Got Debt? How Much?

[JohnDB]

Consumer debt is rising in these uncertain economic conditions.

Total U.S. household debt reached a record $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025

Meaning the mortgage is not the only debt people are carrying year after year.

It's no longer unusual for people to carry $60-$80,000 in credit card debt,
$100,000 in school loan debt,
and then another $70-$80,000 in auto loan debt (if not caught up in a lease)

All this on top of a mortgage.

Cash Christmas/vacations, paid off school loans, zero balance on credit cards, no medical debt, and paid off vehicles are now luxury items.

Meaning if you have these things but have a regular income of any size....you are wealthy and moreso than your neighbors. (Who have a negative total asset value)

Net worth/Asset Value =total cash value of assets - all liabilities/debts.

Dog days of retirement......where you are so poor during retirement you have to eat dog food instead of regular food if you get to eat at all because you are too old to earn an income.

 

[Chuz Life]

Using your formula, I'm debt free.

Barely.

Better than a lot of people, I suppose, but I don't feel good about it.

 

[pknopp]

I owe appx 20k on one car and a C.C. Bill that gets paid off each month.

 

[JohnDB]

Using your formula, I'm debt free.

Barely.

Better than a lot of people, I suppose'' but I don't feel good about it.

You mean it's a wash for debts vx assets.

You still have debts and assets. And money is moving around as you earn money. You got savings and a retirement account....but also consumer debt. Like dental bills and possibly other medical debt that insurance didn't cover.

Do NOT feel alone....you ARE doing better than most people if at the end of the day its a wash. That's usually the starting point for most people gaining net worth over and above liabilities. (If they continue to not overspend) meaning you are abnormal.

Having the equivalent of a mortgage in consumer debt but not an asset to counter against it....that's bad....really bad.
It's a sign of generational poverty. Meaning if you can afford children one day they too will live always in debt with the added life pressures debts bring.

Doctors usually have a huge school loan debt....but with a large income to offset that debt once they get past internships and residency. But these days....their incomes are shrinking. Used to be a doctor saw 8-12 patients per day. Now it's 24 minimum or everyone is broke. The nursing staff and facilities are unpaid. But the cost of seeing a doctor is super high....I smell a scam involved somehow.

 

[Dekster]

Consumer debt is rising in these uncertain economic conditions.

Total U.S. household debt reached a record $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025

Meaning the mortgage is not the only debt people are carrying year after year.

It's no longer unusual for people to carry $60-$80,000 in credit card debt,
$100,000 in school loan debt,
and then another $70-$80,000 in auto loan debt (if not caught up in a lease)

All this on top of a mortgage.

Cash Christmas/vacations, paid off school loans, zero balance on credit cards, no medical debt, and paid off vehicles are now luxury items.

Meaning if you have these things but have a regular income of any size....you are wealthy and moreso than your neighbors. (Who have a negative total asset value)

Net worth/Asset Value =total cash value of assets - all liabilities/debts.

Dog days of retirement......where you are so poor during retirement you have to eat dog food instead of regular food if you get to eat at all because you are too old to earn an income.

I don't other than whatever may be due on incidental things like utilities and internet and such. My wife has a loan on her ride, but that is pretty much it. We occasionally put things on credit cards and pay off the balances before any interest accrues, but that is a matter of convenience more than anything else like when we are traveling. That hasn't always been the case, but we, as in me, worked really hard to make it happen having been soaked in crushing debt in my younger days.

 

[Votto]

Consumer debt is rising in these uncertain economic conditions.

Total U.S. household debt reached a record $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025

Meaning the mortgage is not the only debt people are carrying year after year.

It's no longer unusual for people to carry $60-$80,000 in credit card debt,
$100,000 in school loan debt,
and then another $70-$80,000 in auto loan debt (if not caught up in a lease)

All this on top of a mortgage.

Cash Christmas/vacations, paid off school loans, zero balance on credit cards, no medical debt, and paid off vehicles are now luxury items.

Meaning if you have these things but have a regular income of any size....you are wealthy and moreso than your neighbors. (Who have a negative total asset value)

Net worth/Asset Value =total cash value of assets - all liabilities/debts.

Dog days of retirement......where you are so poor during retirement you have to eat dog food instead of regular food if you get to eat at all because you are too old to earn an income.

If you are spending thousands to go to Disney, odds are you are in debt.

In fact, I know one guy who spent $10,000 to go to Disney with his family. Not hard to do really. I just looked at him like he had lost his mind.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Zero debt. Everything is paid off

 

[JohnDB]

 

[JohnDB]

 

[JohnDB]

 

[bdtex]

Got some medical debt from my wife's issues but I am paying it off this month. No other debt. No house payment for 20+ years. No car payment for 8 years.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Consumer debt is rising in these uncertain economic conditions.

Total U.S. household debt reached a record $18.8 trillion in Q4 2025

Meaning the mortgage is not the only debt people are carrying year after year.

It's no longer unusual for people to carry $60-$80,000 in credit card debt,
$100,000 in school loan debt,
and then another $70-$80,000 in auto loan debt (if not caught up in a lease)

All this on top of a mortgage.

Cash Christmas/vacations, paid off school loans, zero balance on credit cards, no medical debt, and paid off vehicles are now luxury items.

Meaning if you have these things but have a regular income of any size....you are wealthy and moreso than your neighbors. (Who have a negative total asset value)

Net worth/Asset Value =total cash value of assets - all liabilities/debts.

Dog days of retirement......where you are so poor during retirement you have to eat dog food instead of regular food if you get to eat at all because you are too old to earn an income.

The US is becoming a place where people are going to be indebted their whole life, unless they're born into one of the richest families in the county.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Short Answer:

• Consumer Debt = $0
• Auto Loan = $0
• Motgage ~~ $85,000, refianced the house during COVID @2.8% meaning our P&I portion is just under $500 a month, the escrow part (insurance and property taxes) would exist with or without the mortgage.
• Never had a student loan

Long Answer:

I just recently retired this year, my wife retired last year.

When our children were born in the early 90's we found after a couple of years that we were sinking into the credit trap. In addition to spending on the kids, we hadn't changed out spending habits so consumer debt was climbing. We got tired of paying our money to someone else to use their money so cut up almost all the credit cards and spent a couple of years moving to PAY/GO. By living below the standard of living our incomes allowed, we paid ourselves:

• First paying off the debt,
• Then building an "Emergency Fund" that we could "borrow" against for major purchases. The Emergency Fund continued to grow to the point where we had a years reserve (with belt tightening) in case of natural disaster or if one or both of us lost out jobs,
• Then putting money away to help with the kids college,
• And scaling up retirement savings.

The above sounds like a sequential list, but in reality they were shared goals that worked together over the long term. So for example the Emergency Fund received deposits, but at the same time we were making payments on the Education Fund under our states prepaid education program to fund 2-years each at a State University. After college, that provided and opportunity to really ramp up retirement savings even more.

Now this may sound odd, but we had about an 80/20 loan to value ratio on the house. I was in they pay it off so as not to have any mortgage P&I in retirement. By this time we had enough to pay it off and still have a nice Emergency Fund balance. My wife had read that many people who were 100% PAY/GO struggled with credit if needed in retirement because they had little debt which hurt their FICO score. Lower FICO score meant higher Credit Card rates and more expensive loan rates if needed. So we discussed it one day and I presented the data and my perfectly logical evidennce that paying off the house was a good option. I mean come on, we were PAY/GO with money in the bank, we didn't need future credit. She presented her arguments. At the end of the day she ignored everthing I said and we did it her way (* * LOL * * - hey happy wife happy life). But I must say, paying $500 P&I is still a hell of a lot better then $2000 in rent. Also we were doing some estate planing for reducing beneficiaries and to get our will in order - our respective FICO sores are betweeen 826-830. IIRC the mortage now gets paid off technically in 2050. But at some point we will likely sell the family house and move to a smaller place so it will be paid off earlier than that.

Both our kids are warry of the credit trap, one is totally PAY/GO also. By working through college he graduated with an IT degree with no debt. Our daughter does have Student Loan debt but she was very careful and after law school only had about 1/2 the debt of her peers. She's an officer in the Air Force, been making her payments on an income plan religiously, and is coming up soon on the 10-year Public Service mark for the remaining balance to be wiped out.

WW

 

[Sparker]

Zero debt, no credit cards. I avoid some common expenses, such as smartphones, gaming, and shopping from my couch.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Zero debt, no credit cards. I avoid some common expenses, such as smartphones, gaming, and shopping from my couch.

Sorry too hear that. Gaming can be one of the least expensive hobbies in a cost per hour basis.

I had 1200 hours in BG3 or about $0.833 cents per hour.

Just finished Fallout London and the cost for the GOG download was $16 for 241 hours. About $0.12 cents per hour.

WW

 

[Sparker]

Sorry too hear that. Gaming can be one of the least expensive hobbies in a cost per hour basis.

I had 1200 hours in BG3 or about $0.833 cents per hour.

Just finished Fallout London and the cost for the GOG download was $16 for 241 hours. About $0.12 cents per hour.

WW

Plus the gaming computer and maybe also some gaming furniture. How much did you spend on your rig?

 

[WorldWatcher]

Plus the gaming computer and maybe also some gaming furniture. How much did you spend on your rig?

My old rig? About $1,800. I ran it for about 10 years. About $15 per month. $0.50 cents per day.

I finally replaced it 3 years ago for $2300. I over buy in terms of power to allow for growth so I'm not changing rigs every couple of years. This one will run about $20 per month over a similar life expectancy.

I tend to play story rich games that take a long time, therefore cost per hour drops. My hardware last years, therefore cost per hour drops.

In a worst cases scenerio my cost per day for gaming is about half of a Starbucks Latte.



WW

 

[JohnDB]

 

[WorldWatcher]

Just some quick napkin level review...

Our house is:

• About 1/4 of our overall Assets
• The value of the house is about equal to what I call "liquid assets" (Post Tax Assets, about 50%)
• And of course 0% of our tax PRFA (Pre-tax Retirement Financial Accounts)

We don't need to sell the house anytime soon.

WW