How Much Is Your Net Worth?

[Vandabo]

I'm 29 and not worth much, that's for sure. I live mostly paycheck to paycheck, but I have a couple months' survival money in the bank. I live pretty comfortably, and could easily cut back several hundred a month if I needed to, but right now I'm just trying to squirrel away a couple hundred a month to savings and then keep everything else steady. I have about $9k in debt, split between car loan and credit card, but I have very low interest rates on both and good credit overall. I feel pretty lucky. I've had to move back in with my parents before, but I've lived on my own now for about 5 years.

[Ravenlock]

Honestly I feel like if I've made a genuine financial mistake in my life, it was buying a townhouse. As a life investment it's turning out to potentially be a bust, and as a financial investment it's just a sinkhole.

Mostly the money side of it was just timing - we bought in 2006, right before everything in my area took a huge dip that it hasn't really bounced back from. It's a situation a lot of people are in, obviously. But I can't really say that the "satisfaction" of home ownership over the last 5 years has been worth it, for me, even if we weren't looking to lose money in the process.

[txshurricane]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

Honestly I feel like if I've made a genuine financial mistake in my life, it was buying a townhouse. As a life investment it's turning out to potentially be a bust, and as a financial investment it's just a sinkhole.

Mostly the money side of it was just timing - we bought in 2006, right before everything in my area took a huge dip that it hasn't really bounced back from. It's a situation a lot of people are in, obviously.

What's the alternative- renting? That's a guaranteed loss. At least with a townhouse you're building some equity.

[Ravenlock]

Except that I'm not, really. With the dip house prices have taken, if we were to sell now after 5 years of owning it, we might not have to bring money to the table in order to close the deal, but we wouldn't make a dime, and the only reason we'd avoid having to pay to sell it is that I put my $17K inheritance into paying off mortgage #2 last year.

Essentially the result would be that we've "rented" a really expensive multi-story apartment from the bank for the last 5 years, at a seriously high rent level. If that's the way it plays out, I would've much preferred paying less to rent a smaller place.

[txshurricane]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

Except that I'm not, really. With the dip house prices have taken, if we were to sell now after 5 years of owning it, we might not have to bring money to the table in order to close the deal, but we wouldn't make a dime, and the only reason we'd avoid having to pay to sell it is that I put my $17K inheritance into paying off mortgage #2 last year.

Essentially the result would be that we've "rented" a really expensive multi-story apartment from the bank for the last 5 years, at a seriously high rent level. If that's the way it plays out, I would've much preferred paying less to rent a smaller place.

You've only been in the house for 5 years (same as me, by the way). Okay, so this is no 2007 market, but you will eventually net a profit. Even if you have to [redacted in case of future insurance fraud investigation].

[torrefaction]

Originally Posted by txshurricane

What's the alternative- renting? That's a guaranteed loss. At least with a townhouse you're building some equity.

Really? Because I rented. If I had've bought, I would'nt have been able to relocate to Texas, which gives me significantly more mileage out of my dollar. I would've been stuck in Florida, with it's collapsing economy and insanely weak demand AND real estate prices.

I think people underestimate renting sometimes. You have a fixed cost with no maintenance, and the flexibility to move for better jobs or even just because you want to. Opportunity cost is still a cost.

Again, I view not buying a home earlier in my life (although I am considering it with the current market) one of the better decisions of my life, considering I outright predicted the real estate crash (Although not the extent of it...I thought it was more Florida-centric)

[Ravenlock]

Originally Posted by txshurricane

You've only been in the house for 5 years (same as me, by the way). Okay, so this is no 2007 market, but you will eventually net a profit. Even if you have to [redacted in case of future insurance fraud investigation].

We will hopefully eventually net a profit if we stay. Which it's looking like we may not. We could end up renting it to others ourselves, I guess, but that's no guaranteed return either. I'm not saying that there isn't a situation in which it ends up not having been a mistake, I'm just saying that in the situation I'm in, it looks like it might have been one.

[Xerxes]

Put me in the negative worth club.

[TheKeck]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

Except that I'm not, really. With the dip house prices have taken, if we were to sell now after 5 years of owning it, we might not have to bring money to the table in order to close the deal, but we wouldn't make a dime, and the only reason we'd avoid having to pay to sell it is that I put my $17K inheritance into paying off mortgage #2 last year.

Essentially the result would be that we've "rented" a really expensive multi-story apartment from the bank for the last 5 years, at a seriously high rent level. If that's the way it plays out, I would've much preferred paying less to rent a smaller place.

High five upside down club!

Oh wait... you say you could maybe break even if you sold? I take my high five back.

[Ravenlock]

Originally Posted by TheKeck

High five upside down club!

Oh wait... you say you could maybe break even if you sold? I take my high five back.

YAY HIGH FI-- oh.

[TheKeck]

The thing that kills me the most is seeing the insanely low interest rates available now and I can't take advantage because nobody will refinance you when you've got 88% loan/value.

[Narradisall]

Now, to make you feel even better.....

Who's worth more dead than alive?

[Khrymsyn]

I feel your pain Keck.

My home is worth around 50k less right now than I still owe on my mortgage if I paid it completely off tomorrow (i.e. not including interest over the next 25 years).

[Ravenlock]

Ouch, guys. I retract anything I said that sounded like complaining.

[TheKeck]

Originally Posted by Khrymsyn

I feel your pain Keck.

My home is worth around 50k less right now than I still owe on my mortgage if I paid it completely off tomorrow (i.e. not including interest over the next 25 years).

High five upside down club!

[roboninja]

But it has nothing to do with the economy, guys. Seriously. It is just lazy generation. txs said so.

[MagGnome]

Yep, the baby boomers screwed over us young folk. No surprise there. :/

[Mot Wakorb]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

Yep, the baby boomers screwed over us young folk. No surprise there. :/

As harsh as this sounds - that's because they won't die. I'm not bitching, I'm glad my grandmother is still around to this day, but people living longer + economic crisis = baby boomers staying in jobs = less jobs for younger folks. I almost wonder if in 10 years there is a crisis of having too many jobs available and not enough workers due to a generational shift.

[MagGnome]

That's a good point, although I don't want older people to die either (well most of them at least, ha ha). Although I also think that their generation did a lot to create an unstable economy, but I'm not going to get into that here.

It really bugs me when people accuse my entire generation of being "lazy". It's such horse crap. For example, I have several friends who graduated with good degrees who have been applying for job after job and just can't find decent work. I'm not talking about English or Philosophy majors either, but Architecture, Landscape Design, Biosciences, etc. Unfortunately some of them got stuck on the wrong side of the housing slump, but it still sucks that they did everything "right" and are still screwed. One of them had to move back in with his parents, another one works long hours at a grocery store, etc. I really hope I can get a good job out of school, otherwise I'll be in the poor house with the amount of student loans I'm racking up. :/

There are lazy people in every generation, and to label an entire generation as such is just silly. There are plenty of hardworking, driven people in my generation who simply can't find a decent job.

Originally Posted by Stmfuller

I'm right about here money-wise. But ours (my wife and I) is mostly student loan debts.
The issue with your health is horrible, IMO 10k worth of debt is exactly what's wrong with our country in regard to health insurance(assuming you're an american citizen, apologies if not).

Back in 1993 my sister was born with a rare disease that required a liver transplant (eventually a second one as well) and numerous surgeries. Hundreds of thousands, probably millions of dollars in medical costs. My parents maxed our their insurance and it basically broke them. It was a sad thing to witness.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by Narradisall

Now, to make you feel even better.....

Who's worth more dead than alive?

Me, by a long shot. My life insurance would be split between each of my parents as well as my sister. I have a negative net worth, but even without my debt (which would go away at death anyway) my life insurance is easily the most valuable thing I have. How sad is that?

The only upside to being poor is that I qualify for federal education grants. Those are a lot less than they used to be, but they still help. I'm hoping for scholarships from the U as well.