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Author Topic: CityNerd on FIRE  (Read 3766 times)

Askel

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CityNerd on FIRE
« on: October 09, 2024, 10:33:40 AM »
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkt7hlI1Xek
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Log

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2024, 11:54:18 AM »
I am shocked, shocked I tell you. /s

He has definitely hinted at it before with his "Cost of Car Ownership" video and various cost-of-living analyses.

MMM definitely contributed to my urbanist radicalization, and my political commitment to the cause of urbanism is heavily influenced by financial considerations at both the personal and municipal level. We can all live individually richer lives in urban places that allow us to walk or bike instead of drive, and collectively get more bang for our tax dollar by building dense concentrations of high-value buildings that are serviced by efficient infrastructure.

I inherited a car when I was in undergrad, and sold it before grad school in NYC. I've been car-free ever since and love it on the merits, not just as some kind of sacrifice in order to save money. CityNerd expressed beautifully in this video how transportation constraints reducing optionality is actually a positive: "not owning a car is a form of voluntary simplicity that removes all kinds of extraneous, stupid stuff from your mental space, and lets you spend your braincells on things that actually matter."
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Chaplin

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2024, 10:28:03 AM »
Definitely a good one. I always thought he was on the same wavelength, but it's interesting that was a full-on adherent, including having his "number" and disliking the term "retirement" as I think we pretty much all do.
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roomtempmayo

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2024, 11:26:47 AM »
My favorite part was his panning of the Cheesecake Factory.  Do they still exist?!
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DeepEllumStache

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2024, 07:55:45 PM »
His videos always fit in nicely with FIRE ideals. Fun to see the direct reference to it.
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Chaplin

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2024, 11:06:30 PM »
Quote from: roomtempmayo on October 16, 2024, 11:26:47 AM
My favorite part was his panning of the Cheesecake Factory.  Do they still exist?!

It's a running gag in his videos to refer to having access to the Cheesecake Factory as a measure of transportation or urbanism success. It would appear that they still exist.
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johndoe

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2024, 07:32:18 AM »
Quote from: Log on October 09, 2024, 11:54:18 AM
CityNerd expressed beautifully in this video how transportation constraints reducing optionality is actually a positive: "not owning a car is a form of voluntary simplicity that removes all kinds of extraneous, stupid stuff from your mental space, and lets you spend your braincells on things that actually matter."
for instance, you spend your brain cells wondering when that damn bus / train will actually arrive (mostly sarcasm).  I'm also a routine viewer of his, and someone who works in a somewhat-related field as he previously did - so it's cool to see these topics intersect.  I don't agree with everything he says, but it's an interesting approach. 

One thing I'd push back on is the annual cost of cars / cost-saving of urban life: for instance the $12k he showed (which agrees with a value I just saw online per AAA on nerdwallet).  I don't think a budget-conscious person (and one pondering 'car-free') would get close to this value over a long term.  And the 2nd big part is housing cost delta: I don't recall urbanists doing videos comparing the increase of housing costs when going into the core versus 'non McMansion' budget-conscious suburbs.  I'd be surprised if 'suburban real estate plus car' was really more expensive than 'urban core plus transit' - obviously there are many variables (including time, which he brought up nicely), but in general I wonder how that shakes out.
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314159

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2024, 06:38:48 PM »
Love that CityNerd has publicly shown his Mustachianism! Mustachianism and urbanism are natural fits for each other. Between when I found MMM in 2018 and now, I've become much more familiar with urbanism, and it makes some old MMM articles like this one hit different.
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Log

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2024, 12:45:06 AM »
Quote from: 314159 on October 21, 2024, 06:38:48 PM
Love that CityNerd has publicly shown his Mustachianism! Mustachianism and urbanism are natural fits for each other. Between when I found MMM in 2018 and now, I've become much more familiar with urbanism, and it makes some old MMM articles like this one hit different.

That’s one of my favorite MMM posts, and the book he is referencing is excellent. MMM’s “Rent vs Buy” post and The True Cost of Commuting should be required reading for… everyone.
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41_swish

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Re: CityNerd on FIRE
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2024, 01:08:13 PM »
The best thing that I have learned from the urbanism crowd and the FIRE crowd is that cars are wealth killers. These two groups inspired me to hang onto my paid off car instead of trading it in for something newer and ultimately a monthly payment.

Urbanism and FIRE are definitely related.

I think the video also talked about factoring in your total transportation cost alongside your housing costs when you chose where to live.
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