by Neil Jenman
As we get hooked on debt, maybe it’s time to remember something else.

The average home loan in Australia is nowabout $300,000. Three years ago it was around $180,000. But it doesn’t matter, the interest rates are low. Go ahead. Jump in. Really?

Buying a new home, especially your first home creates a wonderful feeling. It’s exhilarating, almost intoxicating when you first move in. But in the drunken desire to buy it is easy to forget the debt hangover that follows. Within a few months, the glamour of the purchase is replaced by the grind of the payments.

The headline in Melbourne’s Herald Sun yesterday screamed LOAN SLAVES. But why? What’s making us into a nation of debt slaves?

Hard Questions
In our politically correct society, it’s harder to ask the questions we used to ask, questions which keep us financially safe – questions such as what will happen to young couples who buy homes based on two incomes and then, when they have children, they lose one income? How will they make the payments? Okay, so they delay starting a family. For how long? The standard answers to such questions are often vague, such as “someday” or “when we can afford it”. Oh yes, and when will that be?

How many couples these days have the discipline – let alone the desire – to make sure they get their financial life in order so that their personal lives are happy? ….more

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