Do you live with debt?

[Gandalf]

A mortgage is something I can kind of understand. People do need a home to live in and rents can be expensive and you get nothing for it. But the interest over 20 odd years is a killer and you are pretty much tied to it. A mortgage is a seriously hardcore investment, you need to make sure that job is permanent and you can stay on top of things. I'm not sure I would ever want to take on that kind of debt. Extremely risky in this day and age.

[erics44]

A mortgage is something I can kind of understand. People do need a home to live in and rents can be expensive and you get nothing for it. But the interest over 20 odd years is a killer and you are pretty much tied to it. A mortgage is a seriously hardcore investment, you need to make sure that job is permanent and you can stay on top of things. I'm not sure I would ever want to take on that kind of debt. Extremely risky in this day and age.

you will always need somewhere to live tho, even if you rent you cant just decide you cant afford it anymore and stop

[Gandalf]

A mortgage is something I can kind of understand. People do need a home to live in and rents can be expensive and you get nothing for it. But the interest over 20 odd years is a killer and you are pretty much tied to it. A mortgage is a seriously hardcore investment, you need to make sure that job is permanent and you can stay on top of things. I'm not sure I would ever want to take on that kind of debt. Extremely risky in this day and age.

you will always need somewhere to live tho, even if you rent you cant just decide you cant afford it anymore and stop

True, and I think that is a valid point. Mortgage debt is sometimes a necessary thing and I can see that. It is still fairly risky though and there is no guarantee that one is going to be employed all that time. At least with rent you can find something cheaper when things go wrong. There is never any excuse for never having banked some coin though and when things are tough you always need at least a little shrapnel to tide you over. A mortgage should be viewed as a life and death struggle and in many cases it probably is at some point.

[AdamGB]

I have about £600 of a debt which is going down each month.

I have a few hundred on a credit card and I'm usually a few hundred overdrawn.

My out goings are pretty much the same as my income so I spend what I earn. Most of the debt came from when I was in between jobs and it's not going down quicker because I've been investing a lot into my business recently.

[BIG H]

When I was 23 years old I had £23,000 of debt in loans and credit cards, now I have virtually nothing and don't even use a credit card (the evil of the world!)

[Andre]

No I own it all.

[Gandalf]

Interesting reading.

I was just curious really. I read my media everyday and see things around me and just wonder what the deal is for real folks on here.

Andre sounds like he's done very well for himself and so he he should being one of the more mature adventurers on here. Also good to hear that Big H is taking control and that Adam is becoming entrepreneurial too.

In my early 20's I was a bit like Big H and owed a fair bit and had nothing, but with a lot of hard work over the years and a serious mental overhaul I have eradicated the entire concept of debt and it just frustrates me when I read articles talking about the issue.

I drive a second hand car because I am not shallow enough to think that a new one really matters beyond getting to a destination, but it seems too many are stuck in the vain pursuit of empty consumerist goals at the expense of any guarantee of a decent old age. Governments are supporting very little when we are old and it's good to wise up to that sooner rather than later. And governments play the same game at the expense of younger generations when it comes to their own borrowing. It's quite sickening really.

A life without debt is the first aim for anyone and to then to try and at least guarantee some kind of future without government interference. Only then is anyone somewhat free. Government insurances are ponzi schemes that could collapse at any time. As are currencies too. They are worthless according to the whims of any government.

I started a thread an age back wondering if gold was the way to go for investment. The price has rocketed! I never invested and that frustrates me a fair bit, because I would have done well. Currencies are more kamikaze than ever. I am deviating from the thread somewhat, but just contemplating my own missed opportunities, which are on the whole, careful, but perhaps too careful.

[Gandalf]

Also with these expensive tuition fees and banks lining up to fleece the new teenage consumers that debt is almost being ingrained into society. Debt is being seen as a natural state of affairs, unless you are the super rich and it shouldn't be that way. If schools can offer sex education classes, then they should also provide money management classes and counter the predatory financial institutions, but of course the state wouldn't really want to encourage that.