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Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

Update: my mom texted me after reading this and goes “what does the house manager chef role pay? I have 40 years of experience” lol

Elizabeth Swanson's avatar

If money were no object, I'd support my physical and mental health like a professional athlete: personal trainer, physical therapist, massage therapist, performance psychologist, nutritious prepared meals.

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

100% with you, I’m stealing your answer lol

G Knee's avatar

I’d hire somebody to drive me everywhere and anywhere. I’d get them a tiny home on my property (or a house in my neighborhood) and would in advance tell them where I needed to be and when so they could be ready for when I needed them, but also understand sometimes they may be needed at the last minute (when I need that late night milkshake), but I’d want them to have their own life too. In a perfect world, they’d also be a pilot and we’d have our own private plane to fly. This person would also have a dog and our dogs would be best friends.

A W's avatar

Personal Chef is the answer! Healthy, high protein meals at my beck and call, yes please.

Abby's avatar

An inground pool. I love to swim laps and my family lives in the water in the summer, but I can't bring myself to pay for it and I shudder when thinking about the ongoing maintenance and increased utility costs.

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

Truly. The idea of trying to maintain a pool feels like more trouble than it’s worth. But pool + pool maintenance team could be a winning combo lol

Varina Winder's avatar

Katie: Possible to do a post on the AI bubble? Confession that despite the many (breathless) articles I've read about its coming collapse, I have no idea whether it's possible to protect oneself against the financial/stock impacts, while rooting for it to happen (I'm so, so, so, so annoyed with being fed AI integration and job decimation and environmental degradation all to support 7 billionaires in their circle jerk).

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

Tbh it’s one of those topics like bitcoin where as soon as I start trying to research it I feel bored and annoyed lol

Varina Winder's avatar

Ha - THAT I understand completely. Read about four articles about crypto before I decided it was a grift and I didn't want to invest any more (of my time).

The AI bubble feels somewhat different just because our entire economy is basically seven AI companies in a trench coat, fattening themselves on all of our jobs. Questions I have: Is there a way to protect any modicum of our savings from these monsters? Is there a way the bubble stops the insanity around AI? Or does it only hurt the average American who has very little by way of savings, while the Epstein class rides it out on their Caribbean islands? I guess, I am not sure whether to feel justified in my rooting for the bubble to pop - or if that just screws me (and everyone I love/care about). Is there any way to protect ourselves?

PS: THANK YOU for your service to humanity at large; this is the one email I always/always/always read.

NA's avatar

My husband and I have been talking about this and the only solution we could come up with was 1) Land and 2) diversifying our portfolios outside of the US, as it seems like other countries are moving away from big tech and have more growth opportunities. But I don't think there's a 100% safe asset.

KC Cay's avatar

+1 one on house manager and house cleaner. If money were no object I would hire someone to clean my house, someone to help me find that someone to clean my house, and then hire a bonus therapist to help my wife and I unpack the deep shame from not being able to keep our beautiful house clean and managed. (we are both wives who I guess... want another wife)

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

+1 for third wife

Michaela's avatar

A first class trip to all the countries I still want to see with the family.

Heidi N. Moore's avatar

If you mention a puppy you have to include pictures of the puppy, this is an immutable law of the internet

Molly Dunbar's avatar

a huge house in illinois for my family to gather at for the holidays, with a bathroom for each bedroom

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

Ok this is so pure

Lauren Hooper's avatar

I always joke about how if I won the lottery there would be signs—sidewalks and crosswalks in my neighborhood would mysteriously appear,

Melissa  Gowen's avatar

VA psychologist here. The VA comment makes me both proud and sad (as the right wants to privatize it). Can you imagine trying to profit off Veterans?

Louise F's avatar

The practical side of me says a house-manager-wife-mom who cooks and cleans... but my heart wants a dope in ground swimming pool set up with a retractable roof so I can swim indoors during the winter and outside during the summer. I grew up around lots of natural swimming holes and now I live in a very water-free midwest town and there is no where to play mermaids :'(

Tara Turner's avatar

Re: Japan and late-stage capitalism - The US will never study Japan as an example. I saw a TikTok in which the woman in the video said men's views of tofu mirror their views of women. Mind blown. In the same vein, Typical American Man (TM) could never see himself in Asian men because they are perceived to be feminine, and we know being feminine is the lowest of the low to him. Therefore, the US will never learn until there are catastrophic consequences to the wealth class.

LJ's avatar

Thanks for the archive links where possible Katie. my work computer blocked archive.is, and archive.today has also been glitchy for me lately, even from my phone.

Pamela Shaw's avatar

House cleaner, landscaper, someone to do my laundry for me (does that get "folded" into the house cleaner role?), and the occasional personal chef. I'd also hire a personal trainer.

What I really really want?

Own my home outright and FIRE.

(I'm not someone who is of the FIRE approach to life, but if money were no object... I'd be retired early and financially independent. haha)