Re:Why is the stock market rallying when the economy is so bad?
by nullc on Monday May 11, 2020 @03:28AM
(#23139687)
>On the other hand, ~15 years ago I had a 3.5% student loan, and even though rationally I should have carried that debt (
Right, but near or sub inflation rate student loans are mostly a non-existent thing anymore. They're much more likely to be at 8% and because of their special treatment in bankruptcy they're usually better to pay down than other loans at similar rates.
As a child I learned how to compute compound interest then shortly after saw a TV advertisement for some kind of predatory loan (not sure if there were payday loan places in the late 80s/1990, but something like that), did the math and for a long time thought all loans were essentially scams (not realizing that the interest rates of payday loans weren't representative). ... it turned out to serve me well: there are worse financial mishaps you could make than avoiding reasonable debt. :)
If all you have is a sub-5% mortgage (though even that's pushing it), or a low-interest student loan, then you should put money toward retirement if you can.
On the other hand, ~15 years ago I had a 3.5% student loan, and even though rationally I should have carried that debt (making regular payments, of course), for peace of mind I paid it off as quickly as a could. I think a lot of people are in that boat, or worse, having been taught that all debt is bad for you.