This meme that living within your means and saving isn’t effective is ... dangerous. It’s pretty always better to do so. Saying ‘yeah but if I do that, I stil

This meme that living within your means and saving isn’t effective is ... dangerous. It’s pretty always better to do so. Saying ‘yeah but if I do that, I still won’t be able to afford x purchase’ easily becomes a justification for being in debt, which just doesn’t help. Even if we don’t live in a meritocracy, behaving as if we do and assuming you can increase your merit, is an effective strategy.