[doytch]

That would be ideal. But I'll bet people won't do this though. I wouldn't. I don't have time to do the due diligence. So the downside is that you have a lot more "dead" capital that isn't doing anything productive and is slowly losing value due to inflation. Dead capital means it's harder to fundraise, to borrow money for your mortgage, etc etc.

Now I'm not saying that's necessarily /worse/...but we should be clear about what the real downside is.

[meristohm]

The best local investment one can make is in the land. I'm in a rural area in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by "baby" trees and the skeletons of the old forest that used to be here. The list of foods that indigenous peoples used to eat around here is long, and I would be happy to thrive on that alone. Now, though? There are a few huckleberry spots within walking distance, some mushrooms now and then, elk of course (I get why people pen cattle, but elk and other game require much less maintenance, along with some effort and consideration when hunting), some greens (I've been eating nettles for the past month, on top of good grown elsewhere thanks to petrochemical fertilizers), some invasive greens (dandelion and oxeye daisy), and probably some things I'm not yet aware of. I'm not fishing the river, as there's not much fish there anymore.

The best investments we can make for life is towards community and the land we're on. I don't need an easy life, I need a meaningful one.