Kuala Lampur, July 12 -- On paper, household debt is "sustainable." For many families, and especially the young, the lived experience tells a different story, and financial literacy is the gap we keep failing to close.

There is a reassuring version of Malaysia's household finances, and it is largely true. Total household debt stood at around 84 per cent of gross domestic product as at end-March, comfortably over RM1.7 trillion, yet the banking system is sound and borrowers, in aggregate, are not visibly stretched. Loan impairment sits at about 1 per cent. Median debt-service ratios are manageable. On most of the numbers that regulators watch, the picture is stable.

Then there is the version you hear when you actually ask people how they...