Transcript
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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Today's discussion is the worst financial advice you can get. So here's the issue. If you're on social media, there are a million people that are giving financial advice of different sorts. Two of the worst types that might make sense from a very, very technical perspective are you don't need an emergency fund and you shouldn't pay off your mortgage. So here's the concept. The concept on people proclaiming that you don't need an emergency fund goes something like this. That money in an emergency fund, essentially cash, will earn a very small percentage interest. And if the money's outside the emergency fund, it could do better in the stock market or someplace else. Now, my sensual people give this advice. I'm a huge fan of a big emergency fund and much bigger than anybody else would advise you to have, since I'm a big believer in safety in case things go poorly. The people that say you don't need an emergency fund, I generally think that they're one of three things. They grew up so privileged. Financial downturns, two, they're just morons, or three, they've never lived through a tough time. One of those three. And there might be other reasons too, that somebody say that you don't need an emergency fund. So that's one of the pieces of financial advice I absolutely hate that becomes very common on social media. The second piece of financial advice that I hate is this concept of you shouldn't pay off your mortgage. And this concept again, goes somewhat similarly, that a mortgage you could borrow at 3% and it's deductible or whatever the number might be, maybe 5 or 6% today, but it's deductible, so you get an interest expense deduction. And you could use that money to invest in something that makes much more money. And again, as long as what you actually invest in over time does better. God bless. I'm a huge fan of the opposite approach. Keep on paying down that mortgage. I cannot tell you from a financial perspective, I don't know if you could do better the other way, not having. By having a mortgage and investing it, or. Or by having a very small emergency fund and investigates. Maybe on paper, yes, maybe theoretically, yes. But I can tell you I have taken great joy over the years in paying off the mortgage and having a sizable emergency fund. So again, I think these two pieces of advice, you don't need an emergency fund, you shouldn't pay off your mortgage are two of the worst pieces of financial advice you could see on social media. Thank you for listening to the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Have a great day. Thank you.
