Young, Dumb, and Broke: Why Outdoorsy Types Suck at Money

You usually aren’t born needing to pay $100, and having $80, there are probably decisions you make that put you more or less likely to be in that situation, some obvious, some not.

Sometimes you do get shit luck, but I think there are always ways to mitigate the negative consequences of bad luck, and maximize the consequences of good luck.

We have a lot of control over how our lives turn out here in the US, though not complete control, and it’s worth remembering that.

I was raised on welfare myself and started out my early twenties with minimum wage jobs including factory work. Yet I always had savings, the idea that I couldn't cover a $1000 emergency would be insane to me, especially structurally.

Did that mean I had to live with my parents longer than I'd have liked to? Yes. I also didn't have a car and took the bus. I had a cheap Android phone. Wore secondhand clothes. I rarely ate out, and in my first 25 years of my life I never, ever, just went somewhere to get a coffee.

But I did have a home, transport, clothes, a smartphone, food and coffee, and also savings.

I don't want to victim-blame, there's certainly many who're trapped in a predicament. And it certainly helped being young, healthy, flexible, without kids, there's an immeasurable privilege to that situation versus the contrary (old, sick, with dependents). But I also saw plenty who weren't trapped and spent a ton on a way too expensive lease car they didn't need. Or who always had the latest iphone, and also had a minimum wage job. Or who rented a place downtown, instead of 20 minutes commute for a 30% discount. Those are lifestyle choices, which is completely fine to make, but not unconditionally. Once you have an emergency fund and you prioritize the short term over the long-term, it's simple a personal preference. But if you have no emergency fund, or if you have long-term goals you want to meet, you need to manage it. I have lots of friends who don't even spend the 1 hour a week to make and monitor a very basic budget for example.

I mean let's be frank, median household income is $64k in the US. It's about the richest in the world, especially if you exclude the tiny rich states that have a few million people like Luxembourg there's nothing to really rival it. The idea that <1 week of median household income is an emergency for 4 out of 5 households is statistically not in line with 'for most it's just their predicament, not related to lifestyle or financial planning or management'.

It’s like a “pursue your passion” dilemma. If your passion is whitewater rafting, employment in that field will pay differently than, say, many kinds of employment facilitated by a computer science degree.

Same dilemma goes for clergy, who often have marketable and lucrative skills they leave behind to pursue their calling.