Reply to Signs once wealthy now in genteel poverty?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Signs once wealthy now in genteel poverty?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For society in general:

High percentages of young people who can no longer realistically aspire to the American dream of home ownership as their parents did

High levels of student debt

Falling life expectancies

Youngish adults not being able to provide the same advantages in life to their children as their parents did for them.

[/quote]

Hmm...to me that seems different than genteel poverty.  You're talking downward mobility/falling standards of living for entire class of people x generational cohort.

Genteel poverty is kind of about being too poor to keep up appearances.

[b]If you rent a nice apartment in the city and can't afford to own a SFH in suburbia like your parents, that's falling standards of living but not poverty of any sort.[/b]

If your parents were rich but lost all their money in a crypto collapse and you live together in a foreclosed mansion in an unfinished development where your utilities have been cut-off for non-payment, that's genteel poverty to me.

It has to be very apparent that one is living far below one's social class or lacks resources to avoid detection of limited means.[/quote]

I agree with your general point that there's a distinction between genteel poverty and downward mobility, but there's also a distinction to be made between either of those categories and at least a third, related one -- making different choices than your parents did.  I say this as the parent of young adults who earn good salaries and have trust funds, but who are opting for lifestyles different from their parents -- and that's a good thing.  (Love you, Martha Stewart, even in your velour track suit - and forgive you for the head trip you did on women of our generation.) [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics