Net worth doesn’t mean anything if you can’t pay your bills.

Have you ever heard the term «house poor?» It means that someone has a really expensive house, but while they’re paying off said expensive house, they have little money for anything else. In an ideal world, you’d be able to have the home of your dreams with a monthly mortgage payment of 25% or less of your monthly take-home pay, but we don’t live in an ideal world. In the real world, you have to choose between spending too much for your dream house and spending an amount you can afford on a more modest home. 

You can be house poor in a responsible way by not spending a ton of money on vacations, new clothes, or other «fun» purchases. But if you are so house poor you can’t afford groceries or medical bills, then you need to cut your losses, sell your home, and buy a house you can actually afford. Otherwise, you’re going to have a net worth in the millions while asking your teenage kid to pay the water bill.