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There is no "what might have been," there is only "what is."
"What is" is that, at ages 28 and 30, two of my grown kids could buy a home right now if they wanted to. However, one lives in the UK so she won't be buying a home till they return. The other is in Guam so she won't be buying a home in the next couple of years either.
My 26 year old son just got married. He's saved up about $20,000 but they aren't ready to buy a home yet, since they've been married about a minute.
My youngest son is 24 and since he's living la vida loca in Austin, he's not even starting to think about home ownership yet. However, this next week he's moving from a rented apartment to a rented house, so I have a feeling he's headed in that direction.
Only one of my four kids even has a car payment, and that's on only one of their two vehicles. And nope, I haven't bought a vehicle for any of my kids since they were 18 years old. They've done all that on their own.
Only one of my kids has a balance on a credit card, for that matter. And no balance on any student loans either.
As for it being "about my empty nest lifestyle rather than my retirement," it's about BOTH. Since our family believes in being self sufficient and responsible with our money, we value both independence AND retirement needs just about equally. We don't NEED any rent from my adult kids in order to save sufficient funds for our retirement. And so we'd rather everyone live independently if at all possible.
So far so good.
...and you and yours are all straight-ticket Democrats, right?
...and you and yours are all straight-ticket Democrats, right?
I vote a mixed ticket nearly every time - Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. My husband votes mostly Republican but also for a few local Democrats. I have one liberal kid, two kids who lean more libertarian, and one conservative.
I'm an European liberal but as I told my parents recently, if I planned on living out my life in the USA I would probably vote Republican. (Voted Obama in 2008)
IMO, USA is a cultural titanic and economic wise it will increase in terms of ''grab your slice of the pie". We already see that a college degree is no longer enough. This will worsen.
Ignoring the change in demographics in the next 25 years and the statistics that these races have illustrated in this country up to this point, would be stupid. Europeans (Educated with good values) stopped immigrating here decades ago.
Without another ''bubble'' arriving like the Dot.Com boom or Housing Market, the USA is in deep ****. I am under the impression that globally the markets have topped out and I will not in my lifetime see a return to Pre 2007. Eventually you run out of gated communities to run to: Trayvon Martin/Zimmerman case.
All this is a big reason why I'm hoping to get out in the next 5 years. My sister finished her Masters, worked at the University for a few years and moved to Europe. (We are European Union members). I'm in the process of finishing my Computer Science degree.
Are not the EU countries going through similar difficulties? If not, which country have you decided to settle in?
Right, but the one-third who do not own homes - considerably higher in New York - get no or negligible benefit from that. And doncha know, the one-third who do not own homes are usually the ones who have the smallest retirement nest egg, if any.
I guess government should protect older homeowners from being taxed out of the homes, but older renters are fair game. What's up with that?
Most people do not know about the STAR program in New York. New York state is huge, and NYC is NOT representative of it. There are LOTS of property owners there. I think the STAR program stipulates that you must have lived in the state for 10 years for the benefits to kick in. They are so generous that people from out of state would probably move there in droves, otherwise.
One of the deals is exemption from the school portion of property taxes, which property owners pay. No one is stopping apartment dwellers from purchasing their own property. As a general rule, I think owners are more responsible people.
Of course it is. A lease is for a specified period of time. When you reach the "end" of the lease your rent is paid off and you have fulfilled the terms of the lease. THEN you can or NOT sign a NEW lease.
See how easy that is?
Last edited by Quick Enough; 04-24-2013 at 04:49 PM..
Small losses! Are you kidding? If you had a lot of money invested in the stock market, you had a large loss. Maybe by now some people are back where they started, except they had other expenses in the meantime.
Yes, I was surprised at that comment, as well. A dip in the market means someone is losing money and we had a large dip that lasted for quite a few years.
People, in their retirement programs, by and large have no pensions. All they have is what they have been forced to gamble in the market and if they had little knowledge and listened to 'experts' advising them to buy and hold, they were sunk. Sure, maybe by now - maybe - holding on to those funds brought them to the point at which they left off, but it still really screwed up any schedule they had for retirement or sending the kids to college.
The sad reality is that retirement used to be something that people looked forward to. Thanks to Reaganomics and other right wind idiocy it has become something to be feared by too many. A sad time in America.
Another comment from someone who doesn't know what they are talking about.
I looked forward to retirement and live in area predominantly of retired people who would definitely disagree with you.
The American dream: go into massive amounts of debt for education, go into tons of debt to own a home, go into tons of debt to have kids and pay their education. Die with nothing.
The American dream is a dream alright---a nightmare. The whole system is rigged to create the false illusion that the masses have freedom and mobility when they really don't. The game benefits the 1% that continue to create massive distortions in the spread of wealth in this country. Every single financial law on the books is constantly being written to benefit the big banks, CEOs that run them, and to protect the money the uber rich already have enough of anyway.
I'm sorry but I think that it's ridiculous that some of the people who criticize people over 50 for not having more in their retirement accounts are the same people who think they are entitled to a new car at age 16, 8 years of college at their parents' expense, and rent free living at home, using their parents resources, till they are well into their twenties and even pushing thirty - and beyond.
I moved out when I was 19. I have worked since I was 14. I paid for half my college, while working nearly full time (and paying rent with several girlfriends - paying all my own living expenses). We didn't have cable TV. We didn't have XM radio or internet. For several years, I didn't have a car - I used public transportation.
Some people I know today would consider that living in the dark ages - almost "child abuse" - except the "child" is 23 years old.
With college expenses increasing at four times inflation, I don't know if kids can do that now. I did much as you, leaving home when I graduated high school, but living alone in a bad neighborhood and working and saving and whenever I got enough to take a college course I would take it. I also searched the want ads and made sure my major was something in demand. I walked to school and back each night to save bus fare. I was lucky that at some time I got a job as a clerk in my field of choice and then switched to a larger company that paid for part of my education.
I think you can't make excuses. Even if there is no clear path that you can see, make the moves toward your goal. Often, something opens up. It sure beats sitting around with a bunch of losers, feeling sorry for yourselves.
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