Because I’ve never been able to put my kid up on the check-lane as payment for groceries or ship to them bank to pay my mortgage.

I read this article and then shot my 73-year-old dad an email asking “When are you going to retire?”

Here’s a real candidate for the Supreme Court.

Just making the point that as a nanny the whole concept is against you.

Which just begs the question... if everyone hates it so much why do we keep doing it?

That said, that statement is full of internal contradictions. It makes no sense.

Well, they could sue you if something happens and we all know those people think money is worth more than a toddler’s life.

Lol, I bet your mum disliked having kids in the first place :p

I’m 31 and my last living grandma is 94!!!

What about retired Grandpa who loves being with the kids since he already raised the brats twenty+ years ago?

Obviously you should pay them. Money means things are worthwhile *rollseyes*.

Which speaks to class issues. When you have three generations in a house meant for four people it gets very communal fast.

Uh... well, if your parents are retired they do it in a mixture of knowing it is financially good as well as an actual desire to be with the kids.

Uhm, that is what paying extra on a 30 is, principle. You don’t pay extra on interest.

No one carries a mortgage to term. If they did everything you say here would be correct. But people don’t. In many cases you’ll refit before you start to actually hit principle payments.

Houses are also very easy for banks to take control of. In a shaky financial situation hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity can go away in a moment of a bank decides to institute foreclosure (even if unsuccessful).

Loan officers may be more stringent today

My favorite product, the Option Mortgage, has a huge flaw: it is always an ARM.

I second what STMN said. Everyone says they’ll pay extra, statistically they never pay extra. Nothing to make a difference, anyway.

Nope. Get the 30 and make extra payments to “make up for” the 30 year term. This is specifically so your monthly payment is manageable (amortizing over 15 instead of 30 years is a big monthly difference) and instead of a larger 15 year payment you have a 30 year payment plus the optional ability to make a larger…