Nearly half of all Americans expect to retire in debt

did you read the article and think.
"Researchers found a large share of the 2,050 consumers surveyed expects to retire in debt"

who were these 2050 consumers?

 

should probably focus on a more granular demographic that you are a part of not just age.

 

The Reality of the Retirement Crisis

 

They should listen to Dave ramsey. He will sort their debts out.

 

So basically ~5%, who will retire soon (and not after some ~40 years) have no retirement savings ?

That might as well be the homeless, drug addicts and gangs.
Then ~30 yrs down the line, if things get really bad, UBI shows up and case closed.

,,That makes no sense"

Yeah, but leaving the gold standart, back then, probably made none as well.
And it is unimaginable to go back. (?)

So the grand, grandchildren will be like :
,,Can you imagine that there was no UBI back then and people had to work to get paid"

Well, probably, bit poor grandchildren, but still (smiles)

 

The reason behind debts varies for different classes of people. Business magnets and big houses take bank loans to avoid selling their assets and paying tax. As the yearly returns from assets are higher than the borrowing rate of interest, they don’t mind borrowing from financial institutions and investing in assets. But the story is completely different for common people. Many of them are in debt to meet their daily needs. A chunk of the population left their jobs in fear of getting Covid and borrowed money. Unless inflation reduces, these common people will be in more trouble in the future.

 

I carry debt because I make more in interest by investing the entire principal then I pay out. If a person wants a $100,000 home and has $100,000 in cash is it smarter to buy it outright to avoid paying interest? In all the years I've asked people this question only one has given the correct answer.

A $100,000 home will pay around 3% interest amortized on a reducing principal. On a 30 year loan they will pay $34,391.64 in total over and above the $100,000 on a 30 year loan. If we take that same $100,000 and invest it in a fund that mirrors the S&P 500 8% historical yield they will end up with $906,265.69 over and above the $100,000.

I finance everything even though I could buy it outright. Make your money work for you. By investing it rather than paying it off you not only make back the interest you pay but you reduce the principal, sometimes many times over.