Duffman

I'm gonna dumb this down a lot, not for you, but for the broke-ass 20-something pilots reading this.


Debt isn't always bad. Take buying a home vs renting. The money you spend on rent goes away forever. If you buy a house, some of that money goes away forever, like the interest, property taxes, etc, but the amount that goes to the principal (how much money you owe on the loan) might as well be going into your savings account.


At the end of a 30 year loan you own your house and all you have to pay are the property taxes (varies by state, but usually less than $500/mo for a decent house). Theoretically, that means right before you retire, you have a paid off house.


But, let's say you have to move after 10 years and sell your $300k house for the same price you bought it. You likely only paid off about $70k of the loan because it's a rigged game where loans are front-loaded with interest (the money the bank keeps), which is why you're better off paying off loans as early as possible, but I digress. If you sell the house for the same price you bought it, after paying $70k off the loan, you get to keep that 70k, and you'll probably use it to help pay off the new house you move into. It's kinda like moving from Delta to AA, but keeping your seniority, except with money.


Look up 'amortization table' online. It's pretty eye-opening to see how big a difference 1% in interest makes. A $300k 30 yr home loan will end up costing you $515k at 5% interest but only $455k at 3% interest.


Now houses obviously change value over time, so if you sell your $300k home for $600k, you just made a ton of money, but likely all homes are worth more, so you likely won't move into a nicer house.


Regardless, if you pay rent your whole life you likely will never be able to afford to drop $300k in cash for a house, and when you die, you don't leave your family with a house that they can sell, live in, rent out, whatever, which is why home ownership is the best way to build 'generational wealth' for your family.

College, on the other hand, used to be viewed as an investment because it guaranteed a job that was so much better it'd pay for itself many times over. But nowadays, that's not necessarily the case, and it hurts you even further in the long run if it significantly delays or prevents you from owning a home. Also, when you die you can't pass your degree off to your family, so you need to recoup that money early for it to really be worth it, otherwise you just lose too much in 'opportunity cost.'

My advice, enlist for 4 years and get the GI Bill. The military is a great stepping stone early in life, but long-term it's a tough lifestyle. Get in, get a few stories, join the fraternity, get out. Be aware though that a lot of military jobs don't transfer to the outside and the longer you stay in the more pigeon-holed you become. If the military isn't your style, become a tradesman first and use your income to pay for college/flight school/etc as you go. College is more fun when you're over 21 anyway.

Just remember that with debt in general, you're gonna have to pay back about twice what your borrowed.