By :By :RE: Debt isn't the hedge, it's possessing an asset that may apaceripte at the rate of inflation that's the hedge. (as to whether housing does apaceripte at the rate of inflation, that's another question entirely)Both are a hedge, because you're paying back the debt with dollars which are worth less. If you had $150k of cash and $150k of debt, you wouldn't care about inflation of deflation. If you had $150k of cash, $150k of debt and $150k of real estate, you would care.I'm not sure if I buy that. First, the monetary sums in your two examples are different that makes comparisons less clear.Here's my example:1) $150k of cash stored in your mattress, $150k of debt on a $150k real estate property2) $0 of cash, $0 of debt on a $150k real estate propertyWith any amount of inflation, scenarios 1 and 2 are identical you can always use that $150k to pay off the debt, no matter how much inflation (or deflation) happened. So, I claim it's not the debt that's the hedge it's the $150k in real estate property.The assumption you're making is that in an inflationary environment, you can invest that cash in some asset (TIPS, perhaps) that hedges against inflation hopefully yielding a larger nominal rate of return than the cost of paying the interest on the loan. Rate this comment: 0 0
by Zaira 04:15:56 AM 2012.05.16 |