5 ms·

You probably just don't? If you really want to, wait until you're married with dual income and buy significantly under your budget. That might mean a longer com

You probably just don't? If you really want to, wait until you're married with dual income and buy significantly under your budget. That might mean a longer commute and your kids sharing a room, but you won't be having panic attacks during every performance review for the next three decades.

throwaway5959 3y ago
That’s what we did. We should have bought sooner, we would have saved a lot. But we’re happy owning now and not having to worry about what rent will be next year. Hopefully in a few years we’ll refinance at a lower rate and have a lot more principal paid down. If you’re having kids and you want a big place (we want neither), there are plenty of places in the country where houses (big ones) are a quarter of what they are in the Bay, Seattle, etc. Sure, you won’t be making $350k/year as a senior but the schools will be excellent, your kids will be safer and if one of you lose your jobs it won’t matter because you’ll have a massive emergency fund and lower expenses.
diarrhea 3y ago
> dual income > kids Pick one!
- salil999 3y ago
  What do you mean? You can have kids and two working parents.
  - rhelz 3y ago
    You can have 10 kids as a single parent. Doesn't mean its a good idea.
  - sieabahlpark 3y ago
    [dead]
- indemnity 3y ago
  I picked single income, two kids and a mortgage. Oops!
rhelz 3y ago
So I commute 3 hours a day, to a job I work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for, while my son and daughter are sharing a room... When I left grad school in 1997, the biggest problem me and my friends had was figuring out whether or not Microsoft, Intel, Google, or Amazon had the best stock option package. Was it going to be 4, or 5 years before we'd be able to buy a million dollar house? Now the advice is to just roll over. Lets call it what it is: POVERTY
- DoughnutHole 3y ago
  Let's call your 90s example what we now know it was: a bubble. Software engineering salaries are substantially above the US mean and those that receive them are on track to be solidly upper middle class. They're not so high that you are free to make irresponsible financial decisions with no consequences.
  - rhelz 3y ago
    Two points: 1. Most of the companies on that list are more profitable now than they were back then, and 2. My grandfather was a janitor, who never made more than $50 a week, and his kids never had to share a bedroom. He was able to buy a house and put his kids through college. Its been several generations since we've had an economy which actually functions the way its supposed to. Half the people alive have never experienced it and really lack a frame or reference here.
    - ElevenLathe 3y ago
      The sad truth is that the era of our grandfathers (the Fordist era, as a shorthand) was an insane anomaly in the history of political economy. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work to bring it back, but it was grandpa and his peers that got lucky, not us who got unlucky.
      - rhelz 3y ago
        The reason I have a hard time with the luck theory is that companies are far more profitable, and workers are far more productive today than they were back then. So why all the advice for tech workers to just accept that they have to live in poverty. And yeah, that's the word for it. The recommended lifestyle is not recognizable as anything like middle class. Don't buy a home. Don't go to college or send your kids to college. Commute from somewhere we don't have to see you or associate with you.

throwaway5959 3y ago

That’s what we did. We should have bought sooner, we would have saved a lot. But we’re happy owning now and not having to worry about what rent will be next year. Hopefully in a few years we’ll refinance at a lower rate and have a lot more principal paid down. If you’re having kids and you want a big place (we want neither), there are plenty of places in the country where houses (big ones) are a quarter of what they are in the Bay, Seattle, etc. Sure, you won’t be making $350k/year as a senior but the schools will be excellent, your kids will be safer and if one of you lose your jobs it won’t matter because you’ll have a massive emergency fund and lower expenses.

diarrhea 3y ago

> dual income > kids Pick one!

salil999 3y ago
What do you mean? You can have kids and two working parents.
- rhelz 3y ago
  You can have 10 kids as a single parent. Doesn't mean its a good idea.
- sieabahlpark 3y ago
  [dead]
indemnity 3y ago
I picked single income, two kids and a mortgage. Oops!

rhelz 3y ago

So I commute 3 hours a day, to a job I work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for, while my son and daughter are sharing a room... When I left grad school in 1997, the biggest problem me and my friends had was figuring out whether or not Microsoft, Intel, Google, or Amazon had the best stock option package. Was it going to be 4, or 5 years before we'd be able to buy a million dollar house? Now the advice is to just roll over. Lets call it what it is: POVERTY

DoughnutHole 3y ago
Let's call your 90s example what we now know it was: a bubble. Software engineering salaries are substantially above the US mean and those that receive them are on track to be solidly upper middle class. They're not so high that you are free to make irresponsible financial decisions with no consequences.
- rhelz 3y ago
  Two points: 1. Most of the companies on that list are more profitable now than they were back then, and 2. My grandfather was a janitor, who never made more than $50 a week, and his kids never had to share a bedroom. He was able to buy a house and put his kids through college. Its been several generations since we've had an economy which actually functions the way its supposed to. Half the people alive have never experienced it and really lack a frame or reference here.
  - ElevenLathe 3y ago
    The sad truth is that the era of our grandfathers (the Fordist era, as a shorthand) was an insane anomaly in the history of political economy. That doesn't mean we shouldn't work to bring it back, but it was grandpa and his peers that got lucky, not us who got unlucky.
    - rhelz 3y ago
      The reason I have a hard time with the luck theory is that companies are far more profitable, and workers are far more productive today than they were back then. So why all the advice for tech workers to just accept that they have to live in poverty. And yeah, that's the word for it. The recommended lifestyle is not recognizable as anything like middle class. Don't buy a home. Don't go to college or send your kids to college. Commute from somewhere we don't have to see you or associate with you.