i dont really want to own my own house,because i see where its gotten most people i know.
are you serious?
if owning a house has 'ruined' people you know, the people you know are morons, made bad choices, or over-extended themselves on shit they couldn't afford in the first place.
buying a home is the BEST thing you can do. it WILL make money. maybe not this year, maybe not next... but long term, it WILL go up if you maintain it.
Mortgage interest tax write off is HUGE. I wrote off nearly $20,000 last year JUST in mortgage interest. If i had the same thing in a rent, i wouldn't get that write off at all, and I would've had to pay even MORE taxes.
Don't judge your life off screw ups. Judge what you want to do by looking at trump and warren buffet.
Why not just have a debit card rather then have to carry around a giant wad of cash everywhere?
i don't have a debit card either. it's annoying trying to balance shit and make entries everytime you use it. I just use my credit card for everything, and at the end of the month, i make 1 payment and add 1 line to my checkbook.
Plus you could also throw some into an IRA or some other type of investment account and get bigger returns.
If you put 100 bucks a month into a rothIRA at age 20 for the next 40 years, you will have 1.2 million dollars at retirement, given the standard 10% gain the market averages.
If you put it in your toolbox, you'll have 48,000.
your choice.