I agree with Ben Le Fort. There are some types of debt that you should prioritize paying off before investing (at least once you have some form of emergency safety net in place).
Non-teaser-rate credit card debt falls into that category.
What doesn’t fall into that category are e.g. mortgages and low-interest auto loans.
The test is this: which gives a better after-tax, inflation-adjusted return — the investment you’re considering, or paying your debt off early?
If your credit card charges 20% APR, it’s a given that no sane investment will outperform paying it off as quickly as you can.
If your auto loan APR is 0% (which is what my last two auto loans had), it makes zero sense to pay it off any faster than you’re required by the note terms.
If your mortgage is a fixed-rate one at say 4%, and you can get a tax deduction on the interest, reducing it to less than 3% after tax, and close to 0% after tax and adjusting for inflation, investing in a good mutual fund will outperform it almost every year.
Further, having the investments will give you more flexibility if bad things happen to your ability to generate income. See more details here:
