Boy, that Dow

[Molly]

The Texas Lt. Governor has a plan for saving the economy.

Sure. They would love to see the number of people on Social Security and Medicare reduced. People who they consider a drain on the system.

And Trump, his family and all the other oligarchs will never have any trouble getting access to a ventilator. Just the rabble who they consider expendable.

[Geila]

I was over on the Money Mustache site this morning and people over there are talking about taking money out of their home equity to invest in the stock market. I confess that I've had the thought a few times myself. We have a ton of equity in our house and interest rates are so low right now. After the '08 recession, we were kind of kicking ourselves for not buying property as home prices were reduced by about 50% in our area and quickly rebounded and are now at all time highs, about $700 per square foot. My next door neighbors bought their house for $270k in Dec 2009 and it's now worth about $900k, maybe more.

And I'm thinking, gosh are we going to be kicking ourselves for not buying stock right now? Anyone else thinking about it?

[Teacher Terry]

I wouldn't be taking equity out of my house to do it.

[sweetana3]

I suggest everyone listen to the latest several Bill Gates interviews. Sobering. I would not be chasing $$.

[dmc]

I’m Selling and buying a house next week, at least that’s the plan. I originally planned on paying cash for the new house, but now I’m going to finance 80%. With rates at 3% for a 30 year loan I figure I’d rather have the cash available. I can always pay it off later, or let the kids worry about it when I’m gone. At 62 I’m pretty sure I don’t have 30 years left.

And some of that money will be put into investments of some sort.

[ToomuchStuff]

A friend once tried to get me to mortgage my house to invest in a video game that he and the kid from Malcolm in the middle had invested in. I don't see my home as a speculative investing tool. Turned out I was correct, as the franchising parent company, yanked the Stargate license, which killed the project. Friend lost something like $75K, while that actor lost more then six figures.
The stock market can go down, as well. Also, if this pandemic because worse and the death predictions were really low, it is conceivable that we could end up with a surplus of houses, where value would fall.
Why not just start investing with the same amount as a mortgage payment?

[dmc]

By getting the mortgage it makes the money available for one thing. I won’t be putting the total amount in the stock market at once. And if I need the money in the future, it’s unlikely that I would be able to borrow at this rate. We are at record lows.

I may use some of the money to by a rental. I live in a area that is very desirable for seasonal rentals and second homes. Many of these may be hard hit by owners that are not currently being able to rent, coupled with job losses. But once this is over, people will continue to want to rent when this is over.

Or i may just go ahead and pay the mortgage off if things change, it won’t cost me that much if I change my mind.

[dmc]

Also the new home is not where most of my net worth is at this time. If it was paid for it would still represent 10%-15%.

[SteveinMN]

And I'm thinking, gosh are we going to be kicking ourselves for not buying stock right now? Anyone else thinking about it?

Buying stock with dollar cost averaging? Sure (we are). Tax loss harvesting or culling the duds from a portfolio? Okay (that, too). Going all in enough to put a lien on our home? No way.

Even though I think the market will have a relatively quick comeback, the market is not the entire economy. The money the Republicans said didn't exist for the social programs and corporate welfare they're now funding has to come from somewhere. All those postponed payments have to figure into a balance sheet sometime. And while the virus has yet to peak in the U.S., it is only now hitting countries on other continents, many of which will not be able to clamp down on it even as poorly as the U.S. did. The world economy will be unsettled for quite some time to come. Bet on it with money? Yes, because in the long run I think it will work out for the better (always has so far). Borrow money to go in (or in deeper)? Not for me.

[jp1]

My sister recently told me that our father borrowed money to buy gold and gold stocks at the start of the big run up on it back in the early 80’s. That was the only time he used margin for any investment. And also the only time in his life that he didn’t sleep well.