There’s feeling around that people in the West are far too indebted for their own good. People in the UK are said to owe £1 trillion ($1.78 trillion) in debts.

New data from the British Alliance and Leicester Bank, however, paint a different picture. The Alliance claims that many people now have more assets, mainly in the form of housing equity, offsetting the rise in personal debt.

Also, low interest rates mean it is cheaper to service the debt. A typical household with a mortgage will pay 13.8 percent of income compared with 25.7 percent in 1990.

However, low inflation means that the real burden of debt is not amortized as quickly as in the past. Big debts also make us more vulnerable to rises in interest rates or becoming unemployed.

The advice is to borrow only if you are investing in an asset you have reason to believe will rise in value, or you expect to earn more … or spend less.

Other than that, be very careful.