HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Do you carry a credit card balance from month to month? Forty-eight percent of American credit card holders do, according to the latest survey from Bankrate, which found day-to-day expenses such as food, child care and utilities were the most common reason for an ongoing balance. Paulmichael Youngmills, a holistic fiduciary financial advisor in Virginia Beach, said that's an automatic red flag. "If you are utilizing your credit cards to bridge your necessities that you cannot afford to pay, you are in trouble," Youngmills said. "It's 100%, every single time." Many Americans have different types of debt from splurging on the good life that is often beyond their reach, at least financially. "We have to throw out our ego, whether it's a nice car, people feel entitled to treat themselves when maybe they're not at that stage," Youngmills said. It gets worse if you have more than one kind of debt that's burying you further with interest each month. Youngmills advises to focus on the interest rate, not the size of the balance. "Because if one interest rate is 30% and the other interest rate is 4%, obviously you need to get rid of the 30%, even if it's the smaller one," Youngmills said. Wallethub data shows the average credit card rate is now nearly 22%. Five years ago, it was just 15%. But Youngmills said some of his clients don't get it. "They know, but it's not computing for them, not resonating with them, and therefore they're not attacking it," Youngmills said. "They're treating it the same as they did five years ago." And Youngmills says don't put all your disposable income toward paying off debt, because life doesn't stop. "We want to work towards having three to six months of savings for our living expenses," Youngmills said, "because life happens, people lose their jobs. People get injured. You never know what's going to happen." Youngmills is a Navy veteran, and if you're a veteran, he will make sure that you're getting any disability payments you're entitled to. "VA disability claims are something that a lot of veterans make assumptions that they cannot acquire or will not be approved on," Youngmills said. "My goal is to get each and every one of you to 100%." Youngmills advises consumers to look closely at the fine print of those 0% balance transfer offers. He said they often give people the idea they're out of debt, but they're not, and tight budgeting becomes more important than ever.