[quote=AN]I actually don’t see anything wrong with planning for extreme “what ifs”. As long as you also attribute the probability of it coming true in your planning as well You should also plan for “what ifs” at both end of the spectrum too. Not only should to plan for the Fed completely failing and you’ll get major deflation, but you should also plan for the Fed completely failing to control inflation and we’ll see a repeat of the 70s/80s. Obviously, either of those scenario are very unlikely to happen, but it’s not impossible. If you plan for it, then you won’t be blind sided and follow the heard off the cliff.[/quote]
Fair point. But you also have to plan for “what ifs” like things continuing as they are for the next 30 years. 2-3% house appreciation/year, 2-3% rent increase per year. The economy plods along.
In this case if you are intending to stay in the same place for at least 5 years then buy.
I suspect people do not consider unrealized gains (from not investing in stock market or buying a house) as losses. This attitude is very human, and very short sighted.
Myself, I failed to follow my own rules and did not put my ROTHIRA contribution in the SP index fund last january because I thought the market was overvalued. Instead I put it in a money market acount. I LOST 20% because of that dumb decision.
