Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

50 years a mortgage

President Trump is floating the idea of a 50-year mortgage loan, superseding the current standard longest of 30 years. I think it’s a wonderful idea, because I can finally afford a home around here! All it takes is for a bank to practically own me for the rest of my life. If I were to buy a house today and it’s a 50 year loan, I will be 87 when the final payment schedule hits. Will I even be alive by then?

In simplistic mathematic terms, the 50-year mortgage makes sense. Housing is expensive, so let’s extend out the loan term so people can “afford” it. It’s the same thing happening in the automotive industry. The average new car price crested over $50,000 recently. Along with it are ever longer loan terms. 60-month used to be the maximum standard, but now 72 or 84-month is popularizing. Just so folks can squeeze in a monthly payment that is somewhat palatable.

Is that not a similar goal in floating a 50-year house loan? Perhaps it’s too big of a jump from 30? For sure 50 years will be more than half a lifetime for most of us. Also, think of the amount of interest that’s going to be paid for a loan that long. You can more than likely buy a whole other house on total interest payments alone.

But I think it’s a problem only from an investment lens. For a home that you want to stay in forever until death, a 50 year loan doesn’t seem that ridiculous. So what if the cumulative interest payments amount to a crazy high number? The most important number is for the monthly mortgage cost to come beneath an affordable threshold. Indenturing myself to a bank for the rest of my life is quite alright if I get a stable and comfortable home in return.

Surely the banks also wouldn’t mind that extra 20 years of accrued interest! I think mortgage terms longer than 30 years should be made available; as a tool, an option, but not a panacea to a problem.

Infinite money losing glitch

Word on the streets is that online gambling is a big problem? We’ve all seen the advertisements, surely. No major sports broadcast is complete without ads for DraftKings or BetMGM. Some of the services even give new users “free” money to bet as an introductory offer. Remember when few years ago every other ad was about crypto? I feel like we’re now in a similar era of sports betting.

I personally don’t partake in gambling because I don’t subscribe to forsaking my hard-earned money like that. We all know how incredibly shitty the odds are. The most risk I am willing to take with money is putting it into the broad stock market.

People are saying online gambling is a problem because lots of young men are falling into addiction and debt. But that’s just the natural outcome, isn’t it? Only a very few subset of bettors can win - by design. Otherwise the game wouldn’t exist. A game that creates many losers will of course have negative consequences. So long as the carrot remains ever gleaming, legions will keep returning and returning.

I think the allure of gambling is the possibility of a huge monetary reward in a short amount of time. Social media has shown everyone the world is indeed our oyster, but most of us don’t have the sort of capital to make that possible. I absolutely cannot traditionally invest my way towards affording a brand new Porsche 911 GT3, unlike the many influencers on the Internet. Online gambling then becomes an alluring shortcut towards attaining the lifestyle that social media has promised us.

There’s a money shortcut available to women that’s closed to men: selling your likeness online. Any reasonably attractive woman has potential to earn money quick if she is willing to forgo a few bits of clothing for people to watch. Heck, if a lady is attractive enough, she can be fully clothed and simply stream herself playing video games. That sort of leveraging of beauty is typically not an avenue open for men. So they instead funnel towards online gambling. Or day trading.

Listen, if all it takes for me to be able to buy a GT3 is to “YOLO” my entire savings into a five game parlay? Hmmmm…

You get a layoff! You get a layoff!

Word on the streets is that Amazon is cutting 14,000 personnel in its vast corporate offices. That is a lot of people soon to be out of work. The greater Seattle area is in shambles, as the kids say these days. This news comes only a few days after Target announced similar corporate job cuts. All of this coming right before the (hopefully) busy holiday shopping season. Who has money to spend right now, honestly.

The pending Target layoffs hits close to home as my cousin works there in corporate. The problem is, he’s nowhere near the company headquarters in Minnesota. A corporation looking to trim down will certainly look first at folks working off-site, no? I hope the best for my cousin.

The best did not happen for my friend who got laid of from Stanford earlier this year. Even education, the once believed lead-pipe lock of job security (especially at a world renowned university like Stanford), is not immune from the current economic headwinds. I somewhat worry for my position, because I too work for a university. An institution that just this week forecasts dire budget straits for the coming fiscal year. Not great!

We’ve seen so many layoff news throughout 2025, and yet the U.S. stock market is currently, as of writing, sitting at all-time highs. One suspects, basing on sheer mathematics, the bottom has to fall out eventually, no? Folks out of a job aren’t wont to keep on spending.

I’m glad I recently downsized my car to something cheaper, netting a solid difference to add to the rainy day war chest. The current economy is too uncertain to be making daring money moves, at least for someone in my lower middle class position. If I do get unfortunately laid off, I want to have at least 12 months of money runway. I know, right to privilege jail, right away.

Buona fortuna

I was at Costco doing my usual weekend shopping when I noticed the usual five pound bag of whey protein by Optimum Nutrition is now over $67! That is crazy. I’m old enough to remember when the same bag was only $35. Us weightlifters are in shambles when it comes to feeding our protein addiction. Instead of picking up weights ever, I should have joined a monastery…

The annual Monterey car week was only a few weeks ago. It’s always fascinating to me how certain car enthusiasts can drop multiple six figures on a car like it’s nothing. These people spend on vehicles like how I don’t think twice about paying extra for the larger size of fries. There’s a certain level of wealth that I cannot fathom or comprehend when way more than my entire net-worth is concentrated into a single object.

How bad can the overall economy be when hundreds of enthusiast cars are changing hands on a daily basis on sites like Bring a Trailer and Cars And Bids. People are capable of dropping $50,000 - $100,000 on what is most certainly a secondary car (if not tertiary or further). Heck, I don’t even have that. I’ve been contemplating and strategizing on buying a second car to compliment the BMW M2 for over two years now - still can’t financially justify pulling that trigger.

I can certainly relate to those Youtube videos about how seemingly everybody else has more money than me. Granted there’s zero envy involved here. I understand fully my income situation and how much I can spend. It is what it is, and it’s the only thing I can control. But one can always daydream, right? Especially when the PowerBall jackpot is sitting at 1.8 billion dollars.

It would only be due to buona fortuna if I am ever in a position to drop six figures on a car like ordering appetizers at a restaurant.

Staying ahead

I was disappointed to see the Greek yogurt - my go-to breakfast food of choice - increasing in price at my local Whole Foods. The staples are getting pricier again! At least my staples are. I’m still smarting over the price of coffee jumping 20% thanks to President Trump’s tariffs. Priced out of a coffee? That would take a whole lot.

I don’t expect rich people to have scars from the high inflation of the post-COVID period. Which is why we shouldn’t expect the Trump administration to back down from import tariffs. These people understand fully well that it’s the American customers paying the tax. They’re just all wealthy enough to absorb it without care.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are simply, hopelessly, trying to stay ahead of inflation. Especially during this time of uncertain labor markets (unless you are a genius A.I. engineer). My place of employment is going through a budget contraction. I’m lucky to have a job, never mind any hope of yearly salary increases to keep up with inflation.

That means the purchasing power of my current salary will continue to decrease. To combat it means having to let go of some other spending. The aforementioned pricier Greek Yogurt? Well, I typically buy a can of something to drink whenever I enter Whole Foods. I gave that up soon as I saw the 50 cent increase. I have water at home, thank you.

Similar choices who have to made in the future, so long as inflation continues, and my income remains static. Perhaps Progressive will raise the insurance on my car again. To compensate, the Disney Plus subscription will have to go.

Not an emergency

I think the holy grail of personal finance is having an emergency fund. Obviously that comes after spending less than you make, and paying off whatever debts existing. But the emergency fund, at least for me, has always been a difficult nut to crack. Six months’ (or one year) worth of spending saved in a savings account. That’s a tall order, because it’s a lot of money, even for a miserly person like myself.

It’s easy on paper: I already spend less than I make, so it’s just a matter of slow accumulation. But something always interrupts the process. An errant rock flung into the windshield of the car means a thousand dollar replacement. It’s not always something unfortunate! Earlier this April, I unloaded my entire emergency fund into the stock market because it experienced a 20% correction. The perfect time to buy more. That also means I had to start from scratch vis a vis the emergency fund.

Maybe we’re being too strict about it? In some ways my investments can be an emergency fund. (Some would argue I shouldn’t have investments - that aren’t tax advantaged - before an emergency fund?) It’s not as liquid as a savings account, sure, but there are other monetary vehicles to use in an actual emergency. The first thing to come out of the wallet is the credit card anyways. That gives at least a few weeks lead time to then liquidate the necessary investment to pay for that spend.

It’s not ideal for sure, because any time you sell securities, you have to pay capital gains tax.

The safety and stress-reduction in having a proper emergency fund is undeniable. In fact, it can feel eerie because it leaves you with nothing to worry about financially. No debts, investments are automatic, and there’s enough in savings to sustain me for half a year, should I lose my job. Peace of mind can be surprisingly disconcerting when you first shut off the noise completely.

Subsidized lifestyle

Word on the street is the Chase Sapphire Reserve card - the preeminent travel rewards credit card - is increasing its annual fee. What started at an already hefty $450 per year is now a whopping $795 per annum. COVID-era inflation comes for everything eventually.

Of course, Chase has all sorts of new card benefits to potentially offset the price jump. But it’s all predicated on one thing: cardholder spending. This is a classic case of spending money to save money, which only works if that money is what you would have spent regardless. If you wouldn’t have in the first place, then you really shouldn’t have.

I did sign up for the Sapphire Reserve when it was first introduced many moons ago. The signup bonus was super generous: 100,000 points on a $4,000 initial spend (worth a thousand dollars in cash value.) Coupled with the $300 travel credit per year, the true annual fee was only $150 at the time. As an annually traveler, it was not difficult to for me to “break even”, so to speak.

That 100,000 bonus point allowed me to fly first class to Korea in 2017. Truly living the champagne life on a beer budget. But that was during a time when lots of capital was going toward subsidizing a rich person’s lifestyle for the mundane middle class earner. Surely you remember: UBER rides used to be cheap, thanks to the company continuously burning through VC cash to hide the real cost.

Did we honestly think we can afford to have our burritos hand delivered from the taqueria for only a few bucks? DoorDash fees used to be not so exorbitant, too.

Well, those sweet subsidized days are over. The premium travel reward credit cards are now only for those who can comfortably spend the high amount necessary to reap the rewards. Good news for me, I cancelled my Sapphire Reserve soon as COVID prevented any sorts of traveling.