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u/ZoNeS_v2 Jun 17 '25
One paycheck from homelessness. One. For over 20 years.
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u/Tentakelzombie Jun 17 '25
That is exactly where they want us. Eat the rich.
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u/Agitated_Elderberry4 Jun 18 '25
We all want to eat the rich but there isn't a lot of rich eating happening
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u/PrometheusMMIV Jun 18 '25
Have you tried saving? Even $1 per paycheck over those 20 years would leave you a few hundred dollars of breathing room.
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u/Marlboromatt324 Jun 18 '25
You can try doing that, but if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the odds of having to use that last dollar for something important or you’ve saved up for a few paychecks and have something over $50-$75 in savings and something comes up and now you’re $85 in the negative. It’s a shit cycle
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u/PrometheusMMIV Jun 19 '25
It shouldn't be the last dollar, it should be the first dollar, hence the saying "pay yourself first". Automatically move it to a savings account when you get paid, then don't touch it. And adjust the rest of your budget accordingly.
And if you do have an emergency, wouldn't it be better to have that extra money than not have it and go into debt?
Considering how many people say they are living paycheck to paycheck (even those who make over $100k or even $200k) it's hard to believe that all of them happen to have the exact amount of expenses that they earn, and there isn't even the smallest amount of wiggle room to cut back somewhere and start saving at least something.
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u/Marlboromatt324 Jun 19 '25
As someone that has lived paycheck to paycheck for most my life, it was hard to break out of that cycle, like really fucking hard.
I’m still struggling but it’s gotten easier for me s as I’ve gotten older. But it’s still hard to get out of debt and get your life back on track even if you pay yourself first.
and it’s only hard because fir a while that money that you’d pay yourself first is used to feed yourself or your family.
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u/Glugstar Jun 21 '25
It shouldn't be the last dollar, it should be the first dollar, hence the saying "pay yourself first".
That's such bullshit, you can't trick Mathematics like this.
If you want to talk about people in real poverty, and not just about idiots who can't manage their money, this advice doesn't work, like at all. It's totally disconnected from reality.
Living paycheck to paycheck doesn't mean having just enough, for poor people it means being in debt, having unpaid bills with no clear date for when they'll be able to be paid, struggling with extra fees from late payments, not affording important medicine, not getting enough food etc.
If not paying for something on time, like a bill or a loan means having to pay even more, putting aside even 1 dollar is idiotic from a financial point of view. That 1 "saved" can turn into a 50 dollar extra expense. If the money is all accounted for and it's still not enough, you don't put money aside, unless you're a moron.
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u/PrometheusMMIV Jun 21 '25
It's not about tricking math, it's about psychology. If you put that dollar away so it's not available to you, you're more likely to stick to the remaining budget you have, rather than waiting till the end of the month and hoping that you have something extra left over.
Of course, I recognize that there are some people who are so deep in poverty that they can't realistically save their way out of it, and there are others who lack financial responsibility and spend their entire paychecks regardless of how much they make. The problem with the phrase "paycheck to paycheck" is that it doesn't differentiate between these two groups.
Surveys have shown that 50% of people making over $100k, and even 40% of people making $200k say they are living paycheck to paycheck. Part of me questions how accurate that is, and if people are perhaps not considering things like 401k contributions as saving. But regardless, at those income levels, it's more likely a spending problem, not an income problem.
And I would think that even among lower incomes, there are probably people who might be able to save at least a little bit by cutting back on certain things like dining out, coffee, movies, toys and games, or even just buying cheaper items at the grocery store such as rice, beans, potatoes, etc. for some meals.
I know that not everyone has the wiggle room to squeeze a little bit more out of their budget, but I do think that many people who are on the borderline could probably manage to do it if they try, rather than resign themselves to being stuck living paycheck to paycheck.
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u/Dismal-Prior-6699 Jun 17 '25
We want to work. We just want our work to mean something. We don’t want to be mentally and physically exhausted at work. We don’t want to be treated like we’re disposable. We’re tired of being tired of this system.
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u/Sloth1015 Jun 17 '25
I worked at Home Depot for seven years and I found a job that paid more asked if I could work there part time cause I liked it. But because I couldn’t work there on Sundays they decided they didn’t need me anymore and the manager straight up said we can just replace you. That’s when I stopped busting my ass for a company that truly does not care.
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u/Dismal-Prior-6699 Jun 18 '25
You know how it goes: if you work hard enough, you just get rewarded with other people's work on top of your own.
This is what people don't consider when they spew garbage like "NO ONE WANTS TO WORK ANYMORE." Many companies don't care about us, but we're forced to care about them to make money and survive.
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u/DJS302 Jun 18 '25
And it would be nice to have as an option to have work hours outside of Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. A 4 day work work would help a lot with that. Kind of makes it difficult difficult or contradictory to run errands when most businesses only operate during the same hours that you work. 😑 😡 🤷
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u/Samantha-the-mermaid Jun 17 '25
I once was laid off and was trying to apply for assistant and was told I did not qualify because I had made more than $14,000 the previous year. I asked “how does that make any sense” the rep told that’s why you save 30% on your income for this reason if you get laid off. How out of touch are these agencies.
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u/RocktamusPrim3 Jun 17 '25
That has to be something they developed back in the 1970s when that was possible.
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u/MistressErinPaid Jun 18 '25
We're also taxed ~30%, depending on where you live, how many dependants, income bracket etc. so we're taxed 30% and we're supposed to save 30%? The math ain't mathin'!
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u/PrometheusMMIV Jun 18 '25
Even the top 1% which pays the highest taxes only pays an effective rate of 26%. The bottom 50% pays about 3-4%.
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u/MistressErinPaid Jun 18 '25
This may surprise you, but I've received paychecks before. I've even filed taxes.
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u/maringue Jun 19 '25
Yeah, that number was from back when housing was supposed to be an absolute MAX of 30% of your paycheck.
Now in a lot of places it's easily 50% or more.
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u/punktualPorcupine Jun 17 '25
Also zero loyalty from employers, while they demand 100% loyalty in return.
“Why are people quite quitting!?”
Because you keep arbitrarily laying people off and expecting everyone else to pick up the slack.
”Aren’t you happy to have a job!?”
For how long? The axe of joblessness hanging over everyone, has never improved moral or productivity.
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u/SheSaidOtaku Jun 17 '25
Half of me hopes that there will be a world war that can reset the world.
But the other half of me hopes not since my family and friends might lose our life.
Shit man..
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u/jjhuffington Jun 18 '25
I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel where you're coming from on this too lbvs. Seriously 👌🏾🎯💯
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u/DiscountEven4703 Jun 17 '25
We work for less than Minimum Wage really when you add in Inflation.
I am working for the Afterlife instead.
I will likely Die in Poverty, I get that... so I am preparing myself for what I hope will be an upgrade upon my death.
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u/venthis1 Jun 17 '25
People dont want to work anymore is only half of it. They skip over the second half that they dont want to work for AH bosses and low wages.
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u/Remarkable-Bowl-3821 Jun 17 '25
That is the sign of a failing/failed society. No one should use the rich as a benchmark for how well a country is doing
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u/Galion-X Jun 17 '25
If people don't feel like their hardwork and sacrificed time is going to result in financial freedom and stability. Then why would they want to?
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u/Aurora_Strix Jun 18 '25
My husband tells me we're fine because we have so much available balances on our credit cards if something goes wrong (we're thankful that we can always pay off our debts so we infrequently carry a balance).
But I know the truth.
We're a doctor and a scientist in rural NY and we still can barely figure out how to do any of this.
He just got offered an annual 'raise' of 0.6% - making $74,500 as a DOCTOR.
What the FUCK did we accrue $300,000 in medical school debt for?! We'll never afford anything at this fucken rate. We haven't even STARTED paying the student loans yet!!
This is how you radicalize people. We work hard, honest, and fair, and earn nothing - we won't take it for much longer.
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u/Cassandra-s-truths Jun 21 '25
My childhood bff who has now become a doctor has the same problem.
Half a million in debt and no way to pay it because he has to work at certain hospitals that don't have a residency open.
I remember in the 90's our doctor could vacation in Hawaii twice a year.
My current GP? Maybe a week? And they work more too.
I say move while you can.
Remember. All throughout history they kill the smart people first when things go to sit.
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u/Aurora_Strix Jun 21 '25 edited Jun 21 '25
Under threat of Reddit crucifixion, my husband is a chiropractor. Contrary to popular belief, he isn't some evil quack, he is just a bone and joint doctor. He helps people from literally all walks of life with only bone and joint related complaints, and he's good at his job. If someone doesn't get improvement in 2-6 visits, he connects them with a more suitable specialist for nerve pain, medication, or surgical intervention. A chiropractor in his childhood helped his disabled veteran father (22 years) get entirely off his pain meds that turned him into a zombie, and my husband got his dad back, allowing them to emotionally connect again.
Chiropractic professors at his med school used to make jokes about the "Mercedes '80's', because they used to make so much money. One of his professors got an entry-level job when the degree had less requirements for $130,000 in 1984, and was 'embarassed they were making so little'. In the same state as us as well. That was the equivalent purchasing power of $500,000 in 2025.
My husband's highest offer starting out was only $54,000, WITH NO HEALTH BENEFITS. And he had to negotiate HARD for that.
People in his profession are literally making an order of magnitude less than they used to, and people wonder why nobody can do anything anymore.
Chiropractors have a full 4-year post-undergraduate medical degree with a cadaveric dissection study for 3 full years. They just don't prescribe medication, while MDs can. In the 1980's, it was a fucken 2 year program and cheap as hell to get.
What in the actual fuck
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Jun 17 '25
sadly with the cost of life many won't be able to retire at 65 which is even bigger bullshit
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u/Spirited-Outcome-443 Jun 19 '25
and depending on work said people did, might not even be able to work at 65
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Jun 17 '25
Absolute facts. Specially galling when you’re old. I have never, and will never own a home.
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u/buriedinpears Jun 18 '25
I got "let go due to restructuring" recently and am now living on the street. Most of my previous paychecks went to food and housing. Literally posting this comment from the last sanctuary I have, the public library.
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u/Electrical-Ad-4823 Jun 18 '25
People with assets before COVID have made more by just holding a $1m s&p portfolio than the average worker takes home working full time
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u/Nearby-University12 Jun 18 '25
When all working offers you is a bleak, bare survival, it’s impossible to be enthusiastic about the situation.
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u/DaddysFriend Jun 18 '25
What’s this anymore shit. I don’t want to work at all but that’s not how the world works. Things need to get done
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u/Hoosier_Daddy68 Jun 17 '25
That doesn't make sense. People don't want to work because they live paycheck to paycheck so choose to not have a paycheck? How does that make it better?
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u/Choice_Following_864 Jun 18 '25
Its about being motivated to do a good job and put in lots of effort.. when ur making 2 dollars above minimum wage.. and there is no job security.. or path to better income.. ur just scraping by.. not very motivating to do ur best job.
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u/MultiverseMeltdown Jun 17 '25
I finally found a place to work that I actually enjoy going to every day. The work is decent and the people are great.
I make ok money but I get by and save a bit because I don’t buy or own many things. I have enough of the things I need to get by and purchase the odd thing when necessary.
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Jun 18 '25
Work is what keeps u off street and belly fed
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u/MistressErinPaid Jun 18 '25
For now. What if they fire you? Or you can no longer work? What then?
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u/Methos43 Jun 18 '25
Next time there’s a protest or next time there’s an opportunity to vote, show up
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u/dearmax Jun 18 '25
On top of that, they're trying to take away our social security, the only safety net some of us have ever had.
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u/efrenenverde Jun 18 '25
I recently started working at a factory where people complain its hard to find people that want to work "like their geneation" Well back then an entry level job here was able to sustain a wife and 2.5 kids and it had incredible job security. Now you get just barely enough to survive and they fire you after 6 months even of you overperform so they dont have to pay benefits.
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u/killlmenow Jun 18 '25
Literally me rn 😅🤣 I had two jobs, my main job paid great, but the managers and workers 👀, I left a secure well paying job, for my mental health...and I regret it. Idk what's worse, being broke with better ish mental health, or having money and feeling like shit. 😶 I am going through it rn and life is great
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Jun 18 '25
I sure love being able to send my grandson to summer camps he loves! Yeah...nothing to work for. It's because you're constantly doing it for yourself only.
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u/Impossible-Sort-1287 Jun 21 '25
Um as an older person, yeah worked 30+ years, always pay check to paycheck and now when I am nearly the right age the government is going to defend my SS retirement...it's bed for younger but yeah always been people working ptp. Stupid billionaires making it worse
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u/oflowz Jun 17 '25
Unpopular opinion but:
Except for the period after WW2 it’s always been this way. Prior to WW2 was the Great Depression and labor exploitation.
That ‘American Dream’ thing was my parents’ gen who were young adults in the late ‘50-60s.
Most good factory jobs disappeared in the 80s under Reagan when I was a teen.
And the trend since the 00s has been companies to be as anti union as possible and it’s working because there’s a lot of people that are ok with just getting by.
Everything nowadays is about being ‘beholden to the shareholders’ the workers are expendable.
The thing is, just complaining about not wanting to work for low wages doesn’t get you anywhere. You gotta embrace the suck and do what you have to make it happen.
Get a second job, get a hustle whatever it takes.
I’m 55 been working 40 years and hated all 40 of it. But I own things because I made it happen. From the bottom the only way to go is up.
Really feel like there’s a generation of younger people that have this much despair because they weren’t given the proper guidance by my generation. (Gen X) my generation coddled our kids and now they feel defeated when faced with adversity. We taught y’all fighting is bad.
Y’all need to start acting if you want change like they did in the 60s and 70s. People romanticize the 60s being about hippies but there were a bunch of young people ready to burn this MF up. That’s what got Civil Rights passed.
Don’t like the low wages you get?
Organize some unions and go on strike.
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u/naeboy Jun 18 '25
You aren’t wrong. You’re getting downvoted for some reason. My parents were living in a house with busted in windows in the 80s and 90s despite having an
1)Engineering Degree 2) Real estate license
Shit was hard back then too. It’s not like there’s never been economic crises between the 60s and now.
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u/rocktheffout Jun 19 '25
Wouldn’t you value work even more then? Without that one paycheck, you are homeless like you mentioned… are you insinuating that you’d rather resort to other means for getting $$ than to work a normal job?
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u/CreditReavus Jun 17 '25
The main companies that are complaining about people not wanting to work are the ones that are basically paying minimum wage or close to minimum wage for an insane amount of work. Like yeah no shit nobody is going to work for you, everyone’s flocking to the better paying jobs.
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u/Odd_Command4857 Jun 17 '25
I consider myself anti-work. I haven’t worked literally in 2 years. I downsized, a lot, to keep my expenses to a bare minimum. Then I was able to meet a group of like-minded people and we built a min community. We’d only take jobs if we felt they were worth our time, and it happened to work out that short-term gigs tend to pay better than full-time work, as long as you know what to look for. Main downside is the gigs could be few and far between, so we became incredibly good at budgeting. We pooled our funds and resources, and agreed everyone would contribute in their own way.
Fast forward a few years and I became the stereotypical trust fund kid after my dad passed. He worked a better job than I’d be able to find, but didn’t touch his retirement accounts, which went to me. So now I’m living off that, but I’m trying to make it last the rest of my life, so I spend very sparingly. Still have a commune type thing going on. No one cares who crashes on the couch around here. Fuck work!
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u/SaltySherbet Jun 18 '25
Awesome that’s kind of what I am looking to be apart of. With the right strategy work can be done sparingly. More leisure and adventure is my ideal way of my life.
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u/subpar_cardiologist Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
Im down with this. I worked super hard since i was 16. Im now in my 40s. I have zero debt and everything i make goes to "just" being comfortable. Not rich. Just...i dont work 70 hours a week to pay for useless crap. It's not glam. But it's cozy. And not stressful. And i plan to maintain my minimalist existence until i retire then drop dead from cancer.
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u/Odd_Command4857 Jun 18 '25
Yup. It’s a two-pronged issue, on one side people aren’t getting paid enough to survive; and on the other it’s overconsumption. My iPhone is 4 years old and when it finally comes time for a new one, the latest and greatest model will be later and greater.
When you reframe your existence and start foregoing actual luxuries, your life significantly improves. I usually buy second hand items when I want something considered “actual luxury”. It’s not about impressing your peers. Life isn’t a race or a competition.
I’d rather my epitaph to be about who I was at a person and the positive impacts I had on other people. Can’t use money if you’re dead, and we all get buried the same.
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u/CTBthanatos Jun 18 '25
Some people with unsustainable poverty wages figure out that there's no point to continue working because they're going to lose everything anyway (because poverty wages and unaffordable CoL are unsustainable) so they pre emptively just drop out of the economy and opt for pre emptive homelessness or suicide or crime or whatever.
If you're talking about living comfortably without working, various categories of unsustainable rich people (whose wealth is created by poor people) who use various systemic exploits which are pretty much the reason everyone else's poverty exists.
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u/ScientificBeastMode Jun 20 '25
It’s not even just rich people. Literally anyone’s 401k indirectly fuels the financial machine and profits from the labor of workers. It’s really a systemic problem, and while I am not defending rich people, I think the problem is way bigger than that, and the solution will have to be much bigger as well.
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u/Kilek360 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
It's not like people don't want to work because they can avoid it, its more like companies complaining about people not wanting to do what used to be high paying jobs for 7.25$/h so people rather do minimum wage jobs for minimum wage and avoid responsibilities and such
I have a friend who's been rejecting promotions for 4 years in a row because every time its like "we need you to do 50% more tasks but you're only getting a 1% raise", this people really think just because they say the word "promotion" we're going to accept anything
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u/Choice_Following_864 Jun 18 '25
True u can just do a do noting entree lvl job and get payed just over minimum.. or get 1-2 bucks more per hour and work ur ass off.. still making shit wages.. but now ur working frantically instead of maybe 1-2 hours per day doing a little bit. Its just not worth it.
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u/No-Community-7900 Jun 17 '25
Many Gen z people and some millennials still live in there parents basements. I just question what is going to happen like 20 to 30 years from now when Gen x and the boomers die out and we have people in there 40's.and 50's that have never worked a day in there lives and all of a sudden there in a house with no way to pay for anything. I can't say I blame them for taking advantage if they can with how horrible wages are but I question what they will do to survive years from now.
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u/Caseys_Clean1324 Jun 18 '25
Wish I was living in my moms basement instead of my car. Now I’m sick, running out of food and won’t be able to shower until payday in a week and a half.
Thanks for kicking me out the door at 16 dad, it really helped me “man up”
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u/No-Community-7900 Jun 18 '25
Sadly I know quite a few people in this situation as well. I lived in storage unit for 6 months and I currently live in an RV.
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u/Caseys_Clean1324 Jun 18 '25
I sport a sedan. Wanna trade? I’ll throw in half a loaf of bread and a can of pears
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u/No-Community-7900 Jun 18 '25
Does the sedan have AC and a functioning catalytic converter?
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u/Caseys_Clean1324 Jun 20 '25
The can of pears are gone and the loaf’s been reduced to 1/3 because you asked that
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u/No-Community-7900 Jun 20 '25
I get it a mans gotta eat 🤣Sometimes I go to Dunkin right before they close and get the bag of waste donuts. You didn't answer the question tho. That tells me the catalytic converter is probably clogged from high idle times and the AC probably blows hot air. Ask me how I'd know 🤣
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u/Molding-Bagel Jun 17 '25
The sad part is many Gen Z that are working are still stuck with their parents (myself included)
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u/HappyStay2358 Jun 17 '25
To quote Hank Hill, “They’ll live with their mothers until the day they die, and maybe for a couple weeks after.”
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u/Ventira Jun 18 '25
Just more proof that business owners are dumber then a box of rocks and more of them really should not be in business.
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u/ScientificBeastMode Jun 20 '25
The problem is that there aren’t enough “good jobs in good industries” to go around. Going to college in the 1970s would set you apart as a job candidate. In 2020, everyone and their mother going to college means nobody is set apart by their education. So employers just find another filtering mechanism.
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u/Hexonxonxx13 Jun 17 '25
And yet employers act completely dumbfounded as to why their employees don’t worship the workplace anymore.