261–270 of 413 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is pretty popular in the US. Most recent college graduates I know live in a shared house or apartment.
Popular by choice or financial necessity?
I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
That's all well and good as long as you're a student, or partying your twenties away and as long as everybody in the house gets on .... I've done this, and while it is good fun in parts the downsides become downright tiring.
Why the assumption that all roommates everywhere are partying?
The idea that owning a home is a great investment is an article of faith, not evidence. Imagine if large public companies owned most of the housing stock and rather than buying a house you invested in these companies. Instead of bearing all the location and liquidity risk of owning a house, you would spread that risk over large numbers of markets. In fact being stuck owning a house in an unfavorable market can keep s…
On that note, supposedly the idea of homeownership was in part pushed because homeowners do not riot. After all, they can't as easily up and move afterwards.
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Yup. Germany has one of the lowest adoption rates of credit products such as the humble credit card out of nearly all Western nations. Debt is not liked. Edit: From the same site, the linked article at the bottom has the answer: http://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-everyth... A better link: http://www.businessinsider.com/you-have-to-understand-german...
Yep. "Don't buy things if you can't pay for then." sounds reasonable, but some other countries seem to disagree. Not surprised that those countries suffer from government shutdowns over how much the debt ceiling is raised.
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If you strictly want to maximize your money , you're probably making the best choice for yourself. For many of us, time with family, friends, hobbies, is a relaxing and physically/mentally/emotionally healthy thing to engage in, rather than trying to exploit every waking hour for income.
You're not wrong, however the parent was specifically replying to a post that justified home cooking with financial considerations and didn't even go into the quality-of-life aspect at all. I think the takeaway is that if you prefer coding over cooking then that's justifiable from a financial and time efficiency point of view. If you prefer cooking and the presumed family quality time over (even more) coding then tha…
How does Germany handle retirement? In the US, your home is seen as an investment, one that can partially fun retirement or depending on the market, pre-retirement income.
Typical family houses are spread across two storeys with bedrooms on the upper floor and the living room and kitchen on the lower floor. This necessitates stairs. Also, the house was probably sized to have enough space for children, who at that point have long moved out. And even if you find different uses for that space it still needs to be cleaned and maintained (and you need to clean and maintain the rest of the house anyway).
So depending on how affluent you are, how close your children are and how much care you need, either you struggle living in an oversized house, you move into a single-storey "Bungalow", you move into an apartment or you move into a retirement home.
Another option depending on how the house is built is to split the house into two apartments and have one of your kids live in the other apartment.
I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
I've always been the opposite. I can't stand coming home to an apartment filled with people. After dealing with chaos all day, I want to know there's a quiet, tidy place where I can relax. I dislike coming back and having to interact with people.
I am a German CS-Student and currently renting in a shared flat with 4 other students. We call it WG (living-community) and its really popular not only with students, but i know a lot of young professionals and even middle aged ones that share an apartment (it gained popularity in the 60s, so i think its more of an culture thing that older do not share a flat). If you are in a partnership, you can move out and share…
A big reason why I don't want to share a room with anyone anymore is because they don't clean. Every roommate I've ever had (so far ~11 different people), has never actually cleaned. No matter how many times I'm getting upset or having a talk. It just ends up with them washing the dishes/taking out the trash once and I'm stuck cleaning 75% of the apartment. I'm not a clean freak I just hate when the trash is overflow…
So in Germany, the interest on a mortgage is non tax deductible. The article doesn't mention it but I understand that property owners are also liable for capital gain tax if they hold the property less than 10 years. I think that makes sense. There is no reason to favor individuals investing into an unproductive investment (property) over productive investments (stocks and bonds, which enable companies to raise money…
Wrong reasoning. It's tax deductable in Switzerland and they rent even way more than the germans
The Germans seem to be far ahead of the curve here. From a financial planning perspective, buying a home results in: 1) The vast majority of your assets becoming concentrated in a single plot of land, in a single neighborhood, in a single city 2) Your future mobility to pursue jobs in other cities, becoming significantly constrained If you want to invest your savings, then invest them in the stock/bond markets. If yo…
> Your future mobility to pursue jobs in other cities, becoming significantly constrained Perhaps the idea of people who haven't adopted this is that, unless they like doing so, humans should not have to live like nomads moving here and there to pursue this or that financial opportunity, but instead should be allowed to grow roots in some place, help shape it and improve it, connect with their neighbors, etc.