Graham Stephan Says This Is the 'Best Investment You Can Do Now'

Stephan's recommended investment may surprise you.

Graham Stephan is a finance expert with a popular YouTube channel. He also discusses money matters on Twitter.

Recently, he tweeted out some important advice that everyone should read about the best investment you can currently make. Here's what Stephan had to say.

Stephan thinks everyone should make this investment

On Twitter, Stephan shared some disturbing realities that led him to offer his investment advice. Specifically, he pointed out that the statistics on credit card debt show Americans have borrowed a lot and are at risk of not being able to pay it back.

Stephan linked to a fact sheet showing that Americans owe a collective $930 billion on their credit cards -- more than the $870 billion they owed during the financial crisis of 2008.

The fact sheet also showed that there was a big increase in delinquency rates, which measure how many people have fallen behind on payments and may not be able to pay back what they owe. Specifically, delinquency rates are up 0.16% from the prior quarter with 5.32% of cardholders delinquent. Younger Americans make up a disproportionately high share of those delinquencies, as they have a 76% higher delinquency rate than other age groups.

In sharing these facts, Stephan said they were "extremely concerning." And, he went on to give some important investing advice to those who owe. "If you have credit card debt, the best investment you can do now is to pay it off -- Everything else can wait!" he urged.

Is Stephan right about this investment?

Stephan is absolutely right to warn about the high rates of credit card debt and the increasing number of delinquencies. Owing a lot of money on credit cards can be a huge problem for you financially, and not being able to make payments can have a detrimental impact on your finances for years.

He's also correct that, in most cases, paying off credit card debt is the best investment and should be your top priority. Credit cards tend to have very high interest rates, so they can be really expensive.

Your return on investment (ROI) from debt payoff is the interest saved. So if you are paying 17%, 20%, or even more on your cards, you'll get a ROI that's significantly higher than the average 10% annual return you'd get from investing in an S&P 500 fund (the S&P 500 is a financial index made up of 500 large U.S. companies, which is widely viewed as a measure of the "stock market" as a whole).

However, there are a few caveats. First, if you have an employer 401(k) with company match, you should likely contribute enough to earn the match before paying extra to your cards. And, second, if you have a card with a 0% promotional APR, then as long as you're on schedule to pay it off before the 0% rate ends, then you don't need to throw any extra money at it that you could use elsewhere.

Outside of these situations, though, the high rate of interest that comes with a credit card is reason enough to invest in paying it off ASAP as Stephan suggests. As a bonus, if you free yourself of this debt for good, you'll have more money to spend on other investments and you won't risk becoming delinquent if your income drops and you don't have the cash to make a monthly payment.

These extra benefits make Stephan's advice even more worthwhile to listen to.