In what possible scenario is burning cash vs keeping a fraction of it a bad financial decision?

I can only imagine it makes financial sense to rent if you live somewhere where you're not paying off someone else's mortgage and are paying a fair renting price. (Otherwise paying your own mortgage just makes more sense)

As an actual honest question, where in the world is like that any more?

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dnissley a day ago | parent [-]

In most HCOL cities it's cheaper to rent than to buy

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rob_c 21 hours ago | parent [-]

not in the UK.

Which is why I asked.

I can name 4 cities easily where you're paying mortgage+extra driven by the "buy-to-let" craze over here. I'll assume you mean the UK is a phenomena in that case.

	▲	dbish 21 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think the difference for the UK is it’s HCOL but low pay, so people there can’t afford the mortgage down payment as much, which is not normal for say American HCOL cities.