What's Wrong With Renting Forever?
The topic of conversation at a suburban party I was attending was that someone's mother was still -- (gasp!) at her age -- renting. This woman, a resident of New York City, was in a financial bind by being on a fixed income and still paying rent. Presumably, she could have been done with mortgage payments by now and owned her home outright.
Whether this person's financial predicament was simply because of her perpetual renter status wasn't the point. Everyone assumed it was. This line of thinking reinforces what suburban homeowners who carry enormous mortgages like to hear: they're building wealth.
Indeed, homeownership has traditionally been the way most people in America accumulate wealth. But is it the only way? And does being a renter forever relegate one to a life of financial mediocrity? This question of wealth becomes more important to investigate as we evolve into a renter society.
Source Fool.com
