Say there is a 20k car you need to get to work that you should purchase within a year. Then assume, in a simplified scenario, you can either take out a 6% annual loan, or just save up the money for a year and then buy the car.

Now say the car raised in cost with inflation at 10%. In one year the wait and save will mean the car new costs $22k where as if you had just taken out the loan it would have been $21.2k.

Typically the loan isn't the best thing you can do because a.) inflation isn't that high and b.) there are other ways to generate revenue with your money if you have it one hand.

I still see plenty of those wacky startups offering 0% interest for a year. I made a $10k, necessary, purchase for my home last year using one of those and going to save quite a bit by doing that.

There's also the darker truth that if shit really hits the fan, you can always default on debt, often without real risks of your stuff being repo'd. There's no equivalent if you wait to purchase something in the future.