There is an
article on MSN Money about how broke people in 20s are. On the other hand, people in 20s are innovators and entrepreneurs (think Google). It's true that my peers are burdened with debt, but I think we're also best positioned to become millionaires and create wealth.It includes some benchmarks for comparison, I selected a few to measure myself. Please comment on my progress and show me how far you have come (my comments are in italic).
Median income $27,726. I'm above the median!
Median value of vehicle(s) $11,000. KBB says it's $7,000, minus the car loan. Yikes, I'm below!
Median credit card debt balance $1,400. OMG, I'm at staggering $27,942!
Median amount of student loans owed $9,200. I seem to owe everyone money, $20,697.
Here are some advices:
Live cheaply as long as you can.
Get health insurance.
Shovel money into your retirement funds.
Take a chance.
Be strategic about debt.
Pay attention to your credit score.
(Read the full article here to see some statistics.)
Update: As Sun mentioned, I'm including other non-debt related info.
401(k) or IRA accounts 31.50%. Cool, I'm part of the group.
Median value of accounts $7,300. My 401k is $1,646, Rollover IRA is $15,621, Roth IRA is $9,208.
November 13th, 2006 at 11:14 am 1163416456
Median income $27,726. I'm below
Median value of vehicle(s) $11,000. Mine is worth $15,580
Median credit card debt balance $1,400. $6,5895 (This is minus DS#1's tuition that I just put on and will pay this week)
Median amount of student loans owed $9,200. None, thank goodness!
Off to read the article! Thanks for posting!
November 13th, 2006 at 12:08 pm 1163419725
Median income $27,726~ I'm way below working 25 hrs every 2 weeks. (good thing I have dh!
Median vaue of vechicles $11,000~ We have 2 paid for cars(2001 Taurus and a 2003 Rio)
Median credit card debt and balance $1400~ We have ZERO(We spent years paying it off~whew!)
Median amout of student loans owed $9200~ ZERO thankfully!
Don't fret your cc debt!!! You'll get it paid off! It just takes time.Heck if we can do it anyone can. Your way ahead of the game too in my opinion getting out of debt in your twentys! Best of luck!
November 13th, 2006 at 08:44 pm 1163450697
November 14th, 2006 at 12:30 am 1163464248
thanks for the reminder, i've included some retirement stats.
November 14th, 2006 at 12:31 am 1163464273
great, thank you!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:09 pm 1253138968
Median income $27,726. Above
Median value of vehicle(s) $11,000. Below (no car note but driving an old car in a good condition).
Median credit card debt balance $1,400. Runs somewhere 2k/month but we pay everything every month.
Median amount of student loans owed $9,200. Paid off!