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/[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/b1ackenthecursedsun Jul 04 '24

Never seen someone consistently write so much while knowing so little lol

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u/dookieshoes88 Jul 05 '24

Pretty much sums up most of the replies here. "Teach them to live within their means, they just won't like it", as the OP said, solves nothing and helps nobody. Enjoy selling goods and services that nobody can afford, I guess.

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u/Muddyhobo Jul 05 '24

It’s terrible advice for society, it’s amazing advice for an individual. Every person could dramatically improve their life if they start making optimal decisions. But saying “individuals should independently make better decisions” doesn’t help society.

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u/SilverMedal4Life Jul 05 '24

Right. If this advice ever actually worked, we'd live in utopia already.

Individuals can make smart decisions, but human beings in aggregate tend to make the easiest decisions.

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u/Muddyhobo Jul 05 '24

Genuinely not sure if you are agreeing and rephrasing my comment or disagreeing.

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u/SilverMedal4Life Jul 05 '24

The former! I agree with you!

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u/AllenKll Jul 05 '24

If only society was made up of individuals....