I mean my heat is included in my rent, it doesn't change no matter how much I use it. I pay 650/mo in rent including heat and water and I have it like 75F in the winter...

I'm just a single guy, why do I need more than a small apartment which is like 1/4 the monthly cost of a home mortgage payment. I put the other 3/4 of that cost into index funds. Also saves me time not having to do things like mow and shovel which is quite valuable to me.

I said family which isn’t a reality for you yet.

I suppose you do say family. For me I don't really plan on having a family, so it semes like renting will always be a better option. Perhaps mainly because they don't really make houses small enough to match the cost of renting, or at least not in the area I want to be in.

Land ownership is powerful but I hear you.

I have been renting the same unit for 15 years now. It was 400/mo when I moved in 15 years ago, and it's 650/mo now, 15 years later.

I have paid about 90K in rent now over the last 15 years and this also includes water and heat.

My friends with houses in my area pay about that much in property taxes plus heat that I pay for rent...

I pay this small amount and make 6 figures and I put the majority of my income into index funds. I am fairly sure that I am coming out way ahead of a house. Plus how do you put a value on the time sink for maintenance and upkeep? Mowing, shoveling, etc.

Again, you are truly blessed. I've lived in multiple places (California) where the rent increases by the maximum allowed amount every year ($100-$200). None of your friends refer to their houses as "units", do they? You can't compare your situation with theirs lol

Why shouldn't I compare though? I have looked at buying a house multiple times and I can't make it make sense personally. It's so much more expensive and more work. I just need a place to cook and sleep and keep my things.

650/month is incredible. My mortgage payment is almost eight thousand dollars.

I really only need a small apartment, anything more would be a waste for me. I just need a place to cook/eat and sleep, and keep my things.

I have been renting 15 years and have never once even really thought about my landlord...

I pay them on the portal and if something needs fixing I put in a maintenance request and they get it fixed. That's all i've ever thought about with them.

I rented for somewhere around 20 years before I was finally able to buy a house, and I hated every minute of it. I've had a landlord (in Arizona) tell me that it's normal for an air conditioner to only be able to reduce the temp by 10 degrees. I've had a landlord decide to convert the complex into condos and tell me I would have to let potential buyers into my home before my lease was even up. I can't even remember all the times I've had disputes over various repairs.

There was a period of about 5 or 6 years where each year I would get a raise at work, only to have my rent increase by almost the same amount, so I could never get ahead.

So yeah, ymmv, but for me I'll never rent again.

Like anything I am sure there are good and bad experiences.

I mean both my pay and rent go up by about 3% each year, barring some position change, but 3% of a 100K salary is $3000 more a year. 3% of a 650/mo rent like I pay is $230 more a year. So not even 10% of my raise is eaten by the rent increase.

You're incredibly blessed

I live in an apartment owned by a larger company, the rent raises really slowly in my experience, Like 3% per year. I have been at my unit for 15 years now, never had any problem or regret anything about it.

I pay only 650/mo for rent though. My friends with homes around me pay about what I pay in rent in their home property taxes alone... Or especially once you add in some utilities, like my heat is included in my rent and I can have my place at like 75F all winter if I want.

Also yes they replaced the dish washer and refrigerator with new ones before they broke or died while I've been there.

But you rent a studio and they have a 4 bed house. You compare apples and oranges

That's what I'd be curious to know. Are they the same people who are booing it who are also using it?

How many of those booing used AI to do some of their homework?

I am trying to understand how many of the students are complaining about AI when they themselves may have been using it a great deal. Because that seems hypocritical.

I can be pressured to use it at work to keep up with others who use it, while simultaneously knowing that it is eroding and devaluing my skills, and wishing that we could all stop using it together.

In what world do students need to use it for coursework to "keep up"?

I see no positive outcome for using it as a student where your whole existence is to learn the material yourself.

It is not hypocritical to hate tool you use. Likewise, it is not hypocritical to dislike people you work or live with.

And it is not hypocritical at all to hate or dislike or fear impact of a thing you used.

So do an exercise that you actually enjoy and want to be doing.

I play pickleball 10h a week and absolutely love the time spent playing. So there is no wasted time here. I spend all my exercise time doing something fun that I love doing, and it improves my health outcomes at the same time.

But does this act like a debit account?

What I like about a credit card are things like you are buying on credit, not using money in your account directly. So in the case of fraud or issue a chargeback it's been much easier to get credit card transactions reverted rather than get money put back into my debit account.

Also I like credit cards for the rewards, cash back or especially travel points. But also things like extended warranty coverage and other perks.

> But does this act like a debit account?

Yeah, it's a debit account. I'm in Spain and use Bizum frequently. It's just a "pay from your bank account" system.

You mostly type in your phone number, get a notification (or text, depends on the bank) and open up your banking app and approve the transaction.

You can send money person to person as well.

Many European countries have a similar system. Wero is "just" stitching the national systems together into a EU wide one.

Credit cards with rewards and points are pretty rare in Europe, and if they do exist, pale in comparison to what you can get in the US/Canada. It depends on how you look at it, but it's kinda good. The EU caps credit card transaction fees at 0.3% and debit transactions at 0.2% iirc, versus in the US/Canada where they are frequently 2-3%. In theory this cost is just passed onto the consumer, so paying an extra 2-3% to get 2-3% back in points or whatever.

The nasty element of that reward situation, and why I am deeply in favour of the European choice here, is that while some people get nice rewards, some people just pay much higher prices and don't get rewards. So this actually worsens the divide between rich and poor to an extent, and that's just bad policy.

> Also I like credit cards for the rewards, cash back or especially travel points. But also things like extended warranty coverage and other perks.

Much of this is funded by inflated interchange fees paid by merchants (and thus inflating the cost of goods for everyone). Ideally you would just pay for the added value you see (fraud protection, charge disputes, supplemental insurance) rather than those costs being externalized to other buyers.

This is where American and European mindsets differ vastly.

We spend what we have. Our spending is directly reflected in one’s balance. We’re insensitive to rewards for spending money.

This is spot on. I consider myself an outlier, but only since not long ago. I’ve been using a credit card for everything but only because it gets me points I can exchange for miles on some airlines or exchange for gift cards.

I wish the “old school” banks here were more competitive in this regard.

Wero uses your existing debit account, it's not a separate account.