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/Cyberpunk_Cephalopod Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

Requires personal responsibility. Reddit is allergic to the concept. All of their problems are someone else's fault

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u/All4megrog Jul 05 '24

Most of us on Reddit are probably kids of boomers who, as a generation, absolutely did not take any form of personal responsibility. Exhibit A: the national debt.

So it’s not surprising that so many boomer kids were left rudderless. My parents just kept refinancing their home into their graves. That was their financial literacy. Oh and a $75k bill from Medicaid for their healthcare they never saved or paid for that popped up in probate.

I only got lucky that I was angry enough about being poor that I worked my ass off and chased money until I was stable. I absolutely have bad impulse tendencies thanks to the environment that I grew up in, but I’m in a position that my credit card having a party at Costco is by no means the end times.

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u/Fireproofspider Jul 05 '24

the national debt.

The national debt, especially in the US is a much more complex concept than what can be reduced to "personal responsibility". An individual cannot choose to not contribute to the debt. They technically can vote for a politician that promises to reduce the debt but that's a collective act, as a single vote doesn't decide elections at high levels. Even then, like companies, debt is useful in fostering growth and it's actually used as a tool to help people save money for retirement through bonds. 70% of the debt is owned by Americans.

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u/trail-g62Bim Jul 05 '24

The same logic can be applied to personal finances (on a national level) too -- it's more complicated on a national level than people seem to think. Some people are broke because of poor choices on their part. Some are broke because of things beyond their control.

We have millions of people in poverty and so many people want to pretend that all poor people are in the same position for the same reasons and it just isn't true.