Someone starting out would need to move to a state where the cost of living is much lower, but maintain a job that still pays really well in order to make it work. You can slowly move up over the years if you buy/sell smart.
Let me re-phrase that. It's impossible for someone earning a starter wage to pay off a starter house in three years in the parts of the country where the majority of people want to live.
I agree the odds are against you if you start investing right now. But still, analysis has shown that the only way to get long term returns that match the long term averages is to stay invested regardless of what the market is doing short term. I think this is because of another fact revealed by modern analysis: All of the investment gains that push up an average return, are earned in those few days of extraordinary market increases. All the other market numbers year in and year out, are just random noise that can be ignored. So - if you're not in the market on those extraordinary days you're not going to keep up with the long term S&P or whatever other index you like.
Hopefully polite disagreement. Certainly buy low and sell high. But, time in the market means more than trying to time the market. If you are investing for long term (greater than 10 years), the upside lose can be greater than the bargain you might get waiting for a crash. Dividends play a role in long term investing, and they come with time.
Yes. We've been talking about passive investment, no management needed. There are far better returns available actively managing something. I got my start like that young husband, I asked a Realtor to find me a starter home and he offered that duplex I described above. I was employed as a Carpenter so he soon came back and said he had a listing that was un-salable, 5 units, all vacant and un-rentable, where a new buyer had ripped out the carpets, toilets, etc for a remodel then defaulted it back to the seller. The mountain of of rotting carpets and cabinet fragments in the yard was enough to scare off anybody. But I was able to negotiate a sweat-equity down payment to that discouraged seller. First clean it up then the seller would complete a proper sale to me, and carry the financing himself. A month working alone and $5k and I had four units rentable. This carried the mortgage plus funded fixing the fifth unit. Then it paid for me to go back to school for a graduate level degree. That minimal down payment eventually made the best return of anything I've invested in. When I sold it, the mortgage I carried on it more than made the payments on the nice home we still own.
I disagree. Get in. Stay in. Invest a fixed percentage of your income every paycheck whether the market is up or down. When you start approaching retirement age, start moving towards safer investments.
That certainly may be true. Personally I want to live where it's safe, not heavily populated yet close enough for necessities and good medical care. Nice restaurants not far.
My grandfather next door had a visit from Edward C. Johnson II right after WWII. Grandfather liked him, investing in the Puritan Fund. He did well...very well.
Very lucky! Abby (third generation Johnson, principal stockholder of of Fidelity) seems competent but not genius like dad and ECJ II.
I think I have piggy bank envy
Gorgeous!
I was just joking. I am the same, I had lived all my life under my means until I was told I was a 1%er by assets at which time I loosened up a bit (but not much).
Ever get those letters inviting you to a free dinner if you listen to the pitch of a financial advisor?
