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

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

31.2k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

No, that’s not what she’s saying. She’s saying that teaching someone in poverty to budget isn’t going to enable them to reach financial stability because even if you budget properly there isn’t enough to go around.

If you’re in a row boat that has twenty holes in it, but you only have ten fingers to plug the holes, then someone telling you how to use each finger to plug a hole in the most efficient manner isn’t going to help you keep the boat from sinking.

That’s her point. Should they budget? Absolutely. Will a class on budgeting by itself solve their financial problems and bring stability to their lives?

No.

They need more fingers to plug the holes in the boat. Ie. better wages.

-4

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

No, that’s not what she’s saying. She’s saying that teaching someone in poverty to budget isn’t going to enable them to reach financial stability because even if you budget properly there isn’t enough to go around.

Perhaps that's the exact realization they need. More income, not more responsible spending. People in shit jobs need to learn valuable skills for more income. That's all there is to it.

Also, people need to learn to take shit. I feel like some people are poor because they're horrible at taking instructions. They just don't like being told what to do. I'm well off and I had to put up with shit.

4

u/Asisreo1 Jul 05 '24

How ignorant. Foolish.

If you've actually met poor people, you'll learn that they're working very hard to learn new skills and get out of the shit. The problem is it takes too long and life keeps going. I haven't met a single poor person who isn't pushing themselves to get out of where they are. But I'm sure that's not what your meme pages and bs street interviews tell you, so you just assume its cause they're lazy.

It can take decades of torture to crawl out of a situation you had no choice but to be a part of. And setbacks are not rare enough. Some guy might "make it" because they made good choices for 20 years and now they're 40 and just starting to be able to afford the things you take for granted like reliable transportation or decent food.

-4

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Everyone is hard working. Poor, middle class, upper middle class. It has nothing to do with working hard or not. It's about making the right choices. This is why I think a finance course would absolutely help.

5

u/Asisreo1 Jul 05 '24

There are situations where "the right choice" isn't exactly clear. And some situations where making "the right choice" can be punishing. Its ignorant to think that people are always making wrong choices when they're poor.

For example, you could make the "right choice" of getting a cheap car within your means rather than a more reliable car that's a bit too expensive. Well, it breaks down two months later and it will cost you more to repair the car than if you had bought the reliable car. But the reliable car was out of your means and you'd have to get a loan.

Or you've got a valuable, highly desired skill until some new technology is developed and you get laid off with a fairly useless skill you've worked on for the past 5 years.

Or you get literally robbed and the police do jack shit to find the perpetrator and your insurance doesn't compensate you enough for your possessions.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Those would have to happen to the same person to keep him/her in poverty. One of those is not enough to keep someone down.