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You’re getting flak for this comment and I think it’s because people aren’t interpreting your point of view fairly. There certainly are many cases where people

You’re getting flak for this comment and I think it’s because people aren’t interpreting your point of view fairly. There certainly are many cases where people are legitimately struggling to make ends meet (and I don’t think you’re saying otherwise) but I think you are absolutely right that another big problem is that many people are making ‘enough’ money but simply don’t know (or don’t want to) spend it wisely. It isn’t just the lower class, either. I know far too many people that make six figures and still complain that they live paycheck to paycheck, but meanwhile blow $500 at the bar every week, or buy a new $300 pair of shoes every month, or a new $1500 iPhone every year. There is a weird phenomenon where even people with means will prioritize luxuries and then complain that they don’t have enough money to save for a house or save for retirement. You see this on HN too, with several recent examples of posters saying that their $300k/year FAANG salary is too low and they can’t afford to live on it.

opportune 7y ago
Exactly, I don’t want to delegitimize poverty, but I do want to bring up that a lot (maybe not even most, but a decent chunk) of people with money problems have spending problems rather than earning problems. I also know people with very high incomes that spend a lot, and now that you bring that up, it reminds me that the problem in aggregate definitely has to go deeper than innumeracy (though I still think this is a problem for a lot of people). The issue I see with a lot of people in particular is spending too much on cars, food, (especially eating out) and clothes. If you make $150k+ in the Bay Area, whatever. But a lot of people with lower incomes get caught up in this. Where I’m from you can live by yourself decently on just $25k-40k a year, but you don’t have a lot of room for error.

opportune 7y ago

Exactly, I don’t want to delegitimize poverty, but I do want to bring up that a lot (maybe not even most, but a decent chunk) of people with money problems have spending problems rather than earning problems. I also know people with very high incomes that spend a lot, and now that you bring that up, it reminds me that the problem in aggregate definitely has to go deeper than innumeracy (though I still think this is a problem for a lot of people). The issue I see with a lot of people in particular is spending too much on cars, food, (especially eating out) and clothes. If you make $150k+ in the Bay Area, whatever. But a lot of people with lower incomes get caught up in this. Where I’m from you can live by yourself decently on just $25k-40k a year, but you don’t have a lot of room for error.