Essays
All essays
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Geographic Arbitrage: Four Cities Where $20K/Year Buys a Real Life
In Chiang Mai, a one-bedroom with a pool, a maid, and a 15-minute walk to a world-class hospital costs $420 a month. Four cities, four real budgets, what each one trades.
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The Five Regrets of the Dying, Re-examined
Bronnie Ware spent eight years as a palliative care nurse and identified the five regrets patients voiced most. The list is famous. Here is what it actually says when you read it carefully.
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How to Quit Your Job in 90 Days Without Losing Your Mind
A concrete 90-day timeline from ‘I want out’ to ‘I am out.’ Week-by-week, no fluff. Most people sit with the desire for years; the actual exit takes three months.
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Die With Zero: A Critical Reading of Bill Perkins
Bill Perkins’s Die With Zero (2020) is the closest mainstream argument to SuicideFire. A serious reading: what Perkins gets right, what he gets wrong, and the move he can not quite make.
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The Resignation Letter That Doesn’t Burn Bridges
The resignation letter is the artifact of the actual decision. It does not need to be a manifesto. Here is a template that closes the door without slamming it.
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Healthcare Without a Job: Honest 2026 Numbers for US Early Retirees
Every SuicideFIRE conversation hits the same wall around the third drink: ‘But what about health insurance?’ Here are the actual 2026 numbers most people don’t know.
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Why Your 75-Year-Old Self Is a Stranger You’re Paying For
Derek Parfit’s 1984 argument about personal identity over time has a brutal implication for retirement planning: the person you are saving for is mostly a stranger. Here is what that means for the math.
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Five Retirement Calculators (And Why They Lie to You)
Every retirement calculator answers a question. Often it’s not the question you asked. A review of five popular tools and what each one is actually solving for.
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The Tyranny of the Bucket List
Most bucket lists are someone else’s idea of what your life should have meant. A defense of small, particular, possibly boring last things — and an attack on Machu Picchu as a life milestone.