Opher Ganel
1 min readAug 9, 2022

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Sorry Rocco, but I have to call BS: "There’s absolutely, positively no such thing as good debt" - really?!

(Edited to add: I disagree with you so much that I had to elaborate on what I wrote below: https://opher-ganel.medium.com/sorry-4-reasons-i-have-to-call-complete-bs-now-21ec784d07d4)

Credit cards: 44.1% of card carriers pay in full each month, making this both a convenience and a source of free income (rewards can be cash, and 1.5-2% is typical)

Low-interest auto loans: You can pay cash for a new car, but instead, you take out a loan at 2.25% (or 0%, which I've done a few times). Inflation reduces the value of the balance so much that your real interest rate is a negative 6.3%!

Mortgages: You use other people's money to buy a home, so you don't need to pay rent (that can and does go up, sometimes by a lot). At 3% (tax deductible) interest and 9% inflation, you come out ahead by ~7%.

Business loans: If you decide to start a capital-intensive business, you might have no better option than a business loan. SBA loans can have very attractive rates, interest is tax-deductible, and if you know what you're doing, your business grows so you're making major profits that would have been impossible (or at least very difficult) without debt.

Need I continue?

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Opher Ganel
Opher Ganel

Written by Opher Ganel

Consultant | systems engineer | physicist | writer | avid reader | amateur photographer. I write about personal finance from an often contrarian point of view.

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