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It's a terrible time to start a family. Far too late. Even ignoring the biological issues with older parents, they'd be in their mid-50s by the time their oldest child left college (this being NNJ I assume child will go to college).
If I only I read this post before I had my first kid that late. At least now I know it was terrible timing.
Seriously, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I've made that mistake twice(having kids later) and plan on doing it again...but since I have this really low mortgage rate I'm sure everything in life will turn out fine
Last edited by Goldendoodle1969; 09-09-2013 at 07:34 AM..
Hate to agree but Marc is really right on the money. The easiest path to financial success is to have both people in a relationship/marriage working straight out of college all through their 20's. With decent incomes, you don't even have to be that strict about curtailing spending, just rent a decent apartment and you really save so much money. We're mid-30's now with young kids, not a very big HH income, and yet we put 50% down on a pretty expensive house because we saved so much in our 20's (and those savings doubled in the market). Without that decade head-start before starting a family we'd probably still be in a small apartment with the kids. Even people that finished grad school and now have higher incomes are still probably in a worse financial spot because of the early 20's years spent with negative income/ no savings and all the loans having to be paid back throughout late 20s / early 30s.
Hate to agree but Marc is really right on the money. The easiest path to financial success is to have both people in a relationship/marriage working straight out of college all through their 20's. With decent incomes, you don't even have to be that strict about curtailing spending, just rent a decent apartment and you really save so much money. We're mid-30's now with young kids, not a very big HH income, and yet we put 50% down on a pretty expensive house because we saved so much in our 20's (and those savings doubled in the market). Without that decade head-start before starting a family we'd probably still be in a small apartment with the kids. Even people that finished grad school and now have higher incomes are still probably in a worse financial spot because of the early 20's years spent with negative income/ no savings and all the loans having to be paid back throughout late 20s / early 30s.
Love it. Good decisions, good focus, good timing. Congratulations and all respect to you.
On a selfish note, when I get to work with a 30-something couple who have followed this M.O., the job is pure Heaven...
I don't have much to say, because frankly Marc has done an excellent job dishing out some reality. Unfortunately most people don't follow it.
The only thing I will add is that people need to be realistic about their needs when it comes to the house. I know way too many people who assume 3,000-3,500 sq.ft. 4br, 2.5ba and all of the updates/luxuries/modern trim is what they consider a "minimum" when they are looking at houses. Tack on another 1,000 sq.ft., a finished basement, nother bedroom, another bathroom and a pool and we are getting close to their "want" list. These people have the attitude of absolutely maxing out the budget to get as much house as possible, with as little down as possible. These same people turn around and complain 5 years later when half their house isn't furnished and they don't have the money to fix their AC in the middle of the summer.
Basically, when people are talking about the average starter house in 1980 it was most likely a <1,000 sq.ft. bungalow or Cape Cod that needed some work. Now people consider the average starter house to be well over 2,000 sq.ft. and not require any sweat equity.
The median sq.ft. of a new home in 1980 was 1,569. The median in 2010 was 2,169. That's a 28% increase. In the northeast, it was 1,570 in 1980; it was 2,613 in 2010. That's a 40% increase. When you look at prices compared to square footage the differences over time are not as radically skewed as people think. Yes, prices have gone up, but houses have also gotten a lot bigger as well.
If we roll this back to 1950's construction which is what the average starter home would have been in 1980, you are looking at houses of around 850 sq.ft. If we assume that a 2010 starter home was built in 1980 (same 30 year period as our 1950 era started bought in 1980) then the size has nearly doubled.
Sad thing is that I see more and more of folks who don't work smart and hard for the things they want. Rather they just want it now and feel that they are entitled to it in a way because everyone should get it. But without putting in the sacrifice and the work to get it...
The instant gratification culture has been seeping into work place and wealth generation too much.
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