Everything comes down to your own individual circumstance. For some people, buying makes more sense. Others, it’s renting. What you should NOT DO is automatically dismiss one or the other without actually calculating the cost of each.
Whether you rent or buy, the basic point of all this is to save money. When people complain that they can never get ahead or only the rich can save money, I want to strangle them. Anyone with a modest income can get ahead.
My dad never earned more than $60k a year and always drove a 10 year-old Chevy with rattle-can paint. We lived in the cheapest house in the best school district he could afford.
When I was 14, I was crying about not having designer clothes when my friends had their Air Jordans and parents who chauffeured them around in a new Bimmer.
That’s when my dad showed me his retirement statement and how quickly money accumulates when you save and don’t spend it on unnecessary things. My dad retired about 6 years ago with almost $2 million.
In my entire working career, I never cracked $100k. My first job paid $35k and I could only put a few thousand away that first year, but every year I would save as much as I could. Most of my career, I made between $60k and $80k. It was only a few months ago that I finally landed a job that is approaching $100k (which is one of the reasons I rent, so I can easily move to areas with higher paying jobs). Maybe in a few years I will finally break $100k. But I live in NYC and $100k here is probably equivalent to $60k in most parts of the country.
It’s hard when you first start and easy to get discouraged when you want to save more than $1 million and your account only shows a few thousand. But I kept at it and one day, I got my statement and it showed I had saved my first $100k. Today, after 20 years of working and diligently putting away between $10k and $15k a year, I have now saved about $400k. My accounts double every 8-12 years and I’m 41.
Saving money and not buying a $40k car just because I want it is a life lesson my dad taught me and I hope to one day demonstrate to my kids how quickly saving and compound interest can grow an account.
When I die, I will probably be able to leave enough to my kids that if they choose to continue saving money like my dad and not blow their inheritance on a fancy new car, clothes, etc., after 10-15 years of working and saving, the income generated from their savings will be enough for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives and they can chose to work because they want to, not because they have to.
Sorry for the long post, but people should not “give up” and think it’s okay to just buy whatever they want because they think they’ll never be able to save anything.
Whether you rent or buy, the basic point of all this is to save money. When people complain that they can never get ahead or only the rich can save money, I want to strangle them. Anyone with a modest income can get ahead.
My dad never earned more than $60k a year and always drove a 10 year-old Chevy with rattle-can paint. We lived in the cheapest house in the best school district he could afford.
When I was 14, I was crying about not having designer clothes when my friends had their Air Jordans and parents who chauffeured them around in a new Bimmer.
That’s when my dad showed me his retirement statement and how quickly money accumulates when you save and don’t spend it on unnecessary things. My dad retired about 6 years ago with almost $2 million.
In my entire working career, I never cracked $100k. My first job paid $35k and I could only put a few thousand away that first year, but every year I would save as much as I could. Most of my career, I made between $60k and $80k. It was only a few months ago that I finally landed a job that is approaching $100k (which is one of the reasons I rent, so I can easily move to areas with higher paying jobs). Maybe in a few years I will finally break $100k. But I live in NYC and $100k here is probably equivalent to $60k in most parts of the country.
It’s hard when you first start and easy to get discouraged when you want to save more than $1 million and your account only shows a few thousand. But I kept at it and one day, I got my statement and it showed I had saved my first $100k. Today, after 20 years of working and diligently putting away between $10k and $15k a year, I have now saved about $400k. My accounts double every 8-12 years and I’m 41.
Saving money and not buying a $40k car just because I want it is a life lesson my dad taught me and I hope to one day demonstrate to my kids how quickly saving and compound interest can grow an account.
When I die, I will probably be able to leave enough to my kids that if they choose to continue saving money like my dad and not blow their inheritance on a fancy new car, clothes, etc., after 10-15 years of working and saving, the income generated from their savings will be enough for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives and they can chose to work because they want to, not because they have to.
Sorry for the long post, but people should not “give up” and think it’s okay to just buy whatever they want because they think they’ll never be able to save anything.
