It tells the inspiring tale of how one millennial went to extremes to pay down an Everest-size mountain of student loan debt. You know, the guy who ate ramen noodles every night and lived with four roommates, or the girl who lived in a camper van and got paid to tour the country while writing about her adventures on her blog, or the couple who "side hustled" 10 different jobs for more than 18 hours a day.

My personal favorite is the internet marketing "genius" who was paid tens of thousands of dollars each month through affiliate marketing because — after all — you, too, can create a killer internet marketing funnel! Sure.

As a member of the millennial generation, I ate lots of ramen noodles, but never connected it with paying down a huge loan.

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Stories like these do create conversation and debate, of course. They highlight just how emotional financial topics such as student-loan debt, for example, can be.

However, they also make paying off debt appear as if it's simply a quick fix, a matter of sheer determination to make it all go away. I call these people "eagles." Eagles are those too proud to bear the burden of their debt. They are willing to throw every available dollar at their liability, even if it means extreme sacrifice.

In many ways, their dedication is to be commended. But there's a big problem with being an eagle. It's not practical. And for most us, being impractical is not realistic. Going to extremes by its very definition doesn't fit comfortably in one's life. That makes things especially dangerous when these suggestions are passed off as tried-and-true financial advice.