I agree. I respect ANYONE who is debt free in a paid off house, its truly a huge accomplishment....but I also feel people can overrate striving to being debt free over using debt to build assets that will, in the future, provide a revenue stream that could make for a very comfortable retirement.
For instance, buying in early on a good real estate deal with money you don't have is much better than waiting to save up that money in cash where, in the future, that same real estate deal could cost 25% more. How many people bitch about seeing the MA real estate bubble coming yet never bought in to some of these MA suburbs when they could have easily financed several down payments? The fear of debt can also hurt you.
I don't know much but the wealthiest people I've encountered all bought in to as many good real estate deals as they could over the years. Tough to do that when you're saving up to pay for your house, car, etc. all in cash.