/irrationally defensive
/tired of reading these comments
/should just stop reading these comments

I don’t care if people pay interest on something if they’ve run the numbers and figured the cost of interest into the purchase price.

Put differently, if my car died *tomorrow* I couldn’t pay cash for a decent car. Is financing a new car a sin? After all, it is a depreciating asset. What if I decide the $20 or so in interest I would have to pay on it each month is worth it? OTOH, I could just buy a junker that requires lots of repairs. Is paying the repair guy better than paying the banker?

What about buying houses at the top of the real estate market? Surely, one didn’t buy an appreciating asset. If you then twist the rule to say, “one should only finance purchases that they reasonably expect to appreciate,” what happens when the market tanks, and futhermore, how do you define “reasonably expect to appreciate”?

Paying interest isn’t about appreciating or depreciating assets, it’s the cost of borrowing money. If I buy a house that I can afford, it doesn’t really matter if the market tanks. I can still afford my house.

If you run across any really good empanadas, see if you can snag a recipe.

Have Fun

I hate to say this, but it’s a bit F’d up to sign the divorce papers one day and “test out the relationship for three weeks” the next.

It’s just weird.

I would argue that a cell phone is a need and not a want. It’s prohibitively difficult to get by (at least in the U.S.) without internet and telephone access, and with discount smartphone plans cheaper than a land line + dial-up combination, cell phone is the way to go. Where it becomes a want is if you go for the iPhone/Nexus/etc. on one of the major carriers.

I would have liked to have seen a lot more details like the size and cost of both the old and new house. Maybe some number crunching to see how much quicker you can retire because of the move?

Also – by ‘downsize’, did you just buy a smaller house next door or did you also move to a cheaper area?

Also, we just arrived in Mendoza last Saturday and are doing 2 weeks in Argentina. things have been wonderful so far. I hope you have a wonderful trip and let me know if I can offer any advice.

We did 3 days in Mendoza, 3 in Bariloce (now), 3 in Calafate, 3 in torres del paine & 3 nights in Santiago.

GOOD LUCK!

They are throwing money at us at 4% per year. If you can’t make 4% a year, then by all means pay off your mortgages.

One caveat is that you must be happy about being a landlord. I love helping people. I love owning property. I love being a landlord. I read recently: “If you can’t do something with the happiness experienced by a young child feeding bread to a hungry duck, then don’t do it.”

I guess my point is, there are some great deals out there in some areas of the country right now. If you want to build wealth and like being a landlord, then this is still a great option.

If I wanted to live in an area where the numbers didn’t work out, I would totally rent. When you buy a place, any place, you need to be ready to be a landlord because you never know where life will take you.

Have a great trip.

I hope you have a fantastic trip in South America. It’s been WAY too long since I’ve been there. I bet you’ll see some beautiful sites and have even more fantastic soul searching.

Thanks! Love the blog and enjoy the trip!

Wish the best on the trip for you and Kris. Can’t wait to see you back and active!

Please make sure you both understand that breaks from each other will be needed (as i’m sure you are already experiencing) You mental health and ability to find a balance in all this new exploration is of utmost importance, especially when forging a new friendship.

I hear that the jungles are amazing!

good luck.

ObValue (since I may have been too slow for a free code):

Every year I use the TurboTax basic edition. You have to click around on their site to find the edition. If you aren’t eligible for Free Edition, they try pretty hard to get you to go straight to Deluxe. However Basic is cheaper and handles most situations (including stock sales, mortgage interest deduction, flexible spending accounts, dependent care credits, and more).

And of course, 25% off discounts are ubiquitous. For instance anyone can get a 25% discount by clicking through from fidelity.com (even non-Fidelity-customers).