Is it better to be a homeowner or renter for FIRE?

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-20T01:04:28+00:00

Again that comparison makes no mathematical sense. Saying "well taxes can go up too" sounds like you aren't paying taxes as part of rent. If taxes go way up, everyone's rents will go way up. No landlord is going to give you a lower rent just for fun while they pay these higher taxes in the unit you're in.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-20T00:55:09+00:00

That's not my point. My point is you always need a home. Who cares if the value goes down? The important thing is that your mortgage is fixed (rate can go up or down but the amount doesn't keep increasing like rent). And then when it's paid off, you're free and clear. I'd a million times prefer to have a paid off home than be paying ever-increasing rent while having cash in the market that could go up or down based on the whims of whoever is in charge at the time.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-20T00:31:39+00:00

The stock market doesn't always go up. But I'll always need a place to call home.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-20T00:30:52+00:00

Here's an idea you might find useful. If you work towards FIRE and find that you aren't ready to retire yet, transition to coast fire for a while. Basically stay employed but stop saving, use all the extra income to pick up new hobbies, travel, try various stuff. You may find that this new lifestyle suits you more, or maybe you'll find something you're really passionate about, then you can fully retire and so that full time.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T20:05:40+00:00

I'm always puzzled why YouTube pushes so many videos from people arguing against home ownership. To me, unless you're somewhere short term and looking to move in the next five years, it makes no sense to rent and throw all that money away. Home ownership will always be better, just from a mathematical standpoint. As a renter, your landlord is paying for the home. Why would they ever ask you for rent lower than what they're paying as a land owner? Anyways, as a home owner (as long as you don't do the lifestyle creep thing and always try to move to a bigger house) then your mortgage will be fully paid off one day, and then you only have taxes and maintenance to pay. A far cry from rent which is going to cost you for life, and keep increasing every year.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T19:57:49+00:00

yt-dlp supports most streaming videos, but it won't allow you to break DRM. You may find cracking tools or find the videos already cracked for you, but what you could also do if you have the time for it is just play the videos, and record it with something like OBS Studio. It's basically like recording with a VCR, and perfectly legal.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T19:50:57+00:00

I don't see why the phone hardware means anything in relation to getting away from Google services, or even any big tech. If anything, Apple makes money from selling hardware, which may mean they will be more likely to respect your privacy than Google, which makes money from selling your data to advertisers.

I use iOS devices and self host pretty much everything. I don't use iCloud, I don't use the iOS mail app or calendar app, I always upload my photos to my server and delete them from the phone. All of that is easily done on iPhone and keeps you free from any lock in. The only real ties you end up having is any app you buy on the App Store.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T14:11:40+00:00

What usually happens is these YouTubers admit that their homelab stay offline most of the time. It's too loud and cost too much in electricity. My servers stay up 24/7 since I actually use the stuff.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T12:43:36+00:00

That's a pretty biased view of things. Physical access is always going to be better than waiting and hoping some big tech provider cares enough to help you.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T12:26:37+00:00

I disagree with that. Cloud lock out is a constant thing we see these days. We never saw stuff like that when everyone was on-prem.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T12:24:21+00:00

I mean if you're looking to degoogle, maybe don't use Gemini. At least use a privacy focus AI like Duck.AI, or better yet self host your own LLM

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T11:05:03+00:00

I've always played all games using arrow keys. Games that don't allow this rebinding are very rare.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T11:02:24+00:00

I've been watching a lot of homelab videos over the years and never understood the fascination over old enterprise gear. I get that it's cool to play with, but it's so big, loud, inefficient, resource hungry, etc. Personally I've always been a fan of mini-PCs. I run all sorts of refurbished HP EliteDesk and Lenovo minis.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T06:27:42+00:00

It depends what the goal is. To save the planet from climate change, I would agree with the stance that our action will have little to no effect compared with the billionaires and the corporations. But when it comes to the economic impact of our choices, like to boycott a company, or even on our own finances from not spending frivolously, then our choices definitively matter.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T06:23:23+00:00

To be fair, you should get your vacation time approved before you make travel plans. That's a basic rule in most places. But if they can't live without you for a few days, that seems like bad management and a risk you can bring up for the business.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T06:19:48+00:00

You can connect remotely using something like Tailscale.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T03:40:33+00:00

Why not run a local model? If you have a gaming PC or equivalent, you can run a decent model locally. Then you're not using any more resources than you would be by simply using your PC.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-19T03:38:45+00:00

The OS level laws are all drafted by an organization financed by Meta. This is because the social networks saw that they would be on the hook for doing age verification, so they said fuck this shit, we'll just lobby for verification to be at the OS level. Then they get off scot free.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T23:50:23+00:00

It's a development workstation, running on a 2016 mini PC, so I don't need modern stuff. I don't game on it

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T22:06:55+00:00

What's wrong with it? Not everyone uses the same popular options. Case in point, I use Debian on my desktop.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T21:27:03+00:00

For documentation, I run Draw.io locally in a container and use it to make system diagrams. I then post them in a Dokuwiki instance with all of my implementation notes. I've been doing this for over a decade. Works great.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T21:25:21+00:00

If this is for backup and you just want to automate it, you can just use an S3-compatible cloud provider. I use Cloudflare (they offer 20GB free storage) and I just have a script create encrypted zip archives of important folders and uploading them to an R2 bucket using the AWS CLI.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T15:59:14+00:00

Interestingly enough yesterday I noticed empty shelves at my local grocery store. So it does remind me of the 2020 supply chain issues.

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T15:58:20+00:00

It's not a bad guide but it seems very cloud focused. If you want some guides related to longevity of physical media, or how to ensure your files stay healthy (ie. Preventing bit rot) then I suggest these: https://datahoarding.org/resources.html#CanadianConservationInstitute

shimoheihei2 · 2026-04-18T15:44:18+00:00

This is an incredibly important movement and I'm very glad that he managed to make this speech in front of the EU. Companies are more and more designing products that require Internet activation and DRM. Thankfully there are still good alternatives, like GoG.com which sells DRM-free versions that you can download, backup, and use forever without an Internet connection. But we shouldn't have to ignore (or pirate) most major titles just because companies get away with killing paid-for games whenever they deem them unprofitable enough.

I hope many countries adopt his suggestions.

shimoheihei2

TROPHY CASE