Don’t Follow the Hurd
March 23rd, 2007 by Remon
It is common for people to do what other people do. The best example is probably people getting a job because that’s what you’re supposed to do, plus, it’s secure *cough*.
Now, say you want to become wealthy, like most people, what would you do? Work for a boss? How many employees do you know that are, will be or have become wealthy? I know how many wealthy employees I know, zero!
Another great example is the discussion here in Holland about taking a 30 year mortgage, even if you can afford to pay your house in full. People think they have to take a 30 year mortgage because they can use the tax deductions on their interest rate and be better off. That’s stupid!
Say a house costs $200,000. You can choose to pay $200,000 and be done with it or you can choose to pay $200,000 + interest - deduction = $323,000 over 30 years. I’ve heard at least 4 people choosing the option to throw away $123,000 in 30 years so they could “benefit” from the tax deduction.
What they do with their own money is putting it in an account at a 4% interest rate and think they’re better off, while house prices rise 5% every year across the nation and even more (10-15%) in the big cities.
I think most people believe that if everyone does it, it must be the right thing to do. It’s easy to not think for yourself and follow the hurd. It’s admirable to think for yourself and often do better than most people.
I could give dozens of other examples but this post would become too long. They key point here is think for yourself. You can take advice from others, but dig into it to see if it would be better, especially if you’re taking advice from people selling you stuff, like mortgage brokers. If you want to be different then the hurd, don’t follow the hurd.