It’s true, everyone has some form of debt, but do you have too much? In order to see if you do, first write down a detailed list of all of your expenses each month. This includes your car payment, insurance, mortgage, all credit cards, and any other payment that you make every month.

If all of your expenses constitute more than 40% of your gross income, you could be in financial distress.

Think about it this way: If taxes take 25% of your salary, you're saving about 15% , and your loan payments hit 40%, you're left with just 20% for everything else. And that’s IF you’re saving. Most people do not save any money every month. Then an emergency strikes, and they have no back-up money to pay for it with.

If you have too much debt, it's a good idea to come up with a strategy to pay it down.