For the last 2 years, I have been trying hard to be debt free without affecting my personal cash flow. I am by no means a rich person, but I have a decent salary.
I still have debt, specifically
Is it smart to work towards be 100% debt free, or is having some debt for some reason smart?
If you can borrow for an asset that gives you income that's more than the cost of carrying the debt, then go for it.
But the kinds of debts you have now aren't those kinds of debt, so get rid of them.
Debt increases your exposure to risk. What happens if you lose your job, or a major expense comes up and you have to make a hard decision about skipping a loan payment? Being debt free means you aren't paying money to the bank in interest, and that's money that can go into your pocket.
Debt can be a useful tool, however. It's all about what you do with the money you borrow. Will you be able to get something back that is worth more than the interest of the loan?
A good example is your education. How much more money will you make with a college degree? Is it more than you will be paying in interest over the life of the loan? Then it was probably worth it.
Instead of paying down your loans, can you invest that money into something with a better rate of return than the interest rate of the loan? For example, why pay off your 3% student loan if you can invest in a stock with a 6% return? The money goes to better use if it is invested. (Note that most investments count as taxable income, so you have to factor taxes into your effective rate of return.)
The caveat to this is that most investments have at least some risk associated with them. (Stocks don't always go up.) You have to weigh this when deciding to invest vs pay down debts. Paying down the debt is more of a "sure thing".
Another thing to consider: If you have a long-term loan (several years), paying extra principal on a loan early on can turn into a huge savings over the life of the loan, due to power of compound interest. Extra payments on a mortgage or student loan can be a wise move. Just make sure you are paying down the principal, not the interest! (And check for early repayment penalties.)
The responses here are excellent. I'd add just a couple of points. Debt is not generic. It ranges from low (my HELOC is 2.5%) to insane (24% credit card, anyone?). When I read about the obsession to be completely debt free, I ask questions. Are you saving in your 401(k) at least up to the match? I disagree with the "debt is evil" people who advise to ignore retirement savings while paying off every last debt. My company offers a dollar-for-dollar match on the first 5% of income deposited. So a $60K earner will see a $3000 deposit doubled. 5 years of this, and he has 1/2 a year's income in his retirement account, more with positive returns. (note - for those so fearful of losses, all 401(k) accounts have to offer a fixed income, low-risk choice. currently 1% or less, but the opposite of "I can lose it all".)
After that, paying off the higher debt is great. When it's time to hack away at student debt and mortgage, I am concerned that if it's at the risk of having no savings, I'd hold off. Consider - Two people in homes worth $250K. One has a mortgage of $250K and $100K in the bank. The other has his mortgage paid down to $150K. When they lose their jobs, the guy with the $100K in the bank has the funds to float himself through a period of unemployment as well as a house the bank is less likely to foreclose on. The guy with no money is in deep trouble, and the bank can sell his house for $150K and run away (after proper foreclosure proceedings of course.)
My mortgage is one bill, like any other, and only a bit more than my property tax. I don't lose sleep over it. It will be paid before I retire, and before my 11yr old is off to college. I don't think you are stupid for paying your low-interest debt at your own pace.
Keep in mind that you NEED to have a cash reserve. Blindly applying all stray cash to debt reduction is a bad idea. Your lenders do not care about your balance. All they care about is your NEXT payment. It is therefore imperative that you have a cash reserve that can carry these payments for several months. Having zero cash reserves puts you at high risk for such simple things as the payroll clerk at work missing the monthly deposit (Rare, but it happens.)
I've also been in situations where a major client had a cash flow issue and delayed payment, and our company had to borrow to meet payroll that month. Fortunately, we were in good standing with the bank and had low debt, but it could have been catastrophic for any employees living paycheque to paycheque.
You might miss an opportunity or three by strictly avoiding debt, but I can't think of a problem you will create by being debt free.
So maybe it isn't the absolutely smartest thing to avoid debt on principle*, but it certainly is pretty smart at the very least.
No matter what, it is never a bad decision to go 100% debt free. However, you can make debt work in your favor in some cases (investments, education, etc.), but you need to approach it with a plan and long term strategy. Interest, fees, and loss of value can quickly eat up any gains.
When you're debt free everything you own feels different. The lack of financial stress in your life goes away.
BUT! before you do go gung-ho on paying down debt think through these steps (and no I did not come up with them. Dave Ramsey did and others).
Truncated from - http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/
I have 1 credit card. Only use it for business/travel but pay it off every month (yay for auto-draft). Everthing else is cash/debit and we live by a budget. If it's not in the budget we don't buy it. Easy as pie. The hard part is disciplining yourself to wait. Our society is gear for BUY NOW! PAY LATER! and well you can see where that has taken our country and families.
And celebrate the small victories. Pay off 1 debt then go have a nice dinner. Things like that help keep you motivated and pursuing the end goal.
I think about debt as a good option for capital investments that offer a return. In my opinion, a house and clothes you need for that new job are good things to borrow for. School is ok, depending on the amount. Car is ok, if it's a 3 year loan. The rest is not good.
You should try to carry as little debt as possible, but don't let it dominate your life. If faced between the choice of paying ahead on your student loan and blowing $300 on an XBox, you should pay the loan. If the choice is between taking your kid to the zoo and paying the loan, have fun at the zoo.
The day I paid my last student loan payment and my last car payment was (January 4, 2000) a very happy day for me, being then 100% debt free. It is a very good feeling, especially since I was saving cash as well. It's a great thing to know that no-one "owns" you.
Many others here have provided useful information about debt, and I know that paying off your existing loans will improve your credit rating, in case you want to go back into debt (which I did later in 2000, by buying a house).
For most people, borrowing money to invest it is complicated (make sure you're not paying more on your borrowed $ than you make on your investment) due to the fact that most investments have risk involved.
I would say that being debt-free is a very good goal, and there's a level of freedom it gives you. Just make sure you have your "rainy day" fund building while you're on your way to getting there.
Would you run a marathon with ankle weights on? It starts off as ankle weights, but then grows into a ball and chain as you dig yourself a little deeper each time you use your credit card (and then don't payoff the balance because "something more important came up").
I would love for my wife to be able to be home and raise our son, but we simply can't afford to do that with the amount of debt we have. We are clawing our way out, and will pay off one student loan and a car loan, then start saving for a house and once we have that, we'll get back to debt reduction.
Get debt free. That's where we are headed. Most of it is student loans at this point, but debt will take away your freedom to do whatever you like down the line. It just increases your overhead in the long run.
100% debt free is an objective. Being there is good, but as long as you have a plan to get there, are sticking to it and it's moving you towards it at a reasonable rate (e.g. "I will be debt free by the end of 2011."), you should be in good shape. It's when you don't ever expect to be debt free that you have a problem.
Going into debt is one question and a very situation dependent one.
Getting back out is another and a very easy one: pay off all debts as a fast as you reasonably can, starting with the highest interest ones.
OTOH this doesn't imply that you should forgo every optional expense (including things like savings and entertainment) to pay off debts, that would be unreasonable, but just that paying down debts should always be considered when thinking about what to do with money.
This is a "stress" period, much like the 1930s and 1970s. At a time like this, it is smart to be debt free, and to have money saved for the likely emergencies.
There are growth periods like those of the 1980s and 1990s, probably returning in the 2020s and 2030s. At such times, it makes sense to play it a little "looser" and borrow money for investments.
But the first order of business in answering this question is to look around you and figure out what is going on in the world (stress or growth).
Having no debt should be the ultimate goal for every household, IMHO, but at what cost?
As an example, I had some clients (before they started working with me) that had outstanding debt when they retired and were gung-ho to pay it off. They opted to take it out of their retirement accounts. They didn't set aside enough for taxes which was their first mistake.
After a few years, they now have realized they should not have paid off everything as now they have other medical issues that have arisen and not enough in their retirement accounts to satisfy their monthly requirement.
A Simple Rule to discern between good and bad debt:
Does this mean you should never buy a house or car? Of course not. But if you accrue bad debt, make sure that you can handle it and understand the costs and repercussions.
As others mentioned, the only clear reason to remain in debt is if you can find an investment that yields more than what you're paying to maintain the debt. This can happen if a debt was established during low-rate period and you're in a high-rate period (not what is happening now.)
A speculative reason to keep debt is as an inflation bet. If you believe money will shortly lose value, you are better off postponing repayment until the drop occurs. However you're not likely to be able to make these bets successfully.
Hope this helps
My take is that there are many factors to consider when deciding whether to accelerate payment of a debt beyond the require minimum.
Ideally you would want to be debt-free with a home owned outright, a pension big enough to lead a nice life for the rest of your days and plenty of savings to cover any unexpected expenses.
Being debt-free is not a bad thing but it should not come at the expense of your overall financial health.
Very smart. Let other people pay you interest. Don't pay other people interest. And, yes, I know it's possible to borrow money from one place and lend it to another place at a slightly higher rate, but why bother.
Around 3 months back, I paid back my last loan from my father which he gave for the car. Now I am totally debt free from 2 months. I have paid back following loans, 1. Education loan. 2. Car loan.
I don't have my own property yet. I have a 3 months emergency fund saved which helps me overcome if there is a sudden expense. Overall, its a great idea to be debt free. I used to get extreme thoughts while I had a loan. I paid back and now I am doing good.
Considering that we are in a low-interest rate period (the lowest in history), it's smart to loan money from the bank to reinvest in property or other investments as far as you get a better yield (ROI) than the interest.
A few notes:
the education loans, though relatively low in APR, aren't dischargeable through bankruptcy, pursuant to Section 439(A) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and its amendments since. the only way to absolve them from your debt and records is to prove that you experience "undue hardships" to the courts that align with the holdings of Brunner v. New York State Higher Ed. Services Corp.
4.75% isn't that low of an interest rate, although it's much better than cc which starts around 14-17% per year for prime debtors with high credit scores
As for your question
Is it smart to work towards be 100% debt free, or is having some debt for some reason smart?
There are a couple of answers:
having debt accounts (whether open or closed) establishes credit, which can be useful if you ever want to buy property and go into real estate opportunities as a form of investing.
deploying cash into market securities instead of paying off low-interest debt can be smart, if your expected appreciation exceeds the interest that you carry by not closing your debts. that would be a net win for you, and this analysis is an exercise in opportunity costs. however, gains are not guaranteed in any high-gain marketable security, so there's definite risk that you need to consider.
I don't know about "smart", but surely it is optimal not to have any debt. Having debt basically means you have bought something with your future money that you did not have at the moment of purchase. Is it smart to buy something with money that you don't have yet? How certain are you that you will indeed continue to have your set income in the future? The current political situation, caused by the supposedly ongoing "pandemic", is a great example of how most people's income is not set in stone, and could unexpectedly shut off.
The magnitude of your salary does not make any difference, believe me. Money is finite, desire is infinite. It is surprising how many people are one paycheck away from homelessness despite having 6 or even 7 figure income -- but the reason is their huge debt.
In contrast to some other answers, I think there is no such thing as "good" debt. Some types are worse than others, but all debt is bad. The worst type of debt is debt over purchase of deprecating assets, like cars, smartphones and other luxurious toys. Going in debt for investment is certainly better than this, but is still bad. There is absolutely no guarantee that your investments will succeed. It could be a success, or it could sink and make you lose all the money you invested. Meanwhile, your debt is guaranteed to collect interest rates. It basically makes it similar to gambling -- I don't intend to mean that it is necessarily so bad that nobody should ever do it, but anyone who wants to do it should be aware that they are taking the risk.
Compound interest is, according to economists, one of the most powerful phenomenons in the universe. Having debt means having this phenomenon work against you, and you don't need that.
