Clean Up Your Finances (Collection)

2. Your Debt Management Plan

The previous chapter showed you how most advice on debt is too simplistic. People are often encouraged to pay off the wrong debts, in the wrong order, and at the expense of other, more-important financial goals.

That advice can lead people to do some pretty financially disastrous things, like prepaying mortgages instead of contributing to their 401(k)s or stranding themselves without enough financial flexibility to survive a job loss or other setback.

A better approach is to figure out which debts are contributing to your wealth and flexibility and which aren’t. Pay off the ones that are endangering your financial well-being and better manage the ones that are increasing your net worth.

But how, exactly, do you do ...