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You will never in a million years believe the subjects on youtube Caleb Hammer's Financial Audit series.
He's a young guy from Austin who gets guests to bring their full financial picture receipts/proof and give them a plan.
They don't just come to him in a complete disasterous MESS but actually try and defend why they HAVE TO eat out every night, Have a car payment for 600.00 etc. Won't take jobs that aren't their "passion" etc.
HIGHLY recommended.
Thanks. I just watched one of his consultations. They are pretty informative and entertaining. I like how he's not a jerk about things either, but still asks the questions that everyone else is thinking.
I remember something I was told my dad said while working at the food pantry. A lady pulled up in her brand new pick up to get the free groceries for her and her 4 kids. Somebody working with my dad said he wondered how she could afford that nice truck and thinks she needs to get food from the food pantry. My dad looked at them and said "that's not really any of my business what they do with their money. I figure that's between her and the Lord." The man who told me this said he really thought about it and what people spent their money on didn't bother him any more. It's none of his business...or ours.
Pretty sure David Brooks is a millionaire, though.
Personally, I don't pay that much attention, but I've noticed a lot of requests for money to pay vet bills on local social media lately because someone's "emotional support animal" got sick or injured.
I remember something I was told my dad said while working at the food pantry. A lady pulled up in her brand new pick up to get the free groceries for her and her 4 kids. Somebody working with my dad said he wondered how she could afford that nice truck and thinks she needs to get food from the food pantry. My dad looked at them and said "that's not really any of my business what they do with their money. I figure that's between her and the Lord." The man who told me this said he really thought about it and what people spent their money on didn't bother him any more. It's none of his business...or ours.
It really doesn't matter, but it's still fun to speculate and judge. We all judge in one way or another.
Broke or poor, there's one thing you guys have to remember. There's something called "survival mode". When all you can think about is how to survive one day to the next, you don't think about the future. It's too far out there. There are too many priorities right now, right in front of you. When you're wondering what to feed the kids, how to repair the car, how you're going to pay the rent or other bills, then you're in survivor mode and those are the most important things in your life, not worrying about how you're going to live 35 years down the road.
So when you see people living in a day to day mode and think they don't care about the future, or that they're stupid for not doing something about their future, them being in survival mode can be a big reason for their actions or lack of actions.
Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...isions/281780/
"As Andrew Golis points out, this might suggest something even deeper than the idea that poverty's stress interferes with our ability to make good decisions. The inescapability of poverty weighs so heavily on the author that s/he abandons long-term planning entirely, because the short-term needs are so great and the long-term gains so implausible."
And as for all those new cars - you don't know anything at all about why a person has a nice car. Maybe that was the car they had when they lost their job. Maybe that car was given to them. Maybe they decided to keep that car looking nice, because they're going to have it for a long, long time.
I remember something I was told my dad said while working at the food pantry. A lady pulled up in her brand new pick up to get the free groceries for her and her 4 kids. Somebody working with my dad said he wondered how she could afford that nice truck and thinks she needs to get food from the food pantry. My dad looked at them and said "that's not really any of my business what they do with their money. I figure that's between her and the Lord." The man who told me this said he really thought about it and what people spent their money on didn't bother him any more. It's none of his business...or ours.
It becomes our problem and concern when they start taking Government Freebies that you and I pay for. Then we get to give an opinion.
It becomes our problem and concern when they start taking Government Freebies that you and I pay for. Then we get to give an opinion.
Your individual is irrelevant even then. Folks have to look at social cost beyond the initial payment and if you can’t you are just a hindrance overall
I didn't spend money on any of those things when I was in college except for takeout, and even then, not that often. My go to place was a Jamaican jerk joint which worked out to be cheaper per calorie than McDonalds. It was a one man operation with a short menu, and that started selling out of menu items around 7pm. He'd just make a big batch of all the menu items in the morning and then keep them warm throughout the day. He'd have these double servings for $20 after tax (in late 2010s) that were two solid dinners for me (a young guy), for someone with less appetite, it would've been 3 servings (probably 2500+ calories). I didn't see many other college students get take-out there, mostly construction workers and guys in their late 20s and 30s. I always paid cash to save the guy on credit card fees, but unfortunately he went out of business during the pandemic. Even so though, I ordered from there about once a month, when I was caught up with exams or project deadlines, the rest of the meals, I made myself.
As a hippie, escaping the heat of Key West, went to Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia - for the Solar Eclipse of the Sun, July 1972 - sung about by Carly Simon..."You're So Vain"...
the 3 of us were BROKE...staying at a parents' 2 story cabin.
First thing we did when we got money was go to buy beer! Can you imagine!?
Then Dog food, food and coffee next.
Your individual is irrelevant even then. Folks have to look at social cost beyond the initial payment and if you can’t you are just a hindrance overall
I'm a college degree holder, a veteran, and a contractor. My sister is a high school dropout, GED holder, and a single mother of 2 children.
Same upbringing, same parents, same environment, same genetics, different life choices, different work ethic, different outcomes.
The world owes no one anything. It most certainly doesn't owe special treatment and handouts to those who don't and can't become productive members of society. This is the personal finance section, not the philosophy or religion section.
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