We finally closed on our new house the week before Thanksgiving, finalizing my move back to Appalachia (although I’d already been in my empty apartment for a couple months). This is our third house, and we are still in our thirties. Which probably isn’t that impressive. Even these days, the age of the average first-time homebuyer is only 32. The three houses thing is mostly a function of repeatedly moving across the country. I am proud that we went from 5% down to 10% to 20% down.
Dave Ramsey is fond of saying that young couples want to start with the standard of living it took their parents 35 years to build. It is a good point, and a lot of people need to hear it. But I exceeded my parents’ standard of living the day I walked out of grad school. I’ve been broke since then, but I haven’t been poor. Broke and poor aren’t the same thing. I’ve been well off, broke, and poor—there is a very clear hierarchy among the three.
I’ve never lived the way my parents did. Doing it as a kid isn’t the same.

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