Few things have as much impact over your personal finances as where you live. For most Americans, housing is their largest expense. Moving to an affordable market can do for your personal finances what years of frugal living in an expensive area cannot.
In her article To Cut Costs, Move to Small Town USA, Liz Pulliam Weston profiled a few families that made such a move and the dramatic personal finance gains that followed. One of those profiled is Rob Bennett, whose book Passion Saving: The Path to Plentiful Free Time and Soul-Satisfying Work, is on my list of books to review for Richer by the Day. In his profile, Rob mentioned two things missing from his new small town, a movie theater and a bookstore. You might think that such amenities are a small price to pay for a lower cost of living, and you’d certainly be correct. I have another strategy to cut costs, but without such down sides.
My method was to move from small town USA to a city. How could this possibly be a good move financially? Well, the small town was on the East Coast, close enough to Boston that the cost of living was very high. The city I moved to is in the Midwest. While many costs (gas, groceries, etc) are basically the same, housing is considerably cheaper out here. Since that’s our largest expense, we’re making out quite well. What’s more, there is significantly more to do here than there was in our previous location.
Sure, we could head into Boston for just about any form of entertainment, but the time and cost of doing so meant that we rarely did. Here, there may not be as much to offer as Boston, but because it’s so accessible and affordable we tend to do a lot more.
Moving to a small town is a viable option in many circumstances, but don’t overlook the advantages a small city in an affordable locale can have over a small town within a few hours drive of a major city. The combination of entertainment options and low cost of living offers the best of both worlds.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Bennett has been promoting his special brand of Financial planning for some time.
I suggest before anyone use his ‘planner’ or follow his advice, they should do some due diligence.
Google “Rob Bennett + Purcellville” or just go to these links:
One of his sites:
http://s162532268.onlinehome.us/Sewer/viewforum.php?f=1
A site that tracks and comments on his activities. He frequently participates as “Hocus”:
http://www.s152957355.onlinehome.us/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl