Boycott college for professions which aren’t in healthcare, law, or science. Boycott brand names in exchange for the cheapest alternatives (clothes, food, medicine, etc.). Avoid unnecessary debt. Plant your own garden and grow your own vegetables. Focus your spending on needs, not wants. Live beneath your means. Have more roommates than you need. Consider using an FHA loan to purchase a relatively inexpensive house. Consider purchasing an affordable used RV to live out of full-time. Do your own repairs, painting, and any work you may otherwise pay someone else to do for you. Patch or repair your clothes before getting…

I’ve spent some time thinking about our healthcare crisis and it dawned on me that a big company, like Amazon, could afford to buy 1–2 of the top hospital chains in the US and essentially offer full health coverage to many US Prime members for an extra monthly fee. This fee could be based around charging a small percentage over the cost to operate the hospitals divided by their American members. Amazon would have to require folks to sign contracts committing to be “Prime Health” members for years at a time in order to keep people from only paying when…

I’ve spent years brainstorming opportunities to not only encourage more businesses to be charitable but also encourage consumers to preferentially support the charitable businesses in order to create a supportive circle for everyone who chooses to be involved. I often hear people say we either need more capitalism (if they want more) or more socialism (if they need more), but I believe there’s an alternative approach to capitalism which helps everyone without government intervention. I believe the future of capitalism has the potential to be rather beautiful in a way that lifts up the folks who need lifting up and…

I’m imagining a small cliche American dream style house with a small well-manicured yard surrounded by a white picket fence. The inside would be rustic but using the house as a residence wouldn’t be its main purpose. The main purpose of the house would be to serve as a photo studio and exhibition space for ladies, couples, and a limited number of men who wish to pose nude within the house in order to have said photos hung somewhere in the house. The poses are up to the models in the sense that they can cook breakfast in the kitchen…

Imagine a foundation which launches with a $1,000,000 invested in BRK.B, waits a year to begin withdrawing no more than 5% annually, and then uses the returns to boost the lives of ordinary people. As the value of the fund increases the foundation would be able to give more. The money would never (!) go toward anything political nor to anyone who didn’t have a legitimate need for it. In other words, the money would never fuel an addiction or go toward something wasteful/extravagant. All of the philanthropy would be promoted through an anonymous blog. In order to prevent the…

I’ve been thinking about starting a bioplastic based business which makes everything from truly disposable drinking straws to every utensil typically used once. Environmentally friendly hemp bioplastic utensils made in small batches for people and big ones for restaurants. By mixing non-toxic seeds into the plastic the straws would produce flowers after the plastic decomposes. In the right conditions hemp bioplastic can completely decompose within 3–6 months. So these products may have a shelf-life but that’s only a selling point, not a con.

Hemp bioplastics, even ones 100% bio-based, are incredibly strong. Their decomposition rate has more to do with…

Accomplishing a lot of good doesn’t mean we need to change a lot over night. Gradual changes can be incredibly beneficial when they’re well placed. For instance, decent dental insurance comes with a several month long waiting period after signing up for the insurance before it covers extractions and other things more complicated than cleanings and X-rays. This is meant to prevent folks from only signing up for insurance when they need it and then dropping it afterward because the monthly insurance payments themselves are typically affordable. It’s waiting which is a pain (literally) and taking advantage of the insurance…

Cellphone carriers competing with WiFi providers is just the tip of the iceberg. For the most part, the carriers only really have data to offer at this point since paying for calls and texts has become largely obsolete. And, thanks to their own attempts to provide competitively priced data, the price for access to it has consistently dropped. Once Google, Facebook, SpaceX, and Samsung begin offering global internet access for a relatively low amount of money none of the major telecom companies will be able to compete. This is going to happen much sooner than the market appears to be…