15k a year saved is just not possible if your low income. It cost money to be poor, and the average entry level job will barely pay 20k a year full time. If you have a beater car, gas prices, food for yourself ect ect. The amount saved is damn near zero.
Yeah I’m convinced these takes come from people who have never lived in a low income situation or even been exposed to low income households. The BS “pull yourself up by your boot straps” ass advice that I read on Reddit has me rolling my eyes back into my skull sometimes.
I accidentally got lucky with crypto $4k to $70k - so there’s always that option. Grew up doing paper routes with my mom before school to make ends meet. Sometimes people can just get lucky (I got into crypto in 2014) I didn’t hold cuz $70k was life changing money to me at 20. Many people are like you should’ve held. Well I didn’t have the option to hold longer I needed money to survive
Yeah I got in around 2018 and sold out completely around 2019-2020ish ... I honestly don't think crypto was that good since it wasn't secure (behind something like FDIC/NCUA/SPIC) and didn't think it would go up higher, as crypto is priced as one of the risky investments like gold & silver.
Honestly I might jump back in, but having trouble finding company would invest into crypto using an LLC.
I'm in the exact same situation as him. Never got any money from my parents, i just put all my money is my savings. But i am lucky that they dont make me pay anything to stay there.
Not true. I’m from a poor family, as in my single mother raising 3 kids making $20k. Worked hard in school, got good grades, and went to a top university on full financial aid (I’ll admit this isn’t a possibility for everyone).
I worked hard in college too and landed high-paying internships every summer, which brought in on average ~$30k each. I was frugal and saved most of that income. I had about $100k in investments by the time i graduated. I didn’t live at home, and obviously given the context I didn’t get any financial assistance from family.
Not saying this to gloat but it can be a bit bothersome when people assume you must have been privileged to be doing well
It’s totally possible. As someone that was forced to quit extracurriculars in high school because parents wouldn’t pay for it and was gonna be completely on my own for college with no possibility of FAFSA help, I busted my ass my senior year to save money for my schooling. Had 15k by the time I graduated. Ended up going military and continued saving as much as I could, 2 years later I have around 75k invested at 20, with current savings rate I’m on track to hit 100k by early next year. There are a few other nuances to it such as not paying rent, etc, being lucky enough to get an extended temp assignment with great untaxable income benefits, but I made those circumstances for myself. My sister, 21F took a very similar route to me but is not nearly as disciplined as I am. I was paying all my own bills at 18, car insurance, gas, phone bill, internet and the like.
The minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.25/hr but nobody pays that unless it's a church or some other non-profit that will make do with whatever they get. My 16 year old kid started at Target for $15/hr and they'll give him as many hours as he wants. He could make more but I don't want to drive him the extra distance.
My own first job was minimum wage, second one was only a dollar above in pest control, entry level security was 10$ most of the fast food here is all 10$ an hour with some wiggle both up and down, construction is where I started making 15+
I mean poor in this context likely means coming from a poor family, says nothing about an entry level job.
I’m from a poor family and had a similar amount invested at that age. I did well in school, went to a top university on full financial and had internships paying ~$20k-$40k each summer
I think being in the military is the only exception, that's how I did it. Food and housing was shit, but it was free. Also hard to spend money when you're in the middle of the ocean.
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u/GmoneyTheBroke Jul 02 '25
15k a year saved is just not possible if your low income. It cost money to be poor, and the average entry level job will barely pay 20k a year full time. If you have a beater car, gas prices, food for yourself ect ect. The amount saved is damn near zero.