Never Retire - Headlines Don't Always Tell the Real Story

Even though they should

Consider this headline from a recent Axios story (that my wonderful girlfriend sent me).

Here’s what the content of the article tells us.

First—

Owning a median-priced home is more affordable than the average rent on a three-bedroom property in 58% of the U.S., a new report says.

I hesitate to call 58 percent “much,” especially when you consider the reality on the ground.

Second and most importantly—

There's a big city/suburban divide, though: Renting makes more sense in big metropolitan areas, while homeownership wins out in rural areas and suburbs, where property prices are lower.

For some reason, large swaths of people who write money articles have a dysfunctional relationship with nuance. And that’s a problem because the things we discuss are inherently multi-faceted, even complicated. They’re definitely case-by-case.

First, consider your preferred living environment. I have to be in a big city. So those areas where it’s better to own don’t fit into my plan at all.

Second, our country has developed in such a way where many different types of suburban environments exist.

You might like suburbs super close to medium or big cities. Or you want the most affluent suburbs, stocked with consumer and cultural amenities. They’re not cheap.

I ran the numbers, some of which I include in a Medium article that will publish tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Third—and maybe most importantly—even if some all-too-specific formula says it’s better to own your home, that might not work for you. Because you still have to commit cash to every part of the process, from the start up costs to secure a mortgage to the mortgage itself to covering the costs of home ownership.

Many of us prefer to reserve that cash for other purposes, be it present and long-term needs and wants, the quest for cash security or both.

Headlines like that, especially headlines that anchor super thin stories, do nothing to help us make better, more thoughtful money decisions.

Read with a critical eye.

Dissect these headlines, boiling them down to what nobody else can touch or analyze—your own super specific personal financial situation and set of individual preferences.

Just a thought as I do some Sunday morning writing.

As always, thanks for reading and supporting my work as a freelance writer.

I appreciate it.

Rocco