Re: AKICIF: "X-Kaspersky:" header

Keith F. Lynch <kfl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Karl Johanson <karljohanson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> <rkshullat@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>> If you suddenly wanted to borrow a lender might be curious as to
>>>> why someone your age had no credit history ...
> 
>>> Is that unusual?  I had the impression that most Americans -- or
>>> at least the ones who go to cons -- are wealthier than me.  So
>>> presumably they'd be even less likely to ever borrow money.
> 
>> Borrowing can be a tool of wealth creation.  We bought the house I'm
>> writing from in 1988, mostly on borrowed money.
> 
> Good point.  It's less money to save money at interest until you can
> afford a house than to borrow money at interest to buy one sooner --
> but the amount you save in rent may more than compensate for that.
> You have to live somewhere while earning the money to pay for a house,
> and it might as well be that house.
> 
> I'd have liked to do that myself, except that houses were initially a
> little out of my reach and are now way out of my reach.  Especially if
> I were to go by the old rule of spending no more than a third of my
> income on housing.
> 
>> We could have saved the money, and bought when we had enough, but
>> note that it's appraisal is now more than 4 times what it was in 1988.
> 
> David Friedman keeps insisting that houses are just as affordable as
> ever, if not more so.  That disagrees with your and my impression that
> housing costs have increased much faster than inflation.

To misuse the old realtors' saying: location, location, location. You
live in an area which has had some of the fastest home appreciation in
the nation, while I live in an area which has had some of the lowest
(and this despite having 5% population growth per year). Homes have
gotten more affordable in this area rather than less. Unfortunately,
just like everywhere else, large numbers of people bought houses they
couldn't afford and are now paying the price.

> However, excluding the buying of houses, or perhaps a loan to afford
> college, I can't see any point in ever borrowing money, except in
> desperation.
> 
> (I'm speaking of an individual borrower, not a business.)

Credit cards count as borrowing, even if only for a short while. My
current credit card has no fee or interest unless I carry a balance from
month to month. It also returns 2% of my purchases as cash.
Car companies will frequently reduce or eliminate interest on loans used
to purchase their vehicles (Ford was recently offering 5 years with no
interest). This can be a much better way to go depending on the rebate
they ask you to give up.
I'm not a stock geek, but large numbers of people seem to feel that
buying on margin can sometimes be a good thing. There are other
investments that require cash up front but have the potential for higher
return than the cost of borrowing money to fund them.
Major home remodelling is frequently done with a loan for the same
reason as the initial purchase. It takes a large chunk of money and the
owner would rather see the results now than wait 10 years.

	Robert
-- 
Robert K. Shull                           Email: rkshull at rosettacon dot
com