I received a postcard-type advertisement for life insurance today that initially frosted me. Now, normally I don't even look at those things but this one for some reason caught my eye and was particularly insulting. As if I would leave DW saddled with a bunch of debt! It lists as "typical" debts of $8,343 in funeral expenses, $15,956 in credit card debt, and $12,596 in auto and other loans.
That got me to wondering - is that really the norm? Do so many people carry that much debt that they still have it when they get The Big Ache? So I started searching for a bit and came away a tad better informed and somewhat sadder. While the ones on the postcard seem typical they are a bit on the high side. and probably not the norm for people of retirement age This article is typical: A Lifetime of Debt: The Financial Journey of the Average American
According to this article the average American will spend $600,000 on interest payments over their lifetime. How sad.
It also reinforces the point about what a bunch of outliers this group is. Oh well, I guess I'll just go on my ignorant way and spend that $600k on things other than enriching bankers.
Just a sort of rant, but I kinda would like to think that people were smarter than that.
That got me to wondering - is that really the norm? Do so many people carry that much debt that they still have it when they get The Big Ache? So I started searching for a bit and came away a tad better informed and somewhat sadder. While the ones on the postcard seem typical they are a bit on the high side. and probably not the norm for people of retirement age This article is typical: A Lifetime of Debt: The Financial Journey of the Average American
According to this article the average American will spend $600,000 on interest payments over their lifetime. How sad.
It also reinforces the point about what a bunch of outliers this group is. Oh well, I guess I'll just go on my ignorant way and spend that $600k on things other than enriching bankers.
Just a sort of rant, but I kinda would like to think that people were smarter than that.