Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Credit Gap

This is a guest post.

The credit debt crisis is perhaps one of the greatest struggles facing most American families. As many chose to live beyond their means, high amounts of debt are forcing families to downsize or pick up additional shifts at second jobs simply to make ends meet. According to the following infographic provided by livecreditsmart.com, you just might be surprised by the staggering difference in debt amongst generations.

 (http://www.experian.com/live-credit-smart/live-credit-smart.html)

According to the credit & generational infographic, those that seem to have the most debt are those in our age bracket – those wishing to have it all: cars, the house, and a family. We were the first to have easy access to incredibly inexpensive interest rates and school loans. For years, we have blamed the younger generations for being so quick to charge anything with their bad spending habits, but it looks like in our attempt to live a comfortable life with the Joneses, many of us over did it.

However, that doesn't mean that Generation X and the Boomers have ruined the state of the economy. While we have the most debt, we are also doing fairly well to manage it. In fact, most of our debt is in homes and cars, things that propel the economy. But perhaps a bit more frugal living just may help those who are in over their heads, as well as establish better spending habits amongst younger generations.

Where do you fit in? Are you in the "Greatest Generation", the Baby Boomers, Generation X, or Generation Y? If you have debt, how does it compare to the average debt of someone in your age bracket? What type of debt do you have? The same debt as is typical for people your age?
Why do you think there is such a discrepancy between the types and amounts of debt for each age bracket?

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