conversation: User (akkruse): "I've recently come to the realization that it didn't make much sense to chase 5-10% gains from investing in the stock market when I was paying ~14% interest on credit card debt, so I paid off my credit card balance. I think everyone would agree this was the logical thing to do.\n\nHowever, this got me thinking about other debt that I'm paying interest on, and if it would be more beneficial to pay that off to avoid paying interest, or if market gains would outweigh the interest being paid. I think with the credit card debt, the answer was fairly obvious, but with other debt it's a little less clear.\n\nI'm curious what the general recommendations are regarding investing in the market vs. paying off auto loans and mortgages. Let's assume "current averages" for everything: the average gains from this current bull market, average interest rates, etc. and also that the average person probably doesn't have enough cash/investments to pay off their mortgage. Also, I should also point out that I'm not referring to IRAs or retirement-type investing in the market."
  Self: "If you know how much your investments will make over the time that you are delaying paying off debt, you can do the math. \n\nSince presumably very few of us know this information, it makes the most sense to me to focus on the debt. Why invest money that could have gotten you a guaranteed XX return, and drag down whatever investment return you might make by that XX? And one year of losing money on that borrowed investment money sure seems like it wouldn't be particularly wise. \n\nI've never met anyone who was sad they got out of debt; I have met quite a few who were sad that they kept their debt around for far too long.\n\nUltimately it's personal finance, so you get to do what makes the most sense to you. If you focus on the debt, and hate what being debt free feels like, you can always go get another loan for something :) \n\nGood luck!"
  