Personal Finance

Struggling population: Gets financially stomped by actions of the money class, low/negative savings returns vs. inflation, 418% inflated food prices, 1000% increase on housing, a 30% pay cut, and a 200% increase on basic goods.

The money class: "Why aren't they giving all their extra money to our banks for us to earn interest revenue in exchange for nothing? Why are they buying food and things for themselves to survive instead of giving it all to us?! What do you mean I only earned $19,000 while golfing yesterday?! I earned $20,005 the day before!! Fucking millennials!!! We handed you guys 3 small checks 4 years ago, what do you mean you need more money to survive?!"

I've heard people express the opinion that society is likely to collapse in the next several decades. If that's a genuinely held belief and not just an edgy thing to say, then saving money for a future in which that money will be worthless makes no sense.

Well, this is good for the market but bad for the economy, because that debt will catch up to them. If you find yourself in this pattern, consider playing around with an investment calculator and see if compound growth can't take the place of the joy of spending money.

As a rough rule of thumb, invested money doubles in purchasing power every 10 years. Another interesting rule of thumb is that if you save $X every year, after 15 years, you can stop and spend $X every year for the rest of your life. So what's better, spending that money now, or growing that money so you don't need to work to spend it ever again? If you save enough, you can even retire early so you can enjoy your money longer.

Thanks for sharing!

I am doom scrolling

What an insane way to look at it. People say they are worried about the economy, but they are spending like they are not worried about the economy.

Economists would say that economic activity reveals the true feelings, maybe people are saying they don't like "the economy" as a political statement or to align with the vibe they are getting from others, while actually feeling OK about their own economic prospects.

Or maybe people's spending and feelings are disconnected now because they still have a savings cushion from the government covid assistance which changes the math.

No matter how you feel about the odds of those interpretations...surely they are more coherent than this crazy article cobbled together to find any possible way to make resilient consumer spending, aka the bedrock of the economy, look bad.