Are you in credit card debt? Is your credit card debt holding you back from investing money? Are you behind held back from strong investments because of credit card debt?
I truly believe that money is more psychological than anything else. I also believe that debt is irrational and that we can’t always be logical when approaching money management. We don’t logically get into debt. We don’t think rationally when we spend money that we don’t have. We don’t rationally get into a situation where all of our new income is going towards old debt and crap that we bought in the past.
With that being said, paying down credit card debt is a very emotional process. It’s challenging to pause and be logical about investments that come your way. This is why I’m not a fan of suggesting investing money to those that are paying down debt. At the moment, the best investment for them is to become debt free and live life on their own terms.
The inherent risk is that you’re going to miss out on strong investments when paying off debt. What can I say? You should focus on being clear of any financial obligations. You don’t want to prolong the process of becoming debt-free through getting distracted by every offer that comes your way. You might miss out on some strong investments. Oh well. Don’t think about the past. Move on and imagine a life without any debt.
The reality is that you have nobody to blame but yourself for being in credit card debt. You can try to argue all that you want, but nobody told you to buy that stuff. You can claim that it’s not real money or use any other conspiracy theory in the book. The truth is that you still owe someone money. That’s the bottom line. You bought stuff with money that you didn’t have. You got used by the credit card.
At the end of the day, I don’t think that you should invest your money when in debt unless you have a sure thing. You simply can’t afford the risk. You can’t afford to get into more debt without any sort of guarantee. If you could invest a few thousand dollars to upgrade your current job or to find a new part-time job, I say go for it! If it’s a risky investment, why bother? Pay down your credit card debt first and then you can start investing your money. You don’t want to lose money that you don’t have. That’s how you got into debt in the first place.
If you want to read more you can check out a quick and effective piece on how you can speed up your debt payment right now.
