Argentina: 6 in 10 Young People Borrow to Live
Only 3 in 100 people under 40 managed to save anything in September, according to the Zentrix Consultora monitor.
The September monitor from Zentrix Consultora, in Argentina, found that six in 10 young people go into debt and that the money no longer goes to treats: 55.1% of those who took credit used it for food and health.
Among those under 40, 60.9% took on debt in the last six months, 72% spend their entire income before the 20th of the month, and only 3% managed to save. In lower-income sectors, 83.3% reach the 20th with no money and 0.9% manage to save something.
Debt to eat is not debt for a treat
The purpose of the loan changes everything. In higher-income households, 36.5% went into debt in the last six months and, within that group, 63.4% used the money for durable goods. In the lower class, 68.1% went into debt and 65.5% of them used it for essentials.
«Borrowing to eat is not a sin; the risk is that the next installment eats the next paycheck.»
An installment that buys groceries is handled differently from an installment that buys a treat. When credit covers food, debt stops being a consumer decision and becomes part of the cost of living. That is not personal failure. It is the gap between wages and prices.
Scripture knows the weight of owing someone: "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender" (Proverbs 22:7, ESV). Borrowing to eat is not a sin; the risk is that the next installment eats the next paycheck. If the month ends with a new loan to cover the previous one, debt has become permanent.
List everything you owe and give each peso a name
Before discussing rates, write down every debt in your phone notes: who you owe, how much, when it is due, and what happens if you don't pay. Sort them by date and by cost. With that list you build a zero-based budget: every peso of your salary gets a destination before it is spent, and you start with rent, food, and transportation.
Then look at the total cost of the credit, not the advertised rate: how much you pay back including interest, fees, and insurance. Compare it with what you earn, not with the installment that feels comfortable. If the installments take almost everything you have left free each month, the problem is the amount.
81.8% of respondents feel that their salary does not beat inflation, and that proportion has not fallen below 81% since March. Under that pressure, today's installment is signed with tomorrow's salary, which no one has guaranteed. That is why an emergency fund, even $20 a week, is not a luxury: it is what prevents an unexpected event from becoming another installment.
Three steps when the first installment can't be met
First, talk before the due date. Write or call whoever you owe, explain your situation, and ask to move the date or extend the term; silence only accumulates late fees.
Second, cut what is not essential and do not take a new loan to pay the old one. If the temptation for another installment comes, wait 48 hours and go back to your list.
Third, ask for company. A trusted adult, a certified financial professional, or your pastor can look at your sheet calmly when you look at it with anguish. That step is also stewardship: managing well what God entrusted to you, without shame and without hiding numbers.
None of this lowers the prices of a country. But knowing how much you owe, how much you pay back, and whom you owe gives you back something better than a breather: decisions. Hope is not in the card or in the comfortable installment; it is in the Lord who sustains today and in the faithfulness of managing well what little you have. Which is the first installment you are going to open today to look at it with numbers and not with fear?
