Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Back in 2000 when Mass Ave was just starting to come into its own, you could tell something was brewing downtown. The city had just freshly designated seven distinct areas as cultural districts, the dining and entertainment scene was growing, and housing options were multiplying by the day. And while I don’t live in the world of regret, I should have moved downtown.
Instead, I began a lifestyle that sees me jumping into my car each day, burning money and burning time. It feels like a problem I can’t rectify until I label myself an empty-nester. But that doesn’t mean I can’t daydream.
Have you ever daydreamed of re-creating your financial life from scratch? Of course you have. Whenever I think about re-creating mine, I think about my lifestyle footprint. In other words, where do I go and where does my money?
For instance, I currently have a rather suburban footprint. I drive my kids one mile to school, I drive six miles to work, I drive six miles home, and then on nights and weekends, I lug my children all over creation.
My daydreams these days involve about two square miles in downtown Indianapolis. I think about living downtown in a pocket neighborhood, waking up and running on the Cultural Trail (It’s my dream; I’ll be fit if I want to), and grabbing a delicious cup of local coffee on my bike to work. While this is my daydream, it is the reality of thousands of Hoosiers who’ve opted into an incredibly satisfying lifestyle that our city spent decades making possible.
Of course, living downtown isn’t for everyone, especially in particular stages of life, but it’s a brilliant choice for those whose lifestyle affords it—and I don’t just mean in the financial sense.
If you love Indianapolis like I do and want to be part of its continued success, living downtown is an excellent way to contribute. Sure, we host visitors and events better than any city around, but downtown Indianapolis also offers you the chance to enjoy the vibrancy on a regular basis and contribute to it at the same time.
Too often, we want to benefit from the charm or appeal of a particular community without fully committing to its longevity. Living downtown can make you part of the long-term solution.
This column isn’t necessarily about ditching your car, but living downtown gives you the unique opportunity to do so. Most households spend 10% to 15% of their income on transportation, and the slightest possibility of reallocating those funds to some other area of life is absolutely thrilling. And since you understand money isn’t the only resource worth saving, you realize the time savings of having your lifestyle footprint in a tighter radius.
Coming off the pandemic and acknowledging the work/life shift that has taken place, it can feel like the world is permanently different. In many ways it is, but community is still wildly important, no matter how much people want to live digital lives in sweatpants.
I sincerely regret not living downtown earlier in my career. I would drive downtown three to four times a week for work and play, yet I never did the sensible thing and moved downtown. And now some 20 years later, that choice would have been so much easier with all the work our community has put into downtown.
When I set out (not sit down—I have a standing desk) to write my column, I think through the potential positive outcomes of people reading it. I’m tickled by the idea that someone might read what I write, then take action and better his or her life. While I’ve not exactly shared anything earth-shattering today, I am intrigued by the hope that someone might move downtown after reading this column.•
__________
Dunn is CEO of Your Money Line powered by Pete the Planner, an employee-benefit organization focused on solving employees’ financial challenges. Email your financial questions to askpete@petetheplanner.com.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.