this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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It is kind of fucked up that if you're even mildly rich, you essentially get basic income.
If you have $1 million, a fairly conservative investment strategy will get you $100k per year. That's about the median income for NYC. You'll probably get closer to $150k, since vanguard usually gets about 15% returns. That's just sticking the money in Vanguard and doing nothing else. Sit at home playing final fantasy and "earn" more than a teacher.
If you're richer, but not even mega-rich, say $3 million, you can put it in an *insured high yield savings and take home $135,000 a year. Or diversify, put some in vanguard, some in bonds, and some in high yield savings. You'll "earn" more than many people do at their jobs.
You could then just do what you want with your days. Write a book. Finish your backlog of games. Start a band. Whatever you want. You'd be free.
I want everyone to have basic income, not just the rich.
God, I wish. If I could do something like that I'd spend my days volunteering with organizations like food not bombs and local mutual aid orgs. I'd probably still have roommates, even. I don't need much. I'm happy with a bedroom of my own, the rest of the house can be shared space. I just want to do mutual aid work and not have to worry about being evicted or starving :(
Someone forgot taxes, health insurance.
When people talk about their income they usually talk about gross, which is pre-tax. When someone says "I make $100k a year" they don't typically mean they take home net $100k.
Investments are typically also only taxed when you realize the gains, so if you have $3mm and "earn" $300k, you only pay taxes if you sell some of that. Other interest, like from a high yield savings, is taxed as income.
Health insurance is a nightmare, but there are options in this hellscape for buying it. Many poor people are also just uninsured, so you're not much worse off than them in this scenario.
Did you have any details you wanted to talk about, or did you just want to try to be pithy?
I am poor in the US. My family is on Medicaid. Depending on household size, a family qualifies for Medicaid based on household income. Renewal is a pain in the ass. We always get denied initially, then have to fight for reinstatement. It’s scary. I have a kid that depends on medicine to stay alive. I’m working on growing my side business to pull us out of the poorhouse but it’s a dance. I have to time the growth to occur between renewal periods. I could grow enough to get kicked off Medicaid for good but not enough to afford private insurance. So I have to either stay poor or have phenomenal growth in a six-month period. If I fail, I could lose everything and my kid could die. Poverty: 0/5 stars.