What advice would you have wished you got at the start of your career?

[Puget]

Financial: (follow- up)  Do You REALLY need to buy a house pre-tenure?
Renting is NOT a Sin!  Selling a house is Expensive!  Not all houses increase in value!  Until you are tenured, your university can fire you with 1 year's notice (maybe less!).  Renting provides Mobility!!

Counterpoint: If I'd followed this advice I would now be completely priced out of buying here (yes, the housing prices have gone up that much in the last 3 years, never mind interest rates). I would also being paying a lot more in rent, as rental prices have also risen steeply.  Instead, I'm sitting pretty with a house I love at an affordable fixed rate.

The second sentence also isn't true everywhere (here, we get a 3 year contract, then a 4 year contract after 3rd year review-- not 1 year contracts pre-tenure. I don't think that is unusual).

So my advice is that while you should't rush into buying, do your own research and make a call that is right for you, your circumstances and your housing market.

[clean]

yes, the housing prices have gone up that much in the last 3 years, never mind interest rates)

It has been an interesting 3 years! 

[Ruralguy]

Heck, in the early 2000's market, I bought and sold, so did my wife, we both made profits, and put them towards our new house, and then refinanced in 2012 or so.  So, markets aren't always bad. But they aren't always good either, so, sure, buy carefully and be happy to rent before you have a decent down, good rates, and decent supply.

[dismalist]

Counterpoint: If I'd followed this advice I would now be completely priced out of buying here (yes, the housing prices have gone up that much in the last 3 years, never mind interest rates). I would also being paying a lot more in rent, as rental prices have also risen steeply.  Instead, I'm sitting pretty with a house I love at an affordable fixed rate.

You got lucky! House prices and rents hang together, obviously. Clean's original advice -- don't be afraid to rent -- is the correct advice. All this fluctuation in house price or rent is there, but you are taking less risk committing to use rights for a year than for taking on the lifetime risk of housing prices fluctuating coming with owning  that asset.

Somehow the propaganda that an appreciation of your house price is good for you is ingrained. [Probably from biological evolution.] It is good for you, if you can afford the higher imputed rent! So you wish to pay more and more for the same space. Or do you wish to own an asset that returns less and less as the price rises? If not, sell out and buy a smaller house.

When you buy a house you pay rent to yourself and gamble at the same time. With renting from others there's a substantially smaller gamble. Instead of paying off the house, you could invest in the S&P 500. That's much less gambling. :-)

[lightning]

Obviously, you can't do it in an anonymous forum, but when you ask for and receive rent vs. buy advice on a home, this is one instance where you consider who is giving the advice. People that made out like bandits owning a home will tell you to buy a home. People who lost their shirts buying a home, will tell you to rent.

I will tell you to buy, without hesitation, for most situations.

Renting is great for one thing for sure-- if you lose your shirt by renting your home, it doesn't feel nearly as bad as losing your shirt by owning your home. And, that's because the money loss is incremental and not as noticeable in everyday life. Losing money on home ownership is obvious to yourself and others in everyday life. So, it's humiliating and really makes you feel like total crap about yourself.

[Sun_Worshiper]

The point about renting in this context is that it leaves you more mobile if you don't get tenure or decide to make a move pre-tenure. And since a tenure track professor should always be ready to move, there is a certain logic to renting for the first several years.

For my part, I did buy a home while on the TT and it turned out well, both because home prices went through the roof during covid and because I got tenure. But I did not buy until I was fairly sure that I was above the tenure-bar at my institution.

[apl68]

Find the hidden best bathroom. Every campus has one. Guard that secret with your life.

Either I never found it in all the years I was associated with that campus as a grad student and later staff member, or else the best there wasn't really that great.  Mind you, some were better than others....

[lightning]

The point about renting in this context is that it leaves you more mobile if you don't get tenure or decide to make a move pre-tenure. And since a tenure track professor should always be ready to move, there is a certain logic to renting for the first several years.

For my part, I did buy a home while on the TT and it turned out well, both because home prices went through the roof during covid and because I got tenure. But I did not buy until I was fairly sure that I was above the tenure-bar at my institution.

I had a TT for two years before I moved on to another TT position. In the weeks before I started the old job, I bought a home, knowing that I was going to springboard to a better job sooner rather than later. After two years, even after realtor commissions, property taxes, insurance costs, and repairs/maintenance, I lost no money. Had I rented for those two years, I would have been out $2x,xxx dollars.

Before that, I had a home for a similar amount of time, but in that hot real estate market, I made out like a bandit. The funny thing about that other home where I made out like a bandit, I was renting it out for part of the time, so someone else was paying my mortgage (!!), while the value of my home increased, until I sold it when the values were peaking.

I'm currently in a home that I paid off quite a while ago (paid off relatively quickly because of earnings from my previous real estate "gambles"). It's game-changing for your finances when a house is paid off. It feels almost like the game-changing tenure, in terms of pure finances. In terms of how it makes you feel, it's like winning at the poker or blackjack table in Vegas, but unlike Vegas, the house and cards are not rigged against you.

Now, if your horizon is one year out for sure (like if you have a one-year contract, or you hate your new job/location and you want out at any costs), then yeah, rent. Duh. But, if you think there is a good chance you will be there for at least two years, buy.

[ursula]

I think that I have done pretty well. 
I hope to retire 'soon', and well before normal retirement age (for a lot of reasons).
We just interviewed 2 fresh, young faces for a career at our campus, and I was asked many, many questions - some I expected that a PhD in my field of Finance would already know! 

So thinking back to when You were a fresh, newly minted graduate (or even as far back as just starting your graduate studies), What advice would you give yourself (or what do you wish you were advised)?

Please put the general advice type (Personal, Financial, Research, Career - or whatever you think is most appropriate) on the first line.

Frankly, I would have been happy to get any advice at all!

[Ruralguy]

I think it would be bad to buy a house right off the bat for any number of reasons, but after a couple of years, if you don't think you'd leave, your chances for tenure are good, the market is in your favor, and you'd rather be in your own house, and you can afford it, then go for it.  Really the most important factors are market conditions and your own ability to purchase.  Yeah, it would be dumb to buy a house in your first year on the TT at Harvard, but heck, I bet a lot of folks who got dumped by Ivies (or anyone really) made money on houses!

[mythbuster]

Be really nice to the department office staff. They are the glue that holds the place together, and they have way more power than you think.

Clean- how the heck did the DEAN know what your living situation was? I didn't even have a substantive conversation with my dean for at least the first 3 years!

[MarathonRunner]

Financial: (follow- up)  Do You REALLY need to buy a house pre-tenure?
Renting is NOT a Sin!  Selling a house is Expensive!  Not all houses increase in value!  Until you are tenured, your university can fire you with 1 year's notice (maybe less!).  Renting provides Mobility!!

All markets are different.  All situations are different.  What is not different is that until you have tenure, you may find that you need to move with little notice.   Unless you have no alternatives to renting (and there are few reasons to really own pre-tenure),

Definitely depends on the market, the situation, etc. We are currently renting. Last place we owned, we couldn't find a suitable rental. Sold at a small profit. Previous place, buying was cheaper than renting, by a lot, even taking into account the things you have to pay for as a homeowner. Sold well above purchase price. Had previously always rented. Spouse's extra pay in Afghanistan paid for a down payment on the first house. Will always prefer to buy, when circumstances permit, as no one else, besides spouse, can tell me what to do with the place where I live. Will likely rent the next two years during postdoc - makes no sense to buy when I don't know where we will end up. After that, hopefully homeowners again, whether I find a job in academia or elsewhere. Have much preferred owning over renting. I'm in Canada, though.

[Larimar]

1) Learn how to teach while in grad school - take an education course or two or become a TA, or both. Becoming a self-taught teacher takes too long and by the time you're comfortable in front of a classroom, your degree will be far too stale for the job market.
1a) A graduate degree goes stale about as fast as artisan bread.
1b) Your grad school is done with you the moment you complete your walk across the graduation stage.

2) Form as specific a plan as possible for what you want to do once you finish grad school and how to accomplish it. Maybe more than one plan in case things go south. Keep in mind 1a and 1b.

3) An artist can't afford to be shy. Join groups, give readings, attend other people's readings, attend workshops. Be as social as your introvert self can stand. Keep active.

[clean]

Clean- how the heck did the DEAN know what your living situation was? I didn't even have a substantive conversation with my dean for at least the first 3 years!

It was a small college in a small university.  Student body was never much above 4000 students. 
Dean wasnt always dean either, but promoted from within. 

[lightning]

Be really nice to the department office staff. They are the glue that holds the place together, and they have way more power than you think.

Clean- how the heck did the DEAN know what your living situation was? I didn't even have a substantive conversation with my dean for at least the first 3 years!

The DEAN at my place called me into the office, when I was a mere 1-month into the job. They asked where I was living. Then they asked if I was renting or buying--invasive questioning, but not illegal to ask.

At this same job, I was really nice to the office staff when I was interviewing. They remember . . . oh, they remember.