/biz/ - Business & Finance

[What is the best course of action here? No.58305548]

Me and my family have been living through renting apartments for a long time now. My mother has worked very hard for the family ever since I was born, and she went through the typical American Dream stuff. She went from working in a Subway to getting really good at management, and these days she makes six figures with it only continuing to rise from promotions.

We currently live in California, and our rent is something like 5k a month for a pretty 'okay' place at best. I've just graduated High School and will be heading to college soon, so I'm not too sure how finances and all that stuff works, but I digress. My mother (and father) have been saving up for a while now, and they have a pretty large sum of money saved up. She won't tell me the specifics, but it's something like $340K I'm pretty certain. Majority of this money comes from my mother's job in a certain company, and despite making a ton of money, she continues to climb the corporate ladder even further annually. She's a very hard worker, and her work ethic is insane, so I'm not too surprised.

Anyway, my mother has gotten sick of renting out apartments and wants to purchase a house with this $340,000. She was thinking about states for sometime and decided on Michigan. I don't really have an issue with that since I'm also sick of California and all the homeless drug addicts here. So she spent some time looking and finally found a few houses. I got concerned and said to her that maybe she should hire a financial advisor or someone to help out with a decision like this since it's a really large one with a lot of money. She pretty much shrugged me off. I kind of just trusted her though since she's obviously much older than me and should know a lot more.

She traveled to Michigan just today to see the houses she was thinking of buying, and she just called me telling me that despite the pictures and what the agents said, the area is horrible and she was really upset and saddened.

Char Limit so I'll continue

[What is the best course of action here? No.58305564]

>>58305548
Continued.

The areas are horrible. After she called and told me that, I really started to realize that this was a much larger issue than I expected. See, I respect my mother and love her, but I would be lying if I said that she is not extremely stubborn sometimes and makes pretty poor decisions. I also forgot to mention, but she plans on quitting her job since obviously she can't work in it in Michigan and also because she has been working in management for a long time now, and she told me that she's getting sick of the responsibility and wants to simply have a job that pays less with less of the responsibility put on her.

Again, I'm just out of high school, so I don't know anything about any of this. But I feel like if I had a job that my mother has, and I really needed to save money, I would not quit for a WHILE, like half a decade or so.

Also another important thing I need to mention, she will NOT take out a mortgage or any sort of loan. She wants to pay for the house outright since she doesn't like having to owe money of any kind. I respect that, but I'm starting to question how realistic this mindset is. When I voiced my concerns about simply working a little bit longer and holding off, she told me that stuff like inflation is just going to make the money worth less. She also told me that the price of houses goes up every year. I said to her that maybe she should simply take the money and invest it into gold or some other fiat currency, but again I was shrugged off.

It's coming to the point where I'm getting quite concerned that she's going to make a very poor decision in buying a house, and I'm going to end up living in a really bad neighborhood with a pretty bad house. Considering that this is probably going to be permanent, I'm really anxious here. What should I do? What should my mother do? I'm asking 4chan since I know you guys are far older and more experienced with this stuff.

[What is the best course of action here? No.58305597]

Forgot to mention I'm Trans btw

[Anonymous No.58305641]

>>58305564
buying a house outright is kind of retarded since you can put a good sized downpayment (~20%) and put the rest into the stock market. do the math and present it to them. even if they did 20% and put the rest of the cash into a money market fund at current rates (5%) they would earn $13,600 a year, risk free.

[Anonymous No.58305663]

Sorry to hear about the trans stuff…don’t do the surgery…40% chance you will kill yourself. Your mother does not respect your opinion, because you are damaged, and mentally unreliable. Get counseling from someone who is faith-based.
Try Kansas or Oklahoma.

[Anonymous No.58305703]

>>58305641
Anon are you retarded? If they bought a house 20% down, they'd have to get a mortgage on the other 80%; a 20 year mortgage is currently around 7-8%, so they'd yield 5% in the money market and lose 8% from the mortgage, a net loss. When rates were nearly 0 it made more sense. Trying to out earn high interest rates in the market is riskier.

[What is the best course of action here? No.58305724]

>>58305641
That's what I fear.

I kid you not. Nobody in my family knows squat about the stocks, or investing of any kind. I plan to be the one to break that chain and finally learn this stuff despite only being eighteen, but I haven't even begun to learn anything yet, so that's off of the table right now for me.

That's a very big reason I've come here. I know absolutely nothing (right now) and would really like to know if there's a safer option.

Also probably good to point out now that my mother will not invest in anything that could potentially be linked back to usury. We're an Islamic family and usury is very strictly forbidden in Islam. That's why she never uses the stock market or anything else like that. She doesn't even take interest from her savings in the bank.

[Anonymous No.58305836]

Renting has never been better cost wise than buying than it is right now. Buying a home right now is unironically like buying a home at worse than the absolute peak of the 08 housing crisis. Tell your mom to put the money in a RRP dense pure government moneymarket fund, earn 5% on extremely liquid safer than bank reserve collateral, fund rent off the interest of the principle investment and buy when the CRE crisis/onlining inventory crisis/deflation crisis/homeownership cost crisis/asset bubble crisis/etc. unfolds. There has never been a more transparently retarded time to buy in a nationally universal way.

[Anonymous No.58305849]

>>58305641
Please be a retarded teenager. If you put your entire savings into the stock market right now at the absolute top you are unbelievably green or objectively stupid beyond belief

[What is the best course of action here? No.58305896]

>>58305836
I see. Would you suggest that we should still move to Michigan, but rent there instead? My mother is really insistent in quitting her job here in California even though I personally disagree with it, but again, what do I know?

Are these money market funds truly safe? Should she put all of the 340K in there? Should we just keep renting out here in California?

[Anonymous No.58305898]

>>58305703
you don't think the house will gain at least 3% a year? ideally they go into stocks, and earn better than that, I'm just trying to explain that the cash could work harder than just paying off a house to not have a mortgage.
>>58305849
just time the market bro
>>58305724
start reading, if they're idealistically against it I don't think there is much you can do
>https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started

[Anonymous No.58305936]

>>58305724
literally every dollar in the US is created through usury lol, but that's a whole other subject

[What is the best course of action here? No.58306069]

>>58305898
Thank you for the link. Genuinely.

I definitely think that usury is wrong, but I think that my family takes it too far. There's a wonderful side to America that they refuse to take part in just because of that. It's such a shame.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything I could do to convince my mother to be smarter with her money here. I can just try my best to maybe convince her that we should just continue to rent out an apartment until she gets more money. I wish she would take out a mortgage instead since we could get a much nicer house with it.

[Anonymous No.58306157]

who's dumb enough to buy a house in this market?

[What is the best course of action here? No.58306356]

>>58306157
Does that mean that it will get better over time? How long? What would be the best course of action then? My mother doesn't know, and I certainly don't. I need to do something quickly before my mother makes what will inevitably be a very poor decision.

[Anonymous No.58306535]

>>58305548
Come on now, if she looks patiently for long enough, and goes to lots of open homes, she will figure out what her criteria are for a house and one day she will find it.
Just because something is hard you don't throw your toys out of the cot.

[Anonymous No.58306860]

>>58305896
Michigan would not be a bad place to move and rent. The moneymarket fund would be an easy way to stay liquid but if she wants it to be even more secure she could just buy and roll 1 month US Treasury bills directly through the US Treasury with Treasury Direct. Moneymarkets are probably very safe but this would be even safer. It really depends where you live in Cali vs. where you're moving to in Michigan wrt where to rent. I would find a modest place that meets your needs in the cheapest decent neighborhood you can find to rent and rather than lose everything you saved on depreciating home values and insane increases in home insurance prices in California etc. you can earn some extra money on your money to buy a better home when they are more affordable. Housing prices are literally declining at a faster rate than they did in 2008 already and we haven't even seen the big bust yet. Earn money on your money instead of buying a bubble peak.

[Anonymous No.58306875]

>>58305898
That is literally my point. You are telling him to "buy the market" as in invest in big cap indices, literally as the market is turning over at the peak of the largest multi-bubble in history. If you did this in 2000 or 2008 or any other historic bust that by every meaningful metric is dwarfed by this, how long would it have taken you just to recover your principal? How much better would you have been sitting in T-bills (especially with rates how they are in the inverted yield curve now) and buying the bottom like a non-retard. You are too young to post. Lurk moar

[Anonymous No.58307885]

>>58305548

Michigan is the worst place.

But I was thinking of rounding up 3
hot women to rent from me
500 a piece for a while

wtf is this gay ass waiting 60 seconds
to post? This site is gayer every week


but i tell you what, i'll sell you my house for 600k
and it is 8000 sq ft

[What is the best course of action here? No.58309077]

>>58306535
Yeah, I could say that I want a Lamborghini but I don't want to spend more than a thousand dollars. Will I find it? No, I will not. Sure it COULD be possible, but it's not going to happen by any realistic standards.

What's going to happen is I'm going to search for a very long time and get very tired of searching over and over, since the human brain wants to get rid of that effort of searching after repeatedly failing, I'm going to settle for something that some dude told me was a Lamborghini and I'm going to get super excited thinking I've finally found it, and then I'm going to get scammed and I've lost my 1,000 dollars for a toy car.

>>58306860
Thank you so much for responding. Currently my mom is going through this delusional phase since she's always wanted to own a house, but I'm really starting to realize how unrealistic that is, at least right now. Again, I'm 99% sure she'll reject the idea of bonds in any form since some people claim that it's forbidden to engage in in Islam, but honestly the subject is pretty debated so I'm going to get the opinion from the imam of this one mosque I go to. He's genuinely the only Muslim I think I have ever met that isn't completely delusional nor retarded. I'm sure he'll understand the situation and I can finally convince her to do something with the money and just invest it instead.

I'm not too sure, but I think the best course of action is to try and convince her to stay here in California for now, and convince her to not quit her job and instead keep saving up. She's one-hundred percent not going to like hearing that though.

She still won't get a financial advisor either. Guys, is there any way I could maybe get one myself? I don't have anything to show him at all, but is there a way to maybe just tell him the basics like I did here, and get some small advice? How much would it cost? I'm willing to use my own money I have saved up for this.

[Anonymous No.58309084]

>>58305663
Good advice.

[Anonymous No.58309097]

>>58305548
>>58305564
Here's my advice that I will be strongly encouraging my son to follow: either pick up a skilled trade like construction or plumbing, or, if you want to go to college, get a 2 year technical in IT/Networking/industrial automation.
These things will never fail you. DO NOT fall for the 4 year meme. DO put a little money away in an IRA. That's it.

[What is the best course of action here? No.58309146]

>>58309097
Thank you, but I don't see what this has to do with the current issue I'm facing. However, I was thinking about simply going to college and getting into Medical School to become a pathologist. I originally wanted to go into IT but after this whole fiasco with AI and the insane amount of people who have CompSci degrees, I realized that I'd rather go into something that seems safe and secure.

[Anonymous No.58309179]

>>58309146
>current issue
It sounds like you don't have much day in whether you move or not. Personally I would say get out of CA while the getting is good. Anywhere interior would be better. No desert states. After that it doesn't matter. Don't buy real estate rn.
>medschool
Literally the worst mistake you will make in your life. Don't do that.

[Anonymous No.58309210]

>>58309179
I second this unless you are super diligent and enjoy studying to the point of masochism
If you DO end up in medicine do PM&R (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), for your own sake
Also kudos to you for being against usury, more people need to be
Look into mutual aid or maybe the Muslim community in Michigan around Hamtramck or Dearborn could help you out

[What is the best course of action here? No.58309301]

>>58309179
>Don't buy real estate
Understood sir. Thank you so much. I do have a question though, when would I know that it's a good time to buy real estate? I truly do love my mother and I want to see her have the house that she has worked so hard for, but I don't think that's possible right now. How do I know when it would be a good time? Would it take a decade or so?

>Don't do that.
Wait what? Why? Isn't it a safe option that leads to a good career? My life ever since about 11th grade has really ramped up in complexity. I originally wanted to go to Stanford since it was a prestigious school, and I worked really hard for it. However, I realized that my 10th and 9th grade performance was pretty mediocre and that alone would pretty much cripple any chance that I had.

And my other people my age who also try and get into these top schools form the most toxic community I have ever seen in things like r/Applying2College and other stuff like that. I also realized after attending AP classes, that all these people have the largest egos ever. It's actually insane how smart they consider themselves to be. It's nothing but bragging about each other's achievements, but the worst part is that it's all hidden behind a mask of being 'kind,' so nobody even says anything about it.

I used to be just like that too. I was so obsessed with getting into Stanford, but over time in 11th grade I began to realize how silly it all was. Even if I were to get into Stanford, then what? What would Stanford do for me? I then began to look more into it and I generally came to the conclusion that the difference between colleges is pretty negligible and doesn't really matter after a few years in the work force. So I just threw my towel in and instead enjoyed my high school years doing what I wanted to do. That's not to say that I don't want to be successful, I just don't think college is the place to go for if I want success.

I finally got into politics and now I want to get into investing.

[What is the best course of action here? No.58309366]

>>58309210
I suppose I enjoy studying. Not from textbooks, but instead from actual genuine books that I tend to apply in my school work through chance. That's how I completely aced by 11th and 12th grade years. I find that textbooks are pretty trash at teaching you anything of value.

But if I absolutely have to use a textbook to learn something, I will. I'm willing to work hard for Med School if it means I can get into a good, safe career after graduation. Honestly my life is so overwhelming right now, and it seems like there's so many places to go and things to learn. But I still think optimism is the best thing to have first and foremost. I want to have a good amount of money so that I can send my kids into private schools when I have them, God willing. I don't really care about stuff like cars or any collectibles that don't do anything besides look pretty. I've never understood the point of them, and it just seems silly to me.

I want my kids to have a good life, and I will work hard for that.

[Anonymous No.58309484]

>>58305548
I'd expect the winters in Michigan to be quite a shock to her.

[Anonymous No.58311983]

>>58305548
gubberment