Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You live in a market with $800k houses down the road but your apartment is $1300/mo? Yes that is correct. Ladd's Addition in, Portland, OR. The floor for fixer-upper houses within a half mile might be $500k but I see $800k+ very regularly. I'm sure you can find something to quibble with here though. Somehow in my 40-year life I've always managed to find small, cheap, shitty apartments in good neighborhoods. I guess…
> I put a few thousand into index funds each month. I could easily buy a house with cash in a place where I'm not excited to live. But why would I? I don't want a house. I like my cheap small shitty apartment because it's in a great neighborhood. My money's growing just fine. I have enough. Because you’re not lighting rent money on fire every month. I’m sorry you can’t understand this, and all I wanted to do was help…
I'm not lighting it on fire! I'm getting a place to live.
The homeowner is also lighting money on fire every month! They don't get a check back from the roofing company when they sell their house. They don't get a rebate from GE for the stove they bought 20 years ago. They get the benefit of having a stove in their house and a roof on their home.
In 20 or 30 years or whatever I have a Vanguard account with a couple hundred thousand dollars in it. In 20 or 30 years the homeowner sells and gets a big check as a result. Why do I care if their check is bigger than my Vanguard account?