[quote=AN][quote=earlyretirement]I guess the points are over leveraging can cause significant problems and not leveraging at all will never cause you to get ahead.[/quote]This, I totally agree with. I never suggest over leveraged is a good thing. It’s a recipe for disaster. I was just debating the point that CAR tried to make, which is: [quote=CA renter]The one difference I’ve noticed between successful people and unsuccessful people (my definitions, not necessarily mainstream) is that the successful people have tended to avoid debt at almost all costs.[/quote]My point is, you need to take calculated risk and a lot of time, leverage to get you to the point of financial independence.[/quote]

I tend to agree with CAR. My husband and I are relatively risk-averse, have a paid-off house and enough in the bank that we could both retire tomorrow if needed, plus fund the kids’ educations. And we got that way by getting somewhat lucky in our real estate purchases, but mostly by spending much less than we earn.

However, I think our peer group (and perhaps CAR’s peer group) has a different definition of success. I think Early’s financial position is WAY different/better than ours, if I had to guess. So I think the smart risk-taking when young is probably the way to go, if you can. It just never appealed to me, so I think second best (for those of us with maybe fewer smarts or cojones) is definitely the spend-less-than-you-earn-and-avoid-debt route.