AKA Chuckie V, at mile 1595 of the Pacific Crest Trail:

Things like this disturb me. How is someone supposed to afford to live in California? To me, it’s not a fair trade (and, in fact, a rather fatuous one) to give up thirty years of your life just to pay for a roof over your head. In reality (and realty), $300,000 is only part of the expense. “But it’s an investment,” one might say. “Ha!” I respond, “and a huge one at that!” Besides, let’s say your “investment” increases in value, as it assuredly will. So too then will everything around it. Then, when it comes time to sell and capitalize on that investment, where will you move? Since everything else has increased in value, you can now not afford to move, unless Kansas is an option. The thing is, Americans love working and love owning things, so house prices will continue to rise. This is why those of us out here are investing in a different kind of future: a fulfilled life, making memories, not money.

The way I figure it, when the time of your last breath arrives, no amount of money will buy you another one.

(Some of us live in California by renting a place we like rather than mortgaging our lives to a place we hate.)