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jody, I am in complete agreement. I have yet to meet a woman who likes a guy who is "cheap".
The notion is against our biology and evolution.
My rule of thumb is generosity in their presence 1. if I want more than company later 2. if it does not involve buying clothes, etc. (lingerie an obvious exception) 3. it's a reasonable restaurant.
For example, I would NEVER take a woman to Etoile in Napa for the dinner "tasting menu" at $90/ person. Never, ever happen.
If the restaurant she wants to go to seems too expensive I say I am in the mood for another cuisine. E.G. "Gee I am really in the mood for Thai/Vietnamese/etc.
Sushi is the kiss of death. I claim some kind of aversion to it. Of course that's untrue, in Kesennuma Miyagi Japan they had (gone now) the finest sushi in Japan and I ate it up ;)
It's a delicate balance, protect your budget for the future, let loose a little dough so women don't hate you, and never give the impression that your cheapness is *permanent*.
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What if people just live somewhere but don't buy it?
In the Bay Area, in retirement Mexico, where ever.
That's me. A boomer on the threshold of retirement who owns nothing now and intends to buy nothing in the future. Not car, not house, none of it. Anywhere.
What comes of your speculation then?
Why do I need to own stuff when I can rent it for a fraction of the price? In the US, in Ecuador, in China? Why would I sink my hard earned money into a speculative venture when all I really want to do is live? I can live well without *owning* stuff.
What if more people like me stop buying losing propositions like real estate; we rent, we quit driving around in money sucking cars (we take the bus) we completely opt out of the ownership system?~(I have)~where does that land all of your speculative economic theories?
What happens then?
You quaintly think there aren't more people like me? People who realize that owning stuff is indentured servitude?
I had a meeting today with a financial planner and laid out my thoughts. Move somewhere outside the US, live off the stipends of minimal SSI and small other money, and just....exist. He was flabbergasted. Apparently no other client had ever come into his office without big plans for starting a business overseas and buying a place and making it big, big, bigger. My plan was small, small, smaller. We are 60 something Americans getting ready to drop off the radar.
Anybody with an ounce of good sense can see that buying property ANYWHERE is a risk that need not be taken. You can rent a place to live anywhere in the world and be money ahead. Roof over your head, done.
You real estate fools yammering amongst yourselves have each other convinced that money invested is money earned in the right amount in the right place in the right times and: voila! You're rich!
Meanwhile I'm sneaking out the back door, keeping my mouth shut and my money to myself and out of the taxman's hands....because I rent everything! And when I'm done with it I give it back to the owner who is paying the freight.
I do not understand the American obsession with *ownership*. I'm into the much cheaper and more useful *usership*.
People, you have been philosophically and financially fleeced.
#housing