Keep up with the joneses and spend your life paying off debt
77% of Americans are in debt, this might be a mortgage, credit card, student loans, medical debt or car payment. 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, meaning that they’re paychecks only cover the basic living necessities. About 30% of all college graduates in the U.S. have some sort of student loans still. Obviously a lot of this is caused by the cost of living crisis and wage stagnation. More about U.S. debt crisis.
These are the facts, the lifestyle that has been drawn up for us includes a lot of debt. That is not necessarily a requirement though. It is possible to choose your own path, make your own lifestyle and live debt free. You can choose to live a simple, minimalistic life and avoid debt and the trappings of consumerism. The point of this post though is to point out all the things we purchase as a society that put us in debt.
I saw a post the other day that said 36% of Americans are willing to go in debt to pay for a vacation. A luxury by definition, that people are willing to put themselves into negative net worth territory to have. It got me thinking though, why? I see two reasons really, the first, is social media, and comparison, people see the images of influencers travels and are jealous. They think it will fix their life or completely reduce their stress. I mean being in debt will almost certainly put you in more stress. Never mind the fact that travel is nothing like what you see on social media, you are still yourself and living in your own body. You still need to feed yourself 3 times a day.
The second and more problematic reason is that we are simple overworked, tired and unhappy and we see travel as a fix all for our problems. Working 40+ hours a week, comparing ourselves to others and feeling a lack of purpose has caused us to feel overwhelmed, we feel the need for an escape. We see a trip as a worth while cost to escape these feelings and going into debt an unfortunate downside. Maybe it’s true, but realistically a lifestyle change would do more.
The problem is that most of us have been told from a young age that we need certain things to lead a happy life. Probably few of us consider that we can make our own choices. By making our own choices we can avoid debt and live a happy life.
There are twenty something’s with two SUV’s, a 3 bed, 2 bathroom detached house, dogs and kids on the way. Their car payments and rent take up most of their take home and so it leaves little room to save and at worst requires credit cards to pay off bills. Where did they get the idea that this is what life is about, they got it from society and their parents. Previous generations could do this while not ruining their finances, but also did you stop to think, will this make me happy. Is this what I want. Probably not, you saw an image and followed the path.
Select few high earners will be able to make these choices and come out the other side with wealth. The rest will be paying off debt for the core of their earning years and trying to catch up on retirement in a later part of their life. This will make it so you miss out on compound interest and delay your ability to live life on your own terms even further.
Comparison is the thief of joy and there are other options than going into debt.
You can choose to forego and delay these lifestyle choices. You can avoid debt and consumerism. Paying off debt makes you free, every dollar earned while in debt is not yours to keep and because of that you are working for someone else. The thing is you cannot change your life and take risks while being beholden to a monthly interest because no matter what you do one step off the gas will cause you to fall behind.
My suggestion is to really consider and imagine a life without debt and the power that gives you. Add to the mix a 6 month emergency fund and you suddenly are far ahead of 90% of Americans. This will allow you the space to plan a vacation, make a big career move or take a risk on entrepreneurship, things in your life that you cannot do when every dollar at the end of the month is earmarked for a bill.
Everything is possible but only if you can reduce the fixed cost you have to pay each month. If your paycheck disappears towards bills then there is little room to consider things beyond the day to day.