Do I have too much debt?

We all have debt. It follows us along our chronology, from student debt to buying a car to buying a house to paying for the odds and ends along the way.

The question is though, how much debt is too much?

Although the answer to this will vary from person to person, there are some common, telltale signs.

No sweet dreams

Your ability to pay your debt obligations should never cause worry to the point that you are losing sleep. If you are staring at the ceiling at 3am on a consistent basis trying to determine how you are going to make ends meet again this month, that is a sign that your debt load may be crushing you.

Only minimum payments

If you are only able to make minimum payments on your cards, that may be a sign that you are over extended and that your income is not enough to support your debt obligations.

Take from one card to pay another

Are you making your credit card payments by taking cash advances on your other cards? Talk about spinning your debt wheels! Your cash flow is clearly an issue, and this is a sure-fire way to get nowhere fast.

Maxed out

Are your cards at or very close to their limits? Not only does this present challenges in responsible money management, having your cards maxed out over an extended period of time will effectively lower your credit score.

Paycheque, what paycheque?

There is living paycheque-to-paycheque, but do you feel like your entire pay cheque is spoken for before it even hits your bank account?

If  you don’t make changes, you’ll end up playing an endless game of catch-up- where you never really catch up. It’s exhausting both mentally and emotionally. No wonder you’re up at night!