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Debt is not all bad and I am actually debt free and never had cuneomsr debts (hence I couldn't care less about Dave Ramsey). Nope, I don't think debt should be used to live beyond your means this is actually the example of a bad reason for debt, but it can however be used to make more money or to hedge against inflation. If all debt had been bad, we wouldn't have modern banking. After all, CDs is a form a loan a loan we give to banks so that banks could lend this money to someone else. Without banking, we'd have to pay somebody to keep our money safe. Businesses use loans to expand, as initial capital or to manage cash flow. Some types of businesses may operate without credit. But others can't. Shipping businesses for example cannot operate without credit: they get paid only after they deliver the goods, but the crew need their payment upfront. Medical research may find it difficult to operate without credit too it takes years and years before a promising new drug makes it to the market (if it does), but clinical studies require $$$. Many a great inventions that we have we got because of credit. While borrowing at 4% and investing in stock market is a very risky strategy at least unless you have enough additional capital stashed in safer places or secure cash flow that would allow you to repay your debt if the market tanks. But taking a 30 year fixed mortgage (yes 30 years) and buying, for example, tax free AAA municipal bonds is a safer bet and may be have an attractive risk-benefit profile under some circumstances. For example, last fall and earlier this year, the yields on AAA municipal bonds were higher than mortgage rates. Considerably higher for those whose mortgage is tax deductible (as the interest on municipal bonds is tax free). A low interest mortgage is also a hedge against high inflation. Think 1980s with their double digit interest rates on CDs. People with 30 year fixed mortgages taken in the 70s had single digit rates and they were nicely earning double digit CDs and watched inflation reduce their debt to nothing. Now, we may not get inflation I have mixed feelings on that, but then any type of investment strategy carries risks. Including putting your money in index funds. Similarly, student loans can be smart or stupid. Now you may say how in your specific case student loans hadn't been necessary. But just because something is true in one case doesn't mean it holds for everyone. Would you mind explaining how a doctor who doesn't have rich parents could avoid student loans? Hints: medical schools are expensive, even state medical schools; medical education is really full time so nope, you cannot work and study, there are no scholarships for medical schools. But a loan taken to get a medical degree would probably pay off i.e. it is a good investment. A loan taken to get a liberal arts degree is likely not to pay off. I.e. in some cases student loans are a bad investment, in others a very good one. In some cases extremely high medical or legal bills, for example, the debt might be a necessary evil. Dave Ramsey's style X months emergency fund will not help you with mid to high 5 digit or even low 6 digit medical or legal bills. Is this type of debt bad? It'll probably be difficult to repay, so yes it is bad, but most of us would rather be alive and in debt than dead. With the exception of (real) emergency cases as well as cases of people living beyond their means, taking or not taking a loan is an investment decision. And as any investment decision including a decision to invest in stocks it can be less risky or more risky, can turn out good or terrible in hindsight. Incidentally, in my case keeping a 30 year mortgage and putting money in a bank instead of prepaying a loan on my previous property turned out a great decision: having extra cash NOT locked in my home enabled me to keep this old property and rent it out when I upgraded. This resulted in my being able to sell it with a nice gain in a few years and repay the mortgage on the new property with a single check. BTW it'd be interesting to have a poll on correlation between people's view about whether or not debt is OK under some circumstances and respondent's net worth. I think you'd be surprised at the answers.
