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Mortgage and student loans play a part. A lot of it comes down to lifestyle choices and discretionary spending, essentially they are either bad at budgeting or

Mortgage and student loans play a part. A lot of it comes down to lifestyle choices and discretionary spending, essentially they are either bad at budgeting or sticking to it. I see this a lot in all generations to be honest, some want to say it is driven by the yolo mindset but I have watched the vast majority of people be bad with money my whole life.

autoexec 4y ago
> A lot of it comes down to lifestyle choices and discretionary spending, essentially they are either bad at budgeting or sticking to it. I also know some people who are very bad with money and even some who are certainly living an unsustainable lifestyle in order to project the appearance of genuine wealth, but that is by far the exception in my experience. Saying that it's lifestyle choices and spending habits doesn't sit right with me. I'm not saying that you are doing this, but there are some people who essentially repeat what you've said when what they really mean is something closer to "The dirty poors are living above their station and need to learn to stay in their place!". It's a kind of mindset where you get ridiculous statements about how poor people could pull themselves up by their bootstraps if only they didn't buy iphones or avocado toast. It ignores so many other much larger factors like increased costs, wages that haven't kept up, the effects and impacts of poverty, and the fact that economic mobility in the US is dismal and has been for a long time. I mean, it's certainly true that pretty much everyone could benefit from more education in managing personal finances. It isn't something most people are taught in school and much has changed over just a couple generations. Not to date myself too badly here, but my parents told me it was wise to put money in a savings account because it would earn interest and at that time, while still not the best advice, it was a whole lot more reasonable than it is today. Millennials were the first generation of Americans where the majority ended up worse off than their parents and I think going back at least as far as Gen-X that trend has caused an increase in debit as people struggle just to maintain the lifestyle they grew up in. I've also seen people more recently who don't believe that there is anything they can do to improve their situation, that home ownership is and will always be an impossibility for them, that retirement is a thing of the past etc. and that kind of hopelessness does seem to lead to reckless spending. Smart hardworking kids working 2-3 jobs, none of which give them any benefits, with little to no savings who spend a lot more than they should on convinces and momentary pleasures because they have zero faith in their future being any better than it is today. There's a lot more going on than people yoloing their money away, especially when it comes to the very poor who in my experience are usually carefully watching where every last dime goes.

autoexec 4y ago

> A lot of it comes down to lifestyle choices and discretionary spending, essentially they are either bad at budgeting or sticking to it. I also know some people who are very bad with money and even some who are certainly living an unsustainable lifestyle in order to project the appearance of genuine wealth, but that is by far the exception in my experience. Saying that it's lifestyle choices and spending habits doesn't sit right with me. I'm not saying that you are doing this, but there are some people who essentially repeat what you've said when what they really mean is something closer to "The dirty poors are living above their station and need to learn to stay in their place!". It's a kind of mindset where you get ridiculous statements about how poor people could pull themselves up by their bootstraps if only they didn't buy iphones or avocado toast. It ignores so many other much larger factors like increased costs, wages that haven't kept up, the effects and impacts of poverty, and the fact that economic mobility in the US is dismal and has been for a long time. I mean, it's certainly true that pretty much everyone could benefit from more education in managing personal finances. It isn't something most people are taught in school and much has changed over just a couple generations. Not to date myself too badly here, but my parents told me it was wise to put money in a savings account because it would earn interest and at that time, while still not the best advice, it was a whole lot more reasonable than it is today. Millennials were the first generation of Americans where the majority ended up worse off than their parents and I think going back at least as far as Gen-X that trend has caused an increase in debit as people struggle just to maintain the lifestyle they grew up in. I've also seen people more recently who don't believe that there is anything they can do to improve their situation, that home ownership is and will always be an impossibility for them, that retirement is a thing of the past etc. and that kind of hopelessness does seem to lead to reckless spending. Smart hardworking kids working 2-3 jobs, none of which give them any benefits, with little to no savings who spend a lot more than they should on convinces and momentary pleasures because they have zero faith in their future being any better than it is today. There's a lot more going on than people yoloing their money away, especially when it comes to the very poor who in my experience are usually carefully watching where every last dime goes.