I totally see your point. I’d be a pretty lousy guy to get angry and defensive when somebody expresses their disagreement with what I say.

Investing while debt interest accumulates is definitely more of a gamble than if we have no loans. If our investments do poorly, it’s a double whammy. If they do well, it’s like an extra tax sucking from our bottom line. I still like the idea of learning the ins and outs of investing firsthand, so maybe we can compromise here?

Perhaps this shouldn’t be an all or nothing decision. When investing, we diversify to try and minimize risk, so why not here? A person could split it 50/50 between investing and paying off loans. For the investing side of it, I would definitely put as much into a Roth as possible, and then the tax savings will also benefit us. That way, we are knocking off more and more of our debt each month while getting a feel for investing and putting money away for the long run.

Would you borrow money at 5% so that you could invest it? Most people wouldn’t. But that is essentially what you are doing if you invest your discretionary income instead of paying off your student loan.

You may disagree, and thats ok. We can still be friends

I like your site. Keep up the good work.