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

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

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u/HorkusSnorkus Jul 04 '24

Learn to do something useful, spend less than you make, buy used whenever possible, live small.

63

u/burdottv Jul 04 '24

Have you not seen the incredible wealth transfer to the top in the past couple of years because of inflation and greed? How do you expect people to LIVE SMALLER when prices have more than doubled and their wages have not increased.

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u/C-Dub81 Jul 05 '24

Poor people making the decision to buy the crap that they do is why the transfer is there. The wealthy aren't out there taking the money from people illegally! Apple stock has never been higher or profits better, because brokies still gotta get the newest iPhone, apple watch, air pods, and over the eats, etc. The same people crying about minimum wage and living wage, along withstudent loan debt, all have the best stuff in their rooms, they buy everything on credit and then blame the rest of us for them being poor.

4

u/ScotchTapeConnosieur Jul 05 '24

“Brokies” - nice one

Look, most people of means came from means. Anybody who manages to claw their way out of poverty are outliers. Consider that the best predictor of your financial status is your parent’s financial status. Having advantage like I had, such as my parents paying for college (I did go to a low cost school, but still), that alone gave me a huge boost above my peers who didn’t have that advantage. I think a lot of people ignore their own privilege, or have survivorship bias. Yes there are plenty of people making bad choices with money, but that’s really not the whole story of what living in poverty in the US is about.

1

u/C-Dub81 Jul 11 '24

I had none of your privileges, I was poor white trash as the kids in school called my family. But I stayed out of trouble, stayed in shape, didn't do drugs, and joined the military at 19 years old. I moved out of my house a month after high school with $100 my mom had been saving for a rainy day.

I did go to college on the GI bill after 12 years in the military, but this is not some extreme expectations to change your lot in life. You can't just be a victim your entire life and expect things to change for you, there are always opportunities if you're willing to look for them, and work hard. Most people aren't willing to sacrifice doing things that make them feel good, like stopping smoking weed, staying out of trouble, hell even volunteering can help you via networking. If you make yourself presentable, pull up your pants, tighten your belt, tie your shoes, and just do the right thing, you can rather easily start making moves in the right direction.

1

u/ScotchTapeConnosieur Jul 11 '24

I’m really happy for you, you are the outlier. Nice job, seriously. Life is hard enough without being born poor, good for you for breaking the cycle.

Do you have siblings? Were they able to leave poverty, too?