by Eric Peters
Things are bad – and many blame Big Business, such as Big Banks and Big Oil, as they’re styled, for turning the screws on average people. I’ve got no big love for either. The fact is they are interested in money – your money. That’s what they do. Are you shocked? But here’s the thing: If you’re careful with your money and apply common sense, you can avoid being indebted to entities such as Big Banks and even Big Oil. Because for the most part* their exactions are voluntary.
You do not for example, have to buy a $500,000 McMansion on a zero down five-year ARM that requires 40 percent of your take home pay to stay ahead of. No Bankster put a gun to anyone’s head to buy more home than they could comfortably afford. People freely chose to do so, banking (ahem) that the increase in value would counterbalance the high carrying costs. Well, they lost that bet. But whose fault is it?
No law says you must purchase a $40,000 car that broadsides you every month with a $600 payment. You can choose to drive a more affordable vehicle, perhaps one bought outright, with cash.
But, there’s a catch: Even if you live within your means, modestly, in a home you can afford – and drive a car you can afford – government’s exactions are inescapable.
And increasingly, unaffordable.
Personal anecdote: My wife and I moved from high-cost Northern Virginia not far from DC backin 2004 to rural SW Virginia in part to lower our cost of living in anticipation of the now-current economic problems besetting the country. We sold our place and bought a new, less expensive place, which enabled us to really buy the new place – outright – so that we have no mortgage.
No comments:
Post a Comment