I've posted about my oldest brother before. He has induced facepalms that would put Jean-Luc Picard to shame and he's currently prepping for the biggest mistake yet. He's 42, his girlfriend 44. He has a really bad work history, because, according to him, no one listens to his great ideas. He says he just can't work under a boss (this is probably true...). Anyway, after a string of jobs with some unemployment tossed in there, he's a self-employed manager. He has had a business in the past, that did well. By now he's been working as an independent manager, working for a big company, going on 3 years now. He's doing well, he's taking home 5k a month (after tax!) and his girlfriend around 4k a month.
He really wants to buy a house. He has no retirement saved - NONE at all. This house will be his retirement plan.
Being self-empoyed means he didn't qualify for a mortgage until the 3 year mark. That'll happen in the next few months, same for his girlfriend (also self-employed). I visited him recently, he's all giddy:
Him: The bank will let us pick something for a million!
Me: What, seriously?
Him: Yeah, that's the top mortgage we can afford.
Me: So, in what range are you going to search?
Him: *owlish blinking*
Me: I mean, you're not going for a full million, right? You wanted to pay it off for retirement?
Him: That's 25 years away, plenty of time to pay it down.
Me: ooo-kay. So what are you doing for a downpayment?
Him: We've been saving up for that.
Me: Good for you! For a house that price, I'm thinking you'll put down 20% or so? So... 200k?"
Him: *looks like I grew another head* N-no, not that much.
*awkward pause*
Him: You meant, how much we saved for closing costs? We'll have that covered.
You guys, I just couldn't... My brain gave a compiling error and just noped out. With their combined take home pay of 9k a month and the rent that's only 1200, I figured they'd be stashing. Even with 2k spending a month on top of their rent, they'd have been able to stash 200k in 3 years.
In hindsight, of course they didn't stash that much. There's 2 brand new cars, an Audi and a BMW. They go on weekend getaways every other weekend: Paris, London, Bruges, or some castle in the French or German countryside (the wine region of course!). That's every other weekend. (We live in the Netherlands btw, that's between the UK and Germany). For their actual holidays, 3 times a year, they do shit like cruises (most recently to Oman and Qatar I think?), or going to Dubai, Bali, Africa.
Of course they've got jack shit saved. And no way can they keep up that lifestyle with a 1 million euro chain around their neck. No way can they pay a mortgage off early or even save anything else for retirement. The only thing I can hope for is that he doesn't hit my parents up for a bailout again. There's still a 35k loan outstanding. Oh, and I can hope he keeps his job...
I feel shitty for posting this online but I can't actually discuss this with anyone who knows him. It's so frustrating but he won't take me seriously at all! I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall! AAARGH