Real estate

If you're 32 years old you should be married, have a well established job, and be thinking of your retirement. Ideally, you should also start looking for some real estate (careful nobody slips you some of the false kind); i mean, how and where will you live when you're old?

As a kid you watched cartoons that drilled into you the fable of the cicada and the ant in three or four different versions. In high school you read La Fontaine, and discussed his morals in Sunday school. You know workers contribute monthly, during fourty years, to private pension plans -- or instituted by the government, as they may be; you also know that when they retire it's not uncommon for them to have trouble making ends meet. People shake their heads and comment on the bad economy, saying that the old are too many to have to be supported by the present working force (those 40 years of contributions... well, that's like, before you were born, so technically they never existed).

So, it is wise to think ahead. Build around yourself as stable a situation as possible. Have a place to tether yourself to, so that no matter how the years flow, nothing can uproot you. Nothing can tempt you away. Pay back your loan for three decades and repaint the facade every three summers, so that if and when you reach old age... Well, you'll still have all that stability around you. Hopefully the loan will be fully paid, and someone can paint the facade for you when you can no longer climb the ladder yourself.

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I don't mind climbing ladders for my neighbours, and i think that, like me, there are many people who don't, either. And since there are always times in life when we need others to climb ladders for us, what is all the fuss about? We all get there, and either you're lucky to have someone who'll do it for you, or you won't.

Why are we so scared of getting old? And why are we so obsessed with paying?

We think of ancient Egypt and yes, we're awed by their achievements. But don't we also think they were deluded, to have organized their lives around the point beyond which it no longer existed? I mean, come on!!! Spend 40 years and the resources of a nation to build a pyramid around your yet non-existent corpse? Please!

Mind you, i'm not saying that old age is a dead time. I'm sure --i've seen-- it can be full of experiences, satisfying affections, learning, interests, passions, cares... And when i'm 82, i'll feel and do whatever it is i need to then. Now, however, i am not.

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Anyways, all of this came up because i read on the paper that there's a big slump in the real estate market in the US. I don't dare hope this means young people today are finally seeing the trap in front of them and refraining from falling into it. But it'd be great, wouldn't it?

Imagine: you can live anywhere you want. Everywhere there are good schools for your kids, good doctors, easy access to information. You work in what you want, and your earnings are not invested in catering to your fears (for if you're covering your ass 40 years in advance, that's who you're catering to), but in developing yourself, your community, your species, your planet. The idea is to maximize the availability of enjoyment and learning opportunities for everyone.

Imagine the challenge of building places for people to live just for the sheer fun of it. After all, people are there, resources are there, a nature to be respected is there. Interesting equation to balance out! And since all your needs are covered, and fun can be had any time you want... Well, you'll either find something demanding to occupy your attention, or die of boredom!

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This is the world i want to live in. I think it's possible.

It's also possible that if people content themselves with renting instead of buying real estate, this ends up falling in bulk into the hands of investors. At the beginning they rent it out at moderate prices, but as they become richer and richer, they begin to compete: they try to make more money to buy property off each other. They cut corners and prices go up. Since they have so much money, they control governments. Living standards fall. The Second Middle Ages are upon us.

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Seriously, though. Let's be realists. You live in society as it is today. It may still function by pretty similar rules in a few decades, when you're no longer able to work for money (as an argentinean, however, i can tell you: don't count on it). What will you do then?

Granted, one must think of the future to some extent. If you're living in the polar circle, not to have any jackets for the winter would be quite stupid, regardless of how sunny it's been lately, right? So, you'll save some money, get on board a nice private pension plan with ethically sound investments.

But why BUY a place to live? I don't want to worry about leaking roofs, rotting pipes, taxes, loan interests nor paint jobs. If i want to move, i don't want to get stuck due to it being the wrong time to sell.

I'd rather pay rent for living space and not hock my freedom.