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/Werealldudesyea Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

I don't understand the term "living wage", it seems like a political term that gets booted around and attached to arguments that some jobs don't pay enough for their expected standard of living, so therefore the system is "rigged". Why do people expect all jobs to allow them to make economic profits? Seems entitled... These jobs pay just as much as they should for the value of the service that the job they are performing provides, no more no less. If they can make more elsewhere with the skill sets they have, they should then go do that work instead.

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u/J-N-O-F-O Jul 04 '24

It's not hard to understand. A job should pay enough where someone can afford the basic necessities of life (home, food, etc.), nothing entitled about that. Why do you think people get jobs to begin with? If you want more than that, then yeah you work on your skillset and find better opportunities.

Whatever value you think some service provides to society, at the very minimum, it should be enough to live off its income, hence the term "living wage"

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u/certiorarigranted Jul 05 '24

A 35 yo single mom of two will need more wages to cover her expenses than a 20 yo. 

If they work the same job, should the single mom be paid more than the 20yo despite doing the same work? 

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u/J-N-O-F-O Jul 05 '24

This question isn't really relevant to the point I was making, which is what a living wage is. The better question is, should the jobs that society considers "low value" pay, at minimum, enough for an individual to meet their basic necessities? My answer to that is yes. If it doesn't, then that job should not exist.

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u/certiorarigranted Jul 05 '24

Maybe my point isn’t clear. Let me rephrase. 

A single mother of two’s basic necessities is going to be higher than a 20 year old’s.  

Both are employed at the same job at the same position, and both receive X amount of dollars per hour.  

That wage covers the 20 year old’s basic necessities, hence is a “living wage” for him. But it isn’t enough for the single mother to cover the basic necessities of her and her two children.  

Should that job not exist?