If living beyond your means grasping for any source of funding at the lower interest rates of morgages on your equity must be apealing. I have seen people lose their houses before the last downturn because of many things like this. Money or the lack of it that is. Also it is rumoured to be the primary largest source of marital issues. Some people even become completely out of control from a financial perspective.

You have to have a little personal disipline that too many lack. Living well within your means is a way to stay out of the pressure cooker and solvent.

Does not help the economy as much though but helps the individual in my opinion. Living well within your means is a natural comfort zone I have always felt.

If disatisfied with that increase your means. Plunging into debt instead makes no sense as the alternative to me anyways. The old saying if you cannot pay for it you really cannot afford it without some risk component being involved is still true.

They broke up after twenty years of wedded bliss and both went down the road with nothing basically. Factually they enabled this by never considering a lot of potential variables in life. Even a breakup. Then there is sickness, perhaps periods of low earnings etc plus other unexpected occurances. Too many people gamble too much for too long.

Many run some risk when first starting out and this is a neccesity sometimes. You should want to get by that period as soon as possible. It should not become a permanent way of life. I suspect a lot of these types of behaviours are fostered by unreasonable expectations or a very poor overall educational system as well.