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Or just pay your mortgage?
Imo, people who are in debt they can't afford have made bad decisions that got them there.
The richest people tend to be the people with the most debt, and that isn't by accident.
I'm not saying that completely without empathy, the education system does a terrible job of preparing people for financial decisions, and if people grow up with poor parents they will learn their habits.
The world isn't fair, but the financial system is a game. Learn how to play it and you will be much better off.
You're absolutely right.
I'm currently converting my garbage fiat into a store of wealth by paying off my mortgage and fixing my home up. I bought a foreclosure as my first house. It's an old stone house, it was completely thrashed, in a working class neighborhood. I bought it for 75k a few years back. I pay double on my mortgage to lower my interest payments. I have been renovating one to two rooms a year and put a new roof on it. I'll have the house paid off and completely renovated by the time I'm 35 (two years from now). I didn't inherit any money from my parents, I'm not a genius (especially true since im a woman, lol) I'm just a hard worker who learned how to invest my time and money through the internet and trial and error.
It irritates the shit out of me when people say home ownership is unobtainable. They're either too entitled to work within their current financial means, too stupid to learn about financial responsibility and investing, or too lazy to put the work in and convert trash to treasure. All they have is just a word salad of excuses.
That's awesome :) Good luck with your reno.
I had some family members who were wanting to get a mortgage, they were currently stuck renting, but made decent income. Hard workers, their income was increasing over the years, but there net worth was still negative. As their income increased, they just spent more, and they always spent slightly more than they had. Anyways, they came into a chunk of money all at once (small inheritence), and came to me for some advice since they wanted to use it towards a home. We went over everything in Excel. They could absolutely qualify for a mortgage, they just needed to clear a bit of bad debt (credit card), and put aside a bit more for a downpayment, they were really close to having enough. We looked at their assets, and they had a few things that were barely used and could have been liquidated to clear the credit card debt and get enough for the downpayment (a 3rd car they didn't need, some collector items collecting dust). I didn't tell them, but I probably would have helped them out with the difference if I saw them really pushing for it. BUT they didn't want to sacrifice anything for it, and wouldn't reduce their spending or sell any of the assets. So the opportunity was lost. That was a few years ago now, they still have the credit card debt, they've spent the entire chunk of money on nothing substantial, and their net worth is still negative. Home prices have gone up at least 33% since then.
A different family member, but similar story, came into some money all at once. In this case it was due to a disability back payment. It was enough that they could have gotten something modest, and they started looking. Now while there was plenty of options available in the lower price bracket, they were too good for any of these options and wanted something much more expensive. There was always a reason why each property they could afford wouldn't work. Fast forward to today, the settlement is completely spent, they have nothing to show for it and are still in the apartment.
Wow, the people in the first story really squandered a gift. Inheritance is hard to come by, and that would have been a great opportunity. It's a shame they chose nonsense lifestyles and consumerist trappings over a home. I guess you can lead a horse to water.....
The second person missed their chance because they couldn't compromise. It's really shortsighted. I think most people cannot plan for even a month in the future, much less financial positions 5-10 years down the road. How sad.
Nice anecdotes though, you can really learn a lot from other people's shortcomings/poor judgement!
Finance is all about inside trading.
Most finance channels just exist to pump and dump investment x
It's all rigged
I think that's an over simplification. While there are plenty of bad actors, it doesn't mean that 100% of the market is just insider trading and pump and dumps.
If we supposed that you are correct, and that the entire market is rigged, there are two ways to deal with that information: don't participate, or participate but with the understanding that insider trading is a thing, that pump and dumps are a thing, and that scams are a thing. Surely knowing that in advance would allow you to make better financial decisions?
I meant all successful trading stems from insider. Pure luck or pump and dump rigging
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