Yesterday I made it pretty clear you could tell the finance bros to shove it, if you could just invest into the S&P and not touch it for a while...
But a TON of you wrote in about me telling you to wait until you paid off your debt.
So let me show you something...
Let's say you have five thousand dollars in credit card debt, with a twenty-four percent APR. You make the minimum payment every month, on time, and never miss one. You're "responsible."
Kinda.
Here's what "handling it" actually costs you.
It'll take you seventeen years to pay off that balance. Seventeen. Depending on the debt formula your lender uses, you'll spend almost 2 decades and nearly $6,000 in interest on top of the original $5,000, meaning you'll hand the bank almost twice what you originally borrowed.
And the thing you bought with that money, the couch, the vacation, the transmission, or whatever it was, will be a distant memory before you're actually free of it.
Your future self will still be paying for something your current self barely remembers buying.
Stop fucking over future you!
how you're treating future you rn
See, banks don't set minimum payments low because they're generous. They set them low because a customer making minimum payments is the most profitable customer they have.
When you only make minimum payments, you're feeding the machine just enough every month to keep it running, while the interest compounds in the background and the balance barely moves. Meanwhile, you feel like you're doing the right thing because at least you're paying something.
(You're really not.)
Think of it like reverse investing.
The more you sink into a credit card, the more screwed you are.
While the more you invest, the less screwed you are.
See, money can be simple.
So here's what you actually do about it. No fluff, no "talk to a financial advisor," just the moves:
Find the real number. Log into every card and write down the balance, the APR, and the minimum payment. All of them. On one piece of paper. Most people have never looked at all of it at once. Do that first.
Stop using the cards. You can't drain a bathtub with the tap still running. Freeze them, lock them in a drawer, do whatever you have to do, but new charges while you're paying down debt is just running in place.
Pay more than the minimum. Every month. Without exception. Even an extra $50 makes a meaningful dent on a seventeen-year timeline. An extra $200 can cut years off.
Attack one card at a time. Either the highest APR first (saves the most money) or the smallest balance first (builds momentum). Both work. Pick one and commit.
That's it. That's the whole plan.
The average American household carrying credit card debt has somewhere around $8,000 on the balance.
Run that math at minimum payments, and we're talking twenty-plus years. We're talking more in interest than some people spend on a used car.
And here's the part that really gets me: most people have never actually sat down and looked at this number.
Not because they're stupid.
Because it's terrifying to look at, and looking at it makes it real, and if it's real then you have to do something about it, and that feels harder than just making the minimum payment and not thinking about it too hard.
I understand that. I do.
But not looking doesn't make it smaller.
It makes it bigger, every single month while you sleep. The only way out is to see the number, make a real plan, and start attacking the balance instead of feeding it.
And look, if you're struggling and just need a "little" extra to get started on paying off debt, you should check out today's newsletter sponsor: Chime.
Chime is an online banking app that actually helps you get ahead and avoid annoying fees.
No monthly fees, no minimum balance requirements, and you can even get paid up to two days early with direct deposit.
It's a great tool to keep your money safe and watch it grow in one of their HYSA’s.
(Which is a great way to start reaping some of the rewards investing can bring you, while you pay down debt.)
And when you sign up using THIS LINK, Chime will give you $200 deposited directly in your account.
Every extra dollar you throw at that balance is interest you'll never have to pay, which means it's worth more than a dollar.
