We live in the city and pay a minimum charge + $$ for usage over the basic amount.
We live in the city and pay a minimum charge + $$ for usage over the basic amount.All I know is that's damn cheap what you pay on your house vs what I pay (and much, much cheaper than what others in this thread pay).
It irks me that we pay garbage service based on how much our house is worth. The people across the street in a much smaller home pay much less than we do for trash service (via property tax) because they have a much smaller home. However, they have 7 people in the house and we have 3. They produce far more trash than we do yet pay far less.
On the other side of town, people pay a monthly fee for trash service and it's based on the number of cans you have, not your home size (it's also not run by the city - it's a private service).
All I know is that's damn cheap what you pay on your house vs what I pay (and much, much cheaper than what others in this thread pay).
It irks me that we pay garbage service based on how much our house is worth. The people across the street in a much smaller home pay much less than we do for trash service (via property tax) because they have a much smaller home. However, they have 7 people in the house and we have 3. They produce far more trash than we do yet pay far less.
On the other side of town, people pay a monthly fee for trash service and it's based on the number of cans you have, not your home size (it's also not run by the city - it's a private service).
18% pretax, so like, 36% post tax/other deductions. Post tax makes more sense as a way of checking this kind of stuff given that is the actual money you have.
If I wanted to though I could bring it down to 12%. My base is about $400 biweekly, but I pay $600. That's $200 extra directly on the principal. If I was not paying that, only like $200 would be going on the principal as about half is interest. Kinda crazy actually.
I suppose I could take that $400/mo and invest it instead but in the grand scheme of things, even with a higher investing interest rate, would it really net me more money in the end given I owe way more on the house than what I'd have in the investment account? Probably not. Not to mention that at the start you're realisticly paying more like 50% interest on the mortgage, so it makes more sense to try to pay it off faster, at least at the beginning. Once the mortgage is paid off then I can take some of that money and put it towards investments, but by that time the hydro bill is going to be like $400/mo and so will every other bill. Cost of living keeps going up. It seems to be a trend that hydro, gas and other expenses keeps going up year after year.
0%. Renting and happy for it.
Yes, actually, it would.
Well, depends on your interest rate - but overall, the answer is YES.
Risk costs peace of mind.
Well unless the rent is free you're still paying something every month.
For us, it's about 13% of the monthly household income for rent.
Oh man that's an excellent point that I forgot about.
My rent is 17.5% of my pre-tax yearly income. I don't know if that's good or bad.
My place isn't even that big/nice, so I guess that means I need to make more money.
Move out of California and you will so much richer. I regularly get $180k+ offers that I have to turn down because the higher COL would kill any gains. Then again, I'm still trying to figure out a way to "transfer" to the west coast while working remotely so I can get both the salary bump and lower COL. We'll see how that pans out
Clearly. Paying of debt increases peace of mind. House markets don't affect paid off mortgages. Equity matters when you sell. Losing equity and portfolio value feel different, particularly when you end up underwater on the home. Losing your job at the same time can cost more than you made in the stock market.
Example:
Home mortgage 4%
S&P 500 9%
Say 13.3k/15 years pays off the mortgage in 15 instead of 30
the FV of 13.3k/year over 15 years @ 5% is ~280k vs. the 200k paid off.
Cost:
80k
Benefit:
mortgage = 0 in 15 years
Downturn safe in 7 years.
Losing a job in a downturn is killer if you can't sell your home. Forced portfolio liquidation at market bottom will wipeout market earnings.
Funny, I've also been thinking about doing that - moving to AZ and telecommuting, keeping my CA income.
I'd love to move but the weather is worth a few extra percentage points for us.
Oh yeah totally brah.
And when your mortgage flips and you're now upside down in debt, have fun throwing your money into a bucket of nothingness.
Arizona would be too hot and depressing for me. Look up Raleigh, North Carolina. They have a growing tech community, great weather, and cheap COL. I believe that's where Anand lives right now.
Is that a cool starry one?You avoid this with a paid down mortgage: "Bra"
You avoid this with a paid down mortgage: "Bra"