Dear Moneyist, My two sons are in their 30s and both well-educated with rewarding work. They save well and spend within their means, for which I’m very grateful. They both want to buy a home, for which saving is an almost Sisyphean effort as one lives in Boston and the other in San Francisco. Both of which are great for real-estate investment, but terrible for first-time home buyers. They invest in equities, and they are excited about some of their hi-flyers.
A healthy relationship with the people in your life will help you have a healthy relationship with money. That way, your sons should keep you in the loop about all of their major financial decisions, whether it’s buying a house, spending on needs vs. wants, betting on a single stock, tax planning, potentially falling for a crypto scam, budgeting, living within your means, or simply not contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement plan or putting enough money aside for a rainy day.
“‘The people who tell you they have all the answers — be they friends, family members or financial advisers — are usually the ones best avoided. ‘” Help them think outside the box when it comes to real estate. They can also invest in other towns and cities, if they can’t afford to be first-time buyers in Boston or San Francisco. Over the past five years, for instance, real-estate markets from Upstate New York to Austin, Texas and Palm Springs, Calif., have all experienced incredible gains. For those who bought rentals there, or indeed moved there, it certainly paid off. In 2019, the median-priced home in Palm Springs was less than $400,000.
You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell on Twitter.
Tell them not to listen to market watch, Jim Cramer, or any of the other clowns
Tell them the mistakes you’ve made and weave some gentle advice in with it. Acknowledge that it’s inevitable that they will make some of their own mistakes- make them early in life where smaller sums of $$ are involved. Buy them The Wealthy Barber