 TITLE: Is There Such a Thing as Good Debt? CONTENT: What Are Examples of Good Debt?\n-------------------------------\nGood debts can include:\n*   **Home mortgages**: In the short term, home values may rise and fall, but over the long term, homes have historically proven to be good investments. The median price of a home in the U.S. was $79,100 in 1990 (not adjusted for inflation); nearly 30 years later, the median price has more than doubled to $193,500, according to Census data. For many Americans, their home accounts for the bulk of their net worth—and a mortgage can help you build that nest egg.\n*   **Business loans**: Getting a loan to start or expand a business can be a wise investment. Whether or not your business becomes the next Facebook, growing your business can help you grow your income. With careful planning, you can help to make sure that borrowing for your business is a calculated risk.\n*   **Student loans**: Earning a college degree doesn't guarantee you'll get a job, but there's plenty of research showing that it can boost your earning power over time. Median earnings of bachelor's degree holders with full-time jobs are $24,600 higher than the median earnings of high school graduates with full-time jobs, according to 2017 research by the College Board.\nAre car loans good debt or bad debt? The answer lies somewhere in the middle. Cars depreciate in value the minute you drive them off the dealer's lot, so they shouldn't be viewed as a long-term investment. But if you don't have cash on hand to pay for a new car outright, an auto loan offers a way to get the transportation you need.\nCar loans also share a common characteristic of good debt: low interest rates. Current interest rates on new car loans for those in the top credit score ranges are at or below 5%, according to Experian data. Interest rates for fixed-rate 30-year mortgages average 4.4%, according to Experian data from the first quarter of 2019. In contrast, the Federal Reserve says the average annual percentage rate (APR) for credit cards has hovered between 14% and 15% since early 2018. END