Langston Holland

Comments

• The next post adds the affordability component to the inflation adjusted prices above. It includes 25th percentile (lower income), 50th percentile (median) and 75th percentile income groups. Still nationwide, but interesting.

  Post: Home Prices and Affordability

  Link to comment from February 14, 2026

• This is the National Assoc. of Realtors latest metro area home affordability data. I don't know the math behind it, but I'm sure it's reasonably accurate.

  Post: Home Prices and Affordability

  Link to comment from February 11, 2026

• Same with his partner in crime, Charlie Munger. He was the real estate guy and they both hated it from an investment perspective. Charlie, a real estate attorney, rented for about 30-years and then owned a modest home in Los Angeles for about 70-years. Interestingly, Munger was all-in for family home ownership but thought single folks should be indifferent about it.

  Post: Home Prices and Affordability

  Link to comment from February 11, 2026

• Definitely correct from a personal perspective, but my little quest here is big-picture and drilling down to the regional would require additional variables. I'm over my head as it is, but I still think the overall real data is interesting. Especially so when income and interest rates come into the picture—which is coming up next. Reverse engineering the math to generate my own plots also provides insight into the data (Shiller's thoughts) that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

  Post: Home Prices and Affordability

  Link to comment from February 11, 2026

• Warren Buffett on a contributor to the 2008 housing bubble: "With housing it's something even more dramatic than that, because most people aspire to own their own home. If you really think that house prices are going to go up next year and the year after, you feel if I don't buy it this year, I'm going to have to buy it next year. That's not true of an Internet stock. But it's true of a home."

  Post: Home Prices and Affordability

  Link to comment from February 11, 2026

• Very short-term bond funds are very important. I use VMFXX and ICSH for bonds in my asset allocation. My favorites Money Market: VMFXX Half year duration bond: ICSH One year duration bond: VUSB (or VUSFX) Select SPAXX for your CMA checking with Fidelity. What's a savings account? : )

  Post: High Interest Savings Accounts vs Bond funds

  Link to comment from February 8, 2026

• I divided my 25-day moving average plot of VIX vs. the S&P 500 fund (above) into three date ranges for a better look at the data. Downloadable as always, Excel files are available for the asking for all the gibberish I post. • VIX vs. VFINX 1990-2006 • VIX vs. VFINX 2007-2014 • VIX vs. VFINX 2015-2025

  Post: Misleading Indicator

  Link to comment from February 5, 2026

• No matter what you do, get a personal trainer and get in the best physical condition possible. Absolutely everything will improve by an order of magnitude. What stirred your blood when you were young before life got in the way? If you're near the water, take sailing lessons. Beginner's classes are generally a two-day affair. It has become the love of my life after one of my children forced me into it 5 years ago.

  Post: Carpe diem – especially in retirement

  Link to comment from February 4, 2026

• I always mail in printed tax returns with hand-written checks. The IRS has always deposited my checks within 48 hours of receipt, while the returns aren't recognized online for 6-12 months. What you went through is terrible and I can't think of anything you could have done other than spend a ridiculous amount of money on a tax attorney.

  Post: Banking problem

  Link to comment from February 1, 2026

• Another data point. I found a whole life article to add this to because it's not worth its own entry. MassMutual Whole Life Policy I paid a premium of $25,000 on 23 Jul 1987. This was right after I got out of school, got married and my wife was working on the first of our five children. A portion of its cash value growth covered the annual $822 premiums, so that up-front payment was my total out-of-pocket. Children flew the coop, wife cared for, so I didn't need it anymore. I cashed out for $186,011 on 01 Feb 2019. Ordinary income tax on the $130,529 gain was $19,579 (15%). Death benefit was $425,000 at the time. Pre-tax CAGR: 6.6% Post-tax CAGR: 6.1% Happy with the return, happier I didn't need it anymore, happiest I never used it.

  Post: Whole Life Insurance Worked for Me

  Link to comment from February 1, 2026