destroying

U.S. credit card balances have surged in the past several years, from $787 billion in Q2 2021 to $1.2 trillion in Q2 2025. Though the pace of increases has slowed in 2025, average credit card interest rates still hover around 25%, leading to balances that swell faster than many can pay them down.

Image source: Getty Images.

Debt can happen at any age

There’s never a good time to get caught up in high-interest debt, but the situation is particularly critical when that debt prevents you from investing for retirement. Regardless of your current age, the last thing you want to do is give up aspects of your retirement because you can’t afford them.

Due to soaring inflation, retirees outspend their annual incomes by more than $4,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With limited options to bridge that financial gap, more are turning to credit cards to cover everyday expenses. In fact, 41% of households headed by someone between the ages of 65 and 74 carry credit card debt. Few of these households likely expected to depend on credit cards as they planned for retirement.

But it’s not just those who’ve reached retirement age who depend on credit cards. Experian offers this overview of average credit card debt by age:

What credit card debt means to retirement

Let’s say you’re 55, part of Generation X, and owe $9,600 in credit card debt. If your cards carry an average annual percentage rate (APR) of 25% and you make monthly credit card payments totaling $300, it will take you 54 months to pay the cards off. Worse, you’ll spend $6,384 on interest.

Now, imagine that your credit card debt didn’t exist, and you invested that $6,384 instead. Assuming an average annual return of 7%, it would be worth $12,558 in 10 years, $17,614 in 15 years, and $24,704 in 20 years. That’s assuming you never contribute another penny to the investment. It may not be a fortune, but any money invested can be combined with Social Security and other sources of income to help you in retirement.

Whether you’re an experienced or beginner investor, freeing up the money currently spent on monthly credit card payments is one of the surest ways to bolster your retirement savings.

The trick is to get your credit card debt under control. Here are three ideas to get you started.

1. Look into a consolidation loan

Consider a personal loan with a lower interest rate than you’re paying on your credit cards (ideally, much lower). Use that loan to pay off your credit cards and then make regular monthly payments until the loan is paid off in full.

Again, let’s say you owe $9,600 in credit card debt. The personal loan you land has an APR of 11%. By making the same monthly payment of $300, the loan will be paid off in 39 months rather than the 54 months it would have taken to pay down the credit cards. Better yet, you’ll spend $1,815 in interest, saving you $4,569.

2. Take advantage of a pay-down option

Snowball and avalanche methods are two of the most popular ways to pay off existing debt. Here’s how they work:

• Snowball method: Prioritize paying off your smallest debt first while continuing to make minimum payments on your other debts. Once the smallest debt is paid off, move to the next smallest balance, adding the money you were putting toward the first debt to pay down the second debt at a faster clip. Once the second smallest debt is paid off, move on to the third smallest, and so on. With each debt you pay off, you have more money available to pay toward the next one, creating a snowball effect.
• Avalanche method: Prioritize paying off the debt with the highest interest rate (regardless of balance). Once the debt with the highest rate is paid off, move to the debt with the next highest interest rate, and so on. Like the snowball method, each debt you pay off gives you more money for the next debt.

3. Consider a debt management plan

Debt management plans (DMPs) consolidate your credit card debt into a single monthly payment. Typically offered through certified credit counseling agencies, DMP counselors work on your behalf to:

• Help you determine how much you can afford to pay each month.
• Negotiate with your creditors to adjust your repayment terms.
• Accept your monthly payment and distribute it to your creditors.

While DMPs may be an effective way to climb out of debt, they can initially hurt your credit score, so be sure you understand the pros and cons before entering a DMP agreement.

Credit card debt is not insurmountable, but it does take effort to conquer. The sooner you do that, the sooner you can make progress toward your ideal retirement. Whether that’s fishing every day, visiting your grandkids, or retiring to a beach in a foreign country, it’s your dream to build.

THIS is the moment a man is dragged to the ground by enraged onlookers after he appears to destroy a Charlie Kirk memorial.

Footage caught the individual stamping on flowers, balloons and US flags before he was pulled away and pinned up against a wall by cops.

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Police in Phoenix arrested the young man and charged him with criminal damage and disorderly conduct.

He was later identified as 19-year-old Ryder Corral.

Hundreds of Kirk’s fans had helped put together a memorial for the late conservative heavyweight outside the Turning Point headquarters in Arizona.

Kirk, a father-of-two who had been raising his family in the state, was the co-founder of Turning Point USA.

The shocking footage shows a man dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans walking across the vast memorial site.

He managed to make it about 15 yards across the rows of touching tributes laid in honour of Kirk before an onlooker stepped in to stop him.

An older man in a white cap, light blue top and shorts ran across to Corral as the pair appeared to exchange some words.

Seconds later, the clearly enraged gentleman grabs Corral with both hands close to his neck and throws him to the ground.

Corral is sent tumbling over as several other people step in.

Both men and women surround the downed protester and lead him over to waiting police officers who had been on hand to watch over the memorial site.

Cops take Corral over to a wall behind the now dozens of watching bystanders and place him in handcuffs.

He was then taken to the local station and booked.

It was later reported that he was wearing the same top as Kirk’s suspected assassin at the time of the murder.

Kirk was tragically shot in the neck as he launched his “American Comeback” campus tour in Utah.

The 31-year-old was rushed to hospital but died shortly after as a hunt for his killer ensued.

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old main suspect has since been arrested but is now refusing to cooperate with cops.

The FBI had shared images taken minutes after Kirk’s death which showed the gunman walking away from the university campus.

He was wearing a National Disabled Veterans Foundation T-shirt emblazoned with an eagle soaring in front of the Stars and Stripes.

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Chilling details around Robinson’s life have been released by cops in recent days as they continue to question him over Kirk’s murder.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox revealed the latest details on the investigation on Sunday.

He confirmed that Robinson has a transgender partner who has been helping the FBI.

The boyfriend is currently transitioning from male to female and had been living with Robinson.

The Sun revealed on Saturday that Robinson had been seen kissing his transgender partner two weeks before the shooting.

His family are also helping cops build their case against him after Robinson’s dad turned him in, bringing an end to the desperate manhunt.

He had confessed to his dad that he carried out the shooting, who then told a family friend, who called law enforcement to the scene on Thursday night, Cox previously said.

Charges are set to be formally filed against Robinson on Tuesday.

A motive for the assassination has not yet been uncovered, though Cox previously said the suspect, who’s parents are registered Republicans, was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology”.

These claims were made by Robinson’s family and close acquaintances, Cox said, but added that the charging documents will detail much more information.

The Governor has also confirmed reports that Robinson had spoken with others on Discord following the shooting, claiming he was the gunman.

“All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him,” Cox said.

“It was all joking until, until he, you know, until he admitted that it actually was him.”

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He had reportedly joked that a “doppelganger” was trying to get him in trouble, in reference to the initial suspect pictures released by the FBI.

Meanwhile, Robinson is said to be under “special watch” after he allegedly told his dad “he’d rather die than hand himself in”.

He is being housed in the Utah County jail’s Special Housing Unit – where he is monitored around the clock to ensure he doesn’t harm himself or others, according to TMZ.

Utah County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Raymond Ormond said Robinson is under evaluation by mental health professionals to determine whether he is suicidal.

On Saturday, Kirk’s wife Erika spoke for the first time since his murder, vowing to continue his legacy, turning her “widow’s tears into a battle cry”.

She was pictured weeping over his coffin and revealed that she told their three-year-old daughter, “Daddy is on a work trip with Jesus” after she returned home to their two young children without Kirk.

His funeral will take place on September 21 and will be attended by the President.

Israel has stepped up its destruction of Gaza City as it plans to seize Gaza’s largest urban centre and forcibly displace around one million Palestinians to concentration zones in the south, as it killed at least 78 people across the besieged enclave since dawn, including 32 desperately seeking food.

On Sunday, in Gaza City, the Palestinian Civil Defence reported a fire in tents near al-Quds Hospital after Israeli shelling. At least five people were killed and three wounded when a residential apartment was hit near the Remal neighbourhood.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, said the Israeli army is also using “explosive robots” in residential areas and forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza City.

In a statement on X on Sunday, al-Thawabta said the army has detonated more than 80 such devices in civilian neighbourhoods over the past three weeks, calling it a “scorched-earth policy” that has destroyed homes and endangered lives.

He said more than one million Palestinians in Gaza City and the north of the enclave “refuse to submit to the policy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing” despite the destruction and starvation caused by the Israeli assault.

Footage posted on Instagram by Palestinian journalist Faiz Osama and verified by Al Jazeera showed the moments that followed an Israeli aerial attack on the Sabra neighbourhood, in the southern part of Gaza City.

In the footage, as plumes of smoke rise to the sky, a child can be seen screaming with a wound to the leg. A man also lays on the ground with what appears to be a head injury.

The video also shows the destruction left by the strike after residential buildings were flattened by the explosion.

Israel’s forces have carried out sustained bombardment on Gaza City since early August as part of a deepening push to seize the area in the latest phase of its nearly two-year genocidal war.

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had begun the “initial stages” of its offensive, declaring the area a “combat zone”.

‘Fields of rubble’

Reporting from Gaza City on Sunday, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said intensifying Israeli attacks have been turning parts of Gaza City, once teeming and crowded with residential buildings, into “fields of rubble”.

“There is non-stop heavy artillery targeting the Zeitoun area and Jabalia, where we are seeing the systematic demolition of homes. There is hardly any fighting going on, but heavy artillery and bulldozers are moving from one street to the other, destroying all of these residential clusters,” he said.

“The majority of people in those areas do not have the luxury to pack up and leave because there is no safety anywhere.”

Another Palestinian journalist was also killed on Sunday. A source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera that Islam Abed was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City and that she worked for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV channel.

The Government Media Office said the “number of martyred journalists has risen to 247″ since the war began. Other tallies have put the number of journalists and media workers killed at more than 270.

On Monday, five journalists – one of whom worked for Al Jazeera – were among at least 21 people killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

‘Life is difficult, so we will stay in our home’

Many residents in Gaza City are opting to stay put despite Israel declaring it a “combat zone”.

It was Gaza’s most populous city before the war began, home to about 700,000 people. Then hundreds of thousands fled under Israel’s forced evacuation threats before many returned, joined by thousands of other displaced from the south, during a January-to-March ceasefire, which Israel broke.

Fedaa Hamad, who was displaced from Beit Hanoon, said she has “no plans to leave” Gaza City this time despite Israel’s latest warning.

“We are tired from the first displacement. Where are we going to go? Is there a place in the south? We cannot find it,” she said.

Akram Mzini, a resident of Gaza City, said he would not leave “because displacement is very difficult”.

“We were displaced to the south before, and displacement in the south is not simple and it is costly,” he said. “Life is difficult, so we will stay in our home, and whatever God wants will happen.”

Elsewhere in Gaza on Sunday, an Israeli attack on the centre of Deir el-Balah killed at least four people, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Earlier, medical sources said an Israeli bombardment killed at least one person and wounded several in the city, located in the central part of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have killed at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza since dawn, including 32 aid seekers, according to medical sources.

Since the war began, Israel has killed at least 63,459 people and wounded 160,256. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks, and about 200 were taken captive.

On Sunday, Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir held a situation assessment meeting with his top commanders, saying the military must “initiate” more attacks to surprise and reach its targets anywhere.

Many more reserve soldiers will assemble this week “in preparation for the continued intensification of the fighting against Hamas in Gaza City”, Zamir was quoted as saying by the military.

Meanwhile, the armed wing of Hamas said its fighters successfully attacked two invading Israeli military vehicles in Gaza City on Saturday.

The Qassam Brigades said a Merkava tank of the Israeli army was hit with a Yassin-105 shell, while a D9 military bulldozer was targeted with an explosive device on a street southwest of the Zeitoun neighbourhood of the besieged area.

As global condemnation against the situation grows, in the largest attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory by sea, the Global Sumud Flotilla left the Spanish port city of Barcelona on Sunday.

The flotilla’s launch comes after the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a state of famine in Gaza this month.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, which describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party, did not say how many ships would set sail or the exact time of departure, but Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg spoke of “dozens” of vessels.

Sumud means “perseverance” in Arabic.

Two previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza were blocked by Israel.

Mohamad Elmasry of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies told Al Jazeera that while the flotilla was “an important act of symbolic resistance … ultimately, they will be intercepted”.

“This is not going to solve the famine,” he said. “What’s going to solve the famine, ultimately, is governments doing their job to stop genocide and deliberate starvation programmes.”