jrwilheim
09-07-2005, 04:44 PM
Okay, about a month and a half ago, I got into a discussion about money with my mother, and she told me she and my father were invested "mostly in Nasdaq stocks." That raised all kinds of bells in my mind, so I asked her to look at their actual statements and found out they weren't as badly invested as I thought. On the other hand, the value of their accounts is only around $95K combined, they're 15 years from retirement.
They inherited some money from my grandfather a couple years ago, of which they have about $70K left, so I suggested that my mother look for a house for around $100K, pay 40% down and pay off the rest on a 15-year mortgage. (Believe it or not, this is actually possible in Wichita, KS, where they live). I said to her pointedly, over and over, that they should buy a house because they were looking at having a substantially reduced income in retirement, and the best strategy for this was to have a house paid off.
Did this sink in? I thought so, when my mother told me they were looking at houses. But then they bought a house that was WAY too expensive and--worse--took a THIRTY-YEAR, $95K mortgage from my grandmother to buy it.
GOD--what is it about my parents that they never get the point of anything I say, that they always miss what is ACTUALLY THE POINT in whatever I'm saying? The point of this was to buy a house and be able to pay it off in 15 years, not buy a house that's totally beyond your means with assistance from Grandma! I can see exactly where this will all end--with them selling the house and moving in with me in 20 years!!
They inherited some money from my grandfather a couple years ago, of which they have about $70K left, so I suggested that my mother look for a house for around $100K, pay 40% down and pay off the rest on a 15-year mortgage. (Believe it or not, this is actually possible in Wichita, KS, where they live). I said to her pointedly, over and over, that they should buy a house because they were looking at having a substantially reduced income in retirement, and the best strategy for this was to have a house paid off.
Did this sink in? I thought so, when my mother told me they were looking at houses. But then they bought a house that was WAY too expensive and--worse--took a THIRTY-YEAR, $95K mortgage from my grandmother to buy it.
GOD--what is it about my parents that they never get the point of anything I say, that they always miss what is ACTUALLY THE POINT in whatever I'm saying? The point of this was to buy a house and be able to pay it off in 15 years, not buy a house that's totally beyond your means with assistance from Grandma! I can see exactly where this will all end--with them selling the house and moving in with me in 20 years!!