Individuals now owe a total of £1.43 trillion, including mortgage debt, slightly above the previous high.

On average, that means each adult in the UK owes £28,489, including any home loans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25152556

Hmmm Looks like we are a nation of debt slaves.

I don't owe anyone except the tax man, each and every year. There's no freedom like debt freedom and owning everything you own without the monthly payments that go with them.

You are better than me, I owe the bank still for my house, although I do have the resources to pay off the mortgage if I wanted to. I have a different view on debt: to me debt has always represented opportunity. When I started as an entrepreneur I used the equity in my house to fund my first startup. To me, a second mortgage represented the runway I had to get the business off the ground. Once the business was up and running I was easily able to pay the second mortgage off. Debt by itself is not a bad thing. It would nearly impossible to get anything big done without taking on some debt.

I agree with Bob in that it's best to stay out of debt. I prefer to save, invest and make sure I am insured where I need to be insured to protect my assets. I have the same conservative philosophy as Bob1 when it comes to finances. Live within your means, stay out of debt, save, invest and make sure you are well insured to protect your assets. Examples being long and short term disability insurance, health insurance, dental and vision insurance, life insurance and long term care insurance. I am also a believer in an emergency cash reserve to keep in the event of emergencies such as death or sickness in the family, car repairs, business is not going well and need money to pay the bills, things of that nature. This is useful in that you don't have to take money out of any investments you have because you have that additional emergency cash reserve to make it un-necessary to do so in the event of something expensive and unexpected happening. Investment picks should also be conservative and manage and limit risk such as the risks of inflation, interest rate risk, currency and credit risk (in the case of investing in bonds).

Regardless of opinions the fact is that we are in record high debt. Which is a bit surprising as its not so easy to get credit these days as it was before the crash.

I'm heavily in debt, just to keep life bearable. I do not have money, nor did I come from money, nor do I ever expect to have money as I have no living family to ever help me out in the most difficult of times.
I do not own a house, or have any investments or 'emergency money'.

However, I do pride myself in making sure that my debts get paid every week - even if I have nothing left to go out and socialise, let alone go out for a meal.

In short, if it wasn't for debt, I would likely be in an existance of Hell.

Bobby.