The $10 Million Dollar Dream
by Julie Broad
 A few years ago my Dad told me that
he'd set a new goal. He wanted to owe the bank $10 Million
Dollars.
I nearly choked on the freshly baked chocolate chip muffin I'd
been devouring.
"Why in the world would you
want to owe the bank $10 Million dollars, Dad? I thought you
were trying to retire!!"
He went on to explain that it wouldn't be $10 million
dollars in debt from living life extravagantly. If he and Mom
just spent the money going on cruises, buying nice cars and
eating at expensive restaurants while accumulating that sort of
debt load, that would be bad debt. But, his intention was not
to get into bad debt. It was to get into good debt.
The concept that any debt can be good can be a tough
one to wrap your head around. We're taught that
when you owe someone something you should pay it back as
quickly as possible. And, in general, debt comes with a
negative stigma. And, in many cases, it should. Debt that is
accumulated for the purchase of "stuff" is not good debt.
But, when you take on debt carefully, only accepting debt
attached to an asset that will generate cash to cover the cost
of that debt then that is good debt. In the case of real estate
investments and their associated mortgages, it's debt that
someone else is paying for through the rent they pay. It
definitely qualifies as good debt!
So back to my Dad's $10 Million dollar dream ...
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