Indebted America
Many Americans are struggling to get by. According to CNBC, 157 million Americans have credit card debt to pay off, and a mind-boggling 44 million have student loan debt outstanding. When you’re making payments every month on the interest and not paying down the principal, you’re going to be in debt for the long haul, and it will cost you far more than you originally borrowed
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Center for Microeconomic Data found that the total household debt for the USA increased to an all-time high of $13.15 trillion by the end of 2017. Credit card debt rose by a massive $26 billion to a total of $834 billion in the December quarter. Research shows that for half a decade, there have been increases in the mortgage, student, auto, and credit card categories.
For many people, getting by means they need to access finances by borrowing money. The Pew Charitable Trusts revealed that a full 8 out of 10 Americans have some form of debt. To make matters worse, 70% of the people surveyed said that debt was a necessity in their lives. The fact that they would prefer not to have debt is irrelevant. Debt is becoming a part of our lives to the point that it is almost indispensable — a sad state of affairs.
Saving is the best way to make sure that you have money set aside for the future or for emergencies. If you’re able to put money away and generate any kind of return on your investment, you’ll be in a far stronger position than if you were to borrow money.
It seems that Americans are starting to do just that. Bankrate released data from a survey, revealing that almost 60% said they had more in emergency savings funds than in credit card debt. This is the highest percentage Bankrate has had for this question. Hopefully, more folks will be getting out of debt rather than getting into debt.
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