Unpopular Opinions

[Anonymous]

That the best possible investment people with money in this country could make is a robust social safety net (some form of UI, unemployment benefits, universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, housing for the homeless, and subsidized or free education and job training), paid for via higher taxes.

[Anonymous]

Housing is a consumer good, not an investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That the best possible investment people with money in this country could make is a robust social safety net (some form of UI, unemployment benefits, universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, housing for the homeless, and subsidized or free education and job training), paid for via higher taxes.

Sing it sister!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That the best possible investment people with money in this country could make is a robust social safety net (some form of UI, unemployment benefits, universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, housing for the homeless, and subsidized or free education and job training), paid for via higher taxes.

+1

[Anonymous]

That it’s worth paying an expert .94% to manage my portfolio. (My returns are way, way higher than I was ever able to accomplish on my own and he basically pays for himself and then some).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That 529 plans are a good idea.

Dangit meant *aren't a good idea. I think they’re a huge gamble. Both me and my siblings got scholarships and traditional college is less useful than ever. I’ll put my money elsewhere in case life doesn’t follow my scripted plan

529s ARE a terrible idea for the country, as they’re almost exclusively used by upper middle class people who don’t need a tax subsidy to save for their kids’ college educations. Including me; I have been saving aggressively into ours since our kids were born. But it’s totally unfair policywise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That 529 plans are a good idea.

Dangit meant *aren't a good idea. I think they’re a huge gamble. Both me and my siblings got scholarships and traditional college is less useful than ever. I’ll put my money elsewhere in case life doesn’t follow my scripted plan

If the beneficiary gets a scholarship, or even goes to a service academy, you can withdraw an equivalent amount from the 529 without penalty. Just saying so you don't scare someone off, you're of course welcome to your opinion.

Then, I'll save them till my kid has kids or we will cash them out. No big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That it’s worth paying an expert .94% to manage my portfolio. (My returns are way, way higher than I was ever able to accomplish on my own and he basically pays for himself and then some).

.94% would be me a brand new luxury car every year. And there are no advisors who consistently beat index funds net of fees.

[Anonymous]

Index funds are extremely overrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you need to finance a boat, pool, second home, vacation cruise etc then you can't afford it. These are all cash items only.

You should be able to buy a second home in cash? Come on! You must be incredibly wealthy and out of touch to think that.

ITA with him/her that you should be in a position to pay cash for any of these items or you shouldn't buy them. I say this as someone who constantly daydreams of a yacht purchase in 10 years or so, and whose parents didn't buy their second house until they were in their 60s.

Agree. Also, no leasing cars either.

I'm the OP here. We bought our second home in our mid fifties and bought a fixer home on the VIrginia Eastern Shore. Affectionately referred to as The Dump for quite some time. It's taken us several years to fix it up and we've done a lot of the work ourselves, but it feels great to own it outright and to not have to rent it out because we can afford it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That 529 plans are a good idea.

Dangit meant *aren't a good idea. I think they’re a huge gamble. Both me and my siblings got scholarships and traditional college is less useful than ever. I’ll put my money elsewhere in case life doesn’t follow my scripted plan

529s ARE a terrible idea for the country, as they’re almost exclusively used by upper middle class people who don’t need a tax subsidy to save for their kids’ college educations. Including me; I have been saving aggressively into ours since our kids were born. But it’s totally unfair policywise.

If less people saved in 529s, this country would have a reason to lower college tuition costs because nobody would be able to pay the current rates if they didn’t save.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's an unpopular opinion you have in regards to money or personal finance?

Mine is that, contrary to the common (?) belief that people who have fancy lifestyles must be "swimming in debt", the majority of people living like that can afford it. In general, people make more or have much more money than you think, and if you think you are behind relative to your peer group, it's because you probably are.

"Living for retirement" (which I see on here all the time...) is overrated. Prepare for retirement, but live for today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That 529 plans are a good idea.

Dangit meant *aren't a good idea. I think they’re a huge gamble. Both me and my siblings got scholarships and traditional college is less useful than ever. I’ll put my money elsewhere in case life doesn’t follow my scripted plan

529s ARE a terrible idea for the country, as they’re almost exclusively used by upper middle class people who don’t need a tax subsidy to save for their kids’ college educations. Including me; I have been saving aggressively into ours since our kids were born. But it’s totally unfair policywise.

If less people saved in 529s, this country would have a reason to lower college tuition costs because nobody would be able to pay the current rates if they didn’t save.

That's true, but irrelevant for individual actors. It's also true that if the governemnt didn't subsidize student loans, tuition would be a lot cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who don't spend money on luxuries need to "live a little".

I think that the issue here is when the people who don't spend are super judgey about those who do. If you prefer to hoard money go ahead and do it! But don't assume (as OP said) that the people who spend it are in debt and don't have as much as those who don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. All people shouldn't attend college
2. People shouldn't take on 6-figure debt for an undergrad degree
3. People taking out those 6-figure loans should pay them off as soon as humanly possible and not let them stretch out for 20-30 years.

Other than no. 3 I don't think these are UO.