I'm investing in the stock market while paying off $80,000 of debt, and it's finally convinced me I can be good with money

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• When I got serious about paying off $80,000 of debt a few years ago, I thought at first that I would have to be totally financially solvent before I started investing for retirement, but realized I couldn't wait any longer.
• Now that I'm on track to pay off all my debt in 2020, I'm very happy that I decided to take a two-pronged approach to financial health by both paying off debt and investing.
• Aside from the cold hard numbers showing that retirement savings have earned me thousands of dollars, there's an emotional high from knowing that I'm not as inept with money as I thought I was.
• SmartAsset's free tool can find a financial planner to help balance your own financial goals »

I always assumed investing in the stock market was something you did when you were rich - or at the very least, had a positive net worth. I didn't grow up learning much about stocks; all I remember is telling my grandmother "Disney" when I was asked which company's stock I'd like as a gift (smart move, young me).

So when I got serious about paying off $80,000 of debt - including credit cards, back taxes, and personal loans - a few years ago, I thought at first that I would have to be totally financially solvent before I started investing.

After all, if the vast majority of my debt, save for the personal loans, was accruing interest fees, wouldn't it make the most sense to knock it out first before trying to build up my savings and retirement?

When I turned 40, I couldn't ignore my retirement savings any longer

It turns out it's not so cut-and-dried. For almost two decades, I let my debt simply exist, a dark cloud hanging over me whenever I thought about "the future" (in quotes because that was always a hazy concept about some time decades ahead, rather than, say, "the next five years").

But when I turned 40 four years ago, I realized that I had to get my financial act together or I wouldn't have anything to live on when I wanted to retire, or at least scale back on my hours.

So with input from my boyfriend and family members, I started investing in a traditional IRA, contributing the maximum for most of the last four years (one year I could only contribute $3,000). I was skeptical at first, since that money could have gone toward my goal of being debt-free. But since I'd started saving for retirement so late in life, and had foolishly cashed out my 401(k) in my 20s without understanding the long-term implications of that decision, I knew I'd need all the help I could get when it came to building a nest egg.

I'm happy I haven't put every single dollar toward my debt

Now that I'm on track to pay off all my debt in 2020, I'm very happy that I decided to take a two-pronged approach to financial health by both paying off debt and simultaneously investing. The $3,000, $5,500 and, this year, $6,000 contributions I made to my retirement account never felt like huge sacrifices, because I earmarked that income and knew before it hit my bank account that that's what I would be doing with it. My contributions mean that my retirement account is now worth almost $30,000.

Cristina Guglielmetti, CFP and President of Future Perfect Planning, told me that "financial planning is rarely just about the numbers." While the calculations are important, when you're paying off debt of any kind and deciding how to tackle it (such as choosing between the debt snowball and debt avalanche method), Guglielmetti said you also have to look at "the human side of the equation."

What she means is that there's a mental reward from seeing your debt go down, and that's also important in staying motivated to keep paying it off. In my case, the "human side" means that I feel inspired when I see both my debt being reduced and my retirement savings increasing.

While that method may not work for everyone, she said for me it's logical. "You have done the self-examination needed to understand that as long as there's a plan in place to pay down the debt that you can stick with, it makes sense to also prioritize long-term savings," she said. "Once you're at debt zero, it will be much easier to just increase the retirement contributions, if that's your choice, because the legwork was already done and you're already motivated."

For those in a similar position, Guglielmetti said there are tax advantages to saving in an IRA, "either the present-day tax break from contributing to a traditional IRA or the future tax break from Roth contributions." She noted that since growth in either type of retirement account is tax-free, "that will likely outweigh the extra interest you're paying by splitting the dollars."

I've learned I'm not hopeless with money - I'm just learning

Aside from the cold hard numbers showing that retirement savings has earned me thousands of dollars, there's an emotional high from knowing that I'm not as inept with money as I thought I was. After two decades of being a financial disaster, from declaring bankruptcy to racking up more credit card debt afterward to the abovementioned 401(k) cashing out, I'd gotten the notion in my head that I was simply bad with money, and always would be. I thought that was a personality flaw that would be with me forever.

While paying off so much debt has also shown me that I'm able to change when it comes to finances, it's seeing my retirement savings grow that's done the most for my outlook on money. I no longer think I'm hopeless when it comes to personal finance. I see myself as someone who's just learning about the ins and outs of a whole new language. It's like going to college again, but to learn how to be fiscally responsible, and someday, maybe even wealthy.

Plus now that I'm used to adding to my retirement account annually, it won't be jarring to keep contributing to it once I'm out of debt. As Guglielmetti put it, "The growth you've seen in your investments is actively helping to keep you on target."

I've had to learn to forgive myself for all those money mistakes I made. I won't truly have made peace with my financial past until I'm debt-free, and while I wish that day were right now, I have faith that I will get there very soon. And when I do, I won't be starting from nothing - I'll have tens of thousands of dollars waiting to be built into hundreds of thousands.

SmartAsset's free tool can find a financial planner to help balance your own financial goals »

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