For the purposes of this article, there are several classes of home owner/buyer - The first home buyer looking to purchase their first home, the young family who have been making repayments for 1 to 10 years, the older family who are past the halfway mark of their term, and the retirees.

The first home buyer is for the most part, in a relatively neutral position. They are only looking to get into their own home, start a family and get stable employment. That's okay, but they need to ensure they are looking ahead, and this

Until such times as you sell your house for a profit, or your house is generating an net income, above all costs including repayments, taxes, rates, maintenance and so on, it will be a liability to you.

The reason it's the banks asset, is simple. While you are making mortgage payments on your house, a very large chunk of those payments is interest, and this interest is the banks income. The average home loan recipient will eventually pay back around 3 times what they borrowed, after tax, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that the banks are making huge profits from your house. Therefore, your home is an asset to the bank, or for a better description, an income generating asset.

We are taught to go to school, get a good education and get a good job. We are also conditioned to believe what will make us happy. So for most of us this means, get married, buy a home, have children, buy cars and other material possessions, have a 2 to 4 week holiday once a year, and at the end of a 40 to 45 year period, we will be able to look back, reflect and say, well done, I have had a good life.

Unfortunately, there are several catches. To fund this sort of life, you need debt. We are also allowed to accumulate this debt at a record rate. We are not educated as to the implications of accruing this debt, and what's worse, all these things don't really make us happy. Being in debt, working several jobs, not seeing your children when you want and losing sleep don't make people happy. Then at the end of the whole journey, there is a 99% probability, you will not be able to fund your retirement, at least not to the lifestyle you were accustomed to.

So when you do finally retire, what are you going to say? Oh, I own my own home, so sacrificing my relationships, my health and my lifestyle was worth it. I should hope not! This biggest problem I see with this whole scenario is that we are teaching our own children to do the same thing. I could not fathom for even a second, wanting my own children to be a slave to money for their whole lives, only to pass that on to my grandchildren.

For the purposes of this article, there are several classes of home owner/buyer - The first home buyer looking to purchase their first home, the young family who have been making repayments for 1 to 10 years, the older family who are past the halfway mark of their term, and the retirees.

The first home buyer is for the most part, in a relatively neutral position. They are only looking to get into their own home, start a family and get stable employment. That's okay, but they need to ensure they are looking ahead, and this

We are taught to go to school, get a good education and get a good job. We are also conditioned to believe what will make us happy. So for most of us this means, get married, buy a home, have children, buy cars and other material possessions, have a 2 to 4 week holiday once a year, and at the end of a 40 to 45 year period, we will be able to look back, reflect and say, well done, I have had a good life.

Unfortunately, there are several catches. To fund this sort of life, you need debt. We are also allowed to accumulate this debt at a record rate. We are not educated as to the implications of accruing this debt, and what's worse, all these things don't really make us happy. Being in debt, working several jobs, not seeing your children when you want and losing sleep don't make people happy. Then at the end of the whole journey, there is a 99% probability, you will not be able to fund your retirement, at least not to the lifestyle you were accustomed to.

So when you do finally retire, what are you going to say? Oh, I own my own home, so sacrificing my relationships, my health and my lifestyle was worth it. I should hope not! This biggest problem I see with this whole scenario is that we are teaching our own children to do the same thing. I could not fathom for even a second, wanting my own children to be a slave to money for their whole lives, only to pass that on to my grandchildren.

For the purposes of this article, there are several classes of home owner/buyer - The first home buyer looking to purchase their first home, the young family who have been making repayments for 1 to 10 years, the older family who are past the halfway mark of their term, and the retirees.

The first home buyer is for the most part, in a relatively neutral position. They are only looking to get into their own home, start a family and get stable employment. That's okay, but they need to ensure they are looking ahead, and this

Unfortunately, there are several catches. To fund this sort of life, you need debt. We are also allowed to accumulate this debt at a record rate. We are not educated as to the implications of accruing this debt, and what's worse, all these things don't really make us happy. Being in debt, working several jobs, not seeing your children when you want and losing sleep don't make people happy. Then at the end of the whole journey, there is a 99% probability, you will not be able to fund your retirement, at least not to the lifestyle you were accustomed to.

So when you do finally retire, what are you going to say? Oh, I own my own home, so sacrificing my relationships, my health and my lifestyle was worth it. I should hope not! This biggest problem I see with this whole scenario is that we are teaching our own children to do the same thing. I could not fathom for even a second, wanting my own children to be a slave to money for their whole lives, only to pass that on to my grandchildren.

For the purposes of this article, there are several classes of home owner/buyer - The first home buyer looking to purchase their first home, the young family who have been making repayments for 1 to 10 years, the older family who are past the halfway mark of their term, and the retirees.

The first home buyer is for the most part, in a relatively neutral position. They are only looking to get into their own home, start a family and get stable employment. That's okay, but they need to ensure they are looking ahead, and this

So when you do finally retire, what are you going to say? Oh, I own my own home, so sacrificing my relationships, my health and my lifestyle was worth it. I should hope not! This biggest problem I see with this whole scenario is that we are teaching our own children to do the same thing. I could not fathom for even a second, wanting my own children to be a slave to money for their whole lives, only to pass that on to my grandchildren.

For the purposes of this article, there are several classes of home owner/buyer - The first home buyer looking to purchase their first home, the young family who have been making repayments for 1 to 10 years, the older family who are past the halfway mark of their term, and the retirees.

The first home buyer is for the most part, in a relatively neutral position. They are only looking to get into their own home, start a family and get stable employment. That's okay, but they need to ensure they are looking ahead, and this

For the purposes of this article, there are several classes of home owner/buyer - The first home buyer looking to purchase their first home, the young family who have been making repayments for 1 to 10 years, the older family who are past the halfway mark of their term, and the retirees.

The first home buyer is for the most part, in a relatively neutral position. They are only looking to get into their own home, start a family and get stable employment. That's okay, but they need to ensure they are looking ahead, and this is where they are vulnerable. If allowed, they will be conditioned all too easily by the banks and the credit trap. Their first home loan is not the biggest problem, but it's what comes with it that is. They will get access to so much credit, and because of the instant gratification syndrome, they will amass too much debt, and either sell up or work harder. Either way, they are stung too early in their life, and already have the notion that life is tough.

We now move into the young family stage, where the debts are starting to rule their lives. Unwilling to admit defeat, the young family will try and find a solution, which in a lot of cases means getting second and even third jobs. The biggest problem here is that they haven't actually learned to change their spending habits. Sure, they may increase their repayments on their loans, and may even start putting some money away, but it will not last long because they still suffer from the instant gratification syndrome. Eventually, their expenses rise to meet their new income, and they end up exactly we're they started.

The solution then is to refinance their home loan and consolidate their debts, which almost feels like a fresh start. What they don't realize is that they have just increased the term of their home loan (meaning they really are starting again but with more debt) and the money they save from only having one repayment, will soon evaporate because they will find ways to spend it.

The third stage is the saddest in my view because it's when the effects of the debt trap have really taken their toll. The level of belief in people by this stage is at it's lowest since they were born, and it's also where things like depression, stress, the mid life crisis and even suicide are at their worst. You need to step back a bit and think of it like this -

If you could imagine a young couple with all the dreams in the world of having a family, traveling the world, having careers they love, and leaving a legacy to their children, all of a sudden reach the age of 40 plus, and realize they are no closer to their dreams than when they were twenty, they are going to start asking questions. Questions such as, "Is this all there is? I've worked so hard, I've tried to do everything right, I've sacrificed time and time again and I have nothing