<prompt> Human: Im 25 and work in Tech Support for a well-known consumer electronics company. I make 10.50hr before tax, 40 hours a week. Its not much, but the cost of living in my area is pretty reasonable, so Im usually able to get by and still have a little money left over. I have one credit card through my credit union with a 1000 limit. My monthly minimum balance is about 27. I almost always pay more than the minimum so as not to just coast along with it.My roommate and best friend makes a bit more than I do, maybe a dollar more working 40 hours a week but frequently has to go into overtime, so Im not sure exactly what she makes in a year but its definitely somewhat more than I make. She has several credit cards. One is that same that I have we bank with the same credit union, but while my limit on this same credit card is 1000, hers is 5000. She also has an AmEx with a 10,000 limit but I dont know what the interest rate is.Last year, her father very generously paid off all her credit card debt it was 10,000 at the time. She does pay him back a certain amount each month for this. In less than a year, however, she has amassed another 8000 in credit card debt. She shrugs this off as being normal but only pays the minimum balance each month.In addition to this, she also has to start paying back her student loans and now has to pay for her own health insurance as well. Im not sure how much these expenses will be each month.I am extremely lucky because I have no student loan debt whatsoever and am still on my parents health insurance through the 2016 calendar year. That being said, this is my first and only credit card so Im fairly naive to what is considered a healthy amount of CC debt. Comparing my debt to hers, Im kind of astonished, but Im also kind of a newbie so I dont know if the amount of debt she has is reasonable or not and I dont have much else to compare mine to. Any advice and insight would be greatly appreciated.Assistant: 0 carried balance is the healthy amount for every age group.Human: In an ideal situation, absolutely. But my economic situation and that of most of my peers is less than ideal.I guess what it boils down to is this: based on my incomeexpenses and that of my friend, do you think either of our credit card debt is reasonable? Bear in mind that I really am a noob when it comes to credit cards so I tend to err on the side of caution.  <response>: The best way to err on the side of caution is by building an emergency fund. That should be one of your largest priorities. Emergencies suck, yes. However, if you have an emergency fund, at least you wont be paying interest on your emergencies. If you ever have 0 cc debt and no emergency fund, you are living beyond your means IMO. Because as soon as an emergency hits, you will be paying interest and have to cut back. Ask yourself, who do you want to responsible for your emergency fund: credit card companies or yourself? Credit card companies charge 15-25 for the privilege of using them as your emergency fund. Banks pay you 1 if you you use them for your emergency fund. The sooner you get and stay on the right side of the equation, the better. 