NEW YORK — What would you do to be completely debt-free? A new survey finds Americans would give up social media for a year (32%), spend a night on a remote island (31%), and even go a month without internet access (29%). According to the poll of 2,000 U.S. adults, the average person feels they could only stay debt-free for eight-and-a-half weeks (less than 3 months) before accruing new debt.
The research also measured people’s confidence in their ability to remain out of debt, revealing only 38 percent feel “very confident” in this regard. The most uncertain respondents (384) shared some of the reasons, including the rising cost of living (54%), unexpected expenses (46%), rising interest rates (29%), not having enough support from others (20%), and feeling the need to spend to keep up with others (16%).
People’s biggest debt hurdles include credit card debt (57%), mortgages (30%), automobile loans (30%), and medical debt (28%). Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Beyond Finance for National Financial Freedom Day, the survey also found the average person has $54,767 worth of debt, with 56 percent saying they owe more for necessities than for “nice-to-haves.”
For some, their debt has stood in the way of making significant life changes, such as buying a home (33%), a car (30%), and setting up their child’s savings (24%).
What would people do if they woke up debt-free?
Thirty-two percent would add money to their emergency fund, while 27 percent would purchase their dream home and 26 percent would take a long-awaited vacation. Others would “pursue a different career,” “start my own business,” finance their children’s education, and “help my parents with their debts.”
“Debt can sometimes deter people’s short- and long-term goals for themselves and their families,” says a spokesperson for Beyond Finance in a statement. “Learning to manage it effectively can be life-changing, but 49 percent admit to feeling anxious about their debt, which may make it challenging to focus on finding solutions.”
What can make debt stressful for many? Interest rates (24%), the inability to pay it off (22%), and seeing how much they owe increase (20%). Not all debt is created equal, however, as nearly half the poll (48%) believes some of the debt they had taken on was worth it. That includes a mortgage (38%), car loan (33%), and home improvement or repairs (28%).
People are also seeking support to manage their debt, with about a third (31%) crediting their family as being the most helpful resource. However, only 29 percent are “very confident” in their ability to pay off their current debts on time — including fewer women than men (19% vs. 41%). Four in 10 (41%) also say it will take them years to be debt-free.
“Choose a debt resolution program that’s personalized to your needs and helps you keep track of your progress. Seeing your debt gradually diminish is a great way to stay motivated on the path to becoming debt-free,” the spokesperson adds.
Survey methodology:
This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was commissioned by Beyond Finance between June 9 and June 12, 2023. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).
The average american is an idiot with money. I’ve seen people with no savings spend every penny they have on entertainment. Even higher paid engineers, when asked ” do you invest your money” say ” no ” . I do not feel one iota of pity for them.
I hear you brother, left a bad marriage ended up with custody of sons one of whom I put through college the other joined the military and is going to school on his veterans benefits and but for my mortgage I will be debt free in months.
People can’t say no to themselves or they need to keep up with the joneses and buy into all the new age bs of “living your best life” or whatever the saying of the year is.
Debt keeps the rats on the treadmill.
The stupid in your posts is deafening.
You are very correct. Ensures that people will work until they drop dead.
You are an above average idiot.
Amen, truer words have not ben spoken. How many times I’ve wanted to buy something but didn’t. Being without debt makes up for the difference of having something that you really didn’t need.
Do they count a mortgage as debt? That’s what it read like in the article. If so, the higher debt amount makes sense. I owe $200000+ on my home but it’s worth >60% more than I owe. So I have a lot of debt but I could discharge it all by selling my house. I’d need somewhere to live but I could get out of debt.
I’m also not in a hurry to pay off my mortgage because the interest rate is low and much lower than inflation.
Just because people have a lot of debt doesn’t mean it’s irresponsible debt.
“I owe $200000+ on my home”
No you don’t. You owe $200,000 on the bank’s home.
You just live there as long as you keep up the payments.
You are a financial idiot and probably pan-stupid..
Tried to find the survey — could not. ~100% sure that: 1) it did not survey “Americans” but rather residents of the United States, thereby including non citizens, and 2) everyone has credit debt, so is it credit card debt carried over from the previous month? that is interest bearing credit debt?
Similar to a “scientific” poll from a year or so ago on how people would pay for a $500 auto repair bill. And I did read that one. So unless you went to the bank ATM and grabbed 25 $20 bills, you were a poor sap who had to go into “credit card debt” to pay for a simple auto repair bill. I also just bought a $2 soda out of a credit card vending machine — all those like me also have to go into “credit card debt” for that too.
These polls are purposely misleading and idiotic, and written about with a childlike innocence.
Does this $54,000 average debt include home mortgage?
The whole article suggests forgiving all black debt,
Necessities are food and shelter. People don’t need phones, cars, TV, entertainment, pets, fancy clothes, specialty foods, …
I know a guy with close to $400k in student loan debt. He always had a nice car, ate well, nice house, boat, dogs, weed, … He’s a doctor now and in a govt loan forgiveness program. Ten years practice in an underserved area and he’ll be debt free. Salary is not top for a doctor but work load is low and allows a comfortable and relaxed lifestyle. Time to fish and hunt. Nice rural housing is affordable.
Me? I’m debt free and semi-retired. In retrospect, I’d have taken on debt and been more comfortable while young enough to enjoy. There are too many grasshoppers and not enough ants. Grasshoppers vote and will remain comfortable at expense of ants.
It’s funny how this article is an indictment on the American people for their debt but he doesn’t mention that the federal government is in 31 trillion dollars in debt. And the American tax payers are on the hook for that debt. We have to be responsible citizens and pay our taxes to an irresponsible government!
Incomplete statistics. No mention of student debt anywhere.
if your debt is the house you own and live in, and you are paying the mortgage, that’s fine, you are paying your self mostly, that debt does not matter much, unless you bought too big a house and can’t pay the mortgage. Buying a new car is very dumb, imagine, you have $60,000 of debt, and $45,000 of that is your ‘new’ audi in the driveway
Aw, come on man! Yeah, the “average American” is over $54K in debt. With a car costing over $30K and a home over $300K, not to mention things like college where’s the surprise?
Drop the things you have to have, transportation and shelter, and tell me again how much debt the “average American” carries. By the way, who is the “average American?” Surely not some random sample of 2K folks about whom nothing is known/reported.
People will do anything: give up social media for a year (32%), spend a night on a remote island (31%), and even go a month without internet access (29%). What they won’t do is stop spending and live within their means.
So the average person has an autoloan
Add about $300,000 for national dept repayment. The Gov. borrowed that in our names.
That money was borrowed to give tax breaks to corporations and the richest people in the country.
Suckerssssssssssssssssss…..
It’s obvious you and edearl are media scholars. The money is financing the reshoring of industry to America. That is well underway as companies move to America.
Corporations don’t pay taxes. They collect them from their clients/customers in the form of higher prices/fees and then pass them along to the feds.
I have maybe $3,000 in credit card debt, no mortgage on my properties and several hundred thousand in the banks. But then again, I am a CPA
I am debt-free. Always have been, always will be.
If I can’t afford something, I don’t buy it. I live within my means and maintain an 800* credit score.
Now, a couple of “creditors” will tell you differently, but that’s because I don’t pay money I don’t owe and it frustrates them that I keep one step ahead of bottom-feeders that buy “debt” (in my case, charges for services I never requested and never received) from companies that would never enforce their legal “right” to sue, because they don’t have enough of a case to document to me let alone a judge and/or jury.
I am the author of several books and at some point I will write a “how to” book that will reform the credit reporting agencies’ presumption of guilt and explain how to keep one’s credit report clean and outfox collection agencies- the one caveat being that success in this form comes only to those who are not deadbeats.
So how do you maintain an 800 credit score without utilizing credit? I happen to know it doesn’t work that way. I have no debt whatsoever, not even a mortgage. But I have not used credit for decades. So I actually have no credit score….
If you have an 800 credit score you are not debt free. I am and I also pay my credit cards every month, pay all my bills on time yet my rating keeps slipping. I’m told I need some kind of revolving credit account like a car loan to bring it up. My rating is now in the low 700s
Not me. I don’t believe in usury.
The only debt I ever had was a mortgage, and that stopped almost 20 years ago when I paid off the house. Never had a car loan in over 50 years of driving. Always paid my credit card in full every month. And no, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
I hate owing anyone anything.
Like a riddle down snoot on the carrot sauce. Check the cans. THE CANS!!!
Happy to say I am completely debt free. I drive a new car and have lots of money in the bank. I will be building my dream house soon on some country acres I bought for that purpose…
Just enroll in Dave Ramsey’s Financial University. Wife an did years ago when we owed nearly 15 grand back in the late 90s. We are in our 60s now and been debt free since the early 2000s.