Just saw some research on average American debt levels and it's kind of wild how much people are carrying right now. So the average American debt excluding mortgages hit about $23,000 last year, up from roughly $21,800 the year before. That's still better than 2019 when it was nearly $30,000, but the trend is moving the wrong direction lately.

What surprised me most was the breakdown by generation. Gen X and millennials are getting hit the hardest with average American debt around $28,600 and $24,800 respectively, while Gen Z is sitting at about $16,500. Baby boomers are lower at around $18,300. The real issue? More than 60% of millennials and Gen X say they don't even have a solid plan to tackle what they owe.

Credit cards are obviously the main culprit, making up 28% of personal debt, followed by auto loans at 13%. What's crazy is that credit card debt alone hit a record $1.13 trillion across all American households. People are spending roughly 29% of their monthly income just trying to pay this stuff down.

The inflation and interest rate combo is really squeezing people. Only 59% of borrowers now say they have a specific payoff plan, down from 61% last year. And get this—40% of people surveyed don't have any emergency fund at all. The average American debt situation looks pretty strained when you factor in that people are more uncertain about their finances than they were before.