Your Home as an Investment? Let’s Re-think this.

Mr. ToughMoneyLove engages in many debates over “good” and “bad” debt and the logic of having substantial equity in your home or even paying off your mortgage.  Regarding the latter, some folks insist that their home is an investment and resist building equity through their own efforts (such as making a substantial down-payment.)  Instead, they want to rely on market appreciation to build that equity.  In other words, these homeowners assign their homes to the “capital appreciation” class of investments in their portfolio.  I think it is time to re-think that entire concept. Read more

The Fallacy of Using a HELOC as an Emergency Fund

Is a home equity line of credit (HELOC) suitable as an emergency fund as many suggest?  Some of today’s news confirms my belief that it clearly is not suitable.  Let’s discuss, shall we ….. Read more