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HowTF does a burger flipper even have any money to invest after paying rent and student loan payments?
According to Mortgage News Daily, half of all low-income renters spend at least half their income on housing.
Spending at least half your income on housing is a very effective way to remain poor.
You shouldn't be satisfied working as a burger flipper if you want to be rich, or heck, even be average. Do you have absolutely no downtime on your job?
You gotta want to get out of your situation badly. If you had a smartphone and even 30 minutes of downtime, you can use it to start an Ebay business for example. Or read ebooks on a new skill you want to learn to start a new career.
So your boss will catch and fire you? What's the worst that could happen?
I agree with OP's observations.
And hopefully these peeps grow up and out of that messed up priorities.. I have teens and know younger generations that is in that state of mind.
I think some just needed a grow up time.
Think something like 80 - 90 % of humans actually is caught up in the latest gadgets trend.
In China, people have been known to spend their yearly salary for just an iPhone. Yup!!!
Trend in Asia, SE Asia, Mideast, Africa... Etc..
They want to be seen with their phones.. latest the better!!!
Or how about the the Asian obsession with name goods..
From lux cars even if it means the price of a house payments like in Singapore.. to lux brand watches, bags that cost their yearly salary...
Why???
I come to the conclusion, these people are bored.
Those costly "seen n be seen" goods that make one seem well to do, it's a ego and "face" thing.
Face is huge ego thing in Asia especially Chinese related countries.
Many times, they really have nothing else besides these collections I think. Besides handing out at eateries or places with friends who also show off these items???
Dunno.
To me, it is just sad that so many have lost touch with "real life" and that "it's amazing out there" to be looking at what God gave us in nature's beauty and not at a phone or computer screen.
Maybe their priorities may shift if they experienced some life altering things before one realizes...
All those materials goods (latest phones, clothes, big houses, big cars, jewellery etc.) cannot be buried and taken with you... Except all the fabulous memories you make with all the important lives of people of your life!!!
Get living!!! Life is precious.. dun waste time!!!
Absolutely there are plenty of people who spend money wastefully because they have misplaced priorities.
There are also people who spend inefficiently because they have insufficient and/or inconsistent income which hinders them from planning financially long-term. Many things in first world life require significant up-front expenditures, especially for those who have less than excellent credit. For example, having either income or credit which is inadequate can severely restrict your housing and automotive options - and the terms available to you - and having restricted automotive options in turn can restrict your employment options, impairing your income, and around we go in either an endless loop or downward spiral.
You shouldn't be satisfied working as a burger flipper if you want to be rich, or heck, even be average. Do you have absolutely no downtime on your job?
You gotta want to get out of your situation badly. If you had a smartphone and even 30 minutes of downtime, you can use it to start an Ebay business for example. Or read ebooks on a new skill you want to learn to start a new career.
So your boss will catch and fire you? What's the worst that could happen?
I want to sell coins on eBay and am currently researching photography options, i.e. smartphone vs digital camera.
They spend money that way because they subconsciously have an understanding of the following facts.
Once they spend all of their money and/or eventually get to a point where they are broke:
01 The state and federal government will still be there to keep them alive by using other people's money (taxes) to fund it all.
02 At whatever income level they are at - they realize they will never be in the top 5% of earners and those that posses most of the nation's wealth (real estate, stocks, mutual funds, government bonds, cash, etc) and that they might as well spend what they have, when they have it.
03 The paper-fiat money printed by the Federal Reserve and released into the system (most of the time not even money: just additional ' 0s ' added to accounts at banks and loan paperwork) does not really exist in any objective way and is not linked to anything of value. And the continued printing of it just diminishes the purchasing power of the money that is already in circulation. So they spend it anyway they want and at least have something when they do.
04 Life is short and you can't take the money with you
Problem with that thinking is...unless you are a homeowner, if you are broke because you overspend your income, government won't help you. If you are broke because you have minimal income, government will help you if you have dependent children or will at least give you food stamps and (in some states) Medicaid.
05 They realize that money is an unlimited, recirculated resource in the US. Running out of money is like running out of water. You can increase and decrease the flow as you wish.
Millions of Americans would disagree with you! e.g. Burger flippers have a minimal flow which they cannot substantially increase in the short term, unless they have certain moneymaking tools available such as a car and a smartphone and an Uber app.
Maybe because they are already poor.Poor people spend money .Rich people economize
Many things in first world life require a certain financial starting position to manage money efficiently.
For example, I know people who pay less to own a 4BR house than it costs to rent a 1BR apartment. If you own a 4BR house you can live for free in one bedroom and enjoy net rental income renting out the other three bedrooms. You're not going to live for free in a 1BR apartment or in a rented room.
If you own a quality late model car, you can make money as an Uber driver. If you drive a clunker, forget about driving for Uber.
Problem with that thinking is...unless you are a homeowner, if you are broke because you overspend your income, government won't help you. If you are broke because you have minimal income, government will help you if you have dependent children or will at least give you food stamps and (in some states) Medicaid.
I'm a homeowner, and I can guarantee you that if I overspend my income, the government will not help me.
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