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Well, you can at least be told how to manage your money better -- you can't be forced to get better at it, but the combination of someone telling you how saving
by chipotle_coyote 7y ago
Well, you can at least be told how to manage your money better -- you can't be forced to get better at it, but the combination of someone telling you how savings work and actually having enough left over to save really does matter.
Up until my mid-30s, "savings" meant building up enough of a cushion that when my current wobbly job collapsed, I'd be able to make it to the next wobbly job without going into serious debt. I understood about retirement savings at that point, but there were years I not only didn't have a 401(k) accessible to me but couldn't even fully fund my IRA. If I'd had a UBI of, say, $1K a month like Andrew Yang's proposal -- or even $750 a month -- it would absolutely have changed my relationship to savings. My IRA contributions would easily have been $50K or more than they are now, which would likely put me $100K+ ahead of where I am in savings by now.
- umvi 7y ago> Well, you can at least be told how to manage your money better Exactly my point - who is going to be doing this in the case of UBI? Written instructions that come with the check? Charitable middle class mentors? Paid gov't employee?
- chipotle_coyote 7y agoSure, it's a good question, and it's not an easy one to answer. The way I learned was honestly closest to "written instructions that come with the check," in that it was just reading information rather than being mentored. I suspect if I ran a UBI program, I would indeed work on some kind of basic instruction about finances that could be stuffed in with checks. But I'd also be trying to figure out some way to measure effectiveness of that sort of insert, ideally along with a few other trial programs. There's only so much you can realistically do, so metrics are pretty essential.