Population decreases are already happening in modernized, wealthy countries, no need to do anything there. The poorer ones will end up starving as the climate collapses, so that’s basically taken care of too. Population collapse isn’t always good, though, somebody has to buy the goods and services.

Hah good username.

Nah, California is pretty great. I’d say it would be the place I’d move to if money weren’t an issue. As long as you can afford it, CA is an amazing place to live with widely varied culture, fantastic weather, and an incredible number of things to explore and experience.

You can find every biome across the state, and you can literally go surfing in the morning, drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and through beautiful, lush valleys, in perfect 72 and sunny weather, on your way to snowboard in the mountains for the afternoon, into a nice chilly overnight at the lodge, and back down the coast the next day, because the weather is perfect again.

That’s just one of the countless things to do in California. You’ll also get clean air, a comprehensive interstate highway system, better public services, a near infinite variety of food, and generally better quality of life than many other places.

CA isn’t perfect, but I can’t think of anywhere else that could ever match it for me.

I mean… I don’t know?

God I love credit unions.

Wrong https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped

More states are following.

Just because landlords have existed thousands of years doesn’t make the situation right. There are lots of harmful things society has been doing or did for thousands of years. Feudalism isn’t one of the high points of humanity, to say the least.

If he lived in his primary residence and did honest, productive work (Or hell, even just collect disability, pension, SS, every damn cent the government will give them, I’m all for that!) There would be 3 more houses that families could buy as primary residences (in an ideal world). Yes, I know there is nuance, PE firms like Black Rock and speculators will probably buy some of them up, etc. etc. so you don’t need to “actually” me here, just work with me here on the ideal that those houses would be bought fair and square by primary residents.

Home prices would be lower if landlords weren’t hoarding them, and 3% + PMI would be lower as a result. It’s simple supply and demand, most kids learn about that in Jr. High School. And when certain people hoard supply, there is less supply to meet the demand, therefore higher prices on the demand side. They are sucking value out of society and not giving back or doing an hour of fair work. Providing housing for over-inflated prices without giving equity is not giving back, it’s just taking. When landlords talk high and mightily about charging “fair rent prices,” that’s code for “as much as the market will let me exploit them.”

It’s easy to see everything as fair when you’re out of touch on top of an ivory tower.

Yep, your priorities will change, those big plans you had 15 years ago might not seem so important now, and that’s perfectly OK.

You’re making passive income from disability, a pension system that no longer exists, and owning 3 houses you didn’t pay for based off of programs no longer available to anyone starting out now. While collecting “market rate” rent (which conveniently always increases).

The disability, I’m fine with. My buddy had the same thing from the Marines and he more than earned the 100% rating, as I’m sure you and your wife did.

However, this whole thing where you’re talking about with retiring off of passive income… that was a LOT of words to say:

I’m a landlord

I really wish you would have said this first, because your long winded story about houses and “passive income streams” gives me the impression that you know the house-related part all boils down to being a landlord, and I get the impression you buried that fact to obfuscate it. You’re making money from other people’s work, in the form of the rent they pay to you (minus a small fee to the property managers), while doing literally no work yourself, as you explicitly explained.