This thread is full of good advice and some that comes off as snobby.. As for savings, I couldn’t agree more about being able to stash money away in your 20s if I hadn’t started as early as I did there is no way I would be able to make my goal of a very early retirement..
I think it's almost time the trend will be reversed....I hope. Using refinanced mortgages as extra spending money is almost over. Since the middle class weren't getting wage increases proportional to their spending, that's probably the main source of the extra spending. By now, a lot of people are probably shuffling credit card debt with 0% balance transfer schemes. Bankrupcy laws are much tighter now. It was good while it lasted.
What are you talking about 0% balance transfer schemes? It gets me at least 1k per year. Just don't have anything in the balance when the free period is up, pretty simple plan to me.
^I'm thinking of the one where you burn new credit cards with the offer of no limit bts. Well, we don't know what his mom does to deserve the allowance....
My Dad is like that. Down to complaining about college costs. It freaks me out, I hate the idea of living paycheck to paycheck. I guess that's still why I drive an '02 sentra. I just don't want to spend the money.
I'm a girl just so you know. lol and my mother is great, but honestly, she never cooks, my father pays someone else to clean the house and I feel like I'M parenting my 12 y.o. sister. The craziest thing is that all I'm asking for is 2 years tuition @ 2500/yr. San FREAKIN Jacinto, but this man seriously "can't afford it". He really doesn't have anything in the bank, so I can not fathom where the money disappears to. I agree with some one else on here that said it has alot to do with money management. One of my sisters that makes a fourth of what my dad makes has more money in the bank they my father ever has.
On that kind of income I'm sure that he has money to save and/or could spend his money more wisely. But who coulnd't? With that said, you probably have no idea what you are talking about. How do you think that house was bought? How do you think those vehicles were bought? What about gas and utilities and food and everything else. What about other loans or credit cards? What about the 1/3 he is going to have to pay in taxes on that money? What about retirement funds? Stock options? Health insurance? Car insurance? Homeowners insurance? How about the computer you use to view this board? Do you have your own car? Did you buy that yourself? How about a cell phone? I bet you have one of those. Do you think that all of that **** pays itself? Also, paying for college is not your parents responsibility. Everything that I have read about financial planning has told me to fund my retirement and know that I am set prior to worrying about my kids college. What if you don't go? What if you flunk out? Did you know that any money that is saved for your college counts AGAINST you for financial aid? Did you know that your parents income has very little to do with the financial aid that you can receive? If you are 18 years old, you are an adult. Stop whining about what daddy isn't doing for you and do what you have to do to go to school or survive in the real world. You know nothing about the real world and haven't had to make any type of real decisions. You want to be an adult but want mommy and daddy to foot the bill. My brother is the same way and man does it piss me off. Stop whining and do something.
Tell you what, you just tell your dad he and your mom will both get an allowance of 2000 dollars a month, the rest you will manage for them. Sounds like a good job for you.
Just curious, I thought Houston housing is cheap? Couldn't you just buy a house for 1000-1200 monthly mortgage? Why is rent so expensive?
I rent because I had to regroup after my divorce. I'm looking to get back into a house when my lease is up in April. If I was going to rent an apartment I wanted it to be nice. In The Woodlands, that doesn't come cheap. I know I sound like a snob but I'm not trying to be. I could buy a house with payments that low but its all about your standard of living. A 100k to 120k house just wouldn't fit into that.
It is all about location. You could buy two completely different 150k houses depending on where they are and what you are looking for.
Median House Value Median House Value $151,216 (Medium Cost Relative to Texas, Medium Cost Relative to the United States) House Value Range $0-$70,000 28% $70,001-$130,000 40% $130,001-$250,000 19% $250,001-$370,000 6% $370,001-$490,000 2% $490,001-$625,000 1% $625,001-$925,000 1% $925,001-$1.3 million 1% $1.3 million + 1% So it seems like 68 % of the house are under 130k, so it is pretty cheap. link
You could buy a nice 25 year old house in an established suburb that's about 2200 sq ft. You could buy a brand new, but small cookie cutter tract home that's around 2000 sq. ft in or around the burbs. You could buy a 50 year old 1500 sq ft house in an established, mixed neighborhood inside the loop and 10 minutes from everywhere in Houston. Depends on what you want to do. For raising a family, maybe option 1. For investment, maybe option 3. For not having to mess with the duties and cost of owning an older home, maybe option 2.
All of the housing I've looked at has been in The Woodlands and I can't fathom finding anything under $130k.
Factor in property tax to any monthly mortgage cost. For a $160,000 loan, you'd be paying 700-800 in principle/interest...maybe another $300-400 a month in property taxes.
