The Big Apple takes a bite!

[Candleometry]

Going by average car expenses, which are now around $12K annually per the AAA, a person can easily save half a million or more over their adult life by ditching the car. Granted, you can own a car for less if you're willing to do most of the work yourself but it's still a hassle and a big expense. If you consider average investment returns you can easily be a millionaire by the time you retire by investing that $12K each year. I think you would easily have at least low 6 figures in your bank account by now if it were possible to not own a car. While people talk about moving to save money on taxes, I look at what those taxes buy. My extra taxes by virtue of living in NYC are far less than the average cost of owning a car. Then there are the savings on health care since I'm forced to move around more in my daily life. Just hitting the three groceries within walking distance to look for sales is easily two miles of walking.

My first answer to anyone seeking to get their finances in order is to ditch their car(s) if at all possible. That includes doing calculations like how much extra a car may allow them to earn versus taking a job they can walk or bike or take transit to.

E-bikes can make great car substitutes if you're in a place with sparse transit.

Mr. Money Mustache advocates for car-free cities:

Less Cars, More Money: My Visit to the City of the Future

. In my role as Mr. Money Mustache, I do my best to be your one-stop-shop for Lifestyle Guru ideas. So over the years we’ve covered not just the Money side of life, but also the even more important…

www.mrmoneymustache.com

This would be the single biggest thing we could do to improve the average standards of living.

I spent a good portion of my adult life getting a new care every few years. Sometimes leasing and sometimes purchasing. Why? Because I could I guess. The last car I bought was my 2018 Subaru Forester. I still have it and love it. I now think about how much money I am saving by not continuing to throw money away on something I really didn’t need to do. Better late than never.

 

[alpg88]

Whether you own your car or lease it depreciates just the same, I did the math, if I financed it then traded in after warranty is expired i'd lose even more, for last 20 years I only lease, my payment is about half of what it would be if I financed, i have no repairs or maintenance, except oil changes, and an air filter one time, tire rotation, which I all do myself. New cars are not worth owning past warranty, they make it harder and harder to repair yourself, in some new cars if you disconnect the battery, you can't just reconnect it, it would not work, you need dealer to reset something, using special tool that they have, which is very expensive, in some cars to replace timing belt on schedule, you need entire front clip removed, not to mention quality of after market parts is going to chit, and dealer parts are very expensive, f that, I lease new every 3 years and have 0 headaches and expenses. not to mention I benefit from most advanced safety features, which actually did save me from crashing once or twice. If i were gonna get old car it would be 1995-2005, not older, not newer, those are still repairable. and not too old

 

[russprechtl]

I notice that my Safety & Emissions Inspection sticker/certificate is going to expire in three days!

There's your NYS Fee for breathing...your Safety and Emissions Inspection. I remember having to get one of those when I lived near Ithaca. I had to get one in TX when I lived South of Dallas, too. West TX, LA, OK, IL, and IN don't require them, however.

 

[TPA]

That's 48% in taxes!
View attachment 91261

Rate would be for an Arlo hotel. I'm guessing their Midtown location. $133/nt base rate in NYC? wow have rates dropped over the past 10 years.

Nope! Just in my head, sell first, find a place near my support system, transfer jobs (thankfully don't need to hunt for a new one). Have all my stuff shipped over. Realistically, all of that will take about a year.

If you want a security job in FL, let me know. I have a few friends in the business. Plenty of different jobs, decent pay.

Moving is often cited as the second most stressful endeavor, second only to the death of a family member.

I had three moves in 1 month (moving my fiancé, moving my stuff out of the condo I was putting her up in, remodeling the condo, and moving my dad from a nursing home into assisted living). Exhausting month.

NYC/NYS exempts the first $20K in pensions or IRAs/401Ks from income tax. 100% of NYC/NYS government pensions are exempt. That's a perk to keep people from moving away when they retire.

Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, New Hampshire exempt 100% of your income from being taxed.

Absolutely! Unless you're headed to NYC because you work for a company paying high rates for you to transfer here, it's not worth it. If you have talent and are genuinely ready to pursue an acting or artistic career, okay. Give NYC a serious shot. Otherwise, only come here as a tourist.

No thanks. From what people tell me, the place absolutely reeks of weed these days, homeless and immigrant gangs are everywhere. Taxes and prices are through the roof.

I live in the state of NY but have never been to NYC. No desire to. Too many other beautiful towns within the state.

The NY Visitor's Bureau has been working overtime on promoting the non-NYC areas, I see:

 

[dc38]

I had three moves in 1 month

LUCKY. I have at least one movement a day. Sometimes a few if I'm not feeling too hot.

 

[Candleometry]

Whether you own your car or lease it depreciates just the same, I did the math, if I financed it then traded in after warranty is expired i'd lose even more, for last 20 years I only lease, my payment is about half of what it would be if I financed, i have no repairs or maintenance, except oil changes, and an air filter one time, tire rotation, which I all do myself. New cars are not worth owning past warranty, they make it harder and harder to repair yourself, in some new cars if you disconnect the battery, you can't just reconnect it, it would not work, you need dealer to reset something, using special tool that they have, which is very expensive, in some cars to replace timing belt on schedule, you need entire front clip removed, not to mention quality of after market parts is going to chit, and dealer parts are very expensive, f that, I lease new every 3 years and have 0 headaches and expenses. not to mention I benefit from most advanced safety features, which actually did save me from crashing once or twice. If i were gonna get old car it would be 1995-2005, not older, not newer, those are still repairable. and not too old

I don’t think you can lump all older cars in the same category. Yes, when I disconnect my battery my power windows don’t work. They can be reset in a few seconds. Some cars may have more needed services while others require few.

Each person has to make the decision of what is best for them. For you leasing works. For me I will drive my favorite vehicle until it needs to be put to sleep. I hope it lasts another 5-10 years.

 

[jtr1962]

Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, New Hampshire exempt 100% of your income from being taxed.

The largest tax bite by far is federal tax, and there's no escaping that no matter where you move. I'm not a fan of tax shopping. People should move only because they want what another state offers, not to save on taxes. I wouldn't want to live in any of those states. The first three are WAY too hot for my tastes. The rest are way too sparsely populated. No big cities and not much transit. The total population of those last 5 states combined is about 2 million less than the population of NYC. I couldn't imagine people living so spread out.

If I have to move I'll take a place like Chongqing which has about 30 million in the municipal area. It reminds me of NYC on steroids.

No thanks. From what people tell me, the place absolutely reeks of weed these days, homeless and immigrant gangs are everywhere. Taxes and prices are through the roof.

Not where I live. My biggest beef with taxes are the real estate taxes. That's fully 40% of my total living expenses.

 

[Monocrom]

....This would be the single biggest thing we could do to improve the average standards of living.

No e-bike for me. It would likely explode inside of my apartment. But yeah, the sheer cost of owning and driving a car is just absolutely obscene! The problem with working on cars by yourself is that anyone actually good at it, is working as a mechanic. Cars have literally become computers on wheels. Outside of topping off the oil and replacing the battery, forget it! And, with everyone's Ego getting in the way, truly affordable cars are being discontinued for lack of sales. Mitsubishi Mirage, gone 2 years. Nissan Versa, gone 1 year. Are they perfect? No. Are they slow? Yes. But still faster than walking or biking. Both started easily under $20K.

Heaven forbid anyone should drive around in something practical, pragmatic, useful, that strangers won't notice.

 

[Monocrom]

Whether you own your car or lease it depreciates just the same, I did the math, if I financed it then traded in after warranty is expired i'd lose even more, for last 20 years I only lease, my payment is about half of what it would be if I financed, i have no repairs or maintenance, except oil changes, and an air filter one time, tire rotation, which I all do myself. New cars are not worth owning past warranty, they make it harder and harder to repair yourself, in some new cars if you disconnect the battery, you can't just reconnect it, it would not work, you need dealer to reset something, using special tool that they have, which is very expensive, in some cars to replace timing belt on schedule, you need entire front clip removed, not to mention quality of after market parts is going to chit, and dealer parts are very expensive, f that, I lease new every 3 years and have 0 headaches and expenses. not to mention I benefit from most advanced safety features, which actually did save me from crashing once or twice. If i were gonna get old car it would be 1995-2005, not older, not newer, those are still repairable. and not too old

Dealerships want folks to lease. A long-term rental agreement where you have to give the car back. Then the dealership can sell it to someone wanting to finance. Brings them the most profits. Unfortunately, you are right about how brands make it much harder to work on their cars by yourself. Need a special tool for just opening up the hood. (Okay, not to THAT point yet. But maybe in another 10 years.)

Have owned Mazda 6, V6 sSport trim for 18 years now. Plan on keeping her for another 2 years. That goal is easily achievable. But parts get old, wiring gets old and worn out. I'm fully aware that my next vehicle (already narrowed it down to 2 models) is not going to remotely last nearly as long as my 6. The mechanical parts aren't the issue. The computer electronics inside the cars, are. Overall though, I think it's still going to be cheaper than leasing if a person plans on keeping their car longer than a handful of years, and makes sure to keep up with routine maintenance.

 

[Monocrom]

If you want a security job in FL, let me know. I have a few friends in the business. Plenty of different jobs, decent pay.

Thank you for the offer. Might one day take you up on it.

 

[jtr1962]

No e-bike for me. It would likely explode inside of my apartment.

We have to move the entire e-bike industry to LiFePO4 or sodium-ion batteries. Both chemistries are far safer than the types of batteries currently being used. In fact I recently made my brother a new e-bike battery using LiFePO4 cells to replace a battery which was losing range. At first we were going to rebuild it but I really didn't want to work with regular lithium-ion. Too much can go wrong. So I bought 33140 15Ah cells and made a new battery pack. In theory it should get more than twice the range of the old pack, will be much safer, and will hold a higher voltage for longer.

Here it is being tested. I put two thermoelectric coolers in series to absorb about 24V of the output since my electronic load is limited to about 150 watts.

The battery tests at about 1160 watt-hours. The one it's replacing is only 468 Wh. The battery uses 24 33140 cells in a 12S2P arrangement.

But yeah, the sheer cost of owning and driving a car is just absolutely obscene! The problem with working on cars by yourself is that anyone actually good at it, is working as a mechanic. Cars have literally become computers on wheels. Outside of topping off the oil and replacing the battery, forget it! And, with everyone's Ego getting in the way, truly affordable cars are being discontinued for lack of sales. Mitsubishi Mirage, gone 2 years. Nissan Versa, gone 1 year. Are they perfect? No. Are they slow? Yes. But still faster than walking or biking. Both started easily under $20K.

China is making small, practical EVs for about $10K. If the US got its head out of its behind we would be doing this also, as well as massively installing charging infrastructure.

Heaven forbid anyone should drive around in something practical, pragmatic, useful, that strangers won't notice.

I share those sentiments. I've been fighting the arms race on our roads for years. Besides costing people a lot more money to drive these behemoths they're dangerous to everything around them.

 

[SCEMan]

Not where I live. My biggest beef with taxes are the real estate taxes. That's fully 40% of my total living expenses.

That was one more benefit of moving to Idaho; much lower property taxes than Taxafornia. We bought a new house and shortly after the GOP legislature super majority passed the Homeowners Tax Relief bill that cut my already low property tax bill by almost 35%!

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/11/21/idaho-homeowners-to-receive-192m-in-property-tax-reductions-due-to-2023-law-passed-by-legislature/

 

[Monocrom]

Honestly, you could have an impressive little business converting e-Bikes over to the safer chemistry batteries. Without doing anything else to them.

 

[jtr1962]

Honestly, you could have an impressive little business converting e-Bikes over to the safer chemistry batteries. Without doing anything else to them.

I'm thinking of it. It does take a really long time to assemble and test a battery. I was capacity matching the cells also so each parallel set of two has the same total capacity to within about 0.1%. A battery is only as good as its lowest capacity cell. I would have to automate a lot of these functions to turn it into a viable business. Basically I would need a setup which can cycle dozens of cells at once and get the capacity. Then I match them and assemble them into packs. The cells themselves are cheap enough. I liked them so much I bought another 100 when they had a Black Friday sale for $2. 64 out of the 70 I initially bought tested over rated capacity. These are very energy dense for LiFePO4 cells, coming in at about 180 Wh/kg.

I also have to make some kind of enclosure. My brother will probably handle that end of it. For now it's a labor of love.

I also made a 25.6V, 60Ah battery to go with some solar panels I bought last year. That used 32 of these cells in a 8S4P arrangement.

I rebuilt my brother's booster which is probably over 30 years old using 12 of these cells in a 4S3P arrangement. The old lead-acid battery was 12V, 18Ah. The replacement LiFePO4 battery is 12.8V, 45Ah. Over 2.5 times the energy capacity, plus capable of a lot more charge cycles.

I replaced the analog voltmeter with a digital one:

 

[jtr1962]

That was one more benefit of moving to Idaho; much lower property taxes than Taxafornia. We bought a new house and shortly after the GOP legislature super majority passed the Homeowners Tax Relief bill that cut my already low property tax bill by almost 35%!

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/11/21/idaho-homeowners-to-receive-192m-in-property-tax-reductions-due-to-2023-law-passed-by-legislature/

My taxes will drop by about half once I hit 65 and qualify for SCHE. Of course then I'll end up with other expenses like Medicare Part B.

 

[Candleometry]

My taxes will drop by about half once I hit 65 and qualify for SCHE. Of course then I'll end up with other expenses like Medicare Part B.

There’s always something.

 

[Monocrom]

I'm thinking of it. It does take a really long time to assemble and test a battery. I was capacity matching the cells also so each parallel set of two has the same total capacity to within about 0.1%. A battery is only as good as its lowest capacity cell. I would have to automate a lot of these functions to turn it into a viable business. Basically I would need a setup which can cycle dozens of cells at once and get the capacity. Then I match them and assemble them into packs. The cells themselves are cheap enough. I liked them so much I bought another 100 when they had a Black Friday sale for $2. 64 out of the 70 I initially bought tested over rated capacity. These are very energy dense for LiFePO4 cells, coming in at about 180 Wh/kg.

I also have to make some kind of enclosure. My brother will probably handle that end of it. For now it's a labor of love.

I also made a 25.6V, 60Ah battery to go with some solar panels I bought last year. That used 32 of these cells in a 8S4P arrangement.

I rebuilt my brother's booster which is probably over 30 years old using 12 of these cells in a 4S3P arrangement. The old lead-acid battery was 12V, 18Ah. The replacement LiFePO4 battery is 12.8V, 45Ah. Over 2.5 times the energy capacity, plus capable of a lot more charge cycles.

View attachment 91448
I replaced the analog voltmeter with a digital one:
View attachment 91449

If you ever decide to make it more than just a labor of love, let me know. I might just be one of your first customers.

 

[jtr1962]

If you ever decide to make it more than just a labor of love, let me know. I might just be one of your first customers.

I definitely will!

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

Oh, the irony of Today vs. Yesterday.... 3rd Shift done, it's snowing! I'm clearing off my car, I get to my windshield, clear off the snow with the combo ice-scrapper and snow-brush tool; and I notice that my Safety & Emissions Inspection sticker/certificate is going to expire in three days! I thought I had three days and a year. Nope! It's my day off, I'm exhausted beyond belief. So, there's a gas-station/garage literally a handful of blocks from my CO-OP apartment. My go-to spot for any small, mechanical jobs. They're very polite, very friendly as they cheat and rob me. But they're right there. If I have to leave my vehicle overnight, I can literally just walk home, then walk back the next day. so, I save money on cab-fare.

I also need a new bulb for one of my non-LED headlights. Turns out I'm due for an oil-change too. (Yup, I get those at the same place every year.)
Total: Just under $180.oo for three little things done to her.
If I worked both of my full-time jobs at or very near my neighborhood, got rid of my car and all the expenses associated with her, I would easily have mid-5 figures in my bank account. Easily!

You got ripped off. You can change oil and headlamp yourself, and save a ton of money. Of course, working under your car in the snow is no fun, but if you are a young able-bodied man with appropriate clothing and some mechanical aptitude...meh.

Now, I'm an old curmudgeon, so I don't "do" auto repair anymore. Been there, done that, wore out several t-shirts. Now, I let the young bucks do that "stuff". Like they say, "I'm too old for this ____."