A lot of wealthyish people are borrowing against their portfolios to finance their lifestyles, under the old banker adage of borrow at 3%, invest at 10%... Thi

A lot of wealthyish people are borrowing against their portfolios to finance their lifestyles, under the old banker adage of borrow at 3%, invest at 10%... This kind of lending used to be reserved for pretty wealthy people, and honestly never made much sense in the era of 8-10% interest rates. But now, interest rates are sub-inflationary and there are tons of companies out there willing to give low-interest loans to Joe Consumer. Almost anyone can get a 2% loan against a quarter of your portfolio from online investment firms. At that point, you'd be crazy to liquidate your investments. Even if your investments did nothing, it would take years of interest payments just to exceed the capital gains tax on liquidating it. Then there's the fact that most major purchase (housing, cars) can be readily financed at low interest rates without needing a huge investment portfolio. We might be in a Too Big To Fail moment with interest rates. If they go up too much, a lot of leveraged people who've seen staggering returns might be forced to liquidate their holdings, driving down prices and triggering margin calls on people who are buy-and-hold types, causing a feedback loop.