> It's a rule of thumb that your total debt should not exceed 1/3 of your income.

Unless tax deductions work very different in the US than they do in Denmark, that is pretty bad advice.

Here, sitting on a 60% mortgage loan that is many times higher than your annual income is genuinely a good idea for most people because of tax law. It’s not until you have assets that are worth more than your house that it becomes a good idea to pay off the entire loan.

Meanwhile having even a small “quickloan” that is 0.1% of your annual income is a very stupid idea.

I mean, if you don’t know finance at all then maybe it’s a good rule of thumb as you’ll never bury yourself in debt, but loans aren’t just loans.