The debt payoff order that math says is wrong but that actually works better

Financial math says to pay off your highest-interest debt first, and it's correct on paper. In thirteen years of coaching real clients, I've watched the smallest-balance-first method outperform it in actual completed payoffs, for a reason spreadsheets don't account for.

Paying off a small balance first produces a real, felt win within weeks, and that win is what keeps someone showing up to the plan for the next eleven months. The interest-rate-optimal method is mathematically superior and behaviorally brutal, because the biggest debt is usually also the slowest to show visible progress.

I now recommend smallest-balance-first to nearly every client, because the debt that gets paid off is the one you didn't quit on, and the math only matters if you actually finish.

Part of the deeper dive: The No-Nonsense Guide to Getting Your Money Under Control.