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Most people talk about buying a house like it’s an unskippable event required to hit the next level in life. 

Many times growing up I heard things like:

“Renting is throwing money away.” 

“You need to build equity.”

And for a while that made sense. Job security and the ratio of home price to income was a lot more favorable to the average person. 

Times have changed. 

What if the whole concept of buying a house, or more accurately signing a 30-year death contract and paying hundreds of thousands in interest, is actually something marketed to us, playing on our egos. Some men who embrace minimalism will still fail to realize purchasing a property is one of the largest losses of time, freedom, and mobility. 

If you’re interested in living in the middle of nowhere in Michigan or South Dakota this post isn’t for you. 

This is a breakdown of the real trade-offs between renting and owning from a minimalist’s perspective grounded in actual costs, freedom, and personal wellbeing (that includes women, sorry mountain men). 

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The Truth: Renting Is Often the Better Move for Minimalists

A core principle to a grounded and stoic mindset is the understanding that the more things you own, the more things own you. 

Every purchase has an explicit economic cost, but not included in most price tags are a list of the responsibilities, errands, unexpected problems, and mental clutter that come with buying anything.

Especially a house. 

The Three Big Costs Every Homeowner Pays

Every piece of property comes with three unavoidable expenses, regardless of if you purchase a $2.5 million dollar ranch house or a $30k shack on the outskirts of Boisser City, Louisiana:

• Maintenance
  
• Property taxes
  
• Insurance
  

People obsess over the mortgage but forget these unavoidable constant costs. And they’re not small. A pipe bursts, the roof leaks, the AC dies — that’s all on you and whoever in your area is available to fix them. When you rent? Those headaches disappear.

Well, not completely. But they aren’t your problem to fix. 

Your mortgage is the least you’ll ever pay each month, while your rent is the most. 

Economies of Scale Work in Your Favor When You Rent

One property manager for a building of 40–200 units is extremely efficient.

Compared to you maintaining a single house alone, apartments simply cost less per person.

That’s why in most markets:

Renting a small apartment is cheaper even after factoring in home equity gains.

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The Hidden Factor Nobody Talks About: Your Time

This is the part most people, even with cash flowing properties, miss.

If you rent, you don’t mow lawns, fix gutters, replace water heaters, argue with HOAs, or handle surprise city notices about sidewalks or zoning. That reclaimed time has real value.

Ask yourself:

What does an hour of my time cost? 

I’ll make another post detailing the compounding interest calculations of an hour of work today will be worth in the future. 

Utilized properly, the time saved from renting can deliver between thousands and millions in future earnings. 

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The Commute Tax: The Silent Financial Killer

“Yes, buying a house is cheaper… it’s just an hour away from work.”

People don’t factor in:

• Gas
  
• Car maintenance
  
• Higher insurance
  
• Extra childcare logistics
  
• Lost daily hours
  
• Stress
  

If living close to work costs $150–$300 more per month, but saves you 10 hours per week?

That’s a bargain.

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Minimalism of the Mind

Picture an incredibly minimal apartment. Probably looks like something out of an anime. 

Most young men’s living spaces resemble this. Especially when we are hungriest and most focused. 

Why do we naturally do this?

It’s because a small space facilitates a clean mind. And a clean mine facilitates good decisions.

When you rent, you don’t worry about:

• The roof
  
• The yard
  
• The mortgage rate
  
• Surprise repairs
  
• HOA politics
  
• Property disputes
  

That peace of mind is worth more than the theoretical capital gains of a home you may not even stay in long-term. Minimalism means a rejection of both unnecessary possessions and responsibilities.

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When Owning Does Make Sense

All that said, owning isn’t bad. It just needs to be the right type of ownership, for the right reasons.

You should consider buying if:

1. You plan to live in the area long-term.

Five years minimum, ideally ten.

2. The property genuinely improves your life or creates income.

A small house you love full of everything you need or a large property where income can be generated from the space.

3. You buy exactly what you need, not what society tells you to buy.

For example: One-bedroom above a 3-car garage. Functional, cheap, efficient.

4. You buy land with freedom.

No HOA. No Karens. No McMansion requirements. This gets rarer by the day. 

5. You’ve run the numbers honestly.

Not just principle and interest. 

Property value projections, property tax projections, energy options, upcoming roof repairs, etc. .

If the personal upside outweighs the added responsibilities, owning can be great.

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A Smart Trick Before Buying: Test Drive Your Lifestyle

You wouldn’t marry someone without going on a date.

You wouldn’t buy a car without driving it.

So why buy a house without testing the lifestyle?

Rent an Airbnb that resembles the home you want:

• A small cottage
  
• A minimalist “bachelor hut”
  
• A condo near the beach
  
• A tiny house on land
  

Stay for a week. Clean the whole place yourself.

See what feels right.

This could save you millions down the road. 

Test drive your housing the same way you test drive a relationship.

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Freedom Is the Real Asset

Many times in my life I’ve had to move for opportunity. And those moves have put me in th position I’m thankful to be in. 

But what would have hindered those moves? A real estate investment I couldn’t quickly get out of.

Despite all of these points, I still believe in real estate as a great portfolio diversifying asset class, just not domestic. 

Owning a home can be great when it’s aligned with your lifestyle, values, and long-term plans.

But most people really don’t buy homes for themselves.

They buy them to fit in or because they were told to.

V3 men don’t play that game.

You’re allowed to prioritize freedom.

You’re allowed to value time over square footage.

You’re allowed to rent because it gives you the life you actually want.

Renting is not “ throwing money away” — it’s the smartest, most minimalist financial move you can make.

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It recently dawned upon me during an extended sauna session that most of the goals that the large majority of people in the US seek to attain are pre-programmed into us from a young age.

The typical American Dream, or “American Social Contract Expectations” for most of us up until the last generation would have been:

• High school + college education
• Start career path using said education
• Dating/living together with girlfriend we meet during college education
• Purchasing a property with that person
• Getting married with a fun wedding
• Having children (can’t just have one!)
• Working 18 years to support those kids until its time for them to start this list for themselves
• Retire at 65 to enjoy 20 years of day drinking and vacationing until either you or your spouse dies

However, did any of these goals come from myself? From any of us?

Lets go down the list.

High school and most of college was an extraordinary waste of our time. If you ever have the unfortunate experience of spending time in jail, you’ll seen the many similarities between school and incarceration.

Compound that with the undeniable fact that we don’t graduate high school (and most college graduates can say the same) with any skills that allow us to go out and earn a income above a minimum wage or start a business that would employ others and benefit our communities.

The typical reaction to starting a 9-5 is, “am I supposed to do this every week for the rest of my life?!” Perhaps its just me, but should we sincerely dread starting to work and earning a income independently of our parents?

Living with a girl will be one of the most aggravating experiences of your life simply because of the way women are, their hormonal cycles, and their internal expectations. No matter how sweet they can be for 2 weeks they will turn into monsters the other 2 weeks of each month and its not something they can control (hormonal birth control can dampen these feelings almost to 0 however is absolutely not healthy in the long term).

Not a single married man has recommended I get married myself. You can tell me if this is the same for you as well.

Wedding costs are insane, even if the bride’s family has a bit of money they likely aren’t shelling out $100k for a party. At least not the families of the women we will get along with. Maybe you were born into the top 1% of income earning households, but in that case most of this list will not apply to you anyway.

Lets say you purchase a home, like I did in 2023. The amount of money paid in interest, upkeep/maintenance, insurance, utilities, and TAXES are much larger than most of us expect when making the purchase. The taxes especially as that would be a line item every year, no matter what, that only increases to your list of “bare minimum living expenses”. All to pay to give other people’s kids the same indoctrination we received.

I won’t speak to having kids or retiring just yet.

So if none of these things are favorable for us to do today, why is this considered the American Dream? Who designed it this way? Do any of us actually want this?

For a while, mainly for v1 and v2 men, this was a sweet deal. Our v1 grandfathers could elect to drop out of high school, start earning an income immediately in the trades, and support a family of 5 all by themselves. They got to have a local church wedding and marry a close-to-virgin woman who most likely stayed by his side and gave him multiple children over the entirety of their marriage. No need for excessive debt to own a home, no need for college loans to fund a career, and an overall great ROI for going to work each day and toughing it out.

V2 men saw a shift towards some of these pursuits becoming less favorable, but the data shows that at the time, the ROI of pursuing the American Dream was still pretty favorable. Specifically homeownership which allowed for many men to build equity that made them millionaires. Only later in life would the financial/emotional costs of divorce, the shifting of power from labor to capital, and rampant agism in the workplace effect this version of men, but by then they were firmly down a path they simply didn’t have the time to reverse.

Today, v3 men are starting their journeys (technically many of us are still under 18) with a complete understanding that the original print of the American Social Contract is faded and, in many areas, completely blank.

• School does not equal future income (white or blue collar)
• Career does not equal ability to provide for a family or purchase property in the US
• Marriage does not equal lifelong support and/or peace

So, to the surprise of no one that has actually looked into this, rates of male participation in school, the workforce, and marriage is sinking to all time lows and looks to continue in that direction.

Not to mention that all of these “dreams” seem to involve us going into debt to the large financial institutions that run this country.

AND THAT’S A GOOD THING

The spiritually weak v1 men decided to sell us out to fund luxurious retirement packages. Do not fight back. Let them enjoy the fruits of their labor. Unless you’re Native American or Mexicano, America was never our home to begin with.

Trying to fix problems started by the richest, most powerful, and already-retired generation of people is akin to fighting a war we did not start, risking our lives for the gain of others.

The hallmark of a true v3 man is rigorously applied stoicism, and the main stoic principle boils down to “control what you can, and don’t worry about the rest.”

So what is the solution? What is the new American Dream for v3 men that we have completely in our control?

Simple really, it involves these key aspects:

• Staying debt free, specifically student loan debt
• Staying healthy (10-15% BF, limited alcohol consumption, awareness of food quality and ingredients)
• Useful and monetizable skillset for the future that allows for basic needs + global investment opportunities
• Local/Global network of other v3 men
• Access to women we find attractive
• Ability to financially support children with those women if we so please

I will go into more depth on each of these topics as this blog grows, but thankfully there is a clear path forward for all of these objectives to be achieved.

V3 men do not give up, we do not complain, we take in data and make decisions based on insights and adapt based on results.

Comment your thoughts below and share this site with men who fit the mold.
A private community/group are in the works.

Like a football-headed toddler with a gun attempting to shoot his mother, there have been a multiple coordinated efforts by the secret societies operating within Western systems of government to weaken the very men who created these civilizations.

Combining these efforts with an overpopulated managerial (middle) class, a weakened labor (lower) class, and no wars to ship off all of the excess men to, we now have a surplus of individuals across multiple nations with no real path forward in the traditional flow of life.

No reason to exist, no purpose besides hedonistic pursuits and status driven behaviors.

Chances are, you’re one of these men.
I am too.

The social contracts we were grandfathered into like legacies in a fraternity are long outdated and all opportunities by men to come to the table and negotiate have been met with mockery, shame, guilt, insults, and no tangible progress.

Try saying out loud “I’m a men’s rights activist” at a party and see the reaction that gets you.

But we all know there are problems. At this point, who hasn’t seen the hours of youtube/tiktok/instagram short form content explaining our exact situation? Paying any sort of attention at all will alert you to the problems men today both face AND will be expected to deal with/fix:

• The economy is ASS (and most jobs are fake)
• Most people lack any tangible skills to earn income with their hands
• AI companies are aiming to replace the remaining knowledge based jobs
• Mass unregulated immigration has destroyed the social fabric of the country
• Private equity has killed almost everything we used to love that made places feel special/unique
• The need for ever increasing profits has destroyed corporate job security for a whole generation
• Most women do not respect most men
• The men they do respect don’t like them back
• INFLATION
• Foreign Investment and Wars
• Love is Blind

The list can go on and on, and it will as I continue to make these posts.

So what are men doing in response?

We see men essentially choosing 1 of 3 paths in life:

• Some decide to try and make it work anyways, choosing to sacrifice life and limb to walk the same path older men did in hopes it will all work out in the end
• Some limp through life self-medicating with sports, alcohol, pornography, weed, and video games knowing there’s such a small chance to get what they want that they are better off not trying
• Some find alternative answers either through youtube, websites like this one, mentors, or books <— (You are here)

Man v3 is about practical solutions for men that have realized the direction Western Civilization (US/Canada/Europe/Australia) is headed and are tired of the complaints, depression, and general nihilism of our peers. We’ve seen the writing on the wall yet we refuse to go down with the ship.

This movement is about tangible steps anyone can follow to intelligently maneuver both within and outside of the “matrix”.

The men of today just simply are not the same men as before, we come from an evolution of the men before us.

The original modern men, our grandfathers and above, were what we would call Version 1 (v1). They took no shit, had tons of workers rights, and set the standard for what being a man is, both the positives and the negatives. Women respected these men, mostly out of necessity, and there were social consequences for promiscuous/unfeminine behavior. This is potentially the best group of men to ever be born into if you are an average guy.

These men, specifically the younger boomers, unfortunately raised the first version of the “Independent” Modern Woman as well as the Gen X Simp/Beta Male. They would continue to coddle their daughters as the landscape shifted towards empowering women leading to the largest group of single mothers up until this point.

The Gen X Simp, aka Version 2 of the modern male, is the stereotypical scrawny/overweight, emotionally weak stepfather who is the biggest clown when it comes to women and will constantly sign himself up for save-a-hoe duties because he was “raised right” despite the women his age exhibiting none of the qualities of the women in his father’s generation and deserving NONE of the treatment. This group of men are long gone and are currently figuring out life on their own post-divorce (often acting very hedonistically while also virtue signaling to the world that marriage can still be a viable option for most people).

Next came the Millennials, aka younger Version 2 men, who fully grew up without massive technological influence and are definitely the most blue-pilled generation potentially ever. Disney hit this group very hard. At least they got cool nightlife for a bit. A select few of these men were able to wake up to the brainwashing at an early enough age to do something about it through pure will and determination (Andrew Tate) and play a huge part in crafting the future identity of v3 men.

The hallmark of v2 men is simple:

The first generation of men to have all of the accountability, but none of the authority.

Solely through observations of the first two versions of modern men, and access to the internet throughout most if not all of their existence, Generation Z men are left in three factions: v3 Men, squares, and losers.

The square is your friend from high school that wants or has already wifed a girl up (probably in their early-mid 20’s) who is doing what he’s “supposed to do” even if the chick is openly not that into him and bosses him around/withholds sex. He was most likely not her first choice. He probably has a job, a 50 year mortgage (death contract), and either doesn’t see the massive L coming or chooses to ignore it.

We all know what losers are. And for the record, we don’t blame them as long as they are truly out of the way. Freedom is the ability to choose what we want to spend our lives doing. Now if they would stop leaving thirsty comments on women’s social media behind an anime avatar they’d be 100% cool with me.

Finally we have a small but rapidly growing group of men. True Version 3 men. Those who have taken data from of the first two generations, looked at our environments and acknowledged that while something needs to be done, its not our job to fix the country.

Libertarian politically.
Liked socially.
Lovers of latinas.

The v3 man embodies these characteristics, unexpectedly found all within the same men over and over again (most likely through social media immersion):

• Physique mastery (in shape)
• Useful skillset (consistent earning ability)
• Non-monogomous (de-pedistalisation of women through experience)
• Spiritually aware (stoicism, golden rule)

For these men. We have hope. We have each other. We have this community.

We shall succeed.