As a twenty-something, ideally you have very little, if any debt. You probably have some student loan debt, but that is it. For most of you, you don’t know what it is like to live a debt free life. After all, you never had a full time job working 40 hours a week for a full year until now.

But take it from me, who had over $10,000 in credit card debt and a car loan to tell you that living debt free is the way to live. If you happen to have a decent amount of debt, then you know where I am going with this.
Here are the various reasons why living a debt free life is so rewarding.

Reasons To Live A Debt Free Life

Little To No Stress

The first reason is hardly any stress. When I was in debt, I hated getting the mail. I hated looking at my checking account. I was in fear of the next credit card bill and fearful for how I was going to pay it. It added a ton of stress to my life.

For any of you that experience stress from time to time with your job, just take a minute to imagine feeling that way all of the time. That is what it is like to live with debt. Not fun at all.


Not having debt offers you freedom. What kind of freedom am I talking about? In 2013 I lost my job. Totally blindsided. The company was doing well and I was getting nothing but praise from my managers. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

After taking a few days to emotionally calm down and think with a clear mind, I ended up taking a chance. I had been blogging for a few years and I took the leap to go full time. I had no debt and my sites were bringing in a decent amount of money each month.

Had I had debt, there is no way I would have had this option. I would have found another 40 hour per week job and kept working as usual. But since I didn’t have debt, I had more options when it came to work, more freedom to do a something I loved, regardless of the pay.


When you have debt, you are playing from behind. While technically every dollar of debt you pay off gets you in better financial shape (assuming you aren’t just going back into more debt the next month), in reality, you are going from a negative to zero.

Your net worth is negative with all of your debt and as you are paying it off, you are just getting yourself closer to zero. In other words, you are working for someone else.

When I was in debt, I was paying the credit card companies 50% of the money I was making. So in a sense, I was really working for them. Now that I am out of debt, I am working for me. I save 50% of my money each month and my bottom line grows to reflect this.

I am getting further and further ahead financially because I am not in debt but rather saving and investing my money.


When you are living debt free and moving forward financially, it gives you an added boost of confidence. This comes from knowing you are being smart with your money and you can and do make smart financial decisions.

This confidence spills over into other areas of your life and you become a better, more successful person.

Final Thoughts

Living debt free is a great way to live. I know you see commercials talking about financing things and all of your friends are going to start having flashy new cars and nice apartments, but remember that looks can be deceiving. Don’t fall for the trap society feed you, telling you debt is OK.

It is not. It causes stress in your life and makes life not as fun or happy. Sure you will be happy in the moment when you get that new car or the new outfit, but that feeling will quickly fade. Take it from someone that has been there.

Life is so much better living debt free. It won’t be easy to live a debt free life, but most things that are worth doing never are easy. I encourage you to start down the path of a debt free life, starting today.