Simple Living

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Ideas and inspiration for living more simply. A place to share tips on living with less stuff, work, speed, or stress in return for gaining more freedom, time, self-reliance, and joy.

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(US) Introducing Comingle: An opt-in UBI (Universal Basic Income) to provide a stable weekly income based upon users contributing 7% of their income (comingle.us)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This also seems like it might interest this community. Originally posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/7276272

Comingle is an interesting idea that would act as a pseudo emergency fund to provide a stable week to week income for their users. It could act to stabilize your income if you have an irregular income or as an backup plan or insurance for when you lose a job or income source. It works by distributing the average of all their members contributions weekly to each user. Once the service starts, the end result will be a net gain for those with low income and a payment to provide a guaranteed monthly income for higher earners.

For those with low income, any amount of extra money can aid in the pursuit of opportunity and keep things from turning desperate.

For freelancers and gig-workers, reliable weekly income can ease the complications of sporadic cash-flow.

For those with more income, Comingle lets you help others, sends you a little extra cash on slow weeks, and provides a safety-net if things take a turn for the worse.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with them. I just got this in an email newsletter and was intrigued.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I just read the FAQ, seems well designed. I work in the same space and their descriptions of how it will work makes a lot of sense. The system balances itself and can be super transparent, we'll see how it goes

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Perhaps you're suited to answer this: What protections are there for end users against this being some sort of rug pull?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have no idea for sure, but I assume they would have a contract you would agree to that governs how they use your contributions and it would allow you to sue for breach of contract in small claims court. According to their website they plan to have a steward ownership model in which profits serve the mission of the company and protect it from extractive capital. I imagine that means it will hopefully be set up to not allow it to go public or misuse funds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I agree -- I particularly liked that they call out corporate governance structure in the FAQ.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What space is it that you work in?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Payment processing for a service that helps renters by paying their full rent upfront and then letting the resident pay back in smaller payments. There's a lot of similar infra (aws, plaid/mx, soft credit checks) and processes (payment aggregation & sending outgoing funds)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Interesting idea, and the website makes it look legit. But trust is going to be a major issue here. The other problem I see is interacting with government benefits/social security/welfare, especially since the income from this will fluctuate. But I hope they are successful!