Quote:
Originally Posted by crockett
I know a guy Puerto Rican for example that has a decent blue collar job. He's making enough to not be in poverty, he has 3 kids and is married. He told me he got 5 grand back on his taxes this year so whats he do? Buys some piece of shit car and some other dumb as shit and blows it all.
Now this is a guy that works a job, has a so so income and if he would work on getting some credit he could easily buy a modest house and improve his situation. Yet instead of doing that he just wastes his money.
This is a problem with lower income families. It's not just a Black or a Hispanic thing but it is very prevalent in their cultures with-in the US. Now days this is also becoming more prevalent among White families as well, so unless we start really spending money on education in this country we are going to be having worse problems 50 years from now and it's not going to be a race thing, but a uneducated/unmotivated thing.
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Money management among the poor is such a terrible problem that I think they should make personal finance and basic money management classes mandatory for anyone on government assistance and they should make them free to anyone who wants to take them.
So often you see people get any kind of extra money and blow it when they could use it to better their lives. I have a friend that is always broke. He makes an average salary, but he has so much debt and credit he spends every cent he makes. If he were to get a raise and start bringing in $200 more per month he would go out and buy something that cost him $200 per month. I have harped on him non stop telling him that it is okay if he actually has a couple of dollars in his savings account, but he doesn't seem to care.
The worst I ever saw was my brother's brother in law. He and his wife (they have two kids as well) were so far behind their house was about to be foreclosed on and their car was about to get repo'd. They went to his mom and asked to borrow $5,000. She gave them the money knowing full well they would never pay her back (they never do pay them back). Instead of paying things down and getting caught up they paid just enough on the house and car to stop the legal action and then took a vacation to Hawaii. Fucking ridiculous.
Like you say, so many people also get a big tax return and just blow it. I worked in retail many years ago and tax time rocked because people would come in and buy big ticket items. That is the perfect type of money to use on savings and investments because it has already been taken out of your check. You have lived the full year without it so you don't miss it. Get it back and immediately put it something that can make you more money. But people don't do that. The allure of the big screen or the trip or the car or whatever is more important.
Another thing I have noticed is that it seems like many poor people have the best fucking cell phones. They have nothing, but they do have an IPhone which you know they are likely paying around $100 per month for. Not to mention many of them smoke and drink regularly.