Most readers of this book live with some kind of debt, whether it be student loans, auto loans, credit card debt, or a home mortgage. (Seventy-three percent of American consumers have outstanding debt when they die.) When considering a loan, banks look at the applicant’s debt-to-income (DTI) ratio. Most financial planners consider a debt-to-income ratio of 36 percent or lower to be healthy. No one with a DTI ratio of higher than 45 percent is likely to get a loan from a bank. (A key part of the Dodd-Frank Act, a response to the financial crisis of 2008, was the qualified-mortgage rule, which
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