I own a condo, and I have always had condo insurance. As mentioned above, it costs me about $22 a month and is well worth it. I also had renter's insurance when I was married and my ex and I rented apartments before we bought a house. The two (condo and renter's insurance) are similar - you just never know when something can happen.
Buying a house with cash makes sense to me. Avoid the insurance man, and your only costs per year that you are required to pay are property taxes. You are not required to own insurance, and that allows you to buy insurance based on your risk and needs and allows homeowners insurance to become an option versus required because the bank told you so. You also may have less short term liquidity, but since you no longer have rent or mortgage obligations, you can quickly build up assets and create asset liquidity. There is also the option to sell the home, which itself is an asset and not so far fetched of an idea. You avoid the wasted monies that you pay with a mortgage, about $3500 or so in origin fees, and then in interest payments and lost interest due to escrow. $3500 is not so significant with an expensive home on the east or west coasts, but for the rest of the country and a 100,000 home, that amounts to 3.5% wasted for no equity. On the comment about tax benefits, well its not so significant. It is a deduction, not a credit-there is a huge difference. On my student loans, which works similarly as a deduction, I claimed 2,500 in interest payments. My tax liability for the year went from owing the government $59 to getting a check back for $300. Sure its nice to have some relief, but it doesnt pay for your interest-you are still losing money. It still becomes a no win situation with mortgage, and a cash purchase makes all the sense in the world.
This really depends on what state you live in. In NY, residency in the district is the one and only qualifier. Long Island has the most segregated schools in all of the country. This is an absolute embarrassment to our state.
Anyway, we rent in a Newsweek top 100 school district. Our kids are gifted, and our former town could not accommodate their potential. We decided to spend all our money on rent, with negligible college savings as a result. A HUGE gamble. But our daughter just got full tuition scholarship to MIT, so I think we made the right bet. I know this path is nerve-wracking, and not for everyone.
We pay 2100/m rent for a small place on LI, NY, but I am betting that since the crash, we own as much house as all our underwater neighbors. None. (houses here are a half mill and up.) So we end up paying about half as owners for the same perks!
We weighed this rent against private school, and the numbers had public school as the best bang for our buck.
I started my first Roth IRA when I was 18. My aunt is a stock broker and helped me put part of my enlistment bonus into the Roth. I also contributed monthly to my military TSP, which has grown alot thanks to my deployment. When I look at what I already have saved before even starting my first post-college job, I'm glad my aunt talked me into it!
Keep in mind that most insurance companies frown upon buying life insurance solely for the purpose of selling it to a third party. In fact, many insurance companies will ask this question on their application, and may decline coverage if this is your intent.
Why would you refuse to go to a place with air conditioning? That's not green at all. Your local Starbucks is going to be an igloo whether you patronize the place or not. Take your kindle or labtop, spend $2 on a small drink, find a cozy chair and become king of a wondrous ice palace for a couple hours. Your swampy uncomfortable house will be there when you get back.
I had no idea that a "flooding event" could occur so long before the actual damage. For now I'll just be thankful that I live in a fourth-floor apartment in an area that doesn't, as far as I know, flood (and try not to think about that big fault line I'm sitting on).
While I think a lot people underestimate renter's insurance, I think
there is a significant amount of people who never considered it
because a) they've never even thought about it, or b) it's not
available to them. I know for me, I don't own a home, so the thought
of insurance for my property in a rental never entered my brain.
That's what HOMEOWNERS insurance is for, right? Fortunately I could
fix that with a simple phone call to my bank. But, for millions of
Americans who are unbanked and/or underinsured, there isn't a plethora
of inexpensive one-off renter's insurance options. I work for a
prepaid card company that's working on a product to fill this void in
the market; I think it's important that as homeownership rates drop,
there are more rental insurance options for the increasing amount of
renters.
always classify yourself as a so called "minority" to receive special consideration and funding. No one ever checks and if they do it's racist. Suckers!
My internship in grad school (age 21) offered a 401(k). I was only making $12 an hour, but I started putting 1% away for retirement anyway. Every little bit helps!
Hi - I love ways to make cooking/eating at home more accessible. It's a lot of work to be a chef in your own home everyday of the week.
I find planning one of the biggest helpers. Just look at your list and go. I also like to keep a list of easy/quick cook stuff for extra busy times of the week.
We love leftovers - just reheat and your eating in minutes! What could be better?!
I have been meaning to cook larger portions and start doing some freezing. I'd also really like to start freezing cooked beans instead of resorting to canned.
BUT these light bulbs also have mercury in them. If one of these light bulbs break, it could be disastrous! Remember how when a thermometer in the past used to have mercury in it and it would break, and someone would have to be hired to safely remove all the mercury from the house, well, it will be the same for one of these. Not to mention, that most people won't think to dispose of these properly, and just throw them in the trashcan. From there, the mercury will be emitted into the land, then our streams, and then to endanger our environment. Way to go Senators!
I like it, I think we'll start that too. We're in the "accident" stage right now so $1/day for no accidents would be perfect.
One thing I would suggest is to have him save XX% of his "earnings" so later he will be used to saving XX% of his income (rather than earning $10 and thinking he has $10 to spend).
Another reason to support your library: it gives kids a place to go after school. I live in what most people would term a poor neighborhood. One place that's guaranteed to be a safe haven, have computer access for homework, and air conditioning on miserably hot days is the local library. For every kid in the library in my neighborhood, that's one more kid who's not in a gang.
There are many ways to support your public library. You can donate money or your time or your books. Ask at your local branch how you can help out.
My New Year's Day tradition is to host a book swap at my house every year. People bring the books they enjoyed, throw them on a communal pile, and take what they want home. The leftovers are donated to the library. People love this.
Instead of buying books, I also donate $300 or whatever I would have spent on my reading to the library every year. I don't have book clutter in my house and my favorite authors still get a little help from the library purchases.
To my mind, the first step is to live at a standard of living such that there are plenty of jobs where you can earn enough to support yourself (unlike most people who find the job that pays the most and then spend all they earn).
Step two is to start saving and investing, with a short-term goal of an emergency fund and a medium-term goal of producing enough investment income to cover your bare minimum expenses.
In the short term you're more free and able to live with less fear, simply because you know there are a lot of ways you can make ends meet. As you begin to accumulate some savings and investments you can live with less and less fear. Those perfectly ordinary problems that everyone faces occasionally—a bad boss, an employer who goes broke, a large expense that's not fully covered by insurance—gradually become less and less catastrophes and more and more just bumps in the road.
Great article, thanks so much. Never really thought about the processor or some of the other things you mentioned.
great list!
At my current job I am contributing 10% in my 401K for 10 years so far.
I started saving a bit while in my mid-20's but got much more serious about it about 32. Wish I had started earlier!
I own a condo, and I have always had condo insurance. As mentioned above, it costs me about $22 a month and is well worth it. I also had renter's insurance when I was married and my ex and I rented apartments before we bought a house. The two (condo and renter's insurance) are similar - you just never know when something can happen.
Buying a house with cash makes sense to me. Avoid the insurance man, and your only costs per year that you are required to pay are property taxes. You are not required to own insurance, and that allows you to buy insurance based on your risk and needs and allows homeowners insurance to become an option versus required because the bank told you so. You also may have less short term liquidity, but since you no longer have rent or mortgage obligations, you can quickly build up assets and create asset liquidity. There is also the option to sell the home, which itself is an asset and not so far fetched of an idea. You avoid the wasted monies that you pay with a mortgage, about $3500 or so in origin fees, and then in interest payments and lost interest due to escrow. $3500 is not so significant with an expensive home on the east or west coasts, but for the rest of the country and a 100,000 home, that amounts to 3.5% wasted for no equity. On the comment about tax benefits, well its not so significant. It is a deduction, not a credit-there is a huge difference. On my student loans, which works similarly as a deduction, I claimed 2,500 in interest payments. My tax liability for the year went from owing the government $59 to getting a check back for $300. Sure its nice to have some relief, but it doesnt pay for your interest-you are still losing money. It still becomes a no win situation with mortgage, and a cash purchase makes all the sense in the world.
This really depends on what state you live in. In NY, residency in the district is the one and only qualifier. Long Island has the most segregated schools in all of the country. This is an absolute embarrassment to our state.
Anyway, we rent in a Newsweek top 100 school district. Our kids are gifted, and our former town could not accommodate their potential. We decided to spend all our money on rent, with negligible college savings as a result. A HUGE gamble. But our daughter just got full tuition scholarship to MIT, so I think we made the right bet. I know this path is nerve-wracking, and not for everyone.
We pay 2100/m rent for a small place on LI, NY, but I am betting that since the crash, we own as much house as all our underwater neighbors. None. (houses here are a half mill and up.) So we end up paying about half as owners for the same perks!
We weighed this rent against private school, and the numbers had public school as the best bang for our buck.
I started my first Roth IRA when I was 18. My aunt is a stock broker and helped me put part of my enlistment bonus into the Roth. I also contributed monthly to my military TSP, which has grown alot thanks to my deployment. When I look at what I already have saved before even starting my first post-college job, I'm glad my aunt talked me into it!
when i started my first job as a lifegaurd in high school!
Keep in mind that most insurance companies frown upon buying life insurance solely for the purpose of selling it to a third party. In fact, many insurance companies will ask this question on their application, and may decline coverage if this is your intent.
Why would you refuse to go to a place with air conditioning? That's not green at all. Your local Starbucks is going to be an igloo whether you patronize the place or not. Take your kindle or labtop, spend $2 on a small drink, find a cozy chair and become king of a wondrous ice palace for a couple hours. Your swampy uncomfortable house will be there when you get back.
I had no idea that a "flooding event" could occur so long before the actual damage. For now I'll just be thankful that I live in a fourth-floor apartment in an area that doesn't, as far as I know, flood (and try not to think about that big fault line I'm sitting on).
Great tips! thnx for that! :)
While I think a lot people underestimate renter's insurance, I think
there is a significant amount of people who never considered it
because a) they've never even thought about it, or b) it's not
available to them. I know for me, I don't own a home, so the thought
of insurance for my property in a rental never entered my brain.
That's what HOMEOWNERS insurance is for, right? Fortunately I could
fix that with a simple phone call to my bank. But, for millions of
Americans who are unbanked and/or underinsured, there isn't a plethora
of inexpensive one-off renter's insurance options. I work for a
prepaid card company that's working on a product to fill this void in
the market; I think it's important that as homeownership rates drop,
there are more rental insurance options for the increasing amount of
renters.
always classify yourself as a so called "minority" to receive special consideration and funding. No one ever checks and if they do it's racist. Suckers!
I am also a Facebook fan.
My internship in grad school (age 21) offered a 401(k). I was only making $12 an hour, but I started putting 1% away for retirement anyway. Every little bit helps!
T.N. Dickinson's is 100% natural !
Hi - I love ways to make cooking/eating at home more accessible. It's a lot of work to be a chef in your own home everyday of the week.
I find planning one of the biggest helpers. Just look at your list and go. I also like to keep a list of easy/quick cook stuff for extra busy times of the week.
We love leftovers - just reheat and your eating in minutes! What could be better?!
I have been meaning to cook larger portions and start doing some freezing. I'd also really like to start freezing cooked beans instead of resorting to canned.
Thanks for the list! Inspiring!
:) Jennifer
BUT these light bulbs also have mercury in them. If one of these light bulbs break, it could be disastrous! Remember how when a thermometer in the past used to have mercury in it and it would break, and someone would have to be hired to safely remove all the mercury from the house, well, it will be the same for one of these. Not to mention, that most people won't think to dispose of these properly, and just throw them in the trashcan. From there, the mercury will be emitted into the land, then our streams, and then to endanger our environment. Way to go Senators!
I like it, I think we'll start that too. We're in the "accident" stage right now so $1/day for no accidents would be perfect.
One thing I would suggest is to have him save XX% of his "earnings" so later he will be used to saving XX% of his income (rather than earning $10 and thinking he has $10 to spend).
Thanks for the tip.
Great article -- lots of folks out there who need a dose of CL etiquette. Thanks for the post.
Right On!
Another reason to support your library: it gives kids a place to go after school. I live in what most people would term a poor neighborhood. One place that's guaranteed to be a safe haven, have computer access for homework, and air conditioning on miserably hot days is the local library. For every kid in the library in my neighborhood, that's one more kid who's not in a gang.
There are many ways to support your public library. You can donate money or your time or your books. Ask at your local branch how you can help out.
My New Year's Day tradition is to host a book swap at my house every year. People bring the books they enjoyed, throw them on a communal pile, and take what they want home. The leftovers are donated to the library. People love this.
Instead of buying books, I also donate $300 or whatever I would have spent on my reading to the library every year. I don't have book clutter in my house and my favorite authors still get a little help from the library purchases.
To my mind, the first step is to live at a standard of living such that there are plenty of jobs where you can earn enough to support yourself (unlike most people who find the job that pays the most and then spend all they earn).
Step two is to start saving and investing, with a short-term goal of an emergency fund and a medium-term goal of producing enough investment income to cover your bare minimum expenses.
In the short term you're more free and able to live with less fear, simply because you know there are a lot of ways you can make ends meet. As you begin to accumulate some savings and investments you can live with less and less fear. Those perfectly ordinary problems that everyone faces occasionally—a bad boss, an employer who goes broke, a large expense that's not fully covered by insurance—gradually become less and less catastrophes and more and more just bumps in the road.
Started saving at 24, but not very consistently as I was in grad school and didn't make much money.