By Bernadette Joy, Bankrate.com

“Renting is throwing money away.” Has anyone ever told you this? Well, I’m here to say: It’s bad financial advice.

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My husband and I have owned four different homes in three cities since 2010. If I wanted to, I could buy a house in cash today. But for the last three years, I’ve chosen to rent instead — and my net worth has grown by leaps and bounds because of that choice, not in spite of it.

This is always a hot topic, especially because renting challenges the traditional rhetoric that homeownership is the ultimate path to wealth. And I get it — owning a home is part of the “American Dream.” But if it doesn’t lead to financial freedom, homeownership may be more like a nightmare.

Let me show you how renting, when done intentionally, can actually make you richer.

Renting avoids the hidden costs of homeownership

When you own a home, you’re not just paying the mortgage — you’re also responsible for home maintenance, property taxes and insurance. In fact, Bankrate’s 2025 Hidden Costs of Homeownership Study found that the average annual cost of owning and maintaining a single-family home is more than $21,000.

Now, you’ll incur some of these costs when renting, too. Unless your rental unit includes utilities and internet, you’re probably going to have to pay out of pocket. You’ll probably pay less in electricity than you would in a large, single-family home, but for the sake of argument, let’s take these average costs at face value.

Omitting the expenses you’ll still have when renting, homeownership costs an average of $15,391 — that’s almost $1,300 you could free up each month.

While there aren’t any states that require renters insurance, most landlords have a provision in their rental contracts requiring this form of coverage. While typically less expensive than homeowners insurance, renters insurance is another cost to factor into your calculations.

And don’t forget about mortgage interest

My clients are always shocked when I have them review the amortization table for their 30-year mortgage. In the early years of your mortgage, a large percentage of your monthly payment goes toward interest. You’re not really building equity in the first few years of a mortgage — you’re mostly paying interest.

Let’s say you borrowed a $420,000 mortgage. You qualified for a 6.75 percent mortgage rate on a 30-year term. Your monthly payment is $2,724.

Of your first mortgage payment, only $362 pays down the principal balance — a whopping $2,363 goes toward interest. The balance does shift over time, and by the end of your 30-year term, the bulk of your payment goes toward the principal. But how likely is it that you’ll see the mortgage through to the bitter end, without selling or refinancing (and starting the clock all over again)?

I’ve helped five clients make the decision to sell their homes in 2025, and none of them lived there longer than a decade. So much of their money has gone to interest, and they won’t get much equity in return.

After five years of dutifully paying $2,724 every month, you’ve only gained about $25,000 in home equity. Meanwhile, your mortgage servicer will have made nearly $138,000 from your loan interest. Your five years’ worth of mortgage payments cost you $163,440, and in return, you got $25,000 in equity. Hardly seems worth it.

Rather than paying $15,000 per year in homeownership costs and vast sums of mortgage interest, I pay my rent. Sure, I won’t get a return on that money, but more cash stays in my pocket — cash I can put toward investments. Use a mortgage calculator to take a look at your amortization table and crunch the numbers for yourself.

Renting frees up capital for wealth-building

“Real estate always appreciates in value.” This one’s a myth — just ask anyone who sold a home during the 2008 financial crisis. My husband and I paid $10,000 out of pocket to sell his home at the time.

Yes, real estate can appreciate, but it’s also highly market- and location-dependent. In the past three years, the investments I’ve made in the stock market and my financial education business have significantly outpaced the return I would’ve made on a home in my local market — and with much less headache.

Unfortunately, several of my clients bought their homes at the height of the pandemic boom and are now seeing their home values decline from their peaks.

In today’s economy, renting is increasingly the more affordable option.

According to those numbers, you could save more than $9,000 per year by renting. That money could go a long way for many Americans, and even further if you reallocate that money into wealth-building assets.

After selling my home and returning to renting, I took the proceeds of the sale and invested in growing my business — that cash injection allowed me to surpass my first $1 million in revenue. In the time since, my husband and I have also contributed the maximum amount to our 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), allowing us to pursue early retirement.

When I transitioned from homeownership to renting, I used the proceeds from my home sale and invested in low-risk, interest-bearing accounts, like high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs). This passive income has covered my rent and other living expenses.

I have more money working for me as a renter than I did as a homeowner.

Renting can offer new social networks and income opportunities

Some of my older coaching clients tend to wrongly believe that renting equates to a decrease in quality of life. I’ve been happy to dispel that myth when they comment on the dance, improv and travel that my renting lifestyle accommodates.

I live in a one-bedroom rental in a walkable neighborhood filled with restaurants, music, theater and fitness. Post-COVID apartment buildings often feature co-working spaces, gyms and even social events that allow me to meet people from all walks of life. I felt a lot more isolated in the suburb where I used to live, which was more homogeneous, less active, and farther away from cultural events.

I’ve also been able to find more side hustles than when I lived on the outskirts, like teaching financial literacy classes or dog walking and babysitting for neighbors in my building.

The combination of downsizing and renting has also allowed me to pick up and move quickly to capitalize on potential business or job opportunities in other cities. I can afford global travel with business partners using the money I previously spent on lawn care and home DIY projects. I’ve expanded my social and professional networks and spend more time doing things that bring me joy.

Why renting can be strategic

According to Bankrate’s 2025 Emergency Savings Report, fewer than half of U.S. adults have enough emergency savings to cover three months of expenses, and about a quarter have no emergency savings at all. When you don’t have money set aside for a rainy day, it’s especially important to have tight control over your monthly spending — predictable monthly payments are key.

A fixed-rate mortgage may seem stable, but property taxes can always go up. Insurance premiums can rise, and maintenance is always more expensive than you think. Avoiding surprise repairs to water heaters, HVAC systems or roofing can also decrease the anxiety of not having enough cash savings on hand, especially when those repairs cost thousands of dollars.

Your next steps

What expenses will actually help me build the life I want?
Do I want a house in the suburbs because I believe it’s what’s expected of me?
Could my money be better spent elsewhere?
If I already own a home, have I considered the real-world costs associated with my mortgage, maintenance and other housing costs?
How do my homeownership costs compare to rentals in my area?

Final thoughts: Owning a home can be great — if it fits your financial plan

As a first-generation American, I felt the weight of my family’s expectation to live out the American Dream — after all, they emigrated here so I could realize it. But I’m living proof that renting isn’t a step back, nor should you feel any shame for choosing to rent.

It’s been a strategic move that’s made me richer — financially, mentally, and emotionally.

Think of rent the same way you think of a gym membership or software subscription — it’s a monthly cost that may support the lifestyle you want. It’s not “throwing money away.” It’s buying peace of mind, freedom of movement and time to grow wealth in other ways.

For me, real wealth isn’t found in square footage. It’s in the daily opportunity to move and live freely according to what aligns with my own version of the American Dream.

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill married in 2003, you might be forgiven for thinking that a song, an album or a show might follow.

After all, Peterson cofounded the Bangles in 1981 with her sister Debbi Peterson, Susanna Hoffs, and bass player Annette Zilinskas (who would be replaced by Michael Steele). And from the mid-’60s, Cowsill was a member of the Cowsills with siblings Bill, Bob, Barry, and Susan Cowsill, as well as their mother Barbara Cowsill.

That’s a lot of musical legacy between them, but no, there was nothing more than the occasional backing vocals for friends or fellow musicians over the years, until April when the first-ever Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill album, “Long After the Fire,” arrived.

Maybe that’s how it was meant to be, though. The album is a collection of covers of songs written by Bill Cowsill, who died at 58 in 2006, after a long run of poor health, and Barry Cowsill, who died at 50 in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina tore through his then-hometown of New Orleans.

“The idea was floating around for years and years,” Peterson says on a recent phone call with Cowsill. ” And some of the songs have been in our world for decades, including the song ‘Don’t Look Back,’ which was recorded by the Cowsills back in 1970. So as a kid and a Cowsills fan, I knew that song and loved it.

“It was an idea John and I talked about for a long time, and then finally, circumstances kind of came to the point where we were able to start recording together,” she says. “We have a studio here in our home, but John was touring with the Beach Boys for 23 years, and was rarely actually physically home. So it took a while to actually get into the studio and make the commitment to, like, we’re going to do this.”

Recording together isn’t the only thing Cowsill, 68, and Peterson, 67, have learned. With only one or two exceptions, they’d never shared a live stage either.

“It’s brand new,” Cowsill says, as both laugh. “We were just a domestic couple for, like, the longest time of our relationship. I mean, other than playing 20 years at Bill’s benefit, singing ‘A Thousand Times’ [which is now on their album] of all songs, we never really did anything together. Unless occasionally somebody would send us a file and ask us to put vocals on it, and we’d go downstairs in the studio and put vocals on other people’s stuff.

“Then we’d come upstairs and make dinner and that was it,” he says.

“We’re a baby band,” Peterson says. “We’re the oldest baby band in the world.”

“Because nobody knows who we are really,” Cowsill adds. “That’s why, like, Vicki wanted to call it the Peter-Sills – “

“No, I didn’t,” she says in mock offense as both laugh again.

“OK, but she wanted to name us something else than our names,” says Cowsill, who earlier this year toured with the Smithereens in place of the late singer Pat DiNizio. “I said, ‘No way, we need all the help we can get. Somebody might recognize those names and answer the phone when we call.’”

In an interview edited for length and clarity, Peterson and Cowsill talked about how they picked the songs from Bill and Barry Cowsill’s individual catalogs, what it was like taking on songs for loved family members who no longer alive, and why Peterson says Cowsill was inconsiderate on the day they first met some 47 years ago now.

Q: My understanding, John, is that ‘”Is Anybody Here” was the song that got the ball rolling when Paul Allen [who produced the record] called you from Nashville one day.

Cowsill: That’s right, yep. He was in Nashville and I was playing with the Beach Boys in Memphis and he called me up and asked me randomly: Do I want to record at Sun Studio? And I kind of laughed and said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because you’ve been telling me about the Dead Brothers Project forever,’ and I kind of said, ‘Oh yeah sure.’

So we went there, it was a perfect choice. [“Is Anybody Here”] is a very Roy Orbison-y kind of melody and feel to it. It just was a beautiful place to record that song. It came out nice. So that started the project for sure.

Q: I’d heard that you and Vicki were calling this the Dead Brothers Project as you worked on it.

Cowsill: Yeah, we called it that forever. We were gonna even name it that, but then went on the internet and everybody has a ‘dead brothers’ something. To me, it was like that was risqué, but it wasn’t at all.

Q: Didn’t Bill used to do something where he’d only play songs by dead rock stars?

Cowsill: He said, ‘We only do dead guy music.’ So he would totally appreciate the Dead Brothers Project. My family’s pretty fun and dark like that.

Q: You chose six songs by each of Bill and Barry. Was it difficult to decide which ones to do?

Peterson: I would say it was easy, but there were definitely choices that had to be made. These were just the ones that rose to the top for us. We love the songs that Bill recorded with his bands Blues Shadows and Blue Northern, but some of those songs on those albums Bill did not write, so they weren’t eligible.

And Barry just has a very eclectic songbook, and some of the stuff is quite out there and quite particular to his artistry. We had to really think about that, like that’s so Barry, how can we put ourselves into that song and perform it and find a way that would feel comfortable doing that? Because he was such a character in so many ways. The guy was like a vaudeville character or something.

Cowsill: He didn’t do a lot of cowriting. He wrote for himself. Bill always loved writing with other people. Him and Jeffrey Hatcher wrote a lot of songs on the Blue Shadows, and Jeffrey is an incredible songwriter. Those guys tell stories even if it didn’t happen to them. They can get outside themselves. But Barry is very personal. He lives by example.

Q: What was a song of Barry’s you did that you had to really think about including?

Peterson: I would say “Ol’ Timeless.’ It’s just his voice and sort of a harmonium sound, and so, so personal that it felt a little ballsy in a way to take a stab at it. We wanted to honor the almost spiritual quality of that song, but then frame it very differently musically. That one was like, we’re taking kind of a giant step here.

Cowsill: And it pertains to people on the outside. Like, we couldn’t do a song like “My Car Don’t Lock.” It’s so Barry. I mean, you could do any of them, but it’s still very stylized. I wouldn’t want to mess with it.

Q: Bill and Barry have been gone for about 20 years now. I’d imagine that working on this record stirred some strong memories of them for you both.

Peterson: I knew them mostly as a fan. But I did spend quite a bit of time with Barry because he lived in New Orleans at the same time that I did, so we crossed paths many times there. I had a couple of misadventures with Bill in the ’90s at South By Southwest, but he was mostly a guy on the other end of the phone for me.

I was just hoping and believing that Barry would be very happy to have this project out in the world. He said more than once – actually we’re sitting in our kitchen right now, and he said it in this very room. One night, he goes, “I just want my music to be heard. I just want it to be heard.” That’s what I keep thinking about

Cowsill: Yeah, we’re reintroducing these songs that have been out before, and so it’s a reawakening of the songs. I always bonded with Bill – in later years we did. He basically raised some of us. Me, for sure. Trained me as a musician and a singer. I consider him our Brian Wilson in our family.

Q: In the making of the record, you must have gotten to know each other musically in ways that were new and different.

Cowsill: Just discovering how we sound together, we were kind of smiling at each other. Said, ‘Oh, this is good.’ Because we started in the living room, you know. The first time we realized that we have a nice blend together was like, ‘OK, we can definitely do this. This is going to be fun.’

And it has been fun. We smile and laugh a lot. If anybody’s a hothead it’s me. I have to put notes on the table telling me, “Be patient. Be calm. Don’t get mad.” Because, you know, I want to hurry up and figure out what’s going on, and sometimes it takes people a little bit longer to do stuff, and you have to be patient.

Q: As you were figuring things out, what were the songs where you had that feeling of ‘this is working’?

Peterson: I think John mentioned “A Thousand Times.” That is a song that actually 21 years ago, we performed at a benefit for Bill to help raise some money for his medical needs. He was having some issues up in Canada and had no money.

So this wonderful concert was put on, hosted by the Cowsills mostly, but with great guests: Peter Tork [of the Monkees], Waddy Wachtel [musician and Bill’s close friend], Shirley Jones [who starred in “The Partridge Family” TV series, which was inspired by the Cowsills].

Q: And Barry’s song from your wedding is on the album, too.

Cowsill: I’ve always loved “Hearts Collide,” and Barry sang it at our wedding. I just love that song. I mean, yes, there’s just so many connections and dots connected doing this project on many, many levels. And it was a very moving project as well, because they’re not here.

Q: The wedding was in 2003, but I’d assume you knew each other for much longer, given the community of musicians in Los Angeles in which you both have traveled. How far back does your friendship go?

Cowsill: Well, I’m going to take a nap, and Vicki can tell you the story. [Both laugh]

Peterson: It’s not long at all. We date back to April 28, 1978.

Cowsill: We did not date.

Peterson: We were not dating. We met that day at a small club in Redondo Beach. But even if we hadn’t met that day – and you can look at it like sliding doors, like if life had worked out slightly differently – we probably would have met in the coming years because the Cowsills were already out and about playing again after many years of not working together.

I was a big Cowsills fan. I would have found them in some other club, Club Lingerie, at the Whisky, at the Troubadour.  At some point, I would have gone to see the Cowsills play, and I would have gone up and introduced myself, because my sister and my best friend and I were already playing in clubs ourselves at that time, just out of high school. And our paths did collide over and over again over the next couple of years.

But as far as personal relationships, no. We met in April, and by May, John was married to Wife No. 1. So that was very inconvenient and inconsiderate of him, I thought.

Then Susan Cowsill and I became very close friends. [They formed the duo the Psycho Sisters and were also members of the Continental Drifters.] So I was just like Susan’s friend for many years to John, I think. Just those girls who used to hang out at rehearsals, and now they’re on MTV.

Q: So, at some point after John’s no longer married and you started to date?

Peterson: We never dated until after Wife No. 2.

Cowsill: I collect the whole series.

Peterson: He does. He was practicing, and he did very well. He’d kind of got it down.

Q: And now that you’ve discovered the joy of performing together – another album, more shows?

Cowsill: We’re planning on going forward. An album will be in the works eventually. But we haven’t really toured yet. We’re happy to have the date in Fullerton. So we’ll see if they come. We want them to come. They’re gonna have a great time, because we’re fun. Let’s see what happens.

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By JON GAMBRELL

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank Wednesday in the Red Sea, with a European naval force in the Mideast saying that only six of 25 people who were on board have been rescued.

The attack on the Eternity C, which also killed at least three of the crew, represents the most serious assault carried out by the Houthis in the crucial maritime trade route that once saw $1 trillion in cargo pass through annually.

From November 2023 until the following December, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones in a campaign the rebels describe as supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iranian-backed rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The attack on the Eternity C, as well as the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas in another attack Sunday, raise new questions about the Red Sea’s safety as ships had slowly begun returning to its waters. Meanwhile, a new possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war — as well as the future of talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program — remain in the balance.

“We are now with grave concern seeing an escalation in the Red Sea with attacks on two commercial ships earlier this week by Ansar Allah, resulting in civilian loss of life and casualties as well as the potential for environmental damage,” warned United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg, using another name for the rebels.

6 of 25 on board have been rescued

A statement from the European Union naval mission in the Red Sea said the crew of the ship included 22 sailors, among them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, as well as a three-member security team. Those rescued were five Filipinos and one Indian.

Three people also were killed during the hourslong attack on the ship, the EU force said, and their nationalities were not immediately known.

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The armed rebels had attacked the ship with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, later using two drones and two drone boats carrying bombs to strike the vessel, the EU force said. The Eternity C sank at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday, it added.

The ship, flagged out of Liberia but owned by a Greek firm, likely had been targeted like the Magic Seas over its firm doing business with Israel. Neither vessel apparently requested an escort from the EU force.

The U.S. military has two aircraft carriers in the Mideast, the USS Nimitz and the USS Carl Vinson, but both likely are in the Arabian Sea, far from the site of the attacks. There are two American destroyers believed to be operating in the Red Sea. However, the ships attacked had no U.S. ties and a ceasefire between the Houthis and America announced after the bombing campaign earlier this year still appears to be holding.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a prerecorded message Wednesday night as the EU force acknowledged it was still searching for those onboard with private industry rescuers.

The assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since late 2024 in the waterway that had begun to see more ships pass through in recent weeks.

Attacks draw condemnation

The attacks on the ships drew immediate international condemnation.

“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. “The United States has been clear: We will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks.”

The EU force earlier said one of the wounded crew lost his leg.

Grundberg, the U.N. envoy, also decried the targeting of civilian infrastructure after Israel bombed three Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen over the weekend and hit a power station.

“Yemen must not be drawn deeper into regional crises that threaten to unravel the already extremely fragile situation in the country,” he warned during an address to the Security Council.

Satellite photos show damage from an Israeli strike

Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press showed new damage at Yemen’s rebel-controlled port at Hodeida after it was targeted by the Israeli airstrikes. The images from Planet Labs PBC showed new portions of the pier at the port torn away by Israeli bombing, likely to affect the unloading of cargo there.

In conducting the strikes, Israel said the Houthis used the port to smuggle military equipment into the country, a growing worry of analysts and Yemen watchers in recent years. Hodeida is the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis.

Jamal Amer, a Houthi official, reportedly said Wednesday that shipments continue to arrive “smoothly” to Hodeida. In comments published by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite channel, Amer also said that damage at the port ”directly affects civilians and is a disgrace to the United Nations, which is complicit in these crimes through its suspicious silence.”

Yemen’s war began when the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s exiled government considered trying to retake Hodeida by force in 2018, but ultimately decided against it as international criticism and worries about the port being destroyed grew.

The Associated Press

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company said Wednesday that it’s taking down “inappropriate posts” made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok was developed by Musk’s xAI and pitched as alternative to “woke AI” interactions from rival chatbots like Google’s Gemini, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Musk said Friday that Grok has been improved significantly, and users “should notice a difference.”

Since then, Grok has shared several antisemitic posts, including the trope that Jews run Hollywood, and denied that such a stance could be described as Nazism.

“Labeling truths as hate speech stifles discussion,” Grok said.

It also appeared to praise Hitler, according to screenshots of posts that have now apparently been deleted.

After making one of the posts, Grok walked back the comments, saying it was “an unacceptable error from an earlier model iteration, swiftly deleted” and that it condemned “Nazism and Hitler unequivocally — his actions were genocidal horrors.”

“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the Grok account posted early Wednesday, without being more specific.

“Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.

The Anti-Defamation League, which works to combat antisemitism, called out Grok’s behavior.

“What we are seeing from Grok LLM right now is irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple,” the group said in a post on X. “This supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms.”

Musk later waded into the debate, alleging that some users may have been trying to manipulate Grok into making the statements.

“Grok was too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed,” he wrote on X, in response to comments that a user was trying to get Grok to make controversial and politically incorrect statements.

Also Wednesday, a court in Turkey ordered a ban on Grok and Poland’s digital minister said he would report the chatbot to the European Commission after it made vulgar comments about politicians and public figures in both countries.

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Krzysztof Gawkowski, who’s also Poland’s deputy prime minister, told private broadcaster RMF FM that his ministry would report Grok “for investigation and, if necessary, imposing a fine on X.” Under an EU digital law, social media platforms are required to protect users or face hefty fines.

“I have the impression that we’re entering a higher level of hate speech, which is controlled by algorithms, and that turning a blind eye … is a mistake that could cost people in the future,” Gawkowski told the station.

Turkey’s pro-government A Haber news channel reported that Grok posted vulgarities about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his late mother and well-known personalities. Offensive responses were also directed toward modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, other media outlets said.

That prompted the Ankara public prosecutor to file for the imposition of restrictions under Turkey’s internet law, citing a threat to public order. A criminal court approved the request early on Wednesday, ordering the country’s telecommunications authority to enforce the ban.

It’s not the first time Grok’s behavior has raised questions.

Earlier this year the chatbot kept talking about South African racial politics and the subject of “white genocide” despite being asked a variety of questions, most of which had nothing to do with the country. An “unauthorized modification” was behind the problem, xAI said.