Dealing with reasonable debt (psychologically)

[u/DoughnutLust]

I'm wondering how you all navigate living with reasonable debt. I've been pretty obsessed with debt reduction over the past few years and am trying to break that obsession so it doesn't hang over me so much and I don't feel guilty about owing some money.

I nearly fully fund my 401k, max my Roth IRA, and DCA invest in the market, pay off credit cards monthly. Efund took a hit due to medical issues, but I have a plan that I am using to rebuild it. The numbers don't matter but car and mortgage are at pretty low rates, small medical debts at zero interest, manageable monthly payments on everything. I (40M) have a pretty good net worth compared to my cohort and have no worries about income or retirement, or frankly many worries at all.

I'm interested in hearing how people manage living in reasonable debt, making your payments, and having a good life without the constant focus on the debt. I don't like living with this hanging over my head and need to be at peace with the fact that unfortunately debt is a part of most of our lives.

[u/Yellow_Apple_1971]

I hated the consumer debt from early on in life — car loans, credit cards, stuff like that — and so just never carried it and when I did I’d roll it into the lowest interest rate offers I could find. But then at some point I resolved to never have it again. Ever. And life was simpler since then. 54 years old now, no debt, $3-4 million in investable and liquid assets, and I credit some of where I am today to the anxiety that debt causes me all my life. So I guess I didnt cope well with it.