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Just to be fair, chatgpt isn't an artificial general intelligence.

Not that I support everything about her, but Elizabeth Warren literally wrote the book on our 2 income problem.

Society tracks "family income" and for a gigantic portion of history that was one income, then in the 60s-70s women started entering the workforce in larger numbers (in the US, not sure about globally) and we see family income "rising" so we think "great, we're growing! We're doing well!" Except that it only grew because of an additional income.

Now we're at the point you've mentioned where that isn't even enough anymore especially when the vast majority of jobs seem to offer around 50-60k unless you're a specific professional/tech bro.

I'm a perpetually single blue collar schmuck, I've completely given up on the idea of homeownership, and am very very quickly realizing my retirement plan has to be a shotgun to the head.

What a wonderful future we have to look forward to.

And I'll just add this so no one has to later: GlObAlLy We'Re BeTtEr ThAn EvEr! Because you know, that totally helps...

"It is difficult to see how we survive this."

We probably wont.

Rome always falls in the end. The law of entropy is absolute. Like so many empires before us, the sociopathic greed/glut/power lust by the "winners" will be our end. Our height was WWII, I see no shame in that. We did a good thing after centuries of committing enslavement and genocide, then we declined into the sunset for the next empire to write about in its history books.

When the system has become this exploitative, some sharp short/medium term pain is better than limping along for another generation or two when we'll have to collapse or revolt and do the work of rebuilding we already need to do anyway.

Reminder: being comfortable passing the buck of consequences to future generations is why we're here.

Very well written and accurate. I just want to add that the financial requirements to raise children have been out the window for some time as well. Not that they would want to exist in a world with climate change anyway.

I'm starting to think that the reason why they don't teach financial responsibility in school is because banks would lose less people to prey off of.

I wouldn't be surprised if that sort of education is heavily lobbied against in Washington!

People are definitely being reckless AND things are being crazy expensive nowadays.

and there are people like me who buy everything with a credit card but pay off the entire balance each month

even though I technically have a credit card balance it gets reset every month and I never pay interest or late fees so the numbers don't tell the whole story

but I'm sure there are an alarmingly large number of people who actually are buried in debt, especially with rent and other costs rising so it won't be pretty when things reach a tipping point (probably already have...)

Stop trying to throw statistics into sensational headlines!

it's more a necessary of modern day life, with an economy designed around squeezing every penny out of people, there's nothing left over for savings, there's nothing left over for that weird sound your car started making, or even just a moment of happiness from a new TV purchase or a holiday or whatever.

It's really disingenuous to blame it on the personal responsibility aspect.

I admittedly haven’t looked at the article, but they are likely measuring based of a fixed snapshot in time, which tells you zero about the actual debt.

Example: at any given point in the month I have 5 figures of CC debt, but I always pay every card in full each month (I never carry a balance) and have enough money to zero everything out if something happens. Because of this it looks like I have high debt load when I really don’t. I do this because it simplifies payments, allows me to collect rewards, keeps my bank account/debit card out of mainstream use (which helps prevent my account info from getting stolen/misused) and allows cash to stay in my accounts just a bit longer earning that sweet 5% interest.

That being said, not everyone does that and many folks are likely in over their head.

While a sanity check on the absolute value is good I would argue that the most impactful data presented here is the rate at which debt is growing.

Yes, debt was paid off during COVID but now that the free money has dried up people are racking up debt much quicker than before. So while the current value might be in line with previous trends the rate at which debt is accumulating is what is alarming.

It’s unlikely for that trend to slow or stop unless real wages increase, prices fall, or demand drops. We’re seeing some of that but apparently not enough.

You should probably still find out your credit score/rating though, especially since it's free. Identity theft is a real issue, like someone opening a line of credit in your name and fucking up your rating when you actually need it for something (buying a car or house, or anything that requires a credit check).

I was like you and got screwed by it. That's the unfortunate part of the system for us. Credit rating isn't rating of trustworthiness, it's a rating of likely-to-take-debt/trustworthiness. Never having credit is often "worse" than bad credit. If you ever do try and take out a loan for a car or a house, you will have fewer and more expensive borrowing options.

The play for people like us is to open exactly 2 sources of credit, use one as autopay for static bills, and automatically pay it every month. Use the other for dynamic expenses, but monitor and pay it off in full whenever it reaches 30% utilization, or 25 days, whichever comes sooner.

One can get the benefits of credit without actually accruing debt. The way you use your cash/debit, you already don't spend money you don't have. Just continue to not spend money you don't have, but get the benefits of the system. Be a "deadbeat" as they call us. Us deadbeats actively cost the system money by never carrying balances that accrue interest.

when you "have to know" is the worst time to find out that it's not good.

I use my credit card for every purchase I make and get 1.5% cash back. I pay off my balance every month in full to avoid any interest. That 1.5% can add up pretty quickly and it’s basically free money.

Tricky part here is that an easy way of building credit is by use of a credit card. If you can’t buy a house in cash, then obtaining a good mortgage becomes difficult. I’d recommend the happy medium being one of those preloaded credit cards where you pay $1000 up front or what ever and just use that for day to days… being out of debt like you are, though, is one of the most liberating things one can ask for

If you treat them like a debit card, there aren't any of these issues. I have a credit card that I use for all everyday expenses. Every month it's paid off so it never acrues interest. My credit score is great and the card offers some other benefits too.

If I lose my job the risk I have would only ever amount to one month of spending, which is easily covered by my emergency fund.