Adrian, thanks for reading and adding to the discussion. My point is not that renting or buying is better. That will depend on many variables. My point is that BOTH renting and buying are expenses and not investments. The rate of return for both is negative. One will be more or less negative than the other, depending.

We should not mistake EITHER owning OR renting as assets. Assets makes you money. Both owning and renting take money from you, so they are liabilities. This small but important distinction helped me tremendously once I learned it.

When I believed that my house was an asset, I bought a bigger house than I needed, as many do. Why not if it is an asset? However, that prevented me from building wealth because in reality it is a poor investment. I was better off buying something much more modest (or maybe renting) and investing more in real assets with much higher rates of return.

Now that I understand this important distinction, I am building wealth MUCH faster.

Happy New Year!

Jason