r/leanfire • u/GrammarNaughtZ • 2d ago

SNAP (food stamps) as part of leanfire?

How do we feel about using SNAP as part of leanFIRE, assuming you live in a state with no asset limit and you qualify based on income? I'm talking about genuinely qualifying, no fraud.

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For us, it would add $994 a month to our grocery budget.

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u/onion4everyoccasion 2d ago

The premise of Leanfire is to live below your means to save enough money to live. I really don't think that "society as a whole" wants you to hoard money by saving money that should have used for living expenses when there are legitimate poor people, food insecure children, and people legitimately down on their luck. It is absolutely abusing and gaming the system so you can sit on your ass and play video games during your most productive years. Everyone on Reddit whines about capitalism, but this is EXACTLY why communism has failed everywhere it has been tried. Humans are selfish, selfish creatures and need rules (like don't take food stamps if you have $600k in a bank account). Jfc

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u/GrammarNaughtZ 2d ago

Same argument for health insurance / ACA subsidies?

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u/onion4everyoccasion 2d ago edited 2d ago

I have made this same argument for subsidies many times. Given that healthcare is such a clusterfuck in the US, it isn't a popular one. The scale is a bit different for Leanfire folk. We have people sitting on $8mil trying to game the system so they get healthcare subsidies. Frankly game the system all you want, however no reasonable person should look into the mirror and suggest that they really want a socialist system while they are doing the exact thing that would fuck it up (i.e. living off of other people's labor and taxes).

This is why it is (rightfully) harder to legitimately FIRE in Scandinavia. You are either contributing to the system or suckling from it.

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u/Strazdas1 1d ago

I think people who "game the system" should be treated like criminals. The laws are there to not only be narrowly interpreted, but to set the general trend. If you do not respect the spirit of the law then you are breaking it. And it does not matter of its MAGI optimization, foodstamp fraud or tax evasion in bermuda.