NT: Official Personal Finances Thread

[usabasketball08]

The real estate market out here in Dallas-Ft. Worth is BOOMING. People are offering straight cash for $350K homes.

$150K will get someone into a home here but it won't be new, big, zoned to good schools or in a safe area. It'll most likely be in a FAR out suburb and old/outdated as hell.

Home value here are pretty much determined by the school's zoned to the house and proximity to major job centers.

 

[urbetterthenme]

 
6K a month pre tax income, saving 3K a month right now. Stacking for a house, living really basic right now and rent free

Once I buy the house I will be saving 1.5K a month.

@copped Alot of people don't understand that in retirement it is all about your cash flow and a good amount of money saved up that is continuously being invested. I plan on retiring from the corporate world in about 15 years when I'm around 37-40 years old.

How long do you plan on living?  Unless your saving millions or plan to live on a lower income, you shouldnt retire at 40

 

[Brownstone]

What I'm saying is he started with one house. Anyone can do it. Just be smart. He didn't just cop 35 cribs one day.

Obviously.....Regardless were talking about a unique situation, your friend enjoys flipping and renting out homes...That's his full time job and that's fine.....As far as buying a home for me to live in I'm good.

 

[Brownstone]

after taxes, insurance and my 14% 401k contributions, i bring home ~$4200 / month

probably spend about ~$3000 of that (half of it on mortgage / utilities)

I'm def not knocking you but, 14% is a lot do you have any other tax deferred account you can put half of that in?

 

[urbetterthenme]

I could probably save a lot more than I do, but I have a lazed lifestyle, wife hasn't worked in 2 years, we eat out often, I like expensive furniture, but camera gear often, collect high priced 1/6th figures...we are going through IVF...2 cars...etc etc...I rarely hold back on spending and we vacation at least 2 times a year....I'm surprised I even save anything being that I'm the only one bringing in money and the type of lifestyle we lead...

If she dont work and yall ain't got no kid, what in the world does she do?

 

[fontaine]

@Fontaine
 nice jab but its a 330K home 3.5% down 42% DTI . I am the only person on the loan so only my income is factored in calculations. Thanks to Maryland's great first home buyer program I will be receiving 25K in closing cost assistance (15K Seller , 10K CDA) and 2.75% interest rate. I was going to wait until January to purchase, but I was offered an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

Will refi to a conventional loan with no pmi before interest rates go back up. I've been establishing credit for only 4 years , so yeah short compared to the average. Can't change my age, so nothing I can do about that.

No offense taken I'm sure the market will crash again everything is a cycle. Not my concern.
Oh and 0% down loans do still exist I forgot that Navy Federal and NASA federal offer them lol.

Flourish young feller.

 

[natch johnson]

Why are you trying to defend/justify it? You're encouraging others to partake in a dangerous practice. Ever heard the saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket"? Diversification mother ******.

A dangerous practice? Did I say "buy Nike and only Nike"? I said that most will only invest in a house, so by buying Nike as well, you would be diversifying...

Anyway, buying stocks/bonds/mutual funds each month is a great way to start saving/building a portfolio IMO. Personally, I prefer stocks and Nike in particular (this is NikeTalk - so I assume many on here are partial to the company as well).

 

[mrse7en]

beezy, mad props.  wish i had my head on right when i was your age.  start as early as possibly and the sky's the limit. 

 

[timcity2000]

I'm def not knocking you but, 14% is a lot do you have any other tax deferred account you can put half of that in?

i have a roth IRA that i contribute to as well. and a small portfolio of stocks / mutual funds. are you saying i'm putting too much into my 401k?

 

[sneaksoy]

The real estate market out here in Dallas-Ft. Worth is BOOMING. People are offering straight cash for $350K homes.

$150K will get someone into a home here but it won't be new, big, zoned to good schools or in a safe area. It'll most likely be in a FAR out suburb and old/outdated as hell.

Home value here are pretty much determined by the school's zoned to the house and proximity to major job centers.

It's that way in a lot of places. The biggest thing just comes down to living within your means. My income/credit pre-qualified me to buy a lot more house than I did but at my age, I didn't need a brand new, $300k type place. I'll live really comfortable in an older home that I'll invest a little of my own elbow grease into and one day when my income goes up, I start a family, etc. I plan on moving into something newer/nicer/better school district.

Not gonna lie though a look through the Bachelor Pad thread had me almost copping a little condo in the heart of downtown for 3x the price per square foot Just wasn't necessary for me or my lifestyle.

TimCity - you look like you have a solid thing going, have you looked into a Roth IRA at all? Like someone else mentioned, 14% 401k seems high unless employer is matching it, you could get into a Roth IRA to have some tax-free money in the future

 

[youngdoc]

We're talking about the vast majority of people that own 1 property and not real estate moguls.  One girl I went to school with bought a house and already been spending tons on doing kitchen and flooring and chandeliers etc.   She's probably going to look at the $6,000 front doors etc. as well.  It's a money pit for the vast majority of americans

You are basing homeownership cost off of a kitchen renovation project one of the most expensive renovation jobs outside of bathrooms. You do know that you can buy a house with a good kitchen right?

You don't have to be a RE mogul to own investment properties .

Renting is a money pit you can't control rent prices and they will continue to rise over the next decade I can't wait to rent to people like that think owning a home is a money pit. I will be residing in my home for free thanks to you all

It's funny because right now it is actually cheaper to buy a house than rent.

@letsgetit22 No car payment, rent free until November (mortgage payments start), minimal bills.

I set an amount of money I want to save and I base my spending habits off of my savings rate.

As soon as I can afford the down payment I'm buying

Renting is the biggest pit but got no other choice in LA on my current salary

 

[Brownstone]

i have a roth IRA that i contribute to as well. and a small portfolio of stocks / mutual funds. are you saying i'm putting too much into my 401k?

IMO yes, I only contribute as much as my company matches, or 7% whichever is higher....You are already quite diverse with your investments

 I just feel that the extra 7% can be used better allocated throughout your current portfolio....While a 401k is amazing it is pretty illiquid....do you max out your roth contribution yearly?

 

[timcity2000]

^gotcha. no, i don't. probably should. good stuff. to be honest, i never really thought of a roth IRA as a liquid asset, but i guess as long as i don't withdraw more than i've contributed, it's fine, right?

honestly, the biggest advantage of the 401k contribution is that i never see it.

 

[Brownstone]

^gotcha. no, i don't. probably should. good stuff. to be honest, i never really thought of a roth IRA as a liquid asset, but i guess as long as i don't withdraw more than i've contributed, it's fine, right?

honestly, the biggest advantage of the 401k contribution is that i never see it.

Correct, everything you contributed is tax free, I transfer from my checking account directly into it....which I also rarely look at. 

I look at my roth as a 401k I can take out of penalty free....and with a lot more flexibility. After the penalty stage....I will have contributed close to 30,000 of my own money...I can't think of any reason I'll need to borrow more than that from myself.

 

[HankHill]

^ I think there's still penalties when you take out from your Roth. There's no taxes on it, but your still moving money out before retirement.

 

[based mod]

^ I think there's still penalties when you take out from your Roth. There's no taxes on it, but your still moving money out before retirement.

No penalty for taking out money you've contributed. Penalty on withdrawing any interest you've earned.


For example:

Put in $5000. And you happen to earn 10% interest ($500). Your account is now worth $5500. You can take out $5000 and be penalty-free. If you want to withdraw the whole account (the full $5500), there's a penalty on that extra $500.

 

[HankHill]

Oh okay. Didn't know that.

 

[Kaleo15]

Between me and my girl, after all the bills are paid... We usually try to save about 4-6k a month.

We put away half in a savings and the other half in a safe for cash emergencies.

 

[capital sb]

@mrse7en  thanks man I've been spending all of my time learning about real estate, investments , and early retirement. I have a vision and I am going to try my best to execute and achieve my goals. Goodluck to you man.

@BlackIntellect  I agree with only contributing enough to get the match. It has taken alot of persuasion for me to even see the point of a company 401K lol only plus is the match (+ stock option if available) thats it imo. Makes much more sense to contribute into your own outside traditional or roth ira , but this takes more discipline. Unless you are making enough to max out your company 401K and an outside roth then that is a different story.

@UrBetterthenME  When I retire I will still have a great cash flow and ira money working for me. I won't even retire from corporate until my real estate is bringing in $5000-$7500/mo profit. I believe I can achieve this before 40 only time will tell.

@WhatCanISay  nothing is wrong with a 150K home if its a good buy . In some areas it will take you far, DC area not so much. My first investment property will be <150K crazy how much that gets you in some states.

 

[utvol23]

Strong work fellas. Alot of you guys are killin it as far as saving esp for some the income to saving ratio that I am seeing.

 

[capital sb]

@WhatCanISay  who's laughing?  Guess you aren't directing that at me.

 

[urbetterthenme]

 
@mrse7en  thanks man I've been spending all of my time learning about real estate, investments , and early retirement. I have a vision and I am going to try my best to execute and achieve my goals. Goodluck to you man.

@BlackIntellect  I agree with only contributing enough to get the match. It has taken alot of persuasion for me to even see the point of a company 401K lol only plus is the match (+ stock option if available) thats it imo. Makes much more sense to contribute into your own outside traditional or roth ira , but this takes more discipline. Unless you are making enough to max out your company 401K and an outside roth then that is a different story.

@UrBetterthenME  When I retire I will still have a great cash flow and ira money working for me. I won't even retire from corporate until my real estate is bringing in $5000-$7500/mo profit. I believe I can achieve this before 40 only time will tell.

@WhatCanISay  nothing is wrong with a 150K home if its a good buy . In some areas it will take you far, DC area not so much. My first investment property will be <150K crazy how much that gets you in some states.

........... 150k home? Bruh, unless you moving somewhere downn south... thats chump change

 

[capital sb]

........... 150k home? Bruh, unless you moving somewhere downn south... thats chump change

Take a look into real estate in other states 150K can get you a lot. My home is 330K in MD 5 mins from DC , first rental property investment will be

 

[urbetterthenme]

Take a look into real estate in other states 150K can get you a lot. My home is 330K in MD 5 mins from DC , first rental property investment will be <150K out of state ...maybe you misunderstood.

What city? Please dont say anywhere in PG bruh...

 

[nazdrowie]

 
Please dont say anywhere in PG bruh...