Huh? Interest rates are at historic lows. The only people getting charged super-high rates are those who have already destroyed their credit, so high rates obviously have no part in the cause of their financial problems.
And this article provides numerous illustrations of the number one rule of financial stability: don't have children before you can afford them. What are people thinking of, having a baby while they've got $30,000 in credit card debt, or before they've paid off their own student loans? Get completely out of debt except for a reasonable mortgage, pay cash for a good used car, and THEN start bringing children into the world.
Disagree. Children are not the problem here. If you wait until you can afford them you'll never have them. And we need to be reproducing at a far higher level than we are.
The problem is people getting themselves into 30K of CC debt in the first place. If you don't have the cash, don't buy it.
Cars are another big issue with me. People insist that they have to have a new car every three years or so. If they'd just wait three years and buy that car (when it's 4 model years old) they'll save around 40-50% of the cost. Then drive it for 10-12 years and do it again. The cost savings is incredible.
Likewise if you want a big house, buy a big fixer-upper.
We bought our 2200 sq ft home for 24K back in 1987. After much work (and about 50-60K of improvements) it's worth well over 100K now but my housing payment is still less than the rent I paid previously.
And lastly, live in a cheaper area. My cost of living is next to nothing compared to the big cities. I pay about $575 a year in property taxes (although they will increase this year)
We are a one-income family with children and we are doing quite nicely. Of course we eat out far too often but we're working on that.