Do you really care if you die in debt?

no! I still have to live with myself while i'm living. I made the debts voluntarily so I must pay them.

You should have suggested liquidation, and distribution of any remaining cash prior to death, leaving enough in trust to see you out. Remain in control to the end, pay the unsecured creditors yourself, they need the money most. You can't do anything about the secured creditors, banks don't lose money, they are insured even if you raze the property to the ground. And the government has been blowing your hard earned money since you got your first job, why not leave them with what is left over, like what they do to your pay check. The 27% are likely those people living in moderate to extreme poverty, and will save the government a small fortune by dying prematurely anyway. Everyone dies, might as well die happy, with the dignity of knowing you honored your commitment to those that mattered, and left the scraps for those called preferred with a final message of appropriate pay for a job well done.

Robert makes some great points in his post, I don't know if I agree with them all but it does cause one to take a hard look at question. In this new reality where ordinary people are being manipulated daily by either our governments and/or corporate entities to be nothing more than a source of taxes or profits with little regard to any ethics why should we as ordinary people be concerned about leaving bills unpaid. On the flip side with the way things are if corporations start getting stung too often they'll lobby the government to fabricate some new laws to protect their corporate interests anyway.
After thinking about it for a few minutes..............what Robert states makes all kinds of sense!

Robert & Carl

I Agree 100%

Couldn't agree with you more Robert.... well said

Why leave debt for some else to pay off-not right.
When I leave this earth -I well be debt free.
Come on people wake up.

@ Sheila

Did you not read the post? Unless your beneficiaries i.e. your surviving family members, are in some way legally responsible for your debt i.e. they co-signed a loan for you or you both borrowed money together your loved ones ARE NOT responsible to pay off your debts. If for whatever reason you do not have enough money at the end of your life to pay off all your creditors, they simply do not get paid and the estate is considered bankrupt...and really, who gives a shit if some big bank loses a few grand. Those swindlers make a killing in interest on loans alone. The give poor people and struggling people such as students, credit cards and lines of credit just to enslave these people to the banks for the rest of their lives. I would not give a rat's ass if I died in debt. I am dead and my family wont suffer I could careless if some banker couldnt buy a new Porsche that year because I was insolvent. You're the one who needs to open your eyes sister!

The key to dying broke AND happy would seem to me to be about knowing just when you are going to die. Blow all your money today and you will die broke in the future. It just unfortunately, may not be tomorrow, and that doesnt sound like happy to me. Im living off my house right now for a few more years - then I'll downsize to a cheaper locale, scoop some cash in the sale, and start getting the gov't income AND tapping into the currently locked-in RRSPs. If I outlive my cash, Ill have to make it to at least 82, which is a stretch considering family genetics, current health, etc .....
I may end up in debt if Im over 84-85, but I think most of that debt will be racked up in paleative-care nursing homes anyways ... lol

Sheila is retarded....

Sheila ask this question from RBC Bank manager Harbinger, Bernie and others from the same Branch to make sure ..... if they have same opinion as you. Bernie stool my money as RBC Adviser.
when Ship is sinking the Rats are running with your savings.

I would rather die not in debt. I have gone bankrupt and did ask if the companies I owed would take payments. Unfortunately they wanted the entire sum owed and would not come to any other agreement other than pay it in full. So they got next to nothing. People fall on hard times and the problem is companies just do not care. They will hound you night and day until you threaten them with bankruptcy. Companies are greedy now a days and want as much as they can get from your pocket. Granted there are some small companies that barely get buy and keep people employed. My hat goes off to those type of businesses. When it comes down to it our government should be doing more to regulate businesses for price wise and interest rates one can charge. An example would be I get a loan for $5000.00 why should anyone have to pay double or more to pay it off. You would have less people going bankrupt if the fee was reasonable and if they quit giving out such high credit limits.

It is called usury...Robert is completely right as far as finding a way to cope individually with this problem but what of our collective stance. From one coast to the other here in Canada we should be fighting usury. Taking a look around the world at how some less industrialized nations handle the issue of financial debt, of how they define it, a person can find quite a few different ways to understand what is happening. While i do not agree with how we run the finances of our country I find the biggest issue is consumer apathy not crooked banks or government. We all will get away with whatever we can...it is us that are letting this happen. No, usury is not illegal in our country and the fight is a legislative one not a criminal one. Time to demand parliament to change the laws and taking banks to court to try and define a legal right to demand change won't work because usury isn't illegal...making reference to those who have valiantly tried to establish precedence in court this way but who failed. As we fought over the creation of labor law, now we need to fight over financial law. Time to understand it and time to address it. Usury drives inflation and lower wages and debt. no other contributor contributes as much to this problem. In my opinion...

Cant believe peeps here who almost feel its their duty to die in debt or something. Have we really turned into such a greedy society? Our generation has acquired more wealth, an increased standard of living, and longer health than any generation before us. Yet we pollute, destroy, and dirty this planet like we are the last generation in need of it to exist. We are not. And we shouldnt be passing on to future generations any percieved "right" to pass on one's dirt, ones pollution, nor one's destruction to their sons and grandsons. And to top it off, we are already passing on to them a debt-load through our governments that is burdensome and unfair.
Have we not been ridiculously greedy already as a generation? " I dont care as long as I get mine" is not the mentality nor the motto that I wish our generation to be remembered by, but the numbers seem to speak for themselves ....

I have 2 people I loaned money to..I asked for the money back over and over One them gave me half and said the other have was my punishment for mentioning the loan to his sister..The other Never paid me because I had to move away .Out of sight out of mind ..I asked by phone and by mail for my money .No Go ..I was not getting paid by either one..The years went by I got a call ..Both of them died young. .Both of them went to their graves owing me FOR ETERNITY..So what goes round comes round..

People spend way too much time worrying about things like this.

I don't care at all if I die in debt.

Can they legally come after my relatives? no

can they hound me in the afterlife? no

will anything I do or don't do, 100 years from now, really matter? no

Hey Chas
Can you lend me 20 bucks ?

I prefer to honor my commitments and live within my means.