This sums up our household.
We PIF every month, but in the odd case that we mistime the payment and a larger amount than intended ends up being reported, having a large cushion becomes a strategy.
@wa3more wrote:some types of student loans can be BK'd, pretty sure private loans can.
-fastest growing population filing BK is the under 25 crowd.
-average age of bk filier about 35. Seniors over 65 are a growing group for bk as well.
-in a recent survey, half the people could not come up with 400 in an emergency.
- the average person reaches 65 retirement age with less than 10k.
what happens to one of these young kids making 30-40k who have 10+ credit cards with 20, 30 or 50k outstanding then they lose their job ? It is outsourced or eliminated due to cost cutting. It is happening everyday and is a large reason the 25-34 age group have to move back home. That and the huge college loans and inability to get jobs they went to college for. My kids are 27 & 23 and I see how their friends are living. Many have spent huge amounts on college and are severely underemployed.
There are several assumptions here.
First, you're assuming that having 20k-50k of credit lines equals having those lines maxed out.
You also appear to be falling victim to the common complaint that kids just can't get jobs after going to college and assuming huge student loan debt, and that it's not their fault. That's typically not the fault of the college or employers. It's a (ridiculous) societal maxim that dictates that everyone needs to go to college. Going to college isn't, and shouldn't be, a guarantee that the individual attending is employable. Kids go to college expecting that it magically replaces competence and ability, when all it does (in a universal sense) is demonstrate some measure of determination to finish a degree.
I have a six-figure student loan debt (no medical or law school) that I have no problem paying back. I laugh when people complain about the "huge" average student loan of 35k. Give me a break. If you can't pay that back on an extended graduated plan, you had no business going to college in the first place. I understand that occasionally people get into tight spots and get laid off, but that's a short term problem, not a long term one.
What you appear to be talking about is financial irresponsiblility, which has nothing to do with what sort of credit lines people have open and available. My wife and I have around 200k in available credit, which as a lone data point says nothing about our solvency. I'm not sure why that was the starting point of this conversation.
Revelate ... "holy smokes" are you a philosopher. As to those over "40+ were more likely to file BK at under 30" ... sure doesn't track with my mid-western roots or findings! Maybe in California where people are busy blowing sunshine somewhere but, not up here where the snow and cold keeps us pinned down so we can't spend 
@wa3more wrote:
dina - I agree with what you are saying. I have personal experience with many people with huge credit available then getting into trouble I worked as an FA at Morgan Stan. during the 2009 crisis then left when business sucked to go back into accounting.
What do you say to all these young people who can not afford to contribute to a 401k ?? What about all these other people who live paycheck to paycheck ?? How about the young women who came into my friends office last week at 24 years old with 108k of debt ??? She asked "what do i do ?" It is real and is a problem. Been seeing it for 30+ years but its getting worse in terms of debt and savings levels. Generally sepaking.....
The OP just made a comment about people with huge credit limits.. Of course there are exceptions and i'm speaking about the GENERAL population.
I'm glad things are booming in sunny CA where Relevate lives and people are not living paycheck to paycheck and the millenials are staying out of credit card debt.. Things are a bit different here on Long Island.
I'm not certain why you're reacting as if I called your baby ugly; we're exchanging anecdotal datapoints and views, we're all equal here in that regard. Buffet has been known to opine on things he has no direct knowledge of same as what we're doing here, I'm a little skeptical of that too personally on this one. Short of backing statements with quality sources, there will be a bit of skepticism anywhere on the net, and this place is no different in that regard. Skepticism in the face of unsupported facts is actually a good thing in my opinion, doesn't mean the person opining said "facts" is a terrible human being or anything.
Going back again to my "philosophical" earlier comment of only knowing the world as it is presented to us: big picture issues require big picture vantage points, which I'd suggest none of us individually have.
@wa3more wrote:uh, i've been in the finance field since 1981 and have direct experience as an accountant and advisor.
Are you saying warren buffett doesn't know what he's talking about and sometimes misquotes out of ignorance ?? And your experience and knowledge is better than is ?? lol
I'm sorry but your assumption of a broad view based on the self-selecting population that walks through your door is false; much like the comment that millenials were the highest population of Sapphire applicants, which has so many issues when we're talking data points (which Sapphire product, when was the comment, how many were minted in the initial run, and why were they applying especially if we're talking the most recent Reserve which wasn't advertised in the traditional model?).
As for the Buffet comment, please do me the courtesy of actually reading what I wrote. FWIW brilliance in one area very rarely means brilliance or even competence in all other areas, and we're all still fallible humans.
Anyway this is my last comment since apparently those that don't agree with your statements are stupid or at least not worthy of respect in your view.