> Houses here cost 1/3 or 1/4 of what they do in a big city.
And salaries are also lower. People don't move to the big city because they want to live there. They go there to study and then to make money so that they can afford any kind of real estate in their home town.
> Everyone just finds whatever job that enables them to do those things, and the priority is life, not work.
The condition of your quote above is that you already own real estate, which isn't true for but a few from the younger generations. Or that you live with your parents until you're 60 years old. Other than that, the deal is "get the hell out" and you're only welcome back if you can purchase some real estate.
It's true what you say about working online though, but then suddenly the whole world is open to you.
Yes, they are. But it's fine because we've all stepped out of the rat race, and the goal of our lives is not simply to earn more money, or as much as possible. The goal of our lives is to live more, so that's what we do.
None of my friends has a new car, or phone, or even a TV. We all have used skis and duct tape on our clothes. We are not "rich" in the money sense.
We also don't work much, and ski and mountain bike a lot.
> The condition of your quote above is that you already own real estate
Not at all. Of all the 30-somethings I know that live here, none of them lived here more than 5 years ago, they all bought in the last 5 years.
Houses here cost a lot less than bigger cities, and it is completely possible to buy a house on a single income. My partner works 4 days a week and bought a 4 bed/2 bath house less than 5 minutes walk from the main street. She saved for the deposit herself, and met the mortgage requirements on her single income.
> suddenly the whole world is open to you
Well, yes. That's why we choose to live in a quaint little mountain town where we can ski for half the year and work as little as possible.
Something is making our perspectives very different, and I'm trying to understand how. A new phone is less than a months rent, so is a TV. A new car is cheap compared to real estate. So those things are far from a marker of wealth.
Most people aren't in the rat race because they have an insatiable greed. They are there because they are desperate to have a roof over their head. If they can sort it out, almost everybody will be cool with chilling with a barbecue and riding quads in the woods instead of preparing a powerpoint to suck up to the boss.
> Not at all. Of all the 30-somethings I know that live here, none of them lived here more than 5 years ago, they all bought in the last 5 years.
That's what I'm getting at. You and your friends moved in because you could. You either had some real estate money from elsewhere to use to get established, or big city salaries to pay for cheap real estate there. The people born there who don't have real estate have to get the hell out (not because of people moving in), and go to a big city to try making some wealth to one day purchase real estate.
If you're born in a small town you usually have no chance of making enough money in the small town to purchase for a home in the small town you were born. So people move away, and then when they are finally established money-wise some 20 years later, they've lost connection with that small town they were born in, and instead shop around for where to live.
> Something is making our perspectives very different, and I'm trying to understand how
Out perspectives are different because I used to be in the rat race, and I used to believe it wasn't possible to get out, and I didn't understand how or why people could ski half the year and not work much and still make ends meet.
I've been doing it myself now since 2009 (taking years completely away from work to drive around the world even) and so I not only understand that it is possible, I live it first hand every day.
> A new phone is less than a months rent, so is a TV. A new car is cheap compared to real estate. So those things are far from a marker of wealth.
I think this is one of the major things that people don't understand when it comes to saving money, spending less and working less. This is where the whole "Don't drink a coffee every day and you'll be set".
The reason I bring up those things is because I literally don't earn enough money to have them. If I had those, I would have to work more. I'm right on that line. And for me, not having them means more freedom from work, so I choose not to have them.
So do many, many other people in this little mountain town.
> Most people aren't in the rat race because they have an insatiable greed. They are there because they are desperate to have a roof over their head. If they can sort it out, almost everybody will be cool with chilling with a barbecue and riding quads in the woods instead of preparing a powerpoint to suck up to the boss.
In my experience, while that sounds like it makes sense, it is not true. I give talks and seminars about how I'm able to spend less, take years off work and have grand adventures around the world. I go into great detail about the financials of it all, and what a person would need to do to be able to afford something similar.
Then without fail I have ten people tell me to my face they can't afford it, while making car payments, phone payments, using every streaming service, eating out 5 nights a week and whatever else.
People want all those conveniences, and going to work "full time" is the only way to get it. So they do. They don't want to cook their own food, chop their own firewood and buy used things.
> You either had some real estate money from elsewhere to use to get established, or big city salaries to pay for cheap real estate there
No we did not. We had neither of those things. We didn't hack the market in any way. Everyone works a pretty ordinary job for this area, and they can afford an ordinary house for this area. Again, in the same way we don't have car payments, none of us has a big new house either - because we don't want those things.
> The people born there who don't have real estate have to get the hell out (not because of people moving in), and go to a big city to try making some wealth to one day purchase real estate.
That is not true at all. The dental hygienist who cleaned my teeth today has lived here her whole life. She's just turned 40, has a 4 year old, bought a house a few years back.
You're on the outside not understanding how it actually works, and I get that. It made absolutely no sense to me either, and I spent years thinking "I wish I could do that.. too bad I can't". But actually I could.
I feel like this is the standard Reddit meme that is on the front page every day that says "You're telling me I have to go to work, commute, grocery shop, cook, clean, maybe have half an hour to myself and do it all again tomorrow? Shoot me now".
If you choose that life, then yes, that's correct.
But there are other choices out there.
Loved your comment, and I'd reply to it with some thoughts of my own, but since it's been a day it's going to be buried, so I'll just leave it like this.
I just want to say I only saw grecy's comment because of yours showing up on the new comment page and I think it's beautiful and would be interested in hearing a tiny sliver of your thoughts about it.
> People don't move to the big city because they want to live there. They go there to study and then to make money so that they can afford any kind of real estate in their home town.
I've lived everywhere, including in big metropolis cities. In general, people do not want to leave the community they were born in, unless influences and factors beyond their control force them to. Including of course the people who were born in the cities.
And salaries are also lower. People don't move to the big city because they want to live there. They go there to study and then to make money so that they can afford any kind of real estate in their home town.
> Everyone just finds whatever job that enables them to do those things, and the priority is life, not work.
The condition of your quote above is that you already own real estate, which isn't true for but a few from the younger generations. Or that you live with your parents until you're 60 years old. Other than that, the deal is "get the hell out" and you're only welcome back if you can purchase some real estate.
It's true what you say about working online though, but then suddenly the whole world is open to you.
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