Why Aren't Americans Financially Free?

Scott T. Keller

5 Reasons Why You're Not Financially Free

1. Student Loan Debt• The Project on Student Debt, reported that that the average

senior whom graduating from an undergrad class left with a student loan debt of $29,400.

• What to do: Its a little to late to start you college career cheaper if you already graduated. if attending graduate

school, make sure you're reducing your principal loan balance faster by writing to your lender. This also applies to

perspective undergraduate freshman.

2. Credit Card Debt

Credit Cards might be the easiest way to improve your credit history. Credit cards can be used as a helpful tool for

cardholders. But sometimes consumers who swear to pay off their balance monthly seem to often forget how much they've

accrued on the account over their entire bill cycle.

3. “Keeping Up With the Joneses”

• The American Dream: White Picket Fence, obtaining the latest gadget or newest-model car, funding your materialistic desires. Although its strap that seems harmless, there are deeper behavioral concerns that come into play when you're over spending in a year just to keep up with “Mr. Jones”.

• What you may forget is that the average $203,163 American household debt also include the Joneses themselves. They're likely not any more well off than you, and the need to one-up each other is deepening the financial b

4. Auto Loan DebtThe average auto loan amount buyers borrowed was more than $27,000, according to Experian Automotive. What's

terrifying about this number is that auto loan terms are getting longer and longer, with some ranging from six to eight years. What to do: Utilize your free time to find out whether an auto loan refinance can help you save money over the life of your loan. The goal is to refinance at a lower interest rate, while

shortening the length of your auto loan.

Neglecting Your Credit Report

As contradictory as it seems, in order to have good credit, you have to go into debt. When utilizing the credit scoring model,

it's beneficial to have varying types of accounts to prove you're responsible with using credit.

What to do: Credit Diversity! New accounts and age of your credit accounts comprise a large portion of your credit score, with factors such as a history of on-time payments and credit

utilization also filling out the rest of the report