How much do you put on debt each month?

[maat55]

Mortgage only, we elect to put more towards retirement than early mortgage payoff.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Hector

I might be on minority side, but I dont understand why majority of us think that buying a house is must? I read a lot of posts by you and I agree with you when you say a person should buy house for living and not for investment, but both of us know what majority of us are doing? I bet 'lets create equity in our own house rather than wasting money in rent' is the biggest factor motivating people in buying house(borrowing a large sum in the name of mortgage).

I guess I don't really understand how buying a house is not a must?

If a person is not stable in their career or does not desire "permanance" or "stability" and would rather lead a mobile life, then there's no reason to buy a house.

If a person is looking at rental costs of 1k/month and a mortage situation inclusive of taxes/insurance etc. not quite as costly, why would they not consider buying long term.

I understand what you are saying Hector, but depending on a whole bunch of environmental factors that are rather individualistic traits and a combination of choices we make about career, location/enjoyment, and ultimately family (apart from the growing up kind, when we go off and make our own lives), these determine whether or not to buy.

"Wasting money in rent" is a common view, but it is also a valid one. At the end of home ownership, you have an asset that can be sold. At the end of rental, what major asset do you have that can possibly help your heirs?

There are expenses with ownership, but there are also rewards.

The question each individual should be asking themself is "can I really afford this?", "am I really going to be here long enough to make any price payment justifiable?" -- and that answer varies according to location, career, desires, needs, etc.

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DH and I have 0 debts at this point in time. Our mortgage is 100% paid off, we own our autos; so all we pay are the bills/expenses we incurr, and we pay those off "in full" each and every month.

[ea1776]

Total debt payments = $3800.00 / month (well above minimum payments of $480.00). Goal = Debt Free By End of 2011. All student loan debt. Can't wait for that day. I struggled between letting the debt sit there at an average interest rate of 5% and instead max retirement / savings. But we decided to go ahead and spend a year aggressively zapping the debt. I think a 5% "after-tax return on investment" is pretty good, not to mention how good it will feel to have 0 debt.

[buildmybudget]

Only debt other than mortgage is my undergraduate student loan. But at 2.8% I will only be paying the minimum on this once I'm finished with Masters and off deferral. Since the interest is a tax deduction and I can earn more in the market, I will have this debt for quite a while!

[nick__45]

My definition of debt is spending money you don't have and can't pay off on time. So I have only the mortgage and that is a unavoidable debt.

[ea1776]

Originally Posted by nick__45

My definition of debt is spending money you don't have and can't pay off on time. So I have only the mortgage and that is a unavoidable debt.

Mortgage is avoidable and is debt. Some people can't pay their mortgages on time. Some people are underwater on mortgages. Some people can't understand that a mortgage is not an investment.

[My English Castle]

We have a smallish mortgage left, and we try to pay an extra couple hundred on it each month. I'd love to pay it off, but retirement savings first.

[scfr]

$0
no debt

[greenskeeper]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMama

$0.

We pay the mortgage as scheduled. Will pay it down extra when our retirement is maxed out.

No other debts - never have been.

same here. We are 30 and 31 years old.

Pay double principal payments so our 30yr mortgage should be paid off in 15 years.

[bjl584]

Retirement and investing first. Debt payments second. I currently save around 28% of my income. The rest goes to debt and to maintaining my lifestyle.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by ea1776

Mortgage is avoidable and is debt. Some people can't pay their mortgages on time. Some people are underwater on mortgages. Some people can't understand that a mortgage is not an investment.

Hmmmmm. All of the aboive greatly depends on your definitions.

Trade | Define Trade at Dictionary.com
Debt | Define Debt at Dictionary.com
Investment | Define Investment at Dictionary.com

IMO absolutely everything we do is "trade."

The tool most of us use to accomplish trade is "debt."

And every trade has the potential for "net gain" or "net loss"; it's that net gain or loss that is what we term "investment."

Bound with "investment" is yet another word, called "time."

A house is a debt, a promise to pay. Can we gain from this trade? Yes. Can we lose from this trade? Yes. Therefore there's a potential of ROI. There's a risk. It's an investment because of that future time where we stand to recoup much, if not all, of what we put into purchasing versus what we would have put into renting.

A rental is a debt, a promise to pay. The gains from renting are not permanent; when we are done with the rental the only person who has gained is the landowner. As the renter we have nothing to show for it at the end; we only use it and move on. Renting is not an investment in the future time sense of the term "investment."

An auto loan is a debt, a promise to pay. An auto does not have increasing value potential over time; in fact, they do nothing but lose value over time. Most of use lose "investment" with that need to transport ourselves. Again, autos are not an investment, we only use them and move on (very much like renting).

A job is a debt, a promise to give your personal time to help gain dollars, so that you can gain dollars too. It's an "investment" of your time and energies for your present and your future. You can lose on this investment as well... by not doing something better with your limited time which you bind into this investment. You can lose by external forces of economy as well. You can gain, and you can lose; but a ROI can be found.

We all trade. We all make choices. Much of what we decide is based on how we think of the future. Much of what we do is based on our desire to achieve and better our world and the world of those we care about.

What you each see as having dollar investment potential depends greatly on the amount of time you are willing to take to make it so (look at affordability before taking on any debt, trust your comfort level with what is being suggested to you, don't commit to anything you do not fully understand, save money for your future, research, learn, grow). All debts (loans) may be avoidable, that does not mean that they have no "investment" potential.

Yes, there are external forces at play here too; and no person has complete knowledge or control of what role the environment (economy) will do to each particular "investment".