Investing vs. Paying Off Debt
These days it is not unusual to be over-burdened by debt. Whether it’s chiseling away at student loans, the monthly car payment, mortgage, credit card or medical, it seems as if most Americans have some level of debt. Those who are just barely getting by logically conclude that paying off debt is the highest priority after the basic needs are met. From an emotional standpoint it may be exhilarating to know that you are free of debt, but there may be another alternative: investing. Could it be beneficial to simply manage your debts by making the minimum payments, while beginning to invest your excess income? Should you pay off debt? Should you invest? Both? Here are some tips to help you decide what works best for
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Good debt usually pertains to purchases that appreciate in value over time. Having a mortgage is a great example of good debt, because the value of your home will generally increase as the years come and go. Student loans are examples of good debt because the cost of a college education is priceless for working in a designated field. Renovations are considered good debt because the improvements on your home will increase the value for when and if you decide to sell. Lastly, purchasing fine art or rare collectables that will appreciate over time given the originality and scarcity of the product can be considered good debt.
When you are trying to live above your means by purchasing things with your credit card that you normally cannot afford, that is considered bad debt. Things pertaining to impulse buys, extravagant vacations and even little everyday joys like your favorite latté from the coffee joint down the street are considered bad debt because they have no lasting value. New cars lose their value almost immediately, so it is considered unwise to make these kinds of purchases just to keep up with the status
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You are already losing money because the purchases have either lost their value completely or they are slowly depreciating over time. In addition, many bad debt purchases will have high interest rates attached, so you are losing more than just the value of the initial purchase by paying that extra interest. Lastly, making an investment while harboring bad debt can be a gamble that might leave you with an even bigger mountain of debt than the hill you had before you started.
In With the Good
If the only debt you have is good debt, then investing doesn’t seem like such a risk because your purchases are only gaining in value. Hopefully over time the value for your home will begin to be more substantial than the amount you’ve invested. Those student loans that helped you land your preferred career path, will eventually be outweighed by your salary as you grow in your career placement. On the flip side, if your good debt has a high interest rate it might be more beneficial in the long run to pay it off, because it might not give you the return you were expecting.
What’s the
Debt is heavy. It sits on your shoulders and weighs you down. Debt is also addictive. It 's easy to throw something on credit when you don 't actually have the money to buy it. It gives you instant gratification, and that can feel good - in the moment. But, for many people, there comes a point where they can 't use their credit anymore and debt is all they are left with. The stress of having to pay it all off can take its toll on your happiness and health, so you must come up with a way to get out of debt and start living a debt free life. Following are two things that will help you get out of debt once and for all.
Start the debt snowball by paying minimums on all of your debts except the smallest one. Place any extra money to that smallest debt. This will make that debt paid off much quicker.
For debt, it begins with a simple late or missed payment. These missed payments allow companies to punish card owners without discretion. With this, lenders hike up interest and payments on their customers for negligence, regardless of what their reason may be. Whether it was a tough month for the family or someone died and expenses had to be payed, lenders do not care one bit. From 2013 alone, student debt was at 1.21 trillion dollars, and mortgage standing at a whopping 7.9 trillion (Miller, R. K., & Washington, K. (2014). These loans also feed into why we as a country are in debt, which currently stands at seventeen trillion. These missed payments also greatly affect interest rates from lender companies. Companies wait for payments to come late, which allows them to impose fees and hidden charges that must be paid along with the delinquent payment. With increased rates comes...
Doyle states in his article, “As of this writing, the total amount of outstanding student loan debt has been estimated at $960 billion (Kantrowitz, 2011).” Right now, there is only 7.4 billion people on earth, but not all of those people are in debt. So, massive debt with not near enough people to even cover the debt on the whole planet put this issue into perspective. Many people talk about applying for scholarships but scholarships can only cover so much of the price, and even then, the scholarships aren’t guaranteed. Now what about paying off the loans? How will that take? “First, incomes vary tremendously across different choices of majors and professions. Second, the incomes of individuals starting out in the labor market vary according to the state of the labor market at that time.” There are many different factors that go into this process. As stated in the previous paragraph, those who do both work and school are more apt to pay their debt off at a quicker pace. But, how much they make and how often they paid is another contributing factor. If the average college student is making minimum wage (part time) and is going to an in
Most people today accept the debt that comes from college. Students consider student loan debt as a “good debt.” They see other students make this mistake but follow their path anyway. Nearly 80% of college-bound students have not projected the total amount of money they will need to graduate college.
Elliott states, “A college education should offer to all graduates similar opportunities to achieve financial success in the long run.” It does not in fact to that at all. Having high debt holds students back from that. It is sad you cannot go to school for what you are passionate about cause the fear of debt and not having good money after graduation. Article mentions, “two students investing similar levels of effort and ability in college and yet achieving dissimilar outcomes upon graduation. Obviously, there is a different in the post-graduation lives of students with and without debt” (Elliott). It would not be worth it to the one with debt because they cannot use their degree. All of your loans would not be worth it because of loan debt. I feel it would only be worth it if you had means on paying it back instead of struggling. Loans are not
Often times a celebratory present to oneself immediately after college graduation is a brand new car. Yet the price of buying a brand new car is about the equivalent to the amount of debt they have gone into via student loans. In the essay “A lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” Robin Wilson discusses in detail about how student loan debt is moreso a necessary tool rather than something to be completely avoided. It is scary for me to think that as an adult I can be over $35,000 in debt immediately after college. I fully understand that paying for college is difficult and scary, so the idea of using student loans is extremely appealing. However, I believe that borrowing in the form of student loans is okay in moderation, making it the key to
Why has our generation become so immersed in debt? Student loans are a major contributing factor. 40 million Americans now hold student loan debts (The Institute). In 2014 the average student loan debt per student was $28,950 (The Institute). However these numbers are declining, student loan debt is and has been continuously rising each and every year. If a student wanted to pay off their $28,950 of debt off in 5 years they would have to pay $559.68 month. To put this in perspective, 559.68 is more than the average car payment. Even if students wanted to pay off their loan in 10 years they would still have to pay $321.40. This is 10 years of hard earned money that students will never get to see because of the cost of education.
When a student gets out of college the game plan is supposed to be, get a job in the field that you went to school for and make money so you can start your life. That particular situation is rare considering not all students get a job fresh out of college. For the students that don’t, they have to go back home and settle for a regular job and start paying off their giant student loans and put their life on hold. Even with having the job they wanted the student loans come right around the corner. After college is when the student’s life is supposed to start and the part where you get a car payment, pay rent, utilities, but none of that is possible when you add the enormous amount of money that the student will be in debt by. With the amount the students have to pay fresh out of college, more students are sacrificing more time struggling to pay off the student loans then they spent in school. Student loans are set-up in a way to be flawed and not always completely necessary to the student.
College is worth the debt because in the end you will have so much to show for it, money, education and happiness. You won 't even be worried about the money you owe because you will be able to pay it off at any time. You will be able to show your kids a better life and help them strive for a higher education too. You will also be able to spend more time doing fun things with your family and not stressing over bills. More college means more money, more money means more education and more education means more happiness. The college education will always be worth the debt at the
The debt will never get cleared up if charges keep appearing on the bill, and even when purchases stop the debt is normally so extensive it takes months if not years to pay off and it can completely plummet a credit score. Also, “College students who are unprepared for financial decision making may make risky decisions such as compulsive spending and debt accumulation. Financial stress impacts both academic achievement and retention.”Stores will try and get many to sign up for their cards and they do this by offering deals. The more cards owned, the more available to spend, which will lead right back into debt. However, a good idea to stay ahead is to pay as much off as much as possible each month. It does not have to be paid in full, but try to at least pay more than the minimum. Debt is all over the world, it 's not just with college students, but with older people as well but college students need to know what debt is good debt and when their limit is before they are drowning in
Many lives have been taken from being in debt, and has been described as being submerged under water with only a broken bendy straw supplying you air. Depending on the career of choice student debt could either hurt an individual or be nothing to them financially. If someone decided to set their life on obtaining a government payed job such as a teacher it would take majority of their check each month to repay their debt. A teacher can make up to thirty-four thousand a year, or two thousand six hundred a month. If that teacher has student loan debt of sixty thousand she could expect to pay one thousand five hundred, leaving her with only one thousand left to pay for her housing and other responsibilities she may have. Many professional jobs require an induvial to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Attending a four-year school can roughly put you in debt around fifty thousand dollars, and that doesn’t include your cost of living, and
I take my college education seriously because it is a costly investment. Decreasing the amount of debt I will owe enables me to commit to my education since it is a powerful tool that I intend to
This is supported by the study of Hakim and Haddad (1999) which found that the loan repayment obligations related to income and are an important factor in the possibility of default.... ... middle of paper ... ... According to the Credit Counselling and Management Agency (CCMA) (2012), the main reasons people fail to pay a debt were poor financial planning (25%), high medical expenses (22%), business failures or slowdowns (15%), loss of control over the usage of credit cards (13%), and loss of jobs or retrenchments (10%). Therefore, Lea, Webley and Walker (1995) found that debt with economic, social and psychological factors are closely related.
Mortgages, car loans, student loans, and having children, are all situations that can drive families to the overwhelming doom of debt. Debt is mostly overlooked for the simple reason that it may be considered normal. Certain types of debt, like car and mortgage payments, are almost always expected. Debt is sometimes very difficult to evade, especially if money is not managed sensibly. Many families accumulate debt due to overspending, medical bills, and unemployment.