What happens when one gets laid off, disabled, changes careers, or faces some other circumstances that cause incomes to fall below what’s needed to service debt payments? That’s why living below one’s means and saving the rest is prudent.

Unfortunately high inflation penalizes savers by eroding the purchasing power of savings, and it forces all workers on a treadmill where it seems that the cost of living rises faster than many people’s ability to catch up. The only way to beat inflation it seams is to invest in assets such as real estate or stocks, but those squeezed by inflation have little to invest, and these assets are increasingly difficult to obtain due to inflation. I find being on the wrong side of inflation highly demoralizing and upsetting.