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freak80
@
2012 Jul 5, 9:32pm
People, you have been philosophically and financially fleeced.
In California, New York City, DC, and Boston that is quite true.
In most other places, if you have a secure job and plan to stay put for 10 years, you *might* be better off buying a small house instead of renting.
See Patrick's "House Value Calculator" above.
Can you rent weed?
Didn't think so
Put that rented bunch of nothing,,,in your pipe and pretend to smoke it. Let me know how you make out
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?
Rent prices increase dramatically. Companies fold and more jobs are lost. Basically the whole economy would fall apart.
You quaintly think there aren't more people like me? People who realize that owning stuff is indentured servitude?
I guess I could rent forever, eat ramen, cut my cable and internet, and go straight home after work...just exist, as you put it. They key is to find a healthy balance; you can still spend money, even buy things (gasp), and still not be an indentured servant. I work to live, not live to work. For some people, buying a home is the right decision for them, you just have to be smart about it. I am still waiting to own until it is right for me.
Slightly off topic, but the vast majority of the elderly "just exists" because they saved up no money. That's a sad way to live the next 20-30 years, dirt poor, living in pain, watching QVC. If I were president I'd bring back Kevorkian methods so that the elderly could spend freely until they run out, then do themselves in instead of being a vegetable in a home waiting for death.
freak80
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2012 Jul 5, 9:55pm
If I were president I'd bring back Kevorkian methods so that the elderly could spend freely until they run out, then do themselves in instead of being a vegetable in a home waiting for death.
You'd have Death Panels(tm)?
You'd have Death Panels(tm)?
In the beginning I'd just give them the option. Live in pain on a rocker for 20 years or see the world and have a blast for 2, then be able to say goodbye to all your loved ones and have a pain free death? I bet a good amount would take the offer.
freak80
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2012 Jul 5, 10:13pm
In the beginning I'd just give them the option. Live in pain on a rocker for 20 years or see the world and have a blast for 2, then be able to say goodbye to all your loved ones and have a pain free death? I bet a good amount would take the offer.
http://www.theonion.com/video/social-security-reform-bill-encourages-americans-t,21006/
lisalisa
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2012 Jul 5, 10:13pm
this is getting creepy... I don't mind living with less, but come on Stout... there is something called friendship... something called family... things that are priceless.
going off on a mini elderly dissertation... not going there... bad juju...... I'm out....
Let the elderly grow their own weed, and smoke it. They will be content living forever. I know its not as awesome as being doped up on a litany of pharmaceuticals and locked away in a prison errrr I mean nursing home, but if I was old, id opt for that
Gardening is fun
Have you ever grown weed, high on weed?
this is getting creepy... I don't mind living with less, but come on Stout... there is something called friendship... something called family... things that are priceless.
I love my cat but when it gets too old I do the humane thing and put it down. It's always sad but it's the right thing to do.
For some reason with humans it's incredibly taboo to consider. All I'm saying is when I'm old and have X dollars, I'd rather not try to spread that out over an unknown amount of years, because it means I'm not able to splurge not knowing how long my money needs to last. This is all assuming I don't become a nursing home vegetable, watching TV and hoping my kids and grandkids come visit me this week. For many people, retirement could be their one chance to do all the things in life they never got to do...and it only works if they don't have to make their money last for an unknown amount of time.
No, I'd much prefer to live it up in retirement until I'm all cashed out while I'm stil mobile and my mind is still strong, then leave the world in a humane way. I should at least have the option, but no, society dictates that I sit around and penny pinch while my mind decays.
No, I'd much prefer to live it up in retirement until I'm all cashed out while I'm stil mobile and my mind is still strong, then leave the world in a humane way. I should at least have the option, but no, society dictates that I sit around and penny pinch while my mind decays.
Trying to change the world is lame, won't happen.
But your point about not owning shit, I'm right there with you. Within the past year I've literally purged my life of every consumable good that I haven't used regularly in the last year, sold it all or gave it away. Somehow we just acquire all this stupid shit and never throw it out. Then I stopped buying stuff, everything unless I really need it. There are no more days of "shopping" where I roam the mall or stores looking aimlessly for shit to buy. And if you think about it that is just stupid anyways, "shopping." You should only purchase things that you have a need for and seek out the best quality on price.
I've cancelled cable TV, don't pay for any cellphone or internet service, have a company car, and live on a lake which is essentially a free vacation every weekend in the summer. The clarity and freedom from not owning shit is amazing. In the end, that jetski or that nice car or that piece of property you own, you don't really own it. Because you need to pay for it, (usually in monthly installments) which means you need to work to pay for it, and you have to insure it, worry about maintaining it, spend your weekend on its upkeep...Your shit owns you.
don't pay for any cellphone or internet service
How are you on this forum? Do you ride your bike to the library? Or do you goof off at work?
How are you on this forum? Do you ride your bike to the library? Or do you goof off at work?
Company pays for everything at my house.
freak80
@
2012 Jul 5, 11:08pm
Gardening is fun
Have you ever grown weed, high on weed?
I didn't know it was possible to grow Twinkies in my garden.
Comments 1 - 14 of 123 Next » Last » Search these comments
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