Business was booming at a nearby shopping centre in the lead-up to Christmas. Armed with credit cards and other forms of debt, consumers were loading up on gifts and other seasonal goodies. I wondered: how will they pay for this spending frenzy?
The Reserve Banks chart on household finances (below, left) is a constant, scary reminder of how much debt Australians have. Personal indebtedness keeps rising despite a sluggish economy, record-low wages growth and already strained finances.
The charts other side provides some relief: interest paid as a percentage of household finances has been falling for the past decade, thanks to record-low interest rates. But that will not last for much longer, amid expectations that interest rates in Austral…
Read the full article at: http://www.thebull.com.au/premium/a/64812-stock-to-watch-as-personal-debt-climbs.html