By the time I graduated, I racked up $15,000 worth of student loans (carrying 5% interest).  I had saved enough to pay it off but I wasn’t too excited about having to pay it back.  It was almost everything I had.

I wanted to do something with all that money I had worked so hard to save for.   The thought of just paying off the loans and getting nothing out of it was disappointing to me.

I wanted to do something with the money I had saved.  I wanted to invest it all in stocks so that I could make some or enough money to pay off the loans.

There are so many stocks to choose from.  All I had to do was buy the “right stocks”.  I could even buy the same stocks that “investment professionals” are buying and recommending as top picks.

However, investing in the stock market isn’t that simple.  For every stock that is purchased, there’s a person on the other side that is willing to sell it for market price.  If the stocks that are being recommended online or on TV are so “under priced”, “undervalued”, and “positioned for double digit gains” , why would someone else in the stock market be willing to sell it?

The person that is selling these stocks must believe these stocks are “overpriced”, have “limited upside potential”, and worse yet, “likely to fall in price”.

I could do all the research in the world, buy the best stocks recommended from “investment professionals” and stock prices could still fall due to uncontrollable factors – an unfavourable press release about the company, allegations of fraud within senior management, a natural disaster or act of terrorism that interrupts the company’s operations, etc.

Instead of sweating the small stuff like what stock(s) to pick, it became clear to me the best investment opportunity was already in front of me – paying the student loans in full which would yield me a guaranteed 5% return/savings (approximately $750 worth of interest [5% * $15,000]).

I like to call the process of turning debts (credit cards, student loans, mortgages, lines of credits) into investment opportunities – debtvestments.

Debtvestments are usually the best types of investments if you are carrying debt. It guarantees your returns with zero risk, allows you to sleep better at night and ultimately helps you avoid having to question any of your investment decisions that you would have had to make had you invested in the stock market and lost money.

And best of all, you’ll be in a much stronger financial position when you do decide to invest in the stock market and opportunities come up.