Cost of living in the road

SpeakEasy wrote:
This whole discussion is very interesting from an educator's point of view. I have taught a number of research courses in which we discuss "correlation." The common use of that term, and what many here are using it to mean, implies a cause-effect relationship. Correlation is NOT necessarily a cause-effect relationship. We can find many things that are correlated in which one of the two things does not cause the other. In cases like this there is often a third thing that causes both of the other two things. In this case a frugal mindset might cause a person to seek an inexpensive RV AND a lower cost of living. The cheaper RV doesn't CAUSE the lower cost of living. The frugal mindset causes both.

It's a good object lesson in this important concept.

Tons of research that you read about in the media is research that has found a correlation between two things. Almost always people misinterpret this as a finding that one of those things causes the other. Very little of the research you read about in the media has actually examined to see if there is a cause-effect relationship. That's much harder research to conduct.

-Speak

I know, personally, a very frugal couple who think twice about ordering a cup of coffee with their breakfast. The frugal mindset that they have came about as a result of living through tough times. Saving every penny to make their land payments so that they could survive. They live in a home that was built in about 1912 and they are worth around $6,000,000. I almost think for them to change their spending habits would require that they change who they are. I'm quite sure if they got into RVing, the RV they bought would reflect their lifestyle rather than their net worth.