SUCCESS

Nearly 9 out of every 10 students who use credit cards report doing so to pay for basic living expenses such as food, housing and gas.

Key Takeaways

Stress relief and regaining control are the top debt-payoff motivations, with each cited by 48% of respondents in a 2026 Freedom Debt Relief survey.
Financial motivators were commonly cited by survey respondents, but they ranked second to more emotional ones.
To help regain a sense of control, planners recommend funding a $1,000 to $2,500 starter emergency fund before you aggressively attack debt.

Debt can be financially stressful, thanks to compounding interest pushing the finish line further away and payments shrinking your monthly cash flow. But carrying that burden doesn’t only affect a borrower’s wallet.
A recent survey from Freedom Debt Relief and Money.com found that the top motivations for paying off debt aren’t actually financial: 48% of respondents said their desire to stop feeling stressed or anxious about money contributed to their motivation to reduce their debt, and another 48% said they wanted to regain control of their finances. That’s compared to 45% who were motivated by rebuilding their credit score and 44% who wanted to save on interest and fees. The survey asked 1,800 Americans with at least $10,000 in unsecured debt about their finances.
“Paying down debt is both a financial decision and an emotional one,” says Mike Casey, a financial planner and founder of American Executive Advisors. “For many people, eliminating a balance creates a powerful sense of control and reduces financial anxiety,”

What motivates people to pay off debt
There are emotional motivators beyond combatting stress and regaining a sense of control. Thirty percent of the survey respondents indicated that improving their physical or mental health was an incentive for paying down debt, and 12% said they want to reduce conflict with a spouse or partner.
The more debt borrowers have, the more likely they are to cite emotional reasons for wanting to pay it off. The same is true for borrowers juggling multiple debt accounts: About a third of respondents who only have one or two accounts cited reducing stress and anxiety as a motivator, compared to more than 60% of borrowers with six or more accounts.
Borrowers want to change their debt situation for financial reasons, too. Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents said they wanted to eliminate debt to increase their day-to-day spending flexibility. At the same time, 21% said it was to qualify for a major purchase, like a home or car, and 15% said it was to prepare for a major life change, such as getting married or having a child.
Balancing debt payoff with other financial priorities
Carrying expensive debt can trickle into every aspect of your financial life, so it’s little surprise that it can cause distress. But focusing on your debt at the expense of other basic financial needs could do more harm than good.
“Putting every available dollar toward debt can leave you vulnerable to the next unexpected expense,” Casey says.
Instead, a balanced plan of attack — where you reduce your balances and build a strong financial base — can help you combat some of that debt-induced financial anxiety.
Here’s how you can do both at once.
1. Create a financial base
Casey recommends building a financial floor before aggressively attacking debt.
“Start with a starter emergency fund, often $1,000 to $2,500 so a car repair, medical bill or other surprise doesn’t immediately go onto a credit card,” he says. “Then work toward three to six months of essential expenses as your cash reserves improve.”
Financial advisors typically recommend keeping this cash somewhere you can easily access it but where it will also slowly grow over time, such as a high-yield savings account.
2. Prioritize high-interest debt
The higher the interest on your debt, the harder it can be to pay it off — and the more stressful it is to carry it. Credit cards often come with annual percentage rates (APRs) above 20% meaning that if you let your balance linger, it will quickly grow.
You should prioritize paying down credit card debt over additional investing beyond an employer match in a retirement savings account such as a 401(k), says Marisa Bradbury, a financial advisor and managing director at Sigma Investment Counselors. “Lower interest rate debt like student loans or a mortgage may not need to be eliminated before beginning long-term savings.”
While you’ll want to focus on the high-interest debt first, it’s best to make the minimum payments on all your accounts to keep interest from accruing.
Of course, this strategy assumes that you have enough money in your budget each month to pay at least a little bit more than the minimum on your debt. If that’s not the case, you’ll have to look for ways to trim spending or increase your income so you have the cash to accelerate debt repayment.
If you have a strong credit score, you can also look into consolidating your debts. This can help in a couple different ways: You can consolidate into a lower-rate loan and use the savings on interest to pay down more principal or you can consolidate with the goal of reducing your monthly bill and use the freed up money to build the financial base discussed above. (Alternatively, if you’re struggling to afford even the minimum payments and you can’t qualify for a consolidation loan with better terms, you may need to consider more aggressive options, such as negotiating with creditors to settle your debts.)
3. Automate repayments and savings
Next, Casey recommends creating a system that addresses the psychological aspect of debt repayment in addition to the math of what goes in and out of your bank account each month. Automating can help, since it takes away the need to remember to move your money. You can automate savings and debt payments to align with your paydays, then direct additional cash toward the highest-priority goal.
“This turns financial progress into a habit rather than a series of emotional decisions,” Casey says. “The goal isn’t to become debt-free at any cost. Financial freedom means reducing debt while simultaneously building the liquidity and assets that keep you from needing to borrow again”
4. Set goals and celebrate wins
When you have $10,000 or more in credit card debt, getting started can feel daunting because a debt-free life feels so far away.
“Having smaller, more achievable goals rather than ‘paying off all my debt’ can help ease some anxiety and give you some momentum to keep going,” Bradbury says. Start with the goal of paying off one credit card in full or reducing your total debt by $1,000, for instance.
Once you hit that goal, celebrate. It’s best not to start charging the credit card again, but hosting a movie night at home with friends or trying out a coffee shop you’ve been eyeing to commemorate your accomplishment can fuel the motivation to take on your next goal.

Cook Political Report now predicts Democrats could pick up six Senate seats.

“The Social Reckoning,” Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to the 2010 Best Picture Oscar-nominee “The Social Network,” is getting the equivalent of a Facebook “like” (but not “love”) emoji from Rotten Tomatoes critics.

Gate rebrands around Gate Money, which combines accounts, asset conversion, savings and card payments as the exchange broadens beyond its trading base.

AI has made it cheap to link wallet addresses to the people behind them, and the permanence of the blockchain means records don’t age out. Michael Zhao of Grayscale Research explains how Zcash’s shielded transactions address this problem, and why close to 29% of all ZEC ever mined now sits in the shielded pool.

Grocery is a tough, low-margin business. I’ve known that for a long time. Long before joining Wall Street, I spent the better part of a decade working in grocery stores in various roles from bagger to manager. The business is cutthroat, and over the years, big chains’ buying power has increased pressure on smaller grocers, forcing many to sell or close their doors.

Walmart’s rise to national powerhouse status in the 1980s and 1990s was behind many of those supermarket failures. I remember hearing store managers fret over Walmart’s negative impact on openings, and the common refrain was “we can’t match their prices.”

In the end, the chain I worked for, Purity Supermarkets, had over 60 stores but was eventually forced to be sold to a larger New England chain due to competition.

Also read: DoorDash wants customers to stop using its app to order food

Unlike Purity, the chains that survived, including Albertsons, were geographically isolated or entrenched, with pockets deep enough to buy up smaller chains. Others, like Dollar General, stepped in to fill the void created by mom-and-pop closures, using their size to negotiate deals.

Still, Walmart’s low-price advantage has persisted, and a recent Goldman Sachs grocery survey shows the gap is widening.

Grocery chains angle for an edge as they chase Walmart on price

Unquestionably, the supermarket business is one where size matters. The bigger the chain, the more willing vendors are to cut deals, and the more insulated the grocer becomes to rivals encroaching on any one particular market.

To compete with Walmart, the industry has consolidated. Kroger now operates about 2,700 stores under the popular Ralphs, King Soopers, and Harris Teeter brands. Albertson’s runs about 2,200, including under Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco, and Acme banners.

Dollar General has leveraged its reach throughout underserved communities to provide low-cost essentials across over 20,000 locations, including more than 5,400 that sell fresh fruits and vegetables — traditionally the highest-margin products grocery stores sell.

Despite all those stores and all that buying power, each still can’t compete on price with Walmart.

According to the Goldman Sachs survey shared with me, which included shelf surveys at Kroger, Albertsons, Walmart, Sprouts Farmers Market, Whole Foods (WFM), and Dollar General, Walmart had the cheapest groceries by far, and the margin is widening.

Overall, Walmart’s prices were 15.7% below the group average across “38 SKUs in dairy, frozen goods, dry grocery, HPC, and produce categories.”

That handily outpaced Albertsons, which was 6% above average. Dollar General bargain hunters did better but still trailed Walmart, with prices only 7% below average.

The survey also revealed that Walmart’s edge against rivals on price has widened. When Goldman Sachs compared prices at stores last month, Walmart prices were 13.7% below the group of rivals average.

Unsurprisingly, Whole Foods, which some friends jokingly refer to as “whole paycheck,” had prices that were 10.9% above average. Meanwhile, Kroger’s prices were 2.9% below average.

Walmart prices were 15.7% below averages in a recent Goldman Sachs grocery survey.Jeff Greenberg / Getty Images

Walmart’s grocery prices are lowest in dairy and produce

Where Walmart’s grocery rivals struggle most in competing against the Goliath is in the dairy and produce departments. The trip for milk, yogurt, berries, and lettuce is notably less expensive, with Walmart prices 20.4% and 19.2% below the group average.

The chain’s advantage is smaller in other categories, like household and personal care (HPC), but it’s still meaningful. HPC prices were the closest to rivals, but still 9.5% better than the group average.

For perspective, Albertsons was 0.7% below average in dairy but 9.1% above average in HPC items. Dollar General was 6.6% cheaper on dairy and 7.8% below average on dry grocery items, such as canned goods.

One exception in which Dollar General shoppers did beat Walmart was HPC, where the discount store’s prices were 11.7% below average, suggesting that while Walmart handily outpaces it overall, bargain shoppers may want to go there instead for things like toothpaste or soap.

Walmart’s Grocery Price Advantage Versus Major RivalsSegment% Below Group AverageDairy Products-20.4%Frozen Foods-13.5%Dry Grocery-12.1%HPC-9.5%Produce-19.2%

Related: How Kroger and Costco help you beat record gas prices

Stocks have taken a beating as bond yields climb toward multidecade highs. The mood on trading desks has turned noticeably gloomier in recent weeks.

One of Wall Street’s biggest banks thinks that gloom has gone too far.

JPMorgan strategists are telling clients the recent selloff looks overdone. They are pointing to specific data to back up a call for stocks to rebound into year-end. Here is the full case they are making, and what it means for where to put money next.

Also read: Jim Cramer noticed something odd about the stock market

JPMorgan sees bonds and stocks as oversold

JPMorgan strategists led by Mislav Matejka argue equity sentiment has turned overly bearish. They say the fundamentals driving the selloff look less threatening than the price action suggests.

For most of the year, equities absorbed rising yields without much trouble. Yields climbed about 100 basis points year to date, even as stocks posted double-digit gains. Risk assets finally succumbed to the pressure in recent weeks, as reported by Investing.com.

The team also pointed to history as a reason for calm. The start of Fed tightening cycles has historically confirmed the economy was strong rather than served as a signal to sell. That is a pattern investors should keep in mind, given how sharply sentiment has shifted.

Bonds themselves look close to oversold territory by JPMorgan’s own measures. Fed funds futures, which have repriced nearly 200 basis points higher this year, have stopped climbing. Strategists note that more than three additional rate hikes are already priced in and inflation expectations remain anchored despite soft wage growth.

Stocks have taken a beating as bond yields climb toward multidecade highs.Bloomberg / Getty Images

The earnings and growth case for a rebound

Q3 earnings are days away. JPMorgan’s base case is that companies deliver. Revisions are expected to remain positive across most regions, despite a market that has been quicker to punish misses.

That earnings confidence is being reinforced by stronger economic data out of Europe. The S&P Global Eurozone Composite PMI rose to 53.1 in September from 52 in August. That is its highest level in almost three and a half years, signaling the fastest pace of private sector growth the region has seen since early 2023, according to Reuters.

Germany’s numbers backed that up. The Ifo Business Climate Index hit 89.9 in September, a tick above August’s 88.8 and the highest it has been since May 2023. Five months of improving sentiment, even with energy bills climbing, according to Reuters.

The improvement has not been limited to sentiment surveys alone. Eurozone services activity expanded for a third straight month and manufacturing output also accelerated. Activity returned to growth in both Germany and France, even as inflation in the bloc jumped to 3.8% on soaring energy costs.

Oil risk and where JPMorgan wants exposure

Oil has no clean answer right now. JPMorgan’s working assumption is that the worst of the pressure holds off through October. Midterm season tends to make policymakers cautious, and that caution usually means fewer moves that light energy prices up.

The long end of the Treasury curve has stayed especially stubborn through this stretch, with the 10-year yield hovering around 5.2%. That held even after a disappointing September payroll report reduced expectations for another Fed hike in October, according to CNBC.

More JPMorgan:

JPMorgan CEO cuts to the chase on stock market danger

JPMorgan is nearing $1 trillion for a reason investors missed

J.P. Morgan’s stock price is flashing valuation warning

The bank has stuck with a contrarian playbook on Middle East risk. JPMorgan has argued since March that investors should treat bouts of Iran-related weakness as buying opportunities. Anyone selling into de-risking episodes risks getting whipsawed as the conflict eventually de-escalates.

That framing lines up with JPMorgan’s broader bond market research. The bank’s work shows that the pace and cause of Treasury yield moves matter for equities, with gradual increases generally easier for the S&P 500 to absorb. The bank has separately flagged that AI-driven momentum names remain vulnerable to further swings in Treasury yields, according to TheStreet.

On sector positioning, JPMorgan expects cyclicals such as financials, industrials and commodities to lead any recovery alongside a rebound in technology. Semiconductors are its top pick, followed by hyperscalers. The bank remains more cautious on AI-exposed software and services names specifically.

JPMorgan does not see the bond-driven unwind in crowded momentum trades as a warning sign. The bank reads it as a reset, one that clears the way for stocks to push higher once positioning gets cleaner.

What investors should watch going forward

JPMorgan is leaning toward emerging markets over developed ones. The UK is among the names the bank keeps coming back to. Valuations are cheap relative to peers, and the dividend yield is the highest of any major market. France is a different story. The political noise there has made broader Eurozone exposure a harder sell.

Investors should watch whether upcoming earnings actually deliver the positive revisions JPMorgan expects. A disappointing start to the reporting season would weaken the bank’s argument that fundamentals remain stronger than recent price action suggests. The bank has acknowledged that risk in prior notes warning that AI-exposed names face a harder math as discount rates rise, according to TheStreet.

The clearest signal to watch may simply be the bond market itself. JPMorgan’s own research has shown that extreme yield spikes tend to precede weak equity returns before conditions normalize. A moderation in the pace of the increase could make the environment easier for stocks to digest.

Jamie Dimon himself warned separately that inflation may not yet be fully contained and that interest rates could remain substantially higher than investors expect. That complicates the very recovery JPMorgan’s equity strategists are calling for.

Related: Warren Buffett sends stark warning to stock market investors

The National Bank of Kazakhstan said it will study a local currency-linked stablecoin and tokenized real-world assets with Tether.

Russel Kinnel: My best- and worst-performing funds come from the same fund company. The story of the bookends in my portfolio is a pretty quick summary of what’s going on in the economy.My Top- and Bottom-Performing Funds Are From the Same ShopPimco Commodity and Real Return Bond Alpha PCRAXPimco Total Return PTTRXPimco Commodity and Real Return Bond Alpha is up 28% for the year to date, while Pimco Total Return Bond is down 3% for the year to date. What’s up with that? Well, the first fund is meant to be an inflation hedge, and the second one is vulnerable to inflation, as most bond funds are.Inflation is spiking right now because of the war in Iran, which has sent oil and gas prices through the roof. Built as an inflation hedge, the fund [Pimco Commodity and Real Return Bond Alpha] uses quite a few tools to get there. It holds commodity derivatives with an emphasis on oil and gas, but it also has exposure to base metals as well as gold. It has significant exposure to agriculture and livestock. As you may recall from your last trip to the grocery store and gas pump, most of those prices are up quite a bit. On top of the commodities exposure, Pimco invests in inflation-protected bonds, thus adding another level of inflation hedging. This year, the fund is really coming through when investors need it most. If you have a lot of your portfolio in fixed income, it’s a pretty handy fund to own. Just remember that it’s super volatile, so you don’t want to make a core position out of it.On the flip side is Pimco Total Return, a Gold-rated bond fund. Surging inflation plus huge debt issuance related to AI has the 30-year bond at around 5.6%, its highest yield since 2002, and the 10-year Treasury at about 5.3%, its highest point since 2007. That surge in interest rates has the broad bond market down about 2.5%, and Pimco Total Return is doing a little worse than that because it had a little more interest rate risk than peers and benchmark. This would be the fund’s worst year since 2022, when it lost 14%. The bond market pain is particularly challenging for retired investors who see their purchasing power erode at the same time that a big part of their portfolio is underwater. The bad news for me is my Pimco Total Return position is much larger than my Pimco Commodity and Real Return Bond Alpha position.Watch 14 Elite Funds and ETFs, and 5 Popular Funds That Just Missed the Mark for more from Russel Kinnel.