Social This can't be right (Americans saving habits)

I'm definitely one of the ones that can't afford a surprise $500 bill.

I grew up in an abusive household and it made me feel like it took longer to become an "adult". Actually holding down a job, working hard, trying to improve myself. Working as a meat cutter used to be an amazing career, but it's dogshit now and I'm trying to work my way into something else. Just hard to change when you get paid just well enough, and starting a new job would require a big paycut.
 
I'd say it's accurate unfortunately. When there're financing options for $50 purchases online, there's a problem. People's needs vs wants seem to be skewed along with a declined sense of personal responsibility. Couple that with the rampant inflation of the last few years, unregulated industries that charge whatever they want (colleges / medical), socieity will be insolvent in the next 100 years.
 
Cid said:
Actually you're 27th.

Global Social Mobility Index - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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As a guy in top 3 country yes and no

You will make a lot more money in usa as college educated person not to mention career possibilities are endless even without college as a healthy person (theres a reason why all smart people try to go to usa from here)

That being said its easier to go to college here since its free and its easier to reach average comfortable standard of living

But this just my country no clue about others
 
Some live above their means and mumble something about chasing points on credit cards.
 
TeTe said:
My mother has been pretty useless her whole life, rarely working and having no money. My grandparents willed her around $150k after they died ...and she pissed it away in just over a year on drugs and her "friends" drugs.
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I think our mothers might be related. Minus the part about being willed money, no one would leave her money. She sticks to identity theft to get money.
 
he entire American system is built on the idea that people should spend all the money they have in order for it to stay within the system. They do this with the help of propaganda in the form of advertising. Then, the elite convince the public that those with little money are either bad with their finances or lazy. Americans are notorious for falling for this, so they willingly agree to dismantle welfare in exchange for slightly lower taxes, only to end up paying more on the other side when they need access to services like education or healthcare. It’s sad to see how we in Sweden are heading in the same direction, facing the same problems as a result.

I have a friend who lives in California. He earns twice as much as I do, but we have about the same standard of living.
 
Renard said:
I have a relative that inherited hundreds of thousands in assets, more or less half a mil, and now doesn't have a single dollar to their name. No one could talk sense into them. That's the power of stupid and emotional reasoning. There are people out there that literally can't hold onto a single dollar, everything they touch they lose. Others just made poor decisions early in life and now are stuck in the working class, kids to feed, etc, with zero disposable income. The rest are somewhere in the middle, with debt to pay but making discretionary purchases that really could have waited.
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Seems to be quite common that if you don't earn it you don't respect it. A lot of people are just useless with money. In Australia they used to throw the "smashed avocado" wastage analogy at younger generations complaining about housing affordability. ie. Boomers suggesting they couldn't afford a house deposit because they ate smashed avos at fancy cafes every weekend. Millennials latched onto it and stated that it's irrelevant that they ate out once a week.

But the truth is its just one example where some young people just waste money. New phones cars, overseas holidays .... oh let's throw away all my CDs then I'll get a spotify subscription because it's more convenient.

To be fair though, many older people are just as foolish with money.
 
When I was younger I would always underestimate just how stupid and irresponsible the general populace is. Myself included honestly lol, but at least I recognized my financial shortcomings and have adjusted accordingly.
 
Contempt said:
Jesus... you guys desperately need a superannuation scheme like Australia.

"Baby boomers ages 65+ are the most likely to have sufficient savings, with 42% having over $2,000 in a savings account."

That's the most terrifying bit. Those guys are screwed.
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It is interesting that they use $2k as the cutoff. Big difference between having $2k and $200k in various accounts.
 
lowlife said:
When I was younger I would always underestimate just how stupid and irresponsible the general populace is. Myself included honestly lol, but at least I recognized my financial shortcomings and have adjusted accordingly.
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100. As part of my initiative to ruin my life in my late teens and early 20s I opened credit cards and maxed them out. Took vacations I couldn't afford, spent a lot of money on drugs and alcohol, etc. The only reason I got by was because I was working 60 hours a week between a full time and part time job. Until that changed and I was left going through debt consolidation, having a car repo'd, running my credit in the shitter and taking years to rebuild my life after getting sober.

That's why I'm not surprised that some people don't have a lot of money, but the idea that they don't even have $2k, let alone $500 or $1k, stashed somewhere seems absurd. Whether that be cash, on pre-paid cards, in checking, etc. Even my broke ass had access to $2k back in the day. It's not like $2k is a lot of money these days.
 
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Currently have around 8k in the bank
Between chrismuh and having to fix the ac in my car, I spent around 2.5k

Gonna hunker back down and get back to my usual 10k saved up
 
TeTe said:
100. As part of my initiative to ruin my life in my late teens and early 20s I opened credit cards and maxed them out. Took vacations I couldn't afford, spent a lot of money on drugs and alcohol, etc. The only reason I got buy was because I was working 60 hours a week between a full time and part time job. Until that changed and I was left going through debt consolidation, having a car repo'd, running my credit in the shitter and taking years to rebuild my life after getting sober.

That's why I'm not surprised that some people don't have a lot of money, but the idea that they don't even have $2k, let alone $500 or $1k, stashed somewhere seems absurd. Whether that be cash, on pre-paid cards, in checking, etc. Even my broke ass had access to $2k back in the day. It's not like $2k is a lot of money these days.
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Not having $2k is absurd to your logical brain but the people who don't have any money saved are for the most part, not logical.

What is absurd is the idea that some people have that people with no savings are out there working hard and doing all the right things, but just simply can't get ahead because of various economic factors like rich people taking advantage of them. Anyone who says this doesn't actually know very many poor people or pay attention to their habits.

They're poor because they grow up in households like @italiamusica talked about. Their parents are likely to be poor, abusive or absent. They don't get read books as children. Their parents don't invest time into teaching them things and helping with schoolwork. Their parents are usually still living lives as if they're single while merely just keeping their kids alive. Drugs are prevalent as well.

In the end, these kids grow up to be low IQ, depressed and/or impulsive with behavior problems. As soon as they do make money, they spend it all impulsively on the things they couldn't get while growing up. New cars, vacations, new electronics etc. Then when the bills come in, they start complaining to family and friends that they are somehow being held back by society or are being disrespected by those around them that aren't helping them out.

I've found that there is no amount of words you can say to them that will change their habits because it's been ingrained in them since childhood. They just have to figure it out on their own and they most likely wont unfortunately.
 
We literally have a ton of dudes paying $500 a month for Sophie Rain's OnylFans

If the government decides to give everyone $10,000 a month for life, these same guys would spend $10,000 a month to look at Sophie Rain's bikini pictures

Shit like this can't be fixed other than having Genghis Khan have complete rule over the country
 
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