Getting out of debt. The Debt Snowball vs. The Debt Avalanche, Which Wins?

When you are juggling multiple loans, deciding which one to pay off first can be paralyzing. The financial world generally agrees on two main strategies: The Snowball and The Avalanche.

The Debt Snowball focuses on psychology.

You pay the minimum on everything, and throw all your extra cash at your smallest loan balance first. Paying it off quickly gives you a massive psychological win and the momentum to keep going.

The Debt Avalanche focuses on math.

You throw your extra cash at the loan with the highest interest rate first. This saves you the most money over time, but it can take months before you see a loan completely disappear.

The truth? The best method is the one you will actually stick to because at the end of the day, the real question is are you still in debt or not?