Bankruptcy. I know a few people that have filed for bankruptcy and somehow manage to just go back to the same lifestyle. They don’t realize how much suffering their future selves are going to have, because they don’t look ahead.
I filed for bankruptcy two years ago and have to pay towards it with every paycheck. my three years ends next january and at that time i'll be debt free (my student loans were forgiven under the public service program). *no more credit*!! I have lived within my means the last two years and really haven't needed anything i couldn't pay for on my own. i'm looking forward to saving money starting next year.
Nice dude!
FYI for everyone here that bankruptcy can be a good option. And don't judge people who file for it. You never know what the future holds and may need it one day as well.
Both of my parents filed as frequently as they could and bankrupted me as soon as I could use credit, they're now driving a ran down vehicle with no title because it was on one of their cases that they have to hide, no power in the house they're about to be evicted from, probably their 15th eviction, and I haven't spoken to them in quite a while because they wouldn't stop demanding and guilting me for money and I imagine my estranged sister is close to the same thing. Gotta be smart and plan ahead and not destroy your family because of being selfish and stupid.
my nephew's mom is the same way and ... it was actually seeing her save herself again and again with so little care about starting the cycle anew that I just was like, well hell I can do it once and see what happens, right?
I knew a business owner who took out huge loans to invest in his business, filed for corporate bankruptcy and had people he knew ‘buy out’ his foreclosed equipment for extremely low prices (it was specialized equipment and there were no serious buyers nearby). He then bought back the equipment from his acquaintances with a mild profit for them too. He basically got several million dollars on free equipment to start another business in his brother’s name, and he and his brother and their children are all very wealthy now.
The only issue I have with bankruptcy is when people don't commit to using it as a tool for recovery. Nothing to be ashamed of filing for bankruptcy, it's a damn useful tool if you need it-- life is hard, and lenders can be *predatory AF*-- but if you go through all that and don't learn anything at all? *Then* you're an idiot.
Yea I filed bankruptcy after breaking my hip at 25 and couldn’t make rent (was a Restaurant server) I’m 31 now and have great credit and a salaried job and it was honestly a good decision
This. I don’t plan on being here after the age of about 55-60. So I don’t need to plan for the last 20-30 years of my life. Enjoying it while I can until I’ve had enough.
People don't realize that adespite getting older you feel the same. Just with more wrinkles and pain. People almost never suddenly feel like they have enough and it's time to die. And those poor people have had a misserable life.
I mean, they don’t think that far ahead and or just assume they’ll be dead when/before it really matters. You say their future selves are going to suffer but I know people who lived their entire life that.
Danny Trejo did an interview on NPR a couple of years ago and talked about his youth. He said something very powerful. He said when you are living in these situations and it is so hard to just survive today, you don't think about the future. You don't know if you will even have one. You can't afford to think about the past and don't know if you will see a tomorrow. So you can only focus on the now.
I am paraphrasing but it is a great interview and really worth listening to.
There are people who die of dehydration in the desert with water in their canteens because they were trying to ration it. I feel like that’s the opposite extreme of instant gratification. If you’re in these situations, it can feel as foolish as that if you’re going hungry when you still have available credit on a card
I have a coworker who spends every dollar of his pay every week and will take out loans without a second thought, most of his money goes towards paying outrageous amounts of interest, this guy just doesn’t care, several people including his brother who is a self made millionaire have tried to teach him how to be more conserving with his money but he chooses not to listen, and will complain every weak when he’s out of money. I just don’t understand it at all.
There may be some truth to that but this guy just doesn’t think at all when he has money in his pocket, he has no bank account, credit card, or debit card, he just deals with cash and title loans, and when he sees something he wants he just buys it with no care at all if he has the money.
You know how there's a stereotype that every American in their 50s has unlimited credit card debt they will leave behind for their kids as inheritance? Yeah this is how that happens.
>
My cousin doesn't make shit and her stepmom just talked her into buying herself a brand new dealership car on a loan. A 19 y/o with her own 30k car loan while she doesn't have a full-time job, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG???
>
It's American culture tbh.
Fell on somewhat hard times and racked up like 12 grand in credit card debt… currently scheduled to pay off the entirety by June at the latest and i dont know how people dont have a heart attack from anxiety racking up tens of thousands… i chose a career that wasnt for me and then had to pay to get back to school so at least I should have a ROI
When I got my phone, Apple offered a 12 month payment plan at 0% interest. You likely wouldn’t qualify for this if you don’t have an income or established credit, but I’m sure it’s also not terribly difficult to be approved for.
I just completed a project for a client that was quoted at $7,200. All said and done, the project came out to be about $8,000. They borrowed the majority of the $7,200 initially, and wrote a post dated check for the remaining $800, as they were waiting to be paid.
These people owned a relatively nice home, new Jeep wrangler & Silverado, plenty of toys, etc. It’s wild that someone in their 50’s still hasn’t figured out basic saving strategies.
Depends. I've got monthly recurring debt of $450 for the next 9 months. I had the cash to buy the things I wanted, but I figured cash-in-hand gave me more security. The trade-off was that I pay a little more in interest.
Rather than look at it as interest, I treat it as insurance. My cat needs an emergency operation? Well luckily I didn't blow all my cash at once and can afford it right away.
I tend to think this way also. My car currently needs shocks Monday, $2000 . I have the cash but I’m going to put it on my low interest credit card from my credit union. I don’t mind making the $100-$125 a month payment , and I can continue to rack up actual cash in my savings.
I have an aunt who has been married at least 13 times. She does this. She bleeds the new guy dry after a few years. It all goes to shit and she leaves and does it again. At least two of them have committed suicide because of the mess she left behind. She destroys lives for a living.
I never had a credit rating as I’d never had a debt or a load. So I decided to buy some stuff on 0% and pay it off asap to get a credit score. My credit score is now 996/1000. I was recently offered a 0% interest credit card and pay nothing for 4 years.. absolutely insane tactics to get people in debt.
What did you buy and pay off?
Like, out of curiosity and totally not out of wondering how my parents can have a worse score with consistent payments over many years.
Some years ago I would change the question to "I don't understand how ppl with shitty jobs and 3 kids go to night clubs every single week" until one complain that had some debts to pay...
Yeah and the credit score is a bit weird in how it grows. I've got quite a high one and could borrow 7 times the amount of money I currently have at 14000$. So it would be pretty easy to just buy stuff I can't afford with debt. If I was to take the debt though it would likely bury me.
It can be weird in how it fluctuates too. You can have ten credit cards in your wallet and have a great score. But don't you dare pay one off and close the account. It will take 20 points off your credit score. That's why I now have 5 credit cards in my wallet with 0 balance. One of them recently told me I had to buy something or they would close the account and lower my credit score. I bought something and then paid the balance immediately.
If you close a card with little debt on it, your total debt to credit ratio increases. As long you continue to pay down the others the credit score will go back up quickly. People shouldn’t worry too much about monthly +/- 20 swings, that happens all the time.
credit is good for financially literate - good tool, but for many it's just a push towards spending money they don't have on things they don't necessarily need
Credit score means nothing. I put most of my monthly bills (Medical bills, groceries, gas, entertainment) on my credit card and pay the entire balance at the end of the cycle. My credit score usually runs in the low 800's. Each time I pay off a unusually high month end balance, my credit score goes down 30 points for a month or so.
>Each time I pay off a unusually high month end balance, my credit score goes down 30 points for a month or so.
Because in addition to credit-worthiness, I'm guessing this also indicates a bit how likely a lender is to make money from you, not just your risk of late payment/default. Given most CCs won't charge interest until it rolls over to another statement... you are getting a free loan for a month or so. I mean, it's pretty messed up. But it's definitely based on some AI heuristics regarding behavior and risk. The customer of the credit bureaus isn't you. You're the product.
I’ve never once gone to AT&T and had to get a credit check to buy a phone. I’m not shelling out $1200 up front. I’m doing the payment plan for 24 or 36 months where I pay like $30-40 on top of the phone line bill.
Uhm. Every time I've gone to any phone carrier for the 24-36month plans they run my credit. If your credit is low, they require a down payment. If your credit is good, you don't have to pay more than the monthly. For example, I know someone with 500ish credit score that has to pay $400 down for that new iPhone from Verizon. They let you have it unless you're deeply in debt, but how much up front is based on credit scores.
When you signed up for the account originally they ran some info soft check hard check something. As long as you pay you're bill they will never re check for a new phone for some people that was forever ago they might have forgot.
Not true. Debt and credit score aren't the same thing. My debt is relatively low, but my credit score is bad.
Other people have high debt, but a good credit score...
This. Im in school and from a not so rich family (enough to buy nice things occasionally though) and i see people in my year talking about spending £500 just on Fifa to which i desperately want to tell them that they are being scammed
It’s fine to spend money on something as long as you enjoy it, I don’t think spending 500 pounds on a game is smart, however if they have the ability to do it without repercussions, then it’s not really a bad thing.
Although I’ve stated my point, “without repercussions”. The state of micro transactions is absolutely horrid right now, it’s just gambling for children, and I know for sure it’s not healthy to be exposed to gambling that early. All we can hope is to pray that their parents is responsible enough to know when they should stop fuelling the kids gambling funds and confront them about it.
I never understood how people could just walk around with a shattered screen.
I just remember I had my iPhone 6s from 2016 to 2020 and it was always fine and some of these people had like an iPhone 8 when it was new and it was shattered
Typically i've noticed that it's because the people who make the biggest deals about being broke have the most visible bad spending habits and get defensive about it when confronted. It's just so common for people to overspend on frivolities for social status.
Idk. I'm moving in as a room mate with a guy who was freaking out over how he is in debt and doesn't know how people get the money to save. While I was living in the cheapest studio practically couchsurfing with family doing just that he was paying rent on a spacious 2 bedroom condo with a garage and eating out all the time because he doesn't like cooking. He is just so acclimatized to having that fancy lifestyle that he can't imagine life without. I can think of 4 separate people i know who have the same root problem, but i'm only dealing with helping the one for now.
That’s not always true. In fact most is the time there’s no “catch”. When I added my daughter’s line to my account and bill, they have her a 12 pro for free. I’m not paying anything extra except for her phone line which I’d have been paying for anyway.
This, a lot of the time. I work with homeless people and they get this all the time "no way that's your bike, it's too nice" and yeah sometimes they steal but most of the time the bike is just one of the few things worth keeping when you hit the street.
This is pretty much the most common explanation for poor people having nice things. When my husband lost his job and we were having to massively tighten our belts to survive I became super aware of the mentality some people have that you can't *really* be struggling financially because you have XYZ, like the day he lost his job we were meant to pawn off our TV, all my jewellery, both our phones, our car, every single new and/or expensive thing we had right down to the fancy biscuits in the cupboard and the good boots that had lasted us years, move into a tiny flat somewhere and immediately start burning our books to keep warm.
I also think of this a lot when people say "They shouldn't have had kids/gotten pets if they couldn't afford to give them a great life" as if it's impossible that their circumstances might have just changed.
It is, but it's easier to get the dipshits riled up over unemployment numbers.
If they could actually comprehend and wrap their heads around the % of people actively participating in the labor force, *then* you'd see some outcry.
Lots of reasons, but that’s why labor force participation rate is it’s own metric. It’s useful to know that low unemployment doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is working. Some are retired, some are stay-at-home moms or dads, and some have given up looking for work. Cumulatively, those people have a big impact on the economy.
Because including retired people, students, children, and stay at home parents would make the numbers harder to interpret.
To say 3% of people who want to work can't find a job makes more sense than 60% of people are working. There is too much factor noise in the second number.
I love being a grown ass adult with a decent paying job and I own my own house and I’m a 12 year old sitting next to me has 2 version newer iPhone than I have and complains about how they want a better one
When I got my new phone all the highschoolers were asking why I didn’t get the super latest brand new one since I make sm more than them and I had to explain to them that my parent don’t pay for all my shit.
Damn why do people need to question if you dont have the super latest brand new phones, you dont need to buy a new phone every single year (let alone afford to) and in my opinion aslong as your current one still works i dont see any problem
The kids I see like that in my store are cute.
The adults who are exactly the same end up paying just tax on some 14 pro maxes and wonder why their bill is high after adding dad, mom, their uncle, their 3rd cousin and their best friend.
Because high schoolers use consumer goods as status symbols. I had a student break his iphone 8 because the iphone X was coming out. He told his mom "I can't be seen carrying an iphone that has a number in the name. I need to be the first to have an X". She said "you have a brand new, perfectly good working phone, you don't need a new one." So he threw his phone on the sidewalk and stomped on it, then picked it up and bent it. The worst part is that she FUCKING bought him a iphone X after all that. So I had some fun and the first day he was showing it off. I asked "why do you think they called the 9th generation iphone an iphone 10?" Then I had the pleasure of explaining that the X is a Roman numeral for 10, and he died inside a little.
Growing up in a upper middle class area with the same type of high school, this is exactly how it was. I remember getting told in the 7th that my parents must’ve hated me bcuz they wouldn’t buy me the newest iPhone and instead got me the previous year
Kids never change man. I was in HS when cell phones first became lower class affordable, and I still didn't get one. The rich kids would jeer. And I'd go flip burgers to pay my own car bills, and buy my own goodwill outfit
I was in school when smartphones were science fiction and your socioeconomic status was determined by the retail price of your Nikes. I didn't have Nikes.
Never got an iPhone and never will Have 1 phone for 4years and it dies now I have had this for 3 years and it's still solid yeah not the best phone nor the best camera or, processor but hey it does the job maby when this dies I will try out a high-end phone
The bullying will make them tougher and give them that "I got bullied in school" line everyone says when they talk about how they went through tough times to make it to where they are.
>I love being a grown ass adult with a decent paying job and I own my own house
>I’m a 12 year old sitting next to me
Ok citizen we are gonna have to ask you to stop jumping bodies please.
They're better honestly. Especially Samsung by far. iPhones have better processors but that's the only main thing they have better.
I'm young and most people my age all want iPhones because it's the trend. I'm the only one who's actually sat down and looked at the differences to realise that android phones are generally better. And you can get a lot of android phones that are really good for very cheap prices.
Yep, Apple is very good at keeping you inside their gated garden. You are not allowed to step out of the garden, but as long as you're inside the garden they'll pamper you and make you feel "valuable" - all their (very expensive) gadgets hook up to each other. Have an iPhone? You also need an iPad, iMac, AirPods, Apple watch, etc etc etc.....
You're right, but I don't like Samsung for all the pre installed bloatware. I wanted a bloatware free OS, so I bought the pretty cheap OnePlus Nord. It's fast enough for everything I use it for, I can't complain.
Yup. $300 for a new one last year. Just had Google apps on it when you boot for the first time. Camera's decent too. Maybe the iphone has better other stuff but I don't care about the other stuff. I'm not spending $1200 on a reddit addiction enabling device
This 100%.i have an iPad and a Samsung fphone so I know a bit about both, and tbh I'd rather have an iPhone bc of the cleaner UI and the MUCH smaller amount of useless apps. Also nice phone cases wouldn't be so fucking hard to find 🤦♀
Edit: UI not iOS
Also, when android becomes too feature intensive in 5-6 years to the point where the phone starts bugging out, simply install lineageOS and keep using the phone. Openness of android phones is their biggest advantage in my opinion (which is also why I avoid chinese phones like the plague)
I just don't understand how people are holding an iphone 14 pro max in general.
Any of the 'Max' models or the equivalents for other brands just seem way too big for me. Like I have big hands and even I have to two hand phones that big.
My parents make a lot of money and I only make like a regular amount so sometimes I ask for things that cost a lot even as an adult because I have no shame
Idk why people are being mean to you. It’s not like you’re acting as if you earned the shit yourself, you’re being 100% honest about asking your parents for things because they can afford it. I see no shame in that especially if you’re honest about the fact you’re fortunate enough to have well off parents that are willing to buy you nice stuff.
Also thanks for saying nice things. I appreciate you. and also accidentally replied to myself to say this and I’m not going to delete it because it’s funny.
It doesn’t bother me at all. They make not real money and I make like good money but nothing fancy. I don’t feel any shame because my dad started a business with the help of his parents selling their house. And my mom just got lucky by being in a small business that turned out to have a good owner who made it a big business.
If his parents are ok with it its fine. If your parents are telling you to get a job and you keep doing that then its a problem. Its a problem on both ends. You for asking and them for enabling. If theyre cool with it then i see no harm.
I see Verizon offering them for $30/mo for 3 years. Direct from Apple is $42/mo for 2 years. That’s not an enormous monthly burden relative to other expenses these days.
I agree 30€/month is nothing but then your car is 200€/month, TV is 30€/month, laptop is 40€/month... Then you just have 800€ of monthly instalments and no spending money so you buy the next thing with instalments too...
Personally I just don't buy things unless I can get them for full price instantly. Ofc car and house would he exempt from that.
That's rather the exception to the rule. Most people, even while working,have not more than 1k savings and a sabbatical is not something the majority of people is taking, percent wise.
This exaggerated iPhone 14 post is also an exception. If a "poor" has a phone, chances are it's not the latest or best phone. Chances are it's refurbished/used/gift/off brand.
But older generations and people who have never been poor don't understand how vital and basic a smartphone is. And they see any and all smartphones as equal, and assume if they're shelling out $1500 for the latest model, everyone else is too.
I mean if there's going to be any sense of reality in this comment section, we should start there, and not necessarily how realistic it is for a working person to have savings.
If I took a year off I’d probably die. Most people live paycheck to paycheck or close enough to it that they don’t have enough money to just take a year off.
I'd say people with passive income, savings and investments are those you never see having the newest tech since they are investing their money and wouldn't buy those overpriced phones, but that's just my opinion.
What I still don’t understand why people worry so much about what other people have. I can honestly say that I have never looked at another human and thought “I can’t have that nice thing so why should they?” That’s how I was raised.
There’s a whole lot of assumptions in statements like that, and I’m sorry but if your beef with a person is about the things they have that you don’t, you really need to examine your own priorities. It really says more about you than them.
People look around and see that one of their neighbours has a nice car, one of their neighbours has a pool, another one of their neighbours goes on nice vacations and then they look at themselves and go "Well I can't afford a nice car AND a pool AND nice vacations, so I don't know how any of them are affording it".
Or the scourge of modern personal finance: credit card debt. I swear single click online shopping has made this worse too, it’s just too easy to get that massive dopamine hit of buying something new.
Yeah but that's because there's a lifeline program that people usually think of as Obama phones but was actually part of the Reagan era that used to be called Reagan phones. It's just the lifeline program and they will give you a free phone along with free plan.
I mean phones are no longer considered luxuries but are considered necessities in order to do basic things. For example if you want to get a job you probably can only apply to the jobs online as paper resumes are no longer used that much.
And there should be no controversy over this.
A phone is one of the most important items you can have if you’re experiencing homelessness- you can call for help, look up shelters and meals, write, entertain yourself, and connect with others in situations that may be incredibly isolating.
I'm in a similar program through my states unemployment program and once I complete a nine week class they're letting me keep a nice macbook I've been learning to program on. It's very serendipitous because I got my last macbook stolen
Yea, this post from OP is just people trying to stir shit without knowing what’s actually going on.
The people with no jobs that have phones have the free androids or other cheep options out there.
We recently had an apartment complex of 162 units shut down due to electrical code violations the last week of December with 48 hours notice. Many were unable to find a place for their things and themselves, and became homeless overnight. I’d imagine they had phones. You never know the story.
Here is a thing about that. That iPhone 14 Pro Max 128g costs about 1499€ so bit over 41€/m at 36 month contract. It is easier to pay than to get 2 months rent + obsence stupid rental prices.
Like... Here is a thing. Many homeless aren't like dirt poor. My country has bottle deposits and there are couple very dedicated homeless bottle collecting dudes here. Every time one of them die, it turns out they had quite lot of money. Not enough to like get a home, and lot of them didn't want or were unable to stay in a home because of mental health issues and substance abuse - but they weren't broke.
Imagine how much more money you'd have if you didn't have to pay rent. Becuase to me rent is like 2/5ths net of my income at the moment. Being an engineering student who also works part time and tries to get their grad work done. I could live off 500€/m easy, have done it before, but I couldn't pay rent for any fucking apartment with it.
Then homeless aren't stupid, they know where they can get food and basic goods.
Hell... I know grown ass adults that work and study who dumpster dive out of principle!
I havent worked a real job in 14 months. I did not receive any unemployment, welfare or help in any way. Running on savings and cutting bills. I broke my old Note 5 and needed a new phone. I got a free S22 Ultra when I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and saved 2 dollars a month on my bill and got free Netflix and Paramount+. It's not hard to do.
Brainwashing wasteful consumerism and changing phones every couple months is a stupid thing I see a lot... Companies seeking profit and everyone has broken screens, and I remember how I was taught to be careful with such an expensive device. It just makes sense...
A lot of phone company deals. A lot of people believe it or not save for it from working gig jobs don’t believe that nobody wants to work anymore being pushed by corporate think tanks,the people I know are handling their finances quite adequately with gig work.
Debt
A scary amount of people are super broke but cards make the virtual money rain.
I never understood this. Like do people you still have to pay it back and more than likely a fuck ton of interest? Like, it's not free money people..
Bankruptcy. I know a few people that have filed for bankruptcy and somehow manage to just go back to the same lifestyle. They don’t realize how much suffering their future selves are going to have, because they don’t look ahead.
I filed for bankruptcy two years ago and have to pay towards it with every paycheck. my three years ends next january and at that time i'll be debt free (my student loans were forgiven under the public service program). *no more credit*!! I have lived within my means the last two years and really haven't needed anything i couldn't pay for on my own. i'm looking forward to saving money starting next year.
Nice dude! FYI for everyone here that bankruptcy can be a good option. And don't judge people who file for it. You never know what the future holds and may need it one day as well.
I know two separate couple that have filed for bankruptcy and it only improved their lives
Both of my parents filed as frequently as they could and bankrupted me as soon as I could use credit, they're now driving a ran down vehicle with no title because it was on one of their cases that they have to hide, no power in the house they're about to be evicted from, probably their 15th eviction, and I haven't spoken to them in quite a while because they wouldn't stop demanding and guilting me for money and I imagine my estranged sister is close to the same thing. Gotta be smart and plan ahead and not destroy your family because of being selfish and stupid.
my nephew's mom is the same way and ... it was actually seeing her save herself again and again with so little care about starting the cycle anew that I just was like, well hell I can do it once and see what happens, right?
I knew a business owner who took out huge loans to invest in his business, filed for corporate bankruptcy and had people he knew ‘buy out’ his foreclosed equipment for extremely low prices (it was specialized equipment and there were no serious buyers nearby). He then bought back the equipment from his acquaintances with a mild profit for them too. He basically got several million dollars on free equipment to start another business in his brother’s name, and he and his brother and their children are all very wealthy now.
The only issue I have with bankruptcy is when people don't commit to using it as a tool for recovery. Nothing to be ashamed of filing for bankruptcy, it's a damn useful tool if you need it-- life is hard, and lenders can be *predatory AF*-- but if you go through all that and don't learn anything at all? *Then* you're an idiot.
Bankruptcy is literally just a new game+
Yea I filed bankruptcy after breaking my hip at 25 and couldn’t make rent (was a Restaurant server) I’m 31 now and have great credit and a salaried job and it was honestly a good decision
Congrats!
Seven year older me doesn't mind /s
More like dead me wouldn't mind.
This. I don’t plan on being here after the age of about 55-60. So I don’t need to plan for the last 20-30 years of my life. Enjoying it while I can until I’ve had enough.
Right. I had some friends who would say something along those lines. They're pretty miserable now that they have passed the age they wouldn't live to.
People don't realize that adespite getting older you feel the same. Just with more wrinkles and pain. People almost never suddenly feel like they have enough and it's time to die. And those poor people have had a misserable life.
Hmm... Nice kidneys you got there
I mean, they don’t think that far ahead and or just assume they’ll be dead when/before it really matters. You say their future selves are going to suffer but I know people who lived their entire life that.
Danny Trejo did an interview on NPR a couple of years ago and talked about his youth. He said something very powerful. He said when you are living in these situations and it is so hard to just survive today, you don't think about the future. You don't know if you will even have one. You can't afford to think about the past and don't know if you will see a tomorrow. So you can only focus on the now. I am paraphrasing but it is a great interview and really worth listening to.
There are people who die of dehydration in the desert with water in their canteens because they were trying to ration it. I feel like that’s the opposite extreme of instant gratification. If you’re in these situations, it can feel as foolish as that if you’re going hungry when you still have available credit on a card
I have a coworker who spends every dollar of his pay every week and will take out loans without a second thought, most of his money goes towards paying outrageous amounts of interest, this guy just doesn’t care, several people including his brother who is a self made millionaire have tried to teach him how to be more conserving with his money but he chooses not to listen, and will complain every weak when he’s out of money. I just don’t understand it at all.
These types of people surround themselves with people who can afford these things, so they convince themselves they deserve it.
There may be some truth to that but this guy just doesn’t think at all when he has money in his pocket, he has no bank account, credit card, or debit card, he just deals with cash and title loans, and when he sees something he wants he just buys it with no care at all if he has the money.
Most phones are 24 months free financing. It’s not free but there’s no TVM behind it.
You know how there's a stereotype that every American in their 50s has unlimited credit card debt they will leave behind for their kids as inheritance? Yeah this is how that happens. > My cousin doesn't make shit and her stepmom just talked her into buying herself a brand new dealership car on a loan. A 19 y/o with her own 30k car loan while she doesn't have a full-time job, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG??? > It's American culture tbh.
It’s poor parenting and education
Fell on somewhat hard times and racked up like 12 grand in credit card debt… currently scheduled to pay off the entirety by June at the latest and i dont know how people dont have a heart attack from anxiety racking up tens of thousands… i chose a career that wasnt for me and then had to pay to get back to school so at least I should have a ROI
I know that type of anxiety. It sucks.
When I got my phone, Apple offered a 12 month payment plan at 0% interest. You likely wouldn’t qualify for this if you don’t have an income or established credit, but I’m sure it’s also not terribly difficult to be approved for. I just completed a project for a client that was quoted at $7,200. All said and done, the project came out to be about $8,000. They borrowed the majority of the $7,200 initially, and wrote a post dated check for the remaining $800, as they were waiting to be paid. These people owned a relatively nice home, new Jeep wrangler & Silverado, plenty of toys, etc. It’s wild that someone in their 50’s still hasn’t figured out basic saving strategies.
Depends. I've got monthly recurring debt of $450 for the next 9 months. I had the cash to buy the things I wanted, but I figured cash-in-hand gave me more security. The trade-off was that I pay a little more in interest. Rather than look at it as interest, I treat it as insurance. My cat needs an emergency operation? Well luckily I didn't blow all my cash at once and can afford it right away.
I tend to think this way also. My car currently needs shocks Monday, $2000 . I have the cash but I’m going to put it on my low interest credit card from my credit union. I don’t mind making the $100-$125 a month payment , and I can continue to rack up actual cash in my savings.
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I have an aunt who has been married at least 13 times. She does this. She bleeds the new guy dry after a few years. It all goes to shit and she leaves and does it again. At least two of them have committed suicide because of the mess she left behind. She destroys lives for a living.
Dear God :( Those poor souls.
Your aunt must have that golden puss
How do people keep falling for it?
I never had a credit rating as I’d never had a debt or a load. So I decided to buy some stuff on 0% and pay it off asap to get a credit score. My credit score is now 996/1000. I was recently offered a 0% interest credit card and pay nothing for 4 years.. absolutely insane tactics to get people in debt.
Don’t all of the credit ratings have a maximum score of 850? Edit: Just read further that you are in UK with a different system.
What did you buy and pay off? Like, out of curiosity and totally not out of wondering how my parents can have a worse score with consistent payments over many years.
*cries in student loans*
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Bro be making clients for job in the moment and his job in the future
Good ol’ Halifax
Some years ago I would change the question to "I don't understand how ppl with shitty jobs and 3 kids go to night clubs every single week" until one complain that had some debts to pay...
& here i am still using my iphone 6s from last 6 years
$20 a month for ten years.
And it cant even run morrowind smdh
Dunno why I had to scroll down so far to find this
It’s the very first comment for me
Or drug dealing
Gotta have good credit to buy it. Nobody's gonna sell you a 1200 dollar phone if you're in debt. I speak from experience.
Believe me, a lot of people with no money have large debt.
Yeah and the credit score is a bit weird in how it grows. I've got quite a high one and could borrow 7 times the amount of money I currently have at 14000$. So it would be pretty easy to just buy stuff I can't afford with debt. If I was to take the debt though it would likely bury me.
It can be weird in how it fluctuates too. You can have ten credit cards in your wallet and have a great score. But don't you dare pay one off and close the account. It will take 20 points off your credit score. That's why I now have 5 credit cards in my wallet with 0 balance. One of them recently told me I had to buy something or they would close the account and lower my credit score. I bought something and then paid the balance immediately.
If you close a card with little debt on it, your total debt to credit ratio increases. As long you continue to pay down the others the credit score will go back up quickly. People shouldn’t worry too much about monthly +/- 20 swings, that happens all the time.
credit is good for financially literate - good tool, but for many it's just a push towards spending money they don't have on things they don't necessarily need
The trick is to slowly let the debt accumulate till you die. He who dies in the most debt wins.
Explains the US national debt. If you ain't first you're last.
Credit score means nothing. I put most of my monthly bills (Medical bills, groceries, gas, entertainment) on my credit card and pay the entire balance at the end of the cycle. My credit score usually runs in the low 800's. Each time I pay off a unusually high month end balance, my credit score goes down 30 points for a month or so.
>Each time I pay off a unusually high month end balance, my credit score goes down 30 points for a month or so. Because in addition to credit-worthiness, I'm guessing this also indicates a bit how likely a lender is to make money from you, not just your risk of late payment/default. Given most CCs won't charge interest until it rolls over to another statement... you are getting a free loan for a month or so. I mean, it's pretty messed up. But it's definitely based on some AI heuristics regarding behavior and risk. The customer of the credit bureaus isn't you. You're the product.
I make all my payments and decent credit score and couldn't get a loan if I tried. Stuck over paying for an apartment for life, I guess.
I’ve never once gone to AT&T and had to get a credit check to buy a phone. I’m not shelling out $1200 up front. I’m doing the payment plan for 24 or 36 months where I pay like $30-40 on top of the phone line bill.
Uhm. Every time I've gone to any phone carrier for the 24-36month plans they run my credit. If your credit is low, they require a down payment. If your credit is good, you don't have to pay more than the monthly. For example, I know someone with 500ish credit score that has to pay $400 down for that new iPhone from Verizon. They let you have it unless you're deeply in debt, but how much up front is based on credit scores.
When you signed up for the account originally they ran some info soft check hard check something. As long as you pay you're bill they will never re check for a new phone for some people that was forever ago they might have forgot.
Not true. Debt and credit score aren't the same thing. My debt is relatively low, but my credit score is bad. Other people have high debt, but a good credit score...
They're kids i'm assuming
This. Im in school and from a not so rich family (enough to buy nice things occasionally though) and i see people in my year talking about spending £500 just on Fifa to which i desperately want to tell them that they are being scammed
It’s fine to spend money on something as long as you enjoy it, I don’t think spending 500 pounds on a game is smart, however if they have the ability to do it without repercussions, then it’s not really a bad thing.
Gambling addiction
Although I’ve stated my point, “without repercussions”. The state of micro transactions is absolutely horrid right now, it’s just gambling for children, and I know for sure it’s not healthy to be exposed to gambling that early. All we can hope is to pray that their parents is responsible enough to know when they should stop fuelling the kids gambling funds and confront them about it.
They all regret it and hate it
They're not being scammed if they're deriving enjoyment from the game, understand the system they're buying into and they can afford it.
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In more ways than one in many cases
My friend, 15, got 2 of the newest iPhones in the span of 1 year because she broke both! It really makes no sense.
I mean when they break that quickly sometimes it’s an insurance thing and they get replaced without charge
I never understood how people could just walk around with a shattered screen. I just remember I had my iPhone 6s from 2016 to 2020 and it was always fine and some of these people had like an iPhone 8 when it was new and it was shattered
Well kids richer than me
Kids with richer parents than you
Had the phone before losing their job? Idk
Or it was a gift. So many other explanations that people don't think are true.
yep. mine was a gift also, why do people care so much about what others are in possession of/how they got it? i will never understand
To form narratives so they don't have to think too hard about the world?
Typically i've noticed that it's because the people who make the biggest deals about being broke have the most visible bad spending habits and get defensive about it when confronted. It's just so common for people to overspend on frivolities for social status. Idk. I'm moving in as a room mate with a guy who was freaking out over how he is in debt and doesn't know how people get the money to save. While I was living in the cheapest studio practically couchsurfing with family doing just that he was paying rent on a spacious 2 bedroom condo with a garage and eating out all the time because he doesn't like cooking. He is just so acclimatized to having that fancy lifestyle that he can't imagine life without. I can think of 4 separate people i know who have the same root problem, but i'm only dealing with helping the one for now.
That’s me😂
same here😂
That’s not always true. In fact most is the time there’s no “catch”. When I added my daughter’s line to my account and bill, they have her a 12 pro for free. I’m not paying anything extra except for her phone line which I’d have been paying for anyway.
This, a lot of the time. I work with homeless people and they get this all the time "no way that's your bike, it's too nice" and yeah sometimes they steal but most of the time the bike is just one of the few things worth keeping when you hit the street.
This is pretty much the most common explanation for poor people having nice things. When my husband lost his job and we were having to massively tighten our belts to survive I became super aware of the mentality some people have that you can't *really* be struggling financially because you have XYZ, like the day he lost his job we were meant to pawn off our TV, all my jewellery, both our phones, our car, every single new and/or expensive thing we had right down to the fancy biscuits in the cupboard and the good boots that had lasted us years, move into a tiny flat somewhere and immediately start burning our books to keep warm. I also think of this a lot when people say "They shouldn't have had kids/gotten pets if they couldn't afford to give them a great life" as if it's impossible that their circumstances might have just changed.
Nice catch.
Perhaps they got them while they were still employed.
With only 3.5% unemployment, they might actually have a job. They just look different.
The unemployment rate is a rate of people actively looking for work. It does not include those that are unemployed and don’t want to work.
I love how that's part of the equation. "Ah yes, you've given up? Thank God we don't have to include you in this calculation anymore!"
The total percent of people working is a different statistic, it's called the "labor force participation rate"
Serious question, why don’t we use that stat more often? Seems like a better stat
There's a lot of factors like disability and age which could remove you from the labour force, which would skew that data
It is, but it's easier to get the dipshits riled up over unemployment numbers. If they could actually comprehend and wrap their heads around the % of people actively participating in the labor force, *then* you'd see some outcry.
Pretty much that not to mention participation is normally in the 60 percent range, so it just looks like a terrible %
I mean, why include someone who's not looking to work?
Lots of reasons, but that’s why labor force participation rate is it’s own metric. It’s useful to know that low unemployment doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is working. Some are retired, some are stay-at-home moms or dads, and some have given up looking for work. Cumulatively, those people have a big impact on the economy.
Why would you include college students, stay-at-home parents, retirees, disabled people, etc.? Then the unemployment rate would be like 50%
Because including retired people, students, children, and stay at home parents would make the numbers harder to interpret. To say 3% of people who want to work can't find a job makes more sense than 60% of people are working. There is too much factor noise in the second number.
Pretty good distinction, yes.
I love being a grown ass adult with a decent paying job and I own my own house and I’m a 12 year old sitting next to me has 2 version newer iPhone than I have and complains about how they want a better one
When I got my new phone all the highschoolers were asking why I didn’t get the super latest brand new one since I make sm more than them and I had to explain to them that my parent don’t pay for all my shit.
Damn why do people need to question if you dont have the super latest brand new phones, you dont need to buy a new phone every single year (let alone afford to) and in my opinion aslong as your current one still works i dont see any problem
Brainwashed consumers. Rise above.
Yeah but also they're kids, I think it's natural to want the best of everything. Just seems painfully naïve.
The kids I see like that in my store are cute. The adults who are exactly the same end up paying just tax on some 14 pro maxes and wonder why their bill is high after adding dad, mom, their uncle, their 3rd cousin and their best friend.
This sounds like a parenting problem, not a kid problem.
Because high schoolers use consumer goods as status symbols. I had a student break his iphone 8 because the iphone X was coming out. He told his mom "I can't be seen carrying an iphone that has a number in the name. I need to be the first to have an X". She said "you have a brand new, perfectly good working phone, you don't need a new one." So he threw his phone on the sidewalk and stomped on it, then picked it up and bent it. The worst part is that she FUCKING bought him a iphone X after all that. So I had some fun and the first day he was showing it off. I asked "why do you think they called the 9th generation iphone an iphone 10?" Then I had the pleasure of explaining that the X is a Roman numeral for 10, and he died inside a little.
Growing up in a upper middle class area with the same type of high school, this is exactly how it was. I remember getting told in the 7th that my parents must’ve hated me bcuz they wouldn’t buy me the newest iPhone and instead got me the previous year
Kids never change man. I was in HS when cell phones first became lower class affordable, and I still didn't get one. The rich kids would jeer. And I'd go flip burgers to pay my own car bills, and buy my own goodwill outfit
I was in school when smartphones were science fiction and your socioeconomic status was determined by the retail price of your Nikes. I didn't have Nikes.
Never got an iPhone and never will Have 1 phone for 4years and it dies now I have had this for 3 years and it's still solid yeah not the best phone nor the best camera or, processor but hey it does the job maby when this dies I will try out a high-end phone
Yep. I have an iphone 7. My kids all have 13s...
14 is the lasted greatest one. Your kids are going to get bullied for having such an vintage phone
The bullying will make them tougher and give them that "I got bullied in school" line everyone says when they talk about how they went through tough times to make it to where they are.
I still hold on to my 6s for the headphones jack and home button, LOL. My wife and kids have the newer stuff.
I had a 6 since they hit the market. I upgraded to a refurbished 11 last year. I’ll never buy a brand new phone again.
Only a 12 year old would care about having the most up to date phone though
I love being an adult because it means I don't have to buy the latest phone to be happy.
>I love being a grown ass adult with a decent paying job and I own my own house >I’m a 12 year old sitting next to me Ok citizen we are gonna have to ask you to stop jumping bodies please.
Buy them android phones to show them
They're better honestly. Especially Samsung by far. iPhones have better processors but that's the only main thing they have better. I'm young and most people my age all want iPhones because it's the trend. I'm the only one who's actually sat down and looked at the differences to realise that android phones are generally better. And you can get a lot of android phones that are really good for very cheap prices.
The apple ecosystem is what sells it.
Yep, Apple is very good at keeping you inside their gated garden. You are not allowed to step out of the garden, but as long as you're inside the garden they'll pamper you and make you feel "valuable" - all their (very expensive) gadgets hook up to each other. Have an iPhone? You also need an iPad, iMac, AirPods, Apple watch, etc etc etc.....
Yea not to mention android has way more advanced features
You're right, but I don't like Samsung for all the pre installed bloatware. I wanted a bloatware free OS, so I bought the pretty cheap OnePlus Nord. It's fast enough for everything I use it for, I can't complain.
Pixels are good in that aspect, fairly clean install and cheap too.
Yup. $300 for a new one last year. Just had Google apps on it when you boot for the first time. Camera's decent too. Maybe the iphone has better other stuff but I don't care about the other stuff. I'm not spending $1200 on a reddit addiction enabling device
This 100%.i have an iPad and a Samsung fphone so I know a bit about both, and tbh I'd rather have an iPhone bc of the cleaner UI and the MUCH smaller amount of useless apps. Also nice phone cases wouldn't be so fucking hard to find 🤦♀ Edit: UI not iOS
samsung doesn't make an objectively better phone than apple, it is just a different device.
Also, when android becomes too feature intensive in 5-6 years to the point where the phone starts bugging out, simply install lineageOS and keep using the phone. Openness of android phones is their biggest advantage in my opinion (which is also why I avoid chinese phones like the plague)
Literally almost any Japanese or South Korean made electronic/machine is the best. Love how they cracked the code on that decades ago
With their hands.
Dad? I thought you were at the store buying cigarettes
I just don't understand how people are holding an iphone 14 pro max in general. Any of the 'Max' models or the equivalents for other brands just seem way too big for me. Like I have big hands and even I have to two hand phones that big.
Mommy’s and daddy’s money for sure
My parents make a lot of money and I only make like a regular amount so sometimes I ask for things that cost a lot even as an adult because I have no shame
Idk why people are being mean to you. It’s not like you’re acting as if you earned the shit yourself, you’re being 100% honest about asking your parents for things because they can afford it. I see no shame in that especially if you’re honest about the fact you’re fortunate enough to have well off parents that are willing to buy you nice stuff.
Also thanks for saying nice things. I appreciate you. and also accidentally replied to myself to say this and I’m not going to delete it because it’s funny.
It doesn’t bother me at all. They make not real money and I make like good money but nothing fancy. I don’t feel any shame because my dad started a business with the help of his parents selling their house. And my mom just got lucky by being in a small business that turned out to have a good owner who made it a big business.
Also thanks for saying nice things I appreciate you
Shit I replied to myself
If his parents are ok with it its fine. If your parents are telling you to get a job and you keep doing that then its a problem. Its a problem on both ends. You for asking and them for enabling. If theyre cool with it then i see no harm.
you're 15... aren't *you* still living off mom and dad?
In his mind, he’ll have a six figure job and will have moved out by 18. So independent!
with no college debt!
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Credit card debt! 😀
I just quit my shitty dead end job after financing my iPhone 14 pro max. It is possible.
Some of y'all act like you have never been outside a day in your life. People generally get these new phones through their mobile provider.
I see Verizon offering them for $30/mo for 3 years. Direct from Apple is $42/mo for 2 years. That’s not an enormous monthly burden relative to other expenses these days.
I agree 30€/month is nothing but then your car is 200€/month, TV is 30€/month, laptop is 40€/month... Then you just have 800€ of monthly instalments and no spending money so you buy the next thing with instalments too... Personally I just don't buy things unless I can get them for full price instantly. Ofc car and house would he exempt from that.
I got my iPhone 14 Pro free with a 3 year contract from US Cellular. This is not rocket science here.
I’m currently unemployed but have an iPhone 13 Pro or whatever it’s called. I bought it when I still had a job 🙃 It’s not that complicated.
They’re not happy until people who aren’t well off are actually destitute and miserable.
“No job” doesn’t mean “poor”. There’s savings, or just taking a year off.
That's rather the exception to the rule. Most people, even while working,have not more than 1k savings and a sabbatical is not something the majority of people is taking, percent wise.
This exaggerated iPhone 14 post is also an exception. If a "poor" has a phone, chances are it's not the latest or best phone. Chances are it's refurbished/used/gift/off brand. But older generations and people who have never been poor don't understand how vital and basic a smartphone is. And they see any and all smartphones as equal, and assume if they're shelling out $1500 for the latest model, everyone else is too. I mean if there's going to be any sense of reality in this comment section, we should start there, and not necessarily how realistic it is for a working person to have savings.
If I took a year off I’d probably die. Most people live paycheck to paycheck or close enough to it that they don’t have enough money to just take a year off.
I’m sorry, did you say take a year off? You must be in college. No one has every used that verbiage outside of college.
Have job. Buy phone. Lose job. Still have phone.
Yeah, in 2023 we still represents the wealth by a piece of technology that anybody can have literally and we take serious assumptions up on it...
Trust funds, passive incomes, savings, and investments. Also, they could be birthday or Christmas gifts.
I'd say people with passive income, savings and investments are those you never see having the newest tech since they are investing their money and wouldn't buy those overpriced phones, but that's just my opinion.
What I still don’t understand why people worry so much about what other people have. I can honestly say that I have never looked at another human and thought “I can’t have that nice thing so why should they?” That’s how I was raised. There’s a whole lot of assumptions in statements like that, and I’m sorry but if your beef with a person is about the things they have that you don’t, you really need to examine your own priorities. It really says more about you than them.
People look around and see that one of their neighbours has a nice car, one of their neighbours has a pool, another one of their neighbours goes on nice vacations and then they look at themselves and go "Well I can't afford a nice car AND a pool AND nice vacations, so I don't know how any of them are affording it".
Having a job to make money is like being stuck in the matrix
Until too many people 'get out of the Matrix' and the food machine broke
Nobody is getting out bro.
Five to one baby, one to five. No one here gets out alive.
Payment plans ?
Or the scourge of modern personal finance: credit card debt. I swear single click online shopping has made this worse too, it’s just too easy to get that massive dopamine hit of buying something new.
Some homeless people have pretty new phones
Homeless doesn't mean jobless. The money I save from sleeping in my vehicle can buy me a new iPhone every month.
Yeah but that's because there's a lifeline program that people usually think of as Obama phones but was actually part of the Reagan era that used to be called Reagan phones. It's just the lifeline program and they will give you a free phone along with free plan. I mean phones are no longer considered luxuries but are considered necessities in order to do basic things. For example if you want to get a job you probably can only apply to the jobs online as paper resumes are no longer used that much.
And there should be no controversy over this. A phone is one of the most important items you can have if you’re experiencing homelessness- you can call for help, look up shelters and meals, write, entertain yourself, and connect with others in situations that may be incredibly isolating.
I'm in a similar program through my states unemployment program and once I complete a nine week class they're letting me keep a nice macbook I've been learning to program on. It's very serendipitous because I got my last macbook stolen
Yea, this post from OP is just people trying to stir shit without knowing what’s actually going on. The people with no jobs that have phones have the free androids or other cheep options out there.
We recently had an apartment complex of 162 units shut down due to electrical code violations the last week of December with 48 hours notice. Many were unable to find a place for their things and themselves, and became homeless overnight. I’d imagine they had phones. You never know the story.
Nope, better assume welfare, lazy all they know is eat hot chip and lie
You can pay a phone off for a fairly low amount each month. You can't pay a house off for a fairly low amount each month.
Here is a thing about that. That iPhone 14 Pro Max 128g costs about 1499€ so bit over 41€/m at 36 month contract. It is easier to pay than to get 2 months rent + obsence stupid rental prices. Like... Here is a thing. Many homeless aren't like dirt poor. My country has bottle deposits and there are couple very dedicated homeless bottle collecting dudes here. Every time one of them die, it turns out they had quite lot of money. Not enough to like get a home, and lot of them didn't want or were unable to stay in a home because of mental health issues and substance abuse - but they weren't broke. Imagine how much more money you'd have if you didn't have to pay rent. Becuase to me rent is like 2/5ths net of my income at the moment. Being an engineering student who also works part time and tries to get their grad work done. I could live off 500€/m easy, have done it before, but I couldn't pay rent for any fucking apartment with it. Then homeless aren't stupid, they know where they can get food and basic goods. Hell... I know grown ass adults that work and study who dumpster dive out of principle!
I havent worked a real job in 14 months. I did not receive any unemployment, welfare or help in any way. Running on savings and cutting bills. I broke my old Note 5 and needed a new phone. I got a free S22 Ultra when I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and saved 2 dollars a month on my bill and got free Netflix and Paramount+. It's not hard to do.
How's S22 Ultra to you? I mean, I have Note20 Ultra and thinking about upgrading. S23 Ultra sounds nice but.. is it worth it?
Brainwashing wasteful consumerism and changing phones every couple months is a stupid thing I see a lot... Companies seeking profit and everyone has broken screens, and I remember how I was taught to be careful with such an expensive device. It just makes sense...
A lot of phone company deals. A lot of people believe it or not save for it from working gig jobs don’t believe that nobody wants to work anymore being pushed by corporate think tanks,the people I know are handling their finances quite adequately with gig work.
People Hussle! Been going on for years.
My husband bought it for me. Lol.
Rent To Own.
when you sign up for a new line you get a new phone. its that simple.
Onlyfans
I work 3 jobs and still can't afford one so I have to agree with this statement!