• tal@lemmy.today
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    20 days ago

    I mean, it depends on what you mean by that. Anyone who has a credit card is going to have debt, just by virtue of needing to pay the bill.

    But if you mean “most Americans have a negative net worth” — taking into account assets and debts — most Americans have a positive net worth.

    https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/average-net-worth-by-age-how-do-you-measure-up

    The median net worth of all Americans in 2022 was $192,900.

    • ScootsMcGoat@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      I’d be interested to see the median net worth after removing the top 1%, but I can’t be bothered to Google it atm …

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        20 days ago

        It’d have an effect, but not a large one — that’s why one uses median, rather than mean.

    • magikmw@piefed.social
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      20 days ago

      Credit cards don’t have to mean debt if you pay them off before the intrest applies. That’s how you use them responsibly. Many don’t.

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        20 days ago

        It’s debt regardless of whether or not one pays interest. Debt isn’t linked to interest. Just means that you have an obligation to pay money to someone.

        EDIT: Though in fairness, if one never actually uses a credit card at all, then one never takes out debt, so I suppose it’s probably better to say “if one has a credit card that one uses”.

        EDIT2: Though all this is not to diminish your point that not carrying credit card debt from month to month is generally a pretty good rule to live by.

        • FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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          19 days ago

          Here in Australia if you have a credit card with an outstanding balance of $0 with a maximum limit of $10k, that actually acts as $10k of debt when you go to take out any loans etc.