Posted on 02/19/2018 6:43:14 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Actually, 100% of all adults owe $20 trillion.
Um 100% of Americans owe someone else money, ever heard of the Federal Debt ?
Argh, beat me to it !
one of the most freeing things ever is paying off all debt. When you are no longer paying interest you have more available cash. That extra cash accumulates and earns interest. Now you can start paying cash for big ticket items like home repairs and cars.
Count me in - I spent almost $6 at Aldi today, and I didn’t want to walk out with a pocket of change. So now I owe $5 and change to the bank on that credit card. Now, if you had posted yesterday....
Yes, that’s me. A baby boomer that just sunk myself in about 50 grand worth of debt at about 3%. I have surplus in my IRA to cover it, but after the recent stock market drop, it’s still making 10%, if it fully recovers, it will be 18% or better this year. So yes, why not.
But we do own a rather valuable home and several toys, all paid for. I do know some boomers 100% in debt, meaning they own nothing that’s free and clear.
In preparation for early retirement I reduced debt to mortgage only and that is comparatively small.
In 6-7 years I will have no debt.
Except what Uncle Sugar has generously run up in my name.
It depends on how you define ‘debt’. Everybody owes this month’s utility bill, for the gas and electricity they have already used. Even those who pay their CC bill in full every month still usually have some sort of balance that has not yet been billed.
Now it just seems to me that if I can borrow mortgage money at 3 to 4%, but my index fund investments are growing at 10-11% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) I am making 7% per year on someone else’s money.
The 10-11% CAGR of stocks has been going on for the last 30 years. It is not a flash in the pan.
That's a silly exaggeration. A $100,000 loan to buy a 4 plex with good cash flow and a $100,000 loan to buy a year long around the world vacation are different animals.
Misleading. The article doesn’t claim that most Americans are in overall debt; just that they owe money to someone else in some way. At current interest rates, it often makes financial sense to use OPM, even if you have the cash to purchase the item in question. Yes, the country has a huge debt problem, no doubt. The sensational statistic isn’t necessary to make the point.
Our only debt is a modest mortgage. We have a home that we can afford and have extra money left over.
My wife needs a new, used car. I’m considering taking out a loan for it because the money is earning far more in the mutual fund than the interest charges.
The other day, I was at a work seminar. Some yahoo loan guy was encouraging people to take out loans for everything. Insanity
We paid cash for our current home in 2008 and are debt free other than normal living expenses.
I read the article, and they don’t define “debt”. But as Code Toad correctly points out, we all owe money, much of it spent on things we didn’t and don’t approve of.
And that varies. Many leftists think every cent spent on the Military is a waste, and I think every cent spent on the NEA, EPA, PBS, NPR, Social Security, and a host of other things is a total waste.
But...it was our money, taken from us against our will and with the ostensible stamp of approval, spent at the Federal, State, and Local level.
And they wonder why we don’t want to add UN to that list.
I do not have any debt except my monthly bills. I own my house and my automobiles.
We made a concerted effort to pay off our mortgage early. Every month we could, we simply added $100 to pay down our principal on our mortgage, and eventually it turned to every month, and we paid it off in 15 years instead of 30.
We didn’t buy a big house, we purchased a small 1962 era mass-produced Ranch, and have lived in it. We could have got a mortgage for a house 3 or 4 times what it is worth, but we didn’t. We buy new cars, each one of us probably every five years staggered, and we pay cash because we save for it. But we don’t buy top of the line cars.
We lived with furniture for many years we found in front of houses in our neighborhood and refinished.
We don’t have, and have never in our entire lives had cable. We have one cell phone between us.
You get the idea.
We live within our means. We have structured our lifestyle so that if something happens to one of us, lose or job or become disabled (that will obviously be a trial that will throw any plans into a dumpster) we can still live on one income. We have many places where, if we had to, we could cut back even more.
I read a story today about some guy who they say committed robberies so he could pay rent. I am quite skeptical when I hear these things, because I suspect that in many cases (though not all, to be sure) you would find a lot of things that got a higher priority in finances than rent did. When I see people who live in section 8 housing with an EBT but they have cable and internet, smoke cigarettes, have a car, 60” television and buy lobster at the supermarket, yes...that pisses me off. I don’t have anything against people who want those things or do those things, but I bitterly resent that they do it on my dime, when I have endeavored to live within my means.
I think a lot of people live beyond their means, and value stuff and status more than they value fiscal responsibility, simple as that in many cases.
FWIW-
Two things happened in 2008: 1. husband was forced to retire 2. The crash. We have not recovered. Our debt is still way below most, but wish it was gone.
Ding ding ding ! albeit debt free shy of the IRS cartel ....
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