Top all-time · #7052
Paula Pant
Personal blog · affordanything.comeconomicsbusinessproductivity
Paula Pant writes Afford Anything®, a personal blog at affordanything.com about economics, business and productivity. Since 2014, 11 different Hacker News readers have linked it 16 times, most often “Renting is Throwing Money Away, Right? (2015)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Paula Pant's personal finance posts on whether renting or buying a home is the better choice, and on house prices and real estate investing. Commenters name her as a finance expert.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Learn how to achieve financial independence, retire early, and build wealth on your terms. Join Paula Pant's community for actionable advice on investing, real estate, and money psychology.
Most-linked posts?
- Renting is Throwing Money Away, Right? (2015)5 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2018-04-23
- /2015/11/24/is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-04-14
What Hacker News says?
Given that, you buy your house to remove risk of local changes to your detriment. Housing raises your risk; it doesn't lower it. 1. Over time, renting and owning cost similar amounts: https://affordanything.com/is-renting-better-than-buying-sho... . 2. You run great risk in terms of the market: look at anyone who bought in Detroit, pretty much ever. Buying in West Coast housing markets may look hot right now, but th…
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment (2018)”Submitted Renting is Throwing Money Away, Right? (2015) as a story · 475 points
HN discussionThere's a great writeup on this -- I may have even seen it here [1]. On average house prices tend to keep up with inflation and trail the market across the US. In specific markets that may not be true, then there's all your expenses. Ultimately, it depends on your personal situation if you should buy or rent, and the New York Times has a great calculator [2]. tl;dr: It's not always the smart choice to buy. Or to ren…
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “Birth Rates Dropped Most in U.S. Counties Where Home Prices Grew Most”Submitted Renting Is Throwing Money Away Right? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionNot just a homeowner but a real estate investor. https://affordanything.com/how-we-made-43211-67-in-passive-i...
Comment linking /how-we-made-43211-67-in-passive-income-from-real-estate-in-2017/
on “Renting is Throwing Money Away, Right? (2015)”Submitted Could a Blindfolded Monkey — Throwing Darts at Stocks — Beat the Experts? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionCars depreciate, just like housing requires maintenance: https://affordanything.com/is-renting-better-than-buying-sho... . Housing does not automatically appreciate, though artificial limits on the supply of housing in some metros can temporarily make it feel as if it does.
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy
on “Tesla Faces Accelerating Rate of Model 3 Refunds”As Paula Pant of Afford Anything [1] would say, you can afford anything, but not everything. The author here is house-hacking [2], which certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it is one way to get around high housing costs. I've listened to enough financial independence podcasts to know that it's absolutely possible to hit a 90% savings rate. There are guests on the show who have done it on much less income than…
Comment linking /
on “I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself”If you think it's one of the best possible investments, besides the article I poseted above I'd also recommend checking out - http://affordanything.com/2015/11/24/is-renting-better-than-... You mention cities that are booming. What about if you bought property in an area that got worse?
Comment linking /2015/11/24/is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “Why younger people can’t afford a house”I linked to that source in the article: http://affordanything.com/2015/11/24/is-renting-better-than-...
Comment linking /2015/11/24/is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “Switzerland: How buying real-estate can kill you financially/reasons for stocks”Buying property is not an intrinsic good, and renting is not intrinsically bad: https://affordanything.com/is-renting-better-than-buying-sho... .
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy
on “America’s Student Debt Machine”from a financial perspective, neither renting nor buying is inherently better than the other. in a particular locale, one or the other might be better based on the price-to-rent ratio. so the decision of whether to rent or buy similar properties in a particular locale comes down to the local market, how long you can commit to staying, and your tolerance for different risks (rent increase, home repairs, suddenly need…
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “Young Homebuyers Are Vanishing from the U.S.”https://affordanything.com/is-renting-better-than-buying-sho...
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “How to make housing more affordable”Perhaps we should recognize that buying property is not an intrinsic good: https://affordanything.com/is-renting-better-than-buying-sho... or an automatically good way to save or invest money.
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy
on “Housing Is Back, but the American Dream Isn’t”* Life advice type stuff - Tim Urban ( http://waitbutwhy.com/ ), Eric Barker ( http://www.bakadesuyo.com/ ) * Personal Finance - Mr Money Moustache ( http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ ), Afford Anything ( http://affordanything.com/ ) * Laravel (PHP) - Laracasts ( https://laracasts.com/ ), Taylor Otwell ( https://twitter.com/taylorotwell ) * YouTube music cover artists/producers - Kurt Schneider ( https://www.youtube.c…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Who are the experts that you follow religiously in your niche(s)?”https://affordanything.com/is-renting-better-than-buying-sho...
Comment linking /is-renting-better-than-buying-should-i-rent-or-buy/
on “The Great American Aversion Toward Renting”
