Mortgage Debt

The word "Mortgage" is derived from an old French word Mort meaning 'death' and gage meaning 'pledge or agreement'. So literally, death pledge or agreement until death.
source: WikiAnswers

Now I am sure most of you have heard this before, but it makes you think doesn't it? Beholding to the banks for most of your life to put a roof over your head. And to add insult to injury we are at the mercy of interest rate fluctuations of which we have no control.

We have a mortgage and in Australia you are considered lucky to have one, due to the ridiculous price of real estate in this country and the difficulty getting a foot on the property ladder. We jumped in head first and while we can afford the repayments, I often wonder if it's the wisest choice.

Plenty of financial commentators have advocated renting instead of buying property and investing the savings made as a viable financial choice. The idea is save and/or invest the difference between a mortgage payment and the rent payment. Nothing new there...

But according to a recent news report Australians are the worst savers in the world. IN THE WORLD! So unless you are diligent you can end up in retirement with nothing, and possibly be in debt. This to me is a scary thought.

The report does go on to say interest rates are up for debts but not for savings accounts in this country at the moment, but that is a topic for a future post.

Most Aussies tend to view the dreaded mortgage as a form of forced savings, a necessary evil. When we retire we (hopefully) have the mortgage paid and (again hopefully) have a huge amount of equity in the property so you can downsize and use that money to enjoy the twilight years... that's my hope anyway.

As I mentioned, we have a mortgage and paying through the nose at the moment with Australian interest rates on the rise, but plodding along regardless. I will be writing about our plan to dispatch the mortgage shortly.

So what about you? Do you think a mortgage is a good thing? Do you have one? What's the consensus where you live?

I'd love to hear your comments on this post