Considering that at the end of 2017, Americans had incurred $92.2 billion in new credit-card debt, the highest increase since 2007, it's hardly surprising that a lot of people are still having a very hard time of it—despite a booming (well, at the moment, zigzagging) stock market—in the wake of the Great Recession.
In fact, according to WalletHub, only two in five adults actually have a budget. In addition, for the first time ever, the total amount of credit card debt among Americans has passed $1 trillion.
Better financial education would help, not just for credit card debt but for other shortcomings in people's approaches to money and finance, including spending more than they earn, only paying the minimum on credit card balances, not comparing credit cards before they apply for one and resorting to nonbank lenders for loans.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
