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> “If avocado toast costs around $8 a serving, you’d have to skip approximately 4,900 of those beloved toasts to afford that new home.” Remember that journalis

> “If avocado toast costs around $8 a serving, you’d have to skip approximately 4,900 of those beloved toasts to afford that new home.” Remember that journalists make an average salary of $37,720(according to a quick Google search). You're not going to get a lot of advice or insight into handling your money from someone who can barely afford his rent. I don't think his goal was to give advice(I'm not really sure what the article's point was, to be honest), but I suggest avoiding taking advice from journalists nonetheless. To a first approximation, cutting a habit of $8/day for 200 days/year would immediately raise your net worth by ~$20,000 in my eyes. You can't pay your down payment in net worth, but nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years.

throwaway91111 9y ago
Yea, but that neatly skates past the point that a billionaire is critiquing tens of millions of americans (more than a hundred million? Certainly close.) spending habits based on a menu item. This is a clear case of lazy criticism without much substance. Kids, don't buy $8 avacado and toast if you want to use that money later. There, I said something just as useful without writing off a substantial portion of the population as being bad with money.
Swizec 9y ago
> nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years. Sure. Now consider this, avo toast for $8 is more of a brunch thing than an everyday thing. 2 servings per week tops. $832 savings per year, takes 216 years to save up for a $180,000 home. Also 1-bedroom apartments in the places where avotoast is $8 cost more around $800k.
hwillis 9y ago
>To a first approximation, cutting a habit of $8/day for 200 days/year would immediately raise your net worth by ~$20,000 in my eyes. You can't pay your down payment in net worth, but nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years. What? What does that even mean? $8 a day for 200 days/year would be $1,600 a year. That's basically nothing. $6,400 is not a down payment on $180,000.
batiudrami 9y ago
The original comment was made by an Australian, who was essentially saying "young Australians are not frugal enough to buy property", despite real house prices growing much faster than inflation or wages and spending by young people on dining out/entertainment being lower than past generations. It's actually a reference to this [1] tongue-in-cheek article which, while obviously a joke, touched a nerve amongst young people in a city where the median house price is 1.1M AUD/850USD. Also, other issues with your maths aside, $180,000 properties don't exist in Australia in places with employment opportunities. [1] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/moralisers-we-need-you/news-story/6bdb24f77572be68330bd306c14ee8a3?nk=ab6d3ecb1bb2f193d94d861c8652975c-1500002549 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-maga...
madeofpalk 9y ago
> a $180,000 property hahaha. Average property price in Sydney or Melbourne is closer to 10 times that.

throwaway91111 9y ago

Yea, but that neatly skates past the point that a billionaire is critiquing tens of millions of americans (more than a hundred million? Certainly close.) spending habits based on a menu item. This is a clear case of lazy criticism without much substance. Kids, don't buy $8 avacado and toast if you want to use that money later. There, I said something just as useful without writing off a substantial portion of the population as being bad with money.

Swizec 9y ago

> nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years. Sure. Now consider this, avo toast for $8 is more of a brunch thing than an everyday thing. 2 servings per week tops. $832 savings per year, takes 216 years to save up for a $180,000 home. Also 1-bedroom apartments in the places where avotoast is $8 cost more around $800k.

hwillis 9y ago

>To a first approximation, cutting a habit of $8/day for 200 days/year would immediately raise your net worth by ~$20,000 in my eyes. You can't pay your down payment in net worth, but nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years. What? What does that even mean? $8 a day for 200 days/year would be $1,600 a year. That's basically nothing. $6,400 is not a down payment on $180,000.

batiudrami 9y ago

The original comment was made by an Australian, who was essentially saying "young Australians are not frugal enough to buy property", despite real house prices growing much faster than inflation or wages and spending by young people on dining out/entertainment being lower than past generations. It's actually a reference to this [1] tongue-in-cheek article which, while obviously a joke, touched a nerve amongst young people in a city where the median house price is 1.1M AUD/850USD. Also, other issues with your maths aside, $180,000 properties don't exist in Australia in places with employment opportunities. [1] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/moralisers-we-need-you/news-story/6bdb24f77572be68330bd306c14ee8a3?nk=ab6d3ecb1bb2f193d94d861c8652975c-1500002549 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-maga...

madeofpalk 9y ago

> a $180,000 property hahaha. Average property price in Sydney or Melbourne is closer to 10 times that.