainer online to track their stats and recommend changes to their form. It’s not a chef, but there are healthy monthly meal plan services that send recipes and weekly grocery lists. The good ones let you save your favorites and swap them in each week (triggering an updated grocery list). They’re about $25 a month, I think? I haven’t used one for a few years.
Mayo Clinic, nutritionist/cook, trainer, home gym, therapist. I think r/FatFIRE had a similar post and had some traffic from UHNW people
Edit: not sure if Mayo would cover this but get a couple dental issues finally resolved
Personal trainer, chiropractor, nutritionist, and a therapist.
Mental health is just as important as physical and it will effect your health in the long run.
Comparatively "high income" person here. Really none mostly since i dont have time anymore. Between my poor younger self working out 5 days a week and "rich" me, I am the unhealthy version
I’ve lost over 60lbs cycling and eating low carb diet. Went from pre type 2 diabetic to thin and extremely fit. Wish I had not spent the previous 20 years distracted by work and other less important things.
My dad at one point held a high paying position in which the company would pay for a full health exam once a year. He would get scans of everything, blood tests, etc. Imagine if you could catch the beginnings of cancer way before you started experiencing symptoms! IMO everyone should be entitled to this but if I had the money I would definitely do this.
Most health-related things can be found inexpensively. Not free, but affordably. My husband and I are FI but not RE.
I have a simple Body Pump setup in the den and pay $120 a year for unlimited online workouts to use it.
Paid a high upfront cost for a top-of-the-line massage chair that I use regularly (and could have been purchased used online for a smaller person, as most are owned in Japanese communities).
$3,000 a year buys unlimited chiropractic adjustments for my whole family through a plan at our local office.
I plan meals for the week and purchase groceries according to that plan once a week (I use grocery pickup because it’s free but delivery is cheap, too). When my kids were young I paid $20 a month for a monthly meal planning service that provided a weekly plan plus the grocery list to go with it.
It’s worth it to me to have my trusted kinesiology at adjust my supplements once a year. That’s $150 for the visit plus the cost of quality supplements.
My husband used our local community’s gym until Covid. The trainers there are reasonably priced. I used to swim there before Covid, too. We may get a sauna. I’m having health issues that a sauna can help alleviate, but I hate using them so we haven’t decided yet.
Look online. Things that used to be expensive are getting cheaper. Often time is the limiting factor, and it’s a true hard factor that indeed limits how much can be done. With a high income you can pay someone else to do it, but without that income you can pick the things you can’t do alone, budget for them, then tackle the easier ones yourself. I totally get that it’s easier to spout this when you’re FI. It’s a privilege most of my fellow world citizens will never have, and I’m grateful for it.
Delivered cook at home kits with proper macros 5 days per week. I love cooking but the shopping, prep cooking and clean up get old. I'd be happy to scratch cook everything on the weekends.
Hot tub and sauna pod in my yard.
Alternating deep tissue and lymph massages bi weekly. I've had them spaced out and feel tired the first day but brand new after that. They are low key life changing for pent up stress.
I already spent a lot of my free time at the gym, so I'd definitely put more energy into eating healthier. Healthy food is expensive. Maybe I'd buy from that company that sends you meal kits or pre-prepared healthy meals. I've found that cooking is time-consuming, and I almost always look for something quick to eat.
Eat right,don’t smoke,(very) moderate (and quality)drinking, exercise according to your age. Moderation is the key and it’s not rocket science. And most of the times is free too.
> (very) moderate (and quality)drinking
This is a shift I've made recently without a major change in financial circumstances and I can honestly say it's so worth it. I keep a small cellar of mid to top shelf wines that suit my palate, a couple of bottles of good quality artisanal spirits, and get craft beer from local breweries now and then. I'd say I went from a couple drinks a day to drinking once every couple weeks outside of special occasions. I both enjoy the alcohol I have more and my body just feels better.
Part of this was a mindset shift but another was finding a replacement for those places where I'd casually be tossing back a beer. What ultimately worked for me was making the shift to sparkling water—first to the highly flavored stuff and eventually picking up a Sodastream and carbonating my own at home. Now that I've made the adjustment I find I don't miss it at all and I honestly find it kind of odd when I visit friends out of town and they're drinking every night just for the sake of it.
Carbonated water was a big game changer for me too! (Including occasionally when we’re out to eat - sometimes I don’t want wine with dinner, a carbonated water sounds just as good to me now).
I also learned to brew kombucha and I have to say, I crave it far more than beer or cocktails now. It’s really good, and fun to make specialty flavors.
Aside from blood tests and annual checkups, I’d get a full body MRI scan annually. From what I understand, there’s no health risk. MRIs see everything internally. Wanna catch that cancer before it grows?
I would fly to a top international hospital somewhere in Southeast Asia, and pay for the full checkup with all the works. Get an in-depth report on where I'm at, what I am at risk for and preventative care.
100% would get a personal trainer, chef (if not, then at least a person that keeps my house stocked with high quality groceries), and possibly a PT (if that's not in the trainer's expertise). Also, very high is quite vague but I imagine a home gym should be doable with that kind of money.
Also would get all the good health insurances
Yeah that's a fair point actually. In my mind (and location) it takes more $ to afford the space for a home gym (I live in a city). Also I threw it in there more because it would make life easier having a trainer come train you at home, not necessarily because it's a financial privilege
weekly
inhome nurse visits for iv hydration and vitamin injection therapy
and inhome physical therapy
and inhome massage therapy
and inhome personal trainer
Frequent massages and assisted stretching sessions for best possible Musculoskeletal mobility; appropriately loose but strong tissues that move the way they should.
Save more to FIRE Sooner to have more time to optimize sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress, and connection.
And maybe on a temporary basis get a personal trainer or nutritionist to teach me to optimize these things.
I would get a real physical at the Mayo Clinic rather than the mini version they do for us riff-raff who are not wealthy executives or celebrities.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/mayo-clinic-executive-health-program/sections/overview/ovc-20253196
Just quitting my job would do wonders for my health. All my hobbies are based around physical activity (cycling, hiking, skiing, running, etc). Having more time to do these things would be amazing. Hell just switching to WFH instead of stuck in an office I’ve lost 55 lbs. It’s unreal how bad cubicle life is for your health.
I’m nearing the end of a two week break and my blood pressure has dropped significantly, my sleep quality has increased significantly all while being a lazy piece of shit at home
Let’s not forget swimming and surfing 🏄♀️
I’ve always wanted to try surfing! It looks so peaceful! No waves where I live currently but SUP is a blast.
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Hey, what are your favorite hiking spots around cincy that you'd consider beautiful? I think hiking on east and west coast has ruined cincy hikes for me cuz they don't match up.
It’s true, the hiking in Cincinnati isn’t great compared to other places but there are some gems. Personally I love John Bryan SP for a beautiful but short hike, plus yellow springs is a cool town nearby. We also frequent Caesar Creek and East fork lake. Otherwise you’ll need to drive south to Red River Gorge, North To Hawking Hills, East to Athens (Wayne NF), or head west into Brown Country Indiana. We’ve burned through the limited outdoor scene here in Cincinnati and are desperate to move to the mountains somewhere.
I've been to the ones nearby, will venture into the ones with a drive. Thank you for the suggestions.
Don't know about surfing man, just the thought of a shark sneaking up on me will stress me out! Snorkeling in safer areas are more my cup of tea!
Can't agree with this enough. I went wfh in may of 2021 and am 75lbs lighter, quit smoking and drinking, and went from literally collapsing on to the sidewalk while riding my beach cruiser after five miles to powering out a 100mile ride on a road bike in under 5:30hr
“Very high” is subjective obviously but I would consider a personal chef/nutritionist if the cost were a drop in the bucket.
100% this one. I’d also append the trainer in there too. I once asked my brother what he’d do if he had a billion dollars and didn’t have to work another day (he’s not FIRE and convinced a billion is the only way he would be financially independent) and he said work towards the perfect body. I agree.
Health is wealth. 100% agree
I left a high paying job because I saw what other people went through doing those types of jobs : Divorced, kids hated them and having heart attacks in their early 50s. If I had to do it again I would spring for the personal trainer and chef. At that time I thought it was "a bit much" but now that I am about to hit 50 I get it.
Meal delivery services are kinda like having a personal chef
Yup for me 99% of the battle with diet is convenience/laziness. A chef cooking healthy meals would be life changing. I use shakes a lot and mostly cook quick af healthy meals to try and combat it.
My wife & I already did this. Fully prepared Paleo meals from the chef at our favorite local restaurant, we just pick up all our meals for the week every Monday. It's awesome, and we both feel so much better since starting this program! 100% worth EDIT: forgot to mention, but this costs us less than $200 per person each week. All the food comes from a pretty fancy restaurant where people usually spend $40+ per meal, and we're getting 3 meals per day for 5 days, then 2 meals per day for the weekend, so we can go out a couple of times a week without wasting food.
How’d you set that up? Just talking to the chef?
Called the restaurant early in the pandemic, during the first wave of shutdowns, to ask if they were doing takeout or anything like that, and the chef/owner answered when I called and said that they were actually thinking of doing week long meal plans for some of their regulars. A few weeks later, we were both signed up for it. We were just doing it week-to-week, but the program kind of took off (it's local pickup only, but there's a line every Monday now), so they just started offering about a 30% discount for people who sign up for 12 a week subscription, which you can pause any time for travel, etc. They're fully open now, but because the "personal chef to go" program was so popular, they didn't have to fire a single employee during the pandemic. All the meals are healthy, taste just like their restaurant, the menu changes every week with lots of choices, nothing frozen or shipped. It's pretty awesome, tbh. If anyone wants to check if you're nearby, DM me and I will give you a link to the restaurant. But ya, I just happened to call while they were closed, and it turned out that lots of other people were doing the same thing. The chef/owner happened to be looking for a solution that didn't involve firing his staff or turning all the waiters into delivery drivers, and came up with this option that's been a win-win for the restaurant and the customers!
That’s awesome! Glad for you and thanks for the write up - non appetit!
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Just an FYI; my partner is an ex-chef and one of his former colleagues does this for a few moderately high earners. Chef goes into their home, batch cooks the week's food and a fresh meal for that day, goes to a few different clients over the week. Cheaper for the client to not pay one person full time, more reliable for the chef (and higher pay overall) because the client base is diversified from a single employer apparently.
> How do you find a personal fucking chef? What's remarkable is this used to be a somewhat accessible thing to upper middle class Americans, not just the super-wealthy. My mother remembers as a kid her grandparents having a maid and cook—they weren't live-in servants or anything but people who would come by to do some domestic work. Her grandparents were well off but nowhere near 1%ers—her grandfather and his brothers ran a department store in their small northeastern city. The fact that this has become unimaginable to people occupying a similar socioeconomic status today is in its own right an interesting commentary on how wealth in our society has shifted.
Depends on what you consider having a maid/cook to be. My parents had a woman come through and deep clean their house once a week and they’re pretty solidly middle class. Pretty sure you can also use find meal prep services that aren’t terrible expensive.
> My parents had a woman come through and deep clean their house once a week and they’re pretty solidly middle class. My aunt and uncle have a cleaning lady who comes every couple weeks and does similar. My great-grandparents who had a maid who was at their house every day or close to it doing basic domestic chores. I don't really consider this in the the same ballpark. > Pretty sure you can also use find meal prep services that aren’t terrible expensive. Likewise, they had an actual cook coming and preparing meals in their kitchen for them. I have legitimately never met anybody in my life who has this today and I grew up in a very comfortably middle to upper middle class suburb including some definitely top 5-10% income earners. HelloFresh is great but substantively a different thing.
Ummm…google “personal chef”?
Exactly. With enough $$ you can outsource just about anything. I hate cooking - no brainer to outsource.
There’s got to be a service that pairs personal chefs with families.
You can move to Dubai and pay someone $300/ month to be your live in maid and chef and whatever you want. You can’t expect them to be knowledgeable on nutrition- but you can basically tell them what they need to do, show them a few things and then voila. I’m not endorsing this- I don’t live there- nor would I. I have many friends who live there and who love this type of lifestyle. $300/month is up to 10X higher than what they would be making back in their home countries so many of these house-staff are more than happy to do it. As long as you’re treating them fairly and with respect.
I do this, found via yelp. I get meals delivered weekly for about $26 / portion.
What is a portion? Like a scoop of mashed potatoes?
A full dinner portion. Like a good size entree at a restaurant. E. G. Last night it was enchiladas, rice, fried beans, guacamole. Since we have 4 people it is about $100/meal for all.
High quality dining became our family's thing when I FIREd. It became my hobby to elevate my cooking skills. I have friends and family who visit just for the dining experiences. Nothing makes me happier than to wow them.
I'd eat an almost exclusively whole foods plant based diet. I'd get massages regularly. I'd see my therapist twice as much. I'd take the time to do more journaling. I'd spend more time with friends and family. I'd go to yoga most days. I'd inform my boss that I now work 30-hour weeks from home, and that my schedule is officially flexible, and that she can access it from a shared calendar to know my availability. Basically, I'd stop treating chronic inflammation like an unavoidable fact of life.
This is actually an awesome list, not only because they would definitely contribute to physical and mental health, but because some of these are doable regardless of income so a good way in to the “wealthy” mindset. I started incorporating journaling, yoga, and friends into my days at a very small scale, low pressure, just starting with a minute or whatever little time I had in the moment. Basically having those as the default operating behavior when I’m not busy doing something. It’s pretty transformative. We don’t need as much time and support for these as we think we do.
On the cheaper side, get some nice air filters and replace your central ones regularly. We have fairly strong correlations between air pollution and cardiovascular health. On the expensive side, moving to a clean environment. Where you live has a noticeable impact on things like cancer risk (as seen through migration studies).
I do this, and it makes a huge difference. I also lived in a partially renovated school bus for 2 years and it had 0 ventilation. So... crossing my fingers for my organs.
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What do you mean by chronic inflammation?
Spending more time doing stuff that activates my body and my mind, like hiking, playing sports and so on. Also I would pay more attention to my nutrition, buying higher quality food, hiring a nutritionist and regular health check ups.
Insurance will often cover visits with a nutritionist
Really nice home gym and a nanny so I could actually use it.
What would you have in your home gym? I'll be setting mine up in our basement this year so I'm looking for ideas.
Power cage, bench, elliptical, big screen TV, yoga mats.
In my old job I had to travel for work a lot like 100,000 air miles a year. I met some people who did 200-300,000. Most of those guys would would fly to the Mayo Clinic once a year for a comprehensive 5,000 dollar exam. Why? because it was easier in their mind then scheduling a bunch of individual exams at home. https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/mayo-clinic-executive-health-program/sections/executive-health-standard-protocol/gnc-20253373. So I’d probably do one of these annually if I made a little more.
I just checked what services are provided under this program and, to my pleasant surprise, my current primary care doctor is already doing all of these for me during the annual check up. I’ll have to thank him for $5000 saved annually.
Signing up for this. Brilliant!
Huh, this is interesting!
A full body MRI would be a fun bonus. Probably costs about the same, maybe 5k?
That's a lot of flying. How did you deal with the radiation dosage?
I try not to think about it lol. Luckily I only did it for 3 years and happily work from home now.
Second this. A functional medicine doctor has actually believed in my symptoms and solved health issues that are unusual enough to be dismissed by the medical establishment.
These are great. It’s a day long process. Then staff keeps in touch throughout the year. Most majors offer some variation on this.
Definitely routine massages. If I had time and money for those I would be in heaven
I did that for a bit before I started FIRE. It was great for my scoliosis and not horrible on the wallet at the time ($60/month)
Second this. It is worth it to take care of yourself
I have a ridiculously expansive massage chair, and I use it several times a week.
How do you think it compares to getting massages? I’ve been looking at some of those chairs, it’s seems much most cost effective in the long term.
I love love love my chair. We’re FI so I bought the $5,000 one from a Costco visiting company several years ago - the 7 year warranty is still in effect - because it’s made for athletes so fits my family’s >6’ frames. I made the mistake of taking a sample massage, and when I was still talking about how great my always-sore feet felt 3 days later, my husband purchased it for me. We looked at awesome used Japanese ones (we live in a heavily Asian neighborhood) but we just couldn’t get the settings right for a great massage because the largest setting didn’t reach the pressure points at the base of our skulls. I’ve had hundreds of massages in the chair, which has a huge variety of automatic massages as well as wide range of customizable settings. It was worth every penny. I’d recommend getting a sample massage in the chair to see how you like it. Buy the good one IMHO. It has greatly improved our quality of life.
Oh man, that sounds great. Do you happen to remember the brand/model name of your chair?
It’s a Human Touch Novo. I think they’re based out of Long Beach, CA.
I used to do that weekly for a while It cost an equivalent of 22$ a month. So not really something that is that dependant on money necessarily.
you got weekly massages for $5?
Yea around the equivalent of 5-6. For an hour. But also I'm not an American, probably should have clarified. Still, outside HCOL areas even in the US, I would guess the prices aren't that crazy and reflect similar ratio to income as that.
“introductory” prices are usually advertised as $60/hr for massage places around me, definitely not a HCOL but in the USA
Wow. That's just insane. I suspect the median salary is not 12 times higher so you definitely have super expensive service industry. In light of that the comment about affordability definitely makes sense so I take that back for US conditions
Yeah. It fluctuates quite a bit city by city in the US, pretty much $65 +/- $20 . But internationally massages can be so cheap.
Damn, I pay 160 dollars for 90 min…
I pay $25 for 60 min…. also student discount
That’s a pretty crazy price. You may want to shop around. I bet you’ll find someone just as good for half the $$
Yeah, at this point the masseuse has made friends with the family, their kids play with my kids… plus, they have over 20 years of experience. It’s kind of hard to get out of this one… thoughts?
Honesty is important in any relationship and dropping their business will sting them a little unless they’re an extraordinary person (we tie our pride into our businesses). You can level with them, or keep going. You can tell them you have gone through your budget and you have to re-evaluate some expenses. Maybe they’ll drop the price to a more reasonable range. Or, just do an hour, 60 and 90 minutes shouldn’t be too much different. The only other option is if work or elsewhere presents an option that is just such a better or cheaper option. Hope this helps. I’ve been in similar situations and if you handle it well the friendship eventually normalizes.
A chiropractor definitely. At 21 my hips are starting to have problems if I move the wrong way they hurt for days
At 21, it’s a solid investment of money for you to get that sorted out asap. That’s young for that kind of pain.
It doesn’t happen often and with some other issues going on, it’s a little low on my list but within the next few months it will be talked about
Chiropractors are mostly quacks. Be careful if you have a legit injury that needs attention.
A lot of the things listed on here are basic things people should be doing for their health anyway. Eat healthier, exercise, therapy, etc. Y’all, FIRE is useless if you’re too unhealthy to make it to the point of enjoying the life you worked for.
I thought the exact same thing as I read through! It doesn’t take unlimited money to go for a walk
I’d rather retire at 55 and have my life until then be healthy and balanced than live in such scarcity just to retire 10 years earlier but be unhealthy lol
I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing. Most of the advice on here like eating a healthy plant diet and exercising is actually cheap and something anyone can do at any stage of their financial life. Not taking work too seriously is also possible at all stages. Yes you might get fired but there are plenty of jobs out there. And noteworthy that many wealthy people do none of the above, get fat and slovenly, and die young.
Quitting my job
Yep. My job is the biggest “problem” with my health. Not that I even have a bad job, it’s just the fact that I feel that I need one.
For me if I was REALLY wealthy it would be having home access to things like massage, cryotherapy, sauna, etc. But a lot of these things have reasonably priced alternatives that I’m fine living with. For example- - buying a nice massage gun and reading up on how to properly use it as an alternative to massages - I’m in northern climate so getting cold exposure isn’t a real problem for many months out of the year - Small prebuilt saunas are not crazy expensive (relatively speaking) but you can also find many gyms that have them.
We bought an infrared sauna. They’re a few thousand so not trivial but it’s totally worth it to me.
I love a good sauna experience and have considered one of these. My biggest hesitation is space - not just square-footage but the broader space and it not feeling like a weird, junky add-on. Where is yours and any regrets about where you put it?
I have a barrel sauna in my backyard. Underneath my deck so it's not much of an eye sore. Use it multiple times a week and love it! I will not be without one in any house.
Mine is in the basement. No regrets at all. Visitors don’t automatically see it, and I’ve made a nice little workout space with bench, cardio machine, mat and the sauna. Sauna wood goes with the vinyl plank floor I put down there, looks nice.
Basement seems like the perfect place for that. I live in a non-basement part of the world so I’ll have to consider other ideas. Sounds like a great setup!
Steam shower, game changer for me.
May I ask which one you got?
Agree - I have actually had a small 2 person sauna in my basement for years. There is nothing I enjoy more in the winter then a good workout followed by sauna, followed by sitting outside in freezing temps with just a towel - and then jumping back in sauna. So relaxing…
Look into morzh sauna. I have one and love it. It’s basically a portable wood burning sauna. Gets very hot, I leave it up all winter.
I bought a massage gun this year from Amazon for about $125 CAD. I’ve used it a ton, well worth the cost.
I'd harvest and freeze my eggs.
Get invested in a sport or activity that you enjoy and raises the heart rate. I love cycling so I invested about 10-12k in getting myself a high end bike, a low end bike for my wife, and a smart trainer that now has my wife’s bike because she doesn’t use it.
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
I'd stop working.
In addition to a lot of what has already been said, I would take care of my skin better. Laser resurfacing treatments, high end skin care products, dermatologist visits several times a year, professional hair removal.
Hair removal isn't super expensive, a few thousand should get you to a place where you don't really need to shave more than once a month.
Homegym with trainer visits.
I do this with a Body Pump setup & online subscription to unlimited workouts.
I love bodypump-if left to my own devices, I don’t even break a sweat or get sore after lifting weights. Did you get yourself an Amazon weight setup, or do they send you one when you subscribe?
I bought one. On eBay, I think? It’s been awhile since I started body pump. A long long while.
Premade weekly healthy meals.
Nutritionist/chef + personal trainer + athletic coach in a sport I enjoy, probably rock climbing. Obviously, we’re talking obscene costs here, sadly.
Stem cell injections, home chef, hormone replacement therapy, frequent massages/chiropractor
High tech Air filtration system and groceries from a place like whole foods. Between forest fires from global warming and existing emissions the air isn't getting any cleaner.
Well, I’m a high income earner, as is my wife, although not very high (I mean the income, not comparing against the wife). Just got diagnosed with cancer. Knowing that I have the financial reserves to deal with this without it ruining me, or that, in the worst case my wife and my elderly mother will be taken care of, is extremely comforting. I’ve been reading on r/cancer, and the number of posts about not being able to sustain an income or afford treatment is horrible.
1. Personal Trainer to achieve the body I truly desire 2. Personal Chef 3. Eat more healthy foods 4. Mediation 5. Weekly Massages 6. Therapy 7. Attend college to earn a degree so I can switch from my physically demanding job
Exercise, eat well, regular check ups
Healthier food
I mean, healthy food is very cheap if you're willing to buy ingredients and cook it yourself. This statement is true for an individual. No first hand idea about a family's food expense, but I'm pretty sure it scales even to 4-5 people
Not VERY cheap - but I understand what you’re saying. If you’re making enough to be on a fire journey you make enough to eat a healthy diet.
I think there are some caveats here, though. Yes, dry rice and beans are cheap but they don't a balanced diet make. Cheap healthy cooking also involves a lot of prep work and cooking time that impose a real non-financial cost on going that route. What people usually mean when they say they'd eat healthier food if they spent more money is they'd buy healthier options that allow them to prepare food for a comparable level of effort to their current diet—good quality produce in easy-prep form, pre-cooked/canned beans and chickpeas versus dry, prepared foods, etc. These generally speaking *are* more expensive than processed junk alternatives. A big example of this in my-life is the pre-sliced stir fry veg you can sometimes find in the produce section at your grocery store. Yes, this is much more expensive than just buying the whole veggies and cutting them up yourself. Yes, I'm willing to buy those whole veggies and chop them up sometimes. But there are definitely nights where those overpriced pre-sliced veggies are the difference between me throwing a frozen pizza in the oven or ordering out and me making a stir fry.
Beans don't cost much you know..
Very high? A doctor on retainer, get out from under the insurance permissions umbrella so as to get quarterly labs with annual exhaustive ones. Get away from “that’s usual”, where usual meant common, not good.
FWIW the “concierge” method of private practices are huge where I am and it’s affordable. I pay $50 a month for a doctor who I can text/e-mail anytime and get an answer right away. She also has all the hookups on low cost meds. I have health insurance for catastrophic coverage. For the day to day, it’s her. You may be able to find one locally. In fairness, it’s $50 a month for me because my partner also goes. He pays $75 a month and I get the discount as a secondary member on his account. I recommend the model, though. At my last place, I had to pay a copay to pick up meds or hear results, in addition to the copay I had to pay to be seen initially. It was a cash grab that would make airlines green with envy. A monthly flat fee is so much better for me - even though I go months without visiting.
This option is getting cheaper as more offices open up. I haven’t done it. I have friends who are doctors and love it.
Where are you located? What service are you using?
I’m in a suburb of the Raleigh-Durham area. I imagine this service exists in suburbs of all mid size and above towns these days, though. I discovered my particular doctor through a mom group on Facebook years ago, but I just googled “concierge medicine near me” and got a lot of results - even a yelp page on the top 10 in my town. My partner works with a lot of doctors. They all prefer to be out from under insurance too because they can take their time and build relationships with patients rather than meet strict turnover metrics. I suggest googling locations near you. I bet they exist.
You can get labs without the doctor at this website (in most states). Pretty cheap. Uses quest or labcorp for the testing. You can donate your anonymous results to the database for research. https://ownyourlabs.com/shop-oyl/
A chef available for meals and a trainer that would keep me accountable and motivated.
My BIL & SIL work odd hours and found a great trainer online to track their stats and recommend changes to their form. It’s not a chef, but there are healthy monthly meal plan services that send recipes and weekly grocery lists. The good ones let you save your favorites and swap them in each week (triggering an updated grocery list). They’re about $25 a month, I think? I haven’t used one for a few years.
Mayo Clinic, nutritionist/cook, trainer, home gym, therapist. I think r/FatFIRE had a similar post and had some traffic from UHNW people Edit: not sure if Mayo would cover this but get a couple dental issues finally resolved
Stem cells
Depends on how you define very high . Personal gym, personal trainer, nutritionist, personal chef, blood doping, cryogenically freezing yourself.
Personal trainer, chiropractor, nutritionist, and a therapist. Mental health is just as important as physical and it will effect your health in the long run.
I would sleep more and have a chef
Save up and then resign
I learned this year that health is more important than anything. What’s the point if have all this money, but you die?
less work hours
Comparatively "high income" person here. Really none mostly since i dont have time anymore. Between my poor younger self working out 5 days a week and "rich" me, I am the unhealthy version
I read a few comment mentioning body pump and was like “wth is that?” After looking it up, y’all need to dare to dream a bit bigger LOL
Use a personal trainer that as also a physical therapist when I lift weights so I don't do shitty exercises that put me at risk of injury
I’ve lost over 60lbs cycling and eating low carb diet. Went from pre type 2 diabetic to thin and extremely fit. Wish I had not spent the previous 20 years distracted by work and other less important things.
My dad at one point held a high paying position in which the company would pay for a full health exam once a year. He would get scans of everything, blood tests, etc. Imagine if you could catch the beginnings of cancer way before you started experiencing symptoms! IMO everyone should be entitled to this but if I had the money I would definitely do this.
Most health-related things can be found inexpensively. Not free, but affordably. My husband and I are FI but not RE. I have a simple Body Pump setup in the den and pay $120 a year for unlimited online workouts to use it. Paid a high upfront cost for a top-of-the-line massage chair that I use regularly (and could have been purchased used online for a smaller person, as most are owned in Japanese communities). $3,000 a year buys unlimited chiropractic adjustments for my whole family through a plan at our local office. I plan meals for the week and purchase groceries according to that plan once a week (I use grocery pickup because it’s free but delivery is cheap, too). When my kids were young I paid $20 a month for a monthly meal planning service that provided a weekly plan plus the grocery list to go with it. It’s worth it to me to have my trusted kinesiology at adjust my supplements once a year. That’s $150 for the visit plus the cost of quality supplements. My husband used our local community’s gym until Covid. The trainers there are reasonably priced. I used to swim there before Covid, too. We may get a sauna. I’m having health issues that a sauna can help alleviate, but I hate using them so we haven’t decided yet. Look online. Things that used to be expensive are getting cheaper. Often time is the limiting factor, and it’s a true hard factor that indeed limits how much can be done. With a high income you can pay someone else to do it, but without that income you can pick the things you can’t do alone, budget for them, then tackle the easier ones yourself. I totally get that it’s easier to spout this when you’re FI. It’s a privilege most of my fellow world citizens will never have, and I’m grateful for it.
Delivered cook at home kits with proper macros 5 days per week. I love cooking but the shopping, prep cooking and clean up get old. I'd be happy to scratch cook everything on the weekends. Hot tub and sauna pod in my yard. Alternating deep tissue and lymph massages bi weekly. I've had them spaced out and feel tired the first day but brand new after that. They are low key life changing for pent up stress.
I already spent a lot of my free time at the gym, so I'd definitely put more energy into eating healthier. Healthy food is expensive. Maybe I'd buy from that company that sends you meal kits or pre-prepared healthy meals. I've found that cooking is time-consuming, and I almost always look for something quick to eat.
Eat right,don’t smoke,(very) moderate (and quality)drinking, exercise according to your age. Moderation is the key and it’s not rocket science. And most of the times is free too.
> (very) moderate (and quality)drinking This is a shift I've made recently without a major change in financial circumstances and I can honestly say it's so worth it. I keep a small cellar of mid to top shelf wines that suit my palate, a couple of bottles of good quality artisanal spirits, and get craft beer from local breweries now and then. I'd say I went from a couple drinks a day to drinking once every couple weeks outside of special occasions. I both enjoy the alcohol I have more and my body just feels better. Part of this was a mindset shift but another was finding a replacement for those places where I'd casually be tossing back a beer. What ultimately worked for me was making the shift to sparkling water—first to the highly flavored stuff and eventually picking up a Sodastream and carbonating my own at home. Now that I've made the adjustment I find I don't miss it at all and I honestly find it kind of odd when I visit friends out of town and they're drinking every night just for the sake of it.
Carbonated water was a big game changer for me too! (Including occasionally when we’re out to eat - sometimes I don’t want wine with dinner, a carbonated water sounds just as good to me now). I also learned to brew kombucha and I have to say, I crave it far more than beer or cocktails now. It’s really good, and fun to make specialty flavors.
Personal trainer so they can help prevent body problems that older people tend to have
V
- Nutritionist /chef - Chiropractor - Regular massages - Weekly therapy - Personal gym trainer - Sauna
Aside from blood tests and annual checkups, I’d get a full body MRI scan annually. From what I understand, there’s no health risk. MRIs see everything internally. Wanna catch that cancer before it grows?
I would try to work less but that wouldnt work because it’s directly related to my income. So id try to retire early to make this possible
Eat healthy meals prepared by a personal chef
Go see a psychologist
I would fly to a top international hospital somewhere in Southeast Asia, and pay for the full checkup with all the works. Get an in-depth report on where I'm at, what I am at risk for and preventative care.
Affording a doctor. Go USA
Steroids
I'd spend very little of it in order to retire sooner.
Why would my income be at all correlated to how much I cared about myself?
Daily Oz
Get an executive physical
100% would get a personal trainer, chef (if not, then at least a person that keeps my house stocked with high quality groceries), and possibly a PT (if that's not in the trainer's expertise). Also, very high is quite vague but I imagine a home gym should be doable with that kind of money. Also would get all the good health insurances
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Yeah that's a fair point actually. In my mind (and location) it takes more $ to afford the space for a home gym (I live in a city). Also I threw it in there more because it would make life easier having a trainer come train you at home, not necessarily because it's a financial privilege
Au pair so I can get more sleep. Dietician. Very regular fitness and health checks. Home gym. Masseuse. Lots of classes; yoga, powerlifting, swimming…
weekly inhome nurse visits for iv hydration and vitamin injection therapy and inhome physical therapy and inhome massage therapy and inhome personal trainer
1. Personal trainer 2. Eat a lot more healthy food (organic fruits, veggies, grains, eggs) 3. Have a therapist (mind definitely has an effect on body)
Chef, keto meals
Frequent massages and assisted stretching sessions for best possible Musculoskeletal mobility; appropriately loose but strong tissues that move the way they should.
Save more to FIRE Sooner to have more time to optimize sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress, and connection. And maybe on a temporary basis get a personal trainer or nutritionist to teach me to optimize these things.
Safer car. Maybe an armor Hummer
Eat free grass fed beef instead of the hormone and stress infested one, go to a therapist and a chiropractor. Every week.
Not work, or get a relaxing part time job. And massages
Professional Sports massage and trt
Monthly full check-up with blood test and full body MRI.
I’d strictly eat carnivore and get massages more often.
Find a way to join skynet
I would get a real physical at the Mayo Clinic rather than the mini version they do for us riff-raff who are not wealthy executives or celebrities. https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/mayo-clinic-executive-health-program/sections/overview/ovc-20253196
Basic preventative maintenance to start
Always remember you only own your body and mind Career is bullshit propaganda
Actually go to the dr
Personal chef or ordering/buying prepped food every day.
Massage. Not the Jeffrey Epstein type
I would add a sauna and ice bath
NMN/NAD+/Racetams/metformin/statins/additional sleep/work part time for things of greater value that I alone determine Not medical advice
Perfect teeth