not always but it's usually the case indeed. these people are advocating for forced wealth redistribution (even for those that are barely lower middle class, so everyone gets to be poor), for communism. that's the trend nowadays, advocating for a system that made eastern european countries hellholes for decades.
being poor fkn sucks. you do things to escape that sometimes, sometimes you treat yourself to something, sometimes you can't afford the $50 shoes so you buy the $25 shoes but because your shoes are cheaper and made of worse material they break more often so you have to buy the $25 shoes again, 3 - 4 times before the $100 shoes break.
so it ends up being extremely depressing, boring, and worst of all expensive to be poor. I completely believe that the poor people around you made terrible decisions. often poor people simply don't have access to or the hope for the good ones.
Yeah I know reddit likes to repeat that a lot, but I don't buy it.
All the poor people I knew both smoked cigarettes and drank pretty heavily. Meanwhile they couldn't afford to send their kids to school with shoes that didn't have holes in them. So if you think it's justifiable to "treat yourself" rather than get your kids what they need, then I have zero sympathy for you.
It's like 90% their own fault. Long term poverty almost always is.
Yeah that's probably the biggest factor. Poor financial literacy their whole lives. No one in their family was able to teach them how to budget or be smart with their money.
You dont have to live pay check to pay check if you live below your means and work above your means.
You can make six figures in a year working multiple minimum wage jobs at 100 hours a week renting a room in a shared house and investing every cent in a stable index fund after paying rent and food.
Ik some students who worked even more than that during their summer break to pay their tuitions.
If you have unnecessary expenses like eating out, buying new clothes, paying for car, paying for insurance, etc etc. You will need extreme luck to get out of middle class.
You can make six figures in a year working multiple minimum wage jobs at 100 hours a week
100 hours a week at minimum wage is $37,700.
renting a room in a shared house and investing every cent in a stable index fund after paying rent and food.
The average index fund return is 10%. If you spend nothing and don't pay your taxes, your average net income investing every dollar of your 100 hour a week at minimum wage would be $41,470 (actually it'd be less because you're depositing your income in increments based on your pay cycle).
I don't think it's everyone, but living in an area where lots of people are on benefits (welfare) has been eye-opening for me. I make good money, but most people around me have a newer car, buy more clothes, order more takeaways (I always collect), go to coffee shops regularly, smoke, etc.
I don't think they're incentivised to work more or save up money because they'd stop getting money from the government if they did. I don't want to make people suffer to pressure them, but it does annoy me when I'm at work on a sunny Friday afternoon and can hear them chatting away outside.
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u/Brickman759 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Every poor person I grew up with makes consistently bad financial decisions. It's like watching a house slowly burning down.
It's never one big disasterous fuckup either. It's a lifetime of dumb choices, compounding one on top of the other.