Thirtysomething

Drowning in Debt

I just read this article and I'm glad this issue is getting noticed. I felt this way in college: I needed to go to college to get a job and I needed a job to pay for college. Of course I went to a private college, and could have saved myself a lot of college loan debt if I had gone to a state school. Same thing with grad school: I chose a private Ivy League. I could have gone to Temple. Turns out ivy league isn't worth the hype, but Temple's one very small step above community college. And I'm a snob.

Anyway, I think aside from college, a large part of the problem is that people in their 20s today (myself included) have this instant gratification thing going on. If you want something, you whip out your credit card and buy it. I'm not even talking about super large purchases: a sweater here, curtains there, a new CD.... it all adds up. Back in the day (did I really just type that?) people used to save money and not buy more than they could afford. Aside from a morgage, my parents have never had any debt. Ever. I find that pretty damn impressive. I just recently paid off my credit cards. I still have educational loan debt but you can bet I'll never have credit card debt again.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 7:46 AM