<prompt> Human: Greetings PF family. I have been thinking about this for a while now and cannot come up with a reason to pay off this debt that I have. In theory I would love to say Im debt free! and not have any debt, but its hard for me to make irrational decisions to feel better when I dont even know why it would make me feel better to be debt free in this context.Loan Amount--- ---Loan 1 - Auto 12,579 3.59Loan 2 - Student 1259 2.9Loan 3 - Student 649 2.9I have 30k in index funds and 18k cash 10k emergency fund 8k checking accountAm I wrong for not paying off the debt with either cash or some of the money Ive invested? It seems to me like at these interest rates I would rather pay down the loans as slow as possible to maximize the value of the dollars I pay it with future money is cheaper than todays money due to inflation. Am I missing something?Thanks!  <response>: The first reason to pay down debt is risk. Being debt free protects you from being hit hard by job loss, emergencies, and short dips in the market since debt is guaranteed growth while investments could drop.The second reason is cash flow. Less debt more money to put towards more important things.Third reason is mental health. Since you already have a solid emergency fund and retirement investments this probably has little impact on you.So while youre not really foolish for leaving them and investing elsewhere, you have to consider there isnt really a downside to paying them off outside of opportunity for slightly better growth elsewhere. Dont pull investments to do it, but maybe stop saving and start making extra payments on them to get them out of your life. 