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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   3767 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Maybe, but let me put it like this. In 2021 when I bought my house, I sunk about 20% of my net worth into the down payment. I'm talking everything btw, crypto, 401k, brokerage, cds, gold, savings, etc. Now theoretically, and inadvisably, I could have cleaned out everything and just bought the house outright. I mean, lets pretend for a moment that I wouldn't have paid massive penalties on my 401k.

Well, 5 years later my investments have more than doubled. The value of my house has not. Also I "benefit" from the value of my house regardless of whether I've paid off my mortgage or not. I put benefit in quotes because mostly it means I just pay more taxes and insurance. To access any of that "wealth" I'd have to either take out a home equity line of credit, or sell the house, putting me back at square one. Also, now I could far more easily pay off my mortgage in full, and have 70% of my net worth left over, versus essentially resetting had I paid in full in 2021.

Also, as someone who was recently jobless, having 10 years of living expenses in assorted accounts was an enormous relief. Now I'm assuming with a paid off house, and resetting from 0, I would have probably saved up a good amount having no mortgage. But my napkin math says probably 20-30% what I actually have today. And I'd have suffered an enormous opportunity cost with my investing to boot.

All that said, rates change everything. With rates over 6% I often consider whether I would just pay in full for my next home. I likely could. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I mean, I liquidated almost my entire crypto holdings to get the funds for my house/holdover for extra expenses.

And I don't regret it, because the crypto world went FULL retard after I bought the house, and while the house value increased a lot, the mere fact of "I can live here and not be bothered by increasing rents or volatile crypto markets" was a source of peace. Decent interest rate too.

I've had some investments perform better, but none that were as directly beneficial to me in the interim period.

Buying a house you intend to reside in for the long term is an easier play than buying one you might or might not be staying in five years later.

But that's very dependent on the labor market. Can't stay somewhere if there's no decent-paying jobs.

There was a point in time where I held two whole Bitcoin. Now I hold functionally zero. Can't live in a Bitcoin, can't store my stuff in one, can't invite friends over to hang out in one, and BTC hasn't provided me with minor projects to work on outside that significantly help with my mental health.

I dunno. I could spend my days tracking the market's ups and downs... or I could tend my garden, do small repairs around the house, sleep in a bed that I cannot be removed from absent an act of God.

Its not so bad.

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