] Repossessed BMWs. Foreclosed McMansions. Pawned Rolexes.
]
] Such is the stuff of personal bankruptcy when a go-go
] lifestyle built on consumer excess runs up against
] financial reality.
]
] Or is it? Could it be that those tarnished icons of
] dead-end decadence are just as much an overhyped myth as
] the hordes of teenage day-traders back in 1999 who
] supposedly beat Wall Street's best brokers without ever
] leaving the comfort of their bedrooms?
]
] The biggest predictor that a person will end up bankrupt
] turns out not to be a bad Prada habit or a taste for
] sub-zero refrigerators. It's having children, according
] to the mother-and-daughter authors of "The Two-Income
] Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers are Going
] Broke."

A very interesting article, to say the least. I have to agree with the authors that the behavior of parents in an effort to provide for their children is what has gotten many in trouble. At least, from personal experiences that I've seen. Worrying about getting into "the best" school district, no matter what the cost of the mortgage or rent payments is listed as the biggest culprit.

I had a conversation very much along these lines with a coworker before she had her first child - she and her husband were looking at school districts and deciding whether to remodel or move houses. This is before the child is even born! My logic was that school wouldn't start for at least 6 years and by that point "the best" school would be some other new suburban area. I think a lot has to do with the fact that the newest schools get the best toys, rather than keeping all of the districts at a similar level.

Americans are NOT going broke over lattes!