One of your comments from Robert was that his “only debt is a 2nd mortgage”. He must mean, “besides my 1st mortgage, my only debt is…” Without a 1st, there is no 2nd.

Being completely debt free is about living within your means, including your home.

But don’t use your credit card to buy metals!

Buy Euros.

and you are right, i had to take out a mortgage, unlike my parents who were able to pay straight cash for theirs.

i was talking strictly govt borrowingwith my rant, which is what led us to our tispy-topsy economy, in turn, led us to our horrible personal money matters as is.

i think robert’s last paragraph sums up what my views are on personal debt.

i’ll give everyone a prime example:

i got engaged, and was looking to get a ring, as is the custom. most places wanted to shove their store card down my throat. i had one place, honestly, refuse to sell me a ring because i didn’t want to use their card. they said it was only x.yz%…i said, or i can go to the atm, and just get the money and pay straight cash, the lady said, now why would you want to do that, and i replied, now why would i want to pay you more for the privledge of paying more for something when i can easily afford it now. trust me, i didn’t dress like i robbed someone for the money. (for a change)

we can talk about how our govt is selling away our country one meter at a time the next time ya come back up north over some burgers…or steaks…

(p.s. to all of you out there…invest in precious metals…it will help you 9 years from now)

The second best debt is a 2nd mortgage because it is low interest since it is secured. Paying a 2nd mortgage of $25,000 at 5% over 5 years is better than a car payment of the same terms since you can deduct the interest paid.

Of course, a better option is to save up the money for the car and buy it outright.

My only debt is my 2nd mortgage and I want to pay it off in a year, or I can save the money and in a year have my options. If I need a car I may be better off securing it with my 2nd.

The again I don’t want my house taken if I hit tough times. Take my car instead. It is all a matter of priorities. if I pay off my 2nd and get a car loan for a new car, so be it.

The big point I think is awareness of debt. This country is hurting because we treat a credit card like cash and it is not. In fact today I got checks from my credit card companies “to use to pay bills.” Only 1.99% if I use these checks by July! Well if I pay cash I pay 0%. And then I’d go into debt, so using a check to pay a bill is robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is as if we are looking for the magic formula on how to have our toys, our money, and no debt all at once.

I understand where you’re coming from with the rant, but I think you missed the main point of the article. It’s about leveraging debt to create wealth. It’s not for everyone, but you don’t have to be a major risk-taker to do it. I used 0% card offers to pay off our Malibu 4 years early. That’s avoiding paying more, but you can say I freed up money I wouldn’t otherwise have had because it would have went to paying interest.

our govt is in debt because we borrow money from foreign countries for stupid reasons, such as: giving billions a year in aid to israel, giving people stimulus checks so they can spend more foolishly, bailing out people who spent too much money on houses, etc. our money is fiat money, which means it is supported by nothing. this was done in 71 with the repeal of the bretton-woods act and our country has been in a downward spiral ever since, hence our economy is in horrible shape, so horrible that the canadian money trumps ours…yes, this is not a good thing at all. we have no gold backing our money, and our money is barely even worth the fiber it is printed on.

when you have to borrow money just to try to make more money, you may as well just call a loan shark…at least they will just break a leg instead of taking away worldly possessions.

Sadly, most consumers misuse debt by buying things they can’t afford.