Most americans aren’t in debt.
Most americans aren’t in debt.
American household debt is on a relentless upward trajectory. It was at a record $18.20 trillion by 2025, up $4.6 trillion since 2019. With 90% of Americans having some form of debt
https://www.debt.org/faqs/americans-in-debt/demographics/
IDK about US education and math but “most” in the rest of the world means more than 50%.
Having debt is not the same as being “in debt”, as in underwater in their obligations vs assets.
Having debt is EXAXTLY same as being “in debt”, it means owing money.
While that can mean 1 cent or 1000000 it is still the same. Just as 1 cent profit and 1000000 are profit.Anyway still looks like most have a lot of problems: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/58-of-americans-say-their-finances-are-in-crisis-achieve-survey-finds-302521350.html
You are a retard.
“some form of debt” can literally mean a credit card that hasn’t been paid off for the month, which applies to almost everyone with a credit card since people use credit cards as a way to build credit.
They’re not in debt in the sense that they don’t have the money to pay off their debts.
Did you make this account today to be rude and ableist?
Hope they throw you out (again)
In debt means just that.
I owe nothing!
In a country where personal identity is 90% shaped by politics and consumerism makes seeming poor like herpes.
Normies just reacting to their environment
The thing about it… Anyone can pretend to be rich for a year or two but math will math eventually.
Ok, not an exact answer, but… In 2008, John Oliver had a bit that I thought captured the US culture of consumerism. He basically said that many countries could invent or even build an inflatable BBQ - but only Americans would actually buy an inflatable BBQ. Anywho, spending money, independent of whether a person has it, seems to be a cultural phenomenon in the US.
Country Last Previous Unit Norway 210 206 % Luxembourg 187 182 % Netherlands 181 184 % Canada 171 173 % New Zealand 169 168 % Denmark 169 174 % Sweden 151 156 % Finland 108 112 % Cyprus 97.14 105 % Belgium 95.93 102 % France 95.35 102 % Euro Area 93.09 96.79 %
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/households-debt-to-income
Can’t find US on there but I am know it ain’t first.
Debt is the westoid material condition… The quality of life people enjoy requires it.
Yeah, I was wondering about the US too. Also, I was expecting to see debt:income more like 30%. Am I reading this list wrong?
I hate that the concepts of broke and debt even exist. It’s all made up.
In debt doesn’t mean you’re broke. Not having money to spend is being broke. I’m pretty sure most Americans will admit they’re in debt.
Yeah, exactly this. I have a mortgage and a car payment so I’ve got lots of debt, but I wouldn’t consider myself “broke” by any stretch. I don’t live paycheck-to-paycheck, I put 10% away for retirement, and I can afford to spend money where I want without stressing about it. Overall, pretty charmed compared to how a lot of folks are struggling these days and it’s honestly kinda wild to act like it’s comparable to anything they’re going through.
If I have no money and my parent five me money to spend to live off, I’m broke.
How is it different of the money comes from a credit card company or bank instead?
If I have a $500,000 mortgage, and my assets (including equity) only sum to $400,000, then I’m $100,000 in debt. If I make $12,000 a month, and my mortgage payment is $4,000, then I have $8,000 a month to spend. I’m in debt, but I don’t think anyone would call me broke.
The key point in your scenario is that you don’t have money to spend, not that you’re in debt.
Having a debt is not the same as being in debt. In your example, you have equity, which means you are positive in assets. Being in debt is negative assets.
Home ownership is falling which is likely a big part of being in debt for many. Their rent pays for someone else’s asset.
In my example, the total of the assets I own is less than the total debt I have. That means my net worth is negative. By any definition, that means I’m in debt.
Again, being broke means not having money to spend. I can be in debt and I can be broke, or any combination of the two, or neither.
I don’t think I’m understanding your example then. Is this mortgage for more than the value of the home? How do you have equity then?
With a mortgage, the whole home is owned, and assets are always more than debt, for that loan. The fact you say equity implied to me that the home is worth more than the mortgage. I thought you just didn’t lisbthe home asset, which is odd.
Sometimes the value of a house drops and the loan is now more than the house. In that case they’d be considered in debt.
I don’t disagree with the distinction between being in debt and being broke.
Yes, the mortgage is worth more than the home in my example. I guess I shouldn’t have said “(including equity)” or I should have said “my assets and debts”, since to be in that case, I either don’t have equity in the home or have other debts that surpass my equity. The mortgage is $500,000 and the house plus all my other assets and minus all my other debt is worth $400,000.
In your original example though, you weren’t in debt but you had no money to spend, so that’s broke and not in debt.
Personally, I consider being “in debt” to mean having a debt. It wouldn’t matter if the home was worth more than the mortgage, I’m still in debt on that mortgage. If my assets are worth less than my debts, I would call that “insolvent”. But neither of those conditions mean that you’re broke. As long as you have a reliable income stream that can cover your payments on your debts and other expenses, you’re not broke.
Ok, well in your example, I wouldn’t call you broke either, as the debt is currently managed. However I’d call it high risk and I’d call your mortgage underwater. Your debts are more than your assets, so any disruption to pay, like losing your income or having an illness, or damage not covered by insurance and you would be in big trouble. Thats living beyond your means.
Usually the only reason debts would be higher than assets is a drop in home value or taking on too much debt in other areas. That’s pretty much what OP was asking. Why so much debt? Do you think it’s high risk?
Who’s pretending?
We’re all broke. Unless you’re a boomer trying to sell a $0.50 house you bought in the 50s you paid for on a gas station cashier salary. They’re ok for the moment. But even a lot of them are going broke now too. Highest demographic of newly homeless last I heard.
The US is big on wealth inequality, like most third-world countries. Yeah, lots of people are broke, but lots of people are also making 200k/year. Overall we’re definitely struggling, but that doesn’t mean everyone is struggling.
Lemmy also leans both older and into the tech demographic, which tend to be higher paid.
Yeah, close to 6% of the population is making unfathomable amounts of money and the crazy thing is that just 6% of the population is still 20 Million people. You could replace the entire population of Tokyo with American millionaires and still have more to spare to claim New York too.
Tokyo metro area is more than 36 million people.
True but I think the rich are about 10% so I think that’s number should be closer to like 30-35m
Either way, US has a mega city or canada sized country of pure high income and or asset owner.
These people are true benefecies of the empire. They essentially enforce regime orthodoxy on political level while providing their professional services to the owner class. For this they are permitted to thrive, while the rest of working class is being driven into more poverty with each generation.
The US is big on wealth inequality
You misspelled “built”.
Cries in near minimum wage UK tech work. The only upside is minimum wage is actually pretty good
Maybe the real curency was the debt we found along the way?
While I have no debts, sometimes my bank account is hovering at a $200. I hate the insecurity it gives me.
In debt doesn’t mean broke. People with a mortgage that they are easily paying off have debt. Millionaires and billionaires have millions and billions in debt. Debt itself isn’t bad. Debt can be good.
I would rather no debt, but I kinda need a house because it’s illegal to buy a field and live there in a yurt
Come out to the country. Just make sure your field is outside city limits, and you’ll probably be fine living there, as long as your sewage doesn’t drain into a protected waterway. A 3-phase septic wouldn’t be too hard to put in, but it’s a lot easier if you’ll rent heavy machinery instead of shovels.
Not an option in the UK
Well, I would say you could immigrate to the U.S., but that’s a bad idea for a number of reasons, IMO.
No countryside up in Scotland anymore?
There is countryside but you are not allowed to live on land without planning permission, I presume Scotland has a fairly similar system too.
The average American is living paycheck to paycheck with bad, high interest debt and killer monthly minimums. Many people roll their underwater car loan into a new underwater car loan. The housing market is taking a turn.
People are mostly broke.
Based on statistical average, or based on your imagination?
I get that we say this culturally, and it’s common. But it’s not that simple.
The point is that being in debt isn’t the same as being broke and living paycheque to paycheque. Rich people have note debt than broke people because banks etc are far more willing to give rich people debt since they can actually pay it back.
Just a small correction there: debt can never be good.
But debt can be necessary, but that is only because some financial institutions have made it so, because many of them make their money from peoples debt.
So they spread the myth that debt is good, despite the fact that the world would be a far better place without debt.
Absolutely false. Debt is a tool. It’s a wealth multiplier.
You can use tools incorrectly, and that can harm you. But used correctly, they can let you do things quicker and easier than you could have without them.
No, debt can be good. If you’re making more money from an asset than the interest on the loan used to buy that asset, it’s good debt.
Good for who?
Rich people always say never to use your own money to start a business.
For the person holding the debt.
I had $90k of mortgage debt that I could have paid off but chose not to because they were charging me 2.5% interest and I was getting 5% interest letting the money sit in a bank account. Debt was most certainly a good thing in that scenario.
It’s part of our culture. It dates back to when America was new. Plantation owners wanted to pretend we had a rich and powerful economy and history and culture. They made everything pristine and gaudy and exp wove looking but there was no substance. Look at the architectural decisions made in plantation houses and how the elements are still used in homes today.
We pretend we are better than we really are.
I’m guessing not admitting your finances are shit is pretty universal, no need to pick on 'Murica.
There is some truth to what you’re saying but the USA are special about it. It’s like, tbey try to (badly).act as if they had more than enough money but it’s obvious they’re struggling badly. Like a functional addict thinking he’s hiding it but everyone knows and there’s a shared social discomfort in the charade
Because we want to spend our end of days in comfort
