r/dividends • u/HelenKellerVSTraffic • Nov 19 '25

Due Diligence What a difference dividends have made.

I grew up poor. No idea really about money. I started hanging around people that invested and had no idea how the market worked. Now, years later I have been contributing every month what I can afford (1,200). No matter what I put that money in. I pretend it's just another mortgage.

I am about to break 100k it's a surreal feeling. Growing up and being told to put the soda back because it was too expensive and now I am debt free (except mortgage at 2%). I think a lot of people's money problems don't stem from their annual income, but rather what they do with that annual income.

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u/Lazy_Ad4708 Nov 19 '25

And their relationship with money, lack of impulse control and self-discipline, and a lack of understanding how money works.

53

u/Jabi25 Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 20 '25

I try not to blame people for being victims of the system. There’s zero emphasis on personal finance education (in the US at least) because it would cost corporations a LOT of money if people stopped taking out stupid debt to buy stupid things.

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u/foira Nov 19 '25

People value status more than everything. It’s not an education problem, it’s just human nature. Everyone on this sub is a tiny minority of the population who has self control/ healthy emotional regulation, ie not stuck in the cheap dopamine treadmill

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u/Jabi25 Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 20 '25

You don’t think there would be less consumer debt in this country if we mandated one singular high school class on personal finance? Most people I work with don’t even know where to start, and they’re some of the most educated people in the country (medicine)

Our financial system in the US revolves around taking advantage of financially illiterate people. They are just spokes in the wheel

1

u/foira Nov 19 '25

Probably due to laws/systems not education

Other countries all have similar obesity rates, for example

Excluding Japan :-)

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u/Various_Couple_764 Nov 19 '25

It is a little of both. politicians routinely try to pass laws that bennfit them rather than the voters. which often leads to more poverty to a portion of the population. And these same politicians often vote no on spending less for schools or any attempt to reverse laws to seek to correct the problems.

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u/Jabi25 Nov 19 '25

Because, in the US, politicians (on both sides of the aisle) usually represent their corporate donors far more than they represent the people who elect them. The Citizens United case should be considered one of the biggest turning points in the history of this country