Net Worth private poll
- Thread starter dmclone
- Start date
Delayed gratification in today’s world is definitely a tough behavior to model.
The points raised about the mortgage interest deduction are fair. Although you objectively need to consider geography when making this argument. To have 5-figures of mortgage interest to deduct does not make you wealthy. That is probably a reasonable assumption if that's the kind of mortgage you're taking out in somewhere like Des Moines, but if you're living on one of the coasts your "entry level" housing is no approaching a million dollars.
My wife and I bought our first home together in DC years ago for over $700k. That was not even close to being extravagent by DC standards. At today's interest rates, you're paying tens of thousands a year in mortgage interest. My point is that simply isn't "rich" by any standard.
The IRS changes have already capped deductible property tax at $10k which - again, depending where you live - is not necessarily luxury housing or a sign of great wealth.
My wife and I bought our first home together in DC years ago for over $700k. That was not even close to being extravagent by DC standards. At today's interest rates, you're paying tens of thousands a year in mortgage interest. My point is that simply isn't "rich" by any standard.
The IRS changes have already capped deductible property tax at $10k which - again, depending where you live - is not necessarily luxury housing or a sign of great wealth.
I mean, if you have a mortgage on it, the only way to convey the equity against the loan is to include it on the asset side. And I'm sure you wouldn't ignore the cost of a mortgage on any financial statement, so I'm not sure who these "most financial people" are, unless they are saying that for people who own their home free and clear, in which case I think it's only dumb to not include the value of paid off real estate on your worth statement.
If they are suggesting not to include it at current market value, I totally agree. I value my own at what I paid for it plus improvements minus 5% depreciation annually to make sure it isn't overvlued, but I can't imagine just leaving it off.
My mortgage is 3%.
This is what QQQ returned over the last decade.
Key Performance Metrics (Last 10 Years)
Data reflected through February 2026:
MetricReturn Value
Annualized Total Return~20.4%
Cumulative Return~485%
Growth of $10,000~$58,500 – $60,000
I'll take my chances all day every day with keeping 2.9% for the possibility of these returns
Those interest rates are gonna keep younger millennials and Gen Z from ever buying a home because no one is going to want to move into other homes so no supply for starter homes.
He’s too busy telling people that buying an ice coffee a couple times a week is preventing them from owning a home
This is absolutely true and from a strictly financial sense is the negative of pensions and social security (the inverse is true for whole life insurance where the shorter your life the better it looks financially).
But I have been responding to this statement:
"The current idea that you need $2 to $2.5 million to retire is a myth that most Americans are not going to come close to reaching."
And my larger point is if that advice is for someone that has access to a personal retirement account and not a pension (which is the case for many, many people in the workforce currently) then that advice holds true and your situation is almost the definition of it. If you and your spouse had worked somewhere with a company match to your retirement contributions instead of pension contributions then your retirement investment assets would be in that range and you would have retirement income similar to what yours is now. To say it is a myth, at least in your situation, is only true if you assign little to no value to your pension which frankly doesn't make much sense if you're taking about investments and income needed for retirement.
The big barrier to homeownership for this generation is not the interest rates. The sub-3% $hit was saw during COVID is a statistical anomaly and what we're seeing now is much more "normal". It's not even the downpayment requirements because you only need 3% down.
The absolute biggest problem -and it's not even close - is the price point. Home prices have grown at multiple times greater rate than what real wages have. It's just that simple.
These are from 2 years ago and it's only gotten worse.
The absolute biggest problem -and it's not even close - is the price point. Home prices have grown at multiple times greater rate than what real wages have. It's just that simple.
These are from 2 years ago and it's only gotten worse.
On those statements you make home equity 0. So either delete it from both sides or put the house value equal the level of the mortgage.
Don’t forget those $125,000 starter homes 10 years ago are nearly double that now. The housing market is ****** up. I’m only 26 but I don’t expect to own a home anytime soon
I didn’t say not to do it. I was saying to get a correct number you need to calculate in more than just what the investment has for a gross return to what your interest rate is. I’m saying you are going backwards to have a 3% mortgage while investing in a 3.3% money market.
Gift funds, consolidating cards, and clanging DU approval at 49%. Welcome to home ownership, young buck.
Our modest house that we bought back in '99 has been paid for over 10 years now. It's now worth 3.5 times what we paid for it. I always thought we would retire to a different location, but at the current pace, we're far better off staying put and traveling or snow-birding when weather gets less desirable.
As far as the debate about whether to include your house in your wealth, I do not include ours in our number. If anything, I almost view it as deferred cost, knowing that my cost of living will jump significantly if our housing situation changes.
In some small way, this is a longer lasting supply / demand ripple from the Great Recession where we shut off new home starts - which at the time was trucking along at ~ 1.5M- 2M starts per year until 2008 and then fell off the cliff between 08-12 and didn’t get back to pre recession rates until 16-17 - so a full decade of depressed home starts.
About to give up 2.75% 9yr left mortgage for a new 30yr and don't love it. Will downsize and move to a new location once kids are gone but moving soon for the kids opportunity. Will invest the extra equity from our home sale in SPY.
My son was ~28 when he bought a $275k home about 5 years ago. He saved up $50k for down payment over about 5 years, mostly by sacrificing on cars. Wife has used pickup and he has driven a parade of absolutely disposable garbage vehicles. They also rented/shared home with her dad for a year or two.
So it CAN be done, but it isn't easy. And he is a EE, so making decent money, which obviously helps - e.g. there's a huge difference between making $45k and $85k in terms of disposable income. Honestly, I don't know if I could have saved up that much money at that age.
I am not saying anyone that can't do it is morally weak or anything, at all. But I think a lot of people look at the big numbers and get mentally/emotionally defeated. And so they don't do the math or try to come up with a plan, because they think its impossible.
It's a myth because most Americans are not anywhere near that number in reality. A quick A1 search shows that currently people 45 to 54 have $115K, 55 to 64 $185 K, 65 to 74 #200K and over 75 $130K stocked away for retirement. So the vast majority of Americans have no where near 2 to 2.5 million even if assists like your home would be included unless you are living in high priced cities like NY, SF and LA.
So unless you are living in one of the high priced cities and do not own a home, few are going to have a couple million at retirement in investments. Younger people looking at spread sheets that project those numbers when they are in their 40s when they reach retirement age, does not include the fact we do have market crashes like in 2008, that force a reset on those earnings and people starting over again with half of what they had before the crash, or a least down turned in the economy where the rates of return will drop.
