5 ms·

Say you earn enough for an 800k to 1.3 mill home in sv... you live a meager life because of the costs for your home, but in 30 years you have your home paid off

Say you earn enough for an 800k to 1.3 mill home in sv... you live a meager life because of the costs for your home, but in 30 years you have your home paid off, you're nearing retirement you decide -- I'm gonna sell my home and move to utah. You buy a 200k home in utah.. you sell your home for 20% more than you paid for it maybe even more since housing prices are only going up in SV.. ... -- just the value in your home which you'd NEVER have been able to afford on a dev salary in Utah or somewhere else has forced you into buying a home worth a mill and a quarter, now it's an asset and sure you had to go hungry some months and just break even on bills to afford it, but you're set for retirement where as some others wouldn't be so well off...

actsasbuffoon 9y ago
Your home is a somewhat poor investment due to low liquidity. It takes time to sell a house, and in the process you lose your home. A home requires expensive upkeep. They can be destroyed through natural disasters, or rendered undesirable by changing fashion tastes. Investing your money in a broad index fund over 30 years would almost certainly provide much more growth. You can sell your position in a matter of minutes, there’s no maintenance cost, etc. Short term market fluctuations could reduce value for a time, but over a 30 year time horizon, you’re basically certain to do well.
- djrogers 9y ago
  You can't live in an index fund, so you'll be putting substantially less away after paying rent on a house equivalent to the one GP purchased.
- gremlinsinc 9y ago
  You can't tell me someone who bought a home in 1980 in SF for 200 or 300k isn't better off financially in 2018 than someone who put 200k in funds and no extra investments at all in the same year. A 200k home in 1980 is probably worth about 2 million today in SF. It's for this reason I'll never move anywhere near there, I just don't see myself being to afford it even, if I do become a rockstar ai developer or something. I personally would like though for people outside SF to get more remote opps at higher rates than elsewhere, maybe even just drive up the freelance/conctract rates, although I think a lot of contract rates have to do with levels of imposter syndrome, I'm an intermediate dev, who is probably comparable to some senior devs by now, but still feel like I'm charging too much if I go above $50/hour, but part of me knows I can get $100/hour.

actsasbuffoon 9y ago

Your home is a somewhat poor investment due to low liquidity. It takes time to sell a house, and in the process you lose your home. A home requires expensive upkeep. They can be destroyed through natural disasters, or rendered undesirable by changing fashion tastes. Investing your money in a broad index fund over 30 years would almost certainly provide much more growth. You can sell your position in a matter of minutes, there’s no maintenance cost, etc. Short term market fluctuations could reduce value for a time, but over a 30 year time horizon, you’re basically certain to do well.

djrogers 9y ago
You can't live in an index fund, so you'll be putting substantially less away after paying rent on a house equivalent to the one GP purchased.
gremlinsinc 9y ago
You can't tell me someone who bought a home in 1980 in SF for 200 or 300k isn't better off financially in 2018 than someone who put 200k in funds and no extra investments at all in the same year. A 200k home in 1980 is probably worth about 2 million today in SF. It's for this reason I'll never move anywhere near there, I just don't see myself being to afford it even, if I do become a rockstar ai developer or something. I personally would like though for people outside SF to get more remote opps at higher rates than elsewhere, maybe even just drive up the freelance/conctract rates, although I think a lot of contract rates have to do with levels of imposter syndrome, I'm an intermediate dev, who is probably comparable to some senior devs by now, but still feel like I'm charging too much if I go above $50/hour, but part of me knows I can get $100/hour.