[Consultant32452]

>A lot our missing the point. 100k/year is good but it takes just one major expense for that to set you back, put you in the hole, and usually leads to more interest, fees and spirals out of control.

It really should not, if you've budgeted conservatively in the way that our grandparents generation did. For example, if you don't have 3-6 months of expenses in a savings account, short term disability insurance, long term disability insurance, and a term life insurance policy of 10x your annual salary, you're living a fairly high risk financial lifestyle. Again, if you budgeted the way your grandparents did you wouldn't have any debt except MAYBE your house, so a financial setback would almost certainly not result in more interest or fees, since you wouldn't be paying any interest to begin with.

You've accepted this false narrative that the banks have sold you on that being perpetually indebted to them is normal. It's not, from a historical standpoint. And you don't have to live that way.