Quote:
Originally Posted by sid
Everyone was telling me how I should have kept the debt and invested the money instead. Many of those same people have lost their jobs, a lot of their savings, and some their homes over this past 30 years. Many of my neighbors and friends are now aggressively trying to get rid of their debt after seeing how well I have made out.
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Different strategies are needed for different personalities. The debt-free Dave Ramsey approach is among the most conservative, and probably works for a larger portion of the population. However, personality types like mine feel bad to spend money unnecessarily, and can profit by utilizing credit.
I have a coworker that utilizes an extreme form of credit utilization known as "app-o-rama". He exploits the fact that it takes a few days for a credit pull to show up on his credit report, and applies for many zero-interest and rewards credit cards all at once. He is approved for most of them and then has access to a large amount of credit, which he has methods of liquidating. He then puts the cash in conservative and insured investment vehicles. At the end of the year, he pays off all of the cards, pockets the interest and rewards, and then repeats the process.
He has paid for his wedding in Hawaii, a cruise, among other things by careful exploitation of credit.