So, some ants, a money pit, and the HVAC acting up. Sounds like the author just doesn't like regular maintenance of a house? I wonder if they also get angry with their car. You have to change the oil twice a year! What an inconvenience
I've run the numbers before and the cost of owning is pretty close to just catching an Uber every time I would otherwise drive, given I live an hour's walk from my city's center.
The only big benefit I get out of it is that I can drop everything and go on a camping / skiing trip several times a year. I certainly wouldn't buy a car now if I didn't own one, and if I could easily rent a car for outdoor trips, then I wouldn't have a reason to own one at all.
Ultimately it doesn't matter _that much_. You're going to get old, you're going to lose your health eventually, and then you're gonna die.
I used to think that way, the effects were long-term great (I have a good amount of savings now), but I recognise that there really was no need to be quite so extreme about it.
Sure, but probably not at 40, so you've kind of refuted yourself. Speaking as someone who flipped from renter to homeowner at 42.
Saving up for 20 years in an index fund and then buying as much house as you can pay for in cash seems like a reasonable plan to me, if you make the sort of money people on HN claim to.
But perhaps it doesn't make 'financial sense' to buy the house after those 20 years, right, because you'd be better off just holding the money in index funds (or at least you'd be better off treating the home as an investment and not actually developing an emotional attachment because then you'll never sell it).
What I'm saying is - you have to spend money eventually. Very few people are in a situation in which they can just stash away 10M, spend 1M of it, and have the majority of their funds exist as investment money, and thus act in this sort of 'financially optimal' way.
Unless they want to live an austere life - which again, is fine! But it's not literally the only way to live.
Had I bought a used Toyota (done that a few times now) it’d be even less. (I’ve always bought used - let some other sucker pay the initial depreciation) I drive my cars until they are about dead or look to be too expensive to maintain.
This is my only excuse for owning a vehicle, too. I can be spontaneous and do a thing that requires multiple people with coordination that Uber/Lyft can't provide.
If you're changing the oil on your vehicle twice a year you're either underutilizing the vehicle or ruining it.
Edit: also, if you are paying $75 for an oil change you are being over-charged and should learn to change it yourself instead.
2. $75 for an oil change including filter and synthetic oil is not an overcharge
3. I am more than able to change the oil on my vehicle myself, just as I'm able to adjust the derailleur cables on my bicycle and mow and edge my own lawn. Ask yourself whether you are overcharging yourself to do these things
I can put all of my bicycles on the stand and replace frayed cables and crimp aglets onto the ends, or I can put every single bicycle I own into the back of the truck and have the bike shop do it for me. It's not a question of whether I've improved myself, it's not a Don Sharp "Under the Hood" question whether I respect the work involved. It's a time and annoyance issue best left to people who earn less than I do.
If I'm dissatisfied with the pull on badly-run brake and shifting cables, or badly installed cable housings, I can complain and have them replaced. If the mistake is my own, I am left with a dilemma: How important is it to me, in terms of blood and treasure, to fix the problem myself? This creates a schism in my thinking about priorities and commitments.
Bike shops do not have this problem. They source parts in large quantities, they perform these tasks with regularity, and the customer is always right when he says "I want the featherweight Shimano DA cable, just get it from QBP or whomever, but do it."
The US average number of miles driven per person per day is very similar to the Texas average.
Also, the Texas average is (or was in 2009) less.[1]
[1]https://web.archive.org/web/20170709153626/http://www.rita.d...