Your capacity to absorb financial speed bumps today is (among other things) a result of your income level yesterday. I am often surprised how people whose inco

Your capacity to absorb financial speed bumps today is (among other things) a result of your income level yesterday. I am often surprised how people whose income is the same or greater than mine live in stress, because each extra euro of income is immediately translated into an extra euro of consumption, and there is no reserve for a rainy day. However, I am not surprised when the same thing happens to people with incomes much smaller than mine. Sometimes I am instead surprised how these people manage to survive at all. (Well, obviously, if I'd ever got in the same situation, I would probably gradually learn a few tricks I don't know today.)