Most people don't consider it a "loan" or money that they "owe" if it's for something that's "secured".

For example, your car loan.....

Obviously I don't know the specifics, but presumably the car is worth something. So if you sold it tomorrow you would theoretically get something for it - you tell me what it's worth - $3000? $4000 - so you could use that money to pay off at least part of the $5000 you still owe.

So in reality, you don't really owe $5000.

As far as a home mortgage goes, no one really counts that as being in debt.

The way real estate values keep rising, everyone I know that owns a home and has a mortgage has more equity in the home than the amount that they owe.

My girlfriend and I own a condo together, and while we owe a substantial amount on the mortgage, if we sold the condo tomorrow and paid the mortgage off, we'd walk away with a substantial profit, so we don't look at what we owe on the mortgage as being in debt.

Also, only part of what you owe is money that you're paying off that you'll never see again - the part of the monthly payment that goes for interest.

The rest is paying off the principle, so in effect it's going from one pocket to the other.