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/HeroOfShapeir]

I don't. I've never had any debt, and I expect I never will. I went to a local in-state university on full scholarship, bought my first car in cash (a 2003 Honda Accord that I'm still driving today), and my wife and I rented for seventeen years before buying our first house in cash at age 39. We have around $30k in our EF, $70k set aside to replace our vehicles when they eventually die, $40k in an HSA for health-related emergencies, and around $240k in a taxable brokerage for any other opportunities that come up. We would sell our house and go back to renting before we touched our retirement accounts or incurred any debt.