A very good friend of mine is currently suffering from health problems brought about because of stress.  The stress is caused because his business has extremely high overheads and so every month he has to hit enormous targets just to break even.  He is finding it hard to sleep at night.

My advice to him is to walk away.  It's not worth your health.

Whenever I am talking to someone about their home loan, I bring it back to that key aspect, their sleep.  If you can go to sleep at night comfortable that you can meet your obligations and that even if times got tough, that you have a fall-back position, then you are ok.  If however, any change in the market or a change in personal circumstances could bring your financial structure down AND you worry about these events occuring, then you need to rethink your finances.  This exercise can help people to decide whether to fix or to stay variable, whether to buy a low return investment property in a high capital growth area or a high return property in a low growth area.

For us as brokers, it's also an invaluable exercise.  I have worked with dozens of new to the industry brokers over the years.  I have seen quite a few get a rush of blood to the head early in their broker journey and based upon a couple of good months, go out and upgrade cars, sign office leases and even commit to expensive advertising packages.

The beauty of the industry we have joined is that there are relatively low start-up costs and likewise it can be run on low overheads.  While you grow your broking business, keep your commitments low until you have built up a sustainable income (trails) which can allow you to upgrade and move forward. 

Of course, it's up to you, it all depends upon how well you sleep at night.