I’m in my 30s so I should be used to this by now, but this shit is getting so stressful guys. I have no savings, my checking account is drained every month with rent, and if there’s ever a serious emergency I have no safety net, I’m legitimately fucked. I’m one unplanned expense away from absolute ruin. Those in the same boat as me, how do you deal with this?
Getting a better job paying job is never the answer. We need all jobs to pay living wage.
I have no education and a high paying job. Some people have education and no job in their area, can’t move across states, or good jobs in cities that are too expensive. Some people have dependents (siblings, relatives) that eat up that little extra you had. This is not due to the family issues but to general socio-economic background issues. If you’re from a poor family, no matter how well you do, you’re that further behind.
There’s a million reasons, and none of those are because he doesn’t browse /r/personalFinance enough
Sure let him just time leap into the future by 100 years when all western jobs pay a living wage at 32 hours a week.
What an absolutely tone-deaf take completely out of sync with reality.
Agreed and that’d be great. But also, no that doesn’t help this individual right now at all.
Of course a better paying job will help. If your job paid more and you spend the same, suddenly and by definition, the person would not be as broke.
We all agree his current job should pay more, or he should find a better one.
That was like #1 on his list already, that’s common sense not advice. We know the world doesn’t make doing those things easy, so he’s clearly looking for other ways.
I’ll even do you one better, he’s not even here for solutions, sometimes people want to talk and share common situations/experiences.
Wish I could upvote this twice. This needed to be said.
“We should change the law and rebalance the economic system” is a great idea, but not really a solution to OP’x problems. If there’s going to be a revolution, it’ll be another few years at the very least, and OP needs to eat until then.
I wasn’t giving any advice to OP. But in the current situation we are in (the one I described) “get a better job” isn’t the answer, or at least OP thought of that already.
“Just make more bro”.
Sure, we all need to fight for proper social safety nets and living wage laws. But that shit is the long game.
OP is looking for strategies for how to navigate the current fucked up system.
Are you suggesting “systemic rebuild” is the advice OP needs to figure out the rest of the year?
Fully agree your conversation needs to happen, loudly, but it won’t benefit OP in anything like a “near term”
Not to fix OPs issues.
I’m saying his advice is the first thing OP throught of, and not realistic in a lot of ways.
I wasn’t giving any advice to OP myself
Knowing where one is starting is crucial to formulating a plan.
I was once in OP’s shoes, college drop out ten years ago, and not a lot of good job prospects. I am now less than a year out of a degree with an income potential close to or actually hitting 6 figures. I was able to work myself into a sound financial position and return to college. Now with a family, and a stay at home spouse.
Yes, there are a litany of socio-economic issues that can make things more difficult, but to say “getting a better paying job is never the answer” is false. It may be challenging, and it may take time, but there are rarely no options. I have a good friend with a felony, 7 years in prison, and a college drop out who is in a HCOL area who is able to support themselves well with a trade. Yeah, they work weird hours, but they make good money.
On an individual level it absolutely can be the answer. It’s not the answer to the systemic problem but it can still help OP.
Maybe I’m too optimistic but I think OP thought of that one.