I had written two posts a few days back on the difference between debt and liability.

As a middle class person, the word debt has a lot of negative ideas. I have had so much credit card debt , housing loans etc. that the very idea of taking a loan or using a credit card is an absolute no-no.

Garrett Gunderson gave a very good explanation of debt versus liability which I explained in the posts earlier. I also wrote in those posts how I am trying to get my head around the ideas of utilising loans – loosely called debt to grow. I did understand the concept that if you are buying a productive asset, to buy that asset you will incur a liability. As long as your assets are more than your liabilities, its not debt. If you invest in productive assets and those assets generate cash to take care of the liability then there’s absolutely no problem.

I came across one video of Robert Kiyosaki – of Rich Dad Poor Dad fame – where he talks about how the rich actually love debt. But he makes a very clear distinction. They have teams who understand and manage the debt such that they are consistently extracting the maximum out of the asset to produce cash and pay off the debt.

This way they are able to grow their assets much faster. They then use the assets to generate more cash, pay of the liabilities / debt and start the cycle all over again. Since they now also have the asset, they are also able to use that asset as collateral to get more loans to expand further. If the assets are non-depreciating like real estate or intellectual property then its even better. What this gives the rich people is leverage to grow faster. it allows possibility thinking. Therefore the rich are growing richer.

This is something which I need to think of, because my middle class mindset is still a little sceptical. Robert also has a caveat to this theory. He is clear that its not ok for everyone to use debt because its a double edged sword. If you don’t have the guts to handle this kind of a double edged sword, then you should avoid debt at all costs.

Tell me your views on the topic in the comments section below. I will look forward to hearing from you.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!