Discouraged - Good times for people who like debt it seems....

Just trying to stay motivated in becoming and maintaining a debt-free life. I don't follow 100% of Dave and his team's advice, but very much follow in their debt-free guidance and watch his YouTube clips often. I'm down to my last $35k in student loans and avoided a mortgage (but been tempted) the past few years to pay down debt.

That said, a genuinely good number of friends and family who piled on massive housing and car debt the past 5 years seem to be making out like bandits in this economy. I've watched a couple close friends flip from house to house, each with huge mortgages they could barely afford, leveraging to buy rentals, max loans w/ almost 0 down, etc.. all raking in huge windfalls as they now sell their properties. Even some family I would always poke fun at for going crazy on a couple Teslas, now selling them for considerably more than purchased new.

Just feels like the cards are stacked against those who are conservative and don't want to be saddled with large debt in relation to income. Perhaps that is the economy moving forward? Leverage everything you can as much as possible if you want to make it.