[dpina]

Most people don't usually get two car loans just because that's what other people do or because it seems smart/cool. They do it because both people living in the same household need a personal car to get to work. Granted that maybe they could leave their white collar high paying jobs, find some other job at the groceries store in the street and trash the car loan. But the salary difference doesn't pay off. Also, for a lot of people public transportation doesn't pay off either.

As for a mortgage, as others have explained in this thread, it could be a smart debt given the right conditions. For example, if I had a bank loan to buy a house with the similar value to the one I currently rent, I would be paying a smaller amount of money to the bank than what currently is being transferred to my landlord monthly. I could live forever without a mortgage, but in 30 years time would find that I had spent a lot more then if I did.

It's not all 'several loans = bad money management vs no loans = good money management' sadly.