> Saving a few bucks here and there and building up an emergency fund that can carry you through 6-8 months. That's easy when your income is significantly high

> Saving a few bucks here and there and building up an emergency fund that can carry you through 6-8 months. That's easy when your income is significantly higher than your living expenses. But with constantly rising rents, that's very difficult for people working low-wage jobs. Even when I was a store manager in fast food, after paying the rent, utilities, car insurance, and budgeting about $5-10/day for food, I was left with ~$200/month to either throw into savings or spend on pleasure, and when you work a shit job, you're more likely to want to spend that money on something fun. But then the alternator dies in your car and it's a $600 repair because your apartment complex doesn't let you do car maintenance in their parking lots, and it wipes out 3 months of your disposable income.