I wish I had learned this nuance earlier. I started out throwing all the money I could at whatever I was trying to pay off as fast as possible because I had it hammered into me as a child that all debt is a personal moral failing.

I’ve since learned that having cash on hand and a relatively low interest loan like a mortgage or a car loan, is better than a slightly lower balance on said loan and having to use a high interest credit card when an emergency inevitably pops up because I didn’t have any cash.