You get so much information, so many services and favours, and access to so many things if you are willing to put yourself in a potentially uncomfortable position of asking. I thought that when I ask questions that make me uncomfortable I would regret most of them, but it turns out I only regret like one out of every 30 uncomfortable questions I ask.
I strive to ask more until I reach 10 % regretted, but I don't see it happening any time soon.
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Something else not on this list is:
- Make your own everyday small-stakes insurance by betting with acquiantances.
This takes a willing counterparty, but you can insure a lot of things. Pay a friend $10 on the condition that they will pay you $100
- if the flight departure is canceled, or
- if it's raining on your picnic date, or
- if you get sick on the day of an important meeting.
It won't fix the problem, but it will be a band-aid on the wound.
You may have to adjust the odds based on the probabilities involved, of course. The goal is to offer odds such that your friends just about make money off of you in the long run, meaning there's something in it for them also.
I also don't really see the point. Insurance is for risks that will wipe you out. Insuring things for levels you (and therefore likely your friends) can afford is basically just a stochastic wealth transfer to whoever is better at estimating risks.
I also couldn't think of anything more embarrassing than using a friend this way. Could you imagine having a conversation along the lines of "hey can I use you as an insurance company, if I'll pay you $10 will you pay me $100 back if I'm Ill for a meeting?". Frankly I've never heard anything quite so ridiculous.
For the insurer: If you're the kind of person who won't blink at paying out $100 you've got better things to do with your time than collecting $10.
For the insured: It's not going to take the sting out of bad news if the payout comes from a loved one anyway. Why would I want to transfer my misfortune to Grandma?
Exactly. I don't want my friendships to have any unnecessary financial constraints. I don't even particularly like to track what people owe at the bar; if I buy you three drinks and you buy me two, you don't owe me anything next time.
I really wouldn't want to be friends with someone who always asked a bunch of inane questions everywhere we went and constantly wanted to use me as their insurance company.
But I guess there might exist someone somewhere that enjoys being around this sort of behavior??
- Ask questions.
You get so much information, so many services and favours, and access to so many things if you are willing to put yourself in a potentially uncomfortable position of asking. I thought that when I ask questions that make me uncomfortable I would regret most of them, but it turns out I only regret like one out of every 30 uncomfortable questions I ask.
I strive to ask more until I reach 10 % regretted, but I don't see it happening any time soon.
----
Something else not on this list is:
- Make your own everyday small-stakes insurance by betting with acquiantances.
This takes a willing counterparty, but you can insure a lot of things. Pay a friend $10 on the condition that they will pay you $100
- if the flight departure is canceled, or
- if it's raining on your picnic date, or
- if you get sick on the day of an important meeting.
It won't fix the problem, but it will be a band-aid on the wound.
You may have to adjust the odds based on the probabilities involved, of course. The goal is to offer odds such that your friends just about make money off of you in the long run, meaning there's something in it for them also.