Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input.

How smart is it to really be 100% debt free?
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.