There’s an article in the Wall Street Journal this week entitled “There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy Instead of Rent,” and the content drives home the point of the headline with gusto.
But do you know something? Even before the economic case for renting looked this good–before interest rates skyrocketed and housing prices kept climbing and rental unit supply went up–renting could still be a really good decision. Why? Because renting is much more flexible and much less capital intensive (i.e., you write a rent check each month but you never have another, larger check for HVAC repairs, roof replacement, leak damage repair, etc. etc. etc.). If flexibility and liquidity are really important to your life, then renting might make perfect sense no matter what your realtor is yelling at you.
Sometimes, maybe most of the time, the way to make good financial decisions is to focus on making good…decisions. To start from general principles and values, to work toward a desired outcome with processes that give you a good chance of getting there, and then layering in financial principles and values, synthesizing and compromising where you need to.
You can’t ignore the financial implications of a decision, but a good decision is more than its financial implications.
Meaningful Returns 