Your Home is a Nest Egg
If more Americans viewed their homes as the beginning of their retirement nest egg rather than as just a place to live, home ownership would certainly increase drastically among those families who think they cannot afford to buy a house. There is no question that many lower income families find it more difficult to own a home than those with higher incomes, but the degree of difficulty should not stop many Americans from taking the leap to home ownership. People who rent should know, if they don’t already, that paying rent is almost always more expensive than owning a home. If a family can pay the monthly rent, it can afford home ownership. Mortgages are almost always lower than comparable rental rates.
This means that any family, which really desires to own its own home, can do it. This means that the very cornerstone of building wealth, or just building some assets, is available to most everyone.
Financial experts tell us that almost everyone, during his lifetime, earns sufficient income to build a sizable nest egg, and home ownership is the basic building block for most people’s nest egg.
While it might be difficult for some individuals to exercise the discipline to save 10 or 15 percent of their income, paying a monthly mortgage is not an option. During the 1950s to 1970s, home ownership, for many, might not have been as feasible when economic growth was minimal and inflation was virtually non-existent. However, today’s period of continued economic growth and steady inflation virtually guarantees that any wise real estate purchase will increase in value while you are purchasing it. Understanding this is very important since most peoples’ mind set is the reality that most purchases quickly depreciate – such as your new automobile losing thousands of dollars in value the moment you drive it out of the showroom.
In many parts of the country real estate values are picking up again, making home ownership an even more valuable part of your nest egg. 2014 is showing a lot of promise in increasing home values, less foreclosures and less mortgage distress! This is a good thing. The increasing home values mean that the supply of houses is shrinking, more people and buying and keeping their homes. Values will continue to climb up. Not as fast as 2006, but will grow with inflation.
As the country’s population approaches retirement age, the high value of home ownership will become even more important because of the limited income of most retired persons. Living off limited income during your retirement years will be far more practical if your monthly expenses, year in and year out, do not include a rental or mortgage payment.