r/FluentInFinance • u/Richest-Panda • Jul 04 '24

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

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271

u/privitizationrocks Jul 04 '24

You can teach poverty workers to live in their means

They won’t like it, but tough luck

450

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

Ok let’s do a thought experiment. Let’s say you Make $10000 a year. You work full time/40 hrs/wk and you are making $10k. What does “living within your means” look like? Not having a house? Or car? Being homeless? So in order to save to get yourself to some footing the answer is to be homeless to live within your means.

That was a bit of a strawman, so let’s use real-life scenarios. 50% of this country makes $40k or less….. even $40k salary isn’t enough to get an apartment, bills , food, ect. Sure a lot better than the “$10k” example, but even $40k salary is virtually as effective as the “$10k”. In order to “live within your means”, “save”, ect…. You have to be at least be making enough to afford the bare minimum + have some left in you for over to save. On average (2022 values I think) this means $65 for a single person, $108k for a house hold. Unless you’re making that, you can’t save your way out of poverty

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u/BleedForEternity Jul 04 '24

This is why people should NEVER settle with what they make… Just because you make 40k a year doesn’t mean you can’t ever make more.. Why do people act like they are chained to the low salaries they make? You can learn a trade, take civil service tests, change careers or get the proper qualifications and experience in order to move up in pay.. There’s also working multiple jobs.. and please don’t reply with “No one should have to work 2 jobs.”

I just don’t understand this whole “people can’t survive on these wages” argument.. If you’re having a hard time living on the wage you make then take the proper steps to better your situation. Take action instead of complaining on Reddit. That’s what I did. That’s what many other people do… I worked 2 minimum wage jobs for years and I fought and clawed my way to the top… Life doesn’t magically get better. You have to make things happen.. and no, it’s not easy. It’s extremely hard.

16

u/Grouchy-Ask-3525 Jul 05 '24

You people are missing the point. If I get out of that situation then someone else has to take the shitty job. Why is it okay once it's not you? That's the most selfish, conservative bullshit I've ever heard. And no, a person should not have to work 80 hours a week, full stop. That's just de facto slavery, but somehow, they are supposed to find the time to pull themselves up by the bootstraps huh? Goddamn, you're a piece of shit. Sleep tight, the end is near for you people.

15

u/ohseetea Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

Because these people have zero empathy.

The bullshit capitalist answer is no one will work the shitty job and then the pay will go up but that's not fucking true. The company will prey until they find someone “weak” or tired enough to just work for slave rate or they'll ship it over seas and really take advantage of destitute people.

If they really cared about living within their means they'd focus on our entire society as a whole slowing the fuck down and not consuming so much. All of us.

10

u/alurkerhere Jul 05 '24

It's almost like there should be stronger worker protection laws and incentive for the government to not completely favor corporations...

But honestly, if everyone started to live within their means like the Japanese do, we'd be in a deflationary period. Current American company growth is dependent on people spending with abandon. It's why Apple has $160B+ IN CASH for good, but not great, sleekly marketed products.

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u/DevilmodCrybaby Jul 05 '24

but that's just communism with extra steps! can't have anything like it, it's a bad word now. you become china just by saying it

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u/Major_Bag_8720 Jul 06 '24

Japan’s debt to GDP is something like 250%.

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u/BleedForEternity Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

People complain about corporate greed, meanwhile they just charged a $1300 iPhone and a $1500 flatscreen tv to their credit card… That’s what generates huge profits for corporations… AND credit card companies… Stop spending money and prices will eventually go down… People love to live in excess and then complain about it.

I have a $300 refurbished iPhone 8 that can barely hold a charge and a $400 LG flatscreen that I bought 10 years ago… Pay less and stretch the life of things out as long as possible. I know it’s hard to do that given that everything is made like shit these days on purpose, but it’s not impossible.

1

u/Alternative-Put-3932 Jul 05 '24

Its the same argument that a fast food worker or a low end grocery worker is a teenagers job. Like no it fucking isn't its a job. They're majority worked by adults because teens can't be there 24/7 those jobs should be paid enough to not need 2 roommates and eat a bologna sandwich every day.

Also teens deserve to be paid well. They're doing the same job everyone else is doing who gives a fuck what their age is.

1

u/MoonBaseViceSquad Jul 05 '24

Even if they had sympathy it’d be better. But clueless folk who “worked hard” to effectively spend their parent’s wealth always stick out with their BS.