Some folks will swear that taking a nap is bad for you. “It’ll throw off your circadian rhythm!” or “You’re being lazy- maybe it’s time to be more productive with your time!”. And of course, like many things in life, you could take it too far. For instance taking a nap while your friends are visiting or climbing in bed for 3 hours in the middle of the day will likely lead to poor outcomes- there will be negative downstream effects. But the reality is that a well-timed nap can bring a lot of benefits for many folks- it can boost your memory, increase your job performance, and ease your stress levels. Well, in the same way that naps are misunderstood, so is debt. Indiscriminate use of naps or debt could easily create a mess. But the strategic use of debt is an incredibly nuanced topic that we’re venturing into. Today we discuss how you can determine if you’re using debt strategically by looking at your finances holistically, how folks use debt as a crutch, why it’s important to understand opportunity cost, evaluating your own personal debt tolerance, and much more!

Additional links:

• Money gears – We referenced our 7 Money Gears during this episode. It’s important to know what your next financial moves should be before you take action!

• Debt payoff plan – Use Undebt.it to help you figure out a get-outta-debt plan and listen back to episode 297 where we talked about the debt snowball vs the debt avalanche.

• 0% balance transfer – If you’ve got your act together, then a counterintuitive move is to utilize a credit card. Read our full article to see how you can use a 0% balance transfer credit card to help you pay off some debt.

• Golden Credit Card Rules – Best practices for using credit cards… know them and STICK to them!

• Credit Card Tool – Looking for the right credit card for you? Then check out our new credit card tool that’ll help you to easily filter through all the cards based on your preferred airline, whether or not they have an annual fee, or simply by the cashback offer! Just toggle the sliders and you’ll know which card to consider.

• Newsletter – Don’t forget to sign up for the best personal finance newsletter in all the land! It’s completely free and something we create to help you along your journey to financial freedom. It drops every Tuesday morning and you can always unsubscribe if you don’t dig it!

During this episode we enjoyed a Milk and Cookies by Wicked Weed! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!