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A "financial literacy" course for working professionals who are doing OK financially and not worried about money (and thus probably could tighten their budgets in substantial ways) but with the understanding that 2/3s of the money recovered by improving their mortgage rates, cutting useless subscriptions etc. would be donated to practical material help for working poor people in their area.
Assigned as penance for anyone claiming that poor people "just need to budget better."
Money saving and finance tips *can* be very effective... if you have some money.
And if you do, it is worth taking the time to see if you are using your money well. For example, do you spend a lot of money at an online retailer because it's "easy" to shop with them but, as of late, the quality and reliability of the products they deliver isn't worth the premium price? *waggles eyebrows*
It's kind of horrible how much money I've saved since dumping amazon.
In line with the concept of this post I've decided I will spend half of the money I've saved on art commissions. They other half I will "save for retirement" which is a topic that gives me anxiety as I don't have a lot of confidence in this country holding together well enough for such planning to make sense.
There is a chance it could be a sucker move and I can't rule that out as glibly as I have in the past. To save money you have to have some confidence in your civilization.
@futurebird I've been putting money in a 401k with effectively zero trust that the market or capitalism itself will hold together well enough to ever see that money in the future. But I don't see the money in the first place so if it ever amounts to something that will be a nice little surprise for future me.
I guess it's like buying lottery tickets. I'm taking a long shot on society remaining solvent and even if I don't expect it to happen it's nice to dream
I know I won't regret a penny I spend on art commissions. The 401k could be a toss up. As always the standard advice applies (and is easy to say and hard to do if you don't have enough money)
* diversify: have a pension, savings, keep track of your Social Security but also buy a house or apartment if you can.
* Avoid things like bitcoin and gold unless you are an expert in commodities.
* Always look at reoccurring expenses cumulatively over at least 5 years.
anything else?
* paying rent is the major cause of not having enough money. If you can find away to avoid any rents it's worth it!
It is not always possible or reasonable to take any of this advice.
/∞
∫ @futurebird @funkula
Being debt-averse is usually a good idea. Debt and rent are the two main ways the owner class get to keep extracting value from your work and economically coercing you to keep working.
It's not very useful advice if circumstances have already pushed your head underwater.
@petealexharris @futurebird lol I was writing up my debt avoidance post at the same time you said this. I've been in a deep enough hole only a couple years ago that having a car payment made me incredibly nervous, because if I ended up unemployed again I would risk losing it and being utterly screwed. So I paid it off as fast as I could and saved I don't even know how much on interest
Certain kinds of assets are more likely to be returned to one's descendants, if any survive, under some future justice commission. This has to do with feelings of moral deservingness (was the asset in some sense guaranteed or was it risky) and power politics (once a society has let people move into your house it would be too much trouble for them to make them give it back).
Co-housing isn't talked about enough. I have friends (financially comfortable) who just sold their house and built a new house they will share with a similarly situated sibling and their spouse. As family sizes shrink many of us are living in houses that are big enough to share. But it's not a cultural norm. Maybe that will change.
