What my dad always those was to borrow and borrow in the means of emergency when he savings are exhausted, he never sells his investment or property he always says is better he borrow and pay back than for him to sell of his investment or property he always has this philosophy that problem will surely come and go. Well I don't know if this his own way is the right way to go about big emergency issues that has exhausted our emergency funds.
What if we can't pay back we will still dip hands into our investment to pay the debt.
So a lot of people uses this strategy and it works for them especially when you are still working and facing that issue, my dad is a civil servant and the government pays him at the end of the month so it's easy for him to borrow and sort out his big emergency issues that has exhausted his savings and later pay his debt.
I think if someone loses his job and is been faced with big emergency issues that has exhausted his emergency, reserves and float funds borrowing will be a wrong step since he has no other means to pay back.
In all I pray we don't meet issues or problem that is bigger than our emergency, reserves and float funds.
Yes, your father has definitely taken the right steps. You can keep your savings moving by paying off debt instead of spending from your savings. However, I would advise not to take a loan unless it is a very urgent situation. Borrowing can become a habit due to excessive borrowing. As a result, all your savings and investments can be jeopardized. You'll be debt-free and able to keep your savings and investments going with less spending in emergencies.
Always try to build an emergency fund and reserve fund when it comes to investing. The benefit of this is that you can manage your life from the reserve fund when you are out of a job. Every effort should be made to arrange another employment before the reserve fund is exhausted. In this case, if the reserve fund is exhausted, you can take the help of the emergency fund. You will have plenty of time to get your new job between the reserve fund and the emergency fund being depleted and will be able to save again after getting the job. This way you can keep your investment going even in adverse moments.
Personally I will not advise anyone taking loan in terms of financial challenge because they can always start an emergency and reserve funds along side their investment, I understand at that moment the investor needs the money urgently but, after settling every needs and debt my opinion is the investor should build up a reserve funds so whenever such challenges come up the reserve funds can stand not relying on loans.