Fear of Being Old & Homeless
Reading Time: 4 minutes Disclaimer: This is a raw & live blog post. Raw meaning that it is a brand new thought that still needs time for me to develop a deeper point of view. Live meaning that I will be updating this post over the days and weeks as I uncover more.
For those who don’t know my mind often thinks about the future and what life will be like. This also means what the retirement lie will be life. This thought alone had me, deep-dive, into the world of Financial Literacy and remove 14 Thousand dollars of debt.
The fear of homelessness came in after watching the movie 99 Homes at 1 am in the morning. Great film with great acting btw.
I do want to say that although this is a new fear. I am making the conscious decision to place the fear behind me. This way I can push myself to keep going. Instead of having it in front and it blocking me from growth. ????????
This is a raw thought haven’t had much time to sit like a monk and ponder on the thought.
In a barebones fashion the ingredients of this new fear are:
- The rising cost of housing (especially in major cities)
- Salary’s rising at a snail’s pace
- Pension is a thing of the past
- We are living way longer
- Peers not planning for retirement
- The cost of living keeps going up.
Rising Housing Costs
As a millennial, I and many of my peers realize that owning a home is a wild and almost fictitious idea. Yes, we can choose to not live in the major city, Let’s be honest many of us want to live near the heart of the city.
Historically speaking owning a home is a great first step to building wealth. When I say owning I mean you no longer have a mortgage to pay.
As we reach adulthood we hear stories of how mom and dad bought a home for $300K and were able to sell it for $600K. And yes this does vary from city to city and the work done on the home. Either way, mama and papa were able to make a profit.
Fast forward to today where homes in the heart of the city have starting prices of $750K and up. And when I say home I am also lumping in Condos in there because let’s be honest we won’t all be able to live in homes.
Foreign Investors & Investment Firms
Ohh baby! This is going to be fun. Not only are homes crazy expensive, we now have foreign investors coming in snatching up real estate. Which the government in some places has made efforts to give a fighting chance to individuals and couples.
For the fun of it let’s also throw it into the mix of Investment Firms that have an endless supply of cash. Are now into the landlord business.
https://youtu.be/EBb9zf_zWvUNow am I mad at any of the investors or firms buying up the homes in North America, No. I understand what it is to live in a capitalistic society and I do not hate it, they are playing the game by the rules.
Would I say it’s fair, hell no! Let’s be honest life ain’t fair and I am not about to sit like a 5-year old kid crying that the game is rigged.
A Solution to Housing Costs
The way I see it the few options we have to be homeowners are to live away from the heart of the city, move to smaller towns, live abroad where the cost of living is lower.
On a personal level, living abroad is my number one choice. I have 3 simple criterias.
- Warm weather year-round (20℃ & minimal mosquitoes. I hate them suckers????)
- Not spend 50% of income on housing
- To be able to maximize my saving and investing over the next 30 years.
Being from Canada the only criteria that can work is not to spend 50% of my income on housing. That would also mean moving to a city/town that is cold in the winter.????
Living on the outskirts of a major city or even living in a smaller town has much more appeal to it now ever since the pandemic. Granted if you are able to work remotely, living away from a major city means you get to deal with less traffic, affordable housing, more often a quiet neighbourhood, and more.
To be Continued…
