Showerthought: My math teacher said paying off debt early is always smart, but my cousin swears investing the extra cash instead made her way more money in the long run. | Debt Free or Die Trying - Rigidtalk
Showerthought: My math teacher said paying off debt early is always smart, but my cousin swears investing the extra cash instead made her way more money in the long run.
Heard my finance-savvy neighbor say putting $10,000 toward student loans instead of a mutual fund cost her about $4,200 in potential gains over two years, and now I'm second-guessing every extra payment I've made, so has anyone else crunched the numbers on which strategy actually wins out?
My neighbor threw $10k into student loans and missed out on like $4,200 in mutual fund gains over two years... that hurts to even think about. Math teachers mean well but they're usually stuck in old school thinking. If your loan interest rate is below 4% you're literally leaving free money on the table by paying it off early. My cousin did the math and her investments outpaced her 3.5% student loan interest by a mile.