I was browsing the New York Times this morning and found an interesting article that discussed the trend for Americans to dig themselves even deeper into debt. Since I deal with a number of clients and help with their finances, this didn't surprise me. I've noticed that many individuals and families just continue to get further into debt even if they are increasing their income.
The story is interesting and worth a read to help you understand why more people are continuing to dig themselves deeper into debt, but the real striking part about this piece is the interactive tool that allows you to plug in your own financial numbers to see how you compare. Once you reach that page, you can select the "launch interactive" button and proceed to enter your various debt totals.
You can then use the chart and sliders from the results to compare yourself to others in your age group, or even similar incomes. It is quite interesting, and it is helpful to see where you stand relative to others. This can help shed some light on your debt situation and work as a catalyst towards making improvements. If you want to see how things have changed since 1920, be sure to click on the "series index" of the interactive map where you can view a timeline with some interesting statistics.