Your mother was right! Mothers like stability, and nothing says it more than owning your own home - it's the ticket to sitting at the big people's table and being treated as an adult. Talk to anyone over the age of forty - or most people in a suit - and they'll no doubt advise you: 'Buy a house as soon as you can, start paying it off, it's the best investment you can make.'
While it's true that if you plan on living under a roof for the next fifty or so years, it's probably a good idea to eventually buy a house, but the notion of 'buy a house as quickly as you can' is based more on emotion than logic. This is a weird aspect of the financial world - there seems to be an undertone of largely condescending advice that presupposes there is just one correct path, one correct action for everyone to follow.
Hey I'm not dissin' the great Australian dream, just merely highlighting that home ownership isn't solely a financial decision - it's an emotional one as well. Far better for me to discuss both sides of the home ownership coin and let you reach your own conclusion. Let's take a look at some of the advantages of owning your own home, followed by some of the disadvantages.
The up side
