How to Set Financial Priorities
Should you invest or pay down debt? Should you help your siblings plan for their retirement? Should you pre-pay your mortgage? Trent Hamm answers these and related questions.
You need to figure out why you’re saving. What are you saving for? If you can’t think of a specific reason that you’re saving, I would focus on eliminating all of your debts, starting with the higher interest ones. I know that they’re relatively low interest, but doing it anyway has two benefits. First, a debt prepayment is basically a guaranteed investment that returns the interest rate of the debt. So, if you’re prepaying a 5% loan, that’s basically a 5% return that you don’t have to pay taxes on, which is pretty good. Second, eliminating debts early gives you personal and career flexibility that you’ll never have with a debt hanging around your neck requiring you to make a payment each month.
