Ant and the Grasshopper
Years ago we had a story in our engligh book titled The Ant and the Grasshopper. It was about two brother, one who had a family, saved regularly, had no vices, was hard working and the other who was more of a casanova, refused to settle down, had no steady job, often got into trouble and had to be bailed out by his brother. If I remember correctly, in the end, the careless brother marries a rich old widow and ends up with her huge estate worth much more than what his diligent, coservative brother is able to accrue from years of hard work and sensible living.
Fortuenately, life is not always so unfair. The recent economic crisis, especially the trouble in the housing market, somehow reminded me of the Ant and the Grasshopper. For years, my wife and I had been wanting to buy a house. We saved consistently and resisted the temptation of investing money we were saving for the house, in the stock market which tends to be volatile. We waited until we had saved enough for a twenty percent downpayment and until my job was more secure.
It was not easy. People around us were buying nice houses. Some got interest only loans to buy expensive house they could otherwise not afford. Many remodelled as soon as they moved in. It made me wonder if we were missing out on a great opportunity.
However, our careful conservative approach seems to have paid off. When we finally purchased a house, we did so with full disclosue of our income. I figured that if the bank decided we could not afford the loan it meant we were trying to buy a house we could not afford. We resisted temptation of getting an interest only loan to make our budget stretch and went for a 7/1 ARM.
After we moved in, we spread out our home improvement expenses, always ensuring we had money to pay for the improvements we sought to make. Recently as the economy faltered and the government began printing money to be able to sfford a stimulus package, we refinanced into a fixed rate mortgage expecting that in a couple of years all the money pumped into the economy will cause inflation and lead to higher interest rates.
Only time will tell whether we are doing the right things but so far it does seem like living within our means has paid off.
Fortuenately, life is not always so unfair. The recent economic crisis, especially the trouble in the housing market, somehow reminded me of the Ant and the Grasshopper. For years, my wife and I had been wanting to buy a house. We saved consistently and resisted the temptation of investing money we were saving for the house, in the stock market which tends to be volatile. We waited until we had saved enough for a twenty percent downpayment and until my job was more secure.
It was not easy. People around us were buying nice houses. Some got interest only loans to buy expensive house they could otherwise not afford. Many remodelled as soon as they moved in. It made me wonder if we were missing out on a great opportunity.
However, our careful conservative approach seems to have paid off. When we finally purchased a house, we did so with full disclosue of our income. I figured that if the bank decided we could not afford the loan it meant we were trying to buy a house we could not afford. We resisted temptation of getting an interest only loan to make our budget stretch and went for a 7/1 ARM.
After we moved in, we spread out our home improvement expenses, always ensuring we had money to pay for the improvements we sought to make. Recently as the economy faltered and the government began printing money to be able to sfford a stimulus package, we refinanced into a fixed rate mortgage expecting that in a couple of years all the money pumped into the economy will cause inflation and lead to higher interest rates.
Only time will tell whether we are doing the right things but so far it does seem like living within our means has paid off.
posted by Anil | 10:04 AM
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