Benjamin Franklin supposedly said, ‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’
If old Ben were still around he would surely add ‘debt’ to his famous saying. Indeed, a recent Experian study of its 220 million consumer files actually proves the case.
It turns out that 73% of consumers who died last year had debts which averaged nearly $62,000. In addition to the kind of debt that apparently always stays with you – credit cards and car loans – it also happened that 37% of the newly deceased had unpaid mortgages and 6% still had student loans with an average unpaid balance of $25,391!
Once upon a time people used to have mortgage burning ceremonies when later in their working years the balance on the one-time loan they took out in their 30s to buy their castle was finally reduced to zero.
And there was no such thing as student loans, and not only because students are inherently not credit worthy. College was paid for with family savings, summer jobs, work study and an austere life of four to a dorm room.
No more. The essence of debt in the present era is that it is perpetually increased and rolled-over. It’s never reduced and paid-off.
This post was published at Daily Reckoning
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