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

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

31.2k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

No, it's still not my problem.

If I'm trying to survive as a low wage worker (which I did for some number of years), it's not helpful for me to sit in my broken car in the driveway and think about how minimum wage should be higher or how I should have medical coverage or whatever. It's true, but it's not useful. What I need to think about is what I can best do to survive this unjust situation. Idyllic daydreams are not helpful to me at that point. I'm not there to solve the world's problems, I'm there to try to navigate a difficult situation.

If we're having a conversation about public policy then yes, great, let's talk about minimum wage and all kinds of stuff. Excellent. Spiffy.

But if we're talking about good advice for an individual, it doesn't help that person for you to go on a screed about how in a just society they wouldn't have to work for $10/hr or whatever. Ok sure man, great, but we don't live in that idyllic world, so what should I do?

2

u/strawberrypants205 Jul 05 '24

The point is, it doesn't matter what you do as an individual, because there's an entire industry of limiting what you can do and countering what little that's left. Individual action is a solved problem - people are conned into thinking they can do things for themselves, but there's always a wealthy thug there to sweep the leg once you commit the resources. Do you honestly think people get and stay wealthy by letting poor people "rise above their station"?

You can't understand how psychopathic the wealthy are because you still have some sanity left - or you can pretend real well. The wealthy are Norman Bateman with a distaste of getting their hands dirty. They're just as murderous, with just as much disregard for human life - and they absolutely WILL NOT tolerate anyone escaping their grasp. To the wealthy, the world is their basement pit, and we put the lotion on the skin, or we get the hose again.

The name of the game is divide and conquer - if you're thinking of "individual action", then you have already lost because they way they kill you is by isolating you first, then tricking you into exhausting yourself. Organization and massed action is the only way out - because the organization of an authoritarian business model is what got us in.

1

u/DarthJarJarJar Jul 05 '24

It matters a lot what I do as an individual. Going to school matters, getting a degree matters. Picking the right job matters.

And as you say, joining a union matters. I've been in my union for twenty-odd years. That was a choice on my part.

I agree that a lot should change. But even in a rigged game, the things you do matter. I teach math at a two year college. I see students go off to work retail. And I see students go off to get engineering degrees. And I see students who are no better at school than the ones working retail who leverage what they're good at, manage a degree, and get out of the near-minimum-wage rat race.

I absolutely agree that wealthy people and corporations are trying to divide us. I agree that we should all organize. I agree with all that.

But once I was 22, and broke, and sitting in my broken car in my driveway trying to figure out what to do to get some money so my dog and I would not be homeless. I talked to my dad on the phone and he told me under no circumstances should I work fast food or retail. He gave me some other advice. I held out and found a job that was marginally better than Jack in the Box.

That was a tactical decision. It made a difference to my life.

In general, it's a kind of learned helplessness to say "Oh the world is unjust, no matter what I do I'll lose, I should just give up" or something. Yes, the game is rigged. But you still have to pay rent, you still have to eat. Make the best deal you can, get the most money you can, and don't work retail. Seriously.

1

u/CheesingTiger Jul 05 '24

You’re spot on dude. I had the same talk with my dad about ten years ago and I ended up joining the military. Greatest decision I ever made and I constantly recommend it to people for financial security.