It used to be that being in debt was a source of great shame. We would not talk about it for fear of having the stigma either of being financially irresponsible or of trying living beyond our means. Times have changed. These days we do not talk about our debt not because we are embarrassed, but rather because we simply do not care or are in denial about the potential damage it can do.

When the news media states that the average American credit card holder household has a $9000 balance, we are strangely comforted by this fact and come to the conclusion that if everyone is in debt then, essentially, no one is... at least not really. Besides, we can always claim bankruptcy if things get too out of control - right?

So we view credit card debt in the same way we view taxes - as just another unavoidable fact of life and perhaps even as an "membership fee" to the benefits of the good life.

Recently a friend asked me how she can best invest her money to get the greatest return. I knew that she was not only carrying balances on multiple credit cards but that she was also past due on a number of them. I gently asked her what her interest rate on her highest credit card was. She told me it was close to 20%.

I told her that her best investment was to pay off her credit cards and to stop buying designer handbags.

She didn't like that answer. She said that she felt that she was falling behind because she was not investing like her friends were, and that the credit card debt would always be there, but she wanted to get in on the ground floor of the next Google stock or something similar.

I told her she'd be extremely hard-pressed to find an investment that would net her a 20% return after taxes. She didn't believe me.

I think this perfectly illustrates how many of us are burying our head in the sand when it comes to our debt. Talking about it forces us to take a good, hard look at the reality of it and the importance of getting rid of it if we want to have a secure financial future.

The solutions are not complicated. Spend less, delay gratification, save first... The largest obstacle in our collective psyche is to acknowledge there is an actual problem to be solved. There is no solution to a problem one feels doesn't exist.

Learn more about this author, Nathan Kim.
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