submitted 23 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
 

Do you think it's essential to keep a solid buffer between you and disaster or did you sacrifice that to the gods of "living life to the fullest right here and now"? Or mayhaps you're struggling to keep a boat afloat as it is and going cheaper isn't really an option for you as you are already at the timit of cheapness for your specific situation and saving seems like an unachievable goal, becauase everything goes to surviving?

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[–] 2 points 7 hours ago (4 children)

Ok, IRA is a strictly amercan thing (I guess)

The cooler version is strictly an Irish thing.

Im afraid Its not that the capitalism game is rigged,

It is.

its just that you are bad at playing it.

It can also be that, but it's volatile enough that no strategy is really optimal and even the better strategies can leave you in the hole.

(which is putting money YOU WONT NEED in another 10+ years in there EACH MONTH and not even lookimg at it for the bare minimum of ~10y).

Some people don't have money that they don't need each month. Most people don't have a guarantee that they won't need the money for 10 years. Remember, we're talking about the US. The social safety net here is made of cobwebs. That $10k you put away over the last three years might suddenly be $8k that makes the difference between staying afloat and losing your housing.

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  • [–] [S] -2 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

    I think for the most part this is not because they can't but becauae they choose to live up or higher than their means 💁

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  • [–] 4 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

    Yeah, poor people choose to be poor. They love it. /s

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  • [–] [S] -3 points 5 hours ago (1 child)

    Basically, if you presume freedom of will and peraonal responsibility are a thing then it is significantly more likely that there is a possibility for a person to lift themselves out of poverty one way or another and they choose not to act upon it (rather than strictly corcumstances that make it impossible to do so). That is not to mention that the wast majority of the people are simply bad with money. Like they would take out a loan on a new iphone when they can eaaily get a cheap paidoff android/a used iphone or they would buy a car that is way above whet they can comfortably afford

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  • [–] 4 points 4 hours ago

    Basically, if you presume freedom of will and peraonal responsibility are a thing then it is significantly more likely that there is a possibility for a person to lift themselves out of poverty one way or another and they choose not to act upon it (rather than strictly corcumstances that make it impossible to do so).

    That doesn't follow. You can have lots of bad options and the freedom to choose between them.

    That is not to mention that the wast majority of the people are simply bad with money. Like they would take out a loan on a new iphone when they can eaaily get a cheap paidoff android/a used iphone or they would buy a car that is way above whet they can comfortably afford

    Do you have any data that suggests that this is in fact the vast majority of people? There are certainly people who do this, but there are also people who choose a newer car because they can't afford the uncertainty of potential maintenance problems with an old one, for example. The newer car costs more on average, but it's more consistent. When you don't have savings to smooth out the bumps, you could lose a lot if a problem happens at a particularly inconvenient time.

    A phone is such a negligible expense compared to a car that I don't think it really needs addressing. Even a maxed-oit iPhone Duo is $100/month or so. That's less than most people spend on gas alone.

    And that's ignoring people who get locked into payments on things that they could afford when they bought them, but no longer can. Job loss or medical expenses can wipe out your savings in a hurry.

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