5 ms·

With what money? Between student debt, stagnant wages, the 'gig' economy, and limited mobility - how is anyone supposed to save a reasonable sum to invest in ev

With what money? Between student debt, stagnant wages, the 'gig' economy, and limited mobility - how is anyone supposed to save a reasonable sum to invest in even when taking into account the joys of compound interest?

anon12341234 8y ago
With the money they use to go to bars, pay for netflix, eat out at restaurants, go to concerts, buy video games, etcetera etcetera. Almost every person who claims to have no money to invest actually has plenty of money; they just squander it on immediate gratification.
- arblegobblebrbl 8y ago
  Well said. I used to think that this was the essential core of the conservative point of view.
- NickBusey 8y ago
  Yea those damn Americans, always wanting to, you know, actually live a life and not sit at home apparently staring at a wall to save money.
- epicureanideal 8y ago
  Netflix is $10 per month. I am sympathetic to the view that people are squandering money they could invest, but in many cases it's just not a meaningful amount of money. Buying a video game every couple months is what, $50 or $100? Sorry, but this just isn't meaningful compared to things like rent and transportation. If someone is paying $1000 per month in rent, a single month of rent is an entire year of saving on little things, and that's a level of rent that's relatively low even far away from the Bay Area.
- astrodust 8y ago
  If you took all the money a person on a limited income spends on Netflix, restaurants and games they could scrounge up enough money to buy a trailer home in the middle of Nebraska just before they die of old age. The reason people don't save every penny is because pennies don't matter any more. The price of housing, medical care, and education is becoming so overwhelming that everything else pales in comparison. This isn't like the 1960s where you could get by on a part-time minimum wage job, pay your way through college, and buy a nice house in a good part of town that you could easily own outright in twenty years. Those days are over. Now the best you can hope for is to pay rent, to squeak by from one week to the next, and to take the edge off the bitter, brutal reality of things you buy yourself a game or pay for Netflix. Cut people some slack.
  - anon12341234 8y ago
    If you add up all that money, most people could save $100+ per month. Add in an employer match for 401k and you're saving $200 per month. With 5% real return in the stock market, most people could have $400k saved up by the time they hit 70. That's nothing to sneeze at, and anybody can achieve it if they're prudent. Maybe if you were working instead of squandering your money and time on videogames, your reality wouldn't be so brutal.
  - bluGill 8y ago
    It has never been that easy. "Poor starving college student" was a saying back then because college students barely had any money.
    - astrodust 8y ago
      It's a relative thing. Students back then didn't have to pay three hundred bucks for a textbook and they didn't have to go so deeply into debt they could've bought a Ferrari.
arblegobblebrbl 8y ago
Well, for starters, you could stop with all the avocado toast.
- sctb 8y ago
  Could you please read the guidelines and then take care to comment civilly and substantively here? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - peacetreefrog 8y ago
    Really disagree with these comments (not as much this one as the other one in this thread) being flagged and removed. IIRC the line was basically, "many people have much more to invest then they claim, but they spend it on netflix, brunch, concerts etc instead" Sure, obv won't apply to everyone and not everyone will agree, but seems like a reasonable sentiment that should at least be allowed to exist on the thread. Deleting it makes it seem like you're going for thought monoculture here.
    - s73v3r_ 8y ago
      I strongly disagree, mainly because that line of thought has no basis in reality, and allowing it to persist like this encourages the dehumanization of the lower classes. It's not a reasonable sentiment in the least.
      - peacetreefrog 8y ago
        No one said anything about dehumanization. It's your prerogative to disagree to what extent that line of thinking is based in reality. It shouldn't be your prerogative to see comments like that deleted because you disagree with them. This article is talking about the labor-shareholder profit split. It's absolutely relevant to point out the opportunities normal people have for becoming shareholders. stockpile.com let's you buy fractional shares (no longer need 2k to buy a share of amazon) for a 99 cent commission. You can get commission free ETF's from Schwab with a couple hundred $ account minimum. Arguing that most workers are so strapped for cash that they literally cannot set aside a few bucks to invest -- and not only that -- that arguments even hinting at such a thing should not even be said out loud, is mind boggling.
peacetreefrog 8y ago
Taking out a bunch of student loans in order to join the gig economy isn't nec the most sensible path to take.
- s73v3r_ 8y ago
  I guarantee you that no one set out with that course of actions in mind.

anon12341234 8y ago

With the money they use to go to bars, pay for netflix, eat out at restaurants, go to concerts, buy video games, etcetera etcetera. Almost every person who claims to have no money to invest actually has plenty of money; they just squander it on immediate gratification.

arblegobblebrbl 8y ago
Well said. I used to think that this was the essential core of the conservative point of view.
NickBusey 8y ago
Yea those damn Americans, always wanting to, you know, actually live a life and not sit at home apparently staring at a wall to save money.
epicureanideal 8y ago
Netflix is $10 per month. I am sympathetic to the view that people are squandering money they could invest, but in many cases it's just not a meaningful amount of money. Buying a video game every couple months is what, $50 or $100? Sorry, but this just isn't meaningful compared to things like rent and transportation. If someone is paying $1000 per month in rent, a single month of rent is an entire year of saving on little things, and that's a level of rent that's relatively low even far away from the Bay Area.
astrodust 8y ago
If you took all the money a person on a limited income spends on Netflix, restaurants and games they could scrounge up enough money to buy a trailer home in the middle of Nebraska just before they die of old age. The reason people don't save every penny is because pennies don't matter any more. The price of housing, medical care, and education is becoming so overwhelming that everything else pales in comparison. This isn't like the 1960s where you could get by on a part-time minimum wage job, pay your way through college, and buy a nice house in a good part of town that you could easily own outright in twenty years. Those days are over. Now the best you can hope for is to pay rent, to squeak by from one week to the next, and to take the edge off the bitter, brutal reality of things you buy yourself a game or pay for Netflix. Cut people some slack.
- anon12341234 8y ago
  If you add up all that money, most people could save $100+ per month. Add in an employer match for 401k and you're saving $200 per month. With 5% real return in the stock market, most people could have $400k saved up by the time they hit 70. That's nothing to sneeze at, and anybody can achieve it if they're prudent. Maybe if you were working instead of squandering your money and time on videogames, your reality wouldn't be so brutal.
- bluGill 8y ago
  It has never been that easy. "Poor starving college student" was a saying back then because college students barely had any money.
  - astrodust 8y ago
    It's a relative thing. Students back then didn't have to pay three hundred bucks for a textbook and they didn't have to go so deeply into debt they could've bought a Ferrari.

arblegobblebrbl 8y ago

Well, for starters, you could stop with all the avocado toast.

sctb 8y ago
Could you please read the guidelines and then take care to comment civilly and substantively here? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- peacetreefrog 8y ago
  Really disagree with these comments (not as much this one as the other one in this thread) being flagged and removed. IIRC the line was basically, "many people have much more to invest then they claim, but they spend it on netflix, brunch, concerts etc instead" Sure, obv won't apply to everyone and not everyone will agree, but seems like a reasonable sentiment that should at least be allowed to exist on the thread. Deleting it makes it seem like you're going for thought monoculture here.
  - s73v3r_ 8y ago
    I strongly disagree, mainly because that line of thought has no basis in reality, and allowing it to persist like this encourages the dehumanization of the lower classes. It's not a reasonable sentiment in the least.
    - peacetreefrog 8y ago
      No one said anything about dehumanization. It's your prerogative to disagree to what extent that line of thinking is based in reality. It shouldn't be your prerogative to see comments like that deleted because you disagree with them. This article is talking about the labor-shareholder profit split. It's absolutely relevant to point out the opportunities normal people have for becoming shareholders. stockpile.com let's you buy fractional shares (no longer need 2k to buy a share of amazon) for a 99 cent commission. You can get commission free ETF's from Schwab with a couple hundred $ account minimum. Arguing that most workers are so strapped for cash that they literally cannot set aside a few bucks to invest -- and not only that -- that arguments even hinting at such a thing should not even be said out loud, is mind boggling.

peacetreefrog 8y ago

Taking out a bunch of student loans in order to join the gig economy isn't nec the most sensible path to take.

s73v3r_ 8y ago
I guarantee you that no one set out with that course of actions in mind.