i grew up poor. my dad made about 1.5 poverty wage. when i got out of college, i thought I was rich making 30K a year. but as i got older and went up in income… the goalposts move. they are also defined by the people around you. I only figured out I was poor when my co-workers were SHOCKED that I paid my own rent, food, and had student loans. because they didn’t pay for any of that, their parents did. least to say, they stopped socializing with me shortly thereafter… lol
if you live in a town where the average income is 50K and you make 150K, you feel rich. but if you make 150K and the people around you make 500K, you feel poor. not to mention other people will treat you accordingly.
and our peers look down on us when we have less than they do, and look up to us when we have more than they do. I have family that have 50million in assets, but they don’t think they are rich, because they live in a city where that’s chump change and their kids friends parents have like 500million in assets, so they feel like they are poor, because they are rich, but not as rich as other people around them who have 10x or 20x the money they do. in their community they are ‘average’, and the poor people in that community are the ones who only have 5 million.
the poorest people in that community, have 10x what I have, and to them I am living in poverty because I only have 500K. and for someone who only has 50K, I seem rich. so on and so on.
You realise the goalposts move right? We compare ourselves to our peers. It’s why people that win the lottery become bankrupt.
yep.
i grew up poor. my dad made about 1.5 poverty wage. when i got out of college, i thought I was rich making 30K a year. but as i got older and went up in income… the goalposts move. they are also defined by the people around you. I only figured out I was poor when my co-workers were SHOCKED that I paid my own rent, food, and had student loans. because they didn’t pay for any of that, their parents did. least to say, they stopped socializing with me shortly thereafter… lol
if you live in a town where the average income is 50K and you make 150K, you feel rich. but if you make 150K and the people around you make 500K, you feel poor. not to mention other people will treat you accordingly.
and our peers look down on us when we have less than they do, and look up to us when we have more than they do. I have family that have 50million in assets, but they don’t think they are rich, because they live in a city where that’s chump change and their kids friends parents have like 500million in assets, so they feel like they are poor, because they are rich, but not as rich as other people around them who have 10x or 20x the money they do. in their community they are ‘average’, and the poor people in that community are the ones who only have 5 million.
the poorest people in that community, have 10x what I have, and to them I am living in poverty because I only have 500K. and for someone who only has 50K, I seem rich. so on and so on.