The Debt Trap
Apr 6, 2026 · 1 hr 40 min · 19 segments
We like to think that good financial decisions come down to discipline and basic math. But the psychology of money turns out to be deeply complicated. Researcher…
Apr 6, 2026 · 1 hr 40 min · 19 segments
We like to think that good financial decisions come down to discipline and basic math. But the psychology of money turns out to be deeply complicated. Researcher…
Shankar VedantamHostBobby ParmarGuest
The lovely couple with the nice house, beautiful family, and gainful careers unexpectedly find themselves drowning in tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt.
Debt grew by ninety-three billion dollars at the end of twenty twenty-four, and half of that increase came from new credit card debt.
Or maybe it's the fresh college graduate who, rather than looking forward to a bright future and a sense of freedom, finds himself trying to pay back a series of compounding loans, only to watch the balance grow year after year after year.
One out of every four Americans with student loans is delinquent.
That's nearly triple the pre-pandemic delinquency rates seen.
[music]
And then there's the retiree who thought she had enough saved until one medical emergency wiped out her nest egg.
And so you just start chipping away at your savings, chipping away at everything you have and, and ultimately chipping away at retirement.
And yet, hundreds of millions of people around the world find themselves enmeshed in debt.
But even when you do everything right, budget, plan, and make reasonable choices, debt has a way of surprising you.
Today on the show, the unseen traps that influence our behavior when it comes to money, the entities that take advantage of our mistakes, and how to win back our freedom.
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The lovely couple with the nice house, beautiful family, and gainful careers unexpectedly find themselves drowning in tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt.
Debt grew by ninety-three billion dollars at the end of twenty twenty-four, and half of that increase came from new credit card debt.
Or maybe it's the fresh college graduate who, rather than looking forward to a bright future and a sense of freedom, finds himself trying to pay back a series of compounding loans, only to watch the balance grow year after year after year.
One out of every four Americans with student loans is delinquent.
That's nearly triple the pre-pandemic delinquency rates seen.
[music]
And then there's the retiree who thought she had enough saved until one medical emergency wiped out her nest egg.
And so you just start chipping away at your savings, chipping away at everything you have and, and ultimately chipping away at retirement.
And yet, hundreds of millions of people around the world find themselves enmeshed in debt.
But even when you do everything right, budget, plan, and make reasonable choices, debt has a way of surprising you.
Today on the show, the unseen traps that influence our behavior when it comes to money, the entities that take advantage of our mistakes, and how to win back our freedom.