Buying or renting a home requires more than math. One friend ran the numbers on New Jersey schools and taxes before committing. The speaker warns that many 24-year-olds chase financial freedom while taking mortgages 630% of their net worth, contradicting their stated goals.
I have a friend, they moved to New Jersey, notoriously high taxes, and they were like, hey Ramit, we ran the numbers, it makes no sense, and we're buying anyway because of schooling and because of location to work. I go, fantastic. I gave them a round of applause. Good job. It doesn't matter to me if you buy or rent. It only matters that you're actually calculating everything. Math is one part of it. You need to know your numbers. But also there are other things. Family, pure desire, anything you want, but you got to calculate it all. It's hilarious to me that so many 24-year-olds on Twitter are like, my number one goal with money is financial freedom. And then they spend 630% of their net worth on a 30-year mortgage. It literally makes no sense. You need to be sure you're actually using your money to live your rich life. And part of that is calculating carefully the biggest purchase you'll ever make.
