My firm was recently approached by the leading online Real Estate firm Redfin to provide a very short tip that could help potential homebuyers save for a home. Redfin asked myself and several advisors around the country for their advice. Collectively, there is some great advice for would be homebuyers as well as helping give people some financial direction.
Here is the beginning of Redfin’s article:
Are you a millennial thinking about settling down and buying your first home? Saving for the 20% down payment can be overwhelming – for many of us, it’s tough to know where to begin! To help ease the burden, we rounded up the financial experts to weigh in with their best tips for millennial homebuyers. From long-term investment strategies to day-to-day saving tips, whether you’re in Sacramento or Philadelphia, here are the best ways to inch toward your first home straight from the experts that know best.
Here is what I wrote for the article on Redfin’s website. – In fact it’s really two thoughts.
- The old adage goes, “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: “One bite at a time.” The same holds true for saving or investing. Starting is typically the hardest part, so start with a dollar amount you can afford and slowly increase that number as you become more comfortable with your ability to save. The most important part is starting and never stopping.
- “Invert, Always Invert.” – Warren Buffett’s long-time business partner Charlie Munger says to think like this. Basically what this means is looking at a goal or challenge from a completely different perspective. So if you want to save money for a down payment on a house, use the date you want to have x dollars by and work backwards to see how much you need to save on a monthly basis.
Click here to be directed to the entire Redfin article and all the great advice.