Financial Question

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LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Kroze
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Kroze
He failed to realized the income from his job ...If you paid of your house, you'll get $4k + your income from your job....but what do I know. I'm stuck in a rat race.

Here's how the logic should go..

1. Paid off house scenario: $4k interest + $4k "appreciation" + $$$ from your job/salary... (do you think you can save more than $4k a year with your job if you don't have a mortgage to pay?)

2. Don't pay off your house/mortgage: $8k from 8% gain from investing the $100k. 4% capital appreciation cancelled out the 4% "mortgage interest" that you "saved" by having a mortgage. And since you still have a mortgage, the income/salary/money from your job goes to pay the mortgage every month.

What?

Is it me, or does this make absolutely no sense at all?


His original logic didn't take into account that if you pay off your house, you free up your income from your job to invest with. If you don't pay off your mortgage, you have to use your income from your job to pay the mortgage with.

You still don't get it. Not even with a simple scenario, you still don't get it.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Kroze
All of this sophisticated "leveraging" sounds eerily familiar...let me see.

Buy house, being smart/sophisticated by borrowing money against the house to buy 2nd house or maybe 3rd house (but in this case, he use the "leveraged" money to invest in stock market instead of buying 2nd house)

and then boom, housing market came to a halt and the economy is where it's at today.

Yeah, ok...that's exactly what it is...
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Kroze
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Kroze
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: SearchMaster
This is a Dave Ramseyism but I think it is a good illustration of the emotional security of a paid off mortgage...

If you had a paid off house worth $250K, would you take out a $250K loan against it to invest? The answer for 99+% of people is no.

Financially there are valid reasons to keep the mortgage and invest the windfall. But also remember that the money being sent to the bank every month would be used to build wealth now as well.

What? This doesn't even make sense.

Why doesn't it make sense?

If you have a paid for house that is worth $250k, would you take out a loan equal $250k to invest in the stock market? Yes or No?

It's no different than:
If I have a $250k mortgage but have $250k cash on hand, should I pay the house off or use the money to invest in the stock market?


Absolutely, I would leverage it.

So let's say that your house is worth $300k right now and you've managed to pay it down over the years so now you only owed $150k, why don't you go out and borrow $150k and invest it.

How much equity do you have in your house right now and why aren't you leveraging it.

I don't own a house. It's not profitable for me.

 

Kroze

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2001
4,052
1
0
You're right and i'm wrong, you do what is right for you and I'll do what I've been doing.

Right now I'm on track to pay off my mortgage in 9 years and that's if I don't get a single pay raise in 9 years. After that, I'll be completely debt free.

I just can't imagine what i'll do with $90k a year with no debt/mortgage.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Kroze
You're right and i'm wrong, you do what is right for you and I'll do what I've been doing.

Right now I'm on track to pay off my mortgage in 9 years and that's if I don't get a single pay raise in 9 years. After that, I'll be completely debt free.

I just can't imagine what i'll do with $90k a year with no debt/mortgage.

You won't be making more than your mortgage payment in investments. But hey, if that's the way you wanna roll, good for you. I'll just have more money in retirement.

But I assure you, not one person with any financial education or significant experience will agree with you.
 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,098
0
76
Originally posted by: Kroze
All of this sophisticated "leveraging" sounds eerily familiar...let me see.

Buy house, being smart/sophisticated by borrowing money against the house to buy 2nd house or maybe 3rd house (but in this case, he use the "leveraged" money to invest in stock market instead of buying 2nd house)

and then boom, housing market came to a halt and the economy is where it's at today.

WTF? No one ever suggested borrowing against your home to come up with the investment money.

It's a simple scenario: you have an extra $X per month to invest. Do you:

1. Pay extra toward your mortgage, effectively earning a rate of return equal to the post-tax interest rate of your mortgage

OR

2. Use that extra money and invest it in low-expense index funds

The length of time to be considered is the length of time it would take to pay off your mortgage early by choosing option 1. We are claiming that you will come out ahead in the long run by choosing option 2.



Your posts are all over the place and aren't addressing the topic.
 

Kroze

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2001
4,052
1
0
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Kroze
You're right and i'm wrong, you do what is right for you and I'll do what I've been doing.

Right now I'm on track to pay off my mortgage in 9 years and that's if I don't get a single pay raise in 9 years. After that, I'll be completely debt free.

I just can't imagine what i'll do with $90k a year with no debt/mortgage.

You won't be making more than your mortgage payment in investments. But hey, if that's the way you wanna roll, good for you. I'll just have more money in retirement.

But I assure you, not one person with any financial education or significant experience will agree with you.

I guess no one likes the idea of paying off all debt first and then start investing.

I completely paid my car off that I bought brand new in 2 years instead of using the extra money to invest.
 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,098
0
76
Originally posted by: Kroze
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Kroze
You're right and i'm wrong, you do what is right for you and I'll do what I've been doing.

Right now I'm on track to pay off my mortgage in 9 years and that's if I don't get a single pay raise in 9 years. After that, I'll be completely debt free.

I just can't imagine what i'll do with $90k a year with no debt/mortgage.

You won't be making more than your mortgage payment in investments. But hey, if that's the way you wanna roll, good for you. I'll just have more money in retirement.

But I assure you, not one person with any financial education or significant experience will agree with you.

I guess no one likes the idea of paying off all debt first and then start investing.

No, they like the idea of maximizing their wealth in the long run.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Kroze
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Kroze
You're right and i'm wrong, you do what is right for you and I'll do what I've been doing.

Right now I'm on track to pay off my mortgage in 9 years and that's if I don't get a single pay raise in 9 years. After that, I'll be completely debt free.

I just can't imagine what i'll do with $90k a year with no debt/mortgage.

You won't be making more than your mortgage payment in investments. But hey, if that's the way you wanna roll, good for you. I'll just have more money in retirement.

But I assure you, not one person with any financial education or significant experience will agree with you.

I guess no one likes the idea of paying off all debt first and then start investing.

I completely paid my car off that I bought brand new in 2 years instead of using the extra money to invest.

Well, with car loans being relatively expensive and not being able to deduct the tax, that seems like a good decision.

 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: mugs
They really need to teach personal finance in public schools.

You think it'd actually matter? I could try and teach it on here until I am blue in the face, yet people like above still won't get it.
 

dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
26,046
4,690
126
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
You won't be making more than your mortgage payment in investments. But hey, if that's the way you wanna roll, good for you. I'll just have more money in retirement.

But I assure you, not one person with any financial education or significant experience will agree with you.
Hey now, don't go that far LegendKiller. You know that last line is false.

Yes, right at the moment, if you have excellent credit then your mortgage interest isn't very high. And, in an ideal world, you can get a higher return by investing elsewhere. But that isn't always true. Not everyone qualifies for the low rates we've had recently and the rates aren't always low. Are you really telling me that people with 15% (or higher) mortgages in 1984 should not have considered paying it off? Getting 15% return out of any investment is difficult. Yes, it is possible to beat 15% but it isn't easy.

Right now, many people have ~6.5% mortgages. Right now, people are lucky to get 6.5% returns with any investment. Most stocks aren't returning that now. Bonds certainly aren't. As part of a diversified portfolio (ie a subset part of your bonds), a small guaranteed investment at 6.5% is certainly prudent. Yes, you can possibly get a slightly better return investing it all in stocks, but the drastically higher risk often isn't worth the slight bit more return.

You shouldn't go about and invest ALL of your money into your house. To keep risk low, you really only need 10%-20% of your money in cash/bonds (and your mortgage is equivalent to cash/bonds). And if you put approximately half of that into your house, you will be doing just fine. For example, 90% stocks, 5% bonds, 5% house is a good mix assuming the stocks are diverse.

A little invested in real estate is a good thing. People with financial education and experience will almost ALL tell you that.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: Kroze
You're right and i'm wrong, you do what is right for you and I'll do what I've been doing.

Right now I'm on track to pay off my mortgage in 9 years and that's if I don't get a single pay raise in 9 years. After that, I'll be completely debt free.

I just can't imagine what i'll do with $90k a year with no debt/mortgage.

Wow. You still don't get it. By paying down your house you're throwing money away. If you would just invest the money that you were paying down the home on you'd wind up with more money over the long run, retire earlier and still be debt free over time. So effectively you're going to be working longer and have less.

You're losing the time aspect of the market and the compounding that would occur.
 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,098
0
76
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: mugs
They really need to teach personal finance in public schools.

You think it'd actually matter? I could try and teach it on here until I am blue in the face, yet people like above still won't get it.

C'mon LK, when are you going to reply to my PM? ;)
 
Nov 7, 2000
16,403
3
81
i dont understand while people are so enamored with writing off mortgage insurance on their income taxes... yeah it makes your tax bill a bit cheaper but ultimately you are still spending more in interest over the course of the mortgage, right?
 

dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
26,046
4,690
126
Originally posted by: spidey07
Wow. You still don't get it. By paying down your house you're throwing money away. If you would just invest the money that you were paying down the home on you'd wind up with more money over the long run, retire earlier and still be debt free over time. So effectively you're going to be working longer and have less.

You're losing the time aspect of the market and the compounding that would occur.
Wow, you are really exaggerating. Have you actually done the math?

[*]Lets say you invest $1000/month (inflation adjusted monthly at a 3.5% annual rate).
[*]Lets say you can invest it and get a guaranteed 10% return in stocks.
[*]Lets say you can invest it into your mortgage and get a guaranteed 6.5% return.
[*]Lets do this over a 30 year period.
[*]Lets do this in post-tax retirement accounts to make the math easy, although it really doesn't matter much.

All stocks: After 30 years, you have $3.16M. You can safely withdraw $10,548/month. After adjusting to inflation that is $3,758/month in today's dollars that you have in retirement.

Diverse 90% stock, 10% mortgage mix: After 30 years, you have $2.96M. You can safely withdraw $9,859/month. After adjusting to inflation that is $3,512/month in today's dollars that you have in retirement.

So the difference between a highly risky all stock mix and a conservative 90% stock/10% other mix is a measly $246/month in retirement. You'd hardly tell the difference. And that is if your riskier move actually paned out well. The stocks may very well do worse than that, making the difference even more negligible.
 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,098
0
76
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: spidey07
Wow. You still don't get it. By paying down your house you're throwing money away. If you would just invest the money that you were paying down the home on you'd wind up with more money over the long run, retire earlier and still be debt free over time. So effectively you're going to be working longer and have less.

You're losing the time aspect of the market and the compounding that would occur.
Wow, you are really exaggerating. Have you actually done the math?

[*]Lets say you invest $1000/month (inflation adjusted monthly at a 3.5% annual rate).
[*]Lets say you can invest it and get a guaranteed 10% return in stocks.
[*]Lets say you can invest it into your mortgage and get a guaranteed 6.5% return.
[*]Lets do this over a 30 year period.
[*]Lets do this in post-tax retirement accounts to make the math easy, although it really doesn't matter much.

All stocks: After 30 years, you have $3.16M. You can safely withdraw $10,548/month. After adjusting to inflation that is $3,758/month in today's dollars that you have in retirement.

Diverse 90% stock, 10% mortgage mix: After 30 years, you have $2.96M. You can safely withdraw $9,859/month. After adjusting to inflation that is $3,512/month in today's dollars that you have in retirement.

So the difference between a highly risky all stock mix and a conservative 90% stock/10% other mix is a measly $246/month in retirement. You'd hardly tell the difference. And that is if your riskier move actually paned out well. The stocks may very well do worse than that, making the difference even more negligible.

I don't think you should be comparing it over a 30 year period. If you "invested" the money in the mortgage, you would pay it off in less than 30 years. That should be the time period used for the comparison.
 

dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
26,046
4,690
126
Originally posted by: Special K
I don't think you should be comparing it over a 30 year period. If you "invested" the money in the mortgage, you would pay it off in less than 30 years. That should be the time period used for the comparison.
I thought about that, but then the difference would be even smaller than $246. It just proves my point that much more. But then, $100/month (inflation adjusted) won't change your mortgage time THAT much either. It'll shave a few years off. But lets just suppose you put it into a 6.5% returning bond at that point.

Yes, mathmatically investing in all stocks is THE BEST way to go. But, it often isn't worth the risk. The loss of a very small amount in retirement is often well worth the comfort you get during your life from being more conservative.
 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,098
0
76
Originally posted by: dullard
Originally posted by: Special K
I don't think you should be comparing it over a 30 year period. If you "invested" the money in the mortgage, you would pay it off in less than 30 years. That should be the time period used for the comparison.
I thought about that, but then the difference would be even smaller than $246. It just proves my point that much more. But then, $100/month (inflation adjusted) won't change your mortgage time THAT much either. It'll shave a few years off. But lets just suppose you put it into a 6.5% returning bond at that point.

Yes, mathmatically investing in all stocks is THE BEST way to go. But, it often isn't worth the risk. The loss of a very small amount in retirement is often well worth the comfort you get during your life from being more conservative.

I agree that investing the difference really only makes sense if your mortgage rate is low and you have a decent chunk of disposable income each month.

However, 100% stocks have been shown to produce noticeably greater returns over the long run. If an investor is only concerned with long term performance, then I don't see any reason to not be 100% in stocks when one is young.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,811
126
You people who believe in 10% return from stocks are dreaming. Maybe you will but I bet 99% won't get anything near it over the next 30 years.

 

Special K

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
7,098
0
76
Originally posted by: Naustica
You people who believe in 10% return from stocks are dreaming. Maybe you will but I bet 99% won't get anything near it over the next 30 years.

Why do you say this? I'm not disagreeing, I have read before that expecting 10% from here onward might be too optimistic.

Also, do you personally expect to perform >10% in the long run from here on out?
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Originally posted by: Naustica
You people who believe in 10% return from stocks are dreaming. Maybe you will but I bet 99% won't get anything near it over the next 30 years.

I think an issue should be investing it in stocks during a (possible) recession.
Sure, things will be on the up, but arguably isn't the market quite volatile right now?

Sure, if he gets a good return on the invested money he's set, but that can't really be guaranteed, can it? And in an uncertain climate surely it's even less certain.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Naustica
You people who believe in 10% return from stocks are dreaming. Maybe you will but I bet 99% won't get anything near it over the next 30 years.

Says the failed trader.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,811
126
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Naustica
You people who believe in 10% return from stocks are dreaming. Maybe you will but I bet 99% won't get anything near it over the next 30 years.

Says the failed trader.

No, I stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.