The Best Return on your Cash. Sure, stocks are much cheaper now than they were at the first of the year. So are houses.

But if you’re carrying a lot of credit card or other debt, your best investment is to pay down that debt.

What is the best investment you can make?

Here’s a hint: It will earn you a guaranteed return that will beat just about any stock on Wall Street.

This investment doesn’t require more than two minutes of research and you have everything you need to begin right now.

I’m not talking about a stock, bond or mutual fund, but an investment in lowering your personal debt. Too much high-interest credit card debt is never a good idea and considering the economy remains unstable, now is a good time to reduce those balances.

Start with your highest interest debt (probably a credit card). If you have been a good customer and your interest rate is more than 12 percent, ask the issuer to lower it.

If the issuer won’t give you a break, consider switching the balance to an existing card with a lower interest rate (don’t get a new card just to get a new rate).

Make up your mind to pay off all the high interest debt as soon as possible. This may mean giving up some luxury or skipping expensive presents until the job is done.

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Try to avoid adding to any balances and pay as much as you can (at least three times the minimum payment).

Investment Program; If you have to slow your investment program (not your retirement account, such as a), do so as long as the money goes to pay down your debt.

What about the guaranteed return? How is paying off debt going to earn you a return?

Consider it interest avoidance.

If you are paying 12 percent (or more) on your credit cards or other debt, you are unlikely to earn that level of return on a consistent basis.

So, for every dollar you don’t pay in interest on personal debt, you are effectively paying yourself.

Those unspent interest dollars can go to reduce your debt even more and, best of all, when you pay off your personal debt, the cash flow that you were paying to debtors is now yours to keep.

In any economy, but especially when things a slowing, cash is king and you will have more cash to do with as you please when you aren’t paying off your personal debt.

Once you get out of debt, put away all of your credit cards except one and pay of the balance each month.