If you had $50k would you use it to buy land or for savings/retirement?

[Marc_LFD]

This is just a hypothesis which I can't decide on a definite answer. Young people thinking about their future and retirement is a good thing as they'll be financially covered, but buying land/ranch is important too for ownership.

P.S. "$50k" is just a number given as an example for this inquiry.

 

[FAST6191]

Way too few variables.

Taxes on the land would have to be accounted for, as would options with it.
Piece of land in a low tax state you care to live in, and could put a tiny house or bachelor hut on. Wonderful. How many such pieces of land exist or "exist" (how many places will kick you off it as it were even if not explicitly allowed to live on it).
Somewhere that will be eaten by property taxes and is either legally not going to have anything or practically not going to have anything. Very different matter entirely.
Some kind of property for rental. Unless you are assured of having good tenants then run away, as I would for anything in a home owner association.

Investments right now are hard. Very little in the stock market is beating inflation, and year to date things are only that way because a few major technology companies have an outsized impact and have not dropped. Basic bonds also not doing much. Silver and gold are maybe hedges. Money market funds are doing OK (or indeed more than OK and are probably helping to kill banks) but still under both headline CPI, core and what it actually is if you calculated it properly without a vested interest in having it appear low. Crypto is either a hedge, a means to get out of regulations in some ways or gambling. You could also visit the land thing again and look into REITs (real estate investment trusts), just hope they are not too heavily invested in commercial land in New York and LA.

With the upcoming financial storm (all these dead banks, layoffs, evictions... you have only seen the start) then some of those might want to be shorter term investments as well -- if you have money available (dry powder being the term of many) then things will be being sold for next to nothing and you can in turn flip things if you wanted to go that way, or buy up tools and such for not a lot if you wanted to do a business. Wait more still and they will also start issuing loans again if said 50K is not enough.

 

[AncientBoi]

Down payment to own a Home.

 

[bazamuffin]

Personally, I wouldn't do either. I prefer to enjoy the money. Lost both my parents quite suddenly (at different times) which shown me that anything can happen at any time. Having money in the bank and/or investments means jack shit if you're 6ft under. I'd probably enjoy some, and then pop some into bank accounts for my kids should anything happen to me

 

[The Catboy]

I would use it to paydown my debt and then figure out the rest from there.

 

[Hyatt]

If you buy a land/ranch you will have to pay taxes and also nead to maintain it. That's a lot of work. Land doesn't really need to be maintained.

 

[sombrerosonic]

Buy a full N64 collection........ as well as a few PS2 games and a New PC

 

[SylverReZ]

Buy a full N64 collection........ as well as a few PS2 games and a New PC

I'd love to stick with modded consoles.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I'd use it as a downpayment on a home. I'm far away from retirement age but getting a better place is something I have been thinking about for years. However it's difficult in the current market.

 

[Flame]

invest what ever @cornerpath tells me to invest in.... obviously

 

[sarkwalvein]

On some nice vacations?
Or in things that would immediately increase my standard of life and productivity perhaps.
Could be housing, tools, training.
I am not high on investing on stocks.

 

[impeeza]

I used to have a farm by my onw, and lost on a bad financial move. then after 10 years saving Have at bank some like 25k (I don't live on the USA so is fairly some money) and been on my 40s have the same question, invest the money on something give me some returns or buy again a place to live.

is a hard decision, wife and I are thinking about buy an apartment for rent it and use the profits to our future.

 

[HippyJ3]

with that amount, at 40,000 dollars I could buy two used housing properties, it could also cover the renovation/restoration costs, then after the houses are refurbished, I usually put them up for rent to gradually recover the repair costs, legal papers/ documents processing services expenditures etc., and use the remaining 10,000 dollars for bank and rural cooperative investments and just watch it grow, most of the time I let the money do the work for me

 

[DinohScene]

Paying off debts for starters..

 

[FAST6191]

Always curious to see used housing like that -- the 600 year old house I am typing this in probably costs more than the new ones (or new build if you were talking estate agent speak) they built down the road and also the bungalow next door to them probably costs more.

Paying off debts for starters..

While that is often a solid plan (there is a reason I don't take out loans unless I absolutely have to, and have not in years) then depending upon interest rates and what you could consolidate things to it might be better to manage them a bit and invest in something else if it could grow faster that way, or if 50K acts as a deposit for the house and the loans are not unmanageable/going to ding credit too hard then could be the smarter play there. Mind you with inflation as high as it is, housing prices only just starting to crash (and not like there are fewer people vying for the decades undersupplied market), nobody doing mortgages if they can help it, most interest rates on loans being way above what most simpler investment vehicles are paying and the like then... yeah.

 

[Jdspa]

Rather than buying I would try to long term rent in a low cost country and short-term rent them out while living there.
No long term obligations and still free to move if things get worse. If you own, it is immobile.

 

[Mikester]

Buying something for 50 thousand seems to me not the best idea. The amount seems large at first glance, but in reality, it is a small thing. I would definitely spend half on some investment. 5% for my personal expenses and the rest for a rainy day. While land might appreciate, having liquid savings is invaluable. But imagine, if you're considering a business venture, how tools like Priceva could aid in making sound decisions. With automated tracking, a unified metrics interface, and comprehensive analytics, it's easier to spot market opportunities.