BUDOS said:Oldbear83 said:FLBear5630 said:Oldbear83 said:FLBear5630 said:J.R. said:FLBear5630 said:Doc Holliday said:FLBear5630 said:Doc Holliday said:RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:boognish_bear said:The average 🇺🇸 American household now owes $10,000 in credit card debt, $58,957 in student loan debt, $241,840 in mortgage debt and $22,612 in auto loans according to a survey by PolicyGenius.
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) December 28, 2025
So the average household in the U.S. is $333,000+ in debt? I think it is substantial but am very skeptical about this number. I don't think it is near that high.
I was thinking it should be much higher
Depends on if housing is included. If yes, I agree may be higher. If not, that seems too high.
It could be the average, but it could easily double in the next decade.
For young adults buying their first cars, homes and maintaining even low middle class lifestyle, there's no way their mortgage balance alone isn't above $400k. The average home price is $512k and IF they put down 20% they will owe about $410k. Add in student loans, cars and cost of living...I could easily see $600k or so in debt being the norm.
Debt is a way of life. You will see more people cash flowing their lives rather than paying things off. For the 80% there is no getting around it. The goal will be getting everything paid off by 72, which will be the new retirement age.
It is not what Dave Ramsey and the financial conservatives like, but there comes a time when how much of your life do you do nothing but pay to have no debt? So your ratios are good? But, there is really no way around it when you crunch the numbers.
(I am not the best one to discuss this with. I watched my Mom have her hot water heater on a timer and not spend a dime so she would have no debt and she could travel. Died at 63, never took one trip. A life of not even being able to take a hot shower on demand. So, I get the financial responsibility thing, but those hospice visits will always push me to do things with my kids...)
Debt is a killer! I don't do much leverage(only for multi-family as they are large assets). I know I could make more $ levering some thing up, but I just don't like debt and like to sleep well. I have explained this to my young adult kids....one gets it, one doesn't.
Crunch the numbers you put out. How do you do that, raise a family and not have debt? I know you dont agree with debt, but if is going to be a bigger part of Life going forward. Until that gap you mention narrows, stable income is going to be more important. Or you will have people delaying life, creating perpetual teenagers
The problem most people have with debt, is that they take on debt without thinking about it, much less having a serious plan for handling that debt.
Properly planned, a house is a solid investment. Properly planned, cars or even college can make sense. But spur of the moment decisions are often bad ideas, and a lack of basic financial literacy is jumping out of the plane not knowing if what you strapped on your back is a parachute, a backpack with books in it, or a backpack with a 'so long, sucker' note in it.
I am not Talking spur of the moment. Look at the categories mentioned- house, car, education, and even health care. They are all investments. Debt has to serve a purpose to be worth doing. At different stages of our lives, different areas of debt become worth it.
The days of saving for a car cash are quickly becoming unrealistic. Housing, education, and even required health are going to require time. Stable Revenue/income to accomplish is becoming more important than saving a lump sum, as the needed lump sum is becoming larger. I think we are seeing issues as people are not wanting to work in those types of jobs like our parents, grandparents did. How many of the young having trouble getting housing will actually do 30 year grind it takes to pay off a mortgage? 200k or 400k?
I agree on debt having to be planned, but housing, health, education, transportation are all basic items that should increase earning capacity, not limit. If we are not going to have Government paid health or education and be free market, debt is a fact of life.
I agree. A big problem is that many people do take on debt without thinking.
Agreed, and even these "smaller" amounts add up in multiple ways.
As it relates to health insurance, why not examine how the better run national programs do it, such as Norway, Denmark and Sweden and start tweaking ours based on that research?
In a word, scale. There is a good reason only small countries seem to make a government-run program anything but worse than what it tried to fix.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier
