If you watch conventional TV, you see a ton of ads, many of which assure you that your life will be much better (and you'll be prettier/handsomer/smarter) if you only use your credit card to buy luxury goods. It's scary.
There's also a firm presumption that all children in a family absolutely must have their own bedroom. Really? I'm one of six children, three boys, three girls, and we had a girl's bedroom and a boy's bedroom. Three of us in each. And they were small. Beds were shared. It wasn't a disaster or a tragedy.
And people can make better decisions about debt. Take cars. Honestly, you should only have a car loan for your very first car. You settle on one you can afford, preferably used, make as large a down payment as possible, and manageable payments for two, or at the most three years. When the car is paid off, you continue to bank those payments until it's time for a replacement. At this point, you figure out the trade-in value of your car and how much money you've save, and that's what you spend on your next car. Continue to bank that original car payment.
I've long been astonished that so many people assume a hefty car loan payment is simply a part of life. Really? Why?
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