As a person who started out poor and has reached the point of being pretty well-off I can say that $10k would have been life-changing in my early 20s, useful in my early 30s, and not even 2 months of mortgage payments in my late thirties.
I’m not saying that’ll be true for everyone, but it can happen. My internal scale of what is expensive versus cheap has changed dramatically over the years.
I wouldn’t spend $10k on a hotel room or a bottle of wine, but it wouldn’t change my life any more.
It’s a fucking shame that the system is rigged against normal people.
As a person dependant on benefits it doesn’t get much better - 10k would be enough to put me over the threshold and stop me getting those benefits, but wouldn’t be enough to live on for longer than a few months, at which point I would have to apply for benefits again (a distressing and traumatising process that can take a year or two easily, during which time you don’t get paid).
And even if I got several times that amount, enough to put down a 15-25% deposit for a mortgage - no one will give me one because I’m on benefits. Never mind that what I already pay in rent is higher than any mortgage repayment would be, or that my income is more stable and secure than most (people lose jobs all the time, I’m guaranteed my income for life, unless, of course, I dare save some money for my future. Or, as they may, change the rules, but that’s no bigger risk than getting fired).
And this isn’t to turn my nose up at that kind of money, it is a lot and could make a huge difference to many (paying bills, buying food, covering debts), but even in those cases, it’s highly unlikely to provide a long term solution simply because it doesn’t address the core of the problem, it’s just a band-aid.
To say the system is rigged feels like an understatement, the more you dig, the worse and more intentional the keeping-the-poor-poor gets.
Lol dude your mortgage is several fold higher than my parents’ in a big metro city (US) I think you’re doing ok.
Yeah, I’m doing ok, but when I first started working I was earning about $20k per year. It’s amazing how much things can change.
For sure, I was making good money before but got laid off during COVID. Took a massive pay cut finding a new job but am finally back to where I was before.
Even with the money I make it’s a struggle. I’m not starving but I’m not going to be able to afford a house any time soon.
To be fair, somebody from a developing nation could say the same about us and spending £500 on a new phone that does the same shit as the old phone
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