Financial Question of the Day #6
by Erik Folgate
Filed under FAQs
Would you rather start investing in the stock market first or buy a house?
Answer this question without taking into consideration the current market conditions of the housing market. I think that I would rather buy a house first, because you get two things out of it. You get a place to live, and real estate is a great investment in the long term. I like investing in growth stock mutual funds, but I think that I’d rather be owning something that I can upgrade and begin a family in, rather than having a piece of paper earning interest. However, if it meant that I was buying the house with no money in the bank, I’d rather buy stocks. I don’t ever want to be in the situation where the air conditioner dies, and I don’t have any money to fix it. Plus, I wouldn’t want to put my family through that, especially living in Florida.
What are your thoughts? Houses can be much more of a burden than owning stocks, so there are pros and cons to each.
I would rather buy a house. You can’t live in a share of stock. I agree that if you do not have money set aside for emergency repairs or you are spending the majority of your income on mortgage payments, stocks may be a better investment.