Invest or Pay off Debt?
Like most things in life the answer depends. The goal is to always emerge debt free. If you don’t owe anyone money, it takes less money to support your lifestyle. Being debt free also allows you to turbo charge your accumulation plan since you are not paying others interest. However, I don’t think all debt is created equal. While I would recommend paying o? high interest credit card debt before investing, I would not advocate paying o? mortgage debt before investing as most mortgages today are probably under 5% and the interest is tax deductible for most people. Additionally, delaying investment causes one to lose out on the one component of compound interest that is in short supply: time.
My recommendation is to knock out your high interest debt, then go to work on accumulating wealth as soon as possible