It’s all about your perspective and what you can handle. Housing is a great example. Do you pay for rent for 30 years while you save up to buy a house outright with no mortgage (but having paid rent that entire time on top of paying for the house) afterwards, or do you get the house now and pay the bank a percentage while you also get to live in the house.
The math seems bad when you look at one item, like paying interest seems like a lot. Until you realize the alternatives worse, like paying rent for 30 years and at the end you have nothing. At the end of the mortgage, you have a home.
It’s the same no matter what you decide to take financing on. Personally I agree, I only do it for house and car (although we were very clear about what terms we wanted for the car), and beyond that not much. I have a credit card I pay off every month to keep my credit score high. Beyond that, I never take financing from places.
It’s all about your perspective and what you can handle. Housing is a great example. Do you pay for rent for 30 years while you save up to buy a house outright with no mortgage (but having paid rent that entire time on top of paying for the house) afterwards, or do you get the house now and pay the bank a percentage while you also get to live in the house.
The math seems bad when you look at one item, like paying interest seems like a lot. Until you realize the alternatives worse, like paying rent for 30 years and at the end you have nothing. At the end of the mortgage, you have a home.
It’s the same no matter what you decide to take financing on. Personally I agree, I only do it for house and car (although we were very clear about what terms we wanted for the car), and beyond that not much. I have a credit card I pay off every month to keep my credit score high. Beyond that, I never take financing from places.