Feels like it. I'm getting the most pay in my life and 5 years ago it would have been comfortable. Now with the cost of everything I'm just eeking by. Hell I drive a 30 year old car still as I can't afford a new one or even a newer used one
Motorcycles are much cheaper, easier to maintain, and convenient if you don't live in a place with snow. If I ever go back to America, I am selling my 20 year old toyota and buying a sensible Honda Motorcycle.
The bigger danger is people not looking or their brain not working and pulling out directly infront of you.
Unless you live in America, then the biggest dangers by far, accounting for >3/4 accidents are drinking and riding or going into a turn too fast for conditions and eating shit.
Here in vietnam, its probably people with a phone in their hand riding into the back of stuff, then alcohol.
In Cambodia its probably people with shit tires and no helmet lowsiding and getting squished by an oncoming truck or banging their heads.
I've been bumped by people doing the no-look-lane change once hard enough to deform my foot peg, as long as you have grip, there is a lot of force trying to keep a moving bike upright.
I actually used to ride believe it or not. But with starting a family and the insane amount of distracted driving here in the US I quit. It's disturbing to see people with their phone in their hands while driving. Plus I didnt want to leave my family without a father. I loved riding and still miss it
I used to ride, but even bikes are getting quite more expensive, and it's much dangerous to ride on at least in the US as everyone is driving bigger and bigger vehicles and more distracted as well.
I know Harleys are overpriced, but you can get a brand new cb750 for 7-8K, cheaper most of the world.
What is weird is that much cheaper bikes the third world gets are way more expensive in the US, a XR150L is 3.4K in the US, a CB150 verza has the exact same engine, it's less than half the price in Indonesia.
Same with the Honda Wave in asia vs Grom in the US, they switch the functional frame/clutch for something "sporty" and just double the price.
issue i see with people is they seem to want 50K cars. at least going by the average price of new car purchases, but most car buyers buy like 2x the car they actually need.
Something like 65% of people can't afford a $1k emergency. NO thry can't afford a payment on a 25k civic. We are all people scraping couch cusions to get a used car lot $4500 Toyota.
Don't know about you, but a $4,500 used Toyota in my neck of the woods would be an early 2000's Toyota with 200k+ miles and in serious need of expensive repairs. And those living paycheck to paycheck wouldn't have a way to put down the cash to buy even that car.
Nope not with kids and a lack of child care. One parent stays at home as their paycheck got devoured by child care and I work. Both of us with degrees in tech too. Once both kids are in school maybe she'll be able to work part time but obviously someone still has to go pick up the kids. I have zero family support. My parents died of cancer and meth.
I'd love a hybrid civic or corolla. Hybrid mostly to save on gas. I absolutely don't need a F150 or something
childcare is about 3K a month max in a HCOL. even with 2 kids that's 6K a month.
if you both have degrees in tech in your 30s, you should both be making like way more than 6k a month. neither parent should stay home, unless it's a lifestyle choice. i have known a few people who did this. a dual income tech couple should be pulling in well over 200K/yr
and yeah if you are poor because of lifestyle choices... that's not struggling. that's you choosing to make less money than you could. or i suppose you could be 24 or something and both be making 60K, but why you had kids so early is against a lifestyle choice and your struggle would again be self-imposed.
and by the sounds of it you very much could afford a cheap least or car payment. a lease on basic hybrid civic is 250/mo or so. sounds you aren't open to leasing a car though and think you have to purchase it outright.
Got to love when people say 24 is young to have a child and it's a choice. Not every state allows abortion, and even with birth control and contraception, children occur.
At least in the US the average new car price is now close to $50k. That's the reason car loans now are going upwards of 7 years. A lot of the car price is more and more expensive safety features being added on cars. Add in, you are quite a lot safer in a modern new car compared to even a 20 year old car.
It's just that people don't buy those cars, they would rather financially ruin themselves buy 2x the car for the 'image' of it. Just like how many people by unreliable, bad MPG, shitty cars, but whine about the cost... because well they 'have to have a Jeep'. So now they have a 50K car that is going to need $1000s in repairs just to keep it running after a year or two.
And 99% of people who own Jeeps never offorad them, they'd be better off with a Civic or Corolla, but they can't get over themselves, they'd rather whine about being poor and broke while paying 4x the cost for a car that they need to.
there are tons of compact suvs and sedans at that price point. almost every major brand makes them.
the issue is people don't want them because they are 'too small' or 'don't feel safe'. they would rather pay 50K for a big ass car and whine about it then buy one that's half the cost and 2/3 of the size. And almost all of them are just commuting to work in it, they will never ever use the extra space or capacity of the larger vehicle. and if you argue with them and point this out, they will tell you what a stupid ignorant asshole you are and how they 'need' a 50K car, and they couldn't possibly ever buy a shitty small car like a Civic. And most of them will go further be like 'well i can only afford the 50K car, but I REALLY WANT the 80K car.' Tons of people buy these 80K 3-row SUVs and whine about how expensive they are, when they absolutely positively have no actual need for a vehicle that large. but psychologically they need it because it's a status symbol and reflection of their 'pride and value' of themselves.
you can get a brand new HRV or Civic for 24-26K, but people refuse to buy those cars, they want the Passport which is 45K to start.
fwiw i drive a 10 year old hatchback and people endless tell me shit like 'you have no self-respect if you drive such a shitty small car'. and i ask them what car I should get then, and they always say 'audi/bmw 5/7 series SUV'. Because it's not about the utility or use, it's all about the fragile image they are protecting by owning a large expensive vehicle.
Meh, knowing people that have been t-boned and are permanently disabled because they drove too small of cars, the unfortunate reality is newer cars are safer, larger, and you are more likely to survive. They are also more expensive. But hey, when your teenage daughter ends up a paraplegic in your 10 year old hatch back, maybe you will feel something about not buying a safer vehicle. At least you saved a few bucks.
One thing I've noticed is that movies and TV shows don't use exact amounts of money anymore.
'The Rockford Files' always talked about Jim's $200.00 a day fee, and characters would say things like 'Hey, this is a fifty dollar jacket' or 'That house must have cost $100,000.'
The $5.00 milkshake was a big plot point in 'Pulp Fiction.'
Prices are going up so fast that what was unreasonably expensive when the script was written will be the norm by the time the show gets aired.
I noticed that when watching How I Met Your Mother as a teenager, they almost always avoid naming specific amounts of money. The narrator might replace an amount of money with "crapload" or the characters might show eachother a money offer on a piece of paper. Older shows like All In The Family, made in the 70s, frequently mention specific amounts of money but now, with inflation, those amounts of money sound laughably low. Bread for 11 cents? I always figured modern shows avoid mentioning specific amounts of money to try and keep it timeless so in the future people won't laugh at what was considered a high or low amount of money at the time
To be fair, they're trying to make "evergreen" content, meaning it stays funny/meaningful/believable/etc. no matter how far into the future that you watch it.
That wasn't really a thing until the 90s though. Probably started with The Simpsons
To put things in perspective, imagine it being way, way worse in 5 years and the point you are at right now is the least struggling you've been through that you can remember. You might look fondly at these days, before shit hit the fan.
More than that, we have to be a worldwide community, because those who are receiving the benefits of our hard work act at that level. Left, right, democrat, republican, none matter, the strings are pulled by the same people. We are in this together, we have to see through the bullshit and help each other.
I’m good. Though, I feel like I don’t really have the life I expected for my current level of income. Like my parents made a lot less, but had it better.
Even before my unemployment I felt this way. I mean by felt that its just a fact. My father never went to high school. Im not saying did not graduate. Im saying never went. Mom only worked a few part time jobs and never for a need for money. Grew up in a massive 5 bedroom house and we always had 2 or more cars. Dad was a janitor. I have a BS and masters and had changed to IT due to my first career not paying enough and have no kids (I had 6 siblings). One car and two bedroom condo is my max achievement and im running through savings in my 50's. Oh my dad had multiple pensions and a good amount of retirement savings.
yeah but the bs janitor jobs were not such a thing back then to. LIke being a janitor at abbot in the 70's was non union and non government but nice. Janitors were in house and part of the company and not part of a service.
I sure get that. My dad did 80 hours of trade school in turn late 90s and turned out a six figure job with one day off a week and it was plenty. I do better now than we did then, but it took a PhD and like 17 years of work. Consequently I'm an older dad, but I guess it is what it is.
I feel this. I love modestly but my parents had it worse so we didn't do much either. What gets me is the amount of people who are reaping the benefits of generational wealth which I think is the only reason my peers are affording the lives they have.
It's part of why I associate most with immigrants. They understand the struggle more than people who look like me.
I have an Indian coworker who lives with her husband and child in a 1 bedroom apartment and she's the single breadwinner and struggles hard. I admire her more than anyone else in my office.
Nah, I'm doing just fine. I have a steady job, frugal lifestyle and quite substantial savings/investments for someone my age. I could live for years without income.
Without income id be fucked but at the same time kind of like you I have the equity locked away. I could as of now move back to a small town mortgage free. I choose not to because I need to milk the system as much as I can before I parachute back to nowhere.
We don’t generally have to worry where our next meal is coming from, but there is little to no wiggle room after that. Savings? Lol. Investments? See savings. No vacations. No subscriptions. Just rent, food, and bills. We’re one unexpected large expense away from homelessness at any given time. But we do have the essentials covered.
Same. Im at the point fortunately where by pocketbook can still stretch farther than my ability to deal with this bullshittery. I will live. But I'm pissed about it. And my heart goes out to those that can't. I don't have a solution but I hope we fix it soon.
C shaped economy implies the admin is trying to take money from the rich. No chance in hell. Trump is constantly on air talking about how he wants to keep home prices high.
I think that's not quite right. I think there is a (now approaching vanishingly small middle class) which goes from like top 10% but less than 2% or 3% earners who are still doing ok. This is the household income at like 175k to probably... Idk 300k?
Compared to 40k/yr yeah that's very wealthy, but compared to 600k+ it definitely isn't.
My main point being that "very wealthy" is very VERY relative.
As someone making a household income of 200k, pre COVID was wonderful, actually didn’t have to worry about even thinking about money, now though, shit is getting thin… if it’s that way for me I feel horrible for everyone else less well off. Really is a shit show when 6 figures can’t secure you from having to go paycheck to paycheck.
I mean yeah by the time you've got 36k (or more) for mortgage, 35k for daycare, if 200k pre tax and married 30k to the fed, 20k groceries now probably, 10k for car payments (presuming 2), then state and property taxes, insurance, maintenance, clothes, diapers maybe, benefits, gas (probably idk we went electric), yeah I could see how that money goes fast.
It's definitely first world problems because it beats renting and 3 jobs and grandma watches the kids, but to do all the things you're "supposed to do" by 1950s standards you probably need something north of 250k/yr.
Yeah I’m lucky that my kids are full grown though they both still live with me because the job market is ass and my oldest is low functioning, and my wife is disabled, so still taking care of all 4 of us off my paycheck and my wife’s disability, I’m going electric next year probably(if my work bonus comes through) though I’ll still have to buy my youngest’s gas for his trips to college etc. really hoping things make a change for the better, else I’ll probably never retire, and I’ll still be housing my kids until they inherit the place.
EDIT: The downvotes for these three words, which are objectively correct, are so stereotypically Lemmy 😆. These people are addicted to ruminating in misplaced hopelessness
I have been rather fortunate, and well paid (~$120K after taxes and savings). Even 3 years ago, I didn't have to think about money day to day. I was brought up with a very modest lifestyle, so the things that feel extravagent to me were affordable in that context.
Today my wife and I eat out less, shop for groceries differently, and plan things that used to be a small purchase more carefully. It's not a struggle in the important senses, but I have a clear feeling of "it's going to get worse", and I want to make lifestyle adjustments ahead of that rather than falling behind it.
We're by no means struggling relative to what many are going through right now, but we definitely already lost multiple safety-nets in a very brief amount of time under Trump's 2nd term.
I am well off, but not well off enough to lift other people out of their misery. I contribute what I easily can, but every day I wish for the world to change, even if that means having less income as a result.
I often think that if I won the lotter or such while my personal situation would change it would still be depressing because of the world situation. Its like even with excess what charity to focus on. Unfortunately I think anything excess would need to be used for politics nationally to try and change things which would be so much less personally satisfying than working with charities locally.
And that number would have to be astronomical. I thought I read that disgraced trillionaire number 1 was putting like 300M in the Republican war chest? Like youd have to win the Powerball north of 800M to have an observable effect of you dump it ALL in.
I'm not, have a pretty high double income. But, a lot of my friends are. I'm starting to notice things getting more expensive, but I was pissed off before that.
I don't have to be struggling myself to be upset at how things are going. I guess not everybody is like that.
Oh, come, everyone. Come see the Moral Man who was so Righteous and Moral that he spent half his response on telling us all how Virtuous he is, and indeed already was, before it was even cool.
I've been unemployed since 04-2025, and while I still have a long way to go, my savings are starting to dwindle. The job market is tough for coders that find generative AI, wasteful, unethical, and a copyright hazard, in addition to not being much impressed with the output, even from tests earlier this year. I wonder if the new convenience store needs people.
Everytime i manage to save a few thousand and think im adding to my savings, suddenly we need a root canal, i blow a tire, doctor wants an MRI because he felt something odd.... and poof, all my savings are gone.
I literally refuse to look at our bank balance. The moment I look and think "oh, that's better than I expected" then the AC dies, or our roof starts leaking and needs replacement, or some other bullshit happens to consume every last penny we have.
I always thought i was 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Now im also worried about the C level morons saying AI can do my job and let me go. They already require everyone use AI to gen code. Eventually, they will expect AI to architect the product too.
On the plus side, I have been in the biz long enough to have heard the "developers are a thing of the past" speech often enough to realize it's bullshit. Unfortunately, I have also been around long enough to know that the idiots in the C suite will use any excuses to cut people loose if they think it can get them even $1 more on their next bonus. I also have never ever seen a dev let go because something came along that made them more efficient, quicker, and able to do more work in the same amount of time. What happens instead is that the already "overly optimistic" time lines get even shorter and more unrealistic.
The short of it is, if they let you go, it wasn't because of AI, it's something that they were planning on doing anyway.
I know that doesn't really help the anxiety, but understanding that can change how you react. For instance, rather than being upset with being forced to use AI. Lean into it. Learn what it can do and what it can't. Fucking abuse the credits that they are paying for. When you run out, ask to be moved up to the next AI tier/usage allowance, and then do it all over again. Do shit like running 2 AIs on the same job and seeing who gets closer. Set up tests that have AI run these comparisons for you. Have AIs run subagents that rubber duck, review, test, verify, ect., the entire work ticket from end to end. Work on augmenting those skills that AI fails at, and add AI expert to your resume (because that is the next bullshit thing that companies will expect on resumes). But the big difference between you and everyone else will be that you have some real insight and experience to talk about with confidence.
And if your learning curve happens to cost them so much $$ that the AI vs employee cost difference begins to rapidly shrink, well that's not really a bad thing for you either.
I have moved back in with parents, who are struggling to pay their own bills. It's mutually beneficial, but goddamn does it make transitioning hard. I doubt they would kick me out since they'd lose the house when they can't pay bills, but in the meantime I would need to find somewhere to put up a tent and hope I can store my stuff somewhere cheap.
Since my spouse got fired over a medical issue, and their health has since spiraled, we have been eating through our savings. "Luckily" I just started a second job today.
Sure would be great if you could survive on a single income as a family like people used to be able to do. We'd have to make billionaires extinct first(and even then it'd be a long road getting from here to there) and unless society does a 180, that's not happening.
I've been aggressively cutting my food bill and making do with the cheapest staple foods. Not ramen, but like the cheap vegetables, bulk rice and legumes, not much meat, no dairy. Making my own sweets, bread, ECT. Lots of soups, stews, vegetarian curries. Getting free fruit from neighbours trees. That's the biggest expense I can cut right now. I'm increasingly frugal on just about everything else, and doing side gigs wherever I can. I even stopped buying books and started going to the library once a week.
I wouldn't say I'm struggling, but I'm all out of things to cut.
Financially? No, I’m doing pretty well, having made a lot of boring but good long term decisions, gotten a few lucky breaks, and had the sort of career where I’ve always been able to find a new job when I needed to. Though with the rise of LLMs that may not be true in a few years.
Health wise though? Fuck. And the mental fallout from that sucks.
Yeah, the burnout is real. I keep trying to do everything I can to keep it from being ever present, but I feel without a career change and a massive risk to my financial stability that I am utterly stuck and will just keep getting fried out at the cost of keeping dinner on the table.
I've ramped up my garden from a hobby to being more productive for food this year.
Engaging in more rain catchment as well, though I need to get bigger tanks -- at least some IBC totes, but ideally a 500 gal cistern. My pool is admittedly also my emergency water ration. Solar, I have panels and am amassing pieces, but I haven't quite figured out how I want to integrate it. I have what is needed for a primitive off-grid setup, should it be necessary, but would love to go a couple steps further.
My biggest objective is getting proper acreage somewhere with water that I can transition into a more sustainable homestead.
You mention Xmas and last year was the first one all adults in my extended family agreed not to exchange any gifts, both to save money for rainy days ahead, and to also pinch this economy further to prove a point and bring people to wake up and vote Democrat (most sadly only learn by how it impacts their bottom-line, or the big numbers at the gas pump). We plan to do the same this year as well. Sorry you're caught up in that.
I have some friends that are doing okay but they were able to buy houses before everything went to shit. Those of us that didn't are all pretty fucked.
Gliding on old savings, but hopefully the new job (39% raise!) will get us back afloat.... for now. It's like I have to keep changing jobs so I can get raises that even begin to match the cost of living increases from corporate greed.
To answer your question, though: no. Some people are doing GREAT. It may not be a majority of people, but anyone who was rich in 2015 is now super rich. The super rich are now obscenely rich. Even a majority of the moderately well-off - e.g. people who own their houses outright or people with >3 times their annual income in investments - are doing pretty damn well. That is part of the reason that Trump, no matter how vile or incompetent, never dips below 30% approval. People will overlook all kinds of evil when their bottom line is improving.
Not really. I'm not rich, and don't have any particular savings, but I have plenty of everything.
More importantly, it's not at risk.
If I should lose my job, I have an income insurance that is pretty damn good, so I could go unemployed for about 2 years before having to lower my expenses. If it should go that far that I run out of insurance, I would still get like 80% of my salary as social security. This would be manageable, so there's no risk at all that I ever become homeless.
So sure, things are expensive and I don't have any chances of suddenly becoming rich or buying everything out of the blue, but I'm not concerned about the next paycheck.
Meh. Close but annoyed more than anything but I fully admit I am an outlier making > $200k CAD a year.
I feel for everyone who is struggling and I'm sure to always tell my kids they have more in common with the homeless man in the park than they do with Elon Musk.
I'm not struggling, but I'm not that far off considering the salary I'm paid. I should be doing very well, but instead, I'm merely managing. I'm grateful for that, but also I know if I'm scraping by, how the fuck is everyone else doing...?
And 10-20 years ago a licensed RN working for a university hospital would've been solid enough to afford an apartment in that city while the hospital paid for the bachelor's. That's... getting less doable. And I don't want them paying for the bachelor's in case the boss starts telling me I gotta do sketchy shit and I have to jump ship suddenly. Let's not even get into how a CNA is considered a "starter job" for a student of some higher paid healthcare position instead of it's own perfectly respectable career that's vital to the safe functioning of a decent hospital and as such has always deserved a wage that can feed kids.
It's pretty standard to have to choose between paying rent and eating, now. My electric bill is three months overdue. I'd not even be online if I wasn't pointing a cantenna at the store down the hill. I think the only bills I'm current on are my email, which I'm not sure I'll be able to swing $50 a year when it is due, but for now it's current... And my VPN.
do they charge fees for overdue utilities, they dont over here, and people i know have overdue charges for utilities they dont charge extra fee, they just shut off the power after a certain amount of time, due to him being a pushover unable to stop a hoarding wife that also shops, plus not able to rent because he wont fix the house.
They do, but it's much less likely to be cut off than being evicted or starving, so if you have to not pay something the power company is the first to be skipped.
I have about $60 in late fees on it, now, which is actually pretty low for late fees compared to most places.
Perhaps because we're all hydro, here, and don;t have a datacenter explosion... Yet.
Well, tomorrow my bank account will be down to about 10$ due to the credit payment, and because I just went to another city to get diagnosed and prescribed meds. Then I will have to spend it and go into the negative soon, on top of the credit I'm paying off. My pay also just does not accumulate, it is too low to accumulate by a significant amount. I might pay off the debt in 5.5 years.
I think I got 80 years for how long I'd take me to retire with how much I was saving before.
No, and as far as I know all my friends in real life and family is doing fine as well.
Yet my feeds are full of memes about barely surviving. I’m guessing that this is mostly due to feeds ending up very US centric, and the situation there is probably a lot worse than Sweden.
Well, when you think about memes in general like much of the information around social media, rage gets clicks. People aren't sitting reading happy news about firefighters saving kittens everyday, it's unfortunately not how most people's brains are wired.
I started my own company a few years ago. Even whilst the company is doing better each year, the cost of everything increases as well. Like most, I'm 3 months away from homelessness.
I know a lot of people have it rough right now. But I am lucky enough to own my own house at 31, have a stable job and is awaiting my first child. So no, I am personally in an ok spot, but I will vote in solidarity for those that isn't.
My wife and I make about 140k combined and live someplace that is relatively low cost. We aren't struggling the way many people are but we are a more careful with spending than we have been in the past.
Yeah that’s mighty frightening. Last time I was in that situation, I had no dependencies and it was bad enough. Now I have a mortgage, 2 kids in college, and am wondering if ageism would let me get another job of if I had to
Cost of life is a huge factor, I live in Italy, our paychecks are very thin but, especially in the southern regions, cost of life is relatively, especially if you don't have to travel too far for work.
I'm able to save a few hundred euros per month (my paycheck is a net of about 1700€).
I just went to Costco for a monthly-ish grocery trip. This month was 700, whereas in previous months it has been 4-500. I'm not even buying beef. I'm in a privileged position to still afford my groceries, but honestly I'm dancing on a knife's edge right now.
3, we are all home full time and no eating out ever. Its about 45 days worth of food for us. I definitely see my privilege when it pertains to food, but after a 9% pay cut in March and significant price increases the budget is basically maxed at this point.
Not really. I'm my industry I'm making just as much as I have the last several years. Some parts of my business have slowed down, others have increased.
I'm not struggling personally. Most of my close peers are doing okay, but we're much closer to the end of our working careers than the beginning. We're established and at least had the chance to make our large purchases earlier in our lives (education, housing, cars, etc) when things were cheaper and a dollar went farther.
If we had to do the same with today's financial environment we'd be in worse shape. Some of my peers didn't make some of those big purchases back then and are staring down tougher choices.
For most of the those of working age today, I don't see a workable path long term if this keeps up. Costs continue to spiral upward for the basic needs (food, housing, etc), and the job market is such a polluted game of cat and mouse jobs are incredibly hard to get (and keep for that matter).
We should be doing well. But over the last 5-6 years we’ve been stagnating. Inflation, increasing costs overall thanks to factors like tariffs and stupid wars, artificial scarcity in the tech world…all of it has eaten huge chunks out of our buying power. We’re at the age where we should have “made it”, but it’s just the feeling of “where did it all go? Why aren’t we getting ahead?”
Shit was damn good, but now, I'm a frog boiling in water; it's no longer easy, and I'm house poor, but I do still own a house and two cars that are getting old enough to vote.
Job got bought up by another company, they're horrible, but the market is so bad I can't find a good place to advance. No cost of living increases in 6 years, regular bonuses went to zero, and people who work hard are threatened with being fired every day.
Not struggling perse but yeah shit has gone up way more than my pay check. Paying double for groceries what I did a few years ago, paying 50% more for gas than I did a year ago electricity doubled. Pay went up a few percent....
My 401k is up, especially compared to the Trump crash in March but in general as well. Not enough to retire though. I still have a job but it’s looking precarious: lots of layoffs
Just got back from moving the second kid into his dorm room. College expenses for two kids are mighty frightening
Everyone around me claims they are struggling, but they objectively are not.
FWIW, the income of people I'm talking about typically around 150-300K a year. They are simple angry their money doesn't go as far as it did and they can't take multiple vacations per year anymore. or they aren't getting the massive returns on their stock portfolios they were a few years ago.
I make the low end of that, but I live a low-cost lifestyle and I don't have expensive 'needs' like travel, luxury items, etc. what baffles me is I often meet people make less than I do... spending way more and basically loading up on debt and being angry about it.
We live pretty frugally in comparison to our peers. Less than $30 a month in subscriptions, our utility bills are low, we eat out maybe once a month and every other meal is made at home. We thrift and get just about everything we can second hand from yard sales or friends. It used to be that we were putting aside money, now there's less extra. We're getting ready for worse, and planting fruit trees, learning gardening and canning, and reaching out to our neighbors.
"Suicide is on the menu" is what my comment said before a mod deleted it. If that's against the rules, ban me. It answers the question posed by OP and is 100% truthful. My days are numbered if I had my way. Suicide is on the menu.
Yep. I moved to rural Japan because my company was fine with remote anywhere in Japan. Started my small farm and my life here. They assured me it wouldn't be a barrier for advancement as well.
Now, the same company is trying to get everyone fulltime back in the office, over 4 hours each way from my house. They won't pay the cost of even one day. I will likely lose my job. I don't think I live through this.
I mean, three choices there: move back to the city, give up on the job and get something that is likely worse but closer (while potentially spending more time on the farm), or leave that area altogether. All of them with a probability of working out fine.
This is me as well. I have a very good job security - healthcare and union. I just need to manage bills and don't live beyond our means. I also live with universal healthcare so if I drown in debt it's my own doing.
I somehow continuously managed to live below my means. My wife has an indestructible career and I'm raking in now as I may not be able later. We're well off, but buying a house in a good area would still be very lucky... but not impossible.
But I don't live in the US (so healthcare costs are not much of an concern, despite me being disabled) and know I am incredibly lucky. Is it economically worse?
Fuck yeah.
I am self employed/have my own company and I am also blessed with a high earning (and in every other aspect awesome) wife who brings in the main income (she works full time, I normally would work 70%).
Two years ago I had 5 full time slots(filled by 7 people), now I am down to 3. Being unable to renew contracts with people at the beginning of the year broke something in me. It's not their fault. They did their best. While I sure could have done some things differently I am somewhat sure by now that in the broad picture I could not have done much to save their jobs - I already have reduced my own payout to the legal minimum (less than 50% of my already average theoretical wage) and used loopholes to even pay nothing to me for half a year. But cutting costs only goes so far if not enough new projects come in.
My clients are mostly healthcare and public services and these sectors are forced to massively cut costs due to our incompetent neocon government.
The only thing that lets me sleep at night easier is the fact that by now I could "recommend" all affected people (who wanted that) into new jobs, so none is left unemployed.
While it hasn't been direct make me struggle personally I am struggling with my company.
Which sucks balls,especially considering seeing how competitors get huge grants just for "being in the right party",etc.
We are also otherwise very lucky - We (well,half of it is owned by the bank,but who 's house isn't) own a house - but it's an three apartment building we simply live in one. The other two apartments are rented out (below median rent and far below what I might get if I push things) and our apartment is rather, well, mediocre. But that's okay. It's mainly meant as a way to invest money I made when younger by doing some incredibly risky but lucrative jobs. And to make sure we don't need to bother with another landlord ever again. We just liked the location, the age (it's over 70 years old) and the property - and have now have a relationship with our two other renters that is basically "live and let live".
They know they can simply knock on our door if something's wrong and have profited by the modernisation of some core things, but also don't bother me with bullshit.
The rent we now receive will go to the bank for at least two more decades,so it's not something that helps us financially now - but it might help my kiddo one day.
I guess with some exceptions. In the last couple of years, my wife and I finally started to live very comfortable lives for the first time in about 15 years of struggles. We were even able to afford to move to Japan, where with our income life is even better and safer.
No, I gotta say we are doing pretty well, but our household combined higher education time is about 20 years, and it's not art history (sorry art history).
I do feel bad though that people are having a hard time and, while I don't have a second house or a boat, I'm trying to give back wherever and whenever I can.
I think people answering need to state where they are. I know some people are doing badly around here, southern BC, but most are doing the same as they were. Everyone is nervous about how Trump is going to fuck things up next. Rich are still rich. Impoverished are still impoverished and the in-between still run a spectrum of how they are doing. Not everyone is honest. One family member alternately crows about how well his stocks are doing, while saying everything is going to hell, while vacationing (expensively) for 6 months of the year. An Albertan relative is complaining of being in the poor house although he just drove his family all around Western Canada in a 350 pulling a big trailer - that was $1000s in fuel alone. Meanwhile a recently divorced friend thinks she's living the life on $70K income because she no longer has to support deadbeat alcoholic husband. My kids are Millenials and they and their friends are getting married, having kids, buying townhouses or sometimes even houses. How people are doing is very subjective. How they feel they are doing is often a measure of how anxious they are about their future.
However the median of the population isn't getting better. Incomes are only rising for a small percentage. Remember that in the good old days big businesses and their owners - not mom and pop operations - paid taxes that contributed to society's needs. Since Reagan this has disappeared, not just in the US but also Canada in order to compete. The average person's income has paid the price. All to create the billionaire class who see all workers as an expense to get rid of.
I'm all right financially, not rich but not poor, but I worry alot about how others are going to make it through.
Not everyone but a strong majority are. When roughly 2/3 of the citizens are paycheck to paycheck or one bad event away from insolvency, it becomes easy to find them amongst everyone.
Would you mind saying which jobs were replaced with AI? I'm curious because I hear alot about AI driven layoffs in the media but have not met anyone who has experienced it yet.
So...there are some things that aren't ideal about that graph. For one, it's not inflation-adjusted; a dollar in 2000 is just under $2 in 2026. So it's got an upwards-trending line, but a very substantial portion of that is actually just the result of inflation. And I'd kinda prefer to have a median value, though since I'm just comparing relative numbers rather than getting an absolute value, it's probably not a huge deal.
But based on that, credit card debt has increased. And for most age groups, it's higher in inflation-adjusted terms than it was 25 years ago. The 18-29 group is about the same, in inflation-adjusted terms --- they had an average of about $500 25 years back, and about $1000 today. That's an increase of about 2x in nominal terms, so no movement in real terms.
But people in their 40s have about 3x the amount of credit card debt in nominal terms as did the same age group in 2000. So that's a real increase; it's about 1.5x in real terms. Ditto for people in their 50s.
People in their 70s have something like 6x as much in nominal terms, or about 3x in real terms, as the people who were in their 70s in 2000, which is a pretty meaningful increase. For them, it's not a COVID-19 surge, but just a long, sustained drift.
Note that if you're asking about, say, just the last few months, OP, this only runs to late 2025.
Capitalism suck. Ya there I said it. Now hurry up and downvote me cause youre too childish to accept the truth or to put in the effort to make permanent changes in our lives.
No, I'm fine and all my closer friends are doing even better. I could try to make more money but right now I don't feel like it. I like my job and the flexibility it gives me.
Does a bear shit in the woods?
But for real, it's getting baaaaad and we gonna have civil war soon, buckle up butter cup and figure out your afterlife because we gon' die.
It won't exactly be a civil war. But when the trump family hardens their power over the government, the US will be a lot like Mexico. Local militias and cartels will largely replace government.
I can spend (within reason) without looking at my account first. I can make one large purchase (within reason) every other month or so. I'm doing fine, finally.
No. I managed to tur things around pre-covid, and now I'm doing reasonably well. Sure, inflation as of late is noticeable, but I don't have to try hard to make ends meet.
I had to sell my helicopter, too. The babes I've pulled and flew around in it are starting to suspect I don't have. I just keep saying it has a computer issue going on.
Yes. Just got a raise and an unexpected large one. Wont do jack diddly to my overall situation. Still haven't had a good steak in better than a year and there's only so much ramen you can eat.
Guessing live in a high cost of living area in the US. I live in MA and have a high tech worker salary and don't have daycare of a car payment and I'm still just above water. I have literally no idea what my neighbors with multiple young children are doing.
I live in the Atlanta metro area, two kids two car payments rent and credit card debt which is kinda my fault but at the same time it helps keep us afloat. Also day care is 1000+ a month.
Not in the US, and I myself am doing fine. I earn about 30k after taxes, job is quite chill and for the moment it is safe, rent is about 12k a year, and I have some savings to not worry about the immediate future. But I can feel it coming, one way or the other.
If the fascists don't ruin the country too quickly, I should have almost-everything-paid-for health insurance and protection against unjust dismissal for the foreseeable future. As I said, not in the US.
And I'm lucky enough to have enough savings to live a year or two without a job, even without welfare.
I am more worrier about how they grind up what is left of the economy between the US, China and "we need 500000 tanks to fight Russia". And desperate people vote for easy answers, hence the fascists. If the US serves as an example, they will accelerate the decline, but at least they will shoot some brown people in the process, yay...
Ouch, that sucks. I am amazed how there is not a landslide majority in the US to fix the healthcare system, one way or another. Even if I didn't have insurance, paid everything out of pocket, it would still be cheaper than the US, for what I believe is a comparable standard.
But then again, the average voter probably knows nothing about the world and is fed too much propaganda. I can see it starting here, too.
The problem is the systems seems alright if you essentially don't use it which is the situation with a majority of people. Then they get fed the bs about long wait times and how we have the best most advanced stuff. Which for the first part we have long wait times and increasingly so and those most advanced stuff is enjoyed by politicians and rich folk but less from the average joe.
Myself and my wife. Yes. Most other people we know. Somewhat. My area has all sorts of million plus condos and homes and even 10 mil plus. So someones not struggling.
I'm okay since I don't need much, but my "fucksgiving" is gone. I used to be very altruistic. Now, I've been enjoying watching businesses fall apart because I don't care to justify my cost to repair things. Schadenfreude. I'd rather cut my spending. This is just reverberation towards people that took advantage of me.
Two good jobs and digging out from each of us being single parents before we got together but no, we are ok. Can't retire or anything like that but not one bad month from homeless anymore.
I was even in a position to help a friend with a (no interest) loan when she had a very bad month, it was tight for us but not impossible, and my husband did not get mad or worried at all that I did that, so I would say we are well off?
The overall economy is made up of a lot of data points - we are a little bit worse off than we were in terms of cash flow, but wealthier because we bought a house before (well at the start of) the bubble.
Around then, yeah. We had an odd confluence of events, landlord selling house out from under us right when I got some bonus $ that would make it possible to do beginning renovations and found a house that was solid but very oddly arranged so people didn't buy it and I could bargain, and a zero down government loan. I was utterly convinced we were buying at some peak, but fuck me, prices just kept getting higher until they now make no sense. I'm sure it's a bubble, housing has to have a relationship to wages in the area.
The city has some programs to help people buy a house, forgivable down payment grants - if you live in the house 20 years you don't pay it back - and others to help low income homeowners with repairs, but of course the wait-list is insane. They are trying though.
Not yet. But it feels like the squeeze is getting tighter every month that passes. It feels like I can't get through a day without having to spend money on some shit. And I'm not talking about luxuries. I'm not talking about avocado toast or coffee. I'm talking about fixing shit in my coop apartment. Getting new brakes on my car. Getting clothes for my kids. New shoes because mine literally have a hole worn through them. I try to go with low cost options. I buy food in bulk and meal prep. It feels like the system is nickel and dime-ing me harder and harder every day. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but the future feels bleak. Capitalism is bleeding us dry while keeping us alive. We are the prisoners of financial vampires.
Yes, but I work 50-60 hours a month due to burnout and taking care of a toddler that isn't spending all day at kindergarten yet. I'm actually quite privileged in that if I was working 100+ hours a month, I'd have zero financial worries and at 150-200 I'd be doing REALLY well.
Not yet, once the local Meta datacenter fucks electricity even harder in Alberta we'll see. Smith says lock in a fixed rate early, fuck you so I'm expecting it to be bad for a few years until their gigawatt natural gas power plant comes online to indoctrinate the plebs until the end of humans. Theist leaders seethe they've been outclassed. I digress.
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Feels like it. I'm getting the most pay in my life and 5 years ago it would have been comfortable. Now with the cost of everything I'm just eeking by. Hell I drive a 30 year old car still as I can't afford a new one or even a newer used one
Motorcycles are much cheaper, easier to maintain, and convenient if you don't live in a place with snow. If I ever go back to America, I am selling my 20 year old toyota and buying a sensible Honda Motorcycle.
I would totally ride a motorcycle if I wasn't surrounded by people on their cell phones not staying in their lane.
The bigger danger is people not looking or their brain not working and pulling out directly infront of you.
Unless you live in America, then the biggest dangers by far, accounting for >3/4 accidents are drinking and riding or going into a turn too fast for conditions and eating shit.
Here in vietnam, its probably people with a phone in their hand riding into the back of stuff, then alcohol.
In Cambodia its probably people with shit tires and no helmet lowsiding and getting squished by an oncoming truck or banging their heads.
I've been bumped by people doing the no-look-lane change once hard enough to deform my foot peg, as long as you have grip, there is a lot of force trying to keep a moving bike upright.
I actually used to ride believe it or not. But with starting a family and the insane amount of distracted driving here in the US I quit. It's disturbing to see people with their phone in their hands while driving. Plus I didnt want to leave my family without a father. I loved riding and still miss it
I used to ride, but even bikes are getting quite more expensive, and it's much dangerous to ride on at least in the US as everyone is driving bigger and bigger vehicles and more distracted as well.
I know Harleys are overpriced, but you can get a brand new cb750 for 7-8K, cheaper most of the world.
What is weird is that much cheaper bikes the third world gets are way more expensive in the US, a XR150L is 3.4K in the US, a CB150 verza has the exact same engine, it's less than half the price in Indonesia.
Same with the Honda Wave in asia vs Grom in the US, they switch the functional frame/clutch for something "sporty" and just double the price.
you can't afford a 25K civic or similar?
issue i see with people is they seem to want 50K cars. at least going by the average price of new car purchases, but most car buyers buy like 2x the car they actually need.
Something like 65% of people can't afford a $1k emergency. NO thry can't afford a payment on a 25k civic. We are all people scraping couch cusions to get a used car lot $4500 Toyota.
Don't know about you, but a $4,500 used Toyota in my neck of the woods would be an early 2000's Toyota with 200k+ miles and in serious need of expensive repairs. And those living paycheck to paycheck wouldn't have a way to put down the cash to buy even that car.
Nope not with kids and a lack of child care. One parent stays at home as their paycheck got devoured by child care and I work. Both of us with degrees in tech too. Once both kids are in school maybe she'll be able to work part time but obviously someone still has to go pick up the kids. I have zero family support. My parents died of cancer and meth.
I'd love a hybrid civic or corolla. Hybrid mostly to save on gas. I absolutely don't need a F150 or something
childcare is about 3K a month max in a HCOL. even with 2 kids that's 6K a month.
if you both have degrees in tech in your 30s, you should both be making like way more than 6k a month. neither parent should stay home, unless it's a lifestyle choice. i have known a few people who did this. a dual income tech couple should be pulling in well over 200K/yr
and yeah if you are poor because of lifestyle choices... that's not struggling. that's you choosing to make less money than you could. or i suppose you could be 24 or something and both be making 60K, but why you had kids so early is against a lifestyle choice and your struggle would again be self-imposed.
and by the sounds of it you very much could afford a cheap least or car payment. a lease on basic hybrid civic is 250/mo or so. sounds you aren't open to leasing a car though and think you have to purchase it outright.
Got to love when people say 24 is young to have a child and it's a choice. Not every state allows abortion, and even with birth control and contraception, children occur.
Then the dogshit advice to lease... Sure, it might make sense to some, but it's almost always a terrible choice.
oh who is forcing people to have children? exactly?
At least in the US the average new car price is now close to $50k. That's the reason car loans now are going upwards of 7 years. A lot of the car price is more and more expensive safety features being added on cars. Add in, you are quite a lot safer in a modern new car compared to even a 20 year old car.
yes, but all those feature are in 25K cars.
It's just that people don't buy those cars, they would rather financially ruin themselves buy 2x the car for the 'image' of it. Just like how many people by unreliable, bad MPG, shitty cars, but whine about the cost... because well they 'have to have a Jeep'. So now they have a 50K car that is going to need $1000s in repairs just to keep it running after a year or two.
And 99% of people who own Jeeps never offorad them, they'd be better off with a Civic or Corolla, but they can't get over themselves, they'd rather whine about being poor and broke while paying 4x the cost for a car that they need to.
If you look, there are very few $25k cars these days, hence the comment, the average is $50k for a new car in the US.
there are tons of compact suvs and sedans at that price point. almost every major brand makes them.
the issue is people don't want them because they are 'too small' or 'don't feel safe'. they would rather pay 50K for a big ass car and whine about it then buy one that's half the cost and 2/3 of the size. And almost all of them are just commuting to work in it, they will never ever use the extra space or capacity of the larger vehicle. and if you argue with them and point this out, they will tell you what a stupid ignorant asshole you are and how they 'need' a 50K car, and they couldn't possibly ever buy a shitty small car like a Civic. And most of them will go further be like 'well i can only afford the 50K car, but I REALLY WANT the 80K car.' Tons of people buy these 80K 3-row SUVs and whine about how expensive they are, when they absolutely positively have no actual need for a vehicle that large. but psychologically they need it because it's a status symbol and reflection of their 'pride and value' of themselves.
you can get a brand new HRV or Civic for 24-26K, but people refuse to buy those cars, they want the Passport which is 45K to start.
fwiw i drive a 10 year old hatchback and people endless tell me shit like 'you have no self-respect if you drive such a shitty small car'. and i ask them what car I should get then, and they always say 'audi/bmw 5/7 series SUV'. Because it's not about the utility or use, it's all about the fragile image they are protecting by owning a large expensive vehicle.
Meh, knowing people that have been t-boned and are permanently disabled because they drove too small of cars, the unfortunate reality is newer cars are safer, larger, and you are more likely to survive. They are also more expensive. But hey, when your teenage daughter ends up a paraplegic in your 10 year old hatch back, maybe you will feel something about not buying a safer vehicle. At least you saved a few bucks.
a larger car was not going to save you from being hurt while you were t boned.
that's the myth they use to sell larger cars.
often smaller cars have better crash ratings, but whatever man, keep whining about car prices while you pay for 2-3x the car you need.
Not everybody.
All of the worst people you know of or can imagine are doing GREAT.
I heard one of their private rape islands got shut down. That had to be inconvenient.
I wouldn't worry. They'll have another up and running before too long
I'm doing great.
if I claim I'm doing awful, does that make me a good person all the sudden?
B-> !A != !B -> A
Edit: Don't post logic equations tired, folks.
It’s just basic logic.
One thing I've noticed is that movies and TV shows don't use exact amounts of money anymore.
'The Rockford Files' always talked about Jim's $200.00 a day fee, and characters would say things like 'Hey, this is a fifty dollar jacket' or 'That house must have cost $100,000.'
The $5.00 milkshake was a big plot point in 'Pulp Fiction.'
Prices are going up so fast that what was unreasonably expensive when the script was written will be the norm by the time the show gets aired.
I noticed that when watching How I Met Your Mother as a teenager, they almost always avoid naming specific amounts of money. The narrator might replace an amount of money with "crapload" or the characters might show eachother a money offer on a piece of paper. Older shows like All In The Family, made in the 70s, frequently mention specific amounts of money but now, with inflation, those amounts of money sound laughably low. Bread for 11 cents? I always figured modern shows avoid mentioning specific amounts of money to try and keep it timeless so in the future people won't laugh at what was considered a high or low amount of money at the time
To be fair, they're trying to make "evergreen" content, meaning it stays funny/meaningful/believable/etc. no matter how far into the future that you watch it.
That wasn't really a thing until the 90s though. Probably started with The Simpsons
Yeah, shits tight and every institution is in decay. On the other hand it's only gonna get worse until it gets better, so theres that.
...and it's probably going to get a LOT worse.
To put things in perspective, imagine it being way, way worse in 5 years and the point you are at right now is the least struggling you've been through that you can remember. You might look fondly at these days, before shit hit the fan.
Try to save whatever you can.
Yeah that's why I think its important to be a part of a community, if you can.
More than that, we have to be a worldwide community, because those who are receiving the benefits of our hard work act at that level. Left, right, democrat, republican, none matter, the strings are pulled by the same people. We are in this together, we have to see through the bullshit and help each other.
...Why help each other when we can just kill the hoarding puppeteers?! Then everyine will be able to easily help themselves!
Lol dafuq are you on about?
I’m good. Though, I feel like I don’t really have the life I expected for my current level of income. Like my parents made a lot less, but had it better.
Even before my unemployment I felt this way. I mean by felt that its just a fact. My father never went to high school. Im not saying did not graduate. Im saying never went. Mom only worked a few part time jobs and never for a need for money. Grew up in a massive 5 bedroom house and we always had 2 or more cars. Dad was a janitor. I have a BS and masters and had changed to IT due to my first career not paying enough and have no kids (I had 6 siblings). One car and two bedroom condo is my max achievement and im running through savings in my 50's. Oh my dad had multiple pensions and a good amount of retirement savings.
Sounds like he had a union job and/or worked for govt. Like a janitor in a school district.
yeah but the bs janitor jobs were not such a thing back then to. LIke being a janitor at abbot in the 70's was non union and non government but nice. Janitors were in house and part of the company and not part of a service.
I sure get that. My dad did 80 hours of trade school in turn late 90s and turned out a six figure job with one day off a week and it was plenty. I do better now than we did then, but it took a PhD and like 17 years of work. Consequently I'm an older dad, but I guess it is what it is.
I feel this. I love modestly but my parents had it worse so we didn't do much either. What gets me is the amount of people who are reaping the benefits of generational wealth which I think is the only reason my peers are affording the lives they have.
It's part of why I associate most with immigrants. They understand the struggle more than people who look like me.
I have an Indian coworker who lives with her husband and child in a 1 bedroom apartment and she's the single breadwinner and struggles hard. I admire her more than anyone else in my office.
I'm not struggling but damnit i want some fucking slack.
....so youre struggling and you just cant admit it?
...Wot?
Nah, I'm doing just fine. I have a steady job, frugal lifestyle and quite substantial savings/investments for someone my age. I could live for years without income.
what field are you in, if you don't mind me asking?
Self-employed general contractor.
Same.
Also self employed. Got plenty of work lined up, savings, pension, cheap mortgage.
Each year looks a little better than the last one.
I think part of the reason it seems everyone is struggling is because of two reasons.
One, lots of people are struggling. Two, no one wants to hear from the few who aren't.
How does one get a pension when self employed?
Sign up with a pension company and pay money into it like any other monthly bill.
I'm in the UK so might be different elsewhere.
How is that making everyone struggle?
It doesn't.
It makes it seem like everyone is struggling coz you don't hear from anyone else.
Without income id be fucked but at the same time kind of like you I have the equity locked away. I could as of now move back to a small town mortgage free. I choose not to because I need to milk the system as much as I can before I parachute back to nowhere.
Not just financially, also mentally and emotionally!
We don’t generally have to worry where our next meal is coming from, but there is little to no wiggle room after that. Savings? Lol. Investments? See savings. No vacations. No subscriptions. Just rent, food, and bills. We’re one unexpected large expense away from homelessness at any given time. But we do have the essentials covered.
Financially, no. Emotionally, fuck yeah.
Same. Im at the point fortunately where by pocketbook can still stretch farther than my ability to deal with this bullshittery. I will live. But I'm pissed about it. And my heart goes out to those that can't. I don't have a solution but I hope we fix it soon.
As lower income households struggle to afford Walmart, Walmart is growing in popularity with higher income households seeking out sales.
"Walmart posts worst comparable sales performance in six years"
The US consumer is flashing red flags all over the place
K shaped Economy Hits Walmart
It’s pretty bad at the moment.
Had to sell the helicopter after last quarter’s revenues tanked and fuel prices are out of control. Kinda awkward since the yacht still has a helipad.
Really just hoping people are too into their own yacht to notice..
I'm so sorry to hear that. You'll get through it.
Well, might go hungry for a while if I need any clothes or whatnot. Trying to juggle side jobs to make it livable, and treat credit card with caution.
Microbiologist, Russia
Good luck, take care
We'll see brighter days indeed!
We're living in the worst K shaped economy in recent history. yeah. We are.
This admin is trying to convince people we are in a C shaped economy.
It’s all BS.
C shaped economy implies the admin is trying to take money from the rich. No chance in hell. Trump is constantly on air talking about how he wants to keep home prices high.
Bessent is trying to say that the gap is closing because poverty class wages rose something like 2%. That man is a joke.
Everyone except the already very wealthy yes.
Elect Republicans, get republican policies.
The country still hadnt really recovered from Reagan, then we got Bush, then we got Trump.
Obama and Biden could only do so much to stop the dumpster fire, and Nazis are famously bad for the economy.
the question wasnt specifically about the USA, but yes
I think that's not quite right. I think there is a (now approaching vanishingly small middle class) which goes from like top 10% but less than 2% or 3% earners who are still doing ok. This is the household income at like 175k to probably... Idk 300k?
Compared to 40k/yr yeah that's very wealthy, but compared to 600k+ it definitely isn't.
My main point being that "very wealthy" is very VERY relative.
As someone making a household income of 200k, pre COVID was wonderful, actually didn’t have to worry about even thinking about money, now though, shit is getting thin… if it’s that way for me I feel horrible for everyone else less well off. Really is a shit show when 6 figures can’t secure you from having to go paycheck to paycheck.
I mean yeah by the time you've got 36k (or more) for mortgage, 35k for daycare, if 200k pre tax and married 30k to the fed, 20k groceries now probably, 10k for car payments (presuming 2), then state and property taxes, insurance, maintenance, clothes, diapers maybe, benefits, gas (probably idk we went electric), yeah I could see how that money goes fast.
It's definitely first world problems because it beats renting and 3 jobs and grandma watches the kids, but to do all the things you're "supposed to do" by 1950s standards you probably need something north of 250k/yr.
Yeah I’m lucky that my kids are full grown though they both still live with me because the job market is ass and my oldest is low functioning, and my wife is disabled, so still taking care of all 4 of us off my paycheck and my wife’s disability, I’m going electric next year probably(if my work bonus comes through) though I’ll still have to buy my youngest’s gas for his trips to college etc. really hoping things make a change for the better, else I’ll probably never retire, and I’ll still be housing my kids until they inherit the place.
even something as simple as owning your house makes finances so much easier.
That's not true
EDIT: The downvotes for these three words, which are objectively correct, are so stereotypically Lemmy 😆. These people are addicted to ruminating in misplaced hopelessness
I have been rather fortunate, and well paid (~$120K after taxes and savings). Even 3 years ago, I didn't have to think about money day to day. I was brought up with a very modest lifestyle, so the things that feel extravagent to me were affordable in that context.
Today my wife and I eat out less, shop for groceries differently, and plan things that used to be a small purchase more carefully. It's not a struggle in the important senses, but I have a clear feeling of "it's going to get worse", and I want to make lifestyle adjustments ahead of that rather than falling behind it.
We're by no means struggling relative to what many are going through right now, but we definitely already lost multiple safety-nets in a very brief amount of time under Trump's 2nd term.
I am well off, but not well off enough to lift other people out of their misery. I contribute what I easily can, but every day I wish for the world to change, even if that means having less income as a result.
I often think that if I won the lotter or such while my personal situation would change it would still be depressing because of the world situation. Its like even with excess what charity to focus on. Unfortunately I think anything excess would need to be used for politics nationally to try and change things which would be so much less personally satisfying than working with charities locally.
And that number would have to be astronomical. I thought I read that disgraced trillionaire number 1 was putting like 300M in the Republican war chest? Like youd have to win the Powerball north of 800M to have an observable effect of you dump it ALL in.
well with less you could work at the primary level and see if you can get better canidates on the ballot but yeah it would take a lot.
I'm not, have a pretty high double income. But, a lot of my friends are. I'm starting to notice things getting more expensive, but I was pissed off before that.
I don't have to be struggling myself to be upset at how things are going. I guess not everybody is like that.
My situation exactly. I get pissed off thinking about how unaffordable everything is for the majority of people right now.
Oh, come, everyone. Come see the Moral Man who was so Righteous and Moral that he spent half his response on telling us all how Virtuous he is, and indeed already was, before it was even cool.
/s
i'm fucked.
Not struggling, but not living the high life, either. No retirement savings, so I'll be working until I die, probably, but at least I like my job.
This is me, except I don't like my job either. Still, when I compare my situation to others in my city, it could be much worse.
And while I don't have any retirement savings yet, I'm 35...if I can get that ball rolling soon, I'm hoping I'm not completely fucked.
Right with ya but i'm closer to 50. Hoping to move somewhere dirt poor in old age.
I've been unemployed since 04-2025, and while I still have a long way to go, my savings are starting to dwindle. The job market is tough for coders that find generative AI, wasteful, unethical, and a copyright hazard, in addition to not being much impressed with the output, even from tests earlier this year. I wonder if the new convenience store needs people.
21 years?
04-2025=-2021
2026-(-2021)=4047 years
I read that as April 2025, ~17 months ago
April 2025. It's the longest I've been unemployed since my first job out of college.
Everytime i manage to save a few thousand and think im adding to my savings, suddenly we need a root canal, i blow a tire, doctor wants an MRI because he felt something odd.... and poof, all my savings are gone.
I literally refuse to look at our bank balance. The moment I look and think "oh, that's better than I expected" then the AC dies, or our roof starts leaking and needs replacement, or some other bullshit happens to consume every last penny we have.
I always thought i was 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Now im also worried about the C level morons saying AI can do my job and let me go. They already require everyone use AI to gen code. Eventually, they will expect AI to architect the product too.
On the plus side, I have been in the biz long enough to have heard the "developers are a thing of the past" speech often enough to realize it's bullshit. Unfortunately, I have also been around long enough to know that the idiots in the C suite will use any excuses to cut people loose if they think it can get them even $1 more on their next bonus. I also have never ever seen a dev let go because something came along that made them more efficient, quicker, and able to do more work in the same amount of time. What happens instead is that the already "overly optimistic" time lines get even shorter and more unrealistic.
The short of it is, if they let you go, it wasn't because of AI, it's something that they were planning on doing anyway.
I know that doesn't really help the anxiety, but understanding that can change how you react. For instance, rather than being upset with being forced to use AI. Lean into it. Learn what it can do and what it can't. Fucking abuse the credits that they are paying for. When you run out, ask to be moved up to the next AI tier/usage allowance, and then do it all over again. Do shit like running 2 AIs on the same job and seeing who gets closer. Set up tests that have AI run these comparisons for you. Have AIs run subagents that rubber duck, review, test, verify, ect., the entire work ticket from end to end. Work on augmenting those skills that AI fails at, and add AI expert to your resume (because that is the next bullshit thing that companies will expect on resumes). But the big difference between you and everyone else will be that you have some real insight and experience to talk about with confidence.
And if your learning curve happens to cost them so much $$ that the AI vs employee cost difference begins to rapidly shrink, well that's not really a bad thing for you either.
I'm very lucky
I live in a civilised country (not 'Murica)
A few years ago I worked my arse off doing something very niche and managed to save a lot of money
I live a fairly simple life, but I do drink a lot, so that's an expense I could cut
I travel a lot at the moment, and when I stop doing that I'll be able to save quite a lot of money
I know how fortunate I am, and how difficult it is for some people, especially in the US
This is probably not an appropriate question, but... are you hiring?
There are many ways to immigrate here
Especially if you are willing to live in one of the smaller places
I'm an immigrant myself, and moving here absolutely changed my life
Where is 'here'?
"Straya, cunt
What was your niche specialty?
I'm not going to say that, because it's a very small world sometimes
I hope you understand
Of course. Glad you found something that worked out for you
I am.
I'm so god damn hungry.
I have moved back in with parents, who are struggling to pay their own bills. It's mutually beneficial, but goddamn does it make transitioning hard. I doubt they would kick me out since they'd lose the house when they can't pay bills, but in the meantime I would need to find somewhere to put up a tent and hope I can store my stuff somewhere cheap.
Since my spouse got fired over a medical issue, and their health has since spiraled, we have been eating through our savings. "Luckily" I just started a second job today.
Sure would be great if you could survive on a single income as a family like people used to be able to do. We'd have to make billionaires extinct first(and even then it'd be a long road getting from here to there) and unless society does a 180, that's not happening.
My economy is incredibly solid, and I'm not the most frugal. Could live off savings for more than a year.
Living in Scandinavia, background in physics.
I've been aggressively cutting my food bill and making do with the cheapest staple foods. Not ramen, but like the cheap vegetables, bulk rice and legumes, not much meat, no dairy. Making my own sweets, bread, ECT. Lots of soups, stews, vegetarian curries. Getting free fruit from neighbours trees. That's the biggest expense I can cut right now. I'm increasingly frugal on just about everything else, and doing side gigs wherever I can. I even stopped buying books and started going to the library once a week.
I wouldn't say I'm struggling, but I'm all out of things to cut.
The fediverse undoubedtly skews to the educated middle class; most of us are squeezed but not dry.
Struggling?
No.
Drowning, yes.
the finances I have to manage are a 12 pound bass hanging off 4 pound line.
Financially? No, I’m doing pretty well, having made a lot of boring but good long term decisions, gotten a few lucky breaks, and had the sort of career where I’ve always been able to find a new job when I needed to. Though with the rise of LLMs that may not be true in a few years.
Health wise though? Fuck. And the mental fallout from that sucks.
Yeah, the burnout is real. I keep trying to do everything I can to keep it from being ever present, but I feel without a career change and a massive risk to my financial stability that I am utterly stuck and will just keep getting fried out at the cost of keeping dinner on the table.
My sales had a significant drop the past several months, it's now just barely over my bills. And my bills are really small compared to most.
Quite freaked out about it. Keep thinking sales are coming... Xmas is soon... Where are the sales?
I setup rain water catchment and solar power, so at least I have free water and power.
Counted my stash of canned foods yesterday and checked all the experation dates.
Just making sure I have: food, water, shelter. No matter what happens, hopefully I can ride it out here.
I've ramped up my garden from a hobby to being more productive for food this year.
Engaging in more rain catchment as well, though I need to get bigger tanks -- at least some IBC totes, but ideally a 500 gal cistern. My pool is admittedly also my emergency water ration. Solar, I have panels and am amassing pieces, but I haven't quite figured out how I want to integrate it. I have what is needed for a primitive off-grid setup, should it be necessary, but would love to go a couple steps further.
My biggest objective is getting proper acreage somewhere with water that I can transition into a more sustainable homestead.
You mention Xmas and last year was the first one all adults in my extended family agreed not to exchange any gifts, both to save money for rainy days ahead, and to also pinch this economy further to prove a point and bring people to wake up and vote Democrat (most sadly only learn by how it impacts their bottom-line, or the big numbers at the gas pump). We plan to do the same this year as well. Sorry you're caught up in that.
Is it great? No, but I'm above water and not having to cut back. Couldn't afford kids though
The trick is, if you have them you just have to afford them :/.
I have some friends that are doing okay but they were able to buy houses before everything went to shit. Those of us that didn't are all pretty fucked.
No. But I do feel slightly bad about it.
Don't have kids I guess? 🤷
Gliding on old savings, but hopefully the new job (39% raise!) will get us back afloat.... for now. It's like I have to keep changing jobs so I can get raises that even begin to match the cost of living increases from corporate greed.
Congratulations on the new job!
Thank you! It's tough out there. We try to celebrate the wins, though.
I am.
To answer your question, though: no. Some people are doing GREAT. It may not be a majority of people, but anyone who was rich in 2015 is now super rich. The super rich are now obscenely rich. Even a majority of the moderately well-off - e.g. people who own their houses outright or people with >3 times their annual income in investments - are doing pretty damn well. That is part of the reason that Trump, no matter how vile or incompetent, never dips below 30% approval. People will overlook all kinds of evil when their bottom line is improving.
This unfortunately, too real
Struggling a bit more financially but I prepared for this tbh. I expected shit to get bad, and still think it will get worse.
To put things in perspective I'm learning stuff in case the next depression happens soon, like planting potatoes, food preservation...
Save whatever money you can now. This might be the least you struggle financially for years.
Not really. I'm not rich, and don't have any particular savings, but I have plenty of everything.
More importantly, it's not at risk.
If I should lose my job, I have an income insurance that is pretty damn good, so I could go unemployed for about 2 years before having to lower my expenses. If it should go that far that I run out of insurance, I would still get like 80% of my salary as social security. This would be manageable, so there's no risk at all that I ever become homeless.
So sure, things are expensive and I don't have any chances of suddenly becoming rich or buying everything out of the blue, but I'm not concerned about the next paycheck.
Not struggling, but I'm in a very fortunate position with my career
Meh. Close but annoyed more than anything but I fully admit I am an outlier making > $200k CAD a year.
I feel for everyone who is struggling and I'm sure to always tell my kids they have more in common with the homeless man in the park than they do with Elon Musk.
I'm not struggling, but I'm not that far off considering the salary I'm paid. I should be doing very well, but instead, I'm merely managing. I'm grateful for that, but also I know if I'm scraping by, how the fuck is everyone else doing...?
And 10-20 years ago a licensed RN working for a university hospital would've been solid enough to afford an apartment in that city while the hospital paid for the bachelor's. That's... getting less doable. And I don't want them paying for the bachelor's in case the boss starts telling me I gotta do sketchy shit and I have to jump ship suddenly. Let's not even get into how a CNA is considered a "starter job" for a student of some higher paid healthcare position instead of it's own perfectly respectable career that's vital to the safe functioning of a decent hospital and as such has always deserved a wage that can feed kids.
3428 people are doing quite well and the rest of us are allowing it.
Yep. They're boiling frogs.
We’ll be the ones eating the pets.
It's pretty standard to have to choose between paying rent and eating, now. My electric bill is three months overdue. I'd not even be online if I wasn't pointing a cantenna at the store down the hill. I think the only bills I'm current on are my email, which I'm not sure I'll be able to swing $50 a year when it is due, but for now it's current... And my VPN.
do they charge fees for overdue utilities, they dont over here, and people i know have overdue charges for utilities they dont charge extra fee, they just shut off the power after a certain amount of time, due to him being a pushover unable to stop a hoarding wife that also shops, plus not able to rent because he wont fix the house.
They do, but it's much less likely to be cut off than being evicted or starving, so if you have to not pay something the power company is the first to be skipped.
I have about $60 in late fees on it, now, which is actually pretty low for late fees compared to most places.
Perhaps because we're all hydro, here, and don;t have a datacenter explosion... Yet.
Well, tomorrow my bank account will be down to about 10$ due to the credit payment, and because I just went to another city to get diagnosed and prescribed meds. Then I will have to spend it and go into the negative soon, on top of the credit I'm paying off. My pay also just does not accumulate, it is too low to accumulate by a significant amount. I might pay off the debt in 5.5 years.
I think I got 80 years for how long I'd take me to retire with how much I was saving before.
No, and as far as I know all my friends in real life and family is doing fine as well.
Yet my feeds are full of memes about barely surviving. I’m guessing that this is mostly due to feeds ending up very US centric, and the situation there is probably a lot worse than Sweden.
Well, when you think about memes in general like much of the information around social media, rage gets clicks. People aren't sitting reading happy news about firefighters saving kittens everyday, it's unfortunately not how most people's brains are wired.
Yes but I have a safety net for now.
Edit: I just found out that there's going to be a data center built less than a mile away from where I live. Life is about to turn to hell.
For them, right? Rally your neighbors. Make sure everybody knows how shitty this will make everything. Annoy your politicians.
Drive them out!
Everyone seems to have given up already. No one cares, no one is fighting.
I can't do it on my own. I can file complaint after complaint after complaint but it's just been accepted.
you could detonate a complaint instead >:3
I'll save it as a last ditch effort, since I'd rather detonate myself with the data center than die in other ways.
I started my own company a few years ago. Even whilst the company is doing better each year, the cost of everything increases as well. Like most, I'm 3 months away from homelessness.
I know a lot of people have it rough right now. But I am lucky enough to own my own house at 31, have a stable job and is awaiting my first child. So no, I am personally in an ok spot, but I will vote in solidarity for those that isn't.
My wife and I make about 140k combined and live someplace that is relatively low cost. We aren't struggling the way many people are but we are a more careful with spending than we have been in the past.
I’m unemployed for a entire year , it sucks and I’m sick of being unemployed
Yeah that’s mighty frightening. Last time I was in that situation, I had no dependencies and it was bad enough. Now I have a mortgage, 2 kids in college, and am wondering if ageism would let me get another job of if I had to
Cost of life is a huge factor, I live in Italy, our paychecks are very thin but, especially in the southern regions, cost of life is relatively, especially if you don't have to travel too far for work.
I'm able to save a few hundred euros per month (my paycheck is a net of about 1700€).
Have been all my life.
I just went to Costco for a monthly-ish grocery trip. This month was 700, whereas in previous months it has been 4-500. I'm not even buying beef. I'm in a privileged position to still afford my groceries, but honestly I'm dancing on a knife's edge right now.
How many people are you feeding?
3, we are all home full time and no eating out ever. Its about 45 days worth of food for us. I definitely see my privilege when it pertains to food, but after a 9% pay cut in March and significant price increases the budget is basically maxed at this point.
Paycheck to paycheck gang with very little if anything goes wrong
Not everyone. Only about 90% of the world's population.
Yeah but I haven't really been financially stable for my entire adult life.
My parents did alright, both retired office workers you'd classify as middle class but I am uneducated and never managed to save anything.
Pretty much, yep. The only people I know who aren't are old, and even they're feeling the pinch.
First time in my life me and my gf earn more than 1000€ for two, so I can't complain (I still earn 460€ myself, but sh" has a real salary yippee)
Of course not. Nothing is ever the same for everybody
Not really. I'm my industry I'm making just as much as I have the last several years. Some parts of my business have slowed down, others have increased.
I'm not struggling personally. Most of my close peers are doing okay, but we're much closer to the end of our working careers than the beginning. We're established and at least had the chance to make our large purchases earlier in our lives (education, housing, cars, etc) when things were cheaper and a dollar went farther.
If we had to do the same with today's financial environment we'd be in worse shape. Some of my peers didn't make some of those big purchases back then and are staring down tougher choices.
For most of the those of working age today, I don't see a workable path long term if this keeps up. Costs continue to spiral upward for the basic needs (food, housing, etc), and the job market is such a polluted game of cat and mouse jobs are incredibly hard to get (and keep for that matter).
My Survivor mode has been activated 2 years ago
We should be doing well. But over the last 5-6 years we’ve been stagnating. Inflation, increasing costs overall thanks to factors like tariffs and stupid wars, artificial scarcity in the tech world…all of it has eaten huge chunks out of our buying power. We’re at the age where we should have “made it”, but it’s just the feeling of “where did it all go? Why aren’t we getting ahead?”
Shit was damn good, but now, I'm a frog boiling in water; it's no longer easy, and I'm house poor, but I do still own a house and two cars that are getting old enough to vote.
Job got bought up by another company, they're horrible, but the market is so bad I can't find a good place to advance. No cost of living increases in 6 years, regular bonuses went to zero, and people who work hard are threatened with being fired every day.
Not struggling perse but yeah shit has gone up way more than my pay check. Paying double for groceries what I did a few years ago, paying 50% more for gas than I did a year ago electricity doubled. Pay went up a few percent....
My 401k is up, especially compared to the Trump crash in March but in general as well. Not enough to retire though. I still have a job but it’s looking precarious: lots of layoffs
Just got back from moving the second kid into his dorm room. College expenses for two kids are mighty frightening
Everyone around me claims they are struggling, but they objectively are not.
FWIW, the income of people I'm talking about typically around 150-300K a year. They are simple angry their money doesn't go as far as it did and they can't take multiple vacations per year anymore. or they aren't getting the massive returns on their stock portfolios they were a few years ago.
I make the low end of that, but I live a low-cost lifestyle and I don't have expensive 'needs' like travel, luxury items, etc. what baffles me is I often meet people make less than I do... spending way more and basically loading up on debt and being angry about it.
We live pretty frugally in comparison to our peers. Less than $30 a month in subscriptions, our utility bills are low, we eat out maybe once a month and every other meal is made at home. We thrift and get just about everything we can second hand from yard sales or friends. It used to be that we were putting aside money, now there's less extra. We're getting ready for worse, and planting fruit trees, learning gardening and canning, and reaching out to our neighbors.
Yes.
just won $6 million in the lottery. I plan on, snorting, shooting, and fucking my way to Thailand to retire.
Yes. I stopped thinking I can pay it all off. Hopefully when I die, my debt dies with me.
Not at the moment no, I was unemployed for around 9mo last year after layoffs but I finally found a job and am doing pretty well for myself.
I'm trying to pay off debt from my mom at the moment but decided to splurge on myself for a few months first now that I'm employed again.
Don't give up yet. We need you for the revolution.
— T,Challa, The Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman (R.I.P)
"Suicide is on the menu" is what my comment said before a mod deleted it. If that's against the rules, ban me. It answers the question posed by OP and is 100% truthful. My days are numbered if I had my way. Suicide is on the menu.
Yep. I moved to rural Japan because my company was fine with remote anywhere in Japan. Started my small farm and my life here. They assured me it wouldn't be a barrier for advancement as well.
Now, the same company is trying to get everyone fulltime back in the office, over 4 hours each way from my house. They won't pay the cost of even one day. I will likely lose my job. I don't think I live through this.
I mean, three choices there: move back to the city, give up on the job and get something that is likely worse but closer (while potentially spending more time on the farm), or leave that area altogether. All of them with a probability of working out fine.
I'm fortunate enough to be doing okay thanks for asking
This is me as well. I have a very good job security - healthcare and union. I just need to manage bills and don't live beyond our means. I also live with universal healthcare so if I drown in debt it's my own doing.
I somehow continuously managed to live below my means. My wife has an indestructible career and I'm raking in now as I may not be able later. We're well off, but buying a house in a good area would still be very lucky... but not impossible.
No, not personally.
But I don't live in the US (so healthcare costs are not much of an concern, despite me being disabled) and know I am incredibly lucky. Is it economically worse? Fuck yeah.
I am self employed/have my own company and I am also blessed with a high earning (and in every other aspect awesome) wife who brings in the main income (she works full time, I normally would work 70%).
Two years ago I had 5 full time slots(filled by 7 people), now I am down to 3. Being unable to renew contracts with people at the beginning of the year broke something in me. It's not their fault. They did their best. While I sure could have done some things differently I am somewhat sure by now that in the broad picture I could not have done much to save their jobs - I already have reduced my own payout to the legal minimum (less than 50% of my already average theoretical wage) and used loopholes to even pay nothing to me for half a year. But cutting costs only goes so far if not enough new projects come in.
My clients are mostly healthcare and public services and these sectors are forced to massively cut costs due to our incompetent neocon government.
The only thing that lets me sleep at night easier is the fact that by now I could "recommend" all affected people (who wanted that) into new jobs, so none is left unemployed.
While it hasn't been direct make me struggle personally I am struggling with my company.
Which sucks balls,especially considering seeing how competitors get huge grants just for "being in the right party",etc.
We are also otherwise very lucky - We (well,half of it is owned by the bank,but who 's house isn't) own a house - but it's an three apartment building we simply live in one. The other two apartments are rented out (below median rent and far below what I might get if I push things) and our apartment is rather, well, mediocre. But that's okay. It's mainly meant as a way to invest money I made when younger by doing some incredibly risky but lucrative jobs. And to make sure we don't need to bother with another landlord ever again. We just liked the location, the age (it's over 70 years old) and the property - and have now have a relationship with our two other renters that is basically "live and let live". They know they can simply knock on our door if something's wrong and have profited by the modernisation of some core things, but also don't bother me with bullshit.
The rent we now receive will go to the bank for at least two more decades,so it's not something that helps us financially now - but it might help my kiddo one day.
So yeah. I am still incredibly lucky.
It’s always something.
— My Life
I'm doing well enough, can't complain.
But I can tell more and more people aren't doing well, and I want to do something about it.
So if you know any charities with a good track record, feel free to reply with their names/links.
I guess with some exceptions. In the last couple of years, my wife and I finally started to live very comfortable lives for the first time in about 15 years of struggles. We were even able to afford to move to Japan, where with our income life is even better and safer.
No, I gotta say we are doing pretty well, but our household combined higher education time is about 20 years, and it's not art history (sorry art history).
I do feel bad though that people are having a hard time and, while I don't have a second house or a boat, I'm trying to give back wherever and whenever I can.
I think people answering need to state where they are. I know some people are doing badly around here, southern BC, but most are doing the same as they were. Everyone is nervous about how Trump is going to fuck things up next. Rich are still rich. Impoverished are still impoverished and the in-between still run a spectrum of how they are doing. Not everyone is honest. One family member alternately crows about how well his stocks are doing, while saying everything is going to hell, while vacationing (expensively) for 6 months of the year. An Albertan relative is complaining of being in the poor house although he just drove his family all around Western Canada in a 350 pulling a big trailer - that was $1000s in fuel alone. Meanwhile a recently divorced friend thinks she's living the life on $70K income because she no longer has to support deadbeat alcoholic husband. My kids are Millenials and they and their friends are getting married, having kids, buying townhouses or sometimes even houses. How people are doing is very subjective. How they feel they are doing is often a measure of how anxious they are about their future. However the median of the population isn't getting better. Incomes are only rising for a small percentage. Remember that in the good old days big businesses and their owners - not mom and pop operations - paid taxes that contributed to society's needs. Since Reagan this has disappeared, not just in the US but also Canada in order to compete. The average person's income has paid the price. All to create the billionaire class who see all workers as an expense to get rid of. I'm all right financially, not rich but not poor, but I worry alot about how others are going to make it through.
Not sure anyone asked you yet... tell us your story. Where you living and what's the sitch?
Nope, I don't really know what to spend all my money on. Earning £29k a year before tax.
Perks of living somewhere civilized I guess!
Responsible financial choices also play into it. I know people on more who feel poorer.
Not everyone but a strong majority are. When roughly 2/3 of the citizens are paycheck to paycheck or one bad event away from insolvency, it becomes easy to find them amongst everyone.
No, but I have been fairly fortunate with familial circumstances.
I am. Laid off along with 90% of my colleagues from my previous job & replaced with AI. A few months have gone by hunting for a new job.
Would you mind saying which jobs were replaced with AI? I'm curious because I hear alot about AI driven layoffs in the media but have not met anyone who has experienced it yet.
No. I brought up four kids by myself. Last left in 2021.
I've sometimes seen credit card debt used as a proxy for financial difficulties. For the US:
https://wallethub.com/edu/cc/credit-card-debt-study/24400
So...there are some things that aren't ideal about that graph. For one, it's not inflation-adjusted; a dollar in 2000 is just under $2 in 2026. So it's got an upwards-trending line, but a very substantial portion of that is actually just the result of inflation. And I'd kinda prefer to have a median value, though since I'm just comparing relative numbers rather than getting an absolute value, it's probably not a huge deal.
But based on that, credit card debt has increased. And for most age groups, it's higher in inflation-adjusted terms than it was 25 years ago. The 18-29 group is about the same, in inflation-adjusted terms --- they had an average of about $500 25 years back, and about $1000 today. That's an increase of about 2x in nominal terms, so no movement in real terms.
But people in their 40s have about 3x the amount of credit card debt in nominal terms as did the same age group in 2000. So that's a real increase; it's about 1.5x in real terms. Ditto for people in their 50s.
People in their 70s have something like 6x as much in nominal terms, or about 3x in real terms, as the people who were in their 70s in 2000, which is a pretty meaningful increase. For them, it's not a COVID-19 surge, but just a long, sustained drift.
Note that if you're asking about, say, just the last few months, OP, this only runs to late 2025.
My situation isn't great, but it's not new enough to really be "right now".
Some people are doing just fine, but they're not going to post as much. If you want a representative sample, you need a poll instead.
Capitalism suck. Ya there I said it. Now hurry up and downvote me cause youre too childish to accept the truth or to put in the effort to make permanent changes in our lives.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth
Dude, you can drop the victim complex. You aint being edgy by regurgitating the most widely known and popular opinion.
Capitalism kills
Amen.
Yes. Next question. :3
No, I'm fine and all my closer friends are doing even better. I could try to make more money but right now I don't feel like it. I like my job and the flexibility it gives me.
Does a bear shit in the woods? But for real, it's getting baaaaad and we gonna have civil war soon, buckle up butter cup and figure out your afterlife because we gon' die.
It won't exactly be a civil war. But when the trump family hardens their power over the government, the US will be a lot like Mexico. Local militias and cartels will largely replace government.
I can spend (within reason) without looking at my account first. I can make one large purchase (within reason) every other month or so. I'm doing fine, finally.
No. I managed to tur things around pre-covid, and now I'm doing reasonably well. Sure, inflation as of late is noticeable, but I don't have to try hard to make ends meet.
I overdrew my account less than 24 hours before my paycheck cleared.
I had to sell my helicopter, too. The babes I've pulled and flew around in it are starting to suspect I don't have. I just keep saying it has a computer issue going on.
I’m not but we’ve been very lucky in many ways. Our parents were poor but we’ve done well career wise.
Yes. Just got a raise and an unexpected large one. Wont do jack diddly to my overall situation. Still haven't had a good steak in better than a year and there's only so much ramen you can eat.
As a family we make 10 to $11,000 a month.
We can hardly put anything away. Between cars and daycare and rent and groceries and gas prices, there's nothing left.
These corporations are unwilling to sacrifice anything for the people that consume them.
And when these ass hats say crap like corporations or people too. It just pisses me off even more.
Wtf we make half that and are hardly putting anything away. What are you doing?
Guessing live in a high cost of living area in the US. I live in MA and have a high tech worker salary and don't have daycare of a car payment and I'm still just above water. I have literally no idea what my neighbors with multiple young children are doing.
I live in the Atlanta metro area, two kids two car payments rent and credit card debt which is kinda my fault but at the same time it helps keep us afloat. Also day care is 1000+ a month.
Grocery's and gas alone tripled.
Financially and every other way one can struggle. Life is tough right now. 😓
Right there with ya. We'll pull through
No. Financially, I'm in a good spot right now.
Most other aspects of my life, I'm struggling hard.
Not in the US, and I myself am doing fine. I earn about 30k after taxes, job is quite chill and for the moment it is safe, rent is about 12k a year, and I have some savings to not worry about the immediate future. But I can feel it coming, one way or the other.
your situation sounds ok as long as you stay healthy.
If the fascists don't ruin the country too quickly, I should have almost-everything-paid-for health insurance and protection against unjust dismissal for the foreseeable future. As I said, not in the US.
And I'm lucky enough to have enough savings to live a year or two without a job, even without welfare.
I am more worrier about how they grind up what is left of the economy between the US, China and "we need 500000 tanks to fight Russia". And desperate people vote for easy answers, hence the fascists. If the US serves as an example, they will accelerate the decline, but at least they will shoot some brown people in the process, yay...
yeah. I have a sick wife and healthcare was a third of my monthly nut. If the us had universal healthcare I would be able to keep going for some time.
Ouch, that sucks. I am amazed how there is not a landslide majority in the US to fix the healthcare system, one way or another. Even if I didn't have insurance, paid everything out of pocket, it would still be cheaper than the US, for what I believe is a comparable standard.
But then again, the average voter probably knows nothing about the world and is fed too much propaganda. I can see it starting here, too.
The problem is the systems seems alright if you essentially don't use it which is the situation with a majority of people. Then they get fed the bs about long wait times and how we have the best most advanced stuff. Which for the first part we have long wait times and increasingly so and those most advanced stuff is enjoyed by politicians and rich folk but less from the average joe.
It would be interesting to do an anonymous Google form or something to see what the financial distribution of lemmings is like.
Not yet.
"Right now," and also for the past ten years but somehow it keeps getting worse
I'm incredibly fortunate to not be
Myself and my wife. Yes. Most other people we know. Somewhat. My area has all sorts of million plus condos and homes and even 10 mil plus. So someones not struggling.
I'm okay since I don't need much, but my "fucksgiving" is gone. I used to be very altruistic. Now, I've been enjoying watching businesses fall apart because I don't care to justify my cost to repair things. Schadenfreude. I'd rather cut my spending. This is just reverberation towards people that took advantage of me.
Two good jobs and digging out from each of us being single parents before we got together but no, we are ok. Can't retire or anything like that but not one bad month from homeless anymore.
I was even in a position to help a friend with a (no interest) loan when she had a very bad month, it was tight for us but not impossible, and my husband did not get mad or worried at all that I did that, so I would say we are well off?
The overall economy is made up of a lot of data points - we are a little bit worse off than we were in terms of cash flow, but wealthier because we bought a house before (well at the start of) the bubble.
2018? If we hadn't bought then I'm not sure we could have bought in.
Around then, yeah. We had an odd confluence of events, landlord selling house out from under us right when I got some bonus $ that would make it possible to do beginning renovations and found a house that was solid but very oddly arranged so people didn't buy it and I could bargain, and a zero down government loan. I was utterly convinced we were buying at some peak, but fuck me, prices just kept getting higher until they now make no sense. I'm sure it's a bubble, housing has to have a relationship to wages in the area.
The city has some programs to help people buy a house, forgivable down payment grants - if you live in the house 20 years you don't pay it back - and others to help low income homeowners with repairs, but of course the wait-list is insane. They are trying though.
No
No
Doing ok. Less income, but investments and savings are holding...
Scientific Socialism, look it up
Not yet. But it feels like the squeeze is getting tighter every month that passes. It feels like I can't get through a day without having to spend money on some shit. And I'm not talking about luxuries. I'm not talking about avocado toast or coffee. I'm talking about fixing shit in my coop apartment. Getting new brakes on my car. Getting clothes for my kids. New shoes because mine literally have a hole worn through them. I try to go with low cost options. I buy food in bulk and meal prep. It feels like the system is nickel and dime-ing me harder and harder every day. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but the future feels bleak. Capitalism is bleeding us dry while keeping us alive. We are the prisoners of financial vampires.
No, and no one I know is. Luckily for me I haven't for a long time.
Yes, but I work 50-60 hours a month due to burnout and taking care of a toddler that isn't spending all day at kindergarten yet. I'm actually quite privileged in that if I was working 100+ hours a month, I'd have zero financial worries and at 150-200 I'd be doing REALLY well.
Not yet, once the local Meta datacenter fucks electricity even harder in Alberta we'll see. Smith says lock in a fixed rate early, fuck you so I'm expecting it to be bad for a few years until their gigawatt natural gas power plant comes online to indoctrinate the plebs until the end of humans. Theist leaders seethe they've been outclassed. I digress.
There is a line. People who make their money from assets have been doing well. People who make their money from wages have not.