KTRH Local Houston and Texas News

KTRH Local Houston and Texas News

KTRH-AM covering local news from Houston and across Texas.

 

U.S. Consumers Are Racking Up Debt Trying To 'Maintain A Lifestyle'

With more and more Americans racking up credit card debt to make ends meet, the CEO of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan says there is also another reason. For many, that would be 'maintaining a lifestyle'.

"It's difficult to cut back, it's difficult to reassess our needs and our wants" said Texas based CPA and certified financial planner, Bill Dendy, "And for many people they just went ahead and turned to savings, and turned to credit cards."
Unfortunately, while prices have skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration, wages have not come close to keeping pace. It's basic math.

"Across the board, people have seen costs of things go up 20-25%" Dendy told KTRH, "And for a lot of people, their income didn't go up by 20-25% and every dollar was already spoken for."

The bottom line is, many Americans may have to stop trying to keep up with the Jones.

"The real answer is the traditional budget and plan" noted Dendy, "And I know budget and planning does not sound exciting, it's like diet and exercise for a lot of folks, but so many things can be taken care of by going back to the basics."

Recent data shows that consumer spending has dropped this summer. But people are still shelling out for restaurants and travel.

Girl with credit cards and debt

Photo: Peter Dazeley / The Image Bank / Getty Images


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