How much do you put on debt each month?

[Seeker]

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".