They're victims...right?-----Americans in Their 30s Are Piling On Debt - WSJ

Americans in Their 30s Are Piling On Debt - WSJ

• Danielle Smith and her family thought they had finally escaped the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle they had fallen into. They saved money during the pandemic while they were stuck at home. They used stimulus checks to chip away at $20,000 in credit-card debt and enjoyed a reprieve from monthly payments on their $160,000 in student loans.
• Lately, they have been hit with one unexpected expense after another, from an out-of-pocket MRI to a broken water heater. They also took trips with their four children that they had put off because of Covid, including to Walt Disney World, local museums and the zoo. By 2022, their credit-card debt had doubled to nearly $40,000.
  
  ...American millennials in their 30s have racked up debt at a historic clip since the pandemic.
  Their total balances hit more than $3.8 trillion in the fourth quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a 27% jump from late 2019.
  “For millennials, it’s felt like being hit from every side,” said Charlotte Principato, a financial-services analyst at the research company Morning Consult who covers younger consumers.
  “They’re not feeling in control of their financial lives.”...