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Financial literacy is in the same class of policies as abstinence-based sex education and "just say no" anti-drug campaigns. Unless this education is about givi

Financial literacy is in the same class of policies as abstinence-based sex education and "just say no" anti-drug campaigns. Unless this education is about giving the poor access to capital and lucrative, reliable investment opportunities, all that penny-pinching gives you is an awareness of being trapped in an interlocking web of systems of financial predation: risks, costs, fees, and liabilities systematically offloaded onto you, a mostly defenseless consumer of necessary basic services. What really works is giving up on yourself and admitting that you will die broken, sick, and poor, and putting all your energies into your offspring who will vindicate your sacrifice. Pressure your children into challenging academic pathways, reduce their leisure time, and help them get into prestigious occupations. That's the only reliable path to building family wealth.

nimvlaj30 5y ago
You have a very grim and victim-based view of financial reality. While you are partially correct, the system is working against the individual, you are also dismissing that there is some wiggle room for these people to improve their financial standing. By improving your own education, working hard, and learning good financial habits, you can be at least somewhat better off. You will always suffer at the hands of this capitalist machine that chews the poor and spits them out. But with some level of self-discipline you can (at least slightly) improve your life and the lives of your offspring. Lots of success is based on probability, so with luck, hard work, and financial literacy you may even be much better off.
- legerdemain 5y ago
  Sure, but financial literacy programs targeting the poor are always scams (offered as a hurdle on the road to obtaining basic benefits). Investment opportunities targeting the poor are also always scams (like huckster workshops about flipping houses for profit or blowing money on risky investments). Financial services targeting the poor are usually scams (e.g., the recently deregulated payday loan "industry"). I am reminded of working with poor clients when some consumer bank in the US started offering a "financial health" program, wherein they would round up every card purchase to the next dollar, deposit that fraction of a dollar into a savings account, and then match it for you up to $100 a month. All the other counselors at our org were super excited to tell our clients about this: "It's free money from your bank! You just got to start making a lot more transactions on your card to earn out the full $100!"

nimvlaj30 5y ago

You have a very grim and victim-based view of financial reality. While you are partially correct, the system is working against the individual, you are also dismissing that there is some wiggle room for these people to improve their financial standing. By improving your own education, working hard, and learning good financial habits, you can be at least somewhat better off. You will always suffer at the hands of this capitalist machine that chews the poor and spits them out. But with some level of self-discipline you can (at least slightly) improve your life and the lives of your offspring. Lots of success is based on probability, so with luck, hard work, and financial literacy you may even be much better off.

legerdemain 5y ago
Sure, but financial literacy programs targeting the poor are always scams (offered as a hurdle on the road to obtaining basic benefits). Investment opportunities targeting the poor are also always scams (like huckster workshops about flipping houses for profit or blowing money on risky investments). Financial services targeting the poor are usually scams (e.g., the recently deregulated payday loan "industry"). I am reminded of working with poor clients when some consumer bank in the US started offering a "financial health" program, wherein they would round up every card purchase to the next dollar, deposit that fraction of a dollar into a savings account, and then match it for you up to $100 a month. All the other counselors at our org were super excited to tell our clients about this: "It's free money from your bank! You just got to start making a lot more transactions on your card to earn out the full $100!"