Are you "lucky"if you have a secure retirement?

[ovrszd]

Was that a conventional mortgage or reverse mortgage? And so much depends on your financial situation...if she is of limited income but has a lot of equity built up....????

No equity, no down payment, pretty sure conventional mortgage, no retirement plan. Said she won't live long enough to pay it off anyway so who cares.

 

[newbury]

Yes, to each his own. Get yourself debt free so that the income you can draw retired is sufficient for your basic upkeep then spend they rest of it as you want to. I've never understood people that change houses in their fifties and sign on to a thirty year mortgage that will last until their eighties.

Buy low. sell high.
I'm changing houses, leaving one I'll be selling for ~ $500K to $600K on 1/4 acre, bought one w/ 73 acres of timberland for ~ $250K. House is about the same size but I've got about 5,000 sq ft of workshop w an apartment. We took out a loan. Our interest rate after taxes is about 4%. The house and land has doubled in value, based on local sales. If we had tried to go debt free we would have had to sell our house in Virginia for far less to buy the house in Mississippi due to the financial collapse (GFC).

Three years after I retired the mortgage I had mostly paid off before my divorce came up for possible refinance...they (credit union) told us that we qualified to borrow $350,000...my ex wanted to borrow that and payoff the existing mortgage and buy a vacation home. Unlike her I had been following the financial situation and bluntly told her we were NOT going to refinance....had I done that odds are I would be living in a rented apartment now.

It never fails to amaze me how the uninformed and clueless are the ones who want to borrow money for the present while living in the future. May not have any bearing on my thoughts, but: Several years after the GFC my brother bid on a foreclosed house that had a market value of maybe 85 grand before the GFC. The loan outstanding on the property was about $178,000....now, who in the right state of mind would loan 2X the actual market value on a property and who would be stupid enough to borrow that much???

Borrowing money for the present can allow one to invest for the future. My attitude (and SWMBO's) has always been don't buy it if you don't need it.

The GFC was a boon for us, we picked up a foreclosed house in Fulton that a "flipper" had bought from the MIL for less than 1/3rd of the price she had sold it for. It was cheaper than renting a storage locker.

We were "lucky" in our jobs - we were paid to travel most of the world, usually with weekends off in the foreign climes. Neither of us have the urge to travel now because we've been there, done that and got the teeshirts. I think I was paid to travel to every state except Rhode Island and spend 2 or more weeks there. So we don't want to travel for"vacation" and DEFINITELY don't want to fly. That seems to be a major "want" expense for many retirees.

As far as "who in the right state of mind would loan 2X the actual market value" - people who only worried about the commission they made on the loan. But that's a whole 'nother thread.

When I was raised in Vermont I was taught to not borrow. But that's going against the stream. Borrow the minimum at low interest rates if you can make the money work to bring in more than what you need to pay off.

 

[TomSeller]

. It galls me no end that sometimes much of donations to a "charity" go mainly to enrich the executives who run the operations.

Very true. The same goes for all these so called "Churches" and television shows pretending to give a lot to people in need. It grates on my nerves to see the high rollers in these "Churches" benefit from our tax laws and the gullible nature of those thinking their donations are going to the needy. I would much rather give to a reputable animal charity than to line the pockets of the "executives" and "ministers" of these so called charities and churches.

 

[TomSeller]

Yes, to each his own. Get yourself debt free so that the income you can draw retired is sufficient for your basic upkeep then spend they rest of it as you want to. I've never understood people that change houses in their fifties and sign on to a thirty year mortgage that will last until their eighties.

I have a person that works for me that got out of the banking business when the financial institution he was working for was hawking this very thing. He just could not do it any longer knowing the consequences. The place went under a short time later.

 

[houstonscott]

Very true. The same goes for all these so called "Churches" and television shows pretending to give a lot to people in need. It grates on my nerves to see the high rollers in these "Churches" benefit from our tax laws and the gullible nature of those thinking their donations are going to the needy. I would much rather give to a reputable animal charity than to line the pockets of the "executives" and "ministers" of these so called charities and churches.

Giving to animals is not charity. It's just compassion for animals, which is not as noble or as important as compassion for people. Comparing people with animals is repugnant and sick. HS

 

[TomSeller]

Giving to animals is not charity. It's just compassion for animals, which is not as noble or as important as compassion for people. HS

Giving to animals is more charitable than giving to such fraud as TBN and the Crouches. What is "noble" about this and those two people?

 

[newbury]

Giving to animals is more charitable than giving to such fraud as TBN and the Crouches. What is "noble" about this and those two people?

HEY! How dare you call TractorByNet a FRAUD!!

Spell out your acronyms when first used! We are on TBN!!

 

[vtsnowedin]

Buy low. sell high.

When I was raised in Vermont I was taught to not borrow. But that's going against the stream. Borrow the minimum at low interest rates if you can make the money work to bring in more than what you need to pay off.

Ayup Us old Vermonters are a squeaky bunch.
I've got nothing against a guy getting a mortgage on a sensible house that he houses his family in while he pays for it. He is better off then renting and has some control of how the house is maintained etc. Even a new car loan if you need a car every day for work is a wise investment.
I lose it when people take out a loan on a Mercedes or a big McMansion or vacation condo. The assets not cashed in might have covered the down payment but often the house size gets out of hand and so does the loan. It doesn't take much of a downturn in the market to put such a loan under water. Why is there even such a thing as a Jumbo mortgage? After $200K if you want more you should pay cash.
Take a couple with two professional jobs bringing in $80K each. Often they have the best of everything including Nannies and gardeners but they are the loss of just a couple of paychecks away from bankruptcy. Meanwhile the construction worker down the road and his wife working at Walmart making $60Kbetween them can weather a six month layoff, own two vehicles outright and have fifty percent equity in there house. Whose smarter?

 

[TomSeller]

HEY! How dare you call TractorByNet a FRAUD!!

Spell out your acronyms when first used! We are on TBN!!

I didn't even notice. Trinity Broadcasting Network.

 

[300UGUY]

I didn't even notice. Trinity Broadcasting Network.

It has always amazed me how some folks can believe theses frauds. I don't expect the minister to take a vow of poverty, but if my minister has his own Lear jet, he doesn't need my money.