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Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

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Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#301

Post by Aeolun »

bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #234
extra88 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I vaguely agree with that sentiment but I don't understand why you chose to bring it up in connection to a government employee not getting paid because of the government shutdown.

Unfortunately, it's because government shutdowns (not being paid on time for a period of a week to two weeks to maybe three weeks this time) are a regular occurrence that absolutely can and should be planned for by any potentially affected government employee.

How is this even legal? I don’t think this happens in any other liberal democracy.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#302

Post by adjkant »

Related required reading: https://thecorrespondent.com/4664/why-do-the-poor-make-such-...

Before judging at the title, read the summary:

Our efforts to combat poverty are often based on a misconception: that the poor must pull themselves up out of the mire. But a revolutionary new theory looks at the cognitive effects of living in poverty. What does that relentless struggle to make ends meet do to people?

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#303

Post by Aeolun »

cabaalis wrote: post #33

Real estate is the way I broke this cycle. It was not a short term fix, it took 10 years. Living in and ultimately selling my condo and moving to an apartment netted me enough equity to pay off all my debts. One year later, I've just finishing building a home, and have a 5-month emergency fund, and laugh at the idea of buying anything else at all on credit. A mortgage and nothing else. I'd never have been able to do…

That’s entirely predicated on prices for real estate constantly rising, which is exactly what got us in this fix in the first place.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#304

Post by randallsquared »

WalterSear wrote: post #248
Aeolun wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone should breed. That’s evolution.

That's an asinine statement. We aren't bacteria. We don't have to behave like bacteria, irregardless of one's relationship to authoritarianism or social conformity. And we should not forgive, let alone celebrate, people who do behave like bacteria.

It's not a nuanced statement, but it certainly isn't asinine. It's just the minimum positive effect you can have on the future -- the lowest bar, if you will.

You could, with similar effect, make the same statements about bacteria in response to "People should live" or "People should thrive".

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#305

Post by Aloha »

thelasthuman wrote: post #246
crankylinuxuser wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UBI was only a small-ish step to a moneyless post-scarcity economy. When rent is taken care of (cause there isn't rent), along with food, water, electricity, communication and more, what is there to 'buy'?

UBI is an attempt to save capitalism from itself. That's why you see 1%ers like Elon musk advocate for it.

Capitalism has always needed protection from eating itself, market economies suck, but there are few better workable options. UBI is just the next logical extension of the welfare state.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#306

Post by zaroth »

myself248 wrote: post #265
wutbrodo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure lack of healthcare and low wages _is_ the main issue[1]. As the parent comment points out, it seems like that would lead to a pretty different pattern of this phenomenon. It seems to me that there's a couple broad categories that can lead to paycheck-to-paycheck living: 1) Poverty, at the level where spending on a reasonable floor of basics (food, shelter, education, leisure) leaves little for savings. T…

> at percentile X would substantially improve their financial security if they spent as much as percentile X-10 This is spot-on. It's worked for me -- I didn't have a solid handle on my finances when I moved out of my parents' place, so I lowballed and found a place I knew I could afford even with a pretty pessimistic view of financial discipline. Nine years later I'm living in the same place, and I've gotten a raise…

I read this sanctimonious nonsense in every thread on spending and saving.

The only point you missed was saying that you only spend $5 a day on food.

Tell me this dear sir or madam...

1) How many kids do you have?

2) How much did you spend on healthcare in the last 5 years?

Financial shocks exceeding savings coupled with a system which requires drawing on high APY credit in order to absorb those shocks I think is a more likely culprit.

Just one event like that can have a family struggling to stay afloat and carrying thousands per year in interest payments on top of everything else.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#307

Post by guskel »

lr4444lr wrote: post #252
sputr wrote: post #176

Most comments in this thread are about learning to budget/control finances. I would just like to point out what I call "The IT bubble". We all make money here. Most of us make good money. Our social circles are filled with people making money. Most people do not have this privilege. Below a certain threshold there is no such thing as budgeting/finances. It's just survival. You're not gonna budget because you can't sa…

Most of us didn't wind up in IT by random accident though: the prudent behavior of our parents fostered an appreciation of a value system that ultimately leads to life comfort, including the discipline to forego short-term pleasure in order to obtain it. These are educable elements that COULD be instilled in schools if teachers weren't hamstrung by administrators, politicians, and parents allowed to second guess thei…

Yes, I feel like I've had to make a lot of sacrifices to get where I am at, some of which I regret.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#308

Post by Aeolun »

melissarblevins wrote: post #282

For the majority of Americans the simple fix is to spend less than you make and stop acquiring debt to impress people you don’t like. Cost of living and wages, of course, are factors to consider, but relocation to a more affordable area is an option for many. It’s a matter of going through with it.

Not all of us want to leave the place we grew up in and all our friends behind just because a bunch of juppies have decided to move in.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#309

Post by refurb »

zanny wrote: post #243
derekp7 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You bring up a good point, that even people who make decent money still can't get ahead much more than those making close to minimum wage. Why is this? My theory, is that life is full of stress, and throwing money at problems can make some causes of stress diminish. Whereas a minimum wage worker will shovel his own driveway, a higher paid office worker may typically have a snow plow contractor on retainer (for them i…

This depends on your definition of "decent money". If we wanted a legitimate middle class, the textbook definition of one, the per-capita incomes in such a class would need to average around 100k for the whole US. Then you would make enough to invest enough to be making an appreciable amount of your money from investments and thus be "middle" class. The average income is still a bit more than a third that, so the ave…

Do tell, what is the textbook definition of middle class?

I always assumed it was th middle of the income distribution.

Re: Living paycheck to paycheck is disturbingly common

#310

Post by refurb »

uuwp wrote: post #198
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is not a "twisted form of capitalism". The problem is us . In the 1950s, a family could live on one blue-collar salary. You could probably live on a single blue-collar salary today, too - but you'd live like people did in the 1950s. You would eat out very rarely. You wouldn't have college debt because you wouldn't have a college degree. You'd only have one car. You'd have only one TV for the whole house.…

I actually think capitalism is the problem. It's the best form we know to organize a society, but it has the serious problem when money tend to stick or gravitate towards bigger chunks of money. I'm making well over 300k and can afford a decent house that I'd have to pay off my entire life. What if I had 30M and was too lazy to start a business? I would just buy 30-40 nice houses in my area and would rent them. 10 ye…

If you spent 30M and bought 30-40 houses to rent out, you would be contributing to society by risking your capital to provide housing for renters.

There is no certainty that you’d double your money in 10 years.

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