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> But have a budget. Spend 100% is IMO a bad advice Fully agree with this and everything above. However, ... > I also do not recommend invest in stock market

by vog 9y ago

> But have a budget. Spend 100% is IMO a bad advice Fully agree with this and everything above. However, ... > I also do not recommend invest in stock market > Instead I would save up enough money, buy a house. Owning a land or an apartment will do you far better in the long run. Buy some gold when you have spare. Isn't this advice contradictory? The goal is to reduce risk, isn't it? Then buying a house is very risky. If it is old, reparation costs are impossible to predict. If it is new, you have to watch over a building site which can easily blow its initial budget, both in time and money. Same for buying gold. Nowadays the gold price is almost decoupled from its material value. This is mostly circle speculating with how other people will perceive the value of gold in the future. Of course buying individual stocks is much more risky than either houses or gold, but that's what index funds are for, aren't they?

yeukhon 9y ago
Risk is unavoidable, but we have weigh the long term risk. Blue chip stocks are great for long-term but very low return and probably don’t worth anything.... The problem with the mortage crisis in 2008 has to do with bad credit. If you save money and have a steady income, go head. Right now is still a good time as interest rate is still low (I went from variable to fixed after building enough credit). The risk is people buy a house when they can barely afford one or can’t even afford one at all. Ask family to help contribute for your first buy, and pay back. I never get the “buy alone, never bother family” thing. Disclaimer: my parents did buy the house and I refinanced the house so I paid back. That being said I have a mortage (3k) monthly for 20 years at 4.25%. If I can’t pay back I still have to sell the house or the bank will take away, so doesn’t matter if my parents did buy the house in full initially. The risk is the same, but the money is well-spebt if you start saving now. As far as gold, you can buy gold and save them. Perhaps this is a Chinese thing. We buy gold from stores and keep them in a safe, we don’t buy virtual golds at all knowing we don’t really own anything. The point is sell them when you can, either at high or when you really need thr cash. Remember physical is better than paper bills. Coin itself is worth more than a piece of paper. This is why I believe owning a car is far better in the long run. My dad bought one for $8000 SUV and it last about 10 years before he decided to get a new one. That old car about 15 years old was sold for $3000. Good deal! There is a Chinese saying: we work to buy a brick. Because a brick can be reused, but a piece of contract can’t. This is so evident in NYC as Chinese immigrants own so many apartments/houses, and they rent them out to make $$. I also rent out my second floor to help pay back my mortage... I know all the above can’t apply to everyone, espeically for those who live in expensive areas like SV (which is why I avoid working there). But look around, there must be a way for you to save money.... just review your monthly spend. Cancel a service you rarely or don’t use anymore... $100 save every month means $1200 a year.
- jimmies 9y ago
  You are doing many that the course says do not do -- stashing gold, thinking one kind of investment (buying properties) is always better than others, thinking one kind of fiat money is better than another, etc. You are basing many of those decisions based on your personal luck and other people's anecdotal experiences, but not what the data said.
  - yeukhon 9y ago
    If courses can make you wealthy, we won't be having this conversation? Isn't OP also basing his personal experience what works? Seriously, be open minded about subjective opinion. There is no right/wrong. If my method works for me, it works for me. My starting statement said there is no one definite way to live. So let's respect that.
    - jimmies 9y ago
      >If courses can make you wealthy, we won't be having this conversation? Oh well, I think people will agree that following the advice in courses in reputable universities, perhaps, makes people wealthy more frequently than following advice that people disagree with on HN.
    - argv_empty 9y ago
      Seriously, be open minded about subjective opinion. There is no right/wrong. Risk tolerance is, but refusing to diversify outside of real estate and precious metals is objectively a risky strategy without a history of outperforming lower-risk ones.
CreepGin 9y ago
I don't know where you live. But buying houses (as investment) is top priority for most people I know in my area (Boston). I would imagine the same goes for the Bay area. In areas close to the city (Somerville, Belmont, and Cambridge), every new house listing is a bidding war. All contingencies waived. Because the demand is so high, a lot of people don't sell houses as a whole anymore. But instead opt to sell multi-family houses as condos. And these condos still sell quickly. The reason for the demand is that house buying is actually a very stable investment. Rent money covers the mortgage. Remodeling cost always repays itself (and in most cases actually give you a net gain). House itself appreciates year over year. Even the last recession did not slow down the appreciation much. The risks you mentioned actually only apply to people who are new to all this.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  I feel a lot of people disagree with us. Unexpected, but too bad. We live in our subjective fantasy.
  - CreepGin 9y ago
    Haha yes. I was a little surprised too. I guess a lot of people here just don't like the hassle involved with house buying.
- jimmies 9y ago
  The problem is you have to put in the effort to maintain/repair/rent out the property you have. If an effort is needed to maintain profits then I could as well do many other things that bring better returns than properties. The idea of an index fund is that you don't have to do anything for it to bring relatively reliable profits.
  - CreepGin 9y ago
    Agreed, investment house does involve some hassle =) I was posting mostly to counter the argument that buying investment house is risky.
- 9y ago

by vog 9y ago

yeukhon 9y ago

Risk is unavoidable, but we have weigh the long term risk. Blue chip stocks are great for long-term but very low return and probably don’t worth anything.... The problem with the mortage crisis in 2008 has to do with bad credit. If you save money and have a steady income, go head. Right now is still a good time as interest rate is still low (I went from variable to fixed after building enough credit). The risk is people buy a house when they can barely afford one or can’t even afford one at all. Ask family to help contribute for your first buy, and pay back. I never get the “buy alone, never bother family” thing. Disclaimer: my parents did buy the house and I refinanced the house so I paid back. That being said I have a mortage (3k) monthly for 20 years at 4.25%. If I can’t pay back I still have to sell the house or the bank will take away, so doesn’t matter if my parents did buy the house in full initially. The risk is the same, but the money is well-spebt if you start saving now. As far as gold, you can buy gold and save them. Perhaps this is a Chinese thing. We buy gold from stores and keep them in a safe, we don’t buy virtual golds at all knowing we don’t really own anything. The point is sell them when you can, either at high or when you really need thr cash. Remember physical is better than paper bills. Coin itself is worth more than a piece of paper. This is why I believe owning a car is far better in the long run. My dad bought one for $8000 SUV and it last about 10 years before he decided to get a new one. That old car about 15 years old was sold for $3000. Good deal! There is a Chinese saying: we work to buy a brick. Because a brick can be reused, but a piece of contract can’t. This is so evident in NYC as Chinese immigrants own so many apartments/houses, and they rent them out to make $$. I also rent out my second floor to help pay back my mortage... I know all the above can’t apply to everyone, espeically for those who live in expensive areas like SV (which is why I avoid working there). But look around, there must be a way for you to save money.... just review your monthly spend. Cancel a service you rarely or don’t use anymore... $100 save every month means $1200 a year.

jimmies 9y ago
You are doing many that the course says do not do -- stashing gold, thinking one kind of investment (buying properties) is always better than others, thinking one kind of fiat money is better than another, etc. You are basing many of those decisions based on your personal luck and other people's anecdotal experiences, but not what the data said.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  If courses can make you wealthy, we won't be having this conversation? Isn't OP also basing his personal experience what works? Seriously, be open minded about subjective opinion. There is no right/wrong. If my method works for me, it works for me. My starting statement said there is no one definite way to live. So let's respect that.
  - jimmies 9y ago
    >If courses can make you wealthy, we won't be having this conversation? Oh well, I think people will agree that following the advice in courses in reputable universities, perhaps, makes people wealthy more frequently than following advice that people disagree with on HN.
  - argv_empty 9y ago
    Seriously, be open minded about subjective opinion. There is no right/wrong. Risk tolerance is, but refusing to diversify outside of real estate and precious metals is objectively a risky strategy without a history of outperforming lower-risk ones.

CreepGin 9y ago

I don't know where you live. But buying houses (as investment) is top priority for most people I know in my area (Boston). I would imagine the same goes for the Bay area. In areas close to the city (Somerville, Belmont, and Cambridge), every new house listing is a bidding war. All contingencies waived. Because the demand is so high, a lot of people don't sell houses as a whole anymore. But instead opt to sell multi-family houses as condos. And these condos still sell quickly. The reason for the demand is that house buying is actually a very stable investment. Rent money covers the mortgage. Remodeling cost always repays itself (and in most cases actually give you a net gain). House itself appreciates year over year. Even the last recession did not slow down the appreciation much. The risks you mentioned actually only apply to people who are new to all this.

yeukhon 9y ago
I feel a lot of people disagree with us. Unexpected, but too bad. We live in our subjective fantasy.
- CreepGin 9y ago
  Haha yes. I was a little surprised too. I guess a lot of people here just don't like the hassle involved with house buying.
jimmies 9y ago
The problem is you have to put in the effort to maintain/repair/rent out the property you have. If an effort is needed to maintain profits then I could as well do many other things that bring better returns than properties. The idea of an index fund is that you don't have to do anything for it to bring relatively reliable profits.
- CreepGin 9y ago
  Agreed, investment house does involve some hassle =) I was posting mostly to counter the argument that buying investment house is risky.
9y ago