Why You Should Wait To Buy A House
The Definitive Guide To Buying Your First Home
‘The market is as hot as we’ve ever seen it:’ Why you should wait to buy a house
Published Thu, Jun 17 2021 Updated Thu, Jun 17 202112:31 PM EDT
Alicia Adamczyk
With prices for new and existing homes at record levels and demand still sky-high, prospective buyers might be better off waiting for more inventory and less competition, housing experts say.
Currently, houses are staying on the market for an average of six days nationwide, according to data from Zillow, an impressively fast turnaround. That’s a seller’s dream, but potentially bad news for buyers, who face enormous competition and might end up paying more and forgoing important parts of the homebuying process — like inspections — to get their offer accepted quickly.
A few different factors have created this homebuying environment, says Jeff Tucker, senior economist at Zillow. The most obvious is the Covid-19 pandemic, which accelerated many people’s homebuying timelines. Coupled with historically low interest rates, buyers wanted to lock in extra space and a good deal on their mortgages.
A Basic Financial Planning Checklist
.A Basic Financial Planning Checklist
A realization that has only very slowly occurred to me, over 15 years in the world of financial planning, is that the most common financial planning mistake that I see people make is not so much a particular bad decision, but rather completely ignoring certain parts of financial planning.
In many cases, that shows up in the form of focusing too much on the investing part of the picture, while having some other critical financial planning need that is going unaddressed.
And that’s not terribly surprising. Investing involves thinking about upside — how your assets will grow (and how they could grow, if you make a high-risk bet and get lucky). That can be fun.
Getting the Goalpost to Stop Moving
.Getting the Goalpost to Stop Moving
Jun 7, 2021 by Morgan Housel
There aren’t many iron laws of money. But here’s one, and perhaps the most important: If expectations grow faster than income you’ll never be happy with your money. One of the most important financial skills is getting the goalpost to stop moving. It’s also one of the hardest.
First, a little story about the 1950s.
“The present and immediate future seem astonishingly good,” LIFE magazine’s January, 1953 cover story begins.
“The country has just lived through what was economically the greatest year in its history” it wrote. It had done this with “10 straight years of full employment, through new management attitudes which include an increasing realization that the well-paid worker, who does his job under healthy and agreeable conditions, is a valuable worker.”
Save Like A Pessimist, Invest Like An Optimist
.Save Like A Pessimist, Invest Like An Optimist
Sep 2, 2020 by Morgan Housel
In 1984 Jane Pauley interviewed 28-year-old Bill Gates. “Some people call you a genius,” Pauley said. “I know that might embarrass you but …”
Gates deadpans. No emotion. No response.
“OK, I guess that doesn’t embarrass you,” Pauley says with an awkward laugh.
Again, zero reaction from Gates.
Of course he was a genius. And he knew it. Gates dropped out of college at 19 because he thought a computer should be on every desk in every home. You only do that when you have relentless confidence in your abilities. Paul Allen once wrote about the first time he met Bill:
The 5 Most Important Money Lessons I Give My Residents
.The 5 Most Important Money Lessons I Give My Residents
By Peter Kim, MD Passive Income MD
A large part of my job is teaching. In fact, every day I teach both residents and fellows. The subject matter is mostly anesthesia-related, but I can’t help throwing in some financial lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Physician Contract Reviews
We just don’t get any financial education in our normal training, and I feel it’s a great disservice, not only to our future careers but our lives as well. For this reason, unfortunately, it’s up to us to self-educate.
Brain Meets Money
.Brain Meets Money
Richard Quinn
HOW OFTEN DO you think about money? Hey, you just did. Seriously, we think about money every day and sometimes every hour. Some studies say we ponder financial matters even more often than the old standby: sex. We’ve been thinking about the stuff for a long time. Money goes back about 3,000 years. Paper currency can be traced to China in 700 BC. They didn’t fool around: Their currency stated that all counterfeiters would be decapitated. I’m guessing counterfeiting was rare.
Today, it costs two cents to manufacture a penny and almost eight cents to make a nickel. Result? Each year, we taxpayers lose about $85.4 million on the production of pennies and $33.5 million on nickels.
Gee, at that rate, those of us on Social Security could receive a $2-a-year raise if they made cheaper money. Who needs pennies anyway? Money is no more than a piece of metal or paper—basically worthless, except you can get stuff for it because the people who sell you stuff can get other stuff with the money you give them.
Five Reasons to Rent
.Five Reasons to Rent
Humble Dollar
HOMEOWNERSHIP offers many advantages, as we detailed in the previous section. But there’s no guarantee you’ll make money, especially if you own a house for just a few years. Thinking of purchasing a home? Here are five caveats—which may prompt you to continue renting.
First, given the risk of declining property prices, you shouldn’t buy unless you can see staying put for at least five years and preferably seven years or longer. While it’s hard to imagine we’ll suffer another decline like that of 2006-12 any time soon, a smaller drop is entirely possible.
Five Reasons to Buy
.Five Reasons to Buy
Humble Dollar
DESPITE THE PROPERTY market’s 2006–12 downturn, many Americans remain firmly convinced of the virtues of homeownership. What underpins that faith? Here are five reasons most folks should aim to own a home.
First, with a fixed-rate mortgage, you lock in your housing costs and thereby protect yourself against a booming real estate market that drives up rents and property prices. An adjustable-rate mortgage doesn’t offer the same degree of certainty, though typically there are caps on how much your monthly payment can increase.
Taking Sides on Financial Issues
.Taking Sides on Financial Issues
Adam M. Grossman | June 6, 2021
WHEN IT COMES to financial questions, there are two common reasons people disagree. Sometimes, they disagree about the facts—whether, say, interest rates are headed higher. But sometimes, people disagree for another reason: They see the world through different lenses.
Last week, I mentioned that Ray Dalio, a prominent hedge fund manager, had recently said that bonds “have become stupid.” I disagreed, but not because of the facts. There’s no disputing the impact of today’s low rates. But I think the wisdom of owning bonds depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re a hedge fund manager like Dalio, your objectives will be different from those of an individual investor. For a hedge fund, maybe bonds are stupid. But for an individual investor, they might make a ton of sense. It’s a matter of perspective.
Below are five other issues that I also see as matters of perspective.
What You Need To Know Before You Invest In Anything
.What You Need To Know Before You Invest In Anything
Thomas Kopelman / June 1, 2021
As a financial advisor, I get asked almost daily what I am investing in.
It mostly sounds like this “are you invested in Bitcoin? Ethereum, Apple, Tesla, AMC, etc.” The list could go on forever. I always have a hard time answering this question because what I invest in doesn’t really matter. Just because I invest in certain things does not mean you should and vise versa. The real question is “why do I invest in those things?” The why is so much more important than the what.
And for me, I have a deep why for my investing strategy.
I believe in low cost, diversified investing for most of my portfolio. About 80% of my current portfolio is in low cost index funds that have the exposure I want (the same as our RLS Wealth clients). Some to large cap, some to mid cap, some to small cap, some to international, some to value, and some to growth.
My Uncle Died Without a Will – And It Was a Nightmare
.My Uncle Died Without a Will – And It Was a Nightmare
Written by Hannah Logan Publish date: June 4, 2021
What happens when a family member dies and doesn't leave a will? It's not pleasant, as one woman recounts. It's a frustrating exercise that underscores why everyone should have a legal will.
In April of 2017, my family got a call we never expected.
My father’s youngest brother had died suddenly in his home. My uncle Peter was a single man without children, so it fell upon my family to take care of his estate. While this is never a pleasant task for any family, our experience was made several times more difficult and stressful due to the fact that we were unable to find his legal will.
He was a former member of the Canadian Navy, based in Halifax. Upon receiving the news my parents flew out to Nova Scotia from our family home in Ontario to take care of everything.