You got hired in 2014 and have enjoyed nothing but pay raises, upward movement and improved contracts. You have never seen a big downturn(Covid does'nt count), 30-45% paycuts + downgrades, etc. Those who had little or no debt during those times were much happier and navigated those times better. The only thing that changed in their lives were the ability to save less and maybe some discretionary spending. We had "money experts" before the dark times too claiming how smart they were to have lots of bills, homes, cars, boats, etc "because money is cheap". They still had to pay those loans at the end of the day..