Buying a house can save you money

In honor of America Saves week and the 0.4 percent interest rate banks are offering on savings accounts, here is a better way to save money, according to Reuters.

This way to save works because it takes the savings out of consumers' hands before they get a chance to spend it, according to Reuters. The theory behind this automatic saving is that people won't miss what they don't see, and savings will accumulate even while people attempt self-sabotage.

A good way to save money is to buy a house. That might not seem like sound advice when a lot of advisers have come to embrace renting, according to Reuters. If you buy a home on a 30-year fixed mortgage and make the payments each month, at the end of the 30 years you'll own a house you can sell. Renting for 30 years only gets you another contract.

Today, the median price for a home is $231,300, according to the National Association of Realtors. Borrowing $212,000 with an average interest rate of 4.18 percent, the monthly payment will be $1,034. In 10 years, $168,142 will remain, in 20, $101,361, and in 30 years the house is paid for.

During this time, the monthly payment will remain the same. Rent, however, will most likely go up, according to Reuters. Critics will use the housing meltdown as evidence that it's a bad investment. But the meltdown was followed by a ramp up. On average, people who bought houses prior to 2004 broke even or above, according to the Case Shiller Index. The possibility of another meltdown isn't zero, but it's not very likely either.

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