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On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

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Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#241

Post by ajsnigrutin »

LandR wrote: post #95
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #20

I have a possibly stupid question... Parts of america have really really high housing costs... like really high... and a bunch of people want to live there, and a lot of people there are poor (atleast compared to housing prices). Why the hell do you still build single family houses, or one/two floor buildings in areas where you need to fit a bunch of people (eg. both photos in the article)? I'm from a former socialis…

In your first phot, In my country those sort of buildings would be viewed very negatively, many would expect the people in them to be poor, lower-class, living off benefits etc. There are lots of stereotypes about the sort of people that live in those type of buildings. People would NOT want that sort of building near their home worried it would lead to more crime, lower property prices etc. Now, your last modern bui…

But the idea is still the same... just the outside look has changed.

Build a 5, 10 story apartment building, underground parking, and fit hundreds of people in a space, that would otherwise be used by 5-10 houses (20, 30 people).

First photos are from belgrade, when that design was "modern" from 1960-1980s, and the last, modern one is from ljubljana, built recently.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#242

Post by hcho »

tangjurine wrote: post #228
commandlinefan wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they would need to have inherited to feel financially secure It seems ridiculous to most of us, but I can see how it happens. I grew up pretty poor - my father was a police officer and my mother didn't work because she had to watch the four of us. But I graduated with a degree in CS in '95 (if you're thinking about graduating with a degree in CS, try to do it in '95 because that may be the best possible year to do…

The average software engineer makes around 100k. If you have been working for 20+ years, has it been difficult for you to save up enough money for college?

Not during at least three quarters of the mentioned period and not for every location even today.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#243

Post by dagw »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #85
bezout wrote: post #78

There’s also a difference in the way people handle money once they improve their financial situation. They tend to be cautious, and save money instead of spending it. There are exceptions, of course.

I've heard just as many people express the opposite. That because they were used to "having extra money to spend" being a fleeting thing, they threw caution to the wind and overspent after attaining a substantially higher income. That they had never learned about saving before (because they didn't consistently have extra to save), so it never became a habit. It'd be interesting to see real data on which outcome is ac…

Anecdotally it seems to depend a lot on how they got the money. Based purely on people I've known; people who become rich after working long hours for 20+ years building up company or similar tended to be very frugal for the rest of their lives despite retiring millionaires. People who 'lucked' into a lot of money tended to wildly overspend and never achieve financial stability.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#244

Post by scsilver »

YinglingLight wrote: post #232
syops wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much enjoyed reading your post. You made a statement that, taken literally, I disagree with and wonder if you care to elaborate more on it. I made it and you can too. It seems to me that luck plays a huge role in each success story like yours. My wife had a similar trajectory and makes quite a bit of money. However, along the way, there were hundreds of decisions made that could have gone the wrong way. She's…

It seems to me that luck plays a huge role The concept of Talent Stacking: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/talent-stack/ Those who accrue and leverage a variety of skills tend to get 'lucky'. This is why you could strip most entrepreneurs of all their money and assets, and not be surprised to see them enjoying success in 5 years. You put into place a system that makes making the right decisions inevitable, and lea…

Remove them from their network and see what happens.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#245

Post by [deleted] »

a2tech wrote: post #175
gambiting wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>On the other hand, I find it laughable that this author describes a 900sqft apartment as "very small". 900sqft would be considered a decent-sized, mid-range apartment in London, Yep, we actually bought a 3-bed house(not apartment) in UK, and the total space is 950sqft(about 90square metres). And that's not a small house around here by any measure. American houses are like their cars - absurdly large.

American here that grew up in a 3 bedroom house with around 900sqft of space and 4 people, and now live in a 2500sqft house with just my wife and 1 dog..I don't know how we did it. Thinking back it was so insanely cramped, my parents bedroom was the 'big' bedroom and it was just large enough to fit a queen sized bed, a chest of drawers, a gun case, and then a night stand on one side of the bed. The kids bedrooms bare…

[deleted]

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#246

Post by ckemere »

It's really interesting to read this and think about public policy. As someone on the left of center axis, I often imagine what an efficient government intervention would be. (I suppose a more right-wing person might imagine a charity-based solution? I'm not sure.) In this case, the author (who clearly is skilled as a writer and communicator) indirectly identifies a few "public goods" that I think are worth highlighting:

(1) Efficient public transportation that enables commutes on par with driving (2) Health and dental care (3) Improved policing/security (in the case of the neighborhoods that he describes as scary)

What else?

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#247

Post by devwastaken »

throwaway-0987 wrote: post #174

Throwaway because I don't want my co-workers to know. I was poor. My father left home when I was a kid in middle school. My mom worked part time cleaning houses and left us when she found a new husband. I dropped out of high-school in the 9th grade and went to work. Low paying jobs. I lived with my aunt on the bad side of town. Fast-forward 35 years. Today, I make about 200K per year. I got a GED, went to trade schoo…

If it were as easy now as getting paid to go to college and get a decent job it wouldn't be so bad - but prices have increased exponentially due to that federal aid. Instructor quality has significantly decreased, and administrative bloat has skyrocketed (these people can't get Jobs in the private sector either and government money is free). Jobs in technical fields are not in demand in the manner higher education advertises. As I've said before here I still have friends with bachelor CS degrees turned down from entry positions because the majority of companies are experience siphoners. There's entire youtube channels exampling the level of exploit companies can do because CS grads don't have the choice.

Sure, overcoming poverty is possible, but it's a shifting scale over time thats heading in much worse directions due to inflation in basic living costs and companies and individuals breaking the ladder that got them on the surface.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#248

Post by ajsnigrutin »

fogihujy wrote: post #206
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep! As someone from a former socialist country, I can confirm. Situation has got a lot better in the last ~30 years, people have alot more, but since a few people got even more than that, some complain a lot. Average worker family has gone from bicicyles and maybe one yugo (or a "fico" - even smaller/cheaper) to two, maybe three european-mid-range cars + all the modern extras, but are not happy, because their neighb…

There's a local saying that in Finland, people would prefer paying €100 to the neighbour getting paid €50. I take it that's true elsewhere too? :)

Here it's "let my cow die, just if two of neighbours' die"

But yeah... we earn relatively little (compared to you), and have better cars than most of the northern europe... most of them on long year loans... It's not rare to see an (eg.) BMW X7 owner at a gas station pump 9.85eur of gas, than slowly fondle the pump handle, because he only has 10eur for gas. The neighbors see the car, not the amount of gas inside :)

Also a lot of "not in my back yard" behaviour.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#249

Post by dionidium »

syops wrote: post #214
throwaway-0987 wrote: post #174

Throwaway because I don't want my co-workers to know. I was poor. My father left home when I was a kid in middle school. My mom worked part time cleaning houses and left us when she found a new husband. I dropped out of high-school in the 9th grade and went to work. Low paying jobs. I lived with my aunt on the bad side of town. Fast-forward 35 years. Today, I make about 200K per year. I got a GED, went to trade schoo…

I very much enjoyed reading your post. You made a statement that, taken literally, I disagree with and wonder if you care to elaborate more on it. I made it and you can too. It seems to me that luck plays a huge role in each success story like yours. My wife had a similar trajectory and makes quite a bit of money. However, along the way, there were hundreds of decisions made that could have gone the wrong way. She's…

Of course luck plays a factor in everything everybody does. The question isn't whether luck plays a role; it's how much salience it deserves. This person made hundreds of good choices across decades to achieve the success they have, so it seems a bit perverse to focus instead on the hundreds of things outside their control.

Re: On the Experience of Being Poor-Ish, for People Who Aren't

#250

Post by treis »

gambiting wrote: post #59
choeger wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That came to my mind as well. If I don't expect the deposit back and cannot afford to claim it, let's just turn the tables and make them claim something from me .

Here in the UK that would destroy any chances of renting anything decent in the future. Any agency/landlord will always ask for references from your current landlord, if you dick them over like this you can forget ever renting something that isn't a slum where people don't care about references. Also deposits are always(by law) held by a third party in escrow, and it's actually a bit of a pain to claim any money from…

>Any agency/landlord will always ask for references from your current landlord

Give them your buddies contact information.

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