I would say owning your home free and clear is a prerequisite to retire. Rent or payments on debt are often our biggest expenses. Retirement is possible only when passive income is enough to cover expenses.
I would say a prerequisite for safe retirement is to have enough to buy a home outright in cash, otherwise mortgages will weigh you down like a stone:6% interest on a 1 million gbp loan in the UK is unpayable for majority of people even in London and yet you wont find anything worth buying there below that price.
Also we should stop saying a house has equity: it doesn't. You are a paying off a loan for a commodity. A house is like a car or groceries: necessary, yes, but not an investment, unless its luxury. This is how we exploded house prices.
phkahler|3 years ago
davidgay|3 years ago
People in countries like Switzerland with a high percentage of renters (58%) somehow manage to retire...
americafun|3 years ago
I would say a prerequisite for safe retirement is to have enough to buy a home outright in cash, otherwise mortgages will weigh you down like a stone:6% interest on a 1 million gbp loan in the UK is unpayable for majority of people even in London and yet you wont find anything worth buying there below that price.
Also we should stop saying a house has equity: it doesn't. You are a paying off a loan for a commodity. A house is like a car or groceries: necessary, yes, but not an investment, unless its luxury. This is how we exploded house prices.
HyperSane|3 years ago
bagacrap|3 years ago
Simon_O_Rourke|3 years ago