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Would a hypothetical, ever-appreciating asset allow for infinite collateralized loan-rolling?

Personal Finance & Money Asked on May 18, 2021

If I owned a hypothetical asset that was deemed extremely safe, and permanently increased in value over time (allowing me to borrow a similar percentage of the asset’s value each time the loan reached maturity to pay for the principle + a brand new loan for the same principle amount), would this enable me to endlessly collateralize this asset for a low-interest loan? Of course, I would need some cash-generating source (job, rental income, dividend stocks, etc…) to cover the interest payments, but assuming this was in place and assuming the price continued to rise over the loan life(s), could I not endlessly roll the loans to endlessly get access to cash without ever needing to sell the asset? If I owned enough rental properties or dividend stocks to cover the interest payments, it seems this set up would enable me to always have cash for life’s expenses, without actually needing to do any work.

Of course its a HUGE assumption that the asset continues to rise in price over time (and at a magnitude needed for this plan)… but let’s just say it does.

One Answer

Sure. And if you're dealing with large enough sums, you can probably capitalize the interest too.

Say that you've just inherited a bunch of properties worth $100 M. A bank would quite happily give you a loan of, say, $50 M against the properties that has no monthly payments just a balloon payment at the end of the year. At the end of the year, assuming the properties have appreciated, the bank will very happily roll the initial principal plus the accumulated interest plus some additional spending money into a new loan on the same terms. Assuming that the properties continue to appreciate faster than the interest rate and whatever additional spending money you withdraw, the bank will be quite happy to continue this process forever.

Of course, in reality, every asset has ups and downs so you'd need to make sure that the fraction of the collateral that you're borrowing decreases when the asset price soars so that you have room to weather the inevitable drops.

Correct answer by Justin Cave on May 18, 2021

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