Do you live with debt?

[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.

[Scrap]

Im the same as Andre, plus Im Happy with what I have.

[VictorCharlie]

I have a home mortage of 130K and I think we have about 10k left on my wife's student loans. We have financed a couple vehicles but we have always put more than 50% down and paid them off quickly. We almost never have a balance on the credit cards. Really the only time we use them at all are for emergencies. So outside of my home and for the next year or so the rib's student's loans, we avoid debt like the plague.

[Gandalf]

I have a home mortage of 130K and I think we have about 10k left on my wife's student loans. We have financed a couple vehicles but we have always put more than 50% down and paid them off quickly. We almost never have a balance on the credit cards. Really the only time we use them at all are for emergencies. So outside of my home and for the next year or so the rib's student's loans, we avoid debt like the plague.

Sensible behaviour. I do use credit cards, but only to order certain bulk products online and I pay it off immediately. I refuse to pay interest on that junk.

Credit is too easy and IMO people are too stupid and uneducated and I include smart, educated people in that list too. I watch TV and see loan commercials everywhere. However, I also read Russian literature of the 1800's and the money lenders are there too. Seemingly omnipresent and impossible to truly ever wipe clean.

[AdamGB]

I'm paying for a modest car on finance... it would take me too long to save for it I need it for business reasons. I would never take out any other form of loan though. That's one of the reasons my PT/Boot Camp Business has been a slow burner. Everything... and I mean everything, every bit of kit is something that I have either saved and paid for, or built.

I'd guess that about 3 quarters of what I have earned has gone back in to it and then I work paid hours on top of it to keep ticking over. I'm just about at the point now where it's all starting to turn in to income.

[Mark TKO]

never had a credit card as only spend what i have

have a mortgage

but as i say to a guy at work who goes on and on about the perils of mortgages and how stupid people are with them......whereas mine will be clear by time I am 60 he will be paying rent till he dies.


Ok I may drop dead at 60 its not guaranteed to anyone but he is paying same on rent as I am mortgage and at end will have had effectively a 60 year mortgage if he lives to 80.

Giving up work for him will be hard. Will be easier for me - add to the fact that I am an idle bastard too