I don’t know how many of you need to hear this today, so:

Renting is not throwing money away.

Sure, you’ll likely never see that rent money ever again.

But you are paying for things: a place to live, flexibility, maintenance, time.

A mortgage CAN help you gradually buy a home *over many years*

But what rent haters won’t tell you is the amount of time, money and emotion you’ll put into that house.

Full disclosure: M and I are renters! Yes, I make a living off of writing about markets and personal finance, and I AM A RENTER.

I know *gasp*

Why? We’re young, we work hard and we like to spend our little amount of free time doing non-home things. We are not good at home things.

We also live in Uptown, have one car, and love walking around the city. And we have a pool (it’s v crowded rn but that’s beside the point).

The catch? We save. A LOT. I’m not gonna get into our personal details, but we have a lifestyle that allows us to save and invest (for retirement and other long-term goals).

THAT IS THE MAJOR , FRIENDS.

Save and invest enough, and it doesn’t matter if you rent or buy. Ultimately, that’s a personal decision IMO. NOT AN INVESTMENT

(in most cases...there are ppl who love being landlords/house-flipping. if that’s you, do your thang)

We’ll buy one day. Eventually, we’ll be home people. And that day, we’ll be prepared to find something we love.

But we’re not right now. You may not be either. THAT IS OKAY. Live your life, and save save save.

Special S/O to this excellent podcast from @awealthofcs and @michaelbatnick on the economics of homeownership that got me all fired up this morning: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economics-of-homeownership/id1310192007?i=1000487394815

Oh yeah, I’ll add that “rent is throwing money away” is a very rude, close-minded, blanket statement to say to someone you love.

It also shows you don’t know what you’re talking about.