Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

In general, is it financially better to buy or to rent a house?
The general answer is: "it depends on how long you want to live there". Here is a good calculator to figure it out: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html Basically, if you plan to move in a few years, then renting makes more sense.  It is a lot easier to move from an apartment when your lease is up versus selling a house, which can be subject to fluctuations in the real-estate market.  As an example, during the real estate bubble, a lot of "young professional" types bought condos and town homes instead of renting.  Now these people are married with kids, need to move somewhere bigger, but they can't get rid of their old place because they can't sell it for what they still owe.  If these people had rented for a few years, they would be in a better position financially.  (Many people fell for the mantra "If you are renting, you are throwing your money away", without looking at the long-term implications.) However, your question is a little unique, because you mentioned renting for the rest of your life, and putting the savings into an investment, which is a cool idea.  (Thinking outside the box, I like it.) I'm going to assume you mean "rent the same place for many years" versus "moving around the country every few years".  If you are staying in one place for a long time, I am going to say that buying a house is probably a better option.  Here's why: So what about investing?  Let's look at some numbers: So, based on the above, I say that buying a house is the way to go (as long as you plan to live in the same place for several years).  However, if you could find a better investment than the Dow, or if mortgage interest rates change drastically, things could tip in another direction. Addendum:  CrimsonX brought up a good point about the costs of owning a house (upkeep and property taxes), which I didn't mention above.  However, I don't think they change my answer.  If you rent, you are still paying those costs.  They are just hidden from you.  Your landlord pays the contractor or the tax man, and then you pay the landlord as part of your rent.