Comment by master-lincoln

> If you own a house, you didn't have its cash value when you bought it; neither your car, nor (most likely) your education

When I grew up I was told to not make debts if not needed. So many older people did indeed save up until they could afford a car or a house. Education was always mostly free where I lived.

Nowadays it seems like ordinary people would need to pay off a house their whole life and thus also need to keep income high enough to keep paying installments. This takes away so much freedom from people as they are trapped in their high paying jobs...