Ashton Kutcher on his scariest financial decision: 'I don't sleep well when I owe people money'
In the past few years, actor-turned-entrepreneur and investor Ashton Kutcher has co-founded a viral media site and a human rights organization, appeared on Shark Tank, and invested in buzzy tech companies such as Spotify, Airbnb, Uber and Meerkat.
In Grow, the new digital magazine from investing app Acorns (another of his investments), Kutcher talks about everything from why he got started investing to the scariest thing he's ever done with his money - and it wasn't investing in a startup.
When asked about the scariest financial decision he's ever made, Kutcher told Grow:
The purchase of my first home. I was scared because I took on debt greater than my cash on hand. I don't sleep well when I owe people money. I believe freedom is a product of flexibility of choice, and debt leaves you beholden to practical choices.
Kutcher isn't alone in feeling conflicted over buying a home. Homeownership, traditionally a cornerstone of the American Dream, is a stressful undertaking that some people argue isn't always the right choice.
On MyBankTracker, David Incandenza suggests that it's possible for renters to grow more wealth than homeowners, and James Altucher writes on The Altucher Confidential that he'll never own a home again - chiefly because it absorbs cash and makes a huge part of his portfolio illiquid.
Not to mention that buying a home can be awfully expensive.
Read the full interview in Grow.