One thing I wouldn't do unless there was lots of equity to spare is remortgage the house to get the money. It may work for some but always be prepared to lose it. Thiink hard about it first. I wouldn't at my end. I would rather work and accumulate. Its only extra money I didnt' have before then.

Actually, I did re-mortgage the house to accomodate my investments and enhance my return. Idle equity. I do agree with you whole heartedly, one must be very prudent when leveraging any asset. Generally speaking the ROT (rule of thumb) that I've used over the years is 7:1. Divide your personal net worth by 7 and this amount should or could be leveraged. This is a very conservative estimate. As well, to service debt on the line of credit on the house, I purchased an income producing mortgage sufficient to carry the monthly interest costs on the line of credit. This mortgage generally would equal one half of the total investment. IE: NOT shares (or any other shares for that matter) $50000, mortgage rec'ble, $50000. Interest from mtg payments services debt on line of credit. My particular mtg is with a commercial builder (large well capitalized) Banks hate construction financing so builders tend to turn to private markets.

Interest becomes tax deductible, interst on mtg, treated as income, gain on shares , cap gain or cap loss against previous cap gains. My total monthly outlay for my NOT shares is zero. Actually I have a positive cash flow as a result of doing this. Downside risk is two fold. Not shares could go to zero and Mtg Rec'ble could default. Gernerally speaking, do your DD on the underlying asset (mtg Rec'ble)

Some may already be doing this, however, prudence is in order. For those that leveraging with your brokerage house, this is an alternative and one that does not have a margin call feature.

I realize this is somewhat off topic, however just another strategy to enhance investment returns.

cheers Fast