Until death

I was reading in an article a week or so ago that the number of Australians between 55-64 years old who own their own home has halved over the last 20 years [based on census data]. That's alarming in itself but further, three quarters of retirees owe more on their mortgage than they hold in superannuation.

It doesn't sound all that bad to those who are nowhere near retirement age I suppose however together with the fact the age of first home buyers is increasing [in Australia] it means more people are using their superannuation to pay down mortgages later in life meaning they'll be less self-funded and more reliant on the government aged pension putting massive pressure on the government pension scheme.

The term mortgage is taken from an old French word [morgage] which literally means "dead pledge" with the concept being that on death it dissolves.

Mortgages work differently these days of course...and so do people mainly due to society's continual drive towards consumerism which is fueled by many factors. With the need for more and more and credit-spending being so acceptable, little financial understanding and the trend towards not planning into the future for financial independence...well, it seems to me that so many people are on a fairly destructive trajectory.

Not only does that financial burden mean working well past retirement age, it means their progeny is less likely to benefit from an Estate on the death of their parents - they don't own their houses outright so the banks sell them off for whatever they can get to recoup their losses and the children get nothing.

That's just the obvious effects and, as there often is, there's other repercussions; as always though, people tend to stick their heads in the sand saying things like "it won't happen to me, or, "I would rather live for now", and other such nutbaggery. Ok, fair enough but it's actually likely to happen to them (considering they failed to plan) and the repercussions of financial chaos is higher crime for one, civil unrest, lesser-quality in service and products (that's already happening), less jobs and other such things...and that touches everyone.

As a responsible person I've always worked toward financial security and independence knowing that there's no handouts, nothing comes for free [even the government aged pension] which is almost certainly going to disappear. I've worked hard for what I have, look after those things to make them last and have had a need over want ethos; it's worked well for me, I'm very comfortable, but I don't stop there and keep pushing on...at the same time as having a life now, a pretty fucken good one too.

If one delves into this issue it's broader than just financial; think of the mental health issues a person may have through the stress and worry of financial matters, problems that can spiral out of control. Sure, we pay taxes so people think it's the government's responsibility to look after us but if you fully believe they will do so you need to go see a psychiatrist and if you think a government can't have their own financial issues then go talk to someone from so many countries around the world, some of you reading this are from those countries.

I don't know what the answer is other than, for me, working hard and being smart which is what I do. How about you? Do you want to take your financial debts to the grave, suffer under the yoke of financial burden until death?