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What an atrocious answer. Does this guy think "the 90%" are just poor and irresponsible? All of these answers assume the 90% is ignorant, short-sighted, and ba

What an atrocious answer. Does this guy think "the 90%" are just poor and irresponsible? All of these answers assume the 90% is ignorant, short-sighted, and bad with both money and math. Newsflash: The 90% includes the entire middle class, and not everyone who is poor is such because they are bad with money.

gwbas1c 10y ago
Actually, this guy gives a very well-written common-sense guide to getting rich. There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly.
- jamesroseman 10y ago
  I'd love some citations there..
  - leftnode 10y ago
    Anecdotal, I know, but look at all the recent articles where 53% of American's don't have $1000 in liquid cash, or hell just read /r/personalfinance for your daily dose of poor financial decisions.
    - jamesroseman 10y ago
      As I replied above, not having liquid cash is proof of being poor, not of managing your money poorly. What I want a citation for is: > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. What I want is definitive proof that, as claimed, most poor people in this country are poor because they manage their money poorly.
      - ljf 10y ago
        You are asking for proof for something the the parent you first responded to did not say > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. Where in that sentence do they say 'most poor people in this country are poor because they manage their money poorly' ?
        jamesroseman 10y ago
        > because they manage their income poorly That's a good start. "There are a lot" may not mean most, but it doesn't absolve it of providing some proof.
        ljf 10y ago
        He also doesn't say poor - he just say manage their income badly - which I would say at least 50% of my friends fall into the bucket of.
        jamesroseman 10y ago
        What? > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. I want a citation on that, that's all. I want a statistic on how many people who live paycheck to paycheck live that way solely because they manage their income poorly. Again, the notion that everyone could be rich if they only worked harder is asinine, and frankly pretty offensive. This comment supports that notion by equating living paycheck to paycheck with being bad at managing income. I want statistics, I'm tired of that opinion.
  - eli 10y ago
    http://www.npr.org/2016/04/24/475432149/could-you-come-up-with-400-if-disaster-struck http://www.npr.org/2016/04/24/475432149/could-you-come-up-wi...
    - jamesroseman 10y ago
      This is a citation for the claim "people in the United States are poor". What I want a citation for is: > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. What I want is definitive proof that, as claimed, most poor people in this country are poor because they manage their money poorly.
  - imtringued 10y ago
    Spend less than you earn Set some cash aside Invest the difference Honestly this is all it boils down to. Having a higher income does make it faster to accumulate wealth but even the "poor" can accumulate considerable wealth over very long periods of time (think 30 years) if they are willing to sacrifice their standard of living.
- diiq 10y ago
  A person making a lower-middle-class wage and saving 25% of it from the time they're 20, and never facing a financial emergency, will never be "rich" by any causal definition of rich -- let alone among "the wealthiest". In fact, they'll barely have saved enough to retire and live the same tightened-belt lifestyle they lived the whole time. A penny saved is certainly a penny earned, and saving is better than spending it all immediately. But if you're lower-middle-class and your goal is to "be rich" then you'll need some way to get more money not just spend less money.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
kamaal 10y ago
>>Does this guy think "the 90%" are just poor and irresponsible? One could make a case for that. A lot of people are really bad with money. The tragedy is they don't know it yet, or do not really understand the consequences of their actions on the long term. Its hard to define 'bad with money' because many people don't exactly classify their actions as such. Which is why some one calls out such activity, people feel offended because they never thought their spending patters could be considered irresponsible. Spending cash on cameras and expensive lenses which you are not going use, eating out regularly, spending on vacations, changing phones often, cigarettes, alcohol... the list is endless. There is always a need every week on which you could spend $100 here and there. Without a way of tracking your habits, looking at it and extrapolating it over the long term you would pretty much believe that you are doing nothing harmful to your finances at all! Now some body else is probably saving up and investing all the time and is likely to come out on top by a very huge margin. The very same people in the former category will end up calling such a person greedy. Self reflection is hard because it destroys you, fixes the center of blame on you, you run out of excuses all when you realize it was all your own choices and actions which bought you to where you are.

gwbas1c 10y ago

Actually, this guy gives a very well-written common-sense guide to getting rich. There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly.

jamesroseman 10y ago
I'd love some citations there..
- leftnode 10y ago
  Anecdotal, I know, but look at all the recent articles where 53% of American's don't have $1000 in liquid cash, or hell just read /r/personalfinance for your daily dose of poor financial decisions.
  - jamesroseman 10y ago
    As I replied above, not having liquid cash is proof of being poor, not of managing your money poorly. What I want a citation for is: > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. What I want is definitive proof that, as claimed, most poor people in this country are poor because they manage their money poorly.
    - ljf 10y ago
      You are asking for proof for something the the parent you first responded to did not say > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. Where in that sentence do they say 'most poor people in this country are poor because they manage their money poorly' ?
      - jamesroseman 10y ago
        > because they manage their income poorly That's a good start. "There are a lot" may not mean most, but it doesn't absolve it of providing some proof.
        ljf 10y ago
        He also doesn't say poor - he just say manage their income badly - which I would say at least 50% of my friends fall into the bucket of.
        jamesroseman 10y ago
        What? > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. I want a citation on that, that's all. I want a statistic on how many people who live paycheck to paycheck live that way solely because they manage their income poorly. Again, the notion that everyone could be rich if they only worked harder is asinine, and frankly pretty offensive. This comment supports that notion by equating living paycheck to paycheck with being bad at managing income. I want statistics, I'm tired of that opinion.
- eli 10y ago
  http://www.npr.org/2016/04/24/475432149/could-you-come-up-with-400-if-disaster-struck http://www.npr.org/2016/04/24/475432149/could-you-come-up-wi...
  - jamesroseman 10y ago
    This is a citation for the claim "people in the United States are poor". What I want a citation for is: > There are a lot of people in the middle class who live paycheck to paycheck because they manage their income poorly. What I want is definitive proof that, as claimed, most poor people in this country are poor because they manage their money poorly.
- imtringued 10y ago
  Spend less than you earn Set some cash aside Invest the difference Honestly this is all it boils down to. Having a higher income does make it faster to accumulate wealth but even the "poor" can accumulate considerable wealth over very long periods of time (think 30 years) if they are willing to sacrifice their standard of living.
diiq 10y ago
A person making a lower-middle-class wage and saving 25% of it from the time they're 20, and never facing a financial emergency, will never be "rich" by any causal definition of rich -- let alone among "the wealthiest". In fact, they'll barely have saved enough to retire and live the same tightened-belt lifestyle they lived the whole time. A penny saved is certainly a penny earned, and saving is better than spending it all immediately. But if you're lower-middle-class and your goal is to "be rich" then you'll need some way to get more money not just spend less money.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

kamaal 10y ago

>>Does this guy think "the 90%" are just poor and irresponsible? One could make a case for that. A lot of people are really bad with money. The tragedy is they don't know it yet, or do not really understand the consequences of their actions on the long term. Its hard to define 'bad with money' because many people don't exactly classify their actions as such. Which is why some one calls out such activity, people feel offended because they never thought their spending patters could be considered irresponsible. Spending cash on cameras and expensive lenses which you are not going use, eating out regularly, spending on vacations, changing phones often, cigarettes, alcohol... the list is endless. There is always a need every week on which you could spend $100 here and there. Without a way of tracking your habits, looking at it and extrapolating it over the long term you would pretty much believe that you are doing nothing harmful to your finances at all! Now some body else is probably saving up and investing all the time and is likely to come out on top by a very huge margin. The very same people in the former category will end up calling such a person greedy. Self reflection is hard because it destroys you, fixes the center of blame on you, you run out of excuses all when you realize it was all your own choices and actions which bought you to where you are.