What is society ruining young people off?

A debt free life.

The society is forcing young people to submerge their lives in loans.

My parents have been married for 40+ years and have three kids. We have our own home, not a mansion but yes a normal sized home and one normal car. We have a comfortable life. Not lavish.

Sweet, simple and comfortable life.

But in all their life my parents only once took a bank loan of INR 5 Lakhs for the marriage of my eldest sister 15 years back when they both were in early fifties and repaid it quickly too.

Their complete young age was loan free. They both had jobs, they both earned, they both saved. They lived in rented houses for 20 years after their marriage. They travelled on Bajaj scooter, rickshaw, auto and on buses. They build their own home in around five years little by little and then kept on modifying it even years after moving. They weren't too interested in having dinners in 5 stars, or going around the city in a big beautiful car. They weren't a fan of branded clothes, latest gadgets or make ups and also weren't too much into style and fashion.

My parents led a simple life, worked really hard and build their own sweet haven. They weren't greedy or impatient. They did it little by little together in 40+ years. They went to work and came back home to their family and slept peacefully.

Instead of having their life in debt, my parents chose to struggle for their way upwards. They were overworked, but not depressed. They had the necessary things, but they were not materialistically greedy. Neither they believed in showing off in their social circle.

And I am sure your parents must have been the same. Their generation was completely different than ours.

But now you meet people who are in their mid to late twenties, and even they have loans on themselves. INR 10 Lakhs, INR 20 Lakhs, having such loans is not uncommon for the youth today.

Why?

Because at the young age of 27 we want our own apartment. At the young age of 28 we want a car that costs us INR 6–7 lakhs easily. We want to maintain a lifestyle that is more than our earnings. We want to eat at good places, travel to amazing countries, wear amazing clothes, want expensive phones, tv's and computers, keep up with our styles and looks and flaunt it all off in our social circle and social media.

We want the best of things very early on in life, in just our twenties. And to fulfill our desires we are even ready to submerge ourselves under huge loans and debts, and in return make our financial lives a little messier.

We are ready to live our dreams on the money which is not yet ours. And to make that money ours, we end up paying a lot more money than the actual amount over in several years.

When we take loans, we sign up for a big tension. If we calculate the installments, the principal and the interest amount, the time value of money, and calculate all of them, we will come to know the real cost of the loan.

Secondly, when the installment of the loan is 15–50% of one's salary, it becomes a major regular cash outflow. In a rented house we pay rent, in an apartment that is bought by loan we pay installments for numerous years.

Thirdly, many people find themselves stuck in poor jobs just because of the loan repayment problem. And if God forbid they lose their job for a few months, the loan installments take another portion of their savings.

But who is to be blamed?

The young people? The greed? The desire to live a luxurious life from early on? The peer pressure? The respect in society?

May be all of them.

Imagine a young couple, just 27–28 years old, living in a rented house, traveling by buses and autos daily. Not eating out too much, wearing plain clothes, having a very minimal and simple lifestyle and saving a large part of their incomes rather than spending unnecessarily.

You think people won't make fun of them?

They will.

People will call them miser and unwise. People will advice them to upgrade their lifestyle. People will suggest them to move into a developed residential society by buying their own flat. People will tell them the car models they can purchase instead of using public transport. People will recommend them some amazing furniture, fashion and style and interior designing online sites.

And then the banks will enter with their credit cards and loan plans with cute interest rates. They will strike on the weakest veins and will convince the people to sign up for loans.

Today if you meet a man or a woman who is just 28 years old having a loan of INR 25 Lakhs on their earnings, don't be surprised. Today if you meet a 32 year old guy who is sad that a major chunk of his earnings is going in installments, don't be surprised. If today you meet a 30 year old woman who is having trouble sleeping because of interests rate going up and down, don't be surprised.

It is this society who has gifted all of us this disease of seeing loan as a good, when in reality it is more of bad.

Loan- A temporary blessing but a permanent curse.