2 ms·

So what? Everything in life is a gamble and involves risk. You need to learn how to live with it. Dating? Hell, you can't even get to know someone properly in

So what? Everything in life is a gamble and involves risk. You need to learn how to live with it. Dating? Hell, you can't even get to know someone properly in 6+ months. Taking a job? It's all rainbows and unicorns unless you work there for a 6-12 months, etc. You act as if investing is bad. You're never going to make any meaningful amount of money if you don't invest (in the broadest sense, this could be in yourself, in your business, in the stock market, in alternative assets, etc). Debt magnifies the result of your investment. Whether you make a good or bad investment is ultimately up to you. Moderate debt isn't a real issue. The interest is often also tax deductible. It sure as hell makes more sense taking on debt for investing than it does taking on debt to (excessively) spend (as most Americans do).

freeflight 9y ago
>So what? Everything in life is a gamble and involves risk. You need to learn how to live with it. Indeed, it's all about risk-management and in that regard gambling on debt represents a way higher risk, one I would not take, than gambling on savings you actually own. With the latter, you at least have some control over the worst case scenario, while gambling on debt throws any control like that straight out of the window as debt can spiral out of control very quickly that way. > The interest is often also tax deductible. It sure as hell makes more sense taking on debt for investing than it does taking on debt to (excessively) spend (as most Americans do). Sure, it does make more sense but consumer credits are mostly short-term and as such somewhat more manageable for debtors with no real income security. Long-term investment credits, which usually have way better interest rates, are simply out of reach for many of these people because they lack the secure long-term income and/or can't make the required deposit.
- charlesdm 9y ago
  Sure. It also depends on the point in time and the asset. If the market has just crashed down 30%, I would probably be comfortable making an investment using significant debt in certain individual shares if the interest rate is low. At the moment? not so much. Also, say you can acquire a plot of land you want to hold for a long time, and you can acquire it with 10% cash down + pay < 1% annual interest on a secured loan, you'd be an idiot not to take on the debt. Take the remaining cash and invest it somewhere with a higher yield. It depends, is probably the correct answer here. :)

freeflight 9y ago

>So what? Everything in life is a gamble and involves risk. You need to learn how to live with it. Indeed, it's all about risk-management and in that regard gambling on debt represents a way higher risk, one I would not take, than gambling on savings you actually own. With the latter, you at least have some control over the worst case scenario, while gambling on debt throws any control like that straight out of the window as debt can spiral out of control very quickly that way. > The interest is often also tax deductible. It sure as hell makes more sense taking on debt for investing than it does taking on debt to (excessively) spend (as most Americans do). Sure, it does make more sense but consumer credits are mostly short-term and as such somewhat more manageable for debtors with no real income security. Long-term investment credits, which usually have way better interest rates, are simply out of reach for many of these people because they lack the secure long-term income and/or can't make the required deposit.

charlesdm 9y ago
Sure. It also depends on the point in time and the asset. If the market has just crashed down 30%, I would probably be comfortable making an investment using significant debt in certain individual shares if the interest rate is low. At the moment? not so much. Also, say you can acquire a plot of land you want to hold for a long time, and you can acquire it with 10% cash down + pay < 1% annual interest on a secured loan, you'd be an idiot not to take on the debt. Take the remaining cash and invest it somewhere with a higher yield. It depends, is probably the correct answer here. :)