Reply to What %age of your total assets is your home value?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]75%

Paid-off condo = $685,000
Total net worth = $910,000
Unlike others here, I don’t believe that low-interest debt is a gift from the gods.  Not having a mortgage makes my life so easy and stress-free, despite the fact that I don’t have a super high income.  My monthly expenses are under $3,000 so I have a huge margin of safety every month.

Also, it allows me to live in a great condo in a great location, which is important to me.  Travel, dining out, etc. are totally unimportant to me, so I have spent a lot (relatively) on the one thing that matters to me.[/quote]

Are you not worried about only having 225k in assets outside your home though?  Will you have a pension or something?  
For retirement, 225k will only generate $750/month and that's before taxes and doesn't include any buffers for emergencies, long term care etc.[/quote]

No, not worried about retirement because I'm 42 and have plenty of time to save for that.  Also, when your monthly expenses are <$3K, you don't need to save that much for retirement.

I think people generally consider it "good" for the "home equity divided by total net worth" percentage to be low, but I disagree.  It feels weird saying this as a non-millionaire posting among all these multi-millionaires, but I feel very well-off.  I bring in $12.5K per month (before taxes) and [b]spend less than $3K in a HCOL area, so I feel like I have already achieved partial financial freedom.  That's only possible because I have no mortgage.[/b]  (Of course, if I won $100 million in the lottery, then my home equity/net worth ratio would be very low--and that would be good--but for most people with limited resources, I think having a high ratio leads to a better quality of life.)

And people talk about the house being an illiquid asset as a downside, but I don't really get that.  I took out a $200K HELOC, so any time I need money, I can access it with no problem.  It is unquestionable that one's net worth at 65 will be higher with more money in stocks, but my goal was never to be the richest person in the graveyard (or at 65).  My goal is to use the money I have to enjoy a great quality of life, and putting more money in the house is one of the best ways to achieve that.[/quote]

You numbers don't make sense for HCOL area.  Can you please provide your breakdown on how you only spend 3K a month?
RE tax alone could be 1K a month easily as taxes go up with property values and in HCOL area become very high unless you can qualify for some financial aid, which your salary doesn't indicate.
Do you have kids? How do you manage to pay RE tax, insurance, car insurance+taxes, repairs, maintenance on a house unless it's tiny and you do everything yourself, and buy food, essential items, and have anything left over for any resemblance of a vacation?   Do you never leave your house, never eat out or order take out, never buy an airplane ticket, never get any help from anyone when it comes to home maintenance? That's not a great quality of life.. unless I am missing something and your spend doesn't account for emergency funds and digging into savings for anything like repairs, vacations, needing to get a new car, etc. [/quote]

Our modest house costs 2k+ a month after it's paid off according to my calculations.  1K property tax alone.  Add to it insurance, utilities, spread out cost of maintenance and repairs (it's an old house) and it's easily 2K a month. There is no way we can live on spending only 1K for everything else even if we have free health insurance. I know many live like this, but it's poverty and in no way high QOL PP brags about.  [/quote]

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