[quote=walterwhite]when i was younger and dumber, and had just started working, I counted up my credit card credit line, and it was just under $200,000. My salary was just about 1/6 of that. I counted the 200k as sort of an asset. I also contemplated borrowing it all, using it to aggressively attempt to build a business and defaulting if I failed. it seemed like a no-lose proposition. I didn’t do that because I was concerned about bankruptcy, potential fraud allegations; it just wasn’t for me, but I am very very conservative. But it was certainly out there for usage and it definitely crossed my mind to use it in a risky way to try to get going in life.[/quote]
I know people who’ve done just this – maxed out their credit cards on a business gamble. Only one succeeded… the rest ended up with crappy credit for years.

I was given several credit cards in college. I had very limited income (like $10k/year) but they gave me more than $10k in credit. I traveled. I had a good time. I figured if they were dumb enough to give me credit, I was going to have fun. I regret that debt – took me close to a decade to retire all that debt.

But it wasn’t an asset. It was potential debt. Which I stupidly converted to actual debt.