If you grew up poor, what are some financial things you wished you had learned earlier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you grew up poor, what are some financial things you wished you had learned earlier? Any bit of knowledge or financial wisdom that became clear to you as you climbed the ladder that you wished you had known? Beliefs that were wrong and you realized them only later?

When you grow up without a lot of money, you don't understand that it takes money to make money. You have to delay gratification to make your life stable in the long term. That might mean investing in a college education through loans rather than working. Or if you have a sudden windfall of $500, you save it for an emergency, put it in a 401(k), or create a college savings account rather than thinking you have $500 to spend on something fun. Poor people think that rich people have a high salary. Most "rich" people have investment income in addition to a salary.

This.

But, truth be told, if you have enough credit to be able to take out loans, you are not in real dire straits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you grew up poor, what are some financial things you wished you had learned earlier? Any bit of knowledge or financial wisdom that became clear to you as you climbed the ladder that you wished you had known? Beliefs that were wrong and you realized them only later?

DON'T get an American Express card until you have a high-paying job with lots of financial cushion. Never get revolving credit. The type of car you drive means absolutely nothing unless you're a real estate agent. If interest rates are historically low and will be - there's simply no advantage to a CD. It just ties up your money. Always, always contribute to 401(K) and especially if there is matching. Never withdraw $$ from 401(k). Coupons will not save you money in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how gullible people are and willing to give you money for doing nothing. If I started at pan handling at age 10 vs 15 I would have made so much more.

But good investing and learning to gamble early paid great dividends. When you get $100 in an hour and go to the backdoor casinos and double or triple your money in minutes life is good.

Gambling is for fools and not an investment strategy.

[Anonymous]

I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

If you lived in a rural area without public transportation, a car of some kind is necessary. It's not just people in urban areas that are poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

If you lived in a rural area without public transportation, a car of some kind is necessary. It's not just people in urban areas that are poor.

And some people may be answering the question as "if you grew up not rich" instead of "grew up poor"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

If you lived in a rural area without public transportation, a car of some kind is necessary. It's not just people in urban areas that are poor.

And some people may be answering the question as "if you grew up not rich" instead of "grew up poor"

cars can be had for very cheap. It's another one of those it's expensive to be poor things because cheap cars break down a lot too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

You can buy a beater for $200 and in VA you just sign an uninsured affidavit plus pay the DMV $500 and you are good to go. Lots of poor have cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

If you lived in a rural area without public transportation, a car of some kind is necessary. It's not just people in urban areas that are poor.

Yes and no. Live in a small town where work, school and store is within walking or biking distance. It's not even the car that is expensive,e it's the insurance for the poor, ticket, upkeep, gas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

If you lived in a rural area without public transportation, a car of some kind is necessary. It's not just people in urban areas that are poor.

And some people may be answering the question as "if you grew up not rich" instead of "grew up poor"

cars can be had for very cheap. It's another one of those it's expensive to be poor things because cheap cars break down a lot too

again, the car can be had for couple of hundred bucks. It costs a lot of money to keep it going- more than taking a bud, but people don't know it or take it into consideration.It's the owning of the car that puts then in the whole. What is the hit somebody and they sue you? You don't usually hit anybody taking a bus.

[Anonymous]

You have to invest money and not just save it. It was harder in a day, because buying stocks cost a lot. Not anymore, but it takes a lot of time to get people to invest.
$100 is enough to start, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am blown away on these threads at how many poor people have cars, and can afford gas and repairs. When I was poor, I never had a car.

If you lived in a rural area without public transportation, a car of some kind is necessary. It's not just people in urban areas that are poor.

Yes and no. Live in a small town where work, school and store is within walking or biking distance. It's not even the car that is expensive,e it's the insurance for the poor, ticket, upkeep, gas.

When I was a poor kid, I was a poor kid in a rural area where almost nothing was in walking distance of anything else and there was no public transportation of any kind. We had a car because otherwise we would have had to walk 5 miles to grocery store, school, my dad’s work, etc. One of the first things I bought myself after I started working (15) was a cheap shitty car so that I had more options about work and socializing. It was $1000 for a 1982 Nissan Sentra. This was in 1997. I sure as hell didn’t have insurance for stretches of time. It was all I could do to keep up with registration fees and gas money and my parents were in no position to help me out. But having that car allowed me to get to and from an internship in a larger town a 40 minute drive away and that helped me to get other paying jobs outside the service and retail industries. Truthfully it’s probably why I went to college instead of getting married right out of high school.

[Anonymous]

What jobs actually pay well. I only new Busytown notion of jobs. Like an attorney chased ambulances and a banker worker at the local bank branch making loans. Coming from a company town, most people worked at the plant, or provided services for plant workers.

Oh and I totally bought into the “follow your passion and money will take care of itself” nonsense, so so dumb. I was used to living with less, I could live in a literal box with mattress on floor and clothes in a box, simple home cooked meals. My parents didn’t have flooring for much of my childhood, so a proper but tiny apartment felt like luxury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What to do with savings besides putting them in a CD. I also wish I'd learned about risk tolerance, and different approaches to that. I did know to save enough for retirement get my employer match, and then to max retirement savings after that, but other savings sat in my bank account and later a CD for years because 1) I didn't now there were other options, and 2) even when I learned about other options I was so afraid that I'd loose everything even in index funds. Enough catastrophic life circumstances will teach fear like that.

This is literally me right now. What do I do with the money if I move it from savings?

+1. Where should I put the money in my savings?