Last night I had this great idea in the shower. I was going to make a post to illustrate the devastating impact of buying a house and selling sooner than five years. The crushing 6% realtor fee (huge relative to a 20% down payment), the missed opportunity cost of investing that down payment, the nefarious impact of taxes, insurance, maintenance, mortgage interest and closing costs. It would serve as an illustration of how the financial benefit of owning is really only reaped after many years of ownership.‎

Sometimes when discussing frugality I hear from people who spend $5,000/month (for example) and couldn’t dream of living on $4,000/month and investing the other $1,000.

Before you come at me, this exact comparison isn’t exactly fair for a couple reasons.‎ ‎ 1. Amazon Prime provides utility (free/faster shipping, streaming video,