Last Wednesday I rode back from the Hockey Game with two co-workers who I used to work in the same department with until I was transferred to * Just to clarify – I named him Baby Daddy because his wife just gave birth two months ago to a beautiful baby boy. Not because he’s some deadbeat or anything.
So the three of us are riding back together, gossiping about work stuff and catching me up on all the happenings I’ve been missing while working out of town. Somehow we got away from the work gossip and on to the topic of how compared to a lot of people we were all better off – and we weren’t talking about just financially. Cyclist was talking about having an amazing wife, Baby Daddy was talking about the new baby and being a first time Daddy. Eventually we worked our way around to finances – we agreed we were lucky to have good jobs, a stable company, opportunities for advancement, and a good 401k plan. Then Baby Daddy asked if we’d ever seen CNBC’s the Millionaire Inside. Of course I have – I’m really into financial stuff, but Cyclist had not, since he doesn’t have cable so Baby Daddy explained the show to Cyclist – “People who are seriously in debt come on the show and experts try to help them change and become financially successful”. Baby Daddy talked about how seeing these people who are millions of dollars in debt makes him feel better about his lack of substantial savings. We all start going on and on about how horrible it must be to be that far in debt and I talked about how I have a really hard time relating to how you can get to that point of debt problems (in the millions people) and not realize there’s a problem and make a change. Cyclist agreed with me and added that even if you get into a thousand dollars of debt you’ve got to realize there’s a problem and do something to fix it. “So neither one of you is in debt?” Baby Daddy wanted to know. We both said no, I have no debt and Cyclist has none and even has his house paid off. Baby Daddy couldn’t believe this, and said we must be the only two people in the country who’s not in debt. This made me start thinking about if debt was the norm rather than the exception.
I further started thinking about this after a comment my mom made to me. On Saturday we were walking at the park and she was talking about her money woes and how she just can’t seem to make it all work. I love my mama and was sympathetic to her plight but seriously it’s the choices she makes for examples she has a $200 cable bill but claims she can’t find anything on TV to watch – but I digress the post isn’t about her money choices. At the end of her complaints she shrugged her shoulders and said “I guess everyone’s in debt”.
Baby Daddy and my Mom both think everyone’s in debt. Is everyone in debt, are Cyclist and I the only ones not in debt?
I know we hear statistics all of them about the average savings is negative and how the average non-mortgage debt per household is about $14,500 . But does that really reflect the typical lifestyle in
What do you think, do think the majority of Americans are in debt?
9 comments:
People that have a lot of debt are always surprised to hear that they are in the statistical minority. I read somewhere that 30% of households carry revolving credit card debt - and that the average american's credit card balance is $7000 - which means that the 30% of the population that's carrying credit card debt has much more than just $7000 (oh the beauty of statistics).
I would say that about half of Americans have debt in addition to their mortgages - especially when count vehicle leases as debt.
I think more than half of Americans have debt outside of their mortgage. Especially if you are counting car debt.
I would guess more than 1/2 are in debt, especially when you consider vehicles. Definitely. I'd peg it at 75% or so. I would say that there may be a large amount of savings in a few people (the ultra rich) that is keeping the savings rate from looking extremely low.
I appreciate you all weighing in, I guess my perception is warped.
If you remove the car loan element - What would you say the percentage of American's with debt other than mortgages or cars loans?
The majority of Americans have debt outside of their mortgages. When I was paying off my non mortgage debt, everyone I talked to about it couldn't understand why we would do such a thing. I would estimate that AT LEAST 4 out of every 5 adults had some sort of outstanding non-mortgage debt, credit cards, student loans, car loans, unpaid medical bills, ect.
What surprises me is people who don't even consider a car loan as debt. "Everybody has a car loan" they'll say!
Not Me!
Interesting question. For me and my circle of friends (early to mid 20s), most of us are debt free and good with finances (already planning for retirement, saving in general). But I've always felt that we were in the minority as for a lot of people I know, car loans and credit card debt is the norm.
well i think where you live has a substantial effect on how much you can save - i know about half my friends have savings and half are in the hole - i'm looking to move from the latter to the former group and it takes time, esp to change your mindset - but having a child is expensive so i'm not too surprised he's in debt.....
Majority of my friends have student loans. Sigh we do too. Unfortunately it's more common now than ever.
None of my friends have CC debt, etc. But student loans are the bane of our existance. Many want to law, business, medical school and six figure loans are the norm! Per person!
I think it depends a lot on age, area where you live, whether or not you have a family... If we take out cars and homes, I think most people have some kind of debt, even if it is just a few hundreds in their credit cards.
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