Several years ago, I happened upon a peculiar circumstance of someone I knew personally who, at the time, had income in the top 5 percent of all income earners in the US. He was living the life with a home, several cars,
vacations, gadgets galore and was very generous in his giving to charity and to others. On the surface it appeared that
Ben had the life of a prince. He bought what he wanted, travelled where he wanted, helped all those he wanted (and
some he didn’t even care for too much) and leisured as he wanted. The thing is, that lifestyle was fueled by debt.
The first line of that famous Cab Calloway song says “How’d you like to blow your top” and Ben was fully on his
way to accommodating that question. He was the paragon of the HiDi syndrome – Hi Income Debt Inferno. His
income being elevated and his debts right up there to match. While people with low income can compile large debts
to set their finances afire it takes stupendous income to create a financial debt inferno.
So go on and sing the song Ben
“Looky here, Mitch hand me over that ripe, greasy five (more debt…)
Hi-de-ho, he-de-he”
The Hidi-ho man, that’s (not) me. It shouldn’t be you either.
