overcoming fear of debt was our biggest hurdle to purchasing investment property. we managed to repay a 25 year principle home mortgage in 14 years and celebrated being debt free as we did not have a big income and my husband had a progressive disease which meant he would not be able to work until normal retirement age.after about 5 years of being debt free, our kids leaving home and the big drop in bank interest rates on our savings we realised that our principle home was more than just security but also a valuable asset that was just lying idle. after reading a lot of investment books we learnt the difference between good debt and bad debt. we bought a investment property in an area close to small industries 7 years ago and have been lucky to have the same tennants for 6 years. as this property will be freehold in 4 years and has gained a 150% increase we once again face our old fears regarding debt[daisy][daisy] as we are both mid fifties and my husband has not worked for 6 years and my income is moderate. we now live in arnehamland as i work on a community and our principle resident has also become a part time rental property. as we approach retirement age security has once again become an issue. we do wish we had been better informed about property investment not being just for the wealthy at an earlier date but our jouney has been a success for us as moderate risk takers