Originally Posted by
AlohaDaveKennedy
Never borrow money unless you can make a profit off the transaction.
Leverage only to make a buck off of other people's money.
Pretty similar to buying stock short in a way, just thought of it. Not the best move for newbie stock investors, but a major tenet (along with selling short) of hedge funds and other well-capitalized stock market profiteers. Of course, it can crash and burn much easier (though many of them have moved onto derivatives, but that is outside of the entire scope of this forum, never mind this thread). Most of this is about risk tolerance. If a bank was willing to lend you $40000 at 1.9% interest (see: car loans, and I think buying a $40000 car isn't necessarily a good idea anyway, at least not as a financial decision) but you could earn more via any sort of investment, it would make sense to do it. How many people got into this through the massive 0% balance transfers that were widespread before, roughly 2009?