I had a friend back in the late 80s-early 90s who was already suffering massively under CC debt.

We were both young engineers making good (for fresh grads) money, but nothing like big salaries. Watching him NOT handle his finances and only survive by being periodically bailed out by his very wealthy parents was a lesson for me, someone without any family money to backstop me.

Ever since then I made it rule to pay off my CC every month. It is true that I've been lucky enough to make enough money to have that kind of reserve as my career advanced. Not everyone has that.

That being said, the hundreds of thousands I have NOT paid in interest fees by limiting my spending each month has surely been a big factor in being in a great financial position as I finally start thinking about retirement one day.