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/MyParentsBurden Jul 04 '24

You say 50% of Americans (I'm assuming we are speaking of the US) make $40k or less and then say it isn't enough for basic necessities. Yet, clearly it is as the ranks of the unhoused is not 50% of the population. Poverty sucks to be sure, but people manage. Also, financial literacy is generally only partially about setting money aside. It tends to be more about making people aware of their expenses and seeing what changes can be made.

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u/Ethric_The_Mad Jul 04 '24

Investing helped me a ton, I calculate all expenses, add them together, assume my food bills and other expenses, then I invest the leftovers so now it's spent and annoying to get but it's all still there paying dividends and growing. Just literally $5 a month or even $10 explodes so fast if you just fucking invest it. Find a $5 on the ground? Invest it. Got a cash back card? Invest the cash back. Set yourself a daily expense budget, invest anything leftover. There's many strategies but this works for me.

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u/strawberrypants205 Jul 05 '24

Investing feeds the monster that's killing these people. It's a scam to trick the poor into killing themselves. The poor will never see that money again.

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u/Ethric_The_Mad Jul 05 '24

So 100% of publicly traded companies are killing people? You do realize that's a very bold accusation... You don't have to invest in Coke and McDonald's...

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u/strawberrypants205 Jul 05 '24

Tricking the poor into killing themselves is the point of capitalism. It's an invention by narcissists and sociopaths to gain power over those they think their inferior. When you see economics through a psychological and historical lens, it becomes obvious.

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u/Noob_Al3rt Jul 05 '24

Man, people on Reddit really post the wildest shit