Hey Everyone,
This is meant to be the 3rd thread in a series: Thread #1 asked by what age someone should buy or own a home; Thread #2 asked how much debt plays a role when considering dating/marriage.
So just to recap, in the last thread, we added up these "Average American" debts for a single person, according to Google:
Credit Card Debt: $9260.00
Student Loans: $37,338.00
Car Loan: $20,987.00
Grand Total: $67,585.00
This means that a young "Average American Couple" might be looking at a combined debt of around $135,170.00 once they got married (not including medical, family, and housing debts.) A valid point was also brought up that a lot of the effect of the debt burden depended on how much income is earned vs. how much is owed.
The example was given that if someone had a $70,000 debt and made $60,000 a year, that would be an awfully heavy burden. But if someone was making $200,000 a year, it might not be so bad. This is very true. Except that...
According to Google (and again, I'm not saying Google is accurate, it's just the easiest way to pull some numbers,) in 2021, the average male salary was $50,391, and the average female salary was $36,726. That's a little off the mark from $200,000.
This particular site also mentioned that the top salaries for that year (those actually making $200K+) were chief executives and nurse anesthetists.
I hate to sound like a Downer Debbie, but unfortunately, my career as an anesthetist just didn't work out -- no matter how much I might like to put some people to sleep.
(Only temporarily, I promise!)
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm pretty far away from $200,000 a year, and a $70,000 debt (which, as discussed, doesn't even include medical, family, or housing costs) would be a pretty steep hill to climb. I might have owed that much (and more) at one time, as I did go to college, but I never added up all the numbers at once. I just kept paying and paying and paying, and now that I'm in a much more healthy place, one of the reasons I don't want to buy a house is because I don't want an even bigger impossibly large number hanging over my head.
And so I'm curious.
What are people's thoughts on their incomes vs. what they owe?
* How much would $70,000 in debt affect your life and spending?
* Do you expect to pay off the debts you have in this lifetime? Is it even worth trying? Would God want us to make to effort, or just not worry about it and leave our debts to others when we die?
* Do you know anyone who paid off all their debts? How did they do it? (And was it because of a large income?) I have often read that even when people make larger incomes, they just take on all the more debt, and so their situation winds up not being any better, or possibly worse, than those with lower incomes.
* What would you teach your children or others about debt? (How much to take on, is it worth trying to pay it off, etc.?)
I'm going to write a poll asking about people's yearly incomes, just to get a feel as to how much the assumed $70,000 in individual debt would affect those here. Please note that this poll will not be able to include a lot of things. Back in the day before the system was changed, CC polls used to allow up to about 40 different answers. Now they only allow around 10, so I have to work within the constraints of the system.
If I had more options available, I would break it down into single households vs. married households. But since I don't have enough choices to work with, I'm going to ask anyone who wants to answer to give an estimate of what they or the household breadwinner brings home. For instance, if you are married and are the breadwinner, give your salary. If you stay at home and your spouse works, go ahead and check the box for your spouse's salary. If you both work, go ahead and give just your income. This is because I'm interested in the effects of the assumed $70,000 individual debt will have on individual people with only one salary.
ALL ANSWERS ARE PRIVATE (NO ONE CAN SEE THEM.) And of course, don't feel a need to answer the poll -- like I said, the purpose is just to get a feel for how much $70,000 in debt would affect the daily lives of those here. Please don't let the poll be a substitute for a discussion -- along with your poll choice, I would really like to hear your thoughts.
This subject is a very thin line to walk. Some might accuse me of trusting in money rather than God, but my real focus in writing these threads is trying open the discussion for what trust in God vs. handling real life issues really looks like, especially for singles who are dating and looking to marry.
I for one couldn't marry someone who said, "Sure, we'll have half a million dollars worth of debt (if we buy a house) when we marry, but God will work it all out, so let's just barge right ahead and do it anyway!"
I would first need for us to talk about our history with money and debt, how we handle it, and if we are on the same page. I would then want to know that we had a game plan (on paper) as to how we were going to work at getting those numbers down, and if we couldn't pay them off in this life, at least when we went Home to God, we could tell Him we tried our very best.
I have always found these topics crucial to sort through, but seldom talked about. I'm looking forward to hearing your answers.
