When it comes to money in the afterlife, you know what they say: You can’t take it with you. And as far as many Americans are concerned, you might just leave some debt behind as well.

A new study from creditcards.com found that more than 25% of baby boomers and almost 30% of Gen Xers expect to die without paying off everything they owe, according to CNBC.com.

And while another 44% of boomers and 35% of Gen Xers haven’t resigned themselves to carrying their debt into the great beyond, they have no idea if and when they’ll be able to pay it off.

However, hope is not entirely lost. Most respondents said they’re at least following a strategy to try and pay off their debt, and 35% of Americans across all age groups expect these efforts will succeed in ridding them of debt altogether. Baby boomers surveyed predict they’ll be out of the red by age 66, on average.

Hope is not entirely lost. Most respondents say they are following a strategy to try and pay off their debts.

Millennials are leading the charge for creative, albeit uncomfortable, debt-tackling schemes, like these CNBC.com profile subjects living off of only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and temporarily moving into vans.

And while that’s not for everybody (and perhaps not as wise as a more conventional approach of steadily paying down your debts), at least they’re trying. Perhaps that’s why only 20% of millennials believe they’ll end life in the red (or perhaps it’s just because they’ve got a lot more time to pay off their debts).

If you’re in need of a more structured debt-solving plan, you might benefit from meeting with a credit counselor or certified financial planner who charges by the hour. Regardless of the approach you chose to take, keeping your numbers in the negative until the end doesn’t have to be the only way.


•January 16, 2019