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I respect your right to your opinion, but I completely disagree with you. It's been the best investment that I have made. I lost a bundle on my money investments, and who knows if they will ever fully recover. My house however, has more than doubled in value, even with the market blow-up. I bought in a good market, and a great neighborhood.
You need to do the math before you voice your disagreement. It's not an easy calculation that you can do without Excel sheet either.
Let me explain a little bit.
Add up all your expenses on the house: down payment, interest, property tax, etc.
Add up all your cost of selling your house.
Take your reasonable market value - all your expenses - all cost.
One of the saving calculations is you should have your net worth equal to your age x 10.
So by the time you are 35, you should have about 350K in net worth, which means your current total asset minus your total debt.
So for a child who is 1 year of age, they should have 10K in savings. Makes sense.
Just one question? When was the last time you saw a one year old child working in a democratic country like the U.S.A.?
Your formula is flawed, but give yourself another 10 years and eventually you'll figure it out.
It's not much more than that now. I just read an article where many are just now moving into a range where they can afford discretionary spending...salaries of 5K - 6K.
The average is low because the majority (50-60%) of Chinese people are dirty poor. In many areas they make about $200 a year.
A typical college graduate can make about $10K a year but they may save $5-8K. The younger generation are more like American now - only know how to spend.
So for a child who is 1 year of age, they should have 10K in savings. Makes sense.
Just one question? When was the last time you saw a one year old child working in a democratic country like the U.S.A.?
Your formula is flawed, but give yourself another 10 years and eventually you'll figure it out.
As a matter of fact, your children should have at least 10K in saving at 1.
Why? If one wants to leave their money to their children tax free, start to give them money (10K/year) as gift, tax free. You don't have to let them use it but keep it in their names.
And then there are the people who think other people's savings are their savings. Like an extended relative of mine who "bought" a really expense home with a liar loan and then played victim, borrowing money from various people and not paying it back. Somehow they can still afford a big TV, cable and weekend trips. I didn't fall for that one.
Another example is a friend who recently asked to borrow $200 for rent and would pay me back the next day. I loaned him $50 instead, because I wasn't counting on getting paid back. That was stupid of me, but I decided just to lose his number, because I'm tired of losers.
And then there are the people who think other people's savings are their savings. Like an extended relative of mine who "bought" a really expense home with a liar loan and then played victim, borrowing money from various people and not paying it back. Somehow they can still afford a big TV, cable and weekend trips. I didn't fall for that one.
Another example is a friend who recently asked to borrow $200 for rent and would pay me back the next day. I loaned him $50 instead, because I wasn't counting on getting paid back. That was stupid of me, but I decided just to lose his number, because I'm tired of losers.
For relatives, you help on emergency (i.e. medical emergency) but not supplement spending habit. If someone ask me for money to support their down payment on their house, I offer to take over managing their finance.
Also be careful of whom you associate with.
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