At least the economy has given her options. What BP is describing is seen 1st hand here over and over. I hate it. Good people who have done good things, made good choices and now suffering mightily from the effects of Bidenomics. Inflationary pressures initiated by government spending have horrific consequences.

There are a whole lot of wealthy people that say don't use your own money when you can use someone else's.

A friend of mine has a tractor loan at 1 or 2% interest. He's got the money to write a check for the tractor. Instead, that money is in a CD earning 5%. Now, it doesn't make much sense for him to wrote a check for that tractor. He's not living beyond his means, he understands simple math.

A mortgage is not a foolish loan. Mine started as a construction loan, that turned into a mortgage. The house I BUILT is probably worth triple what I borrowed to build it. And the county is slowly catching onto that.

No one said anything about foolishness. Mortgages are just an evil necessity as people attempt to improve themselves.

Insurance companies try to extract a 2% profit over their overhead and claims paid out. It seldom happens. Going through a period of extreme weather, inflationary pressures and customer "pressures" does not make insurance companies evil. It is often quite the necessity in this day's world. It is a grease which helps to smooth the effects of friction within a transaction based economy.

That is the case for my family currently. We pay about $100 more per month on home insurance and property taxes than what my mortgage payment is. That was not the case when we bought our current home in 2020, but at least my interest rate is 3.1%. Insurance has been my biggest price increase and has risen 3 fold in my area in 4.5 years.

I'll take debt-free over owing someone money all day, every day. The borrower is slave to the lender......

Rate hikes have been particularly harsh up in North TX. I bet you guys up there get to pay double or more than usins down here in south central TX.

450,000 house and our T&I is just shy of 20K per year. We're currently paying about $300 more a month for T&I than our mortgage and that difference keeps going up every year. It used to be about equal, but my HO insurance has gone from roughly 7700 to 12700 in the past 5 years. Property taxes have remained fairly consistent, but the insurance has gone through the roof. Add in the fun that our HO insurance company changes every couple of years because the current company either goes bankrupt, or leaves the state and stops writing policies.

Don't expect mortgage interest rates to go down anytime soon. I read an article this week that indicated interest rates will stay around 6.5% for 2025.

The expert guests on Fox Business have been saying the same for a couple of months now.

It depends IMO - there are times when having a loan can save/make you a lot of money. Case in point:

I could pay our house mortgage off tomorrow morning. However, back a few years ago when rates were super low I was able to lock in a 2.6% rate for 30 years. Meanwhile I am earning 5-6% on my fixed rate investments - PLUS I get to write off my loan interest on my tax return - tell me how that is a bad deal???

I've heard the old "Don't use your own money when you can use someone else's" uttered like a mantra...always by some grifter, looking for somebody else, anybody else to keep him from having to carry his own weight. 'Was related to one.

I've seen more than one house of cards set up by some fool. When the plane is on a payment plan...

Sometimes it’s not about the money. Peace of mind knowing it’s really mine is priceless to me.

Taxes, (now insurance) and death! Only facts of life.

We live in a time where you can get sued for almost anything. If nothing is changed then I think this is a correct scenario: If you have a 250k mortgage and 250k in the bank they can get the bank account. If that 250k is in the homestead they cannot.

I've heard that argument my entire adult life, and to each his own. All I know is if/when things got to absolute crap, being debt free is a great place to be.

Let's say your mortgage costs you $15k per year, and the interest part is $6k (wild guess). I'd rather pocket the $15k per year and invest it elsewhere than gain a net $2k tax break.

Agreed.

Being debt free gives a person a sense of freedom

Bingo - The time State Farm took 86 days to settle my moms only claim in 43 years (She was carjacked and perp drove into a brick house in police chase) I said no more. IMHO State Farm acted just as shameful as the &&&& that stuck the gun to her head!

And that sense of freedom is invaluable!

Guys - to be honest you are NEVER debt free - you owe money (which is debt) for your utility bills, your property taxes, your medical bills, your medical insurance, your home and car insurance and on and on - even if you do not own a house but rent you are obligated to pay (debt) to pay rent, utilities, etc. - do not fool yourselves into thinking that you are totally debt free -

Yeah, but that wasn't the context of the OP either. Debt free means no recurring/revolving debts, no lienholders, etc not normal living expenses. Anybody with half a clue knows that.

Spot on!

There is no escape!. The taxing authorities have a perpetual lien on your home and it is a first priority lien. It comes before every other lien and is there forever.

People gritch about 1st world problems all too often.

You can thaink you are debt free, but you never will be until the day you die. Doesn’t matter if you owe a bank, a mortgage company, Or anything else. You will for the rest of your life owe someone - if you’re renting or owning a home or you are in a nursing home You will owe money to someone for the rest of your life, unless you were smart and saved enough to cover all of those things out-of-pocket. Period

You finally got something right. That's why it's mandatory to live on much less than you earn your entire working life.